Ember couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic as she packed her trunk in her room the next day. Enid was standing behind her, her eyes teary.

Finally, as her roommate decided to start packing herself (the semester was ending the next week) Ember finished her packing with the typewriter, clasping the lock on the box shut and putting it in.

Then, after five to ten minutes of comfortable silence, Enid picked up one of Ember's last possessions that was left unpacked; a real dead mole, strapped to a small wooden chair with a metal electric torture hat on.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to miss your creepy, lifeless eyes waking me up every morning," she said tearily, looking from the mole's eyes to Ember. "It won't be the same without you," she added, looking, this time, more at Ember.

But the girl just put the typewriter into her trunk and said. "So I assume you'll be moving in with Yoko, and leaving me in your rear view mirror."

"Not ever," Enid shook her head meaningfully, as Ember put a couple of books into her trunk. She then added hesitantly. "What about you? Will you forget about me?"

Ember abandoned the books and looked straight at the girl. "Enid... the mark you have left on me is indelible. Every time I see a stuffed unicorn I want to decapitate or hear a pop song that gives me a strong urge to chop my ears off, I'll think of you."

This seemed to cheer the girl up, but her eyes still contained tears.

"Thanks..." She said. "I guess."

Ember sighed, going to get more books to pack. "I always believed relying on other people to be a sign of weakness. That inevitably it would lead me to disappointment," she neatly organised the books into her trunk. "Turns out I've been the disappointment," she said bitterly, putting more books in.

"Are you kidding me?" Enid stepped forward. "I mean, you were a bit creepy and weird at first, but you really settled in eventually. I've learned so much from you," she shrugged. "Part of it is admittedly criminal behaviour, but.. most people spend their lives pretending to be someone they're not, and you literally came in here in all red, with that goth makeup, and somehow still won everyone over!"

Ember, looking down, didn't know what that last bit meant, but from the way Enid smiled warmly and pressed her lips together when she said it, she knew it was good.

"Any chance you've got some sneaky plan to elude Weems?" Enid asked hopefully, after a pause.

Ember considered it. "Xavier's right," she eventually said, holding up the picture of her and Crackstone in the quad; the thing that had started all this. "This prophecy cannot happen if I'm not here.

"But it kills me to leave when Tyler is still walking around free," she added, handing the picture to Enid as she had never had a proper look at it before.

"If he tries anything, we have a whole schoolful of gorgons, vampires and werewolves, ready and waiting," Enid promised. "We've got this Ember, I promise."

Enid was silent for a second, then she said. "On a good note, I got a text from Eugene's mums, they said he woke up last night. Maybe Weems will let you drop by on your way to the station."

Both girls fell silent as Thing snapped his fingers from on top of Ember's trunk. When both girls turned to him, he gave a thumbs up. Or a thumb up.

"Think we're all set," Ember said after that, clicking her trunk shut difinitivley. Thing crawled forward on it to talk to Enid.

"Thing, I'm going to miss our makeup tutorials," she said tearily; this was almost too much to bear. "And you better keep sending me moisturising tips!"

Thing got down and make his hand into a fist. Enid fist-bumped it. "Stay in touch, okay?"

And with that, Thing was off into Ember's bag, which she closed and swung on her back a second later.

She looked around the room, Ember on her side, and Enid on her's. The way it had started.

And the way it was ending.

"So, we're gonna-" Enid said, extending her arms for a hug. Ember leant and stepped back. You could never be too sure.

"Still not a hugger," Enid sighed, putting her hands down. "Besides, you're right. It's kinda become our thing now."

"Me stepping back every time you decide to try and trap me in a meaningless void of physical touch?" Ember asked monotonously.

Enid shrugged. "Not hugging, if that's what you mean."

"Of course."

Ember didn't know if she was to feel good or bad as she walked down the stairs a minute later. She had wanted to escape this place as soon as she had arrived, but now she was actually leaving? She didn't know.

