“Where exactly did you park?” Adara shouted over her shoulder as she burst through the academy’s automatic double doors, her pink hair catching the sunlight in wild flashes as she bounded down the steps.

“Closest lot, just to the right!” Luke called, sprinting after her, the typewriter cradled in his arms like a live grenade. Behind him, Braggy and Reginald followed in their awkward disguises, doing their best to mimic human movements.

Just as they reached the base of the steps, they skidded to a halt at the feet of a teacher who was carrying a precarious stack of books.

“Professor Scribner!” Adara gasped, her voice high-pitched with panic. “We submitted our stuff! Totally done. A-plus effort. Gotta go now, though—emergency!”

Luke nodded, his face flushed. “Yeah, super done. No extensions needed. Bye!” He tried to edge past the professor, but Scribner’s sharp eyes landed on the typewriter.

“Wait a moment,” Scribner said, stepping back. “That… is the academy’s typewriter, isn’t it? Why is it smoking?”

“Don’t worry about it! All under control!” Adara said, waving away his concerns.

“Very controlled!” Luke added, though the typewriter let out a menacing whir-click as he said it. Scribner took another cautious step back, eyeing the device with suspicion.

“Do I want to know?” the professor asked, his tone dry.

“Probably not!” Adara chirped, grabbing Luke’s sleeve and dragging him away. “Bye!”

“Good luck with… whatever this is,” Scribner called after them, his curiosity battling with a healthy dose of self-preservation. “Just bring back the school property when you’re done!”

Luke held onto the typewriter for dear life as they sprinted toward the parking lot. “It’s over…” he began, but the machine in his arms let out another ominous whir-click followed by a low, unsettling groan.

“Uh oh,” Luke muttered, his knuckles whitening as smoke wafted from the typewriter.

Adara glanced back, her pink hair bouncing. “Let’s move!”

“I AM MOVING! Just keep going!” Luke shouted; his voice filled with panic as he motioned toward the car park.

The typewriter spat out a spark of dark energy that fizzled against Luke’s arm. “Ow! Seriously, what now?” he yelped, straining to control the rebellious machine.

Adara shot him a look as she kept running. “Nothing good, I’m guessing. Just keep running!”

But then they hit a roadblock. A large crowd of students idling at the bus stop. Some scrolled through their phones, others chatted, oblivious to the chaos barrelling toward them.

“Everyone, make way! Danger! Danger is coming!” Adara bellowed like an overzealous theatre kid.

Reginald, still mirroring Adara’s pink-haired doppelgänger with exaggerated features, jumped in with equal enthusiasm. “Clear the way, mortals! Peril approaches!” His voice boomed, startling a group of students into dropping their coffees.

Adara spun mid-run, glaring daggers at her dramatic copycat. “Shush, I already said something!”

“Oh! My sincerest apologies, m’lady! The stage is yours!”

“Go! GO! It’s the silver one with roof racks!” Luke shouted.

Fumbling with the keys in his pocket as he ran, Luke glance down at the typewriter. The thing looked like it was about to explode. “We’re running out of time!”

Finally, he managed to fish his keys out and clicked the unlock button. The silver car’s lights flashed, a comforting confirmation of its location. “There! Go, go, go!”

But before any of them could reach the car, a sharp, crack split the air. Above the parking lot, the fabric of reality twisted and tore open, forming a jagged rift that hovered far above them.

“Dis one’s purple,” said Braggy.

“Well… That’s different,” mumbled Adara.

From the tear emerged a massive stone gargoyle. Its bulbous, heavy form shimmered with pulsating purple veins of light, its stocky arms rippling with raw power. However, its tiny wings flapped uselessly, as if even the laws of magic couldn’t lift such a hulking creature.

Adara’s eyes widened as she skidded to a halt. “Oh, come on! A gargoyle? Really? Did you write that one too?”

Luke shook his head. “No! No, I did not!”

Braglok tilted his head, his oversized “wand” still clutched in his hand. “Think it’s friendly?”

The gargoyle roared, an ear-splitting sound that rang through the parking lot. With an inevitable finality, it plummeted from the rift above, its bulbous, stone form careening downward. Instead of smashing into the asphalt, it landed on Luke’s car with a bone-rattling crunch.

