Ragatha was carefully inspecting the ancient book she’d found in the attic, unaware that Jax had snuck a jar of wriggling centipedes onto her desk. As she reached for her quill, the lid popped off, and dozens of tiny legs skittered across the pages.

She let out a sharp yelp, hopping back, while Jax doubled over behind the doorway, barely containing his laughter.

“Gotcha!” he wheezed, pointing at the crawling chaos. Ragatha’s eyes narrowed to slits, her hands trembling as she tried to shoo them away, but even in her panic, she couldn’t stay mad for long.