Relief
Age 19 / 2553 words
The forest far off across the fields had a white screen at its edge. Printed on its far side was a sweeping image of cute little semi-detached houses, large "New Property Development!" and "Coming Soon!" messages and a small "Meadowsweet development paid for by the Quantex Fund" message across the bottom. Just inside that, construction workers milled about, wearing the tell-tale blank expressions of Confounded Muggles. Three feet closer, the mist began, faint and thin. It became thicker as it moved away from the trees, and thicker still -- until, over what should have been the freshly dug foundations of a new housing estate and which was now a vast bowl of churning mud, the fog was a near opaque metallic shimmer, like liquid mercury.
"Shiny," said Grace, examining it through her omnioculars. "I have no idea what I'm looking at." She thumbed the lens selector, twisting the focus. The fog twisted and roiled before her, revealing nothing. "Does anyone have any idea what I'm looking at it?"
"Try the deep focus," Dennis suggested. "I think I've got most of the quirks out of the clairvoyant lenses now!"
"Analytics bounce right off," Emmett huffed. "Where's the team we're supposed to relieve? Maybe they've got somewhere already."
Dennis looked around. "I think they're down there."
"No," said Grace, holding out the omnioculars and pointing. "They're in there."
Emmett took them and looked. "Damn, you're right."
"Come on then!" said Dennis, bounding across the field towards the mist before the others could stop him, casting a bubble-head charm as he hit the edge of the haze.
It was weirder on the inside, swirling colours and a constant changing smell that penetrated even his charm, first something fruity, then more like cut grass, then something foul for one long, gagging moment, then something else. The ground slipped and slid under his feet, like muddy ice. Emmett and Grace's voices echoed strangely. He ignored them -- he'd caught sight of a swirl of robes and promptly charged towards them. Five feet into the fog, where visibility was down to a few inches and it was already getting hard to breathe, he stumbled into a man and grabbed hold.
"Hello?"
The man made a strangled, coughing noise. Dennis couldn't tell if he was actually blue or it was just an effect of the fog, but either way, it wasn't a good colour. He tugged the man with him, trying to retrace his steps, but the shifting fog and mud made it hard going. Fortunately, Grace had stopped a few steps into the mist and Emmett a few feet beyond that, both shouting, giving Dennis a lifeline back to the outside.
"Bubble head charms don't work so well," Dennis informed them as they came back out into the sunshine. "The mist gets through!"
"Others," gasped the man.
"Give him some air," Emmett said. "Pete, isn't it? Can you hear me?"
Grace raised her wand, but Pete brushed it aside. "Go," he said, waving at the mist. "Others. Use miterwort." There was a popping sound. He coughed, gasping for breath, but his colour was slowly beginning to return. "'as respire--"
"Miterwort?" asked Emmett, blankly. "Is that a herb?"
"It's a saxifrage, I think -- white flowers!" Dennis said. "Does it have respiratory properties?" Pete nodded. "There should be some powdered miterwort in the potions store cupboard on--"
There was another pop and Grace reappeared, holding three large jars of yellow powder. "Got it," she said.
"That was quick!" Dennis watched her pour some into three small bags. "What do we do with these?"
"Wear them around your neck," Grace said, tapping each with her wand. "Slow burn inside a bubble-head charm -- we'll keep the jar with us to top them up as needed. Fiddle with the omnioculars, Den, see if you can't find us the other two."
"Okay!" Dennis took them, peering through them while Emmett transfigured grass into black cord and used it to hang the bags of miterwort around their necks. It was pleasantly warm against his skin. "I can see something moving over there, but I can't make out what. Maybe if we're already in the fog we'll get a better view?"
"Hopefully," Emmett said, casting bubble-head charms for them. "We have to find the other two before they choke. Any guesses as to what the Muggles dug up?"
"Cursed object?" suggested Dennis.
"Well that narrows it down," Grace said. She pulled out a ball of extensible thread (three miles in your hand!), bound one end to the edge of untouched ground, and attached the ball to her belt so it could unwind as they walked.