She met with Wednesday, Bianca, Kent, Davina, Ajax and Yoko in the entrance hall.

"The plan wasn't to get you expelled," Bianca pursed her lips, her and Wednesday stepping out to address Ember. "We're sorry," she added, looking around at the crowd behind her; they were all nodding.

"The Nightshades need to be ready for what's coming, or a lot of people are going to die," Ember told the group. She turned to Wednesday. "I suggest joining, but only for the murder plots. If they try to make you drink alcohol or swim with them- well, I know you always have your pocket mace."

Wednesday nodded curtly.

"I'm so glad I caught you!" Ember turned around just to see an out of breath Ms Thornhill running towards her, blue dungarees on and a plant in her hands.

"I was weeding my wolfsbane and I just completely lost track of time," she explained, handing Ember the plant. "This is a parting gift."

Ember recognised the ivory flowers and their leaves at once. "The white oleander," she said. "One of nature's deadliest."

"It also symbolises destiny and renewal," said Ms Thornhill meaningfully. "You're a very talented young woman, Ember. I can't wait to see what you do next."

Ember stared at her.

"Ember!" Of course Weems had to come at that moment.

Ember turned to her. The principal had gone back to her smiley, rosy-cheeked self.

"This time, I'm personally escorting you to your train," she informed Ember.

Ember stared at her. "Charming," she started sarcastically. "But I have one final favour before you put me through that."

Weems certainly didn't look pleased at this response.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

Eugene's room was decorated in black, white and yellow balloons, bee toys, cards with the insects on, and much more. But Eugene... he didn't look the best. He had cuts and scratches on his face and his hair was a bit of a mess.

So, as Ember left Weems and Eugene's mums to go and talk to the boy, she couldn't help feeling a bit apprehensive.

She needn't have been. Eugene's eyes lit up as soon as he saw her.

"Ember!" He said excitedly, upon seeing the girl in the doorway.

Ember nodded as she walked fully in. "Eugene," she said, reaching his bed. "Glad to see you're finally awake."

Eugene smirked. "I heard you visited me all the time-"

"And if you mention it again, I'll be visiting your grave," Ember threatened, half joking, half serious.

Eugene laughed and took it in his stride.

"Listen, I've been meaning to tell you..." Ember sighed. "I shouldn't have gone to the dance. I should've been with you."

The boy before her shrugged. "When the dance floor calls, you gotta answer," he sighed. "It's not your fault. It's the monster's."

"It's actually called a Hyde," Ember said, slowly updating Eugene on all the stuff he missed when he was away. "And it's still out there. Which means you can't go back to Nevermore, not even to check on your bees when you're feeling better.

"And you have to listen to me this time," she added, with undertones of pleading laced in. She couldn't hurt the boy again. "I thought hummers were supposed to stick together."

Eugene nodded, then frowned, looking down. "That- night in the woods... someone set fire to that cave."

"Yes. Dr Kinbott," Ember answered.

"It's so crazy that it was her," Eugene said, his eyes unfocusing into the distance. "I don't- really remember any of it. I just saw someone wearing black. And- those boots-"

"What about the boots?" Ember asked. She was beginning to feel like she had got this wrong-

"There was this- flash of light," Eugene answered. "And in that moment- I saw- that they weren't black.

"They were red."

Kinbott. Tyler. Xavier. Monsters. Hydes. Mansions. Laurel Gates. Crackstone. The master-

All at once, Ember's eyes widened.

I was wrong.

Well, not about Tyler. She had been on the money with that guess, after her failed one with Xavier. But with Kinbott...

Now she knew why her therapist had looked so confused when being accused.

It wasn't her at all.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

It was night by the time Ember got back to Nevermore; a red blood moon shining through the clouds as she walked in.

Ms Thornhill was in her greenhouse/conservatory, taking samples from plants with syringes, and also shooting liquids from petri dishes into soil to see what it would do.

