Vivian collapsed into a chair away from the door and gasped out breaths, feeling sweat beading on her forehead. Pangs of fear and adrenaline spiked through her body.

“What are we running from?” she managed after getting her breath back enough to talk.

“Shut up, you breathe too loudly,” Omrys hissed.

“Excuse me for performing basic human functions that I need to survive,” Vivian snapped back, quieter this time.

“I don't know what it is, only that it wants to kill us.”

Vivian was about to question Omrys further when he locked his gaze on the door and pressed a finger to his lips. A silent warning to stay quiet. Vivian shut her mouth, staying as still as possible. Even the cat seemed to understand, adopting the stillness of a predator.

The classroom was silent. The kind of silence that made you think that you could hear the blood pushing through your veins. The kind of silence that made a hiss of breath a deafening vibration. Silence that suggested the rhythm of heartbeat did not belong. A dead silence.

Footsteps outside the door, fading as they moved past their hiding place.

Minutes passed. At last, Omrys removed his finger from his lips and gave Mrs Claus a reassuring pat.

“Feel free to Wish for us to get out of here anytime,” Omrys suggested.

Vivian hesitated. It wasn't a bad idea, but somehow she was reluctant to use a Wish as anything but a last resort. Especially if there was another way out.

“How about I order you to get us out of here?”

Omrys glared at her. “You're absolutely useless.”

“You're the one who wanted to look for a cat in a weird, hellish hallway filled with cannibals and demons!”

“You didn't have to come,” Omrys reminded her.

Vivian folded her arms and scowled at him. “I order you to get us out of here.”

“When you say get us out of here-”

“Both of us. Alive.”

Omrys rolled his eyes dramatically. “If you say so.”

The djinn moved to the door and opened it cautiously. After a moment he beckoned to Vivian, an indication that they weren't immediately going to get eaten.

She stood, discovering that her legs were not thrilled to be carrying her weight again. Silently, she willed her body to stop shaking.

They started down the hallway, walking fast but not running. Running would draw too much attention.

“Look behind us,” Omrys whispered. “Start running if you see anything.”

Vivian did as he suggested, keeping an eye on their backs. Mrs Claus was still settled in Omrys’s arms, looking surprisingly comfortable.

Movement caught her eye. Behind them, down the gloomy stretch of hallway, a person- or what appeared to be a person- rounded the corner. It was dressed in sinister grey robes from head to foot, except for its face. Its face was engulfed in black flames.

Unfortunately, it appeared to have seen them.

“Omrys!” Vivian said, backing further away, not daring to take her eyes off the creature.

Omrys turned, paling as he saw the creature. He pulled her forward.

“Run.”

Vivian didn't need to be told twice. They took off, feet pounding on the smooth, waxy textured floors. Omrys flicked his hand, sending an orb of light behind them. It didn't seem to do much. Vivian kept her eyes forward, searching for an escape. There would be no hiding this time. The creature was too close.

They were running out of time, and Vivian didn't need to look behind her to know it. She could feel its presence as it rushed towards them, getting closer every second.

And then by some miracle, a door appeared.

Unlike the majority of the doors in this place, this door was larger and more battered, although the blue paint somehow looked more vibrant. As they got closer to the door- or the door got closer to them- it began to splinter.

Fragments scattered inwards, and Vivian began to recognise it as the door that Omrys destroyed to get in here. It was their exit.

Omrys knew it too, heading straight for it. He leapt through the frame and turned to Vivian, pulling her through after him.

She almost escaped completely unscathed. At the last second, Vivian glimpse the creature, it’s grotesque, clawed hand outstretched to grab her. A fleeting touch on the middle of her back sent fiery pain lacing across her skin.

And then the pain was gone and she was falling into the other side.

A clatter echoed around them as a mop fell over, smacking Omrys in the face. Vivian blinked, lungs heaving. They were lying on a normal hallway floor, just outside an open janitors closet.

Omrys groaned and pushed the mop of his face. “Where's the cat?”

As if on cue, a disgruntled feline stumbled out of a bucket, meowing indignantly. Mrs Claus paid them no attention as she limped from the closet and padded away, tail flicking in irritation.

“Ungrateful animal,” Omrys growled.

“I thought you liked cats,” Vivian muttered, prodding her back absentmindedly. It didn't hurt at all now. Out of curiosity, she tried turning her head to look, pulling her shirt aside. She could barely see it from this angle, but what she could observe revealed a strange pink mark on her skin. She turned back to Omrys, but he was looking in the other direction as he stood, brushing off his clothes. It was probably nothing, she reassured herself.

“We should leave before somebody finds us,” Omrys suggested calmly, as if they hadn't just run down a ghost hallway fleeing from a demonic creature.

“You're right,” Vivian agreed, still out of breath. She rose unsteadily, trying to straighten her uniform. To any onlooker with no context, they would be just a couple of kids that burst out of a maintenance closet, looking as if they had just run a marathon. Something like that would definitely land them both in detention.

“So,” Omrys sighed. “What time did you say school ended?”