The Ex Hex

As soon as Rhys kisses her, Vivi realizes that goading him into it was a mistake. She did not forget their first kiss, but she did forget how good a kisser he was—and still is. Rhys backs Vivi up against the table in the study room, and as he touches her between her legs, Vivi hears a scream. She thinks someone has walked in on them, but the scream is somewhere outside in the library. They hear the scream twice more. They leave the study room and see Dr. Fulke also trying to locate the source of the screaming. As they get closer, Vivi feels an overwhelming sense of “wrong” magic in the air. They turn a corner, and the cold air stuns them. In the center of the room they just entered, a young woman’s ghost floats a few inches off the floor. Her appearance strikes Rhys as unsettling, as her outfit indicates she died not very long ago. Several students in the room cower behind study desks; others flee. The ghost moves back and forth, looking for something. When she sees Rhys, she screams and flies toward him, throwing him backward into a bookshelf. The ghost reaches for a book on the shelf and howls in frustration when she cannot grab it.