"Come with me," Mr. Blitz said.
"Wait!" Ember yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."
I stared at her, stunned. I couldn't believe she was trying to cover for me.
Mr. Blitz scared Ember to death.
He glared at her so hard that she trembled.
"I don't think so, Ms. Pheonix," he said.
"But—"
"You—will—stay—here."
Ember looked at me desperately.
"It's okay, Ember," I told her. "Thanks for trying."
"Honey," Mr. Blitz barked at me. "Now."
Frostine Diablo smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.
Then I turned to face Mr. Blitz, but he wasn't there. He was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.
How'd he get there so fast?
I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.
I wasn't so sure.
I went after Mr. Blitz.
Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Ember. She was looking pale, cutting her eyes between me and Ms. Sybil, like she wanted Ms. Sybil to notice what was going on, but Ms. Sybil was absorbed in her novel.
I looked back up. Mr. Blitz had disappeared again. He was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.
Okay, I thought. He's going to make me buy a new shirt for Frostine at the gift shop.
But apparently that wasn't the plan.
I followed him deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to him, we were back in the Hecate section.
Except for us, the gallery was empty.
Mr. Blitz stood with his arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of Victoria. He was making this weird noise in his throat, like growling.
Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mr. Blitz. Something about the way he looked at the statue, as if he wanted to pulverize it...
"You've been giving us problems, honey," he said.
I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, sir."
He tugged on the cuffs of his leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
The look in his eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.
He's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like he's going to hurt me.
I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, sir."
Thunder shook the building.
"We are not fools, Zoe Autumn," Mr. Blitz said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."
I didn't know what he was talking about.
All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on David Copperfield from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.
"Well?" he demanded.
"Sir, I don't..."
"Your time is up," he hissed.
Then the weirdest thing happened. His eyes began to glow orange. His fingers stretched, turning into talons. His jacket melted into large, leathery wings that touched the floor. He wasn't human. He was a beast-bat hybrid and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and he was about to slice me to ribbons.
Then things got even stranger.
Ms. Sybil, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled her chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a stick in her hand.
"Catch this, Zoe!" she shouted, and tossed the stick through the air. Mr. Blitz lunged at me.
With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the stick out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't stick anymore. It was a wand-Ms. Sybil's wand, which she always used on tournament day.
Mr. Blitz spun toward me with a murderous look in his eyes.
My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the wand.
He snarled, "Die, honey!"
And he flew straight at me.
Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I uttered a spell that came out of nowhere-Uro.
A golden jet of light hit him and he turned to ashes.
I was alone.
There was a wand in my hand.
Ms.Sybil wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.
My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.
Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside.
It had started to rain.
Ember was sitting by fountain, a museum map tented over her head. Frostine Diablo was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Hoppe whipped your butt."
I said, "Who?"
"Our teacher. Duh!"
I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Hoppe. I asked Frostine what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away.
I asked Ember where Mr. Blitz was.
She said, "Who?"
But she paused first, and she wouldn't look at me, so I thought she was messing with me.
"Not funny, Em," I told her. "This is serious."
Thunder boomed overhead.
I saw Ms. Sybil sitting under her red umbrella, reading her book, as if she'd never moved.
I went over to her.
She looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my wand. Please bring your own plaything in the future, Ms. Autumn.
I handed Ms.Sybil her pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. "Ma'am," I said, "Where's Mr.Blitz?"
She stared at me blankly. "Who?"
"The other chaperone. Mr. Blitz. The Math teacher."
She frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Zoe, there is no Mr. Blitz on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mr. Blitz at Chivers. Are you feeling all right?"