That night, Mezrielda informed the others of the plan. Tomorrow, at dusk, they'd set off for the castle.
After she'd done that, she'd locked herself in the Eagle Club room and spent the remaining time practising. For one, she needed to practise spells, but for another, the third episode of Vampire Affairs was airing that evening. Before she'd watched them out of bitter curiosity. Now she couldn't stomach seeing Bagsy's face, knowing her friend wasn't behind those hazel eyes.
Instead, she'd fished out the book on spells for beginner's Bagsy had got her for Christmas and set to work.
***
It was an hour before dusk the following day. Mezrielda mastered a few spells, and resolved that confidence was what she needed more than anything.
Avoiding the other students at all costs, but unable to ignore their obnoxious raving about the third episode, Mezrielda snuck into Bagsy's private room. She hadn't slept for a while, having done nothing but practise spells, and she needed the reminders of her friend to give her strength to keep going. It was comforting to be around her friend's belongings, and to imagine she'd already rescued her, and they were back together at Hogwarts.
She ran her hand over Bagsy's duvet, wanting to wrap herself in it and fall asleep, telling herself it was Bagsy who was there, hugging her tightly, and not the coldness of failure.
Feeling guilty, but justifying it as necessary in her head, she looked through some of her friend's drawers, fishing out anything that looked like it may be able to help. She found glass baubles filled with what she assumed was sealable substance—the stuff that expanded and hardened on contact with air. She pocketed the seven that she found. If she and Bagsy made it out of this alive, she was sure Bagsy could forgive her.
Once she was satisfied there was nothing else she could use she left the castle. They had a plan, now they just needed to execute it.
The ex-captain of the WhiskWay ship was waiting for them by the forbidden forest's' tree line, a wickedly mischievous grin on her face.
'So,' Swiftie said, taking in the group of children while she petted the side of the winged horse. 'What rules are we breaking tonight?'
'The acting troupe's,' Mezrielda said. 'We're breaking into their castle.'
Swiftie's face fell in surprise. 'That is quite the rule-break.'
Teresa, without asking, pulled open the carriage door and put the crate of baby catercolumns inside before stepping in herself. 'I had to lie to Nevis about what I was doing tonight,' she said over her shoulder. 'This better be worth it.'
'It's for Bagsy,' Mezrielda reminded her, stepping in after.
The six of them squished uncomfortably into the carriage, the baby catercolumns mewing angrily from the little box they were kept in.
'I know, I know,' Teresa cooed in the most sympathetic voice Mezrielda had ever heard her use. 'I'm sorry but it's necessary. You'll get some new parents really soon, though, I promise.'
The carriage sped into the air, the speed forcing Mezrielda into her seat. The speed didn't let up for quite some time but, eventually, she heard Swiftie saying something.
'Hey!' Swiftie called from outside the carriage as it jostled. Mezrielda was gripping tightly onto the side of one of the windows, trying not to be dislodged from her seat and thrown out. She could fly if she fell, but it would take her a lot longer to get to the castle as a magpie. 'Was there another friend meant to be joining you?'
Mezrielda cursed.
Emmeline leant out the window she was sitting next too. Greenda let out a yelp of protest, grabbing onto Emmeline's jacket in worry that she'd fall.
Only braving a second of sticking her head out, and trying her best not to look down, Emmeline squinted into the distance.
Emmeline pulled her head back inside, looking queasy. 'I hate heights,' she muttered, closing her eyes and drawing in deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. 'It's Primrose. She's flying on a broom after us.'
'Of course, she is,' Mezrielda hissed, looking out the window she was next to herself and seeing a dot in the horizon of the murky sky. Evidently, obliviate wasn't a spell that could reliably be cast upon her.
Greenda looked panicked. 'What do we do?'
Mezrielda said, 'We can't risk her messing up our plan. We'll need to divert her attention until we're done...' She looked at Emmeline. 'You're going to lead her in the wrong direction. Get her to follow you and keep her distracted. I'll write on the talk-boards when we're done, after which you regroup with us at the entrance platform.'
