The day of the pep rally arrived with much fanfare around the school. The football players all wore their matching jackets, talking loudly to each other about the upcoming game that night and making a general nuisance of themselves, while the teachers let their behavior slide, hoping the team would bring home yet another win.

  Jesse usually skipped the pep rallies with Siobhan when they happened, using the time to go home early, but now that he actually knew someone taking part, he supposed it would be more interesting.

  He didn’t know exactly why he was going. Maybe he just needed a change of pace. Or maybe a part of him hoped the Alicia was right and that by taking part in normal, every-day activities, he’d be able to forget all about the monsters lurking around him. Whatever the case, when the bell rung for the final time that day, he found himself walking in the direction of the rally instead of the front entrance.

  As he made his way to the football field where the rest of the school was gathering, he slowed down when he noticed loud voices drifting from one of the boys' bathrooms, its door propped open with the custodian's cart.

  “...would do something like this?” said a voice that Jesse recognized as the school’s vice principal, Mr. Maroy. “And on a pep rally day no less.”

  Mr. Maroy was infamous among the students for his strict rules and even stricter punishments; it was like he made it his life's mission to be the bad guy from every teen coming-of-age movie from the eighties. Legend had it that many years ago he once gave detention to an entire grade for pulling a prank during Homecoming week, and ever since then, nobody’s been dumb enough to try to purposefully draw his ire.

  Which is why, whatever they were talking about piqued Jesse’s curiosity enough to sneak a glance into the bathroom.

  Inside, he saw Mr. Maroy and the janitor, Mr. Nelson, standing in front of the row of sinks that lined the side wall, staring at the giant shared mirror where someone had scrawled “TEAM OWLS SUCKS” in red marker.

  Or rather, that’s what it would have said, if it was spelled correctly. Not only was the “S” in OWLS backwards, but there was also an extra one tacked on to the end of SUX, already misspelled with an “X.” And the perpetrator had somehow managed to spell TEAM with a ME, blatantly disregarding the only bit of sports advice that Jesse actually knew.

  Aside from the graffiti, the garbage can had also been overturned and the soap dispensers emptied out on to the floor, leaving the entire bathroom in a state of disarray.

  “This is exactly why I’ve been trying to convince Mr. Sims to let me install security cameras,” Mr. Maroy continued, shaking his head. “He’s gotten too complacent and now all the students think they can just do whatever they please. We need to find whoever’s responsible and make an example out of them.”

  “Well, it probably wasn’t anybody in AP English,” Mr. Nelson quipped.

  Jesse left the two men in the vandalized bathroom to discuss the punishment for whichever student had committed the crime. But the more he thought about it, the more odd it seemed to him.

  For all its faults, Oak Hollow Middle School was actually pretty chill most of the time. This is the first incident he could remember happening since he started sixth grade, and it felt strangely... out of character for the school. Not to mention the spelling errors made it seem like the graffiti had been done by either a kindergartener, or someone trying their hardest to misspell everything on purpose.

  These thoughts carried with him all the way to the bleachers overlooking the football field, and through the crowds he managed to spot Noah, an empty seat saved next to him.

  “I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Noah grumbled as he sat down. Jesse had only managed to convince him to come with him; Siobhan outright refused when he had suggested it.

  There was clearly some bad blood going on between the two girls, which he felt like their argument earlier that week had only scratched the surface of, and it was not something he was eager to get in the middle of. His mom had always warned him against getting in between two girls fighting, and now he was starting to see why.

  “Oh, lighten up,” Jesse said. “I think it’s fun to pretend to have school spirit every once in a while. Go owls!”

  Noah halfheartedly pumped his fist. “Woo.”

  Jesse had arrived just in time for the pep rally to kick off with a performance from Band, the students marching out in their blue and yellow uniforms, belting out the school anthem from their brass instruments and crossing the field in a synchronized pattern.

  He had never been big on school pride before, but something about being in the crowd surrounded by the rest of the student body as they cheered for their home team got his heartbeat racing in excitement. Is this what being a normal student was like? Maybe Alicia had a point, though he wouldn’t admit that to Siobhan. Right now, the school was providing him some much-needed normality.

  After the Band finished, the cheerleaders came running out, waving their pom poms at the crowd. They were made from a tinsel like material that caught the light from the stands, giving off a sparkling effect.

  “There’s Alicia,” Jesse said, once he had picked her out from the other girls in matching cheer skirts and ponytails.

  They watched as the other girls parted for her, forming an aisle that she raced down. Halfway down, she suddenly launched into a series of backhand springs, flipping feet over head at least three times before landing in a full split, a wide smile plastered on her face as the crowd roared in approval.

  Noah whistled. “That is pretty impressive,” he begrudgingly admitted.

  Jesse had to agree. From their time in Gravewood, he knew she was pretty athletic, but that was nothing compared to watching her in her element. As the routine continued, it became apparent that she was the most talented member of the cheer team, or at least the most flexible, as she was consistently put in center stage for all of their most complex moves.

  Applause erupted as the cheerleaders finished and the principal, Mr. Sims, took the field.

