Here's the last piece of this chapter. I'm already itching to write more of this story. Enjoy!

"Is that—?" Jake peered over the edge of the hole to the floor below. "Matt." Jake groaned.

"Great. The invisible sidekick is here too." Matt folded his arms over his chest.

"Jake's here?" Mrs. K's eyes widened, and she scanned the room as if she might actually be able to see him.

"Yeah, he's here, tethered to her like a puppy." Matt's words dripped with disdain.

Jake's hands clenched into fists.

I rubbed his arm. "Hey, don't let him get to you. He's just jealous."

I grabbed hold of an exposed pipe and used it to swing down over the ledge and hang above the second floor. With my arms fully extended, I dropped to the ground and marched up to Matt.

With his shoulders back, his muscular chest was hard not to notice. Damn, he was hot.

"Jealous? Me?" He closed the distance between us until only the plane itself separated us, with me still hidden in the astral realm. "I don't think so. Besides I have so much more to offer than Casper over there does."

Matt ran a hand down his abs, reached across the barrier separating our two worlds and grabbed my hand, with his body grounded on the physical side.

I raised a brow, staring at his fingers. How the heck did he do that? "Neat trick."

His lips turned up into a smile, and he jerked me forward. The world spun before me, making me nauseous. I squinted my eyes shut. The crisp air from the astral plane dissipated and the warmth from the physical realm flushed my skin. It felt like he'd yanked the ground from beneath my feet, causing me to somersault through space until my feet slammed into the floor. My chest collided with Matt's, and I grabbed his shoulder to steady myself.

"Tessa!" Mrs. K jumped taking a step back, holding a hand to her chest.

"Take your hands off my girlfriend," Jake said in a firm tone somewhere behind me.

Without even looking I knew he wasn't close, or Jake would have removed Matt's hand from my waist.

Matt wrapped his other arm around me. "You okay?"

For a moment, his soft tone and concerned expression broke through his unwavering facade of complete control.

"Kindly," Jake said forcing the word, "remove your hands from my girlfriend."

Matt smirked and gazed over my right shoulder. "Just keeping her on her feet. Besides, it's Tessa who has her hands all over me, and I can't say I mind."

"What?" I let go of Matt, but still feeling the effects of being yanked from the astral plane, I stumbled back a step. Matt caught my shoulder, steadied me, then slipped his hand down the back of my arm until his fingers held mine. Without hesitation, he raised my hand to his lips and gently kissed the back of it.

"Are you crazy?" I yanked my arm away and shoved him backward.

Jake appeared at my side and didn't look happy, with his hands balled up into fists.

Matt slid his sword from its sheath, and the blade squealed a high-pitched tone. Both Jake and I cringed, but Mrs. K, just stood there oblivious to the noise.

Matt widened his stance, holding the katana in front of him. I stared at the Japanese sword.

"Bring it, Jake." Matt's blade hummed in his hands. "You're not going to leave any bruises on me this time."

Mrs. K stepped in front of Matt, and I held my hands up in front of Jake.

"Hey, relax. There's no need to retaliate." I waved at him, trying to get his attention off of Matt. "See? I'm good."

Jake's expression softened, he released his hands, and the color returned to them. "You're sure?"

"Yeah." I wiped the back of my hand on my jeans. "I'm sure."

To my ears relief, the squealing stopped. I glanced over my shoulder. Matt must have sheathed the blade since it wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Now—keep it there." Mrs. K said in a stern tone. "Tessa? How about you explain what happened here." She gestured to the mess surrounding us.

Matt crossed his arms and raised a brow. "Why don't you start with the note?" Matt's gaze floated to Jake. "And maybe explain who Seth is."

I glared at him and pursed my lips. I couldn't help feeling a little angry that I hadn't figured his secret out. And of course, he knew every word Jake had said to me.

I gritted my teeth. "Traitor."

Matt laughed. "That's rich. You're the one who ditched me—twice."

Jake smirked. "Newsflash, she's not into you."

"Listen ghost boy, this is between Tessa and me." Matt rubbed his hands together. "So back off. The sooner you figure out your place, the better it will be for all of us." Matt thrust his fingers open. "Newsflash, it's not among the living."

Mrs. K's mouth dropped open. "Matthew Parker! That is quite enough."

"Yeah, whatever." He leaned against the doorframe. "To be fair, Jake threw the first punch." Matt rubbed the spot where Jake had hit him earlier.

Mrs. K seemed to be taking things in stride. "Where's the wyndham now?"

"I don't know." I wiped away a few strands of my hair that had stuck to my face. "Somewhere past the first gate wreaking havoc. Why should I care?"

"You got rid of it?" Matt said sounding surprised.