Emmeline nodded.
'I'm going with her,' Greenda said, putting a hand over Emmeline's.
A smile tugged at Emmeline's lips. 'If you insist,' she said, before the carriage jolted again from Swiftie's reckless flying and the anxiety returned to her face. Emmeline squeezed her eyes shut. 'Just tell me once we're there.'
Soon, Swiftie was pulling the carriage to a stop by the stone platform at the front of the castle. She pulled open one of the doors, helping the students out.
The acting troupe's castle lay before them like the shadow of a giant. It's red and pink stones were the crimson of blood in dusk and its navy blue rooves were like gnarled fingernails scratching at the golden stars above.
'Hover nearby,' Mezrielda told Swiftie, trying not to be intimidated by the sight before her. 'When you see a light flash three times come back to get us.'
Swiftie nodded, hopping back onto the driver's seat and silently taking off into the sky.
As Mezrielda stood with nothing but the whistling of the wind and the grey hues of the clouds that looked like a dripping watercolour painting, it suddenly fell upon her shoulders where they were, and what they were doing. She took in a breath, moving her wand around in her hand to remind herself it was there, and stepped onto the cloud pathway that led towards the castle.
It held her weight.
'The invitations work,' Mezrielda said, with relief, handing one to each of them. 'We have no time to waste. Follow me, stay quiet, and act as if your lives are at stake because they very much are.'
With serious expressions lengthened by the shadows of night, they nodded at her.
Their steps were almost quiet. Mezrielda regretted not having spider slippers. Not only did they let you walk on walls and ceilings, they also muted your movements. Unfortunately, she didn't have a single pair, as the inventions had been missing from Bagsy's room. She just hoped they were in one of the secret pockets Bagsy'd had in her dress.
They reached the main entrance in a minute, craning their necks to look at the mammoth door. With a sinking heart, Mezrielda's eyes picked out the forms of two giant statues in the dark, watching them with unblinking eyes.
'Those look alive,' Emmeline murmured ominously.
'They are,' Mezrielda whispered back. She'd completely forgotten about them. She'd seen them on her way into the castle during the vampire ball, but they'd been out of her view on the way out, when she'd been noting all the safety measures she'd have to overcome. She took a step towards the large doors, hoping that whatever made them move wasn't active tonight.
With a clang of stone on iron, the statue's hands pressed flush onto the doors, holding them closed.
Slowly, their heads tilted down to look at them.
The plan was already out the window, then.
Jon and Itsuki pulled Mezrielda back before stepping to the front of the group.
'We've got this,' Jon said. 'We've been doing Thaumathletics for two years. We'll give these guys the run around while you get inside.'
Taking their word for it, Mezrielda, Emmeline, Greenda and Teresa backed up. Teresa wobbled as she tried to hold her heavy box of baby catercolumns.
'Woah, there!' Emmeline said, pulling Teresa back to safe ground. She'd been an inch from the edge. 'You really don't want to fall.'
'There's a safety net,' Teresa said, pointing down, but when Mezrielda followed where she was gesturing she saw, to her horror, that the safety net was gone.
Teresa looked confused. 'Or there used to be—' She was cut off when a large hand slammed onto the ground near her as Jon and Itsuki raced past.
With angry stomps, the statues followed Jon and Itsuki, trying to lean down and grab them. The two boys leapt into the air and out of their grasp when they tried. It was astounding, seeing how high they could jump. It was a lot higher than someone who didn't do Thaumathletics could leap, Mezrielda decided.
Mezrielda rushed the doors, free of the guarding statues. They'd lost Jon and Itsuki, who were somewhere around the side of the castle playing tag with the statues, but she hoped they could make do with everyone they had left.
'Alohomora,' Mezrielda cast, hearing a satisfying click as the doors unlocked and swung with a tired creak open. It was good having her old wand back, and she could feel the thrum of the corvid family's power working within her.
