Sasha salutes him. “We won’t let HEAS down!”

The ogre shakes his head as he walks out the door. “Interns.”

“How did you know about the ad?” Heath asks.

Sasha looks at him. “I didn’t. But I deal with advertisement issues all the time, so I took a chance.” She touches her ear. “Prue says we can use any empty scroll to upload our story.” She pulls her parchment out of her front pocket, and I see her completed article. “I just have to rewrite it.” She looks around. “Oooh, where should I sit? Would I normally sit on an end, or would I want to be smack in the middle of the action?” Her ogre eyes widen. “Maybe I can find Misty’s desk!”

Kira clears her throat. “Prue says stop playing around and get going. You heard the ogre. Lunch is shorter today!”

“Right!” Sasha pulls out a velvet chair and plops down in it. “I’ll be quick. You guys stand lookout.”

“Prue says to activate the mirrors. You need to use your coins, but she can’t seem to figure out where to put the coins in to make them work,” Kira tells me. “Maybe it’s another gumball machine? I had no idea ogres liked gum this much. No wonder their teeth are so rotten.”

We must all be getting the same message because we quickly spread out, searching the desks for anything that looks like it could be a gumball dispenser. I notice a lot of licorice and sucking candy, but no gum. Just plenty of small signs posted on nearby walls:

As Sasha writes furiously, her parchment begins to glow. When she finally reaches the end of the scroll, her words begin to sparkle and jump like they’re ready to take off from the page.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Stories must be uploaded immediately, or the quill ink loses its potency. That’s why ogres work so fast. They’ve got to get all their scrolls in before lunch or dinner,” Kira adds. “Find the gumball machine yet?”

Grrr… Heath shrugs. Logan throws up his hands. Tara is on her hands and knees looking. All I see are parchment and bottles of ink. There’s nothing here that looks like another gumball machine!

I feel movement in my pocket. Lily! She crawls out, shoots down my arm, and I let her run along a table. She scurries over to the nearest wall and flicks her tongue. That’s when I see it. A tiny hole in the stucco. I kneel down. A pink nose and whiskers pop out of the darkness.

“What are you doing?” Kira’s voice is shrill. “Tara said not to engage with anyone other than the group.”

“Who’s there?” says a little voice. “What do you want?”

“Hi, I’m Devin,” I say. “I mean, I’m…” What’s my name again? “I’m here with some friends. I was hoping you could help us find something.”

The mouse peeks out of the hole, curious. “You heard me? How is that possible? Ogres can’t talk to mice.”