  “Let’s make some noise for our talented cheerleaders!” he said through a microphone. In contrast to Mr. Maroy, Mr. Sims was a lot more well-liked among the student body. A lot of people would look at him and think he was a cringy middle-aged man trying his best to keep up with the kids, and he was, but to the students of Oak Hollow Middle School, he was their cringy middle-aged man. “You can see more of them at the game tonight when our very own Oak Hollow Owls take on Westside’s Bobcats. And without further ado, let’s give a round of applause for the Owls!”

  From the changing rooms beneath the stands, the football team emerged in full gear, waving at the audience. Though their helmets obscured their faces, Jesse noticed one player kept glancing in Alicia’s direction, the name Campbell-Qie emblazoned on the back of his jersey. He decided not to join the rest of the crowd as another wave of applause swept through the bleachers.

  Once Mr. Sims had gotten the attention back on himself, he said, “To wish our team the best of luck in tonight’s game, let’s all hold hands and join together in our school chant.”

  Until that moment, Jesse had forgotten that the school even had a chant, and he was prepared to just sort of awkwardly mouth along. Turns out he didn’t need to, though, as Mr. Sims had only gotten a couple of words into the chant when there was a rumbling from underneath the stands.

  A piercing high-pitched shriek sounded throughout the field as a black haze burst from the bleachers, enveloping the entire area, field and stands. As Jesse was swallowed up by the swarm alongside everyone else, the battering of wings nearly deafening, he realized that they found themselves surrounded by a giant tornado of bats.

  He leapt to his feet, Noah right behind him as they tried to shield themselves from the onslaught of winged rodents. It was a full-blown panic as students screamed and started running for their lives, bats dive-bombing all around them. Jesse fought the urge to swat at the animals, knowing that that would only make the situation worse. He was one of the few who thought that way, though, as plenty of other students lashed out trying to protect themselves. He winced when he saw one bat get smacked particularly hard a few feet in front of him.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Amidst the chaos, he could just barely hear Mr. Maroy trying to get a hold of the situation. “Everyone, remain calm! Exit the football field in an orderly manner!” As if this were a fire drill and not a wild animal attack.

  Jesse’s head was swimming as he made to follow the throng of students fleeing the stands, heading across the field and out to the parking lot. What in the world was going on? How did a giant swarm of bats get into the school?

  Miraculously he managed to escape from the tornado unscathed and when he glanced back, he was relieved to see that Noah was uninjured as well, albeit slightly paler than he had been. In fact, the guy looked rattled, hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath. It hadn’t been that bad, had it?

  Now that he was no longer in the midst of the attack, he could see just how massive the number of bats was, practically blocking out the sky with all its fluttering of wings. He watched as the bats grouped together and flew off towards the woods that surrounded the school, disappearing almost as quickly as they had appeared.

  The two of them joined the rest of the students in the parking lot where Mr. Sims was desperately trying to get everyone under control. He had everyone contact their parents to come pick them up and until then, they were to wait here where the faculty could keep an eye on them. The school nurse was brought out and making rounds to treat anyone who might have gotten scratched or bit in the chaos.

  Once things settled down, Mr. Sims started explaining that the school had already gotten in touch with a local pest control company to check out the football field. Apparently, they had a protocol for this sort of emergency. Well, probably not a wild bat tornado specifically, but they were still prepared.

  “And unfortunately, it looks like we’ll have to cancel the game for this evening,” he was saying, then winced as shouts of protest erupted from the crowd.

  Mr. Maroy gestured for everyone to calm down before taking over. “As it stands, the football field is currently too dangerous to allow anyone near it, and until we can be absolutely certain that an incident like this won’t happen again, we’ll have to postpone any activities taking place on the field.”

  As another wave of shouting started, Jesse turned to Noah.

  “I can’t believe that just happened.”

  “What the heck was that thing?” He still looked shaken, and Jesse contemplated trying to place a hand on his shoulder to comfort him (he wasn’t entirely sure how well he would take that), when Alicia ran up to them, having broken free from the other cheerleaders.

  “Are you guys okay?” she asked, breathless.

  “Just a little traumatized, but otherwise fine. When did a colony of bats move into the school?”

  “I don’t know, but this totally sucks.” He imagined her plans for getting back to her normal life were put on hold.

  Noah stared at them. “Wait, did you guys not see it?”

  “See what?”

  “The… thing,” he struggled. “It was right in the middle of the swarm. It looked like a bat, but it wasn’t one.”

  “That doesn’t really help,” Jesse said.

  “I didn’t get a very good look, okay? All I saw was that it was really big and flying.”

  “Maybe it was like the alpha bat of the colony?” Alicia suggested, nervously fiddling with the tip of her ponytail. “Like with wolves.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not a bat expert. But to be honest, I’m not entirely sure it was a bat.”

  “Do you think it was a monster?” Jesse said, lowering his voice. Not that anyone could hear them; the students around them were too absorbed in their own conversations about what just happened to pay them any attention.

  “It better not be,” Alicia snapped, but it didn’t seem like she was angry at him. “I swear, if I find out that this stupid magical stuff is now interfering with my school life...”