"Good idea!"
"Come on, then." She lead the way into the fog, keeping one hand on Dennis (who was still peering through the omnioculars) to help him keep his feet. "Any other ideas?"
"Dimensional instability," Emmett suggested. "The 'fog' could be transchronal condensate. That'd explain the constant changing smell and the shifting ground, right?"
"It's like walking on waves!" Dennis pointed. "That way! Why would the dimensions be unstable because they dug up some ground?"
"...cursed object?" suggested Emmett. Dennis grinned. Grace sighed.
"Pete?" Someone called from nearby. "Is that you?"
"Grace Stone, Department of Mysteries," Grace called back. "We've got more miterwort."
"Oh! That's very good to hear, Agent Stone. Where are you?"
"Keep talking, we'll come to you."
"Uh, right, uh, I'm Cravyn Davies, also D of M, primary investigative team. I, uh. I have no idea what to talk about. Are you still there?"
"He's over there," Emmett said. "Hey, can you see us yet? Have you found anything?"
"There are some stone formations in the centre, but we haven't managed to get a good -- oh, hello!" Cravyn caught hold of Grace. "Can't see a damn thing. Getting a bit hard to breathe -- oh, thank you." He took the offered powder, adding it to his own carry bag. "Did Pete make it out?"
"He's fine," Emmett said.
"Probably!" Dennis added. "I mean, we did just leave him there outside!"
"What?"
"I called a healer from the office," Grace said.
"You were gone less than a minute."
"I'm efficient. ...okay, I yelled 'send a healer' at Sandervalt on the way past, but I'm sure he'll sort it out."
"I think Dennis is a bad influence on you," Emmett said. He had a sudden thought. "Hang on, where's your third?"
"Dave's back there," said Cravyn, pointing. "Or is it..." He pointed in a different direction, then frowned and dropped his hand. "I seem to be rather lost."
Grace guided his hand to her thread. "You can follow this out. We'll find him."
"Also you could check that we didn't just leave Pete to choke to death!" Dennis added. "Not that I think we did!"
Cravyn left, following the thread back. The other three continued on, trying various light charms and banishments on the mist to see. None of them worked very well, but combined with the omniocular's clairvoyant lenses, they managed.
"What's that?" Grace peered ahead of them. "He mentioned stones, right? I think we've found the centre."
"It looks like a transport ring!" Dennis said. "Look, there's one here, and here, and here, and-- Hey, there're bits missing!" He waved his hand through a gap that should have had another rune-inscribed stone column in it.
"Perhaps it got broken by the diggers and left the gate stuck half open?" Grace suggested.
"I think there's another stone over here," Emmett called from their left. "It's on the ground but -- wait, no, it's Dave."
Dave coughed weakly, waving a hand in the air.
"Hey, I think he wants something. Is it the miterwort? Hey, Dennis, bring me that jar. Dennis? Dennis!"
"It's got me!"
"What's got you?!"
"I don't know! I can't see a thing!"
There was a thudding noise, followed by a crash.
"Ow," said Dennis off to their right.
Grace groped in that direction until she found him, resting upside down against one of the stone columns.
"I think something's trying to push its way into our universe from somewhere else!" He rubbed his head. "It threw me! I think I broke the jar. And the omnioculars. And -- hey, how come I can see you?"
They all turned to look at the stone column. The runes were glowing bright blue.
"Huh!" said Dennis.
"Thumping things often works," Emmett said, poking at the runes. "The interface seems pretty intuitive. I reckon this turns the gate off."
He poked it. Nothing happened.
"Or not."
"Maybe you have to do it for the whole wide circle!" Dennis said, righting himself and clambering to his feet.
"There are stones missing," Grace reminded them.
Something howled. There was a choked coughing noise.
"Crap!" said Emmett. "We just left Dave behind!"
"We have got to stop doing that!" Dennis complained.
"Quick," Grace snapped. "Rescue mission. We need options. What have we got?"
"Our wands?"
"I think I dropped the jar over there! And we could try the next stone!"
