Disclaimer: If I owned Huntik, series three would be out already (so would be series 4 and 5)

Last time I said I'd make my chapters longer, on reflection they will all probably be about this size as I have other stories to work on and this means I have more frequent updates and less frequent writers block.

The Curse Book

She looked at her watch, racing toward the museum, Willow had had to dodge three policemen and it had seriously put her behind schedule.

However when she reached the museum there didn't appear to be any opening ceremonies. In its place were screaming adults fleeing the building, from which there was some kind of fight going on inside. Strange lights illuminated the shadows of the figures and she could hear strange words being yelled.

Willow snuck into the building and hid behind the large marble desk to review her options. She could hardly tiptoe into the room and through the door with so many people about.

She glanced at the wall to the side of her and smiled in amazement. Behind this desk was a convenient air-vent which led to the next room, behind the cabinet where the amulet was being held. She almost laughed at loud at her good luck, she swore this kind of thing only happened in films!

After about five minutes using a combination of her fingers, nails and (now broken) biros, Willow succeeded to force the grate open. Leaving her schoolbag behind she crawled inside until she got to the end, it was more difficult than in films but she still managed it.

The grate at the other end was very loose compared to the first and she could rattle it a lot. She figured one good kick ought to take it down and the chance of anyone hearing was very small, given that they were too wrapped up in yelling,

"Augerfrost!"

"Raypulse!"

Which was quite a strange fighting technique when she thought about it, but there wasn't much time, so reluctantly she forced her attentions to getting out of the vent.

Willow crawled on her hands and knees until she reached the back of the cabinet, figuring out where the amulet should be in relation to everything else.

She braced herself, jumped up and grabbed the amulet, somehow managing to bring down an old book with it. She leant against the back of the cabinet, breathing heavily.

What Willow had just seen was extraordinary. People were throwing what she could only assume was some sort of Magic at each other and they were being helped by weird creatures of all different shapes and sizes, who were also doing strange things! What the hell was going on?

It was surreal, but somehow she doubted she was going mad.

She made her way back to the air-vent, pulling the grate back in behind her and crawling back to her schoolbag, stuffing what she had just taken inside and sprinting out of the building, trying to ignore the guilt that suddenly rushed up inside of her.

Willow had meant to get the artifact, not become a museum thief; unfortunately one couldn't go without the other. However, she consoled herself with the fact that that the weirdoes in the room would have probably broken the amulet anyway, so she technically was really saving it.

They arrived at the museum at 1.30, a little later than planned, but that couldn't be helped.

"Dante?" Sophie asked. "Do you really think they'll give us the finds when they've been so heavily advertised, especially as the opening's today!"

"That's just something we'll have to find out." Dante replied grimly.

They walked in through the door.

A scene of chaos met their eyes.

"Ah, Dante Vale," Defoe sneered. "We were just wondering when you'd show up,"

"Pity you didn't collect the artifacts sooner, then you might have had a chance of actually getting them for once." he shot back.

"So, what's the Professor going to say once you've told him you failed again?" Zhalia asked confidently.

"I won't," Defoe smiled, indicating to the left of him. "One step forwards and let's just say, they're in a bit of trouble,"

All the smartly dressed museum officials looked pleadingly at the four of them.

"Oh okay then," Dante smiled, taking a step backwards. At the same moment, Gareon turned visible and shot an energy blast at Defoe's back.

"Touchram!"

"Raypulse!"

"Dragonfist!"

"Augerfrost!"

The team yelled and took down the remaining suits.

"Go now!" Lok told everyone, who didn't think twice and fled the building within a few seconds.

"Guess we won't be doing any bargaining then," Sophie commented as they walked towards the exhibit.

Defoe shot an augerfrost at Lok and he smashed into a cupboard, groaning as he made impact, and rolled onto the floor.

"Lok!" Sophie cried in alarm, but the other two were too worried about fighting the suits who were loading the finds into crates.

"Sorry, but they're not yours," Zhalia smirked and shot a raypulse at one, quickly dodging their counter attack.

Lok, Sophie, Defoe and the suits from the entrance hall joined in and chaos ensued…

Zhalia glanced towards the cabinet. "The book!" she cried out in alarm.

"What did you say?" Dante asked curiously, whilst slamming a suit into a wall.

"The artifacts!" she corrected, gesturing to the cabinet.

Dante frowned, neither side had managed to get anywhere near that side of the room without being attacked by the other, however, he quickly brushed the thought aside as the suit aimed a punch at his head. "Zhalia, look out!" he yelled and she quickly flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding a bolflare.

Zhalia growled in frustration, she needed that book and convincing the suits to give it to her would be inconvenient, not to mention the chance that it could blow her cover, besides, she was certain that Dante was right, none of the suits had gone near that area in the last five minutes.

Catching onto the meaning of their conversation, they hadn't exactly whispered it; a suit looked over at the same area. "Hey, where have those things gone?" she yelled and the other suits stared the empty space.

"Give them back!" Defoe demanded.

"Why don't you?" Dante countered and shot another raypulse at him.

So, unless they're bluffing, that rules out the organisation taking it, Zhalia debated. What if it can turn invisible? She made a mental note to check the security footage later, but for now, there were other problems at hand…

Okay, so that's the second chapter done, what do you guys think? I know it's not long (and a bit rushed) but that's because the next chapter should be up in a few hours/ tomorrow after school, depending upon how much time I have. Please review!