Doors opened, they were greeted by a tall corridor that stretched before them, filled with rows upon rows of columns.
Teresa readied her box, opening it and spilling the baby catercolumns onto the floor. 'Stay back,' she warned, holding out a hand to keep them away as she watched the presumed adults with cation.
Slowly, and one by one, the columns curled down, revealing themselves not to be columns at all, and wriggled towards Teresa. The nearest one opened its mouth, revealing rows of teeth that looked ready to grind her into oblivion.
The next moment a tiny catercolumn, about the length and thickness of Mezrielda's arm, was squealing and rolling around at its side. The adult catercolumn paused, its mouth closing, as it looked curiously down at the baby. The other babies, mewling like tiny kittens, struggled forwards as well, each drawing at least three of the adults to them.
'Now,' Teresa urged, crouch-walking to the side of the corridor and trying to stealthily move along.
Mezrielda followed closely but after a few paces she grabbed Teresa. 'Stop!'
'What?' Teresa snapped testily, before seeing that the baby catercolumns were following her. 'No!' she said. 'I'm not your mum! Go away!' But the baby catercolumns didn't listen, shuffling closer to them. The adult catercolumns were beginning to take them in with interest. 'Oh no, oh no,' Teresa panicked. 'Oh no, once they realise we're here they'll eat us! Oh, no no no no.'
'Teresa!' Mezrielda said sharply. 'Calm down. You know about magical creatures more than anyone else. You can fix this. Think.' As she spoke, her wand hand twitched, ready to cast a spell. The adult cater-columns were rising, looming over them like the fingers of a giant hand. 'Teresa,' Mezrielda urged, as Emmeline and Greenda began to point their wands upwards.
Abruptly, Teresa broke away from them, picking up some of the baby catercolumns and rushing to the middle of the room. Once she reached the centre, she flopped onto the ground and began to wriggle like a worm.
The adult catercolumns looked down at her, perplexed, before beginning to relax and lower their hefty bodies back down onto the stone floor like a hundred walruses going to sleep. They blinked peacefully down at the baby catercolumns, and at Teresa, who was still trying to wriggle about like a baby of their kind.
Mezrielda pointed her wand at Teresa. 'Palleos,' she cast. Teresa's clothes turned the same creamy-white as the baby catercolumns. Teresa gave a grateful nod, then went back to her wriggling.
Mezrielda resumed the cautious progression through the corridor, edging towards the end. When they reached the end the hall split into a maze of direction.
'Primrose,' Emmeline reminded them, gesturing at the double doors.
Mezrielda glanced back. The scaled speck on the horizon was now rocketing towards the hall. 'Emmeline, Greenda,' she said, her mind whirring as she thought through the plan. It looked like she'd be facing the acting troupe alone, after all. 'Wait at this corner here. Let Primrose catch a glimpse of you and then run in that direction. Keep her on you for as long as possible.'
They nodded.
'What about you?' Greenda asked.
'I'll be fine.'
'Can you rescue Bagsy on your own?' Greenda didn't look confident.
Emmeline narrowed her eyes. 'If you'd just wait here and trust in Primrose, I'd bet we can get her to work with us, then we'd have four people against the acting troupe instead of one!'
Mezrielda glanced back at the double doors. Primrose was nearly upon them. She had a few spells, some of Bagsy's inventions, the element of surprise, and the power of the corvid family. Taking a second to run the calculations in her mind, Mezrielda decided that, yes, she could do this on her own. 'We stick to the plan,' she decided. 'You go that way and keep Primrose busy. We'll regroup at the platform once I have Bagsy.'
Emmeline didn't look keen but saw how close Primrose was and nodded. 'Come on,' she said to Greenda, getting into position.
'Emmeline,' Greenda said, her voice breaking. 'Can you deal with Primrose on your own?'
There was a pause, where the heavy squelching of the catercolumns was all that could be heard.
'Yes,' said Emmeline.
Mezrielda heard the lie.
