Siobhan: if ur still alive come to the art room

  The text from Siobhan meant that it was now or never. Steeling himself, Jesse cracked open the door to the classroom. When he wasn’t immediately set upon by the imp queen, he let out an internal sigh of relief. He guessed she really did take off in search of another way into the room.

  With Brom tucked under one arm, he began to stealthily make his way down the corridor.

  “All that talk about protecting the bat and you’re not even bringing it with you?”

  “She’ll be better off out of the way,” Jesse whispered back. “Besides, the sooner we deal with the imp queen, the safer she’ll be in the long run.”

  He had realized he couldn’t focus on trapping the queen while protecting Lucy at the same time and opted to leave her in the safety of the classroom.

  Once he judged he was far enough from where he left Lucy, he brought out his phone. Turning it up to full volume, he pressed play on the recording he took just moments before. The sound of Lucy’s squeaking filled the hallways, reverberating to where he was certain the entire building could hear it.

  “Those things have really come a long way, haven’t they?” Brom said. “It feels like just yesterday when you had to call an operator to connect you to someone else’s line.”

  “Okay, boomer.”

  The retort had just slipped out, but the truth was that Jesse was on edge. Every tiny noise he heard made him jump a little, thinking that the queen was about to come out and rush him.

  He slowly walked through the school, holding his phone up so that he could constantly loop the recording. Through the windows that lined the school hallways, he could see that the sun was just beginning to dip behind the trees that surrounded the building. It would be nighttime soon.

  “What was that song you were whistling earlier?” he asked to stop himself from getting too paranoid.

  “The one about the hunter?”

  “Feels more appropriate right now.”

  “I could teach it to you sometime,” Brom offered. And just before he could think the jack-o-lantern was turning nice, he added, “If you make it out of this in one piece.”

  “Thanks,” he said bitterly.

  “She’s coming.”

  Brom’s sudden proclamation and a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye was all the warning Jesse received, and he just managed to twist his body to one side, narrowly avoiding the imp queen barreling straight for him and dropping Brom in the process.

  “Ow.”

  “Could have used more of a heads up,” Jesse grumbled.

  “I told you she was coming, didn’t I?”

  “Stupid human!” the imp queen snarled, interrupting before he could shoot a comeback.

  “I hope you thought through your plan past grabbing her attention.”

  He did not. Fortunately, they weren’t far from the art room, where Siobhan was waiting with whatever she had cooked up in the meantime.

  Unfortunately, there was an angry imp in his way.

  Before he could even begin to think of a way to get past her, she darted forward. He brought his arms up to guard his face, but she dived down at the last second, aiming for his knees. Ten pounds flying at what felt like sixty miles an hour slammed into him, sending him careening into the air before faceplanting, his phone skidding out of his hand across the floor.

  Disoriented, he could just barely make out the imp queen snatching up his phone as he flipped himself over onto his back. She tried to take a bite out of its corner, teeth bouncing harmlessly off its protective case. As the realization that she had been tricked dawned on her, she turned her burning gaze on Jesse.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He scrambled away, trying to get to his feet only to slip and fall again as the queen barreled towards him. Before she could reach him, however, a small flash of brown fur darted in between them, throwing itself in the middle of him and the queen. It took Jesse a second for his brain to realize what it was.

  “Lucy?” he asked incredulously. “How did you get out of the classroom?”

  The bat didn’t answer, of course. Instead, she stared down the imp queen, wings raised defiantly as if protecting him.

  The queen, now over her initial shock, twisted her face once more into a snarl.

  “Traitor!” she lashed out.

  “No!” Jesse sprang forward, wrapping his arms around Lucy to shield her from the imp queen’s attack with his eyes squeezed shut. But it never came.

  Taking a peek, Jesse saw that Noah had caught up to them and had grabbed a hold of the queen midair before she could hurt them. She gnashed her teeth as she struggled, but he held firm.

  Alicia was right behind him. “Get to Siobhan!”

