✓ 𝐖.𝐈.𝐓.𝐂.𝐇. | ʜᴏᴄᴜꜱ ᴘᴏᴄᴜꜱ

𝘁𝗲𝗻

I DIDN'T KNOW HOW LONG I HAD BEEN ASLEEP.

all that i did know is that theo shook me awake as vigorously as possible. i wiped my eyes and groaned about how early it was, hoping to at least get a few more minutes of sleep.

"what is it?" i groaned, slapping at his face.

outside of his window, a car horn honked loudly. i did not think that the morning rush was happening so soon. besides, it was only the one car horn.

"it's dani!" theo shouted and my eyes finally opened. "they got dani!"

i practically jumped out of the bed and raced for binx. i grabbed him and without a second look, ran downstairs.

"where are your parents?" i called to theo following closely behind me.

he opened the door while i slipped my shoes on. "i don't know, they should be home by now!"

we raced outside and into the honking car. i threw thackery into the backseat and told allison to drive as soon as we got into the car. we didn't even shut the door before we were thrown against the seats.

"what happened?" i asked, hoping they would fill me in.

max was panicking. "the sisters-they took dani and the book! they're luring kids to their little shack!"

it was then that i noticed that the roads were loaded with kids slowly walking in the direction of the sanderson shack. most of them were in pajamas and holding some form of light.

"what time is it?" i asked, looking at everyone.

"5:30," allison said, swerving around a kid in a dijiaiar costume. "we called you as soon as we could."

"i thought this was over!" i groaned. "we killed them!"

from beside me, thackery growled. "clearly not for long."

*

"prepare to die!" max shouted, bursting into the sanderson shack.

dani was tied up on a chair. her wrist and ankles were bound together with rope as the sisters tried to feed her a spoonful of some potion they had made-probably one that allowed them to kill her so they could take her youth.

"you! you have no powers here, you fool!" winnifred shouted, still holding the giant spoon in her hand.

from up on what looked like cages, two kids were hanging from the ceiling. one of them called for max, but he ignored them.

"maybe not," he said to winnifred, "but there's a power greater than your magic. and that's knowledge."

"and there's one thing we know that you don't!" theo yelled.

her head perked up. "and what is that, dude?"

i grinned, looking at the window. "daylight savings time."

the sisters laughed and giggled, mocking us. a light started to shine through the window, and we took our chance to save dani. the sisters screamed and cowered, falling to the ground as the red lights blazed through the window.

"guys!" dani called, trying to free herself. "a little help!"

max ran towards dani and let her free, twisting and turning the knots, finally letting her out of the ropes that bound her to the chair. she stood up and looked at her wrists. they had been rubbed raw and they were a light pink.

"hey, let me outta here!"one of the boys yelled as they hung from the ceiling.

max didn't seem to care, and told the three of us to go and get dani out and meet allison by the car.

we slammed the door open and booked it to the car. binx was clawing at the door and the red headlights were blaring as bright as possible.

dani stopped on the steps. "i wanna see them turn to dust!" she yelled.

"get in the car, dani!" i yelled. "come on!"

she finally looked at the car. she must have realized that it wasn't really the sun and instead the headlights. she ran as fast as she could to the car, squeezing in between theo and i, binx sitting on her lap.

"drive!"

max stared ahead of us. the car was surrounded by kids in their pajamas. some had stuffed animals, but most of them were all by their lonesome.

"i'm trying!" he called out, slamming his palms against the steering wheel. "come on! move it!"

once we eventually made it to the road, we started speeding. no one was out, mainly because everyone was at town hall, partying their lives away (literally).

there was a bang on the door. we turned to look and saw winnifred sanderson flying beside the car on her broomstick.

"pull over!" she shouted. "let me see your drivers permit!"

she tried to pull max out of the drivers seat, but we all managed to keep a hand on him. he knocked at her hand and the car swerved back to the correct side of the road. but it wasn't long before winnifred came back.

"resisting arrest?" she taunted before max swerved the car and hit her into a nearby bush.

everyone cheered and continued cheering until we pulled up to the graveyard gate. we all rushed out and pushed it open as fast as we could, making sure to avoid stepping on anything or anyone.

unfortunately, that didn't last long thanks to an old friend our ours: billy butcherson.

i ran right into him and fell to the ground, crawling backwards on my hands, hoping he was too dead to grab me. i wasn't paying attention to much because i was too preoccupied with fighting for my life

"no, theodore!" binx shouted.

i felt around my sleeve for where i kept my pocket knife. it may have been weird, but i was a teenage girl who walked about the streets at night. i needed some kind of protection.

i managed to stand up and tried to slash the knife at the living dead. he backed away slowly and didn't make any attempt to attack.

"run!" i yelled to the group. "i'll catch up!"

and they did as i asked. theo needed a little push from max to start running, but eventually, he started leading the pack.

"billy!" winnifred said from behind the gate and i.

in a second of vulnerability, billy grabbed my arm and held me against him. he struggled to take the knife out of my hand.

"billy? listen to me!" winnifred shouted from her broomstick. "kill her if you must! just bring me that child, that dani!"

billy finally managed to grab the knife and take it from me, but he didn't do what i had expected with it. just as winnifred had finished pestering him, he took the knife to his own mouth and cut the stitches.

"don't dawdle!" she shouted from five feet in the air. "come along now!"

once billy finished cutting the stitches, smoke and cobwebs flew from his mouth in various coughs. winnifred told him to kill me, but billy was still getting used to breathing in air.

"wench," he growled. "trollop!"

i was honestly at a loss for words. i even stopped trying to free myself because i was so intrigued in what was happening. billy seemed to be on our side?

"you buck-toothed, mop-riding, firefly from hell!" he yelled.

winnifred groaned from atop her broom. she clearly don't like the words he was calling her. they were pretty 1600's-esque, so they were in some weird form of shakespearean insult tongue. but interesting, nonetheless.

"i've waited centuries to say that."