Calamitous Intervention

Wing It Like Witches

The morning after the chaotic Grom evening, Principal Bump and Hermonculus were both standing alone in the giant gym, both definitely exhausted after the school's annual ritual had gone just a tad bit out of control. Relieved that Anne and her friends were able to tame and control Grom after all hope seemed lost, all they wanted to do was silently observe its sealed, splattered remains under the gym floor.

But they knew they couldn't stand there forever, as classes were beginning in less than an hour anyway. Bump moved forward and knelt over one of the bits of goo splattered near a floor corner. "I really have to commend Anne's work in sealing Grom," he admitted. "Grom had never escaped from our school before. Well, not in the past decade, at least."

Hermonculus, being carried by his giant abomination as always, didn't seem as visibly impressed. "But is that not worth celebrating, if they were also the ones who got us all into this mess in the first place?"

Not responding directly, Bump moved on to another topic, still examining Grom's remains. "Every year, the Grom Queen gets nervous or intimidated by whatever happens. Anne may have, too, but she dealt with more than any other of our queens. As a matter of fact..." he began to trail off as he moved closer to the floor.

While he had known well how Grom's goo had looked over the decades of supervising Grom night, something seemed slightly off about this one. Some splotches of goo had a putrid smell emanating from them, which was odd, as he had never even remembered Grom smelling in the first place.

Figuring it was just the dead goo rotting, he wondered then what would explain the strange colors radiating, too. Some small sections of the goo had bright blue colors that almost seemed to glow, as if someone had just splattered fresh paint onto them. He knew right away something was up, as the colors looked so vibrant that no one could have possibly fought Grom like that without realizing it.

"Bump, sir, it's five till nine," Hermonculus suddenly interrupted his thoughts from afar as he coldly nudged him to keep up the pace and not miss out on any schedules today. Deciding to put all these thoughts aside for later, Bump agreed and stood up, habitually wiping some dust off his suit before turning around towards the exit.

"Well, I best not be late then. I can't afford to miss out on any of our rising Grudgby players."

Chapter Thirty-Four - Wing It Like Witches

Near Hexside's entrance, Eda and Anne landed nearby on her staff, as the human girl hopped off carrying her backpack. Looking up, she heard fireworks explode above the building while a large, glowing blue banner reading "GO GET 'EM, BANSHEES" hung from above.

"Oh, no," Anne groaned. "Another event? Please tell me it's not another Grom."

Eda snorted with amusement. "Relax, kiddo. It's just Grudgby season. It's something I used to play back in my gory days."

Anne wisely decided not to ask about that last comment. "Grudgby? Is it anything like Flyer Derby?" she asked curiously.

"Nah, they're pretty different," the Owl Lady told her. "Flyer Derby uses flags, while Grudgby has you launch balls through goals to score points for your team."

"So... it's like football?" Anne replied.

"Don't know what that is, but sure," Eda shrugged. "Back when I used to play, I was unstoppable on the field. I had the best moves and... the best cheats." She gave the human a shameless smirk while Anne shook her head.

"You find a way to cheat in everything," the human mused. She reached up into her bushy hair, pulling out King, who had been buried deep in there. The little demon stirred awake slowly, and Anne couldn't help but smile as she handed him to Eda. "I swear, he always finds a place to sleep."