Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 27: The Taken

"MINE!" shouted the padlock on the mausoleum doors as soon as it saw Lucan.

Lucan just began to raise his wand when red sparks flew past his head. He leaned to the side and whipped his head around to see Briallen, her wand up. "You almost hit me!"

"But I didn't hit you," said Briallen, smiling. She went to the now unlocked padlock and quietly remove it from the chains and then, together, she and Lucan removed the chains from the doors. The chains looked to be in the same position Lucan had left them, meaning whoever had put them on the door to begin with hadn't returned yet.

The door to the mausoleum opened with a low creak and, slowly, the four kids entered the tomb. Marisol followed Briallen so close that Marisol's watch kept getting caught on Briallen's shirt. Lucan lit his wand and motioned for the others to stay where they were near the center sarcophagus. He moved to the right and went to the back of the tomb. Briallen couldn't see him very well but she heard the click of the wolves being pushed in and then the rumbling began. Marisol clung to Briallen as she watched Cal Bevin's sarcophagus slide to the right and reveal the staircase.

With Lucan in the front, lighting the way with his wand, Briallen, Marisol and Toby followed closely down the narrow tunnel that led from the mausoleum in the Bergamot cemetery to somewhere in the north wood. There was complete silence, apart from the occasional noise made from one of them tripping over a rock or root in the dirt tunnel.

"I've been thinking, you guys," said Marisol suddenly. Briallen let out a yelp, and jumped, frightened by the sudden loud sound of Marisol's voice echoing off of the long tunnel walls. Lucan shushed them both.

"Sorry," said Marisol, now whispering. "Anyway, I've been thinking and I think I would rather be bitten by a werewolf and become a werewolf, than die. What do you all think?"

"I think we should change the subject of this conversation, that's what I think," whispered Toby sharply.

"Seriously, think about it. Would you rather die right now, on the spot, or continue to live and just have to, like, become a monster for a few days a month."

"My mom says women already have a monthly curse. Do you really want another one?" asked Toby. He wasn't sure what his mother meant by this mysterious monthly curse but it didn't sound pleasant, and it made him glad he was a male.

"I wouldn't mind. It'd be better than being dead."

"How about we not talk anymore?" snapped Lucan. "If somebody else is in this tunnel, they'll hear us." At being told there was a possibility they weren't alone in the tunnel, Marisol kept her mouth shut and did not speak again until they had crawled out of the tunnel up a rope ladder and through a rotted tree stump.

"Gross," whispered Marisol as she wiped dirt and bugs off of her pants.

"Quiet! The centaurs might still be here and they're not known for their friendliness," Lucan said quietly before motioning for them to follow him. "This way."

Briallen looked around the part of the wood they had come out of for any sign of the cave and frowned when she couldn't see where it was. They were surrounded entirely by trees and, with no pathway in sight, she had no idea where in the forest they were. Without a path, the forest floor was a mess of roots and leaves and other plant life, and yet the wood was strangely void of any of the common sounds of wildlife. Briallen considered this very odd since when she was last here, only a few days ago, the wood was bustling with the sounds of animals.

She walked a little faster until she was in step next to Lucan. "I thought you said it came up right next to the cave - so where's the cave?"

"It's not much further," he replied calmly, keeping his eyes on whatever unnoticeable path he was following. Lucan seemed to know where every rock, root and hole was as he walked carefully through the growth of trees.

Toby and Marisol slowed down to allow a little more space between themselves and Briallen and Lucan. "So?" Marisol asked in a whisper.

"I think it's a trap," replied Toby, scowling. "I don't trust him and I don't think he's here just to help us."

"Then why did you come along?"

"Somebody has to look out for you and Briallen."

"Toby, if it came down to you and Lucan, you know that Lucan would win, right? His family practices dark magic, and you remember what Briallen said about him shooting arrows out of his wand on Halloween! Who knows what else he can do?"

"Yeah, but at least I'll have tried."

"You're so stupid sometimes! But, thanks anyways, Toby."

Toby glanced at Marisol, confused. "For what?"

"For coming." She smiled at him. Then she heard the howl. Marisol froze, thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her, until she noticed that Toby, Lucan, and Briallen had stopped walking as well. Everybody seemed to be concentrating on listening, to confirm if they had all heard what they thought they heard. Then another howl echoed through the trees. "...Is that what I think it is?"

Toby seemed to be barely breathing as he nodded his head. "I think it is... we should catch up with Lucan and Briallen." Toby and Marisol ran up to the other two, who were now discussing something in unintelligible whispers.

Lucan turned to them as they approached. "Wolves," he confirmed. "I don't know if they're werewolves or regular wolves, but either way they're a danger."

"Why did you say wolves? Do you think there's more than one?" asked Marisol, wringing his hands with worry. She was beginning to regret going on this mission.

