A Second Generation Whateley Academy Adventure

Paying the Pied Pythoness

or

'of Cats and Rats'

by

MaLAguA

Part Six

Saturday, January 22nd - 6:05pm
Corridor outside of Whiskey’s bar,

<Did you two find it?> Gwen pinged them through the mental line. She leaned to peek into the guy’s room, listening to Peter go through the wild goose chase. Judging by the sound of it, he was searching stall by stall. “Found anything?”

“No… But they really need to get this place cleaned if we’re planning to open for business.” He grimaced while moving on to the next one.

<We’re getting there,> Caro answered.

Alright, Gwen thought to herself. If she could have Peter keep up with the big creature story, triple check the bathroom and then somehow convince him to do the same with the girls bathroom, she would’ve bought the two about ten minutes, hopefully, more than enough. Things appeared to favor her even more when she heard Peter open a door followed by a thunderous clutter.

“Are you alright?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah, I found a supply closet and all the brooms and bottles fell out.”

“Oh… Do you need some help?” Gwen asked. “I mean, it’s the guy’s room, but…”

“It’s okay, I can do it. Just have to stuff this thing back into the closet and have some staffer on the Bohemian’s payroll clean the mess.”

“Take your time,” Gwen said. Despite wanting to help clean up the problems she was leading Peter into, she knew this would aid her friends.

But alas, she’d really been pushing her luck as the sound of an engine moving through the walls drew her attention to the large cargo elevator doors as they opened to the sounds of a girl giggling and the voice of a guy playing along. “Come on, I’m serious. I know you like expensive things. But I need to win the money first.”

Those were Trevor and Giselle, two members of Crossby’s crew, stepping out of the elevator side by side, with his arm around her shoulder and her head on his.

<Guys? We’ve got trouble,> Gwen projected. When Giselle’s eyes lay on her, the laughter and conversation immediately stopped.

“Who are… what are you doing here?” Trevor asked. “This is private property.”

“I just stumbled around here by accident,” Gwen stammered her excuse might’ve worked on Peter whose interest might’ve gotten him less skeptical… but it didn’t work on these two.

“Really? A girl being this close to an all boy cottage? A likely story,” Giselle said as Trevor approached her.

“You’re here,” Gwen said.

“Touché,” Giselle snickered. “But I use the cottage’s front door, normally.”

“We should do something about her, shouldn’t we?” Trevor said.

“Wait wait wait!” Peter called out, scrambling to emerge from the bathroom. “A-Actually, she’s here with me. We’re going out to the Crystal Hall for dinner.”

“Is that so?” Trevor asked skeptically.

“She has a boyfriend, Peter,” Giselle noted.

“It’s a complicated thing. We’re on a sort of break,” Gwen said. Her voice lost more conviction as she felt herself being stared down by the two-inch-shorter Giselle.

“Is that so?” the other girl said with a sizing judgement. It was held for longer than Gwen was comfortable with, trying to get her to break. And for a moment, the young heroine was close to breaking as her eyes strayed away from meeting up her gaze and her lip quivered about to spew an excuse. Fortunately, in the end, Giselle gave a slight shrug. “I didn’t think Miss Shrinking-Violet would try dating that fast after a breakup. Well, have fun.”

“Yeah, we’ll be on our way then,” Peter said, looking at Gwen. “Ready to go to the Crystal Hall?”

“Oh…” Gwen stammered. She didn’t expect her excuse to get to the point of going on a public date. And, at the same time, she couldn’t abandon Caro and Vic. Mentally, her mind rushed to come up with an excuse to stay but couldn’t really come up with anything convincing.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Trevor interrupted as he stepped in Peter’s path. “You’re leaving? You can’t just head out if you’re supposed to help us out.”

“You two were late,” Peter frowned.

“Yeah, we were late, that’s understandable because delay’s happen,” Trevor said in his best legal tone. “You, though, are already here, and are choosing to leave despite being present, thus neglecting your duty.”

“Come on, dude.” Peter said. “We normally just hang around until Will gets here… where is he, by the way?”

“Last I knew, he was being held back by the English teacher for some essay he was working on. That means we have free time on our hands before we start,” Trevor said, giving eyes to his girlfriend before walking. “Want some snacks?”

“Sure, I’d love it,” Giselle chimed in.