“Nooooooo!” Luke wailed as the vehicle crumpled under the gargoyle’s immense weight. The windshield shattered into a spiderweb of cracks, and the frame sagged under the pressure, emitting a tortured groan. The car didn’t explode outright but instead acted as a reluctant cushion.

The group stood frozen, staring at the scene in wide-eyed disbelief. The gargoyle perched on the now mangled wreck, its glowing amethyst eyes scanning its surroundings as if confused by its own destructive landing.

Luke’s hands shot into his hair, his voice rising in a mixture of despair and outrage. “Are you kidding me?! My car!”

“I hope you're insured.” said Adara.

Reginald, ever the dramatist, placed a hand over his heart. “What foul villainy is this? To bring such ruin upon thy noble steed!”

Braglok tilted his head, looking puzzled. “Wot’s a steed? That don’t look like a horse.”

Adara groaned, throwing her hands up. “Can we focus here? There’s still a giant gargoyle sitting on it!”

The gargoyle shifted, the wrecked car groaning beneath its weight. The tension in the air grew thicker, but all Luke could do was stare at the destruction, muttering under his breath, “Why me?”

The gargoyle shifted, its stocky arms pushing against the crumpled metal, its tiny wings flapping in an almost comedic attempt to steady itself. Purple sparks crackled as it turned its amethyst eyes toward them.

Braglok gulped audibly. “Yeah… not friendly.”

“What are we going to do now?” Luke asked.

A deep rumble rolled over the hill to their left, cutting off any further lamenting. The sound grew louder, accompanied by the screeching of tyres and a glint of red metal gliding towards them. The vehicle was massive, propped up on enormous black tyres that chewed up the pavement as it barrelled toward them like a mechanical red beast.

Luke squinted at the front grill, the word Jeep glaring back at him. His eyebrow arched in confusion. “What the…?”

From the driver’s seat, a purple Mohawk poked out, followed by a feisty voice yelling, “Got your text, Kiddo! Pulled a U-turn on the highway through oncoming traffic, and—” She froze mid-sentence, eyes locking on the stone gargoyle wreaking havoc behind them. “What the hell is that?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The massive stone creature roared, reducing Luke’s silver car—and several others nearby—into shrapnel with one mighty swing of its flailing limbs.

“No time to explain, Mum!” Adara yelled as she flung open the front passenger’s door. “We gotta go, and we gotta go now!”

Adara’s mum didn’t blink, rolling with the madness like she’d been waiting for this moment her entire life. “Sure,” she said, twisting in her seat. “But who are your friends?”

She took a long look at Reginald, who was still a walking, pink-haired doppelgänger of her daughter, and her head cocked in disbelief. “Okay, that’s new.”

“Move!” Adara barked as she climbed in, and all four scrambled into the vehicle. Luke clambered into the back, clutching the sparking, smoking typewriter.

The doors slammed shut with a jarring thud. “Go, go, go!” Adara yelled, twisting in her seat to look at Luke. “Where are we even going?”

Luke barely had time to respond. He turned his attention to the backseat, where Braglok and Reginald were wrestling with the unfamiliar contraptions known as seatbelts.

“This is for your safety!” Luke shouted, leaning over and fumbling with the buckle near Braglok, who was poking at the belt like it might bite him. “Just hold still and stop squirming!”

Braglok growled, waving his large hands. “I don’t need no strappy thing! I’ve got muscles for protection!”

“Yeah? Well, muscles won’t help you when you’re flying through the windshield!” Luke snapped, forcing the buckle into place with a satisfying click. “There. Safe.”

Meanwhile, Reginald, in full dramatic flair, was attempting to fend off the seatbelt as though it were a venomous snake. “What devilry is this? I shan’t be bound like some common prisoner!”

“Shut up and sit still!” Luke barked, grabbing the belt and yanking it across Reginald’s chest.

Adara, smirking in the front seat, glanced over at her mum, who was gripping the steering wheel with a mix of amusement and determination.

“They’re worse than kids,” Luke muttered.

Adara’s mum snorted but kept her focus on the road as the engine roared to life. “Kids, monsters… same same. Now, where are we going, genius?”

Luke finally slumped back into his seat, exasperated but victorious. “Sam’s Ravine! I’ll give you directions! Just drive!”

Adara twisted in her seat. “I’m sorry, where?”

“Sam’s Ravine!” Luke repeated over the roar of the engine.

“Sam’s Ravine?” Adara echoed.

