I’ll never see my siblings again.
I’ll never get to say I’m sorry to Anna for stealing that clip on her birthday.
I’ll never get to make Mother and Father proud of me.
The last thought startles me. I didn’t even know I cared what Father thought of me. I need to find a way to still make that happen. I can’t worry about what’s going on with Flora or Madame Cleo’s prediction. I have to get out of here and get home.
I take a deep breath and cover my nose with my shirt in case the gas is poisonous. Then I feel someone grab my hand and I see Jax through the haze. He shoves me into a corner as Ollie crawls over to us, along with Maxine and some Royal Ladies-in-Waiting who are crying. I can’t see Jocelyn anywhere in this fog. All I hear is screeching and screaming.
An exit. I need to find an exit. And Kayla. I look around frantically for my roommate and see her stumbling toward us. I reach out and yank her into our little cluster. “Are you okay?”
Kayla covers her face with her hands and starts to mumble strangely. “I didn’t do it. I swear! I am nothing. She’s right. I’m nothing. I’m sorry. So sorry.” She dissolves into tears and rocks back and forth on the floor. Maxine puts an arm around her, and Jax and I look at each other worriedly. Once this fog fades, the gargoyles will have us.
“Dude, what the heck is happening? Wait, is that…is that a gargoyle?” Ollie manages to get out in between hacking fits. We all dive to the floor when we see wings appear out of the fog above. A gargoyle grabs hold of one of the Ladies-in-Waiting and takes off again. She screams and kicks, but it’s no use. She’s a goner. “I thought gargoyles were statues,” Ollie says, his eyes widening. “Those nasty beasties are real?”
I hear a loud slurp and assume someone has just magically sealed the gym doors like they do in Madame Cleo’s detention room. I can hear Pete shouting orders to Olaf, and then in the next moment, the room is quiet. As the fog begins to lift, I can see that the gargoyles have rounded up the princesses and placed them in a corner of the room in some sort of glowing bubble, along with a few unlucky students. The dwarf squad is tied up in its own bubble nearby. A lot of help they were. One of the gargoyles drops Azalea onto the royals’ bubble, and I watch as it sucks her in and drops her to the floor.
Okay, if I hang on to my sword, maybe I can fight my way to a gym door and pick a lock. I’m not waiting around any longer. I start to get up and prepare to run.
“What are you doing?” Jax hisses. “Stay down!”
A screech nearby distracts me, and I look up in time to see Jocelyn get picked up. Maxine gives out a little gasp, and her one eyeball starts to bounce up and down like a ball. Jocelyn doesn’t go far. I watch as she swings wildly with her sword and nicks one of the gargoyle’s legs.
“Yes!” Maxine cheers.
The gargoyle drops Jocelyn like a hot potato. She falls to the ground and bumps her head as the fog evaporates. We stare at her as she lies there motionless.
That’s when I notice that Flora and Harlow are the only teachers not inside a bubble. Just as I’m about to yell “villain,” I notice they’re both as still as statues, like they’re in some sort of trance. I need to make a break for it. On the count of one, two…
“Why isn’t Harlow helping her sister?” one of the Ladies-in-Waiting wails.
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Jax says. “All I know is it’s time we—”
Before Jax can finish his sentence, I see wings descend from the sky and our group scatters as Jax is picked up. Like Jocelyn, he grabs for his sword, but his falls out of his holster along with his trusty pocketwatch.
“Jax!” I yell and Kayla whimpers.
She’s practically catatonic. “What did I do?” she says to herself over and over as Maxine rubs her back worriedly.
Jax struggles to break free, but he can’t. All I can do is watch as he’s sucked into the same bubble as the princesses. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Harlow walking toward the immobilized princesses and Jax as if in a trance.
Now’s my chance to move. I’m sure I can make it to the door before Harlow turns around, but Jax… How can I leave him behind when he’s helped me so many times? I look over at the bubble, and the two of us make eye contact. I can almost hear his thoughts. You owe me.
Grr…I know. But what can I do?
Then I see Harlow raise her sword. The Ladies-in-Waiting around me gasp.
“We’ve got to help Jax,” Ollie says hurriedly, and I watch him feel around in his pockets for some of his magic tricks. “Maybe if I could drop a smoke bomb…”
“This room is smoky enough,” I say as Maxine and Kayla start to cry. A Royal Lady-in-Waiting hands them her handkerchief to share. “Give me a minute to think.”
“Harlow! Stop!” Flora warns, her voice sharp.
For some strange reason, Flora can’t move. Are she and Harlow under some sort of spell? If Harlow hears her, she doesn’t listen.
“No,” I hear Harlow say, and she throws her sword through the air. Maxine screams as the sword hits the bubble and bounces off it. The gargoyles jump up and down excitedly as Harlow picks up a few of the discarded swords on the ground and aims another one at the bubble. This time the sword pierces the top and I hear everyone inside scream. I can see Jax urging the princesses to squeeze as far back in the bubble as they can go. She aims again. This time, a sword pierces the bubble and hits Princess Snow in the arm. She crumbles to the ground, and some of the girls around me burst into tears.
“She’s going after Snow,” Maxine says. “She has to be. She’s going to keep aiming ’til she gets Snow—and anyone in the way.”
Harlow throws another sword and it pierces the bottom of the bubble, hitting a student in the shoe. He hops up and down in pain. The gargoyles screech happily. Jax gives me a desperate look.
“I need to distract the gargoyles,” I say. “Anyone have a clue how to deal with the nasties?”
Kayla is shaking so violently I fear she’s going to be ill. Then she pulls a bag out of her pocket with something purple inside. “Give them radishes. They’ll put the gargoyles right to sleep.”
I don’t ask how she knows that. There’s no time.
Ollie grabs the bag and begins passing out radishes. Maxine starts to toss them. I’m amazed as a gargoyle picks one up and pops it in his mouth. In a moment, he’s sleeping like a baby. Soon the other students around me are doing the same, and gargoyles start dropping like flies. But that does nothing to stop Harlow.
“I must do what the huntsman should have done years ago,” Harlow says in a monotone voice. “Send a dagger straight through her heart.” Harlow makes a jerky movement in Snow’s direction.
“Harlow, please! Fight this!” Flora begs as Harlow uses magic to pick up a handful of swords and aim them all at the bubble at the same time. I watch as Jax jumps in front of Snow. Idiot.
“What am I going to do?” I ask the others.
Ollie presses his lips together. “Maybe if you hit Harlow, you’ll break the spell.” I look at him like he’s nuts. “Hey, it’s worth a shot.”
Harlow starts to chant the way Jocelyn did in detention, and I realize I’m out of time. Harlow releases the arrows and they fly through the air. With no other options, I take off at a run with my sword in my hand, praying the thing doesn’t slice me as I go.
Harlow turns to me at the last moment and I see the swords change direction.
“Gilly!” Maxine screams just as I dive to the ground and slide as hard as I can into Harlow, knocking her straight off her feet. I cover my head as swords rain down on me, and then the world goes black.