Ember's bootsteps on the ground made her turn around fast. "Ember!" She said, eyes wide underneath her glasses, which were (as Ember now knew) fake. "I thought you would be halfway to New Jersey by now."

"You can drop the act, Laurel," Ember said coldly, anger in her voice, both at getting things wrong, and at her stupidity in suspecting Kinbott. "I should've known it was you. Faking your death. Securing a job at Nevermore. Unlocking a Hyde. Normally I have great admiration for such well executed revenge plots but yours was a bit extreme. Even for my high standards."

Kinbott just stood there, her eyes becoming gradually wider as Ember accused her. Her brows creased and confusion was etched in every line of her face. But Ember wasn't falling for it.

She never did.

"Oh dear... Weems was right," Kinbott sighed, turning back round and picking up a plant and walking over to the other side of the big greenhouse. "You do need psychiatric help. You can't go around handing out wild accusations without evidence, or consequences."

This wasn't the same nice, smiley, warm-faced Thornhill that had taught and helped Ember the whole semester. This wasn't actually Thornhill at all. This was Laurel Gates.

"They may be wild," Ember said, walking in a lazy circle round to Thornhill. "But they're true. Tyler told me everything."

And, from behind a couple of plants in the back, stepped Tyler. Or, so Thornhill thought.

Either way, Tyler stepped forward, a sort of strangled expression on his face as if he was deciding between truth and lies at that moment.

Thornhill, meanwhile, seemed very confused and annoyed.

Ember, who had been watching Tyler come in, turned. "You know, initially, I falsely accused Kinbott of using hypnosis to unlock him. But you used a plant-derived chemical, didn't you?"

Kinbott just scoffed in 'disbelief'.

"I know your father kept tabs on all the outcasts in town, so he probably told you about the Galpin family secret when you were just a girl," Ember continued. "That's how why you targeted Tyler. You manipulated him by showing him what his mother truly was."

She remembered Thornhill being in the cafe... her gaze resting on Tyler for just a little too long... why hadn't she seen it before...

"Now, what Tyler didn't realise is that the truth wouldn't free him. It would enslave him to you."

She thought of the record Thing found in the Galpin's garage... Thornhill had obviously been the one to deliver it there in the first place...

"Now, that was scary at first, so you used the cave and the shackles."

The shackles on the cave wall... the blood there...

"But eventually, he willingly became your servant. And when Kinbott came close to discovering the truth, you had Tyler kill her and pin it on Xavier."

Thornhill just stood there in 'shock'. Then, finally, she scoffed, taking her fake glasses off. "Ugh! That's enough! Tyler, honey, make mumma happy and shut her up. Permanently."

"He's not on your side," Ember informed the teacher.

"Tyler will do anything for me," Thornhill corrected, finally showing her true colours as she walked over to the boy, addressing him now in a little baby voice. "Remember what I told you? I showed you who you really are. And what they did to your mother... the outcasts made you a monster."

It was an uncomfortable scene, watching Thornhill lay her hands on the cheeks of a teenage boy, stroking gently. Either way, Ember was still there.

Thornhill turned, her hands rested on Tyler's chest.

"Well, now you've decided to quit the game of playing dumb, let's get on to the questions," Ember quipped. "If you only hate outcasts, why is he killing normies as well?"

"Oh, they're just pawns in a bigger game," Thornhill shrugged, giving a girlish giggle, as if this was just another botany lesson. She took her hands off her Hyde and rested them on her hips. "Just like you, Ember. Once again, you've underestimated the severity of the situation. You were never getting on that train. I sent Tyler here to intercept you," she gestured to the silent boy behind her.

"I never made it to the station," Ember retorted, turning to 'Tyler'. "Heard enough?"

Thornhill turned back, gasping as it happened. Tyler's appearance began to morph and change, becoming suddenly unrecognisable, then, suddenly, it wasn't Tyler that was stood in front of the two anymore.