"I don't know. We should get to the cave quickly, though." With his last word, Lucan turned on his heels and continued through the forest even faster than he had been going before. Within minutes the cave came into sight and Briallen sighed in relief. Despite her doubts on whether or not this was the best night to go exploring the old cave, as she looked upon it she felt the trip was entirely worth it. Ever since she saw that sweater in the cave, she had a feeling there was something important to find in the cave. She also had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. It was the quiet stillness of the forest, and the bright full moon shining down on them that made everything look and feel wrong to her.

A twig snapping broke the silence. Briallen looked around at Toby, Lucan and Marisol, who were also looking at each other. None of them had moved since the cave came into sight. They were all still standing on the outside of the clearing in front of the cave, still within the trees. Another twig snapped. Marisol began to take nervous, shallow breaths. Toby grabbed her hand; she was shaking and her palms her sweaty but he held on tightly, not showing his own fear.

Lucan was now eyeing the clearing carefully, his eyes squinting as they looked for something that was not yet there. "Nobody move... there's someone coming this way," he whispered as he held his arm out in front of Briallen like a barricade.

Briallen knew who was coming: the snatcher, Mr Hoody.

At the opposite end of the clearing, where there seemed to be a gap in the trees, a figure suddenly became visible under the bright light of the full moon. They walked awkwardly, sideways almost, as one arm was stretched behind them, holding a wand to float what looked like a body, while the other hand held up their long cloak so that they could step more easily through the long grass in the clearing. As the snatcher came closer, Briallen focused on the body floating behind him to see if she could recognize who it was who had been kidnapped this time.

Marisol gasped. "That's Gavin Ellison!" she whispered as she took a hold of Lucan's t-shirt from her place behind him. "What's she going to do to him?"

Lucan shrugged to let her know that he had no idea what the snatcher was doing, and also to shake free of Marisol's sweaty grasp.

Soon, the snatcher disappeared inside the cave and Briallen followed with Lucan, Marisol and Toby trailing behind her. They tread carefully inside the cave, aware that one small noise would echo loudly off the stone walls and give away their presence. Briallen resisted the urge to light her wand the deeper they went, as the light of the moon only provided so much for them to see with as they went further in. Then the snatcher turned a sharp corner and disappeared.

Briallen motioned for them all to stop and stay as she continued to follow the snatcher around the corner. There was the dim glow of candle light coming from around another corner that the snatcher had turned at just a few yards further in front of her. Briallen crept quietly and looked around the cave wall. On the other side was what looked to be a small room, no larger than Briallen's bedroom back at her parents house.

Then Briallen realized that what she had originally believed to be barrels lined along one wall were, in fact, human beings who were bound and gagged and unconscious. The snatcher lowered Gavin to the ground and mumbled another spell that bound him in ropes, before he awakened him. Gavin shook his head groggily.

"Where am I?" asked Gavin hoarsely as he tried to look around. It only took him a few seconds to notice the bound bodies lined along the wall, and the fact that he was also bound. He began to struggle against the ropes.

"No, no, no, my dear," said a familiar, sickly sweet voice from under the cloak. "The more you struggle, the tighter they get, and I don't want you to suffocate yourself. Not before dinner." The snatcher then awoke every person that was in the room and lit a few more candles. It took Briallen all of her willpower to keep from gasping as the light from the candles fell up the faces of all those that had been kidnapped. Christabel Lewis, Takashi Wu, Izolda Brodzki, Noah Pierce, and Gavin Ellison were all there. "I had actually planned for this to happen to a few others, but they kept slipping through my fingers and now the school-year is over... you all will do nicely, though. Werewolves aren't at all picky when it comes to what they eat."

Briallen returned to her friends as fast as she could without making any noise. After they had all hidden behind a large rock opposite the entrance to the small room, Briallen began whispering. "First, there are werewolves in the wood, right this very instant, and they're probably close by. Secondly, the snatcher is in there with all the kids who've been kidnapped and she's going to feed them to the werewolves. Third, I know who the snatcher is - I would recognize that voice anywhere. Now, you all stay here, I'm going back to see if the snatcher will take off the cloak she's wearing. Everybody should see her or nobody will believe me when we explain what happened here tonight."

Before her friends or Lucan could stop her, Briallen was back by the wall, looking in on the room with the snatcher and the missing kids. The snatcher was currently kicking Gavin Ellison in the stomach, apparently for something smart he had said. Briallen couldn't wait any longer; Gavin was her friend and she didn't want to see him hurt. She jumped out from behind the wall and pointed her wand at the snatcher, who had her back turned to Briallen. "Depulso!" shouted Briallen in fury. The spell hit the snatcher in the back and she went flying into a wall with a crunch and a thud, and then dropped to the floor, unmoving.

