Pantheo High: Enrollment

Planning, Talking, and more Talking

Psyche stares at them in disbelief, as if she just saw the most messed up movie on repeat. She then looked at them, thinking they must probably be the dumbest group of students to ever live.

Psyche: So, let me get this straight: your job was to shoo a cat, but instead of calling animal control, you summoned a giant killer Shih Tzu to do the job for you and ended up with an even bigger problem. Am I leaving out anything?

Bragi puts aside his guitar as he clears his throat.

Bragi: Look, even if we did call animal control, it would've made a big scene. I mean, guys in uniforms catching a potentially harmful monster inside a school? Nobody needs that kind of press.

Rose: Until now.

Bragi: Shut up.

Loki raises his hand as if he was in class.

Loki: And you left out the part where I cast Hagalaz. I mean, that's gotta count for something, right?

Bragi snorts.

Bragi: Your spell did nothing. And if your neat little tornado spell can't do anything to 'em, neither can any of our spells. Not mine, not Loki's, not even Rose's, and he only knows one spell. Well, technically, he doesn't know any spells.

Psyche looks at Rose in confusion. Rose shrugs and smiles a bit.

Psyche: Then what's with the... Yknow??

She puts her arms forward and starts waving them. Rose removes his blazer and rolls up his sleeves to show cylindrical, green crystal armbands. Inside of them were these tiny brown seeds that lined up in the center.

Rose: Not much, really. They're rose seeds: grown from the garden of the Hesperides. Just enforce your will and it'll grow into whatever shape is necessary.

Psyche smiles a bit.

Psyche: Neat.

Loki clears his throat.

Loki: Um, guys? Elephant in the room?

Psyche shakes her head.

Psyche: Right. Continue.

Bragi stared at his guitar, almost as if he was trying to find an answer in it.

Bragi: There must be something we can do to get rid of it. A spell, an attack. Seriously, I'm all ears.

Psyche looks at all three of them. Loki seems to be the most skilled in magic, with Bragi being in second. Rose... doesn't seem to do a lot. But then, what can you do, when you don't have magic? Psyche then points to Rose.

Psyche: Hold on. Rose, you mentioned a summoning circle, right?

Rose: Yes, but we don't really have that anymore. Big magic dog covered it up, remember?

Psyche: I know, but can you make a summoning circle to send it back?

Rose looks to Loki for an answer, who responds with an exasperated sigh.

Loki: We'll need the school garden, for more natural power. And we still need to keep our furball friend at bay.

Bragi: We also need to lure the thing out in the open to do so.

A muffled roar could be heard in the background, as the bookshelves and the floor shook. Chandeliers swung from side to side and books fell off the shelves, raining on the four as they curled up and covered their heads with their hands. Except for Bragi, who covered himself under the sturdy frame of his guitar/ax. Once the rumbling stopped, the four popped up their heads from the sea of books.

Rose: Any volunteers?

Loki scoffed.

Loki: You haven't done anything! Why don't you handle this?!

Rose unrolls his sleeves and puts his blazer back on.

Rose: Sure.

Loki: This is exactly why every plan always goes to-Wait, what?

Rose nods.

Rose: I'll do it. I'll track down the beast and lure it to you.

Loki squints his eyes in suspicion.

Loki: I'm not buying it. This is a trick, right?

Rose chuckles.

Rose: No tricks. I'll go. But, you'll need someone to help you with making the circle again. It took you hours to make one.

Psyche's eyebrows furrow as she thought the plan through.

Psyche: I think me and Loki can handle setting up the circle. I made one as a project once, so I think it's best we help.

Loki smiles and nods to Psyche.

Loki: Alright! All we need is a helping hand for distracting the Foo Dog. Bragi?

The three turn their heads to him as Bragi lazily raises his hand.

Bragi: Alright, I guess we're luring a puppy now.

Suddenly, the floor trembled again, making the four stay low. Psyche got on her knees and hands, crawling out of the bookshelf hall and out into the reading area, where chairs and tables riddled the area. The three of them look at her crawl through as the chandeliers swung back and forth, its light moving around like a disco. The other three follow behind and crawl through, with Bragi slinging his guitar on his back. As they near the exit, two chandeliers above them snap from their chains. As they fell, Bragi rolls to his back and screams. The other three cover their ears and curl up as Bragi's sonic scream shattered the chandeliers into a million pieces: crystal, metal, and all. Bragi lies flat on his stomach as the shards bounce off of his leather jacket. The four of them get up and brush themselves of glass shards as they look around and covered their noses with their jackets. Loki looked at Psyche with a quizzical look.

Loki: Why did we crawl in the first place?

Psyche: So, the Foo Dog won't hear us?

Then, faint barking resonated from the hallway. Psyche, Bragi Loki, and Rose hunch down on instinct. Once the barking faded, they got up. The four of them look around to see all the broken glass, littered on the floor like deadly grass blades. They started to walk carefully through the floor of broken glass, avoiding the big shards as every step made a weirdly satisfying crunch. Once they got to the doors, Bragi and Loki opened them to show the second floor.

It was in the shape of a hollowed-out rectangle, with the center leading straight down to the first floor. Right in the middle is the giant crystal chandelier. As it shines with a dull, clear light, Loki ground the glass off his boots. Psyche looked back at the library, littered with metal and glass dust. Bragi sighed as he saw the destruction.

Psyche: I'm guessing we'll have to pay for this.

Rose: No kidding.

Bragi looks through his pockets. 

Bragi: Great. As if student debt isn't bad enough.

Loki snaps.

Loki: Hey!!! Giant dog on the loose?!

Rose clears his throat.

Rose: R-right. Follow me. 

The three follow rose as he takes a right and goes down the stairs leading to the exit. Right at the back of the exit, is the back doors to the covered court.

Bragi: So, just to recap: Me and Rose will go find the Foo Dog and bring it to the school garden, while you and Psyche will go make a reverse summoning circle to bring it back to whatever hellhole it came from. Am I leaving anything out?

Psyche: Nope. Nothing at all.

Rose looks at Psyche with confusion, raising his eyebrow.

Rose: You know you can leave, right? This isn't your fight.

Psyche: I know.

Loki nods hastily.

Loki: Look, take my advice: Run away and don't look back. You did a brave thing just being around us, but if you value your safety, run.

Psyche gave them a half-smile, while shrugging.

Psyche: I know.

Rose, Bragi and Loki give each other uneasy looks.

Bragi: Alright. Your funeral. Good luck, you two.

Psyche: Shouldn't we be telling you that?

Rose wraps his arm around the back of Bragi's neck and smiles.

Rose: Oh, don't worry about us. We always come out alive.

Bragi: Barely.

Rose: Alive's alive. Now cheer up, we got a monster to hunt.

The four separate into twos: Rose and Bragi running back inside the covered court, while Loki and Psyche open the doors and run out into the open field.