“Help yourself, the door to the kitchen is locked,” Peter said sourly as he produced a key and passed it over to his buddy.

“You know? I don’t mind waiting if you’ll get in trouble,” Gwen agreed.

“You sure?” Peter said before nodding. “Alright.”

<Guys, Trevor and Giselle are also here,> Gwen quickly projected, watching as the couple opened the door. She held her breath for a moment, dreading to hear them ring out an alarm and get the Whiskey crew’s ire, thinking about the potential conflict that would arise.

But nothing happened.

<You guys alright?> Gwen asked as they walked back to the starting point.

<Yeah. We’re safe> Caro reported. <Vic opened the door to the kitchen just in time. We’re currently hiding behind a table in it.>

“Hey, Pete, what were you doing in the bathroom?!” Trevor called from inside.

“I was searching for something Gwen saw…” Peter said. “Found nothing. Though I do think we should get them cleaned.”

“You’ll do that,” Trevor said. “But I guess we have to if we can still convince Will to keep the club’s bathroom to ourselves.”

While the two guys talked, Gwen took it as a chance to talk: <Did you find the mead?>

<No,> Caro told her. <There’s one more door here that should take us to the storage room which is where the mead probably is… but these two are in the kitchen.>

<We’re just about three steps away from being found by the two lovebirds,> Vic chimed in.

<We’re cutting it really close. Hopefully they’ll just stay back, get their snacks and… Oh crap, they’re flirting with each other…> From Gwen’s point of view, she could hear Giselle’s shrill laughter. To which Peter just rolled his eyes with a “see what I have to deal with?” look.

<Hope they don’t see us….> Caro said.

<Don’t think going guns a-blazing is an option,> Vic added.

<Definitely not…> Gwen was probably strong enough to deal with the crew. From what she heard, they weren’t that strong, with Giselle being the actual problem, but there would clearly be repercussions. And with Will seemingly so savvy on matters, she wouldn’t be surprised if that got her in trouble with the school admin… after all, they were the criminals in this situation, right?

<I’ll take the blame if it comes to that. I’ll say something about using my magic or blackmail to force you to act,> Caro told her. <But it won’t get to that… Vic, help me out. Here’s the grate I told you about. Think you can unscrew it?>

<You sure? It seems kinda tiny,> Vic replied.

<It’s either this, or hope they don’t get any closer here.>

Her step-brother’s sigh echoed over the link. <I guess it’s better than waiting.>

That was reassuring. Gwen’s thoughts straddled the line between sarcastic and hopeful. Though the concern was still there. She needed to figure out a way to help the two of them out. A way to convince Trevor and Gisele to head elsewhere, and a sudden ‘what’s that over there’ wasn’t on the table anymore. Maybe she could trigger some sort of emergency? Was there a fire alarm around?

“Screw it!” Peter broke the silence. “Let’s just leave. I mean, that’s what you said in the first place, right? That you were looking for someone to dine with.”

“Wha…” was all that Gwen could say as she tried to think of a way to spin this. Lies were insanely hard.

The silence must be telling as she saw Peter’s brow furrowing. Maybe he was realizing that there was something off about this.

“I…” Gwen stammered.

“Gwen?” Said a third male guy’s voice, one that didn’t register in her mind for the first couple of seconds as she turned around… but when it did, there was a cold sweat wanting to drip from her pores as she saw Dereck standing in the end of the hallway.

<“Dereck?”> Gwen blurted out, both out loud and in her mind.

“Dereck!?” Peter blurted out.

<Dereck?!> Caro and Vic blurted out from their end.

“W-What are you doing here?” Gwen asked.

“I-I should be the one saying that! These are the tunnels under my cottage!” Dereck said.

“I was just… entertaining Peter here while walking to the Crystal Hall… it’s a long story. But what are you doing here? In the tunnels?”

“I just happened to walk around here. Is that so off?” Dereck said as he moved up to them, getting close enough to put an arm around her, only for her to step away.

“Well… that’s not suspicious, I suppose,” was all Gwen could say to not come across as suspicious. Once they were close enough, she whispered, practically hissed, at him. “What are you doing?”

“I thought you said you two had broken up?” Peter sounded heartbroken.

“That should be the case,” Gwen said, giving Dereck a true glare, enough to get him to back away. “We’re on a break, right?”

