This week has been way easier workload-wise which to me confirms that they were literally just loading us up with work to keep us out of key week which is SO annoying, and also didn’t work. Instead, they’re adding more strength training to the end of our run because despite my best efforts we literally have been running daily for like seven weeks and even I am getting better at it.

All this to say that we’re on a time crunch folks because I’m exhausted. We’re just going to jump right into it and we’ve still got a lot to get through.

So Neal explained to me how to deal with Polecat. It was a simple solution, thank goodness. Hilariously simple, as so many of the Hawthorne’s plans are.

We waited until late that night. After just one single treatment with the evitotum Andie’s wounds began to heal up, their fever broke, and they spent most of the day sleeping, but the rest of us were restless waiting.

“Do you really think Adrian will tell us what he knows if we get that key?” I asked as we sat in their room, waiting for the sounds down the hall to get quiet.

Rook shrugged. “I doubt it,” he said. “But it’s worth a shot.”

“Unless we get caught,” I pointed out and Rook caught my eye with a quick, crooked smile as if to say oh please, we won’t get caught.

💀💀💀

It was past midnight by the time the island finally seemed to be well and truly asleep. Andie, Rook and Bass all drifted off while we waited — leaning against the wall, or curled up on their sides, Bass snoring softly, Rook’s chin nodding onto his chest — and listen I was for sure tempted to just let them sleep. I was feeling all warm and safe, and let’s all be real here, getting a stupid key for a stupid school competition? Laughably low stakes folks. Hilariously unimportant.

BUT, I did sorta hope that Adrian would at least give us a hint about whatever Bird (let’s be honest, I’ve been writing Robert on this blog the whole time because it’s not like we were friends, but I’ve thought of him as Bird since the moment I met him) and his friends were studying. And also, I wanted Andie to succeed. Like, I’m not sure exactly how or why Andie decided to go get that key on their own, and I don’t want to infer too much. But I did want them to succeed.

And is there a little part of me that sorta wanted to prove to everyone that I can do it? Yeah, sure, of course there is.

Anyways, after the music coming from down the hall finally went quiet, I shook them all awake, we collected the little bag of supplies, and as quietly as we could, we creaked open our door and peeked out into the corridor, checking that the coast was clear.

It was not. Marina was leaning against the wall, waiting for us.

“Oh hello,” she said, smirking. “What are you four up to?”

“Nothing,” Andie said stiffly.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll join you for nothing if you don’t mind,”

There was a long moment of silence as we all glanced at Andie, unsure how to proceed. Their lips tightened.

“Fine,” they said. “But we’re not getting it for Saint Niveus.”

Marina hesitated for only a moment. Then she lifted her chin defiantly. “Whatever. As long as we get the key.”

“Alright then,” Rook murmured. “If we’re gonna do it, let’s do it.”

We didn’t technically need to sneak or anything, it’s not like we have curfew or anything. All we really needed to hide from was other kids out here to get the key, and luckily they were all just as keen not to be seen by us as we were not to be seen by them.

We kept low in the shadows, our footsteps splashing a little on the wet stone cobbles down to the stables.

“You came out here without me last night huh?” Marina whispered to Andie behind me as we dashed across the light spilling down the cathedral’s front steps.

“That’s none of your business,” Andie said stiffly as we ducked off the path and in between the cherry trees.

Marina scoffed. “Might’ve had a bit more luck if you’d let it be my business.”

“Probably not though, considering how Terran ended up,” Andie snapped and Marina scoffed. Terran Von Trostan was the kid who ended up in the infirmary, and though it wasn’t common knowledge that Marina had been on that expedition, apparently Andie wasn’t wrong in making the connection because Marina laughed.

“Yeah, well,” she said. “That’s because I didn’t have you with me.”

Andie snapped, “Shut up.”

No idea what the deal is between those two.

Polecat was in a large square room off the corner of the main stables where the hutches for the smaller animals were kept.

“Are we sure there aren’t any Bellhoof kids standing guard?” Rook whispered as Bass hoisted the barn door open.