  As they had been talking, Mr. Sims and Mr. Maroy had still been discussing what was going to happen now that the bat attack had subsided. At some point, the pest control company had arrived quickly, driving their truck directly onto the football field. Men in polo shirts and work caps carrying equipment went in and out of the stands, trying to find the source of the mysterious bat colony.

  “While the experts investigate the field, it’s important to note that no one aside from select faculty will be allowed near the cordoned off area. We’ll need to let them work for a few days, so both football and cheerleading practice are cancelled for the foreseeable future.”

  A loud groan sounded throughout the crowd, but especially from the football team.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alicia muttered, looking crestfallen. Jesse had seen how happy she looked while on the field, but now she was just heartbroken.

  Noah dropped his voice as well. “Guys, if this really was all caused by a monster, they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, would they? Because of the veil thing.”

  She inhaled sharply. “Shoot, you’re right. That would also explain why no one else is talking about it, they couldn’t see it.”

  “Or you’re just seeing things,” Jesse pointed out. “I think you might be jumping to conclusions here. Maybe it really is just a normal swarm of bats that made its home nearby.”

  “Maybe,” Noah said. “But there has been some weird stuff going on around the school. It’s worth looking into, isn’t it?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, look into? You want to investigate, like Scooby-Doo or something?”

  He shrugged. “Beats anything else I’ve got going on.”

  “I’m in,” Alicia said immediately.

  Noah raised an eyebrow at her. “You want to help investigate?” It was hard to believe after her crash out the other day.

  She took a steadying breath. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said before. I didn’t mean it like I- like I hated you guys or something. I just... really wanted to put that night behind me. Not just for my sake, but for Ashton as well. But if you’re right and there is a monster behind all of this-” she gestured to the football field, which was being cordoned off with yellow hazard tape. “-then it just got cheerleading cancelled. It is officially my business. So, are we doing this?” She was looking at Jesse as she said that last part.

  “Let me text Siobhan to see what she has to say.” Though he already knew that she would be all in on this plan, since it involved the supernatural. When he shot her a quick message filling her in on what happened at the pep rally, he was unsurprised when she responded back almost immediately with a thumbs up.

  That made one out of four, and he was starting to understand that when Alicia set her mind to something, there was no stopping her. And who even knew what Noah was thinking. It was three against him.

  “Fine,” he relented. “But when we find out that there’s nothing supernatural going on, I’m going to say I told you so.”

  They swapped phone numbers, forming a group chat that Noah took it upon himself to name “Scooby-Doo Gang”, much to Jesse’s annoyance. With the weekend already here, they agreed that their investigation would formally begin on Monday. After settling that, they split up, each going in their separate directions as their parents came to pick them up.

  Jesse’s mom immediately pulled him into a suffocating hug. “Sweetie, are you okay? They said there was some sort of wild animal attack. Did you get bit anywhere?”

  He squirmed out of her hold. “Mom, I’m fine. No, I didn’t get bit.”

  She looked him over, unconvinced. “We should make sure all of your vaccinations are up to date soon, just to be safe.”

  He groaned. As much as he thought her job was cool, one of the downsides of having a vet for a mom meant frequent (and painful) shots.

  Their house was relatively close by, so she hadn’t bothered driving. As they started making their way home, however, Jesse noticed that Noah was also walking, without anyone else. Didn’t his parents come to pick him up?

  “Everything all right?” his mom asked, squeezing his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

  “I’m fine,” he repeated. “Let’s just get home quickly.”

  They had just passed the edge of the school grounds when a rustling sound caught their attention. It was coming from the nearby bushes.

  Jesse’s mom tightened her grip on his shoulder.

  “Stay there,” she instructed, and she slowly approached the bushes.

  “Wait-” he tried. He had flashbacks to that night with the gargoyle and his mind was flooded with possibilities as he remembered Brom’s warning about wandering in dark woods at night. What if it was a monster? What if Noah had been right about whatever it was that caused the swarm?

  His mom pushed the branches aside and gasped. When he rushed to look over her shoulder, he saw a small bat curled up on the ground, whimpering softly as its chest heaved.

  “Is this one of the bats that attacked the school?” she asked.

  “Probably.” He was just relieved it hadn’t turned out to be some horrible creature about to eat her face.

  “The poor baby. It must have gotten hurt during the confusion. Jesse, run home and grab a pair of the surgical gloves from under the sink, as well as a shoebox from my closet. Doesn’t matter which one.”

  “What are you going to do?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. He’d known exactly what she was thinking when he saw the way her eyes softened looking down at the small bat.

  “I’ll take it to my clinic. We don’t have a lot of experience with bats, but we should be able to help this little one get better. Sorry, I know it’s unexpected, but I won’t be home ‘til late. There’re some leftovers in the fridge for you.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” This wasn’t the first time she’d had to make an emergency call to the clinic, and knowing her, it probably wouldn’t be the last.

  “And hey, maybe you can swing by and visit it once its recovered enough,” she suggested.

  “Maybe.”

  To be honest, he wasn’t keen on bats, even before the whole traumatic attack he just went through. In his opinion, they were just rats with wings. Of course, that didn’t mean he thought that they should just ignore the poor creature, either.

  His mom was a lot cooler than him, though he would never admit that out loud.