Page 33 of Monster's Baby

“Professor?”I asked tentatively, and the toddler looked up at me, clapping his hands.“I think this is a good thing,” I said, thinking hard.“Maybe the spell is wearing off!We won’t need to find a cure and can just wait for him to return to normal!”

“We’d better find Headmistress Blackthorn,” Aiden said.“Are you ready to go?”

I looked down at myself.“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“All right, let’s go, bud.”He hefted the professor out of the crib.“We need to change your bed situation.This isn’t safe for you.You could easily climb out and hurt yourself.”

“No problem.”I transfigured the crib into a low toddler bed, adding bed sheets with a cartoony witch brewing a potion on them.

“Nice,” Aiden approved.“It’s missing...”He added a flourish and a stuffed cat appeared next to the pillow.

“Love it.”It really felt like we were meshing well on taking care of a kid.

“Hang on, where’d he go?”Aiden asked suddenly, and we raced to our door, which was open.

Professor Reynolds had made it halfway down the hall before we caught up to him.

“You are a rascal, aren’t you?”Aiden asked, grabbing his hand.

I remembered one of the spells that the headmistress had given us; a baby tracker.It was similar to the one I had put on Bruce when I suspected him of kidnapping students, but would last longer.I cast it and pressed it to the back of the professor’s neck.“There.Now we won’t worry so much when you get away from us.”

“Good thinking,” Aiden said approvingly.“Breakfast, and then we’ll go get you checked out,” he said to the toddler.

The professor babbled nonsensically the whole way down the stairs, which he had to do himself or else he screamed.I was close to losing my patience, but watching Aiden calmly handling the situation helped me rein in my temper.

We were greeted with enthusiastic amazement by our friends.We left him with them while we grabbed all three meals together.

“We’ve got this,” Aiden murmured while we were standing in line.He pressed a kiss to my temple.“Together, we can handle anything that rascal throws at us.”

CHAPTER9

“I havea full day of classes today,” I groaned as I sat in the seat Hazel had saved for me.“Qualitative Spellcraft and then Charms and Potions.”

“The morning will be taken up with trying to unravel the spell cast on Professor Reynolds,” Aiden pointed out, using his fork for emphasis.

“And you’ll be with me in the afternoon,” Hazel added, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

I brightened slightly.“That helps.Thanks.”

Headmistress Blackthorn stood at the front of the room, drawing my attention.

“She doesn’t usually make announcements at breakfast,” I murmured.

“Maybe it has to do with the Olympics?”Aiden suggested.

I considered that, watching her get everyone’s attention.“Makes sense.If it had to do with Professor Reynolds, she’d come to us directly.”

“Good morning, students,” the headmistress began, and any lingering whispers dissipated.“I wanted to update you on those of you who qualified for the Magical Olympics.We have quite a long list of names who signed up, although not all of you have been approved by the overseeing committees.As a reminder, you have to be passing your classes—I know it’s only the third day of term, but we took your prior three years into account—and have a good standing with the school.Once our professors approved your application, we submitted those names to the Olympic committee along with your portfolio.We received the list of competing students this morning.”

She cleared her throat and pulled a scroll from the depths of her robes with a flourish.“In alphabetical order by last name, our participating students are...”

Several students beat at the tables in front of them, imitating a drum roll punctuated by the clink of metal cutlery against the china plates.It sent a ripple of nervous laughter through the mess hall.

“Thank you,” Headmistress Blackthorn said with a small smile, and the noise quieted.“Sylvia Adams.”A surprised squeal went up from the girl, followed by polite clapping.“Bruce Blackthorn.”

“Hey, I guess being three hundred years old didn’t matter to them,” Aiden said, clapping a hand on his old roommate’s back while Clarissa’s name was called and our table clapped for our friends.

“Idil Brahma.Justin Cockburn.Lawrence Crunch.Siobhan Doyle.”

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