How to Save Your School From Soul Stealing Demons

CHAPTER NINETEEN

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4TH
5:12 PM
BRADFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY PARKING LOT

Ambrose pulls into the mostly empty library parking lot in a massive truck with more dings and dents than I can count. Renny's riding shotgun and hops out just as Watts and I finish locking up our bikes.

The afternoon sun lingers lowly over the nearby woods, casting long shadows across the pavement. It's later than any of us would've liked, but Watts had to walk his sister home from school and watch her until his mom got home from work. I don't think any of us would blame him for not wanting to leave her home alone.

I used the hours since school ended to finish up my homework and work on some drawings. I never planned to, but since the locker room, I've already drawn several versions of Kayla's transformation. I've drawn Watts, Renny, and Ambrose, too—the three of them have such distinct characteristics that they make for great character studies. It isn't hard to emphasize Ambrose's tough exterior, Renny's overt, tomboyish appearance, or Watts's undeniably dorky self.

"We could've picked you up, you know," she says as she strolls over.

Watts and I both send a wary glance towards Ambrose as he steps out of the truck. Unlike Renny, who's tall in her own right but was dwarfed by the truck, he still looks like a giant next to the huge vehicle. Have I mentioned how much I absolutely want to avoid getting on his bad side?

Renny gives us a pointed look. "Ambrose never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. The fact that he's speaking to you guys means an ass-kicking is likely not in your future."

"Why's he... I mean... What's with the not talking thing, anyway?" Watts asks.

The truck door shutting makes Watts flinch, and he goes silent as Ambrose walks up to us.

"I talk when I have something to say." His voice is even and matter-of-fact, thankfully holding no traces of offense.

Still, Watts flushes red—he obviously didn't think our conversation could be heard from where Ambrose had been standing. "Right. Yeah. That makes sense."

The four of us head inside, where I discover that the library is just as old—if not older—than the rest of Bradford's historic buildings. The parquet flooring is dull and worn, and the plain white walls have a yellow tint to them that obviously isn't intentional. Dark wooden shelves line the walls and create rows on the edges of the room, while the middle is taken up by large tables and uncomfortable-looking chairs. A few patrons sit throughout, reading or studying under the dim saucer lights hanging from the ceiling.

Watts leads us through all the sections we'll need. Bradford's library isn't the most up-to-date, but we manage to amass a decent stack of books about witches, the occult, paranormal activity, and possessions. By the time we sit down, picking a spot on the floor against the wall between two tall non-fiction shelves, the sun is already almost completely set outside.

"Okay," Watts spreads out the books on the floor around us. "We're looking for stuff on exorcising a demon, reversing a possession, or anything that might help explain what we saw in the locker room. If we figure out what that was, maybe it'll help us figure out how to stop it from happening again."

"If the demon can't get what it seems to need from humans, it doesn't seem like it'd be able to stay in Kayla's body," I surmise.

Renny nods. "It looked like she could've keeled over at any second. Like the thing is draining the life out of her."

"What I'd really like to figure out is, if Bozzanath can get the energy it needs from people without killing them, then why are people being murdered?" Watts' question is obviously rhetorical, but we fall into silence to ponder it.