“Right… Right. About that,” Dereck said as he cleared his throat, lowered his head with his hand wanting to get near his face to think. “I… I thought a lot about it and I think I can forgive you for your indiscretion…”

“Forgive me?” Gwen blurted out. “What?!”

“It takes two to be a couple, but only one to break us apart,” Dereck said. “But I’m willing to take you back.”

Now she was livid. All she could think was Caro and Vic stuck inside the club, of the plan that had just got shaken up, and of the twenty-four hours of preparation for the job and role she was clearly against, but had to do for the sake of a friend. Now it could all come crashing down because of Derreck. And yet he was basically telling her to beg for forgiveness? That was something she wasn’t gonna do. “I’m not going to ask to be back with someone that doesn’t trust me in the first place!”

“What?!” Dereck was clearly not anticipating this sort of pushback. “Of course I trust you. But you just had to go off and flirt with some other guy.”

“I’m the other guy? I had a shot?” Peter asked, mostly to himself.

“No. Another other guy,” Gwen said, while wishing Dereck would stop improvising.

“There’s another guy?” Peter said, both looking at Gwen to reaffirm it… and this being a game of improvisation, she had to keep on agreeing. So instead, she went for a flip. “That other guy was my step-brother! And I wasn’t going on a date. I was just helping him. Did you forget about the argument?”

“What I… are you trying to gaslight me?” Dereck sounded way too serious there. Of course he knew that this was just a cover… right?

“Gaslight you? Did I not tell you I can handle thi-that other stuff on my own?” She was losing her cool, feeling the mental connection waver as she tried not to let anyone hear her mental cussing. “And the real reason why we’re in this pickle is because you didn’t trust me enough to handle matters on my own.” By this point she was using her courage to come across as convincing.

“I offered to help you out. I’m good at… that.” Dereck caught himself before he could spill the beans.

“I said I was going to help a friend and that only I could help out and you overstepped, just like you seem to react whenever I’m with other guys.”

“Hey! That’s not true.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Gwen emphasised the last word. Inwardly, though, she was struggling to pan out the dialog and getting more flustered with every improvised line she said. She needed to refocus before she said something she didn’t need. “I mean, I’m kinda sorry for pushing you away back then, but you’re not proving me wrong!”

“That’s why I came. I hoped that we could make up and just join together,” Dereck said looking at the bar. “And maybe treat ourselves with a drink if we’re here.”

“I thought you said you were just wandering about,” Peter asked.

“I lied…” Dereck scoffed. “I came after my girl the moment I heard she was in the tunnels under Emerson. Thought it would be nice to have a special peek of one of your special drinks to celebrate.”

Gwen began to realize what Dereck was going for. As much as she appreciated that, she felt as though she’d been doing a better job distracting Peter on her own than as a power couple renting a restaurant. And she had neither the time nor the means to catch her would-be not-boyfriend up to date.

“Sorry, Dereck,” Peter said with a slightly sour tone, “Business isn’t open yet, especially for people that might rat us out.”

“But Gwen was here.”

She wanted to shush him right then and there.

Fortunately, Peter continued. “If you want to enter you’ll do it tomorrow with the rest, and do it with a contract of silence.”

Dereck didn’t seem to expect that. “Oh rea-”

A fortunate cluster crash sound came from within the business as a broom and a bucket were sent topping to the ground. It was loud enough to get everyone’s attention, and yet before Dereck could set foot within the business, Peter stood in his way.

“I’ll get it,” Trevor spoke up on his way from around the bar. “Geez, what is happening tonight? Full of surpri-Ah!” His words cut out in mid-sentence as his foot slipped with a squeak and his body took a tumble between the counter and wall.

“You okay, dude?!” Peter asked.

“Why is the floor wet!?”

Peter shook his head before looking back at the two outsiders.

“As I said, oh really? Is that the treatment you want to give me?” Dereck said, puffing out his chest, in a more thuglike manner.

“Yeah,” Peter snorted. “A-And don’t think about snitching on us. The cottage parents know this is a clubhouse now and have never been able to prove we run a bar. We just make special non-alcoholic drinks and desserts.”

“Can you just calm down?” Gwen chided and, much to her surprise, Dereck began to relent.

“I was willing to pay you for the special drink, you know?” Dereck eased up his stance

“You can’t have any drinks here,” A new voice entered the fray, this time coming from the side of the hallway opposite the elevator. Will Crossby, Whiskey, the owner of the bar and the head of the group, was dressed up for an evening of fixing-upping. “But I can offer you something else. Maybe a game for that money of yours.”

