School was over for the day, and the students were herded out of the front doors in an unusually expedited fashion. Not that any of them seemed to notice, as most of them were already eager to leave for the day. Amity stood beside Principal Bump, attracting attention from a few students with a passing curiosity as to why she was staying late. "I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow, students." Principal Bump said, wearing a fake smile and waving as though nothing was wrong. Amity, on the other hand, was barely holding her fear in and was holding her Style and Substance tome to her chest uncomfortably. There were notable students that Amity looked for in the crowd that were missing, and as the school doors closed for the day, she looked up at her Principal.
"What are we going to do?" she asked, biting her lip. "There's still students trapped inside."
"We…" Principal Bump replied, emphasizing the word. "Are doing nothing. I've contacted some exterminators to deal with the problem, and they assure me that they'll have this wrapped up by this evening with a minimum of property damage. Allowing students to solve these kinds of problems has proved surprisingly costly." he explained, leading her to his office. "Since you were the one that brought this to my attention though, I'll allow you to observe. I'm hoping that it will be a very boring night."
The pair stopped at the office door, Bump opening it with a wave of his finger to reveal five individuals inside dressed in various forms of armor and carrying an assortment of weapons. The largest one, a muscular demon with a hood, turned and narrowed his one uncovered eye at Amity. "You…"
Amity recognized him instantly from her trip through Latissa; the image of him glaring at her as the cable that had held down his prize whipped across his now covered eye. She grimaced and waved her fingers at him as she subtly hid behind Principal Bump. "You are here to perform a job, Demon Hunter. What issues you have with my students you can deal with once it's completed." the Principal said, staring down the demon twice his size and at least half his age.
The Demon Hunter growled, then turned to Principal Bump to address him. "We're professionals, Hieronymus. It won't be a problem." The other Demon Hunters, a purple haired witch and a bulbous green skinned demon with tiny tusks jutting out of his lower jaw were both wearing leather armor covered in pouches. She recognized both of them from her encounter in Latissa as well, but the other two were new.
"Be sure that it isn't, Goreman. Now then, who is it you've been adventuring with lately?" Bump asked, looking over the other members of the extermination squad.
Goreman, the lead Demon Hunter with the eye patch, green skin, and mouth full of fangs turned to the purple haired witch beside him. "Viscous and Tom have been with me for awhile now." he said, gesturing to the witch and the green, bulbous demon respectively. "Ticks and Mudson are new to the group, but they know what they're doing. This shouldn't take long."
"Is this another Bug Demon hunt, sir?" Mudson asked, a cocky grin on his wide mouth. He was the shortest of the five with a wiry frame, three bright blue eyes that contrasted against his red, scaled skin, and a pair of gnarled horns that stretched from his brow back over his head.
"Lock it away, Mudson." Ticks hissed through his enlarged jaw. He appeared to be a hybrid demon with a large muscular furred torso with short legs that would probably allow him to run on all four limbs as well as he could two. Both of them were wearing impressive looking armor; Mudson with a large sword on his back similar to Goreman's, and Ticks carried an assortment of shorter blades sheathed around his body. "It's game time."
"Don't worry, Hieronymus. We'll have your little pixie problem cleaned out by dinner time." Goreman assured him in his deep, gravelly voice. Principal Bump and Amity moved to the side to let him through the door with his entourage close behind him.
Principal Bump closed the door behind them, then approached his desk. With a snap of his fingers, the crystal ball on his desk instantly began to glow. "We can watch their progress from here." he said, the glowing fog in the orb clearing to show the five Demon Hunters marching through the hall to the Abomination Classroom where Amity had last encountered the infestation. "Fortunately, Goreman owes me a favor from when he attended Hexside himself, but I'll still need to shuffle some of the funds I managed to secure from the Coven Inspection."
"I guess networking really can be important, huh?" Amity asked, thinking back to what her mother said about attending Grom. She took a seat across from the principal, anxiously watching the crystal ball.
"While I can't officially comment on the values of friendship with your fellow students, I can say that some connections are worth maintaining for the sake of future opportunities." Principal Bump said. "Now quiet, please. The exterminators are nearing the classroom."