Briallen went immediately to Gavin who was still laying on the floor, heaving. "I don't know how to get these ropes off!" cried Briallen as she pulled frantically at the ropes, looking back at the snatcher every few seconds to see if she was up yet.

"Remember the unbinding spell I used on the suit of armor back in October? Use it on me!" said Gavin coolly.

"Right." Briallen stood up. She pictured Gavin in her head, and the wand movement he had used and the exact way he had said the spell. She crossed her fingers and pointed her wand at him. "Deligare!"

Gavin's ropes came undone and he jumped up and hugged Briallen tightly. "I don't know why you're here, or where here is, but I'm glad you're here."

Briallen laughed nervously. "Thank me later, right now we've got to unbind everybody else and get out of this place before the werewolves get here."

"Our wands are in her cloak!" said Takashi Wu, using his head to motion to the unconscious body of the snatcher. He had managed to somehow remove his gag but the more he struggled with the ropes, the tighter they became, and he was already looking unusually purple.

"I'll get their wands, you unbind them," said Gavin as he carefully approached the snatcher.

Briallen did as Gavin said and unbound all of the kids who had been taken, as Gavin successfully retrieved their wands from the snatcher's robes. "Okay, now let's get out of here!" said Briallen as she led them all out of the cave room to where Lucan, Toby and Marisol were waiting.

"Briallen! What did you do? What happened?" asked Marisol as she looked in disbelief upon Christabel, Takashi, Izolda, Noah, and Gavin. Actually finding the kidnapped kids was more than she had expected, and even when Briallen had told them all the kidnapped were there, in the cave, at that very moment, she didn't really believe it. Now, seeing the missing kids, Marisol realized how much danger they were all in. Another howl came from the distance but no one but Marisol looked towards the sound.

"I knocked out the snatcher with a toppling charm."

"More like you threw her across the room!" said Takashi, smiling. "Hey, Stone. Good to see you made it here! I was wondering if you'd get it." He patted Lucan on the back.

"It took me a while but-" began Lucan.

"Enough!" said Toby, ending the greeting. "We've got to go! The kidnapper could wake up at any moment and he knows the killing curse, plus there are werewolves on their way!"

"You mean there are werewolves here," said Christabel shakily as she slowly raised her hand to point to the cave entrance. The opening to the cave was a few dozen yards away, but it was still possible to see outside. Out in the clearing, in front of the cave, were three very large werewolves. They ran back and forth through the grass wildly, occasionally pausing to howl at the moon or wrestle each other.

The students stared at the werewolves. Then a vicious scream abruptly sounded from the cave room where Briallen had left the snatcher unconscious. "She's awake!" cried Briallen. "Come on, there are only three werewolves and nine of us! Would you rather fight someone who knows the killing curse or something that's pretty much just a large dog?"

Briallen did not wait for an answer, though, as she stupidly ran for the cave entrance. Lucan cursed and ran after her, closely followed by Toby, and then Marisol, who ran after them not in bravery but in confusion. The rest did not wait much longer before they too ran for the cave entrance, just as a bolt of green light shot out from the entrance to the cave room and hit the wall directly across from where they had all been standing. Christabel, unable to cope with the situation any longer, began to loudly scream and cry in fear.

Briallen and Lucan, who were now standing side by side in front of the cave, froze when they heard the scream, as did the three werewolves in the clearing. Briallen's original plan of attacking the werewolves while they were unaware, like she did the snatcher, was no longer possible, as the werewolves turned to look at where the noise was coming from.

The kids and the werewolves stared at each other at first, neither group making a move, until suddenly, the largest of the werewolves let out a long howl and then charged at them. Screaming, fear, and confusion followed as many of the students began running around, shouting and throwing all the spells they knew at the werewolves.

"Lumos Strobos!" screamed Briallen as one of the werewolves came very near to her. The bright light poured out of her wand in rapid intervals and the werewolf, blinded by the sudden, flickering light, dropped its head and whined. Lucan appeared next to her and raised his wand at the temporarily blinded werewolf and shouted: "Stupefy!" The werewolf dropped to the ground, but it was only semi-unconscious.

Then a bright flash of green light shot past Briallen, only narrowly missing her. Lucan pushed Briallen aside so roughly that she fell to the ground. She looked up just in time to see Lucan shout his arrows charm, and aim it at the snatcher. One arrow struck the snatcher in the shoulder, while the other two flew past her and struck a werewolf that was dangerously close to slashing both Izolda Brodzki and Takashi Wu, its large paw brandishing claws as sharp as cooking knives. A scream came from Briallen's right and from her place on the ground she turned her head just in time to see the largest werewolf bite into Gavin's upper arm. Christabel Lewis, who had been hiding behind Gavin screamed again, and her tears mingled with the blood Gavin's wound splattered on her.

