B. Larson - Creatures

She nodded. “Why can’t you just study the course and come up with the best form?”

“You can do that, but the course itself changes somewhat every time.”

“Hmm, so every game has different players and a different course?”

“Yes, it’s very exciting.”

“But Connor, you can’t change into anything. And neither can I.”

I nodded grimly. “Don’t rub it in. I’m always picked last when we form up the teams.”

She made a sympathetic clucking sound with her tongue. We turned our attention back to the frozen roof. We scanned the hilly expanse of white lumps and dark crevices.

“Over there!” said Beth, bumping me with her shoulder and pointing. I looked and there it was! A box-shaped entrance that made a hump in the snow. A door faced us. It was small and square, like the one that had let us into the Forever Room.

“I wondered why the doors up here are small and square?” I asked aloud.

Beth shrugged.

It took a few minutes of scrambling, but we managed to get over there. I gripped the frosty brass knob and twisted. I twisted harder, but it didn’t budge.

“Locked,” I said.

Beth groaned. “We’ll have to break one of the windows soon, or we will freeze out here.”

I chewed my lower lip. First, we had disobeyed the principal’s instructions to stay in the Forever Room. Second, we were about to break into the mansion.

I looked back at the dark footprints we’d left all over the roof. If it didn’t snow soon, it wouldn’t require the eyes of a hawk to notice we had been messing around on the roof.

Then I snapped my fingers. I smiled at Beth. She smiled back and shook her head slowly.

“Somehow,” she said, “I know I’m not going to like your idea this time.”

I laughed. “The balcony,” I said. “There’s one on the fourth floor right over the side, very near the roof. All we have to do is drop down onto it and go inside.”

Beth looked at me like I was crazy. “I’m not dropping over the side of the roof! We can’t tell what’s down there! I’m not even going to near the edge, I’ll slip off.”

I waved away her concerns. “Here,” I said, giving her one end of my scarf. “Hold onto this while I go over and have a look.”

She protested, but finally took hold of one end. She had her other hand wrapped around the foot of a hoofed statue. Holding onto my scarf, I crawled out on the frosty roof and went flat on my belly. I looked down over the edge. There it was beneath me, the balcony I was looking for. But it was a bit over to the left from where we were.

“There it is!” I said triumphantly.

“Be careful!” Beth shouted back.

I squirmed along the roof line toward the balcony. When I got closer, I hung my head out further and tried to peek in the glass doors. Inside I saw two figures moving around. The room beyond the glass was the upstairs study. I could see books lined up in massive dark wooden cases. There were globes and more statues and big leather chairs with ottomans to put your feet on while you enjoyed a book. One of the people inside turned my way and I recognized the face. It was Danny. He saw me, and he frowned, and the frown melted into surprise. He started laughing and pointing at me.

“Great,” I said over my shoulder to Beth. “We’ve been spotted.”

“Connor!” said Beth. She pointed up into the sky.

I followed her finger and there, so high above us that she was no more than a winged speck, flew a very large hawk. I slipped a bit from craning my neck and grabbed the scarf. I yanked on it, and caught myself.

I heard Beth give a yelp. She had been looking up as well, and when I yanked the scarf, I pulled her enough to start her sliding down toward me. The frost crackled and hissed as her shoes slid over it.

Beth slid faster. Her boot took aim at my side. She came down like a kid sledding down a hill, going faster as she went.

I braced myself as best I could, gripping the roof edge, but it wasn’t enough.

Beth didn’t weigh much, but she weighed enough. When she hit me in the side, we both went over the edge.

The wooden railing caught me right in the ribs. I folded over it and felt all the air whoosh out of my lungs. I thought that hurt until Beth landed on top of me a fraction of a second later. Then I knew what pain was.

We rolled around moaning on the floor of the balcony. I fingered my ribs, they were sore, but nothing seemed broken. When I could open my eyes, I searched the sky for Urdo, but she was gone. I was sure she had seen us, however. We’d been two dark spots crawling around on the glaring white roof. A hawk would have seen us from miles off.

The door rattled, then opened, and a warm dry wind washed over us from inside the mansion. Danny and Thomas poked their heads out. They grinned at us wolfishly.

“This is good,” said Danny, laughing. “This is really good, and I want to say that I appreciate it. I haven’t laughed so hard at a fool since that day Jake turned into a mutated, warty, pink toad during lunch.”

“I’m here to make people happy,” I said with a groan. I struggled up and stood as straight as I was able. There was snow up my back and my ribs were singing in pain.

Danny nodded. “Yes, it was good,” he said, wiping his eyes.

Beth and I glanced at each other. Our clothes were frosted with snow and ice crystals. I reached for the door handle.

Suddenly, his smile was gone. “But not good enough,” he said. His smile had transformed into a sneer.

“You should check the mirror,” I told him.

Danny’s eyes narrowed.

“I think you missed a spot,” I said. “A bit of ketchup in the left eyebrow, I think. You must be a messy eater.”

Beth put a cautionary hand on my shoulder. I thought to myself she was probably right, but things were already torn up between Danny and me.

Danny’s frown turned into a glare.

Thomas barked with new, louder laughter. If anything, he seemed to think my comment was funnier than watching us fall.

“I’m still going to kill you,” Danny said. His mouth opened to show rows of white teeth. Danny elbowed Thomas out of his way as he went back inside. The elbow cut off Thomas’ laughter and turned it into a sudden gasp.

“You didn’t have to-” began Thomas.

“Shut up and get in here,” Danny told him.

I knew right away what he was going to do. Maybe being tortured by my older sister all these years had its benefits.

He was fast, but my foot was faster. I had my shoe wedged in the door before he could slam it shut and lock it. Beth and I worked together to wrench it open.

The fight might have started right then if Mr. Waldheim hadn’t shown up.

“Children,” he said in his stern voice. His voice was always stern. At least, I’d never heard him sound any other way. We all froze and looked up. He was the Dean, and was in charge of discipline at our school. We all felt like little kids again when he showed up. He was all about detention and intimidating lectures and red notes to take home. Everyone took their hands off the door handle and each other.

Beth and I took the opportunity to squeeze through the door into the blissfully warm study. The door shut behind us with a click.

Waldheim ran his eyes over each of us in turn. He paused when he looked at Beth. He gave her a quizzical nod. “The new girl,” he said quietly. “Not a good start, Miss Hatter.”

“Sorry sir,” she said.

“So, does anyone want to tell me what is going on here?” he said, speaking with sudden loudness. “Who will begin explaining why we are tearing up the mansion on the very eve of the Master’s return? Explain your actions!”