It was Weems.

The shapeshifter.

All along, she had been there, hidden from Thornhill's eyes as she listened in on the plot the botany teacher had been putting into action.

Thornhill, meanwhile, gasped, absolutely stunned for a second. Her eyes went wide and she stood still.

"Your slave is probably still at the station," Ember said in the meantime.

"Please don't make this more difficult than it already is, Marilyn," Weems spoke in a meaningful voice.

Thornhill looked innocent one second, then-

"My name is LAUREL!"

Ember was too slow for what happened next. In an instant, Thornhill pulled a syringe filled with a familiar blue liquid out her pocket, and stabbed it into Weems' neck, draining it of its liquid.

Weems cried out, tears squirming their way into her eyes as Laurel withdrew the syringe and she fell, gagging, to the ground.

Ember, who was still in shock, lunged for her, kneeling down beside her. "Principal Weems!" She shouted urgently, as the principal's chest rose and fell and she gasped for air. "Principal Weems!"

Foam started to pour from her mouth and her eyes went wide as she slowly stopped convulsing, and went still.

"Principal Weems!"

Ember recognised the symptoms immediately-

"Nightshade poisoning," she whispered to herself.

"A fitting end, don't you think?"

The next thing Ember knew, she was turning round, and Laurel Gates was smashing a big, metal shovel into her head, drawing blood and knocking her out cold.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

The first thing Ember became aware of was the fact that, wherever she was, the red light from the full blood moon was coming in.

She then became aware of a throbbing pain in her head. Where the shovel hit, suddenly came to mind.

Then she became aware of what was around her. She saw- candles? Lots of candles on big stands.

Then, as she moved, she felt chains clatter above her head. Looking up slowly, she saw her hands chained in manacles above her head. She suddenly became aware that her feet were not touching the floor; she was chained up.

Then, looking up, she saw a body come into view. Then the body morphed into Tyler as her vision focused. This was the actual Tyler.

Ember seethed and struggled as Tyler chuckled. "Hey... we got a kinda- deja vu thing going on here."

Ember struggled more as she said. "Except I'm not weak, like you. And I don't cry and whine either."

"Tyler! Go wait by the boat," came the voice of Laurel Gates, or Marilyn Thornhill.

"Yes. Be a good little Hyde or you'll upset your master," Ember told him, still angry beyond belief.

She winced as Tyler, following Laurel's instructions, not hers, barged past her, knocking her shoulder and clanking her manacles.

But, as Tyler moved, she saw where she was. Crackstone's Crypt. In front of her was Joseph Crackstone's tomb, Laurel Gates, and more candles on big, stately stands.

"I have to admit," Laurel smiled, adjusting something Ember couldn't see that lay beside the tomb. "That shapeshifting stunt with Weems almost worked. But as my father always said, if you wanna outsmart an outcast, you gotta outthink 'em.

"You know, we have roots that go all the way back to Joseph Crackstone," she informed Ember, as the girl in red let her head droop.

"So you come from a line of psychotic killers too. Imaginative," Ember commented sarcastically.

Thornhill looked up in anger, walking towards Ember. "Joseph Crackstone was a visionary, commited to freeing the world of outcasts and protecting normies from them, until his life was cut short by your ancestor, Goody Addams!"

Ember had known this; Morticia had told her on Parents Weekend. But it sounded different coming from Laurel.

"And then to add insult to injury, they stole his land to build that abomination of a school," Laurel went on, angry.

She went back over to the things around the tomb... and Ember suddenly knew.

Sitting around the tomb, were the large vats that had been in the basement of the Gates mansion when Ember had gone to investigate it with Tyler, Enid and Wednesday.

One a brain, one a foot, one a liver... she suddenly gasped, her lips slightly parted.

She knew what they were for.

And why Laurel was screwing big electrical conductors onto the top of each one of them.

