markdown-monster-club/chapters/chapter_24.md

# Chapter 24

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea.” Sarah grumbled.
“We don’t have any better ideas.” Michelle argued. The entire group was sitting around the beach with the umbrella out. The sun was now in the sky and, as such, Asher had turned back into Ashley and was hiding under the umbrella while they all discussed the one thing that was on their minds. They had missed the train home…how were they supposed to GET home!? The group had been spending all morning talking about possible ideas…and Katie had presented one that all agreed on except Sarah.
“It’s just not right guys!” She said. “It’s stealing!”
“It’s necessary.” Katie argued.
“I agree with Katie.” Abraham said. “We can’t stay here any longer.”
“Yes. God forbid Asher get more of tan than already has.” Tamil joked.
“I HEARD THAT YOU BANDAGED BASTARD!” Ashley snapped. The group laughed, but the joke wasn’t entirely unfounded on truth. Asher, while protected by the umbrella and horrendous amounts of sunblock, was still getting weaker with every passing day on the beach. He needed to get back home. Plus, the longer they were gone, the more worried that Solomon was likely becoming.
“Look, we all saw that school house on the way in, right?” Katie argued. “We just sneak in there, hotwire a school bus, get Sarah and myself in through the back, and everyone else drives off.”
“But who will drive!? None of us are any good at it.” Michelle asked, starting to lose hope again.
“Um…hello! I drove you all to the train station, remember?” Abraham pointed out.
“Yes…your point?” Tamil laughed.
“Shut up.”
“No, he’s right…Abraham’s the only one who can possibly drive us home.” Ashley muttered. “So just don’t eat too much before leaving.”
“You’re all jerks!” Abraham growled. Calypso giggled and stood up.
“Guys…as much as I love the beach, we really need to go home, and I think that the only option we can afford is to take a bus. A car is too small for all of us, and the next train that goes from here to our home will be in a few days…we can’t wait that long.” Calypso announced. It was miraculous how much she’d changed in the short time Abraham had known her. She was still a little shy…but she was much better at speaking her mind than she had been in the past.
“Well…I still don’t like the thought of stealing a public school bus.” Sarah grumbled.
“We’ll do it tonight.” Michelle announced. “As soon as the sun sets and Asher is ready to travel. Get your stuff together!”

When night finally came, everyone was ready for action, even Sarah. Despite her misgivings, she was not prepared to abandon the family, and she too grabbed gear and hurried off of the beach. Michelle lead the way for the ragtag family of misfits. Up ahead they could see the school building in all its dark and forboding aura. Abraham had memories of school…and they were never much fun.
“What’s school like, Abraham?” Sarah asked.
“Imagine being stuck in a room with a bunch of people your age who are all sitting quietly as an older person does nothing but talk in a monotone voice all day long. You’re not allowed to speak or get up unless told to, and all you can do is just take notes on what the older teacher tells you.”
“That sounds unimaginably boring.” Katie noted.
“It’s worse.” Abraham assured her.
“At least you had the chance to enjoy it.” Michelle argued. “Now stay focused!” Calypso was a little slower than everyone else as she was holding Tamil’s hand, who needed a guide to keep up.
“Tamil, are you still good to-”
“Yes, I get it done. Just get me under hood.” Tamil shouted. The group finally managed to get to the back, behind the school. It was too dark for Abraham to make out, but with their keen eyes, Asher and Michelle were already staring at the bus…but there was a problem. It was fenced off by a large fence and the gates were locked with a padlock. Asher and Michelle began discussing how to get to the bus quickly when it was blocked off by a fence.
“I’ll jump the fence in bat form and land on the other side.” Asher offered.
“We’re not all gifted with such remarkable talents, bat brain.” Michelle growled.
“Then we should…” Asher grumbled. “Damn…how will we get everyone over that thing.
“Maybe I could climb to the top and help lift people over?” Sarah offered.
“I would agree with that, but Katie might be too heavy for you to lift.” Asher groaned.
“Are you saying I’m fat?” Katie snapped.
“No I’m not! Just…ugh!” Asher snapped.

“What you doing?”

