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

Sight, Words and Strength

Bagsy woke with an uncomfortable jolt on Monday. She'd been having a bad dream, but she couldn't remember what about. She reckoned the cold rain from yesterday had contributed to her nightmare. She often slept worse when she was ill and, right then, with all her sniffing and coughing, she guessed that she very much was.

Walking in a haze to breakfast, she almost forgot the deal she'd made with Primrose, but forgetting such a deal was a difficult task when a scaled face and toothy grin were what welcomed her into the great hall.

'Are you ready?' Primrose asked.

'Not really,' said Bagsy, her voice sounding strange from her nose blockage.

'Ew.' Primrose cringed. 'Don't get too near. Cold-blooded folk don't like catching bugs.'

'You're cold blooded?' Bagsy asked as they made their way to the table.

Primrose shrugged. 'Never checked. Wouldn't surprise me, I feel much better after bathing in sunlight. What would surprise me, though, is if you'd shut up about pointless stuff and do what you said you'd do.' She flashed her claws at Bagsy. 'Or do I need to give you more incentive?'

Bagsy looked at Primrose's claws and gulped, sitting down at the table. 'No, no, it's fine, I'll do it–'

'Bagsy!' a small voice called eagerly. Bagsy turned to see Elijah and Howe, both third years now, waving enthusiastically at her. Elijah was the one speaking. 'You were amazing last night!' he said before he hurried to the Ravenclaw table where Howe was finding them seats.

For a brief moment, Bagsy thought that would be that, then she found people shoving textbooks in her face asking for autographs. She could see Mezrielda at the edge of the crowd, shoving at people who were standing between her and Bagsy, but still not being able to get to her.

Brazenly, Primrose stood on the Hufflepuff table, kicking plates out of her way. 'Listen up!' she hissed, swiping a hand threateningly at the gathered crowd.

The crowd paused gawked at Primrose baring her teeth and flicking her forked tongue at them.

'Bagsy here is going to be taking a very important test...' Primrose held a box above her head. Do you have the sight? If you do, you won't need this! was written on the front. 'A test to see if our resident celebrity can see into the future! Now, if you'll all kindly back the hell up, you can watch to find out what happens.'

'Maybe that's why her acting is so good,' Bagsy heard someone murmur. 'She looks into the future to see how she should act and then copies herself!'

'That's a paradox, though,' someone else responded.

'Shush! I'm trying to listen.'

Primrose jumped down from the table. With a sinister grin, she slammed the box in front of Bagsy. Rebekah and Logan had managed to find seats nearby but they, too, were struggling to get through the crowd. Bagsy wanted to combust and turn into a pile of ash – she was burning from all the people around her.

Primrose opened the box and hooked her claws beneath the paper. 'There are three stages. The card test, the object test, and the verbal test.' Loudly, Primrose slammed a stack of seven cards in front of Bagsy, who let out a yelp to a spattering of laughs from the on watchers.

Without a care, Primrose hopped back onto the table then dropped down opposite Bagsy, making space for herself with a sweep of her clawed hand. She put a screen on the table so Bagsy couldn't see what she was looking at. 'I have one card behind this screen,' Primrose explained, holding up a black card-shaped pouch. 'I've randomly selected a card that matches one of those over there. Using her sight, Bagsy needs to look into the future and figure out which card it is. Go on, then, Bagsy,' Primrose encouraged in a way that made Bagsy feel she was being told to jump into a pit of spikes.