Running up the stairs, I heard Mr. Strickler speaking to my mother, "-so I brought a pino noir, the heart-break grape."

        "Oh, we don't judge here. All kinds are welcome." My mother said taking the wine and bringing it to the dining room. Jim and I walked up to Mr. Strickler.

        "Ah, the Lake siblings." Mr. Strickler greeted.

        "Mr. Strickler." Jim grinning while he was stirring the bowl.

        "Please. My friends call me Walt." Mr. Strickler implored.

        "What do your enemies call you?" Jim wondered. I stomped on his foot.

        "Jim, don't be rude. " I said. Jim and I went into the kitchen to make dinner. While we were there, Jim gave Toby the signal that it was okay to go.

        We set up the table and began eating. Strickler was telling us a story, "So I said to my co-worker, 'I brought you a mid-night snack.' Too bad for him. He had indigestion for days. Well, that's the problem for eating Italian." Strickler and Mom laughed while Jim and I just stood there watching them. Then, Mom's phone buzzed.

        "Oh, I'm sorry, it's the hospital. I have to take this." Mom explained.

        "Go, go. I'll try not to bore Jim and Monica to death." Strickler snorted. Suddenly, my phone started ringing. It was Principle Levit. Guess it's time to see if I got the job or not.

        "I'm sorry, Jim and Mr. Strickler. It's Principle Levit calling about the interview we had this morning." I said glancing at Jim. Jim gave me his 'it's okay' look, so I went towards the living room to talk.

        "Mr. Levit?" I questioned.

        "Hello, Ms. Lake. I've called you to congratulate you. You've just been accepted into becoming an English teacher at Arcadia Oaks. You begin work next Monday." Principal Levit explained. I shrieked.

        "Really? Thank-you! Thank-you! I won't let you down." I promised.

        "Enjoy your evening, Ms. Lake. I'll see you next Monday." Principal Levit congratulated, then the phone hung up. I can't believe it. I got the job! I would've screamed from excitement right then and there, but I remembered that Mr. Strickler was still in the house. I walked back into the dining room where Jim and Mr. Strickler were requesting for sharp knives! He must've found out!

        "Honey, was that the school?" Mom asked.

        "Yes, it was. I got the job! I start work next Monday." I told her.

        "Congratulations, Mo!" Jim exclaimed giving me a hug. Mom joined in too. "I'm so proud of you." She said.

        "Congratulations, Ms. Lake, I look forward to seeing you at school." Mr. Strickler said. I nervously smiled and I noticed Jim was glaring at him. Mom grabbed us some knives and we continued eating. After we were done, Mom announced,

        "I hope you saved some room for some hot Apple Pie. I just need a second. Talk amongst yourselves." And, she left the room. Suddenly, Jim and Strickler pushed their chairs back and aimed their knives at each other. Oh no! This is really not good.

        "I'm assuming that your sister knows your secret. It's a shame that she won't know it for long." Mr. Strickler threatened. My eyes widened.

        "You will not harm her." Jim declared pulling me behind him.

        "Give me the amulet and I will leave you and your sister alone." Mr. Strickler demanded as we circled each other. I've never fought before, so right now, I was just hoping I wouldn't mess things up.

        "Over my dead body." Jim stated.

        "I know what you're capable of. I know what you're not capable of. I know that you have a thing for Claire, and I know that you would do anything for Toby and Monica. You want to keep your mother out of this, and you look up to Blinky as your surrogate father. Poor Jim. I even know as we speak, your adorable little friends are breaking into my office. Do you think, I'd be so foolish as to leave important information lying around unguarded?" Strickler questioned.

        "But, did you know that Draal is in our basement?" I asked tapping the floor twice. Nothing happened. Jim tapped the floor, then Strickler caught on to what we were doing. We started fighting.

        "Not a very good guard dog, is he?" Strickler teased.

        "He is not our guard dog." I said lunging at him. Strickler stepped to the side and tripped me. He lunged at me, but Jim quickly got in front of me and deflected the blow. It wasn't long before Jim was disarmed. Before Jim could be hurt, I tripped Strickler who landed on his back.

        "Monica, go get Draal." Jim ordered. I got up and started running towards the basement. Strickler threw his knife and it caught my sleeve which pinned me against the wall.

        "Now, it's my turn to let you in on a secret. While you might have had this Draal in your basement, I have an Antramonstrum in my office." Mr. Strickler said. That means the others are in danger.

        "A what?" Jim asked.

        "Oh, it's just a vaporous creature. Dormant until disturbed, shockingly fierce, and excellent at erasing sneaky snakes." Mr. Strickler explained. I managed to get the knife off and quickly dialed Toby's number.

        "Enough!" Strickler yelled and he transformed into an extremely tall creature with green skin. He wore this cloak with metal objects at the top. The call went to Toby's voicemail. "What do you think? Good look for picture day?" I tried calling Toby again, but it was useless. Strickler went towards Jim's bag, but luckily the amulet wasn't in there.

        "Give me the amulet." Strickler demanded again. I went towards the basement to get Draal and I actually made it. I burst the door open and ran downstairs.

        "Draal, we need your help." I said. Draal pointed towards Claire and I yelped. What was she doing here?

        "What? How?" I asked.

        "She crawled in through the window. I tried my best to hide from her, but she saw me. She screamed, then got herself knocked out." Draal explained. I would've asked more questions, but she wasn't our primary concern right now.

        "We'll deal with her later." I said, "Right now. We need to help Jim." I pulled him along. I reached the top of the stairs, then stopped when I saw Mom had reentered the living room asking if anyone wanted pie. I tried to stop Draal, but he accidentally bumped into me, which sent me across the floor. Luckily, he wasn't seen by Mom or that Mom noticed me.

        "Where is that contact lens?" Strickler wondered searching around. While she was distracted by them, I quickly closed the door and told Draal to stay quiet.

        "I didn't know you wore contact lens." Mom commented.

        "There's a lot that you don't know about me." Mr. Strickler admitted. Yeah. No kidding. She turned to me and asked,

        "Did you find what you were looking for for the smoothies that Jim said you were going to make?"

        "Oh. Yeah. I'll just go into the kitchen. I'll be right back." I went into the kitchen and made some smoothies for everyone. I passed them all out and we ate our apple pie. Then, desert was over and we were showing Strickler to the door. Mom was insisting that he should take some leftovers.

        "Oh. The recipe would've sufficed." Mr. Strickler said.

        "No, we insist." Jim said shoving the left over pie into his arms.

        "Goodnight, Barbara. See you at school, Young Atlas, and Ms. Lake. It should be interesting now that we've gotten to know each other so well." Mr. Strickler said.

        "It will be a shame when I won't have you for a teacher anymore." Jim said clutching Mom and I's arms. Then, he left.

        "That went well." Mom commented.

        "I don't know. He seemed kind of two-faced to me." Jim told her. That's one way of putting it.

        "Two-faced? It sounded like you guys got along so well." Mom said. I nearly snorted, but I quickly held my laughter. Behind Mom, I saw Draal holding Claire by her feet. My eyes widened. I nearly forgot about her.

        "Honestly, he's not the guy he says he is." I explained while Jim was signaling Draal to go back downstairs. 

        "Jim, Monica, I know this might be hard for you two..." Mom began, but Jim cut her off,

        "Mom, I don't want you to see him again." I could tell that she was hurt by this.

        "I really expected more from you two." Mom said and walked away. I sighed wishing I could tell her what was really going on.