Page 41 of Monster's Melody

“You did the right thing, Ms.Mitchell,” Headmistress Blackthorn said, which was when I realized there were a lot more people in the library than when I’d been snatched from it.

Professors were standing everywhere, tight, worried looks on their faces.

“She’s right.”I reached out to pet the tattoo of Miki’s snout that was now on Mikaela’s arm.“Thanks for trying to save me, Miki-Leopard.”

“If you’re feeling up to it, Ms.O’Donnell, we’d like to hear what happened,” Headmistress Blackthorn said.

I felt Vorzak stiffen behind me, so I glanced back at him and murmured, “Help me up?”

He had a stark look on his face and I remembered the way he’d looked when the shadows had taken me.

Stricken.

“I’m okay, I promise.”

He swallowed, then nodded.

His snakes slowly retracted, nudging me in affection along the way, then he helped me to my feet and led me to a table that was bigger than the one we’d been sitting at before.

We’d just reached the table when shadows exploded from the corner of the room, making me jump and others cry out in surprise.

The shadows coalesced into Kasi, Jahrdran and Shadow, who found themselves facing off against the majority of Blackthorn Academy staff.

“We couldn’t—” Kasi broke off as she caught sight of me.“Jasmine.”She shoved her way through the crowd of professors to get to me.“You’re okay?”

I nodded, then about fell over in shock when Kasi flung herself at me and hugged me tight.“I couldn’t find you,” she muttered in my ear.“You just weren’t there.”

“He must have thrown me out right when you came to find me.”

She nodded jerkily, then pulled back, quickly wiping away a few tears.“I was so worried.”

“We all were,” Mikaela said.

“You’re okay, though?”Kasi asked.

“I am.I promise.”Once we were all settled at the table, I explained what had happened in the Shadow Realm.

“He just threw you out?”Kasi asked incredulously.

I nodded.“I screamed and there was a bright light and then he threw me out.”

“There was light in the Shadow Realm?”she repeated.

“We know light causes him pain,” Professor Fotheringham said, “so it makes sense that he would throw you out.”

“Yes, but the Shadow Realm’s different,” Kasi said impatiently.“It’s one thing to use light to fight him in this realm, but light just doesn’t exist in the Shadow Realm.”

“Which makes no sense,” I pointed out.“Shadows only exist when there’s light.”

“Don’t try to understand it,” Jahrdran said.“It’ll just make you crazy.”

“I’ve already added using light as a weapon to my defense modules,” Fotheringham said.“But if light doesn’t exist in the Shadow Realm, I’m not sure how that will help students if they’re dragged there.”

“There may not be any light to wield as a weapon inside the Shadow Realm,” Blackthorn said, “but if our students know how to summon it from somewhere else, the way it sounds like Jasmine did with her voice, they may still be able to use it against him.”

Fotheringham nodded.“I’ll focus our efforts on summoning spells then.At the very least, it will give them a fighting chance in this realm.”

“Is there no way we can keep him out?”Puddlemoan burst out from where he was standing by the door, scowling.“It just seems an Academy full of monsters and magic-wielders should be able to keep one killer at bay.”