Monster High: Season of the Witch

49. Forest Fire

The shape of the new rider's boney elbows and shoulders were visible beneath his black robes—which were noticeably more tattered than the larger Reaper's.

He held a crooked, chipped black staff, and it looked well-used.

Despite his leaner build, this horseman exuded a more menacing aura than the first one.

"T-two... Why are there two?" Jackson stammered in disbelief.

Autumn quivered, and Jackson moved to pull his earphones on to transform back into Holt.

With Astar still occupied with the first Reaper, Beatrix didn't think summoning the devil was the best idea. So she dashed in front of Jackson and Autumn, envisioning another flame between her palms, prepared to shoot a whip of fire at their new attacker.

"Get lost!" Beatrix yelled, but unexpectedly, she unleashed a massive wave of flames from her hands. The hot blast sent her hair and nearby tree branches flying back, a roaring surge of fire engulfing the Reaper and pines in front of her.

The wall of fire obscured any sign of the horseman.

She heard his horse screeching and hoped that she'd incinerated him.

Rising smoke consumed her sight.

Beatrix coughed profusely, nearly choking on the fumes.

She turned back, and through the smoke, saw Jackson in a panic as he slipped out of his flaming jacket to stomp out the fire in the dirt.

"Bea! Bea! Bea!" Autumn screamed. The end of one of her straw braids had caught on fire.

"Autumn!"

The flames on Autumn's braid were spreading to her collarbone.

Autumn wailed, unable to quell the flames without risking setting another part of her straw-filled body on fire.

Beatrix tried to choke out a cry to get Jackson to help the scarecrow, but she couldn't utter any sound as smoke filled her lungs.

A wide set of wings cast a silhouette through the smoky film surrounding them, and Astar emerged.

"What the hell did I miss?" he exclaimed, seeing the trees around them ablaze.

Then he noticed Autumn. She cried out in terror as the small flames threatened to spread.

Astar yanked his t-shirt off and used it to smother the fire on her body.

Thankfully, it worked. When Astar removed his shirt, the flames were extinguished, leaving the end of her braid scorched black and her collarbone burnt.

Beatrix heard a horse screech again, but amidst the roaring fire, she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

"Asta—" Beatrix wheezed, coughing. "Astar!"

The devil looked over at her.

As soon as Beatrix spoke, a rush of flames erupted from the fire before them—and Beatrix realized that the Reaper she'd blasted was charging toward them on foot, flames licking at his robes.

Beatrix had managed to sear a part of the Reaper's hood and scare off his horse, but he still looked determined to not let them escape.

She couldn't tell if this Reaper had the same intentions as the previous one.

Does he only want Jackson and Autumn?

Beatrix considered challenging this Reaper, like she'd done to the one before. With her overpowered hands, she could probably blast him off the mountainside. But if she caused any more damage to the forest, she was sure the fire would spread to Monster High. Besides, she could hardly breathe at this point.

Beatrix sprinted to Astar, eyes stinging from the smoke, and grabbed onto him. "Get us out of here!" she choked out.

Astar scooped up Autumn, and Jackson awkwardly tried to find a place to hold on, settling for clinging to Astar's leg.

As the Reaper was upon them, Astar lifted them just above the treetops with a sweep of his wings.

However, their takeoff was clumsy. Astar couldn't fly as high as he wanted with the extra weight.

Jackson's legs dangled, kicking and trying to avoid the Reaper's swinging staff, just out of reach below.

"I'm losing my grip!" Jackson freaked.

"Stop moving!" Astar winced. He tried to fly steadily over the perimeter fence, but he bobbed up and down.

Beatrix's eyes went wide. "Don't let us hit the spikes!"

Getting impaled after all they'd just survived would be more than disappointing.

Beatrix could see the trimmed green lawns of the Monster High grounds getting closer. They were almost there.

The Reaper swung at Jackson again, barely missing, with Astar still a bit too high for the Reaper to reach.

Right before the Reaper tried for another swing, Astar made it over the perimeter fence, and Jackson curled his legs to avoid the iron spires.

As they landed inside the school, Beatrix, Autumn, and Jackson each dropped in a different spot on the grass.

When Beatrix hit the ground, her skin pulsed as if a thousand fire ants were biting her hands and wrists.

The itching pain was so intense she had the urge to scratch her own skin off.

Recalling how to discharge the fire magic, Beatrix frantically pressed her hands to the frost-covered grass, palms flat on the earth.

The burning sensation began to subside, and after a few seconds of rubbing her hands and wrists into the ground, numbness replaced the pain.

Opening her palms, her skin had mostly returned to its normal color, though her hands appeared inflamed, marked by some kind of rash.

The pain almost made Beatrix forget they'd been pursued by a scythe-wielding Reaper mere seconds ago.

Autumn and Jackson sat paralyzed where Astar had dropped them, their eyes fixed beyond the perimeter.

Beatrix's gaze followed theirs, and she saw the second Reaper standing on the other side of the fence—disheveled from Beatrix's fiery blast, his robes tattered and seared, partially hidden behind some trees with his chipped black staff.

The hooded figure didn't attempt to scale or get through the perimeter in any way.

Like he couldn't get through.

Ghoulia's textbook was right.

Death can't enter Monster High.

The Reaper stared at Beatrix from beneath his hood through the bars of the fence.

Then, he stepped away and vanished into the smoky forest.

None of them moved.

"Guys..." Jackson broke the silence, his face pale. "People are coming..."

He was referring to the mass of Monster High students and faculty pouring out of the creepateria to see why the forest on the south side of campus was burning down.

Sirens blared as an on-campus firefighting team, composed entirely of water monsters, raced an emergency vehicle across the grass field. The first responders directed streams of water into the forest, dousing the flames.

No one had noticed Beatrix, Autumn, Jackson, and Astar yet. And they needed to leave before anyone did.