"Now I want you four to go straight to bed when I leave for my meeting." Solomon told the children once they had finished changing into their pajamas. "I don't want you to give Blitzo any trouble. No pagan games and no sacrificing him. Promise me."
"We promise." They said.
"Behave yourselves tonight and don't torment Blitzo again."
"We'll try." Alastor said.
Solomon looked at him suspiciously. He knew him to be the ring leader of all mischief that the paranormal kids caused. True Charlie, Angel, and Vaggie were more than capable of causing trouble on their own, they were definitely not forced or pressured into it but Alastor was the one who gave them the ideas. In other words if trouble was a dish, they would be the cooks and Alastor would be the recipe.
"I mean it." He said sternly. "No trouble."
The half demon boy nodded innocently. Solomon then dismissed the children to their rooms and left for his meeting. About five minutes after he was gone, Charlie heard a knock at her door. She opened it to find Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor standing their with blankets, a few flashlights, and some books.
"What are you guys doing here?" She asked. "Solomon said we had to go straight to bed."
"We are. We're going to straight to your bed." Angel said. "He never said we had to go straight to our own beds."
"Not our fault if he wasn't specific enough." Vaggie said.
"I don't think we should be doing this." Charlie said. "You guys know how Solomon feels about us sharing a bed together. He says boys and girls shouldn't sleep together."
"Well we're not sleeping." Alastor said. "We're going to build a bed fort and read. Perfectly harmless."
"I still feel like we're going to get into trouble for this."
"Come on Charlie, lighten up." Angel said.
"Besides we brought one of your favorites. Charlotte's Web." Alastor said.
"But Al I thought you hated that book." She said. "You think it's a bad idea to humanize animals even in fiction, because you think it'll influence animal rights activists."
"Yeah but you like the book so I don't care."
"What do you have against animal rights activists anyway?" Vaggie asked him. "I think they're doing a noble cause."
"Me too." Angel said. "Pigs are people too."
"No they're not. They're pigs. I don't like them because they value animals over other beings like humans and demons."
"Pretty sure they don't even know demons are real." Angel said.
"Well either way there's a reason why we are at the top of the food chain and it's because we eat animals. We dominate them and we don't let them dominate us. It's the natural order of things."
"Ever hear of changing nature?" Vaggie asked.
"Ever hear of don't play God?"
"Oh boy here we go." Angel said rolling his eyes.
"Just because something is natural doesn't always mean it's good and that it shouldn't be changed."
"Well there are somethings in nature that shouldn't be changed. I'm all for evolution but there are somethings that just need to be left alone. Such as man on top and animal on the bottom."
"Oh man on top huh? And where does that leave the woman exactly?"
"I meant man as in human."
"Right." She said sarcastically. "I'm sure that you would definitely object to misogynistic views. Mr. Southern Gentleman."
"For the last time, being a gentleman and liking Southern culture does not mean I consider women inferior. My mother was Southern. It's in my genes."
"So you were born sexist?"
"You know I rue the day you discovered those suffrage books because ever since you read them, you've seen me as some kind of woman hater."
"Will you two stop it?" Charlie said. "If Blitzo hears you and finds us here, we'll get grounded. No more fighting, okay?"
When Solomon wasn't around, Charlie was the one who would settle the disputes between her friends. She opposed violence and conflict, always going out of her way to prevent both from taking place if possible. If the problem was meaningless like this one for instance, she would just remind everyone the insignificance of it. But if it was something important then she would try to make sure that a solution was found in which everyone's voices were heard.
An example of that occurred about a year ago, Vaggie had befriended a bird in the forest and she became very attached to it. Even build it a house to live in and she would spend hours sitting in the tree where it's house hung, listening to the bird sing and talking to it. But then one day an earthquake took place and it knocked over that tree while the bird was still in it's house. It lived but it's spine was broken, Vaggie was so sure that the bird could be healed but Alastor wasn't. He killed the bird to put it out of it's misery.
Vaggie was furious and certain that Alastor did it to be cruel. Alastor thought Vaggie was overreacting and defended that his actions were apart of life's natural order. Their group was compromised, Angel and Charlie had to take sides. Angel didn't want to get involved and was sure that everything would blow over eventually. Charlie on the other hand could see both sides of the story and wanted to clear up the misunderstandings before her friends did something they would regret.
Around this time Solomon had to take a trip to France to deal with an issue regarding a gargoyle and the kids were under Moxxie and Millie's care who did well at taking care of them but not so much at dealing with the four's relationships. So it was up to Charlie.
Moxxie and Millie helped her get Alastor and Vaggie into one room and when that was done Charlie insisted that they explain their feelings about what happened. She made Alastor realize how much he hurt Vaggie and he made Vaggie realize that Alastor meant no ill will toward her and sincerely thought he was doing the right thing. Things were still tense but they were at least civil to each other again. When Solomon returned he examined the bird's body and he informed Vaggie that the poor creature couldn't have been helped, but he also advised Alastor that he shouldn't have killed the bird without discussing it with Vaggie first. They both apologized and they both forgave one another.
