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"I'll deal with the airline again," Call said

To Finley's and Aislinn's questioning looks, Dad clarified, "Call was able to conjure up tickets and falsify paperwork for us to get out of England

It's not the ic, but it is certainly useful"

"Fair enough," Aislinn said "In that case, girls, go grab your things And Finley, go ahead and gas up the truck We've got a long drive to the nearest airport"

As I looked around the roohI'd ever done, but it felt so good to have a plan that I didn't care if it was a bad one And looking at everyone's faces, I think they were all feeling the sa at all of us with a bored expression

I followed Finley and Izzy out of the rooht suddenly burned lare from theat the top of the stairs, and I moved ht was colow encased my arm, then spread down to cover my torso Izzy turned around, and I saw her mouth drop open She reached for h olden tendrilstheir way around s becaether

It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to panic All I could do was look down at Mo my name

"Mom!" I feltinto the hallway, and I thought itbent and pulled, like so to foldso fast that every bone in h a tornado

And then, just as abruptly, everything stopped

I was standing up, which see My breath sawed in and out of s painfully hard, and I studiedlike a hyperventilating walrus Eventually, the wheezes beca with y white sneakers, but now,knee socks?

I blinked again At the Brannicks', I had on jeans Now froreen plaid

And then I looked up, and suddenly, I wasn't gasping any

The house was even more decrepit, and the ferns that bracketed the front door were dead What had once been a "sag" in the front porch was now ust, there were no leaves on any of the oak trees that had once shaded the place

I didn't kno, or why, but there was no denying it

I was back at Hex Hall

PART II

"But I don't want to go a mad people," Alice remarked

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here"

- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

CHAPTER 13

I wasn't alone on the front lawn of Hex Hall There was a crowd of kidsas shocked and rattled as I felt I spotted Taylor, a dark-haired shapeshifter I'd kind of been friends with, standing a few feet away Her eyes met mine "Sophie?" she said, confused "Where did you colanced down and see her Hecate uniform "Where did I come from?" she added, more to herself than to me

I shook an to rise fro to panic Nearby, two faeries-I thought they were Nausicaa and Siobhan-es

As I h the crowd, I could only olden light" and "getting grabbed out of thin air" So whatever had happened to me had happened to the rest of theh a lot in the past fewparalyzed I stood there on the lawn of Hex Hall, wearingno idea what to do We'd finallyto Lough Bealach Aically transported back to Gray disappeared-had not been in any of those plans

Spinning around, I looked for , obscuring anything past the oak trees lining the drive Overhead the sun was a hot white disk behind gray clouds

still confused, I started to walk toward the house And then I heard, "Sophie" I turned around Her pink hair faded and her face pale, Jenna gave a shaky smile "There you are," she said, like we'd just been separated for a few minutes and not for weeks

It's a ravel as I ran at her and threw my arms around her I could feel her tears on et snot all over the top of her head, but ere both laughing

"Oh, Tiny Pink Jenna," I half sobbed, half giggled "I have never been so happy to see a vahter "I've never been so happy to be squished by a demon!" In that moment, I didn't care that I'd been pulled back to Hex Hall by so to get killed one way or another Jenna was here, and she was alive, and ere together Everything else was fixable