Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Inferno Conscription (The Bagsy Chronicles 3)

Five Days

Professor Starrett was looming over Bagsy, who was lying in a soft bed, when she woke up. First, Bagsy saw the ceiling of the infirmary, carved stone arching high above her head in gothic patterns. Then, her vision blurry, she noticed the dark figure garbed in red standing over her with an enraged expression. Finally, Bagsy's memories came back to her, and she found her brow furrowing in confusion. 'I... fainted?' she mumbled, her head swaying from side to side.

'Technically,' Starrett enunciated harshly.

Professor Fitzsimmons was sitting on a stool on the other side of the bed. 'Bagsyllia,' they greeted her calmly, 'care to explain what this is?' Fitzsimmons held up a couple of vials that contained an oily, deep green substance; exhaust-gone. Bagsy cringed.

Something snapped in Starrett's angry face. 'Your stupidity is astounding, Miss Beetlehorn. Even after I warned you about meddling with dangerous things a silly little child like yourself couldn't possibly understand or execute properly, you continue to experiment with frankly deadly toys without any supervision.' Starrett folded her arms, her nails digging into her skin in anger. 'I demonstrated to you the dangers of that thing you called a wand training wheel. I'd hoped that would be enough to curb your foolish illusions of grandeur. You are a thirteen-year-old child. You are not capable of safely–!' as Starrett's voice rose Fitzsimmons placed their hand on her shoulder. Starrett cut off and turned abruptly away, walking swiftly from the room, the clack of her heels a furious noise as she departed.

Fitzsimmons dragging in a tired sigh. 'I apologise for her outburst, Bagsyllia, but she is correct. You created a substance you had little knowledge of and used yourself as its guinea pig.'

Bagsy looked Fitzsimmons up and down. 'What are you talking about?'

Fitzsimmons gave the vial a gentle shake, the oily liquid within churning from side to side. 'This little number of yours, Bagsyllia,' Fitzsimmons explained. 'Some editation of a wide-eye potion, if I'm not mistaken. I presume you've been taking this to avoid sleep. Perhaps you wanted more time to play with toys, muck about, or perhaps...' Fitzsimmons fixed Bagsy with a knowing look. 'Perhaps you've bitten off more than you can chew and have been making up for it by staying awake at night and working.'

Bagsy shrunk downwards, pulling the duvet she was beneath up to cover her face. She decided not to mention that the vial in Fitzsimmons hand didn't compose her entire collection. She still had a few more portions of the offending substance in her school robe. Bagsy reckoned letting Fitzsimons know just how long she had intended to continue using the stuff wouldn't be a good idea.

'Because of its untested nature,' Fitzsimmons pressed on, 'I imagine you didn't realise what effects it could have. Perhaps the issue of safety never crossed your mind.'

Bagsy averted her gaze. Fitzsimmons was right. It hadn't. 'What happened?' she asked at last.

Fitzsimmons reclined, inspecting the vial thoughtfully for a few moments. 'You've been unconscious for five days,' Fitzsimmons explained after a pause. 'It's Friday evening, now.'

Bagsy froze.

'You indebted yourself to sleep,' Fitzsimmons breezed on, turning the vial over in their palm as if nothing was wrong. 'You owed many hours of rest to your body, and your body took them all at once, without your permission. This was the effect of your untested potion. Very mild, considering what it could have done.'

'What could it have done?' Bagsy squeaked.

Fitzsimmons stilled the potion in their hand and stared at Bagsy. 'You could have never woken up at all.'

'Oh.'

'Bagsyllia, do you know why I stopped running our private lessons?'

Bagsy hesitated, thinking on Fitzsimmons' question. She suddenly had a sinking feeling in her stomach. 'Your test,' Bagsy began, recalling the first lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts she'd ever taken, where she'd been thrown into a scary, and many-staged test in her mind. 'It was meant to pick someone out. At least, that's what Mezrielda said. She said you were looking for someone, and that your test found that someone, and that that someone was me.'