“Bellhoof doesn’t have any magic,” Marina said dismissively. “They’re better off letting the rodent fight their battles.”

Literally, I hate that girl hahahaha. Bass and I exchanged a look and he mimed tightening a noose around his neck and stuck his tongue out. I did my best not to laugh.

Polecat was in a large hutch on the end, all by himself. His long, opalescent body was curled around the key, his fuzzy little pot belly rising and falling with his breath.

“He’s so cute,” Bass cooed.

“Yeah, he’s less cute as you get to know him,” Andie replied, delicately scratching at their poor torn up chin.

“Ready?” Rook asked, slinging the backpack off his shoulder.

“What’s the plan?” Marina asked. “Last night I tried just calling it with magic, but that little booger is quick.”

And then I said, MAXIMALLY SNIDE, to be clear, “You just stand back princess, we’ll handle it.” Like I was being very obviously rude, but Marina turned and gave me this appraising look, smirked, pricked her eyebrow and said, “handle it then,” with these sparkly sparkly eyes and Andie growled, “Leave her alone Marina,” and then, thank god, Rook pulled the big, chipped mirror we’d pried off the bathroom wall out of the backpack.

“So we just… set it in the hutch with him?” Bass asked and I shrugged.

“That’s what he said.”

“That’s what who said?” Marina asked, and we all ignored her.

For a moment none of us moved, so finally I took a deep breath and undid the latch of the hutch. We all froze, waiting to see if Polecat would wake up. He didn’t.

I reached behind me and Rook put the mirror in my hand. Very slowly, I edged the mirror into the hutch. It barely fit into the door and I had to do some careful angling, but eventually I got it to lean against the wall of the hutch and I quickly shut the door.

Nothing happened. Polecat stayed asleep.

“Should I… try to take the key?” Bass suggested.

But that seemed like a bad idea. “Pooolecaaat,” I singsonged, trying to wake him up. One little clawed paw scratched at his belly, but otherwise he didn’t wake up. “Polecat, I’m gonna take your keeeyy.”

“Alright, move over,” Marina snapped, shoving me out of the way. “Hey,” she said, and opened the door. “Rat. Wake up.” She tapped the floor of his hutch. “C’mon, wake up, we brought you a mirror for some reason.”

Well, it worked. Polecat went from peacefully snoozing to awake and pissed about it. Marina slammed the door and his little claws reached through the wire door and trying to snag her. His tiny adorable little body quivered with uncontrolled rage.

“Holy shit,” Rook murmured. “He really is a bit vicious isn’t he?”

“This is nothing,” Andie replied.

Polecat might have recognized their voice because his little head snapped in their direction, and he must have caught sight of himself in the mirror because suddenly all his hair stood on end. His little back arched. He spat at his reflection in the mirror like a cat.

The key lay in the hay behind him.

“Do we just… reach in and grab the key?” Bass asked, clearly not sold on the idea.

I wasn’t particularly sold on it myself, but on the other hand Polecat was fully zeroed in on the mirror. He was nose to nose with himself and had begun to weave back and forth, making a strange, whining, growling sound.

Something in my belly tightened.

“Move,” I snapped at Marina, elbowing back between her and the hutch. “We’re stressing him out.”

Rook must have been thinking the same thing because he said, “Did he say how to get the mirror back out?”

He did not. Damnit Neal. But more on that in a minute.

I reached in right beside Polecat and grabbed the stupid key. It was made of iron and except for being heavy and cold, totally unremarkable.

I put the key in Rook’s hand and then began to wriggle the mirror back out of the hutch, my heart absolutely roaring. Polecat launched at the mirror with a hollow thunk. I heard his teeth scrape against the glass. I dragged the mirror harder, genuinely starting to worry about poor Polecat’s well-being, and the hutch suddenly and inexplicably filled with light. It was a bit like a multi-colored disco ball suddenly lit from within.

