She hadn’t even realised that she had used Miss Jensen’s first name in front of the students.

“I need to eat at least some of you,” said Miss Jensen, “I’ll let the others go, just as soon as my tummy is full.”

By now, Skip was submerged in acid, and being digested rapidly.

Fern watched in disbelief as Agnes put the second boy into her mouth and swallowed him whole. She slammed the door shut and locked it.

“Is Miss Jensen going to eat us?” asked a small boy.

“Not if I can help it,” said Miss Shields, kneeling down to hug the boy.

She kissed his cheek, and then heard a noise. She turned to see that the door had fallen to the ground. Miss Jensen had knocked it in with her giant hand. Now they saw her fingers reaching into the room. It was a tight squeeze, but her hand was now groping blindly for them. Other boys saw her face appear at the window. Now she could guide her hand visually. She caught another boy and pulled him towards the door.

Fern knew that it was too late to waste time struggling against Agnes’s giant grip to free the boy. She had to make use of the time that it took for Agnes to eat that boy, and find a way to save the others. Then she remembered something that Agnes would not know about. She was ten years younger, and had only been at the school for a short time. Fern knew something that Agnes did not.

“Quickly, everyone, into my classroom!” called Fern, and hurried the children through the adjoining door.

One boy was standing at the window looking out. He watched as Miss Jensen sat back up and raised the boy up in front of her face. Like himself, her current meal intended was one of her own students.

“I don’t mean to frighten you, little boy,” she said, “It’s just that I need to eat some of you to take away that hungry feeling down in my tummy. I won’t bite you at all, and I’ll swallow you as quickly as I can.”

“Jeremy, come on!” said Miss Shields, “Or she’ll see you at the window and get you next!”

Suddenly she was pulling him towards the adjoining door. He felt frustrated that he had not been able to watch Miss Jensen put the other boy into her mouth and eat him. He was probably the only person in the room who wished that she was eating him instead. He wanted to stay behind and let her catch him. He had always secretly liked looking into her mouth, and now he knew for the first time why that was. Miss Shields dragged him into the other room and shut the adjoining door.

She asked the older students to pull her desk and chair to the side of the room, and then folded back the carpet to reveal a hidden trapdoor. She opened it and herded the students down into a secret cellar.