"Okay!" West wiped her hands on the sides of her pajama pants. "Here we have your maze. You must navigate the Walls of Deadly Crushing-" bookshelves enchanted to slide back and forth- "climb over the Barrier of Fire-" a precarious stack of upholstered armchairs- "and avoid the beasts in a dangerous gambit to reach the Chocolate Idol." The 'beasts' were Alana's stuffed dragon (aptly named Dragon Dragon), hippogryph, griffin, sphinx, mermaid, and Prism Cat, and the 'Chocolate Idol' was an oversized chocolate frog left over from Easter.

Jade adjusted the ties on her boots. Alana had made her dress in a tank top with a hole in it, ripped jeans, and combat boots, plus an armband, for no apparent reason. It was surprisingly comfortable, except for the fact that Alana was currently ripping another hole in the tank top. Jade slapped her hand away.

"What are you doing to my shirt, Alana?"

"Nothing. Just, you know..."

"You want me to look like that girl from that weird Maze movie we watched last holiday," Jade accused, half-laughing. "With my clothes all ripped and burnt. I look like a hobo."

West collapsed, giggling. "Jade's a hobo!" She gasped between laughter. Jade rolled her eyes and tucked a curl behind her ear.

"Okay, let me start already!" Jade laughed a little, and Alana released her, giggling. She dropped to a crouch and then started running full-tilt at the bookshelves. There was a wide-open path, and she was about to fit through it when a shelf came whizzing in and sent her sprawling.

Jade slowly raised herself to her feet, wincing in pain when she touched the area she had just hit. There was a tiny gap between the shelves, and she turned, pulling her legs through first and then her torso. Her head, however, was firmly trapped on the other side. She remembered her lack of wand, which she had left with Alana, and pressed her elbows up against the shelves, which slowly parted about an inch further to release her head.

Next, the chair barrier. Jade placed a foot carefully on the lowest chair. There was no time to go slow- the mountain of cushy furniture was wavering under her. She hopped up to the next, and was on the top chair when it collapsed, and she landed in the blue armchair with her feet over her head.

Alana's laugh rang out through the room, and Jade somersaulted over herself to sit softly on the carpet.

Almost as soon as she sat down, something cold sprayed across her face and arms. Jade sputtered and looked down at her arms to see a freezing mist of silvery glitter squirted onto her skin. Dragon Dragon burped and dripped sparkles onto the rug. Jade leaped to her feet, ducking another blast of frigid spray from the stuffed beast.

The head of a small, fluffy gray stuffed hippogryph chick poked out from behind a table, and Jade managed to dodge in time as the thing spit large balls of paper with pointed ends.

"Are you guys trying to kill me?" She shouted to her friends, only half joking. Alana and West were doubled over laughing as their sparkle-coated friend jumped over paper wads. Unfortunately, she didn't move quickly enough, and a blob of what looked like chewed gum was caught in her hair.

Jade finally reached the chair where the giant chocolate frog was. She grabbed it, then broke off a piece and flopped onto the floor of the library.

The room looked absolutely trashed, with chairs tipped over and shelves spilling their books like so much confetti on the floor. Glitter spray dusted everything, and wads of paper and sticky chewing gum littered the carpet. Dragon Dragon, Hip Hip Hooray, Agriffa, That's What You Sphinx, Mermaybe, and Purrgatory were knocked on their sides in various stages of glitter coma.

"What have you girls been doing?" An irritated voice snapped from behind them, and all three girls jumped. It was Madame Pinch, the martinet librarian of the school.

"Well, we were making a maze-"

"Out! Out!"

Jade, Alana, and West fled from the library, laughing exaltantly.