Amity nodded, focusing on the orb again as the demon hunters drew their weapons. She watched Mudson draw a circle in the air, and an abomination rose from the floor to join them. "Pawn, move ahead." the demon ordered, and the abomination moved to the front of the group.
"He named his abomination Pawn?" Amity whispered.
"I didn't hire them for their imagination." Principal Bump admitted.
Pawn reached for the door, causing Amity to tense up in anticipation. "No signs of any kids." Goreman said, peaking over Pawn's shoulder as the abomination moved into the classroom. The multicolored tendrils that Amity saw were still there, and a low groan could be heard from inside. "Mudson, check it out."
Mudson directed his abomination further into the room where Amity's was, cocooned in a rainbow of webbing that would almost be cute if it wasn't so terrifying. It groaned again. "What the heck?" Ticks asked, a pair of short blades in his hands as he moved into the room after Goreman. "You ever see anything like this?"
"These aren't your garden variety pixies, sir." Mudson said, moving toward the entwined abomination. Amity watched as her abomination looked up at him with its usual scowl; it's three black and yellow eyes sagging regretfully.
"If I was closer I could control it." Amity said, looking up at Principal Bump as though looking for permission.
"Hey! Keep this scrying connection clear!" Goreman ordered. "Mudson, Ticks; secure that abomination. Viscous, Tom; with me." Goreman said, gesturing to the next door down the hall.
Mudson, Ticks, and Pawn began slicing away the webbing that was holding the abomination, the two demons clearly disturbed by their surroundings. Amity's bound abomination began to gurgle and bubble, it's surface beginning to split. "Whoa! Something's going on here!" Ticks shouted, backing off while Pawn and Mudson continued to work. The abomination started to convulse, and purple goop spewed out of the cracks in its body, causing Amity to jump back from the scrying orb.
Ticks and Mudson began shouting as a mass of color and loud screeching and buzzing emanated from the crystal ball. Principal Bump leaned forward in concern, trying to shout over the chaos that had suddenly come about. "Goreman! What's going on over there?!"
Goreman could be heard breathing heavily as he, Tom, and Viscous ran back down the hall to where he had left the rest of his team. "I knew we shouldn't have split the party!" Tom shouted from the back of the small group. As they reached the door of the abomination classroom again, swirls of color were swarming out of it. Pinks, bright blues, soft purples, and orange pixies moved like a cloud as they faced the three demon hunters.
"Viscous, light'em up!" Goreman shouted, conjuring a barrier around himself and diving into the room, brandishing his sword.
"Let's rock!" The purple haired witch shouted as she lifted a long, black scaled dragon looking creature with tiny wings and a helmet, whose narrow neck was connected to a body that was holding on to her back with its claws and a tail that wrapped around her waist. Viscous squeezed its neck with both hands, expelling bright orange flame out of its fanged mouth that engulfed the cloud of fae creatures. "Oh yeah. Smells like cinnamon!"
The cloud dissolved like burning tissue paper, and Tom moved into the room behind Goreman with the stock of his crossbow pressed against his shoulder. "Ticks! Mudson?!" Goreman shouted, straining to repel the cloud of pixies that were battering his barrier spell.
"I'm here!" Mudson's muffled voice called. Pawn had engulfed him in a protective bubble of abomination ooze, and Goreman pressed through the swarm to get to him. "I've never seen pixies act like this, man! It's game over for us, man! Game over!"
Goreman punched through the abomination shell and pulled Mudson into his barrier. "Pull yourself together! They're just pixies!" he shouted.
Tom could be seen sarcastically mouthing the same phrase behind him. "You said that about children too." he added.
Viscous continued to clean up the colorful cloud of pixies outside the room, and the swarm inside seemed to instantly vanish with a high pitched scream, retreating into the vents and numerous holes in the walls that they had created until the demon hunters were all that was left in the room. "Ticks?!" Goreman shouted.
"I don't see him!" Tom replied, looking about the room. The tendrils of candy colored webbing was everywhere. "Ticks?"
