Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

24) Behind the Door

I stared wide-eyed at the sight in front of me for a moment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all looking at the door, struggling to listen for Filch.

I felt my breathing catch and remembered my dream. The three headed dog was standing right in front of me.

"Guys..." I whispered, panic probably lacing my voice. Hermione turned, concerned, and her eyes widened. Harry and Ron stayed at the door.

I stared at the giant dog and glanced back at my friends. They were both idiots.

"Hermione... get them out of here, please," I said, looking at my friend.

"What about you?" She whispered, fear showing clearly.

Ron turned, annoyed at us talking, and then he saw it too. He stared with fear up at the miniature Cerberus.

"Guys, get out of here. I'll distract it. I'll be able to get out. Just get back to the Gryffindor tower. I'll meet you there," I said.

Harry finally turned and they didn't have time to debate with me.

They fumbled with the door and flew out, closing it behind them. The miniature Cerberus suddenly lunged at me.

It nicked my arm, leaving a large gash in its wake. I stumbled back and leaned against the wall, thinking for a moment.

I recalled something my mother had told me. How music could be used to play to people emotions, if used right. I figured it would work on animals, too.

I panicked.

"I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world," I started singing, slowly backing towards the wall where Hogwarts would let me through. "Life in plastic, it's fantastic." Baby Cerberus smiled happily at me and listened to the music. "You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere." Baby Cerberus put its heads on the floor and fell asleep. "Imagination, life is your creation." I finished singing before slipping through the door made in the wall.

I walked the distance to Gryffindor tower, finding my friends waiting for me.

Their eyes immediately widened once they saw my bloody arm. I looked at Harry and Ron, "Can you go get the Stolls for me? They won't tell."

They looked a little suspicious but my bloody arm didn't let them say no.

Eventually they came back with the two older boys behind them. Travis smirked, "Did Peeves try to stab you? He's done that for me before."

"No, he did that on the first day. This is from the third floor corridor. The one that's off limits," I said, sitting while the brothers examined the large wound.

They just raised an eyebrow, "And what beast was there?"

"Cerberus, but smaller. Like its kid or something."

Connor nodded and pulled out a med kit from under the couch, grabbing a needle and string, "I'll count down from 3. This is going to hurt."

"It already hurts, just get it over with," I said. Connor shrugged then started stitching me up.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all watching with wide-eyes.

After the Stolls went back up to bed, and I was all stitched up, Ron spoke up, "What do you think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school? If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Hermione sighed and snapped, "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

Harry looked confused, "The floor? I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

Hermione stood up, "No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something. I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could have all been killed — or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

I left too.

I started walking back to my room, holding my arm a little. Just another scar to add to the already growing list. I wonder if I'll have any clear skin by the end of the year.

I pushed the wall open and walked into my room. I changed into some less bloody pajamas after taking another shower. Then I finished the drawing of Hermione, pinning it up on my wall.

I laid down on my bed, closing my eyes. For the first time that night I realized just how tired I was. I wondered if I would have dreams of my mother, like I told Filch. Or maybe of Gabe the second face again.

Eventually, sleep wrapped me in it's embrace.

I dreamt about doing homework with my mother. She was helping me by reading the book aloud for me. Then she had to go for work.

Gabe was there, and his terrible, horrible friends were, too. When I woke up, shuddering, I shuffled out of bed and splashed water on my face, avoiding looking into my own shaken eyes in the mirror.

I went to my classes as if nothing had happened.

I'm gonna share a spooky story. When I was younger, around seven, Kadee, around three or four, was terrified of this one part of the ceiling in our house. A spot right above the stove. None of us really knew why, but we all suspected ghosts. There were many reasons for that. The way Sam's bobble head collection would move. The strange scratches you could hear from my closet. The unfinished part of the basement. This part of the basement was terrifying. We all believed, still believe, that there was at least one body beneath the rubble. We all believed it was in the same spot. Many things happened in that basement. Flashlights with fresh batteries would flicker. Rubble would move. My most terrifying experience in there was when it was light. I wandered in there, like any good ghost hunter would, and got lost. The basement wasn't that big. It just seemed to go on forever, a never ending pile of rubble to my left and dark concrete walls to my right. I felt like I had been there for hours, but it had only been minutes in reality. My mom is the one who lived in that house. We spent a lot of our time there, but my dad lived in a different house, and eventually got custody of us. On Emblem's birthday, the house burnt down. My mom hadn't been there, she'd gone to Walmart to get Emblem a present. The firefighter told us that the fire would have started above the stove, around the spot Kadee had been so terrified of. Looking through the ashes for anything salvageable, I swear I saw a face in the gray, grinning back at me.

I'm in a spooky mood now. Do any of you guys have any scary stories? Anyway, next post should be on Tuesday.