Here's another installment of the book. VERY fun chapter! Dragons, surprises and more. Next chapter in TWO weeks time. I need to prepare a chapter for the WATTPAD block party and plot a short story that's going to be published. No pressure! Thanks for reading. :)

The beast jammed its scaly snout through the cracked tiles and broken floorboards, sending pieces of rubble in the air. Jake jumped to one side, and I lurched to the other, avoiding the flying debris from smacking me in the head.

I chuckled and held the sword tight in my grasp. "How is that hunk of wood going to hurt you?"

Jake watched the chunk of floorboard roll through his foot to a stop. "I'm just getting used to my superpowers, cut me some slack."

The wyndham sniffed in my direction, peeled back its weathered lips and snarled, showing off its carnivorous teeth.

"Nice smile, but your breath?" I waved my hand in front of my nose. "A crate of mints wouldn't cure that stench."

"What did that thing have for breakfast? Rotten eggs?" Jake covered his nose.

"You can smell that?"

He nodded.

"Then its still tethered to the astral plane. So don't go—"

"Near it?" Jake backed up a couple of steps, still holding his nose. "I'm not going to object to that request."

I was going to say, don't go acting like Spiderman. But if he could smell it, that meant that thing could kill on either plane. We had to get it off this one, pronto.

"You got it." I tapped my sword against a metal desk leg, trying to get its attention.

The beast thrust its entire head through the hole and gnashed its teeth. It wore the room like a poncho, with the busted floorboards circling its neck.

"Do you have a death wish?" Jake tossed his hands in the air. "That thing has teeth as long as my arm—and it looks hungry. Why are we here?"

The wyndham jerked its garnet colored muzzle in Jake's direction, then using its legs, it pushed the opening wider. The floor shook and cracked beneath us. With busted joists flying through the air and the loud groaning pipes protesting, the floorboards weren't going to hold it back much longer.

"We can't let that thing roam the school eating students, can we?"

"No. But why can't someone else handle this thing," he protested. "I don't want you hurt, or worse."

The beast's piercing eyes narrowed and stared at Jake.

"Do you see anyone else around?" I whispered. "Now, be quiet—it senses you're here."

"So. What does that matter? What's it going to do, kill me twice?"

Yes. I belted the side of my blade against the desk, making it clang and vibrate in my hands. "Wyndhams are only interested in one thing—hunting for its next meal."

Breaking a few more boards, it launched at me attempting to get its jaws around me.

Leaping back, I swung my sword and struck its thick armored hide surrounding its skull. "Give you one guess what it eats."

"That thing eats ghosts?" He picked up a desktop that had broken free of its legs and tossed it at the beast's head.

"Spirits, hellhounds, demons... Pretty much anything it can catch. They aren't all that picky. But if it was a choice between you and a garm?"

The creature pushed against the floor, making it bounce, and I staggered to steady myself. "You might actually live. Those smelly, hairy beasts are like catnip to wyndhams. If they manage to kill one, they'll roll in the acidic garm goo for days, licking every disgusting drop from the rocks surrounding their kill."

"Where was this thing last night when we needed him?" Jake hollered over the busted pipes spraying water all over the room.

The dragon roared at Jake, and he shoved a desk into its open jaws. It crushed the desk into pieces, then thrashed the hole wider.

"Jake, you're brilliant!" I chucked a piece of floor tile at the wyndham's lemon-colored eye, knowing my sword would have little effect on the thicker parts of its hide. "I've got an idea, but you'll need to get my jeans from my room."

"A wardrobe change? Now?"

I hacked the blade across its scaly snout—still, not even a scratch. The creature spat a stream of flames, and I hit the floor. I was fine, but the flaming chalkboard behind me wouldn't be the same. I never liked math anyway.

"They have garm goo on them."

The wyndham broke free of the floorboards below and scrambled to pull onto the second floor. Jake's eyes widened at the sight of the towering fire-breathing inferno.

"Jake snap out of it. Go!"

"Gladly." He turned on his heels and ran through the wall.

That's my hero. "Guess it's just you and me princess," I whispered.

The wyndham's black lips spread, releasing a sulfur retching roar.

Is it too late to add a gas mask to the list of items I want for protection? "Okay, not a girl." I held my sword high between us.

It swung its barbed, pointed tail in my direction and I jumped on a desk, leaped into the air. The body piercing spikes whooshed beneath me.

No sooner than I landed, it drove the end of its poker tail in an attempt to skewer me. I hopped backward tripping over the debris, and my sword clattered free of my grasp. It missed. Its tail sunk deep into the floor with the boards holding it in place. It protested, spitting out another stream of fire at me, while it attempted to free itself.

I snatched my sword from the ground, rolled behind an upset desk and peeked over the table top. Even with the desktop on fire, I could see the beast's tail still stuck in the floorboards. But it was only a matter of time before it freed itself and I was playing leapfrog over its tail again.