Luke nodded.

“That’s by the Badmoon River, right?” Adara asked.

“Yeah. I’ll give directions. Just drive! Fast!” Luke shouted, gripping the smoking typewriter in his lap.

Adara’s mum floored the pedal, and the Jeep roared to life with a guttural growl. “Let’s go, Floyd!” she called out, yanking the steering wheel with the kind of confidence that made the passengers bounce against their seats like popcorn in a hot pan.

“Floyd?” Luke asked, shooting Adara a baffled look.

“She named the car,” Adara said with a shrug, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Ah, gotcha,” Luke replied, trying not to think too hard about it.

Meanwhile, Braglok and Reginald, both woefully unprepared for the magic of modern Earth’s vehicular technology, were not handling the situation. Braglok pressed his massive hands flat against the door, his eyes wide with panic. “This is sorcery!”

Reginald, in true theatrical fashion, flailed in his seat as though the Jeep were a runaway dragon. “We’re doomed! This infernal contraption shall be our end!”

“Calm down, you two!” Adara snapped, twisting around to glare at them. “It’s just a car! You’re not going to die!”

Her words, however, faltered as her gaze caught the rear-view mirror. Her stomach dropped. The gargoyle, now glowing with a menacing purple energy, had locked onto their bright red escape vehicle. Its massive form thundered after them, every step making the ground quake like an oncoming storm.

“Oh, come on,” Adara groaned. “Mum, faster! The giant murder rock is chasing us!”

“Already on it, sweetheart!” she barked, slamming her foot down harder on the accelerator. The Jeep roared louder, tires squealing as it sped ahead.

Luke clasped the typewriter, glancing between Adara and the ominous shape growing larger in the distance. “Any chance Floyd has rocket boosters?”

“Don’t tempt me!”

“Uh, guys? It’s chasing us,” she said, her voice pitching higher.

Luke craned his neck to look. “Turn left here!” he shouted.

The Jeep spun, sending everyone lurching to the right as Adara’s mum twisted the wheel with expert precision.

“Go faster, Mum!” Adara yelled.

“What about the wildlife?” her mum shouted back.

Adara pointed frantically behind them. “The wildlife is trying to kill us!”

The Jeep roared down the road, bouncing over potholes as the gargoyle’s thunderous stomps grew louder behind them.

Adara twisted in her seat, her pink hair whipping around as she shouted, “What do we do? What are we even doing?”

“Throw shit at it!” her mum yelled, gripping the wheel with one hand and motioning with the other.

Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “Like what?!”

Reginald held up a hand. “Pray tell, madam, what manner of excrement dost thou request we hurl? Are we speaking of literal dung, or merely items of symbolic disdain?”

Adara spun in her seat, groaning. “She means anything! Junk! Stuff!”

As Luke turned back, his eyes landed on a large case of beer wedged in the boot. “Wait, throw anything?”

“Yes, anything!”

Luke handed the typewriter to Braglok, who looked far too enthusiastic about holding it, and lunged for the beer. Ripping open the cardboard case, he yanked out a bottle and hurled it over his shoulder. The can flew through the air and smashed against the road in front of the gargoyle, spraying golden liquid and glass everywhere. Without missing a beat, Luke grabbed another, then another, lobbing them like grenades.

The driver’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, and her jaw dropped. “Not the beer! Anything but the beer!” she shrieked.

The orc, meanwhile, raised the typewriter as if preparing to throw it.

“NO!” both Luke and Adara shouted in unison.

“Are you a wizard or not?!” Adara yelled, turning to Braglok. “Cast a spell or something, anything!”

Braglok blinked, his green brow furrowing in thought before his face lit up. “Oh yeah, right!” He shoved the typewriter into Reginalds lap and waved his massive wand like an orchestra conductor on a caffeine high.

“Yer doom’s comin’, ya big rock chicken!” Braglok roared, waving his wand like he was swatting flies. He bellowed something that sounded like mangled Latin mixed with a bad nursery rhyme. Bright bursts of light shot out, zigzagging everywhere but toward the gargoyle.

“It’s not working!” Braglok cried.

“Keep trying!” Adara urged.

As Braglok continued his pathetic but visually stunning attempts, Adara turned back to her mum with a plan smeared over her face. “Hey… Mum, do you still have that giant roller thing in the boot?”

