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The wiccan quickly began searching through the room. Arabelle kept her eyes on the women, but her ears were listening for anyone outside. Her anxiousness was growing by the minute. Someone could come to the door, a hellhound could burst through the wall again, or these girls could turn on her at any moment. It seemed as if she was alone on this side of the manor. The Vanburens were all trapped at the other end and she’d been stupid enough to go off on her own. If anything did go wrong, she was screwed.

And then she heard the footsteps. Arabelle’s body tensed and she positioned the shovel to swing, but she was ready to swing in either direction. She didn’t want to hit anyone again, but she was fully prepared to defend herself. This is what she would do for a student, if she needed to. The Vanburens were no different than the children she teached.

The girl she’d hit warned the other that someone was approaching. Arabelle eyed the strange lights under the door. She felt like she’d seen bright lights in the mansion before, just like this actually, but she couldn’t be sure if it was from a Vanburen or a TV. To be perfectly honest, tonight was the first night she was seeing many of the Vanburen’s abstractions. It was quite a shock, but definitely not as shocking as a hellhound bursting through a wall.

The sound of glass shattering made Arabelle jump. She looked over to see the stand on its side, and that hideous ram skull within the wiccan’s hand. Arabelle frowned. Could this be the Horned God they were looking for? Was this the moment the wiccan would turn on her?

The wiccan turned and Arabelle tensed.

[b] “Catch!”[/b]

Arabelle’s eyes went wide. The skull was thrown her way, and in her panic she dropped the shovel just in time to grab onto the skull. She immediately felt a shiver crawl down her spine.

[b][i] “Are you the one who will release the Horned God?”[/i][/b] 

Arabelle stared down at the skull. She’d never touched a sealed object before. She never in her life had imagined that souls and demons could be trapped within. Holding it now felt unreal. This whole night had felt unreal.

Without giving the Horned God’s voice in her head any other thought, Arabelle looked at the wiccans as if she was considering what to do next. Then she turned and bolted for the door. She needed to get to a mirror. The one across the hall would do. Arabelle pulled open the door, took one step out of the room, and immediately ran her right shoulder into Aileen Vanburen’s fantastical rainbow shield.

[color=804061] “Ah!”[/color] Arabelle shouted. Her shoulder felt like it had popped out of its place and fell to the floor. She was lucky that she’d been holding the skull with her left hand, but it was extremely unlucky that she hadn’t checked the hallway before running into it. She looked down at her arm only to see it hanging there loosely and she felt [i]so so[/i] close to fainting, but she kept her cool. [color=804061] “Okay, okay,”[/color] she managed to say in a shaky voice. She took a few quick breaths and slowly exhaled the last. [color=804061] “It’s just dislocated. I had a kid dislocate his shoulder on the playground once.”[/color] She grimaced and held the skull to her chest. Tears were coming to her eyes, but she continued to act calmly. [color=804061] “Aileen, I… I need you to get me into that room.”[/color] She nodded towards the room across from the study. It was the same room she found herself in earlier, after she left the dining room.

Arabelle was doing fine with the pain, even though with every breath she could feel how fucked her shoulder was, but as she looked at Aileen’s face she noticed movement behind the Vanburen. Arabelle’s eyes slid past Aileen’s and focused on what was behind her. She forgot the pain for a moment and instead felt terror. A hellhound was coming their way, with two wiccans in tow.

[color=804061]  “They’re coming!”[/color]  She shouted. In her fear she turned towards the room on her own and rushed inside whether Aileen followed or not. She didn’t stop until she was in front of the mirror. Only then did she turn her head back to see if Aileen was coming. [color=804061]  “Aileen, I can get us out of here!”[/color]

If the hellhound reached the room before Aileen, Arabelle would have to leave her behind.