MAGE ; benny weir [1]

fourty-eight

"Would you guys hurry up?" Erica and Sarah ordered as Benny and Ellie were scrambling around Ms. Weir's magic room. "Batties, we just got here!"

"Hurry up, or we won't be hungry for much longer," Erica hissed at them. Ellie and Benny looked back to each other in fear and Ellie held Benny's arm saying, "I need to borrow him for a second."

She dragged him to the corner of the room and whispered, "What do we even do? I don't know how to do this!"

"I don't know! You're pretty much the smartest person here, so if anyone can find a way to make it, it's you," Benny told her, before something caught his eye on the table in front of their faces. "Oh, this is useful."

Ellie looked to what he was staring at and smiled. "Yes!" she happily whispered. 

"Should we call Ethan?" she asked him.

"I'll do it," Benny said as he pulled out his phone and put Ethan on speaker. "Ethan? Get over here. We need help over here, and we might've found something useful."

Benny and Ellie turned to check on the girls and they were staring them down. "Also, the vamps are looking at us like we're burritos," Benny added. "I have to stay and watch Jane. She's got the donut fever. Find anything you can about Val Mudrap."

Ethan hung up and left the two mages with the two starving vampires. "Sometimes, it scares me how we get into these situations," Ellie whispered to Benny. "I thought I was going to say it first."

"Benny!" Rory greeted as he bounced into the room. "What are you doing? Only Benny can 'Benny!'."

"Woah, looks like Grandma left mid-snack attack," Rory said and stared at the table. "You're right, but she also left us this," Benny told him and pointed to the open book beside of the plate of donuts. Rory picked up the book and read aloud, "The Sacred Order of the Mole, by Val Mudrap."

"Skim thought it, Rory. Find anything that can help us find out what those moles are," Ellie told him. 

"Ellie and Benny, what about this?" Sarah asked holding up a pint of red liquid in a witch bottle. "It's red! Can't you two make it into blood with one of your spells?"

"That's not how it-" Benny began but the two hungry vampires hissed at both of them. Ellie held up her hands in defense and whimpered, "Sure! Let's just do it."

"Uh, do you know which spell to use?" Ellie asked Benny. "Uh, not really-"

"JUST TRY SOMETHING!" yelled Sarah and Erica at the top of their lungs. "Okay! Okay! Sanguinus ibgaroth cambos mortalus!"

Sparks flew from their hands and shot into the bottle, making Sarah quickly unscrew it and drink it with Erica. "Oh god," Ellie muttered loud enough for Benny to hear. He was confused until she elbowed him and saw what she was talking about. Their spell didn't quite work, since Sarah and Erica now had long, lizard-like tails that swung from side to side. "Oh no." 

"What?" the vampires asked in unison. "Nothing!" they assured. 

"Hey, guys, is this a clue?" Rory asked, gaining Benny and Ellie's attention. "The mothers and fathers departed from the village and the children played for eternity. All hailed Muldvaarp, child-beast, charmer, keeper of the key to the Underworld! Looks like a clue to me."

'Muldvaarp? Nice name," Erica said. "Look, it's the girl that beat you guys up."

She pointed to the newspaper clip in the book, until Ellie realised the name. "Wait, Val Mudrap is an anagram for Muldvaarp. Ethan needs to see this."

She grabbed the book out of Rory's hands and watched Erica and Sarah walk out of the room. "Wow! You guys have-" Rory began until Benny covered his mouth and Ellie finished, "-beautiful eyes!"