"But," she said, screwing the last one on. "Throughout the centuries, my family has remained committed to Crackstone's mission. My brother died serving that cause. But I decided to take a different approach," she said, standing up. "The supernatural."

"Tyler's been stealing and compiling all these body parts to resurrect Crackstone," Ember gasped. She now knew.

This was what was going to happen.

And that was why she was pictured in the quad, facing off against him.

Laurel, meanwhile, was grinning, straightening up and nodding. "The one man that almost succeeded in eradicating the world of all the outcasts."

She chuckled as she turned to something on top of the tomb.

"You can't wake the dead," Ember knew it wasn't the most tactful of remarks, but when you're hanging in a crypt with a pounding and bleeding head, your brain goes a bit thin on the ground. "Believe me, I've tried."

"I believe your ancestor Goody Addams would disagree," Laurel grinned, turning back round with a familiar, leather bound book in her hands.

"Goody's Book of Shadows," Ember's eyes widened. "You're the one that stole the original from Pilgrim World."

Laurel nodded and then gave an angry smile. "It wasn't enough for Goody to just kill Crackstone, oh no, she had to curse his soul, too," she explained.

"So now you have the body parts, the book and the unnecessary big candles that are supposed to look scary but aren't, aren't you done? Where do I fit into all of this?" Ember demanded.

"My dear Ember..." Laurel shook her head, smiling with glassy eyes for a second and looking like Thornhill again. Then her face set back to its cold and calculating manner. "You are the key. Your arrival at Nevermore set the chubby wheels of my plan into motion.

"Goody sealed Crackstone in his sarcophagus with a blood lock," she explained, gripping the book in her hands tighter. "A lock that can only be opened by one of her direct living descendants on the night of a blood moon."

"You are the key," Ember remembered Goody saying to her... that vision in the middle of the Poe Cup...

"So... I bided my time, and I made you feel special," Laurel grinned, then, once again, her face set. "Until you were ready to be sacrificed."

Ember felt her head, pounding and throbbing into her skull; she also felt her wrists, slowly losing blood as the manacles she was hanging from cut off the pressure, and the warm blood on the left side of her head, running from her temple down.

What she didn't feel, however, was any intent to fight what was about to happen to her.

Pain and concussion had knocked it out of her.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

She barely said a thing as she tumbled to the ground when Laurel unhooked her manacles from the chain they were hanging from, nor when she started to get dragged up the steps to Crackstone's tomb.

The next thing she opened her mouth for was when she had been dragged up to the tomb, right near a metal circle, engraved with something she couldn't see on it. She suddenly felt a searing pain on her hand; Laurel had slashed it with a knife, drawing blood.

"Argh!" She cried, dimly aware of Laurel grabbing her slashed hand and pressed it, blood leaking out from it, against the metal circle.

It glowed red.

Ember grunted and cried out again as red steam began to encircle the tomb, and a low rumble to fill the crypt. She had to get away, she had-

The rumble and steam stopped as Ember threw herself off the tomb and its circular plinth. Laurel just laughed. "You're made of tougher stuff than Tyler thought, that's for sure."

Ember didn't answer; she wasn't sure whether she had thrown herself off in time.

Her suspicion came true when, instead of dragging her back to the tomb, Laurel threw her up against a pillar, where she lay, slumped against it, panting heavily, the blood from her head and hand flowing, and both things now throbbing intensely.

Laurel, meanwhile, was grinning and licking her lips as she went back to the tomb and grabbed the book off from the top of it.

She stood back from it, opening the thick, heavy Book of Shadows, and finding, finally, the chant to bring one back from the dead.

The blood on the metal circle dripped down as Laurel chanted loudly in Latin. Thunder started to rumble again.

But meanwhile, even though Ember was almost too hurt to see or think, she was still able to move.

So, whilst Laurel brought a body back, she reached down to her boot (her feet were curled beneath her) and grabbed her penknife, which she always kept there.

Manacles had a pretty easy lock system. Well, easy for Ember, as she had been practicing from a young age.