We all froze, gaping. The glow seemed to be coming from under Polecat’s skin, shining through that beautiful, pearly fur.

“Get the mirror out, hurry,” Rook said, and I gave it a hard yank, so hard that I dislodged the mirror, fell onto my butt on the dirty, straw-strewn floor, and flung poor Polecat against the back of his hutch. Which was actually a blessing honestly, because it gave Rook time to slam the door shut.

Polecat righted himself and stood, splay-legged, chest heaving at the back of his hutch. His eyes tracked us furiously through the bars. His glow faded, slowly.

Was it a little bit funny to see that little tube of fury looking like he was fully willing and able to murder us all single handedly? Yeah, okay, it was a little bit funny.

I felt awful.

In the hutches surrounding him, strange, other-worldly eyes blinked awake and watched us through the dark.

“Holy shit,” Marina said. “That worked.” She laughed gleefully.

Rook offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet. One look told me that we were both feeling the same way.

I took one of those all-natural eucalyptus cough drops out of my pocket, unwrapped it and put it into the hutch. According to Neal they were Polecat’s favorite, but although Polecat did lift his little snout to sniff curiously in the cough drops direction, he did not approach his treat with us all standing there.

“Come on,” Andie said. “Let’s get out of here.”

We made it maybe three steps out of the stables when someone said, “Well, well, well. What have we here?”

I didn’t know this at the time, but now I know it was was a group of Saint Niveus juniors, here to try their hand at getting the key. We probably should have planned for this — it was after all the last night of key week we were bound to be the only ones trying to get the key.

And listen, if everyone had just kept their heads on their shoulders, we would have just passed them the key, pretended we were getting it for Saint Niveus anyways, and at least Andie would have gotten what they wanted.

Unfortunately — god this is so fucking embarrassing — they were wearing stupid paper animal masks. I didn’t even know I had a hang up about those things, but I saw them looming out of the darkness around us, and I was transported back to the woods in Black Lake, naked, surrounded by strangers in animal masks, following me silently through the brush.

I panicked. I ran for it, just fully took off.

The one in the horse mask made a whipping motion with his hand and something heavy whooshed through the air, wrapped twice around my knees and sent me skidding through the mud. When I scrambled around and tried to pry the rope off my legs I found nothing there, and realized with a terrible falling sensation, that they’d used magic.

What happened next happened very quickly.

First, Bass did something I didn’t see, but I heard a sound like snapping branches and Horse Mask was lifted, squirming into the air. Next Andie screamed, and Marina, with a howl, lunged towards a short kid in an owl mask, gesturing with one grasping hand. He made a strange, gasping sound.

Then, Adrian came running out of the trees, calling, “Wait, they’re minnows! They’re minnows, stop!”

Which, in their defense, did pull them up short. There was a moment of confusion, and with just a little bit of luck, it all would have ended there.

Alas.

The stillness took hold of me like being gently dipped into warm, rabidly hardening wax. I could breathe and move my eyes, but that was about it.

“Let me guess,” Lily said, emerging from out of the trees, wearing an oversized, fluffy, pink bathrobe and rain boots. “This is about key week.”

None of us could speak, obviously. We just swiveled our eyes.

Lily sighed. “Alright, I’m going to let you go now. Take those masks off, and all of you come with me.” And then, “Mr. Prescott, go check on Polecat.”

Adrian ducked his head and went on into the barn. The rest of us silently followed Lily up the hill.

It was not a pleasant walk. I mean, apart from being a little bit shaken up and super embarrassed, I was okay, no one on the outside was gonna particularly angry with me for getting caught. Neal and Jasper literally told me exactly how to get up to this particular trouble, but I was still not looking forward to having to explain myself to Lana.

I was sort of expecting to have to go to her office, but she was waiting for us in the Cathedral. She was fully dressed. She didn’t appear to have gone to bed yet.

“Minnows, you can wait outside. I’d like a word with my upperclassmen first,” she said.