Greenda didn't. She turned to Mezrielda. 'I'm coming with you. I'll help you rescue Bagsy.'
'No,' Mezrielda protested. 'I can do it alone, stay with Emmeline—'
'There's no time!' Emmeline urged. 'Go!'
Breathing in heavily through her nose, but heeding Emmeline's words, Mezrielda turned. She didn't waste a second to see if Greenda was following.
She ran down a corridor until she was out of sight from the main entrance and only then did she turn to see Greenda had, indeed, followed. Wordless, Mezrielda reached into one of the two pouches she'd brought and chucked a handful of salt at the wall. Greenda did the same.
With angry clicks and the skittering of insectoid legs, the brick-ticks scuttled away, the illusion of the wall crumbling to offer a human-sized hole into the next corridor.
Wall after wall, they threw handfuls of salt at the brick-ticks. It was slow progress, waiting for the bugs to move enough to fit through, even if it was faster than working through the maze of corridors. Eventually, though, they ran out of salt. Luckily, Mezrielda recognised the hallway she was in; it was the one Pepsini had attacked them in, and the one where Bagsy had been stolen.
Mezrielda looked at the door to her left and heard the muffled hubbub of the acting troupe in the ballroom beyond.
'This is it, then,' Greenda whimpered into the silence of the stone walls.
'You can go and find Emmeline,' Mezrielda said. 'I can handle this.'
Greenda looked conflicted. 'I'm here now. I'm staying.'
'So be it. Stay close to me, and as soon as I open that door throw as many of your crystals as you can.' Mezrielda pulled glass baubles of sealable substance into her hand from her second pouch.
The door was ajar, so the two edged towards the ballroom, straining their ears.
'She's just perfect, isn't she?' someone was saying. It sounded like the stunt worker Bagsy had called Three.
'Truly. She's exactly the darlin' we've been searchin' for.'
Mezrielda crouched while Greenda, who was taller, leaned over her. Each put an eye to the gap in the door, peering into the room.
The large circular ballroom spread out before them. The light was dim, the flickering glow of the multi-coloured flames dancing in the torches lining the walls. The painting of the battling angels and devils on the roof seemed less like a painting and more like a window in the poor light. It made Mezrielda feel as if they had ended up somewhere so horrendous it was below hell.
Greenda stifled a gasp.
Bagsy was standing in the centre of the room like a mannequin, while Philip circled her, a vulture waiting for an unfortunate victim to bleed to death.
'She can be anything,' Philip said, gesturing at Bagsy with a mad excitement that reminded Mezrielda of how Wattleseed talked about plants.
'I can't believe we managed to snag one,' one of the other stunt workers said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Philip nodded happily. 'I thought we'd have to go to America to get our hands on one. I thought we'd have to steal from the Beetlehorns.' He laughed. 'Well, in a funny way, we ended up stealing from those folks regardless, but you know what I mean.'
The other members of the acting troupe nodded their heads in agreement. Bagsy nodded also.
Mezrielda's hands curled around the wooden door, her nails digging into the material like cat's claws.
'Just a few more minutes,' Philip added happily. 'It's like heating a jar... you gotta be slow about these things or it'll explode.'
Mezrielda froze. A few more minutes? A few more minutes until what? Until they'd overwhelmed Bagsy's identity? Until her friend no longer existed? The plan had been to sneak in. The plan had been to grab Bagsy and go without the acting troupe knowing they were there. But if there were only minutes left, then...
Mezrielda stood up and nodded at Greenda, whose eyes were wide. 'It's now,' she told her firmly, hoping the fake confidence she was forcing into her voice would hold.
The old Mezrielda would've kicked that door down believing no one could touch her, but this Mezrielda was wiser. The only issue was, this Mezrielda didn't have a choice. Now, hubris was all she had to fall back on, so she repeated it in her head like a mantra. They're nothing compared to me, she thought, taking a step back. Right now, she needed the old and the new.
She had her wand in one hand, and a sphere of sealable substance in the other.
With a decisive kick, she flung the door open.