'Maybe we need something that’ll eat the bugs'

Maggie barely heard Brooklyn suggestion through the loud buzzing of the bugs. Wasn't there a spell that would make them SHUT UP. Or you know, stop...making that noise. With their wings?? Bugs weren't exactly Maggie's area of expertise so she wasn't sure HOW they were making that noise but it was definitely annoying. At least it seemed that they were all close enough to each other to communicate.

Which, when Zeke spoke up, Maggie sort of regretted.

"How is a bunch of dragons going to help us????" Like, really? They weren't being attacked by deer. Or...you know, other BIGGER things. Like, actual animals. These were bugs. Dragons didn't eat bugs. Did they?

Wait....but something else he'd said....she mentally went through the list of spells again when.....

Ah yes. See? That was a more useful spell. If only the CASTER was a bit more useful too. Gosh, Hady. Had she not been practicing? Maggie rolled her eyes and quickly moved her wand in a way that it resembled a (poorly drawn) bird. "AVIS!" Ah. See. THAT'S HOW YOU DID THE MAGIC. Thank you, thank you. Yes.

Only by then her birds had also been joined by someone else's. Good.

"Quickly! Let's go!" Actually by now she wasn't even sure if she NEEDED the others (pfft she was the queen of magic clearly) so Maggie didn't turn around again to see if the others were following (they better) and instead just moved forward, further into the jungle. The birds had gotten rid of enough of the bugs that it was safe to pass through. Not without a few stings though.

OMG LOOK WATER THANK GOD!

Maggie was dehydrated. Like, big time. Which was why she immediately moved forward and towards the pond. Wait...was it clean though? "Is there a water cleaning spell?" What if it had been poisoned?

No? No takers on the dragons? To be perfectly honest he was a little disappointed, cause dragons were AWESOME, and so by extension they would be too. Maggie just didn't seem to understand. Tsk tsk tsk. "Dragons fly, and breathe fire, and if we transfigure them, we have control over them... could easily burn these bugs to crispy treats, and who knows what else they might be handy for." Obviously.

But... considering he couldn't see much in the way of rocks around, he decided to just go with whatever the girls were doing. Sigh.

"Avis!" he commanded from his wand, to no avail.... .... ahem, now was not the time to FAIL him, wand!!!! "Avis!" he repeated, and with his focus trained on producing birds they did indeed erupt from his wand tip and flocked with the others to devour the bugs. Bye bye buzzzzzzards.

He was only just beginning to notice that a part of his neck was itching, itching like it was on fire... no doubt he'd been bitten by something. Were these bugs poisonous? Did anyone have a bezoar on their person? Ahem...

Nevertheless, Zeke continued along their way silently, that was, until they came to a stop at a dirty pond thing. Was Maggie really that desperate?

Admittedly, he could really go for a drink. He was sure that half of his body's water somehow managed to extract itself from him and was currently condensing on his back along his spine, around his hair line and was even dripping off the end of his nose. "Why bother cleaning it when you can charm it?" he asked as if what Maggie was suggesting was the silliest idea ever. Non-verbally he cast a short burst of the Aguamenti Charm in Maggie's direction. Hehe. A spritzing did sound pretty good though.

But wait, did that water just move?

"I think there's something in there," Zeke observed.

Did he think she hadn’t thought about the dragon spell? Brooklyn had thought about the dragon spell practically ever y day since they’d learned it, but between the four of them, the bugs and the jungle surroundings, she felt like they’d get squished if they transfigured dragons here. That spell had to be on the list for another reason, but soon enough Hady and, surprisingly, Maggie had conjured some birds and started to run. Followed by Zeke after he’d conjured some as well, and she’d sighed. It had been her idea, people. Don’t all take credit for it.

Just to make sure she didn’t get bit or stung or whatever, she traced the bird shape with her wand. “Avis!,” she cast, turning and following the others deeper into the jungle before she’d even noticed if the spell had produced any birds. The important part was that she wasn’t hurt at all, or itchy.

The note had done a good job of keeping them out of her mouth anyway, but she’d stuck it back in her pocket as she’d broken through a patch of ferns to see the other three near a pond. She realized exactly how thirsty she was at the same time she saw the jet of water shoot toward Maggie, but walked nearer to the pond anyway. Professor Bellaire wouldn’t poison them, would she? It was probably as clean as the water they’d had during the summer trip, anyway. But her eyes went to the surface of the water as Zeke had suggested something was in there.

It was too much to ask for it to be a baby Nessie. She knew that, but she still wanted to find out. Breaking off a frond from the fern she’d stepped through, she reached over to poke at the water with it. She wasn’t dumb enough to use her wand, or worse, her hand. It was better the fern get eaten than her, especially as she saw the fish chomp off three inches of green.

“Are there normally piranhas in a pond?”