Monster High: Season of the Witch

A Grave State of Affairs

"Grey! Hang on!" Autumn called, her voice bouncing off the walls of the boy's dormitory hallway as the group ran after the young Reaper. Grey strode ahead with a singular focus, while Autumn, Jackson, and Beatrix all struggled to keep up.

Astar lagged behind, his wings folded tight against his back, looking agitated that everyone was taking Grey's lead. Autumn glanced back at the devil, waving for him to pick up the pace. "Hurry!" she urged. Astar broke into a feigned jog, eventually catching up to the rest of them.

As Beatrix followed Grey down the spiral staircase of the boy's dorm, his earlier words looped in her mind, pounding against her skull. All monsters are condemned to eternal hellfire... because they've been cursed to be undead.

The weight of it pressed down on her, making each step down the stairs more demanding than it should've been.

Grey thumbed through his black iCoffin. He tapped on "B's friend" in his contacts, redialing the number that had sent them all racing from Astar's dorm room. The phone rang once, twice, three times, but there was no answer.

Instead, Autumn's chirpy voicemail kicked in: "Hi there! It's Autumn Patches! Sorry I missed your call, I'm probably busy studying or gardening—Frankie! Shhh I'm trying to record my voicemail—" Grey ended the call and redialed, frustration evident in his tight jaw. Again, no answer. "Hi there! It's Autumn Patches—"

"He's not going to pick up," Grey said.

"Which horseman was on the phone?" Jackson asked, sweat plastering his black and blond streaked hair to his forehead.

"Cassius," Grey responded grimly. "It wasn't an empty threat. He sounded ravenous."

"Ravenous... for us?" Autumn whimpered, her burlap fingers tugging at her seams to self soothe.

"Yeah. They're after monster souls," Beatrix breathed.

"But why?" Autumn asked.

"I told you. Monsters have been cheating death, and they're sick of it," Grey said.

Beatrix's head was swimming. Her whole body was heavy with exhaustion — from the mad flight through the woods, choking on the smoke of the wildfire, from the realization that everyone she cared about in this school was doomed to spend an eternity in the hell Astar had crawled out of.

Suddenly, Beatrix's foot slipped, missing a step, and she started to fall forward—only to be caught by a strong arm around her waist. Astar. He held her effortlessly, his bruised face and piercing yellow eyes an inch from hers. "Careful," he murmured.

Beatrix shrugged him off and righted herself. "Thanks," she said flatly.

Ahead of them, Autumn bombarded Grey with questions. "No, I mean, why now? Think about it, this doesn't add up—Monster High has been around for centuries. So why are they targeting monsters right now, of all times? There has to be a reason. We need to get to the bottom of this."

Grey lifted his iCoffin to his ear and dialed Autumn's phone another time, only to be met with her voicemail again.

"Grey, are you even listening to me?" Autumn persisted.

Grey stopped abruptly at the bottom of the stairwell to face the group scrambling after him.

"I don't..." Grey began.

Beatrix felt his dark eyes land on her for a moment, then he continued, "I don't know why they're doing this now. If Cassius would pick up, I could try talking to him and the other two, try to reason with them, walk them off the ledge. Get my dad on the line somehow. I don't know..."