Bagsy Beetlehorn and the Vampire Affairs (The Bagsy Chronicles 4)

It All Goes Wrong

'Rocushift!' she all but yelled, the air around her whipping into a storm from the force that surged from her wand.

The whole room shifted like the waves of an ocean, with Bagsy at its centre, the only calm space in the chaos. At Mezrielda's command the stone surged up and fell over the acting troupe, Philip included.

The troupe wailed and flailed and tried to run, tried to dodge the impending stone closing around their bodies, but Mezrielda didn't let them. Just like that, Philip, and the rest of the acting troupe, had been dealt with. Encased within the stone.

Mezrielda shifted the stone below the sealable substance holding her hand in place, breaking it into two pieces and freeing her arm. Instantly, she fell to her knees and let out a tired breath, feeling as though there was a heavy weight on her back. It took her a second to realise that there really was something on her back. She glanced over her shoulder to catch the smallest glimpse of reseeding feathers as if, for a moment, she'd had wings.

Greenda peeked out from behind her cover, eyes wide like dinner plates. 'Oh, my,' she murmured, seeing what Mezrielda had done. 'You... you took them all out?'

'They're trapped,' Mezrielda lied. She didn't see how the acting troupe could have survived that. Her guess was they'd all been crushed. She reminded herself that it was only Philip she'd harmed—no one else in the acting troupe was themselves anymore, they were all puppets. She'd finally released their bodies from the indignity of being playthings. The only people left standing in the now malformed room were herself, Greenda and Bagsy.

'We've got to get to Emmeline,' Greenda said. 'You grab Bagsy, I'll be right back!' With that, Greenda raced from the room. She only got a few paces before, with a yelp, she fell to the floor.

'Greenda?' Mezrielda said in alarm, looking at her.

Greenda let out a groan, rubbing her head. 'Did I run into a wall?'

Mezrielda's dragged in heavy breaths. The spell had taken a lot out of her. Placing a hand on her knee, she rose to her feet, her back feeling as though it was normal again. 'Stay there. I'll get Bagsy and then we can go to Emmeline together.'

Greenda nodded numbly.

Mezrielda looked at Bagsy, letting out a half-sob of relief, and stumbled in her direction. But after a few paces she, too, came to a stop. Her head collided with something solid in the air. 'Preposterous...' she muttered tiredly, eyes squinting at the pain in her head.

She reached out a hand, pushing it forward, and found it placed against something solid, cold and invisible.

'What's going on?' Greenda asked. Mezrielda turned around to look at her. Either Greenda had suddenly become an excellent mime, or there were four invisible walls around her.

'They're around me, too,' Mezrielda said. 'Invisible walls.'

'Did someone cast a spell on us?'

Mezrielda frowned, looking around herself quickly. 'I don't think so.' There wasn't another soul in sight except for herself, Greenda and the statue-still Bagsy.

Mezrielda's eyes fell to the floor, tracing the lines of the giant stone slabs. 'No,' she breathed. 'No...' Using her hands to feel the location of the walls, she realised they'd sprung up from the lines in the stone floor. 'It's some kind of safety mechanism to lock everyone in.'

'Mezrielda?' Bagsy's quiet voice reached her.

'Bags!' Mezrielda's eyes snapped onto her friend. She pressed her hands against the wall blocking her. 'Bagsy, it's me!'