I left the library in terror.
The tiger hadn’t really hurt me and let me go, and I knew I should be grateful.
That got a tight lipped grin out of me. Grateful to a big cat that had captured Felix and was torturing him? Yeah, right.
I replayed the last five minutes of the library in my head. The tiger had pulled me out of the vision of the icy mountain. After giving me a deadly stare, it purred, “That was, I believe, what you humans call a ‘hall pass.’ I have shown you the place your friend is hidden…
“You just have to figure out where it is.”

* * *

I sprinted down the long hall, dodging Christmas decorations. Suddenly, someone stepped in front of me to block my path. I looked up.
“Hi, Dylan,”I said in an exasperated voice. I didn’t have time for this. I had to move!
“Hi, Cory,” Dylan Jones, the brother of Ruby and best friend of Sam said, smirking. He was almost six feet tall, and he intimidated everyone but Felix. A lump rose in my throat when I reminisced about him defending me from the bullies, but I pushed it away.
“I’m in a hurry, Dylan. Please leave me alone.” I gave him my most polite tone and tried to move around him. Surprisingly, he moved, giving me a look that was almost...fearful.
“Wait, don’t leave me hanging!” Called a familiar voice. I flipped around and groaned: Sam. Did I really think, cursed or not cursed, that he would change from bullying me?
He bounced over to us, grinning like a maniac. “Hi, Cory,” he sneered at me.
“Hey, Sam. Did you already forget about what happened approximately an hour ago?” I said with a nonchalant smile. Yeah, I didn’t do the curse- but Sam didn’t have to know that.
He rolled his eyes, but I could see them twitching in fear and widening slightly. “Th-that wasn’t you.”
“Oh yeah? Well, maybe there is a possibility of the slightest chance of it being me.” I gave him another pleasant smile. “Have a good day.”
I dodged past both of them and started walking away from them. I heard Dylan mumble, “What curse? Sam, you ruined it. I barely got two words in.”
“Yeah, well, if you want to talk to her, you have to say more than ‘Hi, Cory,’” Sam hissed back.
I almost froze in my tracks.
What?
Dylan Jones.
Wanted to 'talk' to ME?
Um, I don’t think so, I thought, quickening my step. That’s when I really did freeze, and not because of Dylan.
It was because of the side door.
I had completely forgotten.
Right next to the side exit, there was Finch’s office.
And if anyone took a step near Finch’s office, the fifty-six booby traps would explode.
I was so dead.