Changeling Witch

Basilisk

"Don't worry, Hunter!" Amity assured him, patting him on the shoulder. "Once we talk to Bump, we'll get everything sorted out."

"I know, I know," Hunter said. "But is there really a point if people get hurt along the way?"

Gus nodded seriously. "That's a fair question. Here's another question---WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"

Hunter nearly had a heart attack when he saw the gigantic snake-creature winding its way through the hallway. All of his remaining hope for the day instantly evaporated, getting replaced by pure terror.

A grin stretched across the creature's face. "Good. More cute morsels."

Willow stepped forward, drawing a spell circle. "We may be cute, but we're nobody's morsels!" She slammed a hand on the ground, summoning a huge plant with eyes and teeth.

Gus drew a spell circle of his own, giving the plant massive fists. "Time for a power-up!"

The plant launched at the snake creature, only to immediately get eaten whole. Gus and Willow collapsed onto the ground, their skin turning grey.

"Oh, no you don't!" Amity summoned a gigantic Abomination and sent it at her. "Abomination, fight!"

The creature just swallowed that, too, seemingly knocking the wind out of Amity in the process.

Thinking quickly, Hunter grabbed a light glyph and activated it, throwing it into the creature's mouth. "Eat this!"

He'd expected for it to not work, but it actually seemed to affect her. She froze and coughed the ripped up bits of paper.

"I'll get you guys somewhere safe," Hunter told his friends, gathering them up as best as he could. He raced away, leaving the creature to wail about how much the glyph had burned.

Praying that it'd work, he threw open a door in the middle of the hallway, internally sighing with relief when he found himself back in the Shortcut Room. "Guys!" he shouted. "I need your help!"

The Detention track kids all gave him a sour look. "Oh," Viney said. "You're back."

"Look, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but seriously, I need backup," Hunter told them, carefully setting his friends down on the floor. "They can't do anything right now."

The sight of the prone witches seemed to switch on a "serious business" switch in the Detention trackers. All of them immediately shot to their feet.

"What happened to them?" Viney exclaimed.

Hunter opened one of the other doors and pointed to the creature, who was busily sucking out magic from other students.

"Don't let it see us!" Viney rushed over and slammed the door. "I think that's a Greater Basilisk. I heard about them in a class. My cousin at St. Epiderm said she saw one, but those things should be extinct!"

"It must've attacked the other schools," Hunter realized. "Now it's come for us." He looked over at the other kids. "We need to take a stand before it's too late."

Jerbo shrank back a little. "But---but if Bump catches us mixing magic again---"

"He'd kick us out of school," Viney said quietly.

"So what?" Hunter demanded. "Hexside students are out there getting hurt, and we are the only ones who can save them right now! We're troublemakers, right? So let's go out there, and make some fucking trouble!"

The Detention track kids shared a look of newfound determination.

"We're in," Viney told him. "What do we do?"