Briallen knew she should get up and help Christabel and Gavin, but fear flooded over her as the reality of the situation finally sunk in. They were all being attacked by werewolves, and an incredibly evil witch, and they were only students. As she watched the scene before her, she fought with herself over whether or not she should get up and join the fight. Then she saw Marisol, her very best friend who was deathly afraid of werewolves, pick up a rock and throw it at the large werewolf who was now about to bite Christabel. The werewolf, his attention now focused on Marisol, growled and ran after her.

"Marisol!" screamed Briallen as she jumped up and ran after the large werewolf. Not thinking rationally, she jumped onto the beast's back and began pulling its hair, screaming shrilly the entire time. With one swift move the werewolf clawed Briallen off his back and threw her several dozen feet away. She rolled through the grass and only stopped when she ran into a small boulder, cracking her shoulder. She could feel something hot and sticky on her stomach, and dripping down her side. She tried to get up again but her head was throbbing and the world began to spin. She fell back into the grass. Then somebody, very near to her, began to laugh.

"This has worked out more perfectly then I could have ever planned, hoped or imagined," said the snatcher as she kneeled next to Briallen and leaned over her. Briallen looked up and her eyes widened in astonishment. She had recognized the snatcher's voice, but to see her face and now know for sure who the snatcher was, was still a shock to her. But her face was different somehow, older and more wrinkled, and her teeth were sharper and more yellow.

"Miss Winsome... but... "

"But what? I'm a teacher? You really are dense, Bevin."

"But you're a teacher!"

Miss Winsome frowned and rolled her eyes. "I think I'll just call over your- "

"Infatig Statis!" shouted Gavin, suddenly appearing behind Miss Winsome. Miss Winsome flew into the air a dozen feet and landed twice that distance away from Briallen. Briallen raised her head and smiled at Gavin who had taken Miss Winsome's place by her side.

"You were bitten," said Briallen as she waved a hand at Gavin's wounded arm.

Gavin shrugged. "And yet I'm not nearly as beaten up as you. Mrs Krause won't let you leave the infirmary for at least a week."

Briallen began to laugh but it quickly morphed into a moan, and she winced in pain. She put her hands on her stomach and felt around. The werewolf's claws had cut her from her from her back to her stomach, and she was sure she had also broken a few bones.

"It's so quiet," whispered Briallen as she stared at the stars. She was surprised to find that she knew the names of many of the stars and constellations that were above her. She recognized Draco, Ursa Minor and Cepheus... and they were all so pretty and sparkling.

"Lucan and Takashi just knocked out the last of the werewolves," said Gavin as he looked back at all the others. "What were you all doing out here tonight anyway?"

"...We weren't thinking." Briallen closed her eyes. "We were looking for some clues. For the snatcher, and the missing kids. For some excitement."

"Well, you certainly found some."

"I think we found enough to last us a lifetime."

Gavin laughed gently and then stood up and leaned over her. He lifted her shirt high enough to see her wound, grimaced, and then lowered it. She didn't feel hardly any pain, just warmth. She turned her head and saw Lucan, a few feet away, his arms around Christabel but his eyes on Briallen. Christabel was in hysterics, crying about how she wanted her mom and dad, and to go home. Lucan kept patting her back and shushing her. Takashi and Noah were examining one of the smaller werewolves, there wands held out defensively just in case it should wake up. Neither of them seemed to be badly injured, or even that dirty, considering what they had just been through, but Briallen's vision was fuzzy and unfocused and she couldn't be sure.

Briallen turned her head the other way while Gavin took off his shirt, tore it into strips, and began to wrap it around her torso. She could see Marisol, kneeling in the grass, along with Toby. Neither of them were speaking as they watched the others. Toby's head was shiny in the moonlight, as if it were wet with something, and Marisol, normally so put-together, was caked in leaves, pine needles, and dirt. Briallen wanted to cry.

One of the werewolves on the other side of the clearing made a movement, like it was trying to get up, and Takashi and Noah ran to it and began shouting "Stupefy!" Once it was down again, they ran over to Gavin.

"We should really leave," said Noah breathlessly. "The big one's disappeared!"

"What do you mean?"

"It's gone! It was over by that other one we just stupefied again, but it's not there anymore. It was huge, Gavin, and it's running around again so we really need to go."

"Okay! Just wait a second, I can't move her until I wrap this," said Gavin shakily. Briallen watched as Noah and Takashi leaned over her; Noah looked sick to his stomach and Takashi reached out his hand to poke at her wound. Gavin pushed Takashi's hand away and shook his head. "Don't mess with it."

"Hurry up!" cried Christabel, her voice hoarse and slightly muffled by Lucan's shirt.

"Alright, I'm going to stupefy you, Briallen. Just so I can carry you back without you feeling any pain, okay?" whispered Gavin, bringing his wand close to her face.

Briallen nodded, relieved, and closed her eyes as she listened to Gavin say the spell.