It seemed like a plan, so they headed that way and quickly -- it was starting to get hard to breathe in their bubbles. Hitting the stone made it light up, but punching the rune on the next stone didn't work either.
"Next?" suggested Emmett.
"Sure!" Dennis bounded towards it and promptly tripped over. "Oh! Look, I found the other team's equipment!"
"They have phgentermines," Emmett said happily, going through the gear. "They're suppressants. We could try them on the beastie."
"That we haven't actually seen and have no idea what it is," Grace pointed out.
"It had tentacles!" Dennis said. "Like Squiddy!"
Something howled again.
"Right," said Grace. "I'll distract it. When I pitch a fit screaming, you hit it with the mines. If that doesn't work, find another stone and try that, okay? I'll follow the thread back here and you can work your way around the ring so we meet up again."
"You're good at plans!"
"Here's the mines."
Grace took as deep a breathe as she could in the stink and then charged across the circle. After two steps they couldn't see her any more, but they could hear her screaming, a weird, distorted sound, counterpointed by the howling of the thing from beyond. Dennis and Emmett exchanged a look and then charged after, taking a slightly different direction in the hope of approaching the unseen thing from behind. If it had a behind.
"Tentacles!" yelled Dennis.
"Mines!" yelled Emmett.
They both chucked them. The mines went woosh, cl-thunk, bi-beep, thwakoooom!
"Neat!"
"Did it work?"
"I dunno!"
"Grace? Grace!"
A bellowing roar came out of the shimmering fog right in front of them.
"I think we pissed it off," Emmett said.
"Wands?" asked Dennis.
"Run away," Emmett said and grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" said Dennis. "That way! I can see a stone!" He threw himself at it hard to make it light up, then hit the rune. Something went click. "Hey, I think it's starting to work! I can see more!"
"Another one just lit up over there," Emmett said, pointing across the circle. "It must have been Grace. And there's another one -- Dennis, help me get this upright!"
"Okay!" Dennis bounded over to join him, and the two wrestled with the fallen stone, trying to get it back in place. "It's not moving!"
"Wands," said Emmett, pulling his out.
Dennis grabbed his too but, at that exact moment, the tentacles grabbed them too, and their wands went flying.
"Tentacles!" said Dennis.
"Mouths!" cried Emmett, pointing.
"Grace!" yelled Dennis.
"Stupefy!" yelled Grace. Red light flashed, again and again. "It's not working!"
"Summon the stone!" Emmett yelled at her, kicking and beating ineffectually at the tentacle pulling him in.
"Over there!" Dennis pointed helpfully.
"Accio!" yelled Grace. "Accio! It's not moving!"
The beast howled in a happy, hungry sort of way.
"I dropped my wand!"
"Me too!"
"Try it wandless!"
"Um--"
"Come on Dennis! Accio!"
"Uh, okay!" Dennis said dubiously, thrusting his hands out at the stone and yelling "Accio" at the same time as the other two.
The stone shuddered. It rose up.
"It's working," Grace said.
The floating stone lit up, runes blazing bright blue. The monster screamed again.
"I think we did," said Emmett.
"The thing is," said Dennis, "usually when I try and do wandless magic, what happens is--"
The stone column exploded silently, coming apart in a burst of neon blue light from which bright whiteblue lightning arched to strike the other stones around the circle which also began floating into the air and glowing with ever greater brilliance. The thick fog evaporated around them making it suddenly easy to breathe but also giving them a rather unfortunate view of the gaping maws they were being dragged into.
"Merlin that's a lot of teeth," Emmett said in a very small voice.
"Incoming!" yelled Grace in a very loud one.
All the remaining floating stone columns also exploded, still in that eerie silence. Light and lightning blazed, rushing at them from every side, smashing Emmett, Dennis and Grace together. They grabbed hold of each other as the monster screamed and struggled and was pushed back in on itself.
"Hold on!"
"We are!"
Grace tapped the thread with her wand and it thickened into a rope and began retracting, pulling them away from the monster. It promptly wrapped another tentacle around them. The air around them was moving, picking up speed, like a miniature tornado centred on the closing transdimensional gate.