"They couldn't have… you know, y'think?" Mudson asked.
"There would be something left if they ate him. They aren't Tooth Fairies." Goreman said, pulling Mudson up onto his feet. "They took him somehow. Heironymus? You see all that?"
Principal Bump leaned forward, sweat beading on his forehead. "I did. What is your plan now?"
"What's my plan?" he asked. "I recommend that you burn this entire school to the ground. It's the only way to be sure."
"That's hardly an option." Principal Bump replied dryly. "Besides, the school has been locked down. We don't need this mess getting outside and into the press. You told me you could clean this up."
"Well someone forgot to mention that these aren't your regular pixies. They're organized. Efficient. It's like they've been trained to work with each other."
Amity's eyes widened and she bit her lip. "Uhm, sir? I think I know what might have caused this." she said, gaining the principal's attention. "Boscha bought a pixie employee from McClauneck's and left him in the Beast Keeping zoo with the other pixies. Since last week."
"Are you saying we are dealing with a pixie infestation that's had a week in a contained environment with no predators and is lead by a corporate trained fry jockey?" Goreman asked into the air. "So what are they doing with my missing crew?"
Principal Bump looked to Amity and frowned, gesturing for her to speak. "Uhm, that does seem like the situation, yeah." she said nervously. "Actually, I haven't seen Boscha since lunch, which is odd."
"Hey boss," Tom said, kneeling down to pick something up off of the floor. "I've got some of Tick's fur on the stone work here." he said, gesturing for Goreman to investigate what he'd found.
"Heironymus, it looks like they took Ticks through the vents." the Demon Hunter said, looking down at the hole in the wall where Tom was kneeling. Tufts of Tick's dark fur were caught on the sharp corners of the vent that had been pushed out, and Goreman cautiously ducked down to look inside. "How did they even drag him through there?"
"You see that?" Tom asked, reaching into the vent and pulling out a sheet of parchment that had been folded over several times. Unfolding the note, he read it aloud. "Now we have one of yours. Ha ha ha."
"They're taking hostages?" Goreman asked in surprise. "Where do these vents lead? There's no way we'd be able to get all of our crew through there." he noted, clearly uneasy with how this job was progressing. "We need someone smaller. We're heading back to regroup. Tom, Mudson, Viscous, form up."
"Boss? I'm not seeing Viscous." Mudson said, poking his head through the door.
Goreman rushed to meet him, looking either direction down the hall. At his feet was the drake thrower that Viscous had been wielding, now snoring soundly. Mudson knelt down, rubbing some sparkling powder between his fingers that was scattered on the floor around the beast. "Sleeping nettles."
"Mudson, stow that drake thrower. Tom, on me. Pawn, cover our backs. We're heading back to the office. Double time!" Goreman ordered. Mudson collected the snoozing drake in his arms and began sprinting with the rest of the squad back to Principal Bump's office.
Amity and Principal Bump watched the four figures retreat back to the office in awkward silence for a long minute before Amity finally spoke up. "By 'someone smaller', he meant me, didn't he?" she said, clutching the hem of her shirt. She had dealt with monsters of the Boiling Isles before; even a slitherbeast not that long ago. Everyone had. There was always one fluttering about with gnashing fangs trying to steal your skin or suck your blood or eat your brains, or just trying to make an honest living like Boscha's pixie. But this was different. What were they taking people for? What did they want?
Goreman crashed through the door, breathing heavily as the remainder of his crew followed him in with Pawn standing guard outside. He slammed the door once Tom and Mudson were in, and glared at Principal Bump. "Our cost just went up, Heironymus."
His attempts at intimidating the principal fell flat however as Bump stood up and crossed his arms behind his back. "We can renegotiate once you display any progress in dealing with the problem, Gummer."
Tom snickered from the back and Amity raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. "Your name is Gummer Goreman?" she asked. He growled at her in response, but she held her ground beside Principal Bump.
"If the pixies are taking people, there has to be a reason. Chances are, they've got some of your missing kids, as well as two of my people." Goreman said. "They also have access to sleeping nettles. Where would they have gotten that from?"
