We exited the basement the proper way by taking the stairs to the ground floor corridor. The highly polished walls were empty while the moon shone through the high-ceiling windows to our side.

I heard the scream again. It was screeching, the voice almost bird-like and reminded me of Mrs. Crenshaw. Mrs. Crenshaw was my least favorite teacher. She was an arbitrary and pathetic bully who abused her power. She regularly gave people detention for the pettiest reason and threw dice to determine people's grades, but she didn't deserve death. No-one did.

"So, you're saying every myth is true?" Isa asked. "Not just horror movie stuff, but also gods and magic and-"

"Everything," I said.

"Don't tell me you're the one having doubts now?" Simon asked.

"I mean, I can buy spirits in the attic and all," Isa said. "But the bigger stuff seems weird. You're saying this guy can make a storm? How?"

"The Wild Hunt happened before," I said. "Odin did it. Some even say the Devil did it. It's nature in its most untamed form!"

"And how do you know this?" Isa said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, people ignore the small stuff all the time. But you're saying he's going to bust this whole town?"

"More than that," I said. "We have a letter-ranking system for these crises and this one might kill the northeast part of this country!"

"And you said you heard a scream?" Isa asked.

"Yes," I said. "It's right here, just heard it again."

"Okay," Isa said. "I heard nothing."

I whipped around.

Simon's face was just as blank and uncomprehending as Isa's. "I can't hear the scream either," he said.

Evil Siris. She had a voice, she could speak to me in my mind, and if she wanted to, she could make me hear screams that weren't real. I heard her giggling, laughing voice in my mind, assuming I wasn't imagining it all, to begin with. She was playing tricks with me. Trying to make me seem mad so that nobody took my warning seriously.

"Marissa, is everything fine with you?" Isa asked. "I mean, I don't think your lying. But if you're hearing weird voices in your head, I'm not sure the others will take your warnings seriously."

"And what if I'm right?" I asked. "What if I'm right and we didn't do our best to stop everyone?"

"I- I guess you're right."

"Come!" I said.

The gym was close enough that I heard the sounds of the song "Creepy Doll" by Jonathan Coulton humming through them. Once the doors opened, we were greeted by banners of bats, witches, ghosts, and other Halloween creatures decorating the walls above the punch stand. It was an evening turbulent enough to wash away any worries that the world might end soon. Some students brought tuxedos and dresses while others remained in their Halloween costumes. I had avoided school dances as a matter of habit as they always felt like a straight-people-only club. It thus came as a surprise that not everyone had a date. Not that anyone looked bothered. The cheerleaders and the football team of Sleepy Hollow High School stayed even after the homecoming game to celebrate with us Summer High students.

I felt so naked. I forgot my beauty potion for today. Even ignoring Isa's pretty red dress, I had to compare myself to the cheerleaders nearby.

Three girls, in particular, caught my eye. Two of them were Sleepy Hollow High School cheerleaders I recognized from the field, although their costumes obscured their looks.

One was a blonde, athletic girl about as tall as Simon who wore a "Daddy's Lil Monster" shirt and pig-tailed hair that evoked Harley Quinn's Suicide Squad-era looks for her Halloween costume. Although, if you asked me, she looked way too nice to make it work. I didn't believe her for a second that she'd actually swing that bat she brought along.

Next to her was another Sleepy Hollow High School cheerleader. A soft-faced brunette with eyeliner, rounded eyes sagging at the corner, and a black bodice dress meant to evoke a goth-y look. She looked a little more creepy than the other girl, if only because of the makeup that successfully made her face look like a skull.

Those two didn't interest me so much. The girl that caught my eye most was a Japanese-American girl who most definitely wasn't a cheerleader. Maybe it was the fact that she copy-pasted my Halloween costume by going as a witch in a black robe. Maybe it was the purple-dyed, shoulder-length hair framing her face like curtains and the silly shades that gave her an edgy look. Or maybe it was just her grin stretching from one ear to the next that she gave as she saw me.

Jaclyn Miki was here. The same Jaclyn who thought of those without magical abilities beneath her had nonetheless come with the students of Sleepy Hollow.

I flushed at the sight of her watching me. Passages of Carrie already bubbled in the dark cauldron of my mind. Her presence wasn't good. In theory, I could explain the coming crisis to her and she should understand. But she followed the Veil. And, like a lot of practitioners, she probably had the patronizing attitude that keeping people in the dark was the best.

Isa winked the brunette. "Cool costume!"

"Thanks," she said. "Like yours, too. It's like a vampire ready to bite the night."

Isa mimicked a vampire hiss, showing her teeth. "I'm Isa by the way. Those two are Marissa and Simon."

"Hi, Marissa!" the girl said. "I'm Rose and those two are Blossom and Jaclyn."

I winked at them. Oh dear, time to get social again with people I didn't know. Here was my plan: I had to persuade Rose, Blossom, and as many other people as possible to help me create a circle around the gym with the iron nails in Simon's backpack. Yet, I didn't know how to break the ice. I needed a way to start the conversation without sounding weird.

