𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙃𝙚𝙞𝙧 - Lizzie Saltzman

TWELVE

"What are you doing here?" Alaric's voice makes them both jump. 

"Oh, my God." Hope said. "You scared us." 

They turned towards Alaric. "Dorian was supposed to keep you away." He said to Hope. 

"He tried. He lost. But here." Hope handed him a book. "Killing Gargoyles 101. He thought you could translate it." 

He opened it up and then looked at Katelyn. "Gaulish. Son of a..." He stopped himself and looked at Hope before looking back at the book. 

"So are we on our own, or did the Gauls provide clear instruction?" Hope asked him. 

"In a nutshell, it says hit it hard, repeat as needed." 

They all heard the gargoyle roar in the distance. 

"Is that...?" Hope asked. 

"Yeah." Katelyn replied. 

"Listen, it poisoned Lizzie. I'm guessing to get my attention. Then it attacked us and took the knife." Alaric said. 

"The knife? The dragon knife?" Hope asked in disbelief. "And you're still breathing?" 

"Oh, I have a theory about that." He replied. 

"Well, save it, because we had to take down that containment spell to get inside the school, meaning our monster can get out." Hope told him. 

"A containment spell?" Katelyn and Alaric asked at once, looking at each other. 

"Lizzie wanted to make sure whatever attacked her didn't escape into the world." Katelyn realized. 

"Good girl." Alaric said under his breath. He looked over at the shield that had two axes coming out of it. He set the book on the table. "All right, well, guess we better find it..." He pulled the axes out. "Before it makes the evening news. So how did you take the containment spell down?" 

"She didn't." The three looked over at the door opposite of them to see Josie walking through. "I did." She took the axe that Alaric was handing Hope. "And I have questions." Hope opened and closed her mouth for a second, looking the girl up and down. "Also why are you wet?" She asked her father. 

Alaric turned his head and glared at Katelyn who smiled. "She dumped water on my head because I wouldn't wake up." 

"Hey, it's not my fault that you didn't wake up from me slapping you." Katelyn raised her hands in surrender. 

"That's why my cheek hurt." He muttered, rubbing his right cheek. 

"Sorry." Katelyn said. 

Josie's eyes widened. "Katelyn, your nose. It's happening again." 

"Fuck." She muttered, raising her hand and wiping her nose. 

"Again?" Alaric asked. "Katelyn, I told you to tell me whenever this happened." 

"Yeah, well, you insulted my father and I wanted to rip you apart when it happened so, it didn't really cross my mind." She snapped. Hope tossed her a wipe. "Thank you." Hope nodded. Katelyn wiped her nose and held the wipe there until it stopped. 

Once it did she threw it away. 

"Let's go kill this son of a bitch." She said. 

The four of them set out walking down the halls. They made it to where the kids were hiding with Emma and Hope opened the door. They all walked in. 

"Emma?" Alaric called. "Emma." 

The sliding doors opened and Emma appeared. She put her finger to her lips, shushing them as Josie walked forward. Hope and Katelyn both froze when they heard growling behind them.