<Will is here!> Gwen reported.

<Great…> Vic’s answer was dripping with sarcasm.

Will met up with them, his eyes scanning Gwen from top to bottom. “What are the two of you doing here?”

“This is under my cottage,” Dereck said again.

“Really? You, a non-techie, lurking down in the tunnels of Emerson Cottage?”

“I heard what you were up to, and came here to check,” Dereck explained.

“And you?” the club proprietor asked Gwen.

“I got lost in the tunnels and…” Gwen said. Of all those present, she had the worst standing. If the lie worked with Peter, and then barely worked with Trevor, she feared that it would be sussed out right away by Will. When she saw him cock his eyebrow, she knew that it wasn’t enough, forcing her to sigh. “I… I happened to be in the tunnels visiting a friend’s lab, I then got lost on the way back… I said that but in reality, I came here hoping to talk with Dereck… but then I ran into Peter and we spent some nice time together.”

“So I had a chance?” Peter asked.

“No,” Dereck said right away, crossing his arms with a smirk on him.

Gwen sighed. “You two are so dumb.”

“So just visiting your boyfriend, Gwen? And you wind up here? You know how that looks?” Will inquired, leaning into the clubhouse.

“That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it,” Gwen said.

“Trevor?” Will asked as his business partner peeked from the kitchen.

“What?” the other teen asked.

“Is there anything out of place?” Will asked.

“I haven’t seen anything off,” Trevor answered. Gwen would’ve let a sigh of relief escape her, but Will’s eyes were immediately on her in mid-breath.

“See?” she said. “I haven’t set foot in there.”

“She really hasn’t,” Peter vouched.

Will gave her a considering look before conceding. “I guess it’s about right. Well, whatever is going on here, take it elsewhere. We’re busy finishing setting things for tomorrow and we don’t have time to entertain guests today.”

“What are you talking about, Will?” Trevor said as he approached them from the table. “Things are almost ready, we could all take the day off.”

“Then why was I forced to sit down and wait!?” Peter demanded.

“For safety. Can’t be sure until I have the cameras installed.” Will took a moment to look into the space. “Fine, we’re almost done, I guess. Just scrub and mop the floor and it should all be ready.”

“You too,” Peter scoffed.

“I’m the head of the place. I’m the one who judges your work,” Will joked, only for Trever to come by and hand him the mop and bucket, along with a pat on the back. “Whatever.”

“So, not open for today?” Dereck said, already getting an idea that the mission was a bust.

“Well,” Peter mused. “If you have the money, we could cater and give you some snacks and drinks we have.”

“You could even double, triple or quadruple the money you have there, we could help you with that if you know how to play the cards right.”

“Playing, what? Poker?” Dereck scoffed. “My dad is a good player, I picked up some things.”

“We don’t really need to play for money, just a friendly game,” Trevor said.

Will rolled his eyes. “I suppose we aren’t doing much today.”

“It’s Saturday and we’re almost done,” Trevor said.

“Fine, you can have the night off,” Will decreed as he stepped into the space. “Not in the mood to do anything, anyway.”

“What took you so long?” Trevor asked. “Did the English teacher really pull you away to talk about your work?”

“Freaking hell, it was as though he was just getting paid extra to hold me in place about some of the “themes” I got wrong from The Great Gatsby. Even dared to suggest I hadn’t read the thing.”

“Did you?” Trevor scoffed.

“Come on,” Will said as he went behind the bar for a bottle of pop to open. “I’m a busy guy.”

“Guess my hopes for an evening were crushed,” Peter said before looking at Gwen. “Unless…”

“Sorry, but I’m not in the mood for anything with anyone anymore tonight.” Gwen tried not to grumble. Her mind wondered about Caro and Vic’s status but was not ready to poke them for a report.

“Darn,” Peter said dejectedly as he drifted back in. Trevor was already setting the table warming his hands shuffling a deck of cards.

“What do you say, Megaton?” Will chimed as he emerged from around the bar, holding off a bottle of soda. “Want to join a game? Good way to meet some of your cottage mates.”

“A…” Gwen began to say, only to blink as she received a mental message from the other team, one that got her to sigh in relief.