“You mean Fabio?” her mum replied. “Of course.”

Adara’s eyes gleamed with chaotic glee. “Perfect!” She clambered over Luke, bowling him sideways as she rummaged through the back. “Switch with me!” she commanded, shoving him toward the front seat.

Luke fumbled with his seat belt then scrambled into the passenger seat, his voice shaking as he shouted, “Turn left here!”

Meanwhile, Adara pulled out a long blue Styrofoam noodle from the depths of the boot, holding it aloft like a knight brandishing a sword. “Braglok!” she called out. “Do you know how to cast an Engorgio charm?”

The fake Luke nodded. “Aye, I can give it a go!”

“Good! Cast it on this!” She thrust the noodle out the back of the jeep.

“Noooo! Fabio!”

The orc bellowed a garbled incantation, something that sounded like, “Engorgio, biggy-sticky-o!” A flash of green light erupted from his wand, striking the Styrofoam noodle with sheer dumb luck. In an instant, the noodle expanded into a massive, 30-foot-long rolling pin with an 8-foot-wide diameter, bouncing off the road with a satisfying thud.

“Whoa!” Luke exclaimed, craning his neck to peer into the rear-view mirror.

The gargoyle, still glowing with purple energy, charged forward, its eyes locked on the Jeep like a predator homing in on its prey. That is, until its hulking stone foot collided with the oversized foam roller.

CRASH!

The impact sent the gargoyle into a spectacular tumble, flipping head over heels with a series of deafening crashes. Shards of stone flew everywhere as its momentum carried it into a heap of rubble.

“HA! Take that, rock face!” Adara whooped, pumping her fist in the air. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

Braglok grinned, puffing out his chest. “Told ya I’m good at spelling!”

“Bravo, good orc! Thy magic strikes truer than Cupid’s arrow! And thee, Lady Adara, thy wit cuts sharper than Excalibur itself! Together, a fearsome duo indeed!”

Adara shot him a sideways glance, smirking. “Thanks, Shakespeare. Maybe keep the compliments rolling; they’re kinda growing on me.”

Luke slumped back into his seat, clutching the dashboard for dear life. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”

“Fabio to the rescue!” Adara added.

“His sacrifice will never be forgotten.” Adara’s mum said, her hands steady on the wheel as she pressed the pedal to the floor, the Jeep roaring forward. “You lot are absolutely mental. I love it. Now, where to?”

"Alright, head straight for another three k’s, then hang a left and a right," Luke instructed.

With the chaos of flying beer bottles and gargoyle-chucking noodles behind them, the Jeep settled into a relative calm, the hum of the engine filling the tense silence.

Adara’s mum, her purple Mohawk bouncing away as she drove, decided to break the ice. “Well, now that we’re not actively being chased by stone monsters, I suppose introductions are in order,” she said, gripping the wheel with one hand and gesturing at the passengers with the other. “Name’s Rory. And you lot?”

Adara leaned back with a smirk, pointing first at Luke. “That’s Luke. Our local logic lover who thought it was a good idea to toss beer bottles at a gargoyle.”

Luke raised a defensive hand. “It was working! Kind of.”

Rory shot him a glance in the rear-view mirror. “My beer? Really?”

Adara pointed next at the doppelgängers. “And these two? Well, they’re… complicated. That’s Braggy—uh, Braglok—currently disguised as Luke 2.0. And Sir Faceplant over there is Reginald,”

Reginald, now seated with dramatic poise, tipped an imaginary hat. “Sir Reginald of the Radiant Order, at your service, noble Rory. May I say, your steed is most impressive.”

“Steed?” Rory snorted. “You mean my Floyd? Sure, let’s go with that.”

Adara leaned forward, her words spilling out in a frantic, jumbled rush. “Okay, so today was insane. I forgot my USB, so we used this typewriter, totally magical, by the way, and it brought these two to life.” She waved at Braglok and Reginald, who both gave awkward little waves in return. “Then this evil librarian tricked us, got herself sucked into it, and now she’s off doing who-knows-what in who-knows-where. Oh, and the typewriter is going nuts… sparks, purple glow, the works. Oh, and there’s this whole ‘witch of nightmares’ thing we think it’s tied to. That’s basically it.”

Rory raised an eyebrow. “Magical typewriters, evil librarians, and a witch of nightmares. Right. Just another perfectly normal day.”