But there was another distraction on the way; Laurel had finished chanting, and was now watching, with wide eyes, as the liquid surrounding all of the body parts started to glow, and electricity started to crackle between all of the vats and, on the top, the electrical conductors; until a huge bolt of electricity connected all of the vats, and the metal circle with Ember's blood on it.

Black steam started to pour from the tomb as it opened, whilst Laurel stood, gasping in pleasure. Ember, meanwhile, was lying, motionless, still working with her knife at the bolt on the manacles-

The black steam started to go up into the air and surround the entire tomb, making Ember and Laurel not able to see anything-

Then it cleared.

And through it, came a man Ember through had breathed his last breath a long time ago.

Crackstone looked almost the same as he had in the vision Ember had seen him in, except older; long, hooked nose, grey eyes that were ice cold, the same, old, pilgrim cloak with buckled shoes, and the same top hat. He still had his scepter in his clutches.

"I am of your blood!" Laurel announced loudly, stepping forward greet him. "I have summoned you, to rid the world of outcasts once and for all!"

Crackstone, who's face was pale and wrinkly, his eyes almost hidden, looked rather confused. Then he gasped and extended an old, withered hand with dirty, grown fingernails on it towards her. It showed a ring that Ember couldn't see.

Laurel knew what it meant, however, as she gasped in joy, leaving forward to kiss it.

"My vengeance shall be swift and true," declared Crackstone, speaking in an old fashioned voice, but more or less the same one that Ember had heard him speak in in her vision.

"As will mine."

Ember was free. And she wasn't taking it lightly, oh no. She got up immediately, dropping the manacles to the ground with a clatter and pocketing the knife.

"Goody Addams!" Crackstone immediately shouted upon seeing her, blasting with something from his scepter that blew Ember slightly back. "You haunt me still! You shall suffer the same fate you bequeathed me!"

He stepped towards her, pulling out a long knife.

He didn't hesitate to shove it into Ember's abdomen.

"Now burn in the eternal fires of hell!"

Ember swayed on the spot as Crackstone turned the knife in its spot and gasped as he let go, gripping the handle of the knife as she gasped, no sound coming out, before collapsing to the ground, slumped against the pillar again.

Laurel and Crackstone were already walking down the steps of the crypt and closing the door behind them.

"Sweet dreams, Ember!" Were Laurel's last words before it slammed.

Ember just lay, an unbearable pain becoming excruciating. She grunted and gasped, her chest rising and falling with breath that was only just coming.

And was soon to be not.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

All the candles in the crypt had been blown out by a sudden gust of wind, so now, Ember just lay in silence, a grunt sometimes escaping her lips. The knife was still lodged in her stomach; she knew better than to take it out. Tears were beginning to make their way into her eyes.

"You here to take me to the other side?" Ember asked sarcastically, though in a choked up voice, as, upon closing and opening her eyes again, Goody appeared before her, knelt beside her.

She was very pale and ghost-like, but this wasn't a vision. Of that, Ember was sure.

"Listen, Crackstone must be stabbed through his black heart," Goody wasted no time. "It is the only way he will be vanquished, now and forever."

"Is your spectral vision impaired? I'm dying!" Ember shouted, her last word echoing around the crypt; ricocheting off every wall. Death had always been something she had looked forward to.

But not like this.

And even as she said it, she knew there was more she wanted to live for. More people, as well.

"Your necklace," Goody replied urgently, as Ember confusedly brought out her raven obsidian necklace, begging for answers. Goody gave them. "It is a powerful talisman."

"My aunt told me it was for conjuring visions," Ember said back, not sure what she was even saying anymore.

"It is also a conduit for conjuring spirits," Goody said. "It will allow me to pass though you, and heal you. But just know that, as soon as I do, you shall never see me again.

"The school needs you, Ember," she added, as Member adjusted the raven necklace on her chest, looking to the girl, eyes glassy.

