“So, there’s a secret tunnel underneath our school leading out to a cave where the imp queen made her roost?” Noah asked once the four of them met back up in the school’s parking lot. Thankfully, he hadn’t been anywhere near the field when the bats flooded out of the cave, and the text Jesse had sent Siobhan was enough of a warning to get her out of the boiler room, so they had both avoided the stampede of flying rodents.

  “That’s about the gist of it,” he said restlessly. The whole ordeal had left him skittish and it didn’t help that it was getting to be late. The sun had already started to set and Jesse’s mom would be wondering where he was soon.

  “Huh. No wonder they were in such a frenzy during the pep rally if a little noise is all it takes to set them off.” Noah turned to him, a smirk forming. “Dude, you know that stuff you stepped in was-”

  “Yeah, I figured it out.” He was going to have to wash his shoes thoroughly when he got home. With bleach.

  “Did the imp dig the tunnel?” Siobhan wondered.

  “Maybe?” Alicia shrugged. “The important thing is that we found the nest. Now all we need is Dr. Rotbart’s trap and we’ll be good to go.”

  Jesse held up his hands in a “slow down” motion. “I’d prefer if we come up with some sort of plan before we go in traps blazing. We had to rely on Noah for distraction this time; who knows if that will work again.”

  “Speaking of, what did you do, anyway?” Siobhan asked him.

  Noah waved her off nonchalantly. “The football team really ought to put their weights away when they’re done with them.”

  Well, that explained the loud noise.

  She looked impressed. “And you managed to get away before the janitor caught you? He looked like he was on the warpath.”

  “Nope. Got detention for the rest of the week.” At the looks on their faces, he continued with a shrug, “It’s not that big a deal. I’ll still be able to help with this imp mess.”

  “But won’t you get in trouble with your parents?”

  “My foster parents,” he corrected. “And no, they don’t care.”

  The tone in his voice made it clear that’s all he was going to say on the matter.

  “Uh, okay then,” Jesse said, deftly switching the subject. “Let’s try to figure out when we can catch the imp queen. It seems like she flits around the school during the day, and the bats are nocturnal, coming out to hunt at night, so some time after school ends would probably be best.”

  “There’s a small window of time between when all the after-school clubs finish their meetings and sundown,” Alicia said. “Unless we want to break in during the weekend.”

  “I’d prefer not to break in if we can help it.” He knew that there weren’t any cameras in the school, but he was less certain about door alarms. “Maybe we can-”

  “There you are,” a new voice said from right behind them.

  All four of them jumped, spinning around to find Dr. Rotbart’s assistant, Adam, who had approached them way more silently than someone his size should have been capable of.

  “Where did you come from?” Siobhan demanded. She was still holding Jesse’s arm from when she had grabbed it in surprise.

  “Dr. Rotbart’s lab,” he answered simply. “He finished working on his trap and sent me to deliver it to you.” He held up a burlap bag that he had been loosely holding in one hand.

  “Okay, and how did you find us?”

  “I wandered around town until I spotted you.”

  “That’s... terrifying.” The veil must have been working overtime to make sure nobody noticed anything weird about him. It was then that Jesse realized a crucial detail; none of them were wearing their disguises.

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  “Adam, we can explain-” he started, with no idea how he was going to explain, but Adam raised his hand to cut him off.

  “It is of no concern to me if you are human or not. The doctor knows and all that matters is that he trusts you.”

  He exchanged glances with the rest of the group. Dr. Rotbart seemed like an eccentric and somewhat scatterbrained man, but maybe he was more observant than he first appeared.

  “And the doctor said you needed this, too.” From the bag, he pulled out a familiar jack-o-lantern.

  “Finally, you let me out!” Brom complained loudly. “Just who do you think you are, you-”

  Jesse was glad that the part of the parking lot they were in was secluded, so even if anybody else was still lingering around after school, they wouldn’t have noticed the cursing pumpkin. Adam passed him over to Jesse, ignoring the obscenities that he was still hurling at him.

  “He is very... obstinate,” he noted.