"We're getting pulled in!" Emmett cried. He and Dennis both kicked at the tentacle.
For a moment it seemed they would never break the hold but a fluke gust of wind blew the broken jar of miterwort into Dennis. He grabbed at it, fumbled, caught it, and, ignoring the cuts to his own hands, jabbed the sharp edges into the tentacle over and over.
"It's slipping!"
"We're slipping!" said Grace, struggling with the rope.
"I've got it! Emmett!"
They heaved together, Grace kicking along, and the bloody tentacle finally slipped off them. With one final otherworldly howl, the monster collapsed in on itself, shrinking to a single crimson dot and then blinking out. The wind dropped, and the Unspeakables dropped with it, crashing to the ground and sliding down together into a heap.
After a long moment of just lying there, Grace said, "well, that was fun."
"Everyone lived," said Emmett. "I call it a win!"
"Except Dave," said Dennis sadly, pointing at the fourth person who, to their surprise, coughed a bit and sat up, rubbing at his head.
"I'm still alive," he announced. "I just got hit on the head by these flying omnioculars. Which, ow!"
"Huh!" said Dennis, taking them. "Okay, I call it a win too! Look, there's my wand -- and yours, Emmett! Everything landed together, that's a bit of luck!"
"Hey!" said Dave. "I can breathe again! And the mist is gone! And the monster! And--" He looked around. "And we seem to be at the bottom of a giant crater that I'm pretty sure wasn't here before."
Dennis, Emmett and Grace all sat up and looked around. They were indeed at the bottom of a giant, muddy crater. One with gently curved, cracked and burnt walls and a lingering smell of apricots and burnt flesh. On the far edge, Cravyn and Pete waved down at them.
"...it'll save the Muggles time on building foundations?" Grace suggested.
"This is why I'm not supposed to do wandless magic!" Dennis said.
With a creak, the large white sign at the edge of the slightly charred forest finally tumbled backwards and fell into the hole.
The forest far off across the fields had a white screen at its edge. Printed on its far side was a sweeping image of cute little semi-detached houses, large "New Property Development!" and "Coming Soon!" messages and a small "Meadowsweet development paid for by the Quantex Fund" message across the bottom. Just inside that, construction workers milled about, wearing the tell-tale blank expressions of Confounded Muggles. Three feet closer, the mist began, faint and thin. It became thicker as it moved away from the trees, and thicker still -- until, over what should have been the freshly dug foundations of a new housing estate and which was now a vast bowl of churning mud, the fog was a near opaque metallic shimmer, like liquid mercury.
"Shiny," said Grace, examining it through her omnioculars. "I have no idea what I'm looking at." She thumbed the lens selector, twisting the focus. The fog twisted and roiled before her, revealing nothing. "Does anyone have any idea what I'm looking at it?"
"Try the deep focus," Dennis suggested. "I think I've got most of the quirks out of the clairvoyant lenses now!"
"Analytics bounce right off," Emmett huffed. "Where's the team we're supposed to relieve? Maybe they've got somewhere already."
Dennis looked around. "I think they're down there."
"No," said Grace, holding out the omnioculars and pointing. "They're in there."
Emmett took them and looked. "Damn, you're right."
"Come on then!" said Dennis, bounding across the field towards the mist before the others could stop him, casting a bubble-head charm as he hit the edge of the haze.
It was weirder on the inside, swirling colours and a constant changing smell that penetrated even his charm, first something fruity, then more like cut grass, then something foul for one long, gagging moment, then something else. The ground slipped and slid under his feet, like muddy ice. Emmett and Grace's voices echoed strangely. He ignored them -- he'd caught sight of a swirl of robes and promptly charged towards them. Five feet into the fog, where visibility was down to a few inches and it was already getting hard to breathe, he stumbled into a man and grabbed hold.
"Hello?"
