IN THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE

In Lady Grimm’soffice

Of all Gabbie’s faults, carelessness and an incessant curiosity were by far the most problematic. When the two faults surfaced together, they made for even more trouble for Gabbie. On her way back to class, thinking that she would save time by sliding down through the back closet’s connecting pole and cutting through the council room, she noticed that there was a serious meeting going on in Lady Grimm’s office. She noted from her rather obscured position behind one of the sofas in the room that Walden and the other two Warlock Sentries—the cute one with the blond-tipped hair and another one, older with a serious face and a shaven head-- were there, as was Lady Grimm and another member of the Warlock Sentry, even older with a moustache and goatee, who must have just arrived. Master Bela, the music teacher and now acting vice principal and the McTavishes—Linda and Landon, who taught and coached Ghoulsball and the Screamleaders were also present. The male coach, Landon, wore a sling as he had reportedly injured his shoulder in recreational play that past weekend. A blue fire crackled in the corner and one of the school’s resident ghosts, Miss Blumington, served tea to the gathered teachers andofficials.

“Couldn’t the message have been misconstrued?” Lady Grimmasked.

“Who knows, my dear Lady Grimm,” the Sentry with the goatee and moustache responded, “but we’re tasked with making sure that the right people are in custody. Everyone is depending on the inspecting agents, which would be us, to get thisright.”

Lady Grimm looked as she was undone…a look that Gabbie thought that she always seemed to have but this time it was like undone to the nthpower.

“Thank you, Blumington,” she said, sinking to the chair in front of the fireplace as the ghost placed a cup of tea on the small stand next to thechair.

“It’s just a bit startling, Godric,” she said to the Sentry with the goatee. “To think that there might be someone on staff here that could be party to such malevolence. It’s simplysinister.”

“Lady Grimm, we’re talking about a dead headmaster and the imprisonment of one of the most powerful warlock teachers at Ghoul School, who guilt is at best in question,” Elton said. “There’s pressure from the Queen herself that no stone is left unturned. Croft’s last message seemed to indicate that the school was a potential sanctuary site for individuals sympathetic to the Dread Resolve, so we’ve no choice but to ensure if there was anything to that final, fatefulwarning.”

Dread Resolve? Gabbie wondered. What was that? Did it have any