  He didn’t need to be told twice. Scrambling to his feet and holding tight on to Lucy, he sprinted down the hall towards the art classroom.

  “Argh!” At Noah’s yell, he cast a quick glance behind him just in time to see the queen slip out of his grasp and fly straight for them. They were already more than halfway, but she was gaining on them quick.

  Just a few more feet...

  Jesse threw the door to the art room open, only to almost faceplant again by tripping over something on the floor. Before he could, though, a hand was grabbing him roughly by the collar and yanking both him and Lucy out of the way.

  In the center of the floor, taking up most of the room, was a large circle of runes, surrounded by lit candles. Siobhan was kneeling at its edge, a piece of chalk in one hand and her open spell book in the other.

  Just as Jesse was about to ask what the heck she was doing, the imp queen came crashing into the room, straight into the middle of the circle. As soon as she was inside, Siobhan hastily drew one last rune, and the circle glowed white as a shimmering dome appeared around the imp.

  Oblivious to what happened around her, she lunged at Lucy, who was still clutched tightly in Jesse’s arms, but when she hit the edge of the circle, she just bounced right off. That didn’t stop the both of them from flinching, though.

  The queen zipped around the circle, like a house fly trapped under a plastic cup, but no matter how many times she threw herself at the barrier, it never wavered. It almost felt like the protective barrier that encircled Gravewood, only this time working for their benefit.

  Jesse found himself staring, dumbfounded, at Siobhan. “What did- how did you-?”

  “Circle of Entrapping,” she explained, snapping her spell book shut as she climbed to her feet. “It’s a good thing I decided to bring these candles with me. I thought that spell might come in handy.”

  “You just did magic.” He knew she explained it to him the other day, but to see it in person was something else entirely.

  Noah and Alicia chose that moment to rejoin them, Noah skidding to a halt and just managing to catch himself on the doorframe before accidently running into the barrier.

  “Did we hear that right?” Alicia asked, holding Brom after having picked him up in the hallway. “Siobhan just did magic?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Great, now there’s two witches in Gravewood.”

  Siobhan looked proud of herself. “I did! And be careful,” she warned, as Noah reached out to touch the shimmering dome. “Things can still go into the circle, they just can’t get out.”

  He retracted his hand. “Noted.”

  “And now, for the final touch.”

  She activated Dr. Rotbart’s trap, which had been left with her, before tossing it inside the circle. It passed through the barrier with ease as the queen was still throwing herself against it, rocketing around like a pinball. Seconds later, the trap went off, and the queen was sucked in. Siobhan blew out one of the candles, and the shimmery dome disappeared, leaving only the trap, which was now rattling around as the queen tried to break free. The whole thing was over in a flash.

  “I guess we did it,” Noah said.

  “Congratulations!” Brom said. “You caught a wild animal in an unlicensed trap, which is illegal in the state of Massachusetts.”

  “Guys, look.” Alicia pointed out the window of the classroom. From there, they could see hundreds of bats taking off for the night as the sun finally set behind the horizon. With the imp queen taken care of, they were now free to find a new home elsewhere.

  Lucy let out a heartbroken squeak, looking forlornly out the window as she watched her colony leaving to hunt without her.

  “You’ll be able to join them soon,” he promised her. “For now, we should get the imp queen back to Dr. Rotbart right away.”

  “Agreed,” Siobhan said. “But could one of you stay behind to help me clean this up? I can just hear Mr. Maroy’s speech now if he finds this tomorrow.” She dropped her voice in an imitation of the vice principal. “‘Whoever was trying to summon a demon in the art room, you’re in big trouble!’”

  “Your teacher sounds fun,” Brom noted.

  “That book can’t actually summon a demon, can it?” Alicia eyed the book warily.

  Siobhan just shrugged.

  “I’ll stay behind,” Noah volunteered.

  “Good, we’ll meet you back in the parking lot when we’re done.”

  They split up, Siobhan and Noah remaining at the school while Jesse and Alicia headed out, trap and Brom in tow. There was just one little stop that they had to make.