We waited, shivering on the steps, under Lily’s supervision. Poor Andie sniffled and tried to hide the fact that they were crying. Adrian came up the hill, and reported quietly that Polecat was perfectly fine, he was eating a cough drop, happy as a clam — which I admit, did make me feel quite a bit better — but that the key was gone.

The Saint Niveus students did not come back out our way. Eventually we heard Lana call us from within the cathedral and we all hung our heads and went inside.

I met Rook’s eye and he gestured just barely with his fingers, which I didn’t understand at first.

But then Lana’s first question was, “Where is the key?”

And Rook said, without a moment’s hesitation, “We don’t have it. It was already gone when we got there.”

Literally, I’m obsessed with him.

Lana narrowed her eyes very slightly, and looked us each over in turn.

“Who put you up to this?” she asked.

“No one,” I said immediately.

“You weren’t coming to steal the key for anyone in particular?”

“No,” Marina said. “I haven’t decided what college I want to join. We just thought it would make a statement if the Minnows stole it for themselves for once.”

Lana’s expression didn’t so much as flicker.

She leaned back against the table and crossed her ankles. “I admit, I’m quite disappointed,” she said. “I hadn’t expected you to be the students swept up in this silliness, knowing as so many of you do, what is at stake outside of this school.”

First, the wave of guilt and embarrassment. Next the wave of fury that the woman who sent Cara through a rift would DARE lecture me about anything.

Lana must have read this in my expression, because she sighed.

“Mx Maddox you can stop crying, you won’t be punished.” She sat in the nearest chair. “I was at school not so long ago, I remember the excitement. And after all no one was harmed.” But she said it with such a shrewd look at me and Rook that I knew she was thinking about Polecat. “Or nearly no one, I suppose.”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “I didn’t —”

Lana held up a perfectly manicured hand. “Don’t apologize to me. It’s Polecat you’ll all be making it up to. I’m going to have a word with Professor Jimenez in the morning. You five will be in charge of Polecat’s care for the next couple weeks. Since you seem to know so much about that particular creature.”

None of us said anything, we just stood there, not daring to look at anyone.

“Alright, off to bed with you,” Lana said. “And go straight there, will you? My night’s been long enough.”

We all began to file out the side door towards the fountain, when Lana said, “Shiloh, wait a moment, will you?”

My stomach sank. Marina and Andie both glanced around at me, Andie’s expression curious, Marina’s openly calculating.

When the others had gone, Lana said, “I suppose you got the mirror trick from Neal?”

I didn’t see the point in lying. I nodded.

Lana sighed. “I’ll have a word with him,” she said. And then, after a moment, “Was he with Jasper when you spoke to him by chance?”

I hesitated, which evidently was answer enough.

“I thought so,” Lana said. “Ordinarily Neal doesn’t intentionally cause unnecessary stress to the creatures in our care.” She seemed to consider words carefully for a moment then said, “I’ve known Neal a long time. He’s grown up a lot, especially after Nolan —” She stopped abruptly. “But still, I recommend you take his advice with a grain of salt when he’s in Jasper’s company. When they’re together their judgement is a bit… skewed.”

Blood roared in my ears. I imagined pulling her hair.

“Between his judgement and yours I’ll trust his, thanks,” I said, and I could almost feel Cara in the room with us.

Lana’s expression didn’t falter. “Well,” she said softly. “I’ll let you work that out with Polecat. Goodnight Shiloh.”

I was so furious my legs were stiff as I stormed out of the cathedral.

Andie, Bass, Rook and even Marina were waiting for me, leaning against the stone walls. They looked up as I joined them.

“Everything okay?” Bass asked and I felt the rage go out of me at once. I smiled.

“Yeah,” I said, and then, grinning, met Rook’s eye. He produced the key from his sleeve, smiling back, and just like that — elation.

“Put that away,” Andie hissed, but they were grinning. We were all grinning. We practically skipped up to Minnow House, arms looped around each other.

There’s a little bit more to the story, but I’m literally falling asleep on my keyboard so you’ll have to wait. Good night everyone.