The man made a strangled, coughing noise. Dennis couldn't tell if he was actually blue or it was just an effect of the fog, but either way, it wasn't a good colour. He tugged the man with him, trying to retrace his steps, but the shifting fog and mud made it hard going. Fortunately, Grace had stopped a few steps into the mist and Emmett a few feet beyond that, both shouting, giving Dennis a lifeline back to the outside.
"Bubble head charms don't work so well," Dennis informed them as they came back out into the sunshine. "The mist gets through!"
"Others," gasped the man.
"Give him some air," Emmett said. "Pete, isn't it? Can you hear me?"
Grace raised her wand, but Pete brushed it aside. "Go," he said, waving at the mist. "Others. Use miterwort." There was a popping sound. He coughed, gasping for breath, but his colour was slowly beginning to return. "'as respire--"
"Miterwort?" asked Emmett, blankly. "Is that a herb?"
"It's a saxifrage, I think -- white flowers!" Dennis said. "Does it have respiratory properties?" Pete nodded. "There should be some powdered miterwort in the potions store cupboard on--"
There was another pop and Grace reappeared, holding three large jars of yellow powder. "Got it," she said.
"That was quick!" Dennis watched her pour some into three small bags. "What do we do with these?"
"Wear them around your neck," Grace said, tapping each with her wand. "Slow burn inside a bubble-head charm -- we'll keep the jar with us to top them up as needed. Fiddle with the omnioculars, Den, see if you can't find us the other two."
"Okay!" Dennis took them, peering through them while Emmett transfigured grass into black cord and used it to hang the bags of miterwort around their necks. It was pleasantly warm against his skin. "I can see something moving over there, but I can't make out what. Maybe if we're already in the fog we'll get a better view?"
"Hopefully," Emmett said, casting bubble-head charms for them. "We have to find the other two before they choke. Any guesses as to what the Muggles dug up?"
"Cursed object?" suggested Dennis.
"Well that narrows it down," Grace said. She pulled out a ball of extensible thread (three miles in your hand!), bound one end to the edge of untouched ground, and attached the ball to her belt so it could unwind as they walked.
"Good idea!"
"Come on, then." She lead the way into the fog, keeping one hand on Dennis (who was still peering through the omnioculars) to help him keep his feet. "Any other ideas?"
"Dimensional instability," Emmett suggested. "The 'fog' could be transchronal condensate. That'd explain the constant changing smell and the shifting ground, right?"
"It's like walking on waves!" Dennis pointed. "That way! Why would the dimensions be unstable because they dug up some ground?"
"...cursed object?" suggested Emmett. Dennis grinned. Grace sighed.
"Pete?" Someone called from nearby. "Is that you?"
"Grace Stone, Department of Mysteries," Grace called back. "We've got more miterwort."
"Oh! That's very good to hear, Agent Stone. Where are you?"
"Keep talking, we'll come to you."
"Uh, right, uh, I'm Cravyn Davies, also D of M, primary investigative team. I, uh. I have no idea what to talk about. Are you still there?"
"He's over there," Emmett said. "Hey, can you see us yet? Have you found anything?"
"There are some stone formations in the centre, but we haven't managed to get a good -- oh, hello!" Cravyn caught hold of Grace. "Can't see a damn thing. Getting a bit hard to breathe -- oh, thank you." He took the offered powder, adding it to his own carry bag. "Did Pete make it out?"
"He's fine," Emmett said.
"Probably!" Dennis added. "I mean, we did just leave him there outside!"
"What?"
"I called a healer from the office," Grace said.
"You were gone less than a minute."
"I'm efficient. ...okay, I yelled 'send a healer' at Sandervalt on the way past, but I'm sure he'll sort it out."
"I think Dennis is a bad influence on you," Emmett said. He had a sudden thought. "Hang on, where's your third?"
"Dave's back there," said Cravyn, pointing. "Or is it..." He pointed in a different direction, then frowned and dropped his hand. "I seem to be rather lost."
Grace guided his hand to her thread. "You can follow this out. We'll find him."
"Also you could check that we didn't just leave Pete to choke to death!" Dennis added. "Not that I think we did!"