  “Tell us about it,” Jesse muttered as Brom settled into his arms. “So how does this thing work anyway?”

  Adam produced the box-like trap they had seen at Dr. Rotbart’s lab from the bag. It looked almost like a metal picnic basket, with handles extending out the top on either side of the opening that was clamped tightly shut. “To use it, you...” He trailed off, frowning, the closest thing to an emotion they’d seen him express so far.

  “Is something wrong?” Alicia asked.

  “This antenna here.” He pointed to a short gold-colored rod that stuck out from the side of the contraption. “It’s supposed to emit a sound that would lure the imp to it, but it appears to have broken off.”

  “Oh that thing that was poking me the entire walk over here?” Brom said, having finished his tirade. “It snapped off a while ago.”

  Adam’s frown deepened. “That is a problem.”

  “Is there anyway Dr. Rotbart can fix it?”

  “Normally yes, however the antenna was made using the last he had of a special alloy that is extremely difficult to produce. It would take a least a month for him to even get the material.”

  Noah scowled. “We can’t just duct tape it back together?”

  “No,” Adam said flatly. “It would interfere with its frequency.”

  “There has to be something we can do,” Jesse said. “We can’t put off capturing the imp queen forever.” Especially not as he remembered the Doctor’s warnings about how imps caused havoc when left unchecked.

  “There is another way, though it is a bit archaic,” Adam said. “At the lab, you mentioned hypothetically separating an enslaved bat from the queen.”

  “I remember.”

  “Well, hypothetically, if that bat were to return to the range in which the imp queen dwelled, it would seek her out in an attempt to rejoin the colony. In doing so, it could lead you straight to her.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that we could use the bat as a homing device?” Noah clarified.

  “In a manner of speaking, yes. The trap only has an effective range of about five feet, and the antenna is supposed to lure the queen to it, but with the bat you could track the queen’s location and take the trap to her instead.”

  Alicia crossed her arms. “That would hypothetically be useful, if we had a bat.”

  “Well, hypothetically speaking, we do,” Jesse said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “If that matter is settled, then you now have everything you need.”

  He took the trap from him. “Thanks, Adam. We couldn’t have done this without you or the doctor.”

  He gave a nod and then, as silently as he arrived, he left.

  “Good riddance, you hulking oaf!” Brom called after him. “Can you believe he just plucked me from the pumpkin patch without so much as an explanation. I swear, ever since you four came to Gravewood, everyone thinks they can just manhandle me however they want.”

  “Just admit it; you like us,” Siobhan said with a sly grin. “We make your life more interesting.”

  “Whatever.” He didn’t disagree. “Are we going to take care of this imp queen, or what?”

  “Not tonight,” Jesse decided. “The bats have already woken up to go hunting for the night. Besides, it’s getting late. We need to get together tomorrow and strategize before we try to trap the queen. Now we just need to decide what we’re going to do with you.”

  Brom’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, what you’re going to do with me?”

  “One of us has to take him home.”

  “Not it,” everyone else said at the same time.

  “Way to take one for the team,” Noah said, clapping Jesse on the back.

  He shook his head. “No way. He’d probably try to like, burn my house down or something.”

  “What if we just leave him here?” Siobhan suggested.

  “Don’t I get a say in this?” Brom said. “I choose to stay with Alicia.”

  She was surprised. “What? Why?”

  “I want to see Ashton again.”

  Alicia looked like she was having an internal debate with herself, which Jesse understood. If he had a little brother Ashton’s age, he’d want to keep Brom as far away from him as possible. But unfortunately, they needed him.

  “Alright, fine,” she relented. “But you’re sleeping in the garden. I’ll also take the trap while I’m at it. They can both fit in my cheerleading duffle bag.”

  “Not another bag!” he protested.

  Noah scowled. “Shut it. We’re already doing more for you than we should be.”

  “See if I ever help you kids again after this.”

  Despite their bickering, Jesse felt a wave of both relief and nervousness flood over him, as with Brom and the trap now in hand, they were one step closer to defeating the imp queen.