"You have to admit Al." Charlie said reading the book. "It is pretty neat that a spider can spin a message into her web."
"Charlie that's fiction." He said. "It's not real. A spider can't actually do that."
"I bet I could." Angel said.
"No way." Vaggie said.
"I seriously doubt that." Alastor said.
"Really? Fine. I'll prove it to you." Angel stood up. "I'll spin a web and write a message into it."
"You can't do it in my room." Charlie said. "There's no room. The corners on the roof aren't big enough for you."
"Then I'll go outside and do it."
"Angel you know we're not allowed to leave the bureau after dark." Vaggie said. "Especially when Solomon isn't here."
"Technically we won't be leaving the bureau, We'll go up to the attic and I'll go out on the roof to do it."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Charlie said. "What happens if you fall?"
"Charlie I'm a spider demon, I won't fall. I'll spin a giant web and write my name in it."
"Oh I would love to see you try to accomplish that." Alastor said.
"Fine! Let's go."
"I really don't think this is a good idea." Charlie said.
"Yeah why don't we just here for the night?" Vaggie suggested.
But Alastor and Angel were already slipping out of the room and up the attic stairs.
"Angel is going to kill himself." Vaggie said. "Well it was nice knowing him."
"Maybe we should tell Blitzo." Charlie said.
"That'll probably get us all in trouble."
"But at least Angel won't be hurt."
"Okay I got idea. All go up there and try to stop them. If I'm not back in five minutes go tell Blitzo."
"Alright."
Vaggie went up to the attic and stuck her head out the open window. Looking upward, she saw Angel and Alastor both on the roof.
"Alastor what are you doing up there?" Vaggie asked. "Angel is the one who can spin a web not you."
"I wanted to get a better look." He replied.
"Get down from there you idiots!"
"In a minute." Angel said. "I'm about to start spinning."
"You bozos have about five minutes to come down or Charlie is going to tell Blitzo. Then Solomon will punish us and if I get punished because of you two, I'm going to throw you both from the roof!"
"Nag, nag, nag, who are you? My mother?"
"You wanna keep that head?!" She snarled. "I suggest you do what I say! You know I can hurt you Angel! Hurt you really bad!"
She gave him a seething glare and Angel gulped upon understanding her threat.
"Fine! We're coming!"
Angel easily climbed down from the roof and swing into the attic window. But when it was Alastor's turn to come down, his foot slipped and he started to slide down. He managed to stop himself by clinging to the roof but now he was dangling by one arm.
"Oh my God!" Vaggie screamed.
"Al! Are you okay? Don't let go!"
"Why on earth would I let go?!" Alastor responded.
But despite his sarcasm, Alastor was very scared at the moment. He was currently hanging ten feet above the ground and desperately trying to pull himself back up before his grip gave out.
"Don't panic Al!" Angel called. "I'll spin a web line and we'll pull you up!"
"How long will that take?!"
"I'll spin as fast as I can! Just hang on!"
He tried to hold on. He willed himself to hold on just long enough for Angel to throw a line to him. But the sweat and trembling caused by his fear were making his fingers loose.
Vaggie and the others didn't come back for more than five minutes so Charlie went to find Blitzo. As expected he was in the kitchen, raiding the ice box.
"Shit, where does Solomon keep the pickles?" He groaned.
"Um Blitzo." Charlie said.
"Ah!" He quickly slammed the fridge door shut. "I wasn't doing anything! You can't prove a thing!"
"Huh?"
"What are you doing up Charlie? You're supposed to be in bed."
"I know but Angel and Alastor are-"
Suddenly she found herself overcome with an intense amount of fear. Her body was trembling and she could feel sweat running down her forehead and hands. She was perfectly safe and secure where she was yet she couldn't shake the sensation that she was holding on for dear life. That her life was hanging by a thread.
"Charlie?" Blitzo asked. "Hey kid why are you looking at me like that?"
She wasn't really looking at him. She was looking at how her vision was changing. One minute she saw the kitchen table and fridge then in a flash she was looking down from a building.
"Charlie? Charlie?"
That's when she collapsed to the floor. Instant black out.
"Charlie!" Blitzo was at her side immediately and he tried to bring her back to consciousness. "Charlie! Charlie wake up!"
She didn't respond. Then he heard screaming. Screaming from the attic. He scooped up Charlie's body and went upstairs to discover Angel and Vaggie completely panic striken.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Blitzo demanded to know.
"Alastor fell off the roof!"
Angel pointed out the window and Blitzo looked down where Alastor now lay on the ground, motionless and with a bleeding gash on his forehead.
"Damn it! Vaggie call Solomon!" He shouted before going outside