Cravyn left, following the thread back. The other three continued on, trying various light charms and banishments on the mist to see. None of them worked very well, but combined with the omniocular's clairvoyant lenses, they managed.
"What's that?" Grace peered ahead of them. "He mentioned stones, right? I think we've found the centre."
"It looks like a transport ring!" Dennis said. "Look, there's one here, and here, and here, and-- Hey, there're bits missing!" He waved his hand through a gap that should have had another rune-inscribed stone column in it.
"Perhaps it got broken by the diggers and left the gate stuck half open?" Grace suggested.
"I think there's another stone over here," Emmett called from their left. "It's on the ground but -- wait, no, it's Dave."
Dave coughed weakly, waving a hand in the air.
"Hey, I think he wants something. Is it the miterwort? Hey, Dennis, bring me that jar. Dennis? Dennis!"
"It's got me!"
"What's got you?!"
"I don't know! I can't see a thing!"
There was a thudding noise, followed by a crash.
"Ow," said Dennis off to their right.
Grace groped in that direction until she found him, resting upside down against one of the stone columns.
"I think something's trying to push its way into our universe from somewhere else!" He rubbed his head. "It threw me! I think I broke the jar. And the omnioculars. And -- hey, how come I can see you?"
They all turned to look at the stone column. The runes were glowing bright blue.
"Huh!" said Dennis.
"Thumping things often works," Emmett said, poking at the runes. "The interface seems pretty intuitive. I reckon this turns the gate off."
He poked it. Nothing happened.
"Or not."
"Maybe you have to do it for the whole wide circle!" Dennis said, righting himself and clambering to his feet.
"There are stones missing," Grace reminded them.
Something howled. There was a choked coughing noise.
"Crap!" said Emmett. "We just left Dave behind!"
"We have got to stop doing that!" Dennis complained.
"Quick," Grace snapped. "Rescue mission. We need options. What have we got?"
"Our wands?"
"I think I dropped the jar over there! And we could try the next stone!"
It seemed like a plan, so they headed that way and quickly -- it was starting to get hard to breathe in their bubbles. Hitting the stone made it light up, but punching the rune on the next stone didn't work either.
"Next?" suggested Emmett.
"Sure!" Dennis bounded towards it and promptly tripped over. "Oh! Look, I found the other team's equipment!"
"They have phgentermines," Emmett said happily, going through the gear. "They're suppressants. We could try them on the beastie."
"That we haven't actually seen and have no idea what it is," Grace pointed out.
"It had tentacles!" Dennis said. "Like Squiddy!"
Something howled again.
"Right," said Grace. "I'll distract it. When I pitch a fit screaming, you hit it with the mines. If that doesn't work, find another stone and try that, okay? I'll follow the thread back here and you can work your way around the ring so we meet up again."
"You're good at plans!"
"Here's the mines."
Grace took as deep a breathe as she could in the stink and then charged across the circle. After two steps they couldn't see her any more, but they could hear her screaming, a weird, distorted sound, counterpointed by the howling of the thing from beyond. Dennis and Emmett exchanged a look and then charged after, taking a slightly different direction in the hope of approaching the unseen thing from behind. If it had a behind.
"Tentacles!" yelled Dennis.
"Mines!" yelled Emmett.
They both chucked them. The mines went woosh, cl-thunk, bi-beep, thwakoooom!
"Neat!"
"Did it work?"
"I dunno!"
"Grace? Grace!"
A bellowing roar came out of the shimmering fog right in front of them.
"I think we pissed it off," Emmett said.
"Wands?" asked Dennis.
"Run away," Emmett said and grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" said Dennis. "That way! I can see a stone!" He threw himself at it hard to make it light up, then hit the rune. Something went click. "Hey, I think it's starting to work! I can see more!"
"Another one just lit up over there," Emmett said, pointing across the circle. "It must have been Grace. And there's another one -- Dennis, help me get this upright!"
"Okay!" Dennis bounded over to join him, and the two wrestled with the fallen stone, trying to get it back in place. "It's not moving!"
