Lena had always hated pop quizzes, but this one felt especially cruel. The substitute, Ms. Mercado, had a voice like cold coffee—sharp, bitter, and uninviting. Lena’s pen leaked onto her essay mid-sentence, staining the paper with a spreading black blotch. She dabbed at it with a tissue, but the ink soaked through, swallowing her words.

Then the blot moved.

She blinked. The ink shimmered like oil in water, forming eyes—tiny, mean, and red. It darted off the page and slithered under her desk.

Lena jerked back with a gasp. No one else seemed to notice. The other students scribbled answers, half-asleep or fully indifferent.

Then came the whispering.

From under desks, behind backpacks, inside pencil cases—the voice oozed into her mind. “You’re going to fail… they’re all watching… your words are worthless…”

The imp grew with each fearful thought, a slick shadow creeping from desk to desk, feeding off academic anxiety. It was thin as smoke, black as a void, its eyes glowing brighter now. The more Lena panicked, the closer it crept.

To her credit, Ms. Mercado didn’t call the nurse or suggest a break. She walked over to the overhead projector and clicked it on.

“Let’s test a theory,” she said.

She slapped a transparency onto the glass—Lena’s essay, ironically marked up in fluorescent orange highlighter. The old halogen bulb flared to life. A beam of blazing light, tinted by the neon ink, cut across the room like a searchlight.

The door creaked. The inkblot imp oozed in, steaming and screeching under the light. It clawed toward Lena, slower now, as if the tinted beam burned it. Smoke curled from its greasy limbs.

“Now,” Ms. Mercado barked. “Use what you know.”

Lena remembered something from biology class: octopi release ink to escape predators—but that ink dissipates under strong light. She snatched her clear ruler, leaned forward, and angled it to reflect the orange beam directly onto the creature’s head.

The imp screamed—a sound like a paper shredder eating a scream—and melted into a hiss of vapor.

Class fell silent.

Lena’s desk was intact. Her paper, though smudged, now bore a perfect A+.

“Good use of applied science,” Ms. Mercado said, then returned to her desk without fanfare.

As students filed out, Lena lingered.

“Thanks,” she said.

Ms. Mercado winked. “Good thing you paid attention in lecture.”