Dereck appeared to be considering the offer for a moment, his hand reaching for the bottle only for Gwen’s hand to touch his shoulder.

“I think I’ll go back to my cottage,” Gwen told him as she leaned into the place, giving the most polite. “This is a nice place, guys. Sadly, I’ll be on my way.”

The answers were generic agreements and sendoffs, not that Gwen minded. Peter in particular did make an effort to remind her of the movie offer, to which she just said she’d think about it, only for Dereck to clear his throat as a deterrent. She felt a breath of relief escape her as she took a couple of steps away, back the way she came from. She only stopped to look over at Dereck and give him a stern, “Are you coming?”

He hesitated for a moment. He was now holding the bottle of soda offered by William. “I think I’ll stay here for a game. If that’s okay with you.”

“Don’t ask me, we’re on a break,” Gwen said as she walked away, relieved.

And that was enough to get Dereck to go after her after surrendering the bottle.

“Just remember. No snitching,” Will called from the open door.

Saturday, January 22nd - 6:21pm (seven minutes ago)
Whiskey Bar- kitchen

Vic held his breath and tried to steady his heart. The thoughts of ‘what the hell did I get myself into?’ were close to leaving the mental foyer he built for the link. When Caro’d come to Twain to search for him yesterday, he knew this job would be a risk… of course, he hoped that all he would need to do was to pick some locks, get in and out, just like the old times…

But, as always, plans were seldom guaranteed in reality. And now, he found himself entrenched behind the kitchen’s island, hearing Trevor and his girlfriend make out near the entrance of the room. Giggling and flirting with each other between kisses as, not far from them, hid a freshman with a GSD case and a sophomore cursed to slowly turn into a rat via curse.

Silence was all that could be had. And even then, if the couple were to move two steps to the side, there would be no saving them… Which was a shame, they were so close. Just a couple of steps away from them was the door to the storeroom, which would definitely have the mead they were after.

“Stop it.” Giselle giggled playfully. “Come on, your buddy is just there and the door is open.”

“He has his own girl now.”

“Please, Gwen is too much of a stick in the mud to try something daring with him. I just know she’ll throw me some judgmental ‘shocked’ looks my way.”

“Peter judges me all the time,” Trevor smirked.

Giselle smirked. “He’s just jealous.”

“Then what? Want me to close the door?”

<Please no…> both Caro and Vic whispered to each other, with the former adding. <Hurry up!>

<I’m trying,> Vic muttered as, with just the fistful of water he had, he began to unscrew the grate by the wall. It would connect to the other side of the hallway, probably. There was some doubt whether this was going to be useful, as there was no way that neither he or Caro, even in her diminished size, would be able to fit through. But he supposed a gap was better than no gap.

And speaking of opportunities. <Think we should ask Gwen to make a scene?> Vic asked. He knew that his step sister was already struggling with the role, but a distraction would come in real handy right now.

And yet before he would utter anything, Gwen’s surprised mental voice pierced through. <Dereck!?>

<Dereck?!> Caro and Vic both blurted out in their minds but thankfully not out loud.

<What is he doing here?> Vic tried not to grimace or groan, Dereck Seaver, also known as Megaton. Gwen’s boyfriend. Lifeward’s son. An aspiring hero by way of his dad, Gigaton. Probably the least-wanted person to show up, according to Vic himself. The guy had been a persistent annoyance to him both on and off campus. And judging by Caro’s mental roll of the eyes, she wasn’t particularly happy with this development, either.

<I don’t know, but hurry up… unless this serves as the distraction we need.> Caro’s hand held the grate while Vic removed the last screw, then carefully slid it to the side. Just as Vic predicted, the gap was too small for either of them. Caro even confirmed it by going prone to see if she could fit through. Her head was just a bit too big. A mental sigh escaped her.

<What do we do now?>

<I don’t really like the options.> Caro looked at Vic’s water-coated hand. <That’s all the water you have?>

<Yeah…> Vic admitted. <Thought bringing the water belt would be too telling… I mean it would definitely make some noise as we are now.>

<Do we wait for them to leave? If that’s possible?> Caro asked.

<How much attention do you think Dereck and Gwen would draw?> Vic asked. By this point, they were hearing snippets of an argument building up in the distance. In the rather quiet space, with only a handful of people, their words were carried far enough into the kitchen.