"That thing tried to eat us for lunch! When we got here, it had already chowed down on my desk, and I was a touch busy avoiding being its main course to find it a cage."

"It's gone?" She took a few steps and looked up through the hole in the classroom floor.

"Yeah, it's gone."

Matt raised a brow as if he doubted my claim. "And I supposed it just walked through the gate willingly too."

"It didn't exactly walk, it jumped," Jake said.

"Right." Matt rolled his eyes. "The creature of chaos just conveniently jumped through the portal."

"It does if you have something with garm guts all over it." I adjusted my stance.

Matt went rigid. "Why, would you have any of that acidic, foul-smelling gunk?"

"Why does anyone keep a dragon locked up in a school?" I answered, not wanting to discuss the previous night's battle with the garm.

Jake glanced at Mrs. K, then back to me. "They kept that thing locked up here?"

"Well, if I didn't open a gate and Matt being outside in front of all our classmates, he couldn't have released it. That means it had to have been here already."

Jake rubbed his chin. "Or there's another necromancer here at school."

Drywall dust covered the sleeve of Matt's shirt, and he wiped it with his hand, sending the tiny particles into the air. "Afraid not, our talent is a rare one. Only a few families in the entire world carry the gene."

Mrs. K glanced around as if trying to locate Jake, so I pointed, indicating he stood to the right of me.

"No need to speculate, its cage was in the basement." Mrs. Kennedy washed her hand down her face, like getting rid of the stupid beast was a problem. "The local coven isn't going to be happy it's gone."

"You're a witch?"

She nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder, guiding me toward the door. "I think it's about time we have that talk."

"You're not the only one with skills you know." Matt puffed out his chest, peeled off the doorway and headed out into the hallway.

"The question is at what," Jake whispered to me. "He didn't get rid of that thing."

I restrained a chuckle. "Matt, up until ten minutes ago, the only other soul I'd met with strange abilities was my dad." I stepped through the threshold, following Mrs. K. "That's assuming you have any skills and know how to use that sword of yours."

Matt held his hands in the air and gave a broad smile. "Anytime you want a test drive, Tessa—I'm all yours."

The way he said that I knew he wasn't talking about sparring, but a round between the bedsheets.

"Excuse me?" Jake glared at him. "Tessa's my girlfriend, not yours."

"Would you two knock it off?" I said standing between them. "And that's not what I meant by the word, sword, and you know it."

Mrs. K motioned for us to join her on the stairs and pulled a wand from her sleeve, waved it with a flick in the direction of the demolished classroom. "Restora."

The pipes groaned in response and the dented metal straightened out. Like chalk dust erasing from the ground, the claw marks marring the floor vanished from view.

Mouth agape, Jake's sight fixed on the classroom. "That's so cool."

Floorboards knitted themselves back together, and books soared through the air, filling the bookcases. Tiny pieces of a smashed desktop-puzzle joined other pieces, recreating the desk.

I watched the doorframe settle into the threshold, kicking some dust into the hall. "That wand would sure come in handy after our next dorm party." I smirked, shoving a hand into my pocket.

"Good luck trying to get it." Matt tilted his head and furrowed his brows. "Your dad didn't tell you about any of this?"

"About magic?" I watched the metal blinds lift from the floor, flatten into alignment, then bolt back onto the wall. "Can't say I've ever seen anything like that." I shook my head in disbelief. "In my experience, magic usually comes in the form of something with fangs and claws."

"If that wyndham is anything to go by, those things don't like you very much." Matt pushed his sleeves past his elbows. "Except maybe for lunch."

"Right, and I'm sure they just love you." I ran my fingers along the handrail, following Mrs. K up the stairs.

"Would you two keep up?" She peered over her shoulder with the tails of her pastel scarf flowing behind her, and her two-inch heels clicking against the tiles.

"That's three of us—not two," Jake hollered.

Poor Jake. His core vibrations were too low to be seen on the physical plane. There's no way she'd know where he was, let alone be able to hear him.

"Tessa..." Matt let loose a smile that made his eyes sparkle. "Everyone loves me," he whispered.

"I don't." Jake jogged to the top of the landing.

"Except maybe ghosts." The corners of Matt's lips curled. "Now that I think about it, they don't like me very much." He touched the hilt of his sword, making it visible. When his fingers lifted from the handle, the blade disappeared from view again. "But technically ghosts don't count. It's not like they're alive."

Jake's eyes narrowed, tracking Matt walking up the second flight of stairs. "Don't count?" he said to me quietly. "Wait till he's asleep, he's going to eat those words."

"Don't you dare. I don't want you anywhere near the end of his blade."

Jake's brows pinched together, and his gaze flicked up to the second floor. "No promises."

Thanks for reading! All VOTES welcome. :)