Free The Witch Hunter's Gauntlet by Bret Schulte

a sibling. But somehow she never factored a smelly little brother into her fantasies.
    “Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!”
    A tall blonde girl in overalls ran past their doorway shouting at the top of her lungs.
    “Get down people!” she yelled from down the hall.
    Three sparkling red bolts zipped past the door.
    There was a great deal of yelling and banging from the hallway. Sam and Zoey rushed to the doorway.
    Another red firework flew by. Someone’s mother shrieked as she flattened herself against the wall, barely getting out of the rocket’s path in time.
    “Stellar,” Zoey said, her eyes widening with excitement.
    Cheers a nd applause filled the hallway, followed quickly by loud, angry parental shouting. Most of the girls in the hall ducked back into their rooms to spare the firework launcher the humiliation of a public chewing out. Sam and Zoey went back to their unpacking.
    “Until just now, I thought this place was going to be insanely boring,” Sam said.
    “Hopefully we’ll get almost blown up every day,” Zoey agreed.
    Looking around , Sam noticed that Zoey’s desk was just as empty as hers.
    “You didn’t bring a computer?” she asked.
    “Bah, computers are for morons,” Zoey said, tapping her right temple. “I got everything I need up here.”
    Sam didn’t know how to respond to that.
    “I’m kidding. I just couldn’t bring mine with me. I have to settle for one of the school’s loaners. You?”
    “Same here,” Sam said. She opened her closet to find it surprisingly spacious for a dorm room. If she left her sweaters and other winter stuff in boxes under her bed , she would have enough room for all of her clothes.
    Someone tapped on the doorframe.
    “Knock, knock,” Tasha said. “How would you like to meet the ‘rents?”
    Mr. Beaumont was a tall , muscular man who looked like he would be perfectly at home on a football field, except he had a wise, professorlike face. Mrs. Beaumont looked very much like an older version of Tasha. She was also tall, although not nearly as tall as Mr. Beaumont, and she had long, lean arms and legs. She had probably been a gymnast as a kid, just like Tasha.
    “Mom, D ad, this is Zoey and Sam.”
    “Hello,” Zoey said, extending her hand to shake each of theirs in turn.
    “Hi.” Taking her cue from Zoey, Sam extended her hand as well.
    “I expect you girls to keep my little Nat out of trouble, now,” Mr. Beaumont said, shaking Sam’s hand. He gave her a little nod and a smile.
    “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Mrs. Beaumont added.
    “Likewise,” Sam and Zoey said together.
    “Jinx, you owe me a soda,” Zoey blurted quickly.
    Mrs. Beaumont tapped her husband on the arm. “It looks like the other parents are heading out. We should give these girls some time to get settled in.”
    “Goodbye , pumpkin.” Mr. Beaumont gave Tasha a quick hug, which she pretended to find annoying.
    “Have fun , girls,” Mrs. Beaumont said with a wink as she and her husband stepped into the elevator.
    Once the elevator doors closed , Tasha turned her questioning eyes on Sam and Zoey.
    “So, what did you think of my parents?”
    “They’re keepers,” Zoey said with an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
    Sam nodded in agreement, trying to stick to the rules of Jinx, which meant that she was not allowed to speak again until she bought Zoey a soda. She hoped there was a vending machine nearby.
    “Come on,” Tasha said, checking the time on her cell phone. “The RA is holding a meeting in three minutes.”
    The three girls joined the others who were filing their way into the recreation lounge at the end of the hallway.
    From the brochure Sam knew that each floor had its own Resident Advisor; a girl, or boy for the boys’ dorms, from the college who volunteered to live in the academy dorms to help students adjust to their new school, settle disputes between roommates, and generally just be a big sister or brother to the new students. It seemed like a lot of