I imagined the wound knitting back together, stitch by stitch. My magic poured out of me, through the staff, so much of it that my skin turned hot. I quickly realized that there was no focal point like a regular tear, nothing to latch on to. Sweat streaked down my cheeks. It wasn’t working. I could still sense the library expanding, which meant that the wound was growing. “Ugh,” I said, giving up.

“Squawk” came a high-pitched cry right before an impundulu sauntered into our path. We stopped in our tracks. Okay, so I should have seen the giant-killer-bird angle coming. The impundulu shrieked again as it stretched out its rainbow-colored wings and reared back. The needle-sharp spines on its underbelly stood up.

“I got this one,” Winston said as he raised his hands and shot flames at the impundulu.

“Don’t!” I nudged him with the staff, deflecting his aim. His fire went over the bird’s head.

Winston shoved the staff away. “Why did you do that?”

The impundulu shrieked once more, and the second time it sounded more desperate. A baby impundulu shuffled from behind the bird with tiny iridescent wings. It was so young that it hadn’t grown its spines yet. “Impundulu only attack to protect their young. If we leave it be, it’ll go away.”

When the impundulu and its chick disappeared into the shadows, Winston said, “When that thing comes back to pluck out your eyes, don’t ask for my help.”

I let out a sharp laugh. “Like I would ever ask you for anything.”

Frankie pointed. “Principal Ollie’s symbol stopped.”

We ran to catch up with the symbol. It landed on something suspended in the air. The moment we got closer, we all gasped. It was Principal Ollie, but they’d turned translucent, like they were fading in and out between worlds.

“What are you kids doing here?” they asked, hovering above us.

“Um . . . we came to rescue you,” I said, but it sounded like a question.

Principal Ollie shifted back into their physical form. They wore a dark gray suit, a crisp white shirt, a neon-blue tie, and shiny leopard-print shoes. Leave it to them to still look so put together in the middle of a battle. “There’s nothing you can do here,” they said. “Shangó, Ogun, and I will keep the wound from spreading as long as we can.”

“But . . .” I started.

“No buts, Miss Abeola,” Principal Ollie snapped. “Tell Yemoja . . .”

Before they could finish speaking, shadows shot out and lashed around them. It happened so quickly that we were caught off guard for a split second. Oh, heck naw. I swung my staff, and glowing god symbols careened at the shadows, but the symbols turned to ashes. Winston sent flames that fizzled out on impact. Zeran hit them with the prods. Frankie tried her electric current, but the shadows completely enveloped the celestial.