Everyone spun around at the sound of the voice. Standing behind them was a little girl, who only looked about 12 or 13 years old. She was standing in a school uniform and a wool jacket on that was clearly too big for her. She was oriental and had short cut black hair. In her left hand, hanging on by its arm, was a small black stuffed cat, making the girl in front of them look even smaller by comparison. She spoke with a thick accent as if she was from a different country.
“Um…nothing. Just go back home, kid.” Michelle said quickly.
“Are you trying to get in?” She asked. The others all looked at each other nervously. This girl had found them out.
“Y-yeah…” Calypso whispered. “B-but you can’t tell anyone.”
“Asher, you might need to hypnotize her. Make her forget us.” Michelle whispered.
“Yeah, just let me-”
“I can get you in.” She smiled broadly. Before they could even respond to this, the little girl ran to the fence, not even taking notice of the strangeness in front of her and she stopped at the padlock. She grabbed it with her little hand and squeezed it.
*click*
The padlock fell away with a soft clunk. The entire group was dumbstruck. How had she done that!? The girl pushed the gates open and smiled.
“See?” She giggled.
“How the hell did you just-” Abraham gasped.
“No time!” Michelle snapped. “Thanks kid.”
“My name is Annie.” The girl replied.
“Yeah, well thanks Annie! Take care!” Michelle ran into the open gate with the rest of the club right behind her. Annie acted as if she wanted to say something else, but she wasn’t given the chance, as everyone was already running to the bus.
“Wait, how did she do that?! I wanna know!” Abraham argued.
“It’s never a good idea to keep ourselves exposed to people who see us.” Calypso explained.
“It lead to questions we not want to answer.” Tamil agreed. They reached the bus and Asher threw open the door with his massive strength. “Now you excuse…I have work to do.”
“Wait, you’re going to hotwire this thing?” Abraham asked in surprise. “But you’re blind.”
“Lots you not know about me.” Tamil laughed. “Some things learn by touch not sight.” He crawled under the drivers seat and began fiddling with things. Michelle helped him by moving aside obstacles from his way.
“Abraham, Asher, go and open the back of the bus for Katie and Sarah!” Abraham nodded and with Asher behind him, he ran to the back of the bus. Grabbing the handle, he threw it open. Katie slithered up to the door first and held up her hands.
“Help me up!” She cried. Abraham reached down and Katie hesitated for a moment, seeing that it was Abraham. Her eyes glazed for a moment with distrust…but then she slowly wrapped her hands around his arms and allowed him to pull. Abraham grunted and pulled as hard as he could, but Katie was unexpectedly very heavy considering her snake lower body.
“You’ve almost got her!” Asher said proudly. He jumped the seat and rushed to Katie’s side, wrapping his arms around her and tugging the rest of her body in. Katie let out a loud grunt of pain as she plopped down on the hard floor.
“OW!” She shouted.
“Sorry.” Abraham muttered.
“No, it’s fine. Just go help Sarah.” To their surprise, Sarah had less trouble getting up to the door than Katie, it was fitting in that was difficult. She had to slip all 8 of her legs in first while Asher tried to squeeze her large abdomen through the small doorway.
“These things weren’t made for dridders!” She moaned as she was struggling to fit through.
“Just hang in there!” Asher growled, pulling harder until at last her whole body poped through and landed on top of everyone.
“GYAH!” The back of the bus was a mass of struggling arms and legs as people tried to find out who was who and who’s feet were in whose face.
“Damn it, this was such a bad idea!” Katie groaned.
“Shut up.” Asher growled. “At least we made it.”
“Okay guys…think I got it!” Tamil shouted. As he said that, there was suddenly a loud roar as the bus came to life. It was a sound that Abraham new well, but for the first time, he was glad to hear it. The bus was on.
“Well Abraham, get going!” Sarah laughed. “Drive man!” Abraham nodded and ran to the front seat.
“Everyone get seated!” Abraham shouted. “I’ve never driven a bus before, so this could take a moment to get used to.”
“Has anyone had time to write their wills yet?” Michelle joked.
“Not funny, Michelle.” Abraham growled. Abraham punched the gas and the bus began to lumber forward like a giant sleepy beast. Asher jumped into the back seat and Katie coiled up in three seats at once. Sarah was forced to remain in the isles, squished between the seats. Calypso threw herself into a middle seat next to Tamil who was clutching her for dear life. Calypso wasn’t exactly in the best of moods either. Apparently she had a fear of vehicles. Michelle was sitting behind Abraham’s driver seat to direct him. Her animal instincts were the only direction they had to get back home.
“Okay, here we go! Ya’ll ready?!” Abraham shouted as he turned onto the highway.
“Ready to what? Crash?” Katie laughed. Before Abraham could tell her off there came a strange sound from under his seat.

“HAHAHA! That was funny!” Abraham looked down to see a very familiar face poke out from under the chair.
“It’s you!” He cried. Sure enough, the little Asian girl from before, Annie, was hiding under his chair.
“Yes!” She laughed. “I wanted to come to.” Michelle growled and yanked her out from under the chair with a snarl.
“What on earth is the matter with you!?” She snapped. “Don’t you have any sense?!”
“Nothing is the matter.” She answered kindly. “I just wanted to come with you.”
“But why!?” Calypso asked, looking over at the girl.
“You all so amazing!” She exclaimed. “No one steals school bus from school before! It was so cool!” As she spoke, Abraham suddenly heard a puttering and looked at the gages on the bus. Everything seemed fine…until he saw a little red indicator that looked like a battery.
“Damn it! This bus was in the empty lot for a reason! It’s battery is almost shot!” Abraham shouted.
“You mean we’re stranded!?” Asher shouted.
“Sorry guys!” Abraham apologized.
“Move.” Annie giggled, running to the dashboard. “Sit here, Mr. Blacky!” She laughed, setting the little black cat on the dashboard. She then placed both of her hands on the black dashboard and closed her eyes, as if in deep thought. She then pushed down.
“Beongae.”
There was a flash of light that blinded Abraham and Michelle for a moment, but the rest of the Monster Club could only stare in stunned amazement as a small torrent of power soared from her hands and into the bus. The indicator on Abraham’s dashboard vanished and the bus roared to life with the same vigor it had before. Despite it’s loud rumbling, no one dared breathe a word. Everyones eyes and expressions were fixed on the little creature standing before them with the stuffed cat toy, but their expressions were not impressed.
Michelle was in shock, and Sarah had her hands clasped over her mouth in stunned amazement. Katie was backing against the back of the bus, almost terrified. Though he couldn’t see it, the way Calypso was gripping Tamil made him uneasy as well. Asher was almost on his feet staring at the girl, his red eyes wide in surprise.
“Magic…you just used magic!” Asher gasped. She turned around and smiled her cute little smile and giggled.
“My name is Soyeon…but you call me Annie. I am MaNyeo… a Korean witch girl.” No one said a word…it was like the world had gone completely quiet. She then gasped and picked up her cat. “Oh, and this is Mr. Blacky!”