Simon suddenly arrived with a punch in his hand and offered it to Blossom.

"That's very nice of you," Blossom said. "Why are you carrying such a heavy bag? We're here to dance."

"I-it's a workout!" he improvised.

"You're really strong if you can carry such a bag, then," Jaclyn said.

Simon blushed. Oh no. Don't fall for it. You're being used because she thinks I came with you and she wants to make me jealous. Now really isn't the time to start picking up chicks!

"Thanks," he said. "I like your costume, especially the shades."

Jaclyn cringed mildly. "They aren't part of the 'costume', but thanks."

"You mean, you wear them because-"

"I don't see so well, yes."

I admit I didn't know that, but I did sometimes see her familiar read stuff out for her. Innocently insensitive remarks weren't unusual for Simon. Let's hope he realized his dating attempts weren't working. Get back to business!

"But, really," Rose said. "What on Earth are you carrying for your 'workout'?"

"Stuff for a spell!" I blurted out.

"A spell?" Jaclyn asked.

"A spell?" Simon repeated, dropped his bag, and looked at Blossom. "I-I have no idea what she's talking about!"

"Do you believe in magic?" I asked. "Like, really dark magic?"

"Dark magic is a bit like exercise," Rose said. "At first, it hurts your body, but in the long run, it can be really good. That's my opinion at least."

"Maybe," I said, "but there are also people who use it for bad."

"Are you a Wiccan or something?" the blonde girl, Blossom, asked. "I mean, not trying to judge you for your religion, but this seems a bit far-fetched."

"It is," Jaclyn said. "There're tons of people of dubious sanity with good special effects knowledge. You need to be gullible to believe those videos. With the right setting and effort, I could probably convince you guys that I'm a witch or something similarly silly."

Funny.

"But dark magic's real!" I said. "And we can cast a protective spell if we take the nails in my friend's back and distribute them around the entire gym."

Jaclyn crossed her arms. "I think I'd like to talk to this Marissa under four eyes if that's okay."

There's a thing TV shows never tell you about high school dances: They aren't orderly. There was plenty of bumping and grinding as I struggled to make it past my classmates. Jaclyn didn't nearly struggle that much. I wasn't sure how, but she was far better at predicting where to expect students as if she had a radar for that. She avoided them with the elegance of a snake meandering through a thick forest. At the stand in the corner, Jaclyn took a punch glass before shrouding us two under a veil of pixie glamour.

Her costume looked better than mine. It was essentially just her apprentice robe, much like what I was wearing, but hers was more form-fitting, less of a lump of cloth, and included purple-edged white lace patterns that twinkled in the light like her makeup. Speaking of it, her make-up itself was well-applied enough that it covered any kind of zits she might've still had. The contrast was startling. Her appearance had decorum behind it, mine did not.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Jaclyn asked me.

I shoved the Erlking's parchment straight into her face. "Trying to save us! What are you doing here?"

She pushed the parchment away. "Having fun. Such an alien concept? Guess I've gotta give you some credit for being confident enough to show up with someone prettier than you."

Was she talking about Isa? I took a glass of punch to calm down, careful not to make my next question sound more aggressive than I intended. "I thought you hated the non-magical people?" I asked. "And me for being only a half-witch."

She drank her punch. "My friends do. I only hate you for being an attention whore."

"Then, why do you let them get away with their hatred?"

"Why should I? It's not like my Dad ever worked at Sleepy Hollow's ley line where some mundies picked on me because I couldn't read stuff like that," she pointed at my parchment. "Even my friends would probably laugh at me if I hadn't learned to sense people's life energy to make up for that."

"You've got terrible friends then," I said.

"Life isn't a picnic!" she said. "How 'bout you tell me the point of your stunt? Any need to publicly announce your next spell?"

I showed her the parchment again and summarized its contents. "Have your familiar read this out to you if you don't believe me! We'll all die if you don't help me now to set up a ward now! This town is cursed."

Jaclyn folded her arms. "Why do you think I came here? You know, besides my boyfriend playing football here."

"Jaclyn!" I said. "Will you help me now or not?"

"Why should I? We have authorities for that. I suppose you told people?"

"I told Marco!"

Jaclyn sighed. "It's the full moon tonight, idiot! He can't control himself."

The color drained from my face.

Jaclyn checked her messages. "Count yourself lucky that he contacted others. Thanks to your idiocy, help won't arrive in time! Do you enjoy fighting alone? You couldn't bring a boy prettier than Wizard Turtle Backpack Who Can't Talk To Cheerleaders and now you want to play the cool outcast who-"

"Stop. Wasting. Time!" I yelled. "We could've prepared the iron nail circle three times had you buried this petty drama!"

It was at this point that my necklace's pendant glowed, showing monsters.

Jaclyn grumbled. "I suppose there are times when we have to step in ourselves," she admitted.