She didn't have to say 'yes'.

Goody knew.

So, with one hand rested on the raven necklace and one on the knife handle, she nodded to the girl in red, wrenching the knife free.

Ember grunted, closing her eyes so the tears wouldn't escape, feeling Goody cover the wound with her hand, her hands suddenly glowing.

Goody then smiled, disappearing into nothing but a memory as Ember coughed, suddenly not feeling any pain in her hand, head, leg, or stomach anymore.

She sat up immediately, gasping and gagging as she doubled over, panting with the exertion.

But, looking to her hand, she saw the cut there disappearing, leaving only the blood left. The same had happened on her other two wounds, and the one on her leg, where the monster had slashed, was no longer even a twinge anymore.

Now, a typical person would normally take a chance to recover after this had just happened to them.

But Ember Addams wasn't normal.

And she's not what you'd call typical either.

So, jumping up, she took no hesitation in sprinting out of the crypt.

❣︎❣︎❣︎

She ran through the woods, both the black light of the sky and the red light of the moon illuminating her. She needed to get back to Nevermore to warn everyone.

Because what came next was the picture of her fighting Crackstone in the blazing quad.

"Awooooooooo!"

That's when she heard a piercing wolf howl.

She looked up to the sky, turning just for a second to see what it was.

But when she turned back, Tyler was there.

Ember stumbled back but regained her balance immediately.

"Laurel said you were dead," he said.

"I've recovered from my bout of sickness," Ember spoke with relish, and sarcasm.

"You're like a cockroach," Tyler said, stepping slowly forward until he and the girl were standing inches apart.

"Oh please, I'm not one for flattery," she attempted to get away but Tyler grabbed her red school blazer, bringing her closer. "This will not end well for you," she warned.

But maybe it wasn't going to end well for her.

All at once, Tyler's eyes grew ten times their size; his teeth, too, transformed into fangs. His skin became that horrible, furry, purple kind of colour and texture, and his muscles and physical fitness greatly improved. He roared as all his clothes ripped, and his fist hit the ground, becoming a claw. He threw Ember backwards, both of them landing about five metres apart.

Ember got up immediately.

So did Tyler.

Except it wasn't Tyler.

The Hyde now stood in front of her.

"GRRRRRRRR!"

Suddenly, without warning, the monster grabbed her by the throat, carrying her for about ten metres until he reached a tree, which he pinned her up against, slowly strangling her. She grunted and gasped, trying to get away; pounding at the claw holding her. It stayed as strong as it always had been.

But the other claw was the one she was watching. The one that was raised high. Ready to strike.

She eyed it, knowing what she should've. That if Laurel and Crackstone didn't kill her, Tyler would-

"AWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ember heard the wolf howl before she saw the wolf. She also heard the Hyde scream in pain and felt a sharp pain in her side as she fell down the tree stump and collapsed to the ground, getting up immediately.

She immediately saw a werewolf, which had barrelled into the Hyde so they both rolled several times over before landing in a heap. The werewolf growled, getting up off of the monster and going at it again-

It was then that Ember noticed the flashes of pink, purple and blue on the wolf's fur... and the softness yet aggressiveness of its howl...

And, when it turned to her after savaging the Hyde, her eyes turned from hatred to happiness; relief.

Ember stared in wonder with wide eyes.

"Enid?"

The wolf's eyes softened and she gave a nod-

"Enid-"

"GRRRRRRR!"

In one moment, the Hyde was back on its feet, and it had thrown the werewolf ten metres, at least. But Enid just growled louder, getting back up onto all fours immediately.

So did the Hyde, and they faced each other, both snarling; saliva dripping off their fangs.

But now Ember was free, she trusted Enid to handle this one. "I need to get back to the school!" She bellowed over her shoulder as she turned and ran, needing to get to Nevermore as fast as she possibly could.

She knew Laurel and Crackstone must've joined the party already.