"Wands," said Emmett, pulling his out.
Dennis grabbed his too but, at that exact moment, the tentacles grabbed them too, and their wands went flying.
"Tentacles!" said Dennis.
"Mouths!" cried Emmett, pointing.
"Grace!" yelled Dennis.
"Stupefy!" yelled Grace. Red light flashed, again and again. "It's not working!"
"Summon the stone!" Emmett yelled at her, kicking and beating ineffectually at the tentacle pulling him in.
"Over there!" Dennis pointed helpfully.
"Accio!" yelled Grace. "Accio! It's not moving!"
The beast howled in a happy, hungry sort of way.
"I dropped my wand!"
"Me too!"
"Try it wandless!"
"Um--"
"Come on Dennis! Accio!"
"Uh, okay!" Dennis said dubiously, thrusting his hands out at the stone and yelling "Accio" at the same time as the other two.
The stone shuddered. It rose up.
"It's working," Grace said.
The floating stone lit up, runes blazing bright blue. The monster screamed again.
"I think we did," said Emmett.
"The thing is," said Dennis, "usually when I try and do wandless magic, what happens is--"
The stone column exploded silently, coming apart in a burst of neon blue light from which bright whiteblue lightning arched to strike the other stones around the circle which also began floating into the air and glowing with ever greater brilliance. The thick fog evaporated around them making it suddenly easy to breathe but also giving them a rather unfortunate view of the gaping maws they were being dragged into.
"Merlin that's a lot of teeth," Emmett said in a very small voice.
"Incoming!" yelled Grace in a very loud one.
All the remaining floating stone columns also exploded, still in that eerie silence. Light and lightning blazed, rushing at them from every side, smashing Emmett, Dennis and Grace together. They grabbed hold of each other as the monster screamed and struggled and was pushed back in on itself.
"Hold on!"
"We are!"
Grace tapped the thread with her wand and it thickened into a rope and began retracting, pulling them away from the monster. It promptly wrapped another tentacle around them. The air around them was moving, picking up speed, like a miniature tornado centred on the closing transdimensional gate.
"We're getting pulled in!" Emmett cried. He and Dennis both kicked at the tentacle.
For a moment it seemed they would never break the hold but a fluke gust of wind blew the broken jar of miterwort into Dennis. He grabbed at it, fumbled, caught it, and, ignoring the cuts to his own hands, jabbed the sharp edges into the tentacle over and over.
"It's slipping!"
"We're slipping!" said Grace, struggling with the rope.
"I've got it! Emmett!"
They heaved together, Grace kicking along, and the bloody tentacle finally slipped off them. With one final otherworldly howl, the monster collapsed in on itself, shrinking to a single crimson dot and then blinking out. The wind dropped, and the Unspeakables dropped with it, crashing to the ground and sliding down together into a heap.
After a long moment of just lying there, Grace said, "well, that was fun."
"Everyone lived," said Emmett. "I call it a win!"
"Except Dave," said Dennis sadly, pointing at the fourth person who, to their surprise, coughed a bit and sat up, rubbing at his head.
"I'm still alive," he announced. "I just got hit on the head by these flying omnioculars. Which, ow!"
"Huh!" said Dennis, taking them. "Okay, I call it a win too! Look, there's my wand -- and yours, Emmett! Everything landed together, that's a bit of luck!"
"Hey!" said Dave. "I can breathe again! And the mist is gone! And the monster! And--" He looked around. "And we seem to be at the bottom of a giant crater that I'm pretty sure wasn't here before."
Dennis, Emmett and Grace all sat up and looked around. They were indeed at the bottom of a giant, muddy crater. One with gently curved, cracked and burnt walls and a lingering smell of apricots and burnt flesh. On the far edge, Cravyn and Pete waved down at them.
"...it'll save the Muggles time on building foundations?" Grace suggested.
"This is why I'm not supposed to do wandless magic!" Dennis said.
With a creak, the large white sign at the edge of the slightly charred forest finally tumbled backwards and fell into the hole.