"The plant track homeroom is the only place such a thing is stored, although the Oracle track does use it for advanced meditations due to its potential for greater dream clarity." Principal Bump explained, grabbing Amity's attention. She hadn't known that…
"Until I get my people back, I'm not going to use the drake thrower…" Goreman began until Principal Bump interrupted.
"Until all the students are safe as well, you mean." he said, glaring at the demon hunter.
"Right." Goreman replied, clearly having no compunctions about clearing the pixies out once his crew was secured. Amity had to wonder if the pixies knew that they wouldn't be safe from them without their two newest assets.
Principal Bump had fished an ancient parchment detailing the floorplan of Hexside out of his cabinet, and a plan was made over the last few hours while Amity paced the room. If she had any plans to go home that night, she realized that she should have put them into motion when the rest of the students and faculty left. Now, the school was locked down by Principal Bump's magic, with glowing red hexes on every window, door, and archway. Unfortunately, the runes had never been applied to the insides of the stone walls where the heat from the great furnace deep in the bowels of the school was distributed to each room. Keeping the pixies contained to any area of the school was being problematic.
On top of that, Amity had missed dinner at home, and her mother was already furious that she hadn't checked in. "Mom," she whispered. "I'm just… studying with Skara tonight." she lied with a grimace. If she found out what was really going on at the school, she'd likely call in the Emperor's Coven to deal with it, resulting in Principal Bump likely being fired.
"Are you sure? You sound stressed." Odalia replied. Amity couldn't help but wonder what it was like to be some other teen that could actually get away with anything.
"Mom, I'm fine." she continued. "It's getting late. I'll probably stay over and come… er, go to school from there… here." she growled at herself. "Sorry. I'm just… distracted with this homework."
"Very well." Odalia said, the pink pendant around Amity's neck glowing a rhythmic pulse as her mother spoke. "Next time, I expect to be informed well in advance of these decisions of yours."
Amity let out a sigh. "Yes, mom."
"Oh, and should you see your brother and sister, tell them to return home as well."
"Wait. Ed and Em aren't home?"
"No, and if I hear that they've been cutting classes again, you can let them know that they'll be grounded until Unity Day!" Odalia replied angrily.
Amity could feel the blood drain from her face at the idea that her siblings were still stuck in the school as well. "Uhm, will do." she said, realizing that she was still pacing.
"Can you keep that kid still?" Goreman growled at Principal Bump, everyone growing more irritable as time went on. Mudson was snoring in one of the high backed chairs in the room while Tom was watching Principal Bump and Goreman speak over the map.
"I am not 'some' kid!" Amity retorted. "I am a Blight!"
Goreman rolled his uncovered eye and shoved himself away from the principal's desk to face her. "Oh! A Blight!" he mocked. "Well la-dee-freakin'-dah. What good does that make you right now, huh? You feel like being a hero?"
Amity narrowed her eyes at the large demon; an ingrained reaction to defend her family name overriding her usual habit of flight versus fight. "Maybe I will!" she shot back. "I mean, do!" she added, blushing in embarrassment at becoming flustered. She twirled a finger, magically sweeping the parchment from the table and rolling it up to tuck it under her arm.
"Now wait just a moment!" Principal Bump said, extending a long, knobby finger. "I can't in good conscience allow you to go alone, Ms. Blight. Frankly, your mother would have my head if something happened to you."
"Abomination, rise." she said, summoning a new abomination from the floor of the office and commanding it to tear the vent cover off of the duct. She heaved a sigh and looked down the channel with apprehension. She was terrified of having to go in there alone, and if the adults in the room with her spent any more time trying to talk her out of it, she was sure she'd back down. "Maybe we can consider it extra credit?"
Goreman growled. "Fine. We'll draw them away from you while you find Ticks and Viscous and get them out."
"And the missing students." Principal Bump corrected.
"Ed and Em might be in there somewhere too." Amity said, starting to crawl into the venting duct behind her abomination to hide her watering eyes. "I'm going to find everyone."