Another blast of flames struck the floor in front of me. It lifted its head and let out a stream of fire, hitting the desk covering me.

"Oh, crap." I pulled onto the astral plane and darted toward the windows.

At least if I had to escape, I could make a jump for it.

"I got them!" Jake skidded into view holding my jeans high in the air.

The wyndham jerked its tail free and craned its neck to face Jake, sniffing the air. It let out a cry so loud dozens of books toppled from the shelves at the back of the room.

"Jake, run!"

He dashed down the hall with the wyndham thrashing through the doorway after him. The doorframe pulled free, circling the beast's girth like a plastic pop can holder, slowing down its pursuit.

"Circle the hall and bring it back here." I sheathed my sword.

Jake weaved back and forth across the hallway. If anyone loitered the corridor watching my jeans floating past them with a dragon in pursuit, would've thought themselves crazy. Hell, even I barely believed it.

"Easy for you to say," he hollered back. "This thing isn't chasing you!"

I yanked my bracelet from my wrist and ran back into the class. The heavy impact of the beast's feet shook the hallway and rumbled throughout the adjacent classrooms.

I blew on the first key, and it ignited in a bright purple glow. Bending over, I touched its tip to the ground and drew a circle around the gapping hole. When I finished, a neon lavender ring hovered above the hole.

Still running at full speed, Jake skidded through the doorway, and smacked into the wall, knocking the last piece of chalk from the board's holder.

"Over here. Stay clear of that line." I pointed to the ring.

"I hope you have a plan." He rolled my jeans into a ball and held them out to me. "What do you want with these?"

The Wyndham rammed its body through the doorway, the wooden doorframe it wore, broke free and fell to the ground.

"I don't want them—he does." I pointed at the dragon. "Hang on to them, when I say let them go drop them into the hole."

"Now?" He dangled them from his fingers.

"No, not yet." I pushed them back to his chest. "When I say so."

The wyndham thrust its wings out, ensuring our only escape was the hole in front of us or the second-story windows behind us. Neither option thrilled me or my already sprained ankle.

"Hey, Windy, is this what you're looking for?" Jake waved the jeans over the gaping hole.

It narrowed its sight and followed the movement of Jake's hand, and roared in response. Another desk crunched beneath its foot, and it teetered on the edge of the hole.

I tapped my keys on the neon ring, and let out the breath I didn't even know I held. The high-pitched chime indicating the gate's activation boomed in my head. Its piercing sound made me cringe and want to cover my ears.

Jake stretched out his arm, dangling the denim from his fingertips over the gate. The beast beat its wings and tilted forward, snapping at the garment with its teeth.

I hugged Jake's leg, knocked the key against the ring another time, and the portal to the astral plane blew open, sucking in the debris strewn throughout the room.

"Now, Jake! Toss it." He let go, and my favorite jeans tumbled into the hole.

The wyndham craned its neck, tipping its center of balance over the gate. Sucked into the vacuum and the blackness beyond the gate—the beast disappeared.

"Tessa!" Jake's foot lifted from the ground, dragging us toward the force sucking in the debris from the room.

I clung to his leg and jammed my feet under a twisted pipe preventing us from flying off into the hole. With an outstretched hand, I thrust my fingers through the gate's ring, breaking the connection and slamming it shut. Jake crashed onto the floor next to me.

"Yeah!" Jake whooped peering into the hole, then back to me. "You're the craziest girl, I've ever met." He picked a piece of rubble from my hair and thumbed something from my cheek.

"Me? What about you?" I grinned. "We make a pretty good team."

"We tracked it to this floor." A male voice spoke from somewhere beneath us.

Jake and I paused our celebratory victory and listened in on the conversation below.

"You're sure? The beast's loose?" It sounded like Mrs. Kennedy.

"Why would anyone let that thing out?" a younger sounding guy asked, possibly a student.

Their footsteps halted at the entrance to the room below. Still in astral form, I bent down and peered through the hole to see who was talking.

"Oh my lord..." Mrs. K said, taking in the gigantic mess in front of her.

Turquoise sparks cracked from a swinging wire, hanging from the torn lights, and water spewed from the busted pipes onto the smashed desks below.

"God didn't have anything to do with this mess." Matt bent over and picked up a scale that had torn from the wyndham's hide.

My sight locked onto the teal, glowing blade strapped to Matt's back. He tossed the scale back on the floor, glanced skyward and grinned when his gaze locked onto me.

"Matt, go find Tessa." She rested her hand on his shoulder.

"That won't be necessary, Mrs. K." He pointed at me and smirked. "She's already here."

***NEXT update scheduled for January 20th. STAY TUNED! Till then, comment and vote like it matters. (Because it does!)***