“Is that drama I hear?” Giselle asked coyly, taking a break from the makeout with her boyfriend.

“Really? Do you want to get involved with it?” Trevor asked.

<Please, say yes,> Vic pleaded.

“Nah,” Giselle smirked. “Sounds like a whole bunch of trouble I don’t want to get involved in… It’s cool to hear the arguments of power couples, though. If I find out anything juicy, I could probably barter it on All That’s little site.”

“Find out?” Trevor echoed for a moment before being followed by the sound of him moving around.

“What now?” Giselle sounded annoyed at the interruption.

“Dereck is a Cape,” Trevor said in a hushed voice as he moved about, sounding as though he was opening the cabinets behind the bar. “We’re supposed to hide everything that might get us in trouble, remember?”

“Come on, he’s not here on official business. He’s here chasing after his girl.”

“Just a precaution. The bottles are still here from the day before,” Trevor said. “Could you check that the storeroom is locked?”

“Ugh, fine.” Giselle made a small laugh as she moved to the door.

<Oh no…> Vic and Caro thought as they pulled themselves together in closer to the counter’s wall. They held their breath as they heard Giselle’s short heels tap against the ground, approaching the island they were in.

“Seems locked to me,” Giselle announced, stopping just short of the edge of the table counter. It was enough for Vic and Caro to see the tip of her shoe.

“Good,” Trevor said.

“I’ll just cook myself something, if it’s alright,” Giselle decided as she moved around the kitchen to work–fortunately, not to the side with the two infiltrators.

“Fine, mind making some extras for me and a potential guest?”

“Ugh, really?” Giselle said.

“You never know. Wouldn’t hurt us to get Dereck charmed as a regular,” Trevor justified.

“Fine…” Giselle began to pull out things from the cupboard.

<It’s only a matter of time before we get caught…> Vic thought to Caro, leaving Gwen out of the loop.

<Yeah… which makes me hate to do this,> Caro said as she looked in Vic’s way. While Giselle was entertained cooking on the side of the room, she risked taking her bag off while scooching closer to him She put up her hand to cover the distance between her mouth and his ear. <I don’t mean any of this. Or maybe I do, but it’s not in bad faith,> she thought, while out loud her words whispered. “You’re also the most stupidly stubborn person I know and I don’t even know you that well. I don’t give two flying fucks on whatever happened between you and Gwen, yet it frustrates me to no end that you two act as though it’s a dumb big deal. You’re a freak. And that’s what you’ll be–”

All that left Vic at a loss of words. This wasn’t the time. They were about to get caught in the middle of a crime, and yet he couldn’t help but take the words as personal as could be. It was even more hurtful as she got to that last part, a reiteration of the way things were going. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold back a response, especially as she prefaced it by saying ‘she wasn’t meaning it’–and soon, he saw why.

Caro was gritting her own teeth as she tried to get a grip on her legs and herself. Her body started to quietly spasm and contort, growing smaller and smaller with each passing second. The fur spread to cover her body, growing denser as her own head shifted slightly.Her face pushed out further out into a muzzle. This was the curse at work, the reason why they were doing all this. Once the barrage of changes ceased, Caro opened her eyes. Her pupils were now wider than before. <Fuck. That was…> Caro thought through the link as she recovered. <Sorry about that… I really am,> Caro said before trying to squeeze through the hole on the wall… this time, she was able to squeeze through.

<I get that. It was still hurtful… I hope you’re not leaving me behind,> Vic said, unable to separate the stern tone from his mental voice right away.

<I’m not… but I needed the smaller size,> Caro thought back at him as her tail finished slipping through the grate. <Hold on for a moment… geez, I’m so small now!>

<Will you be able to do much? How tall are you?>

<Definitely under half a meter,> Caro answered.

Vic held his breath as he heard movement just behind him, clatter and noise as Giselle put stuff on the kitchen’s island, getting to work on preparing snacks. <Caro, could you hurry?> Vic urged

And rather than answering, a rather thunderous clutter was heard from the other side of the room, as a broom and bucket were tumbled over.

“What was that?!” Giselle asked, with the movements on the island stopping.

“I’ll get it. Geez, what is happening tonight? Full of surpri-Ah!” A squeaky slip cut the words followed down with the heavy thud of a body hitting both wall and floor.

“You okay, dude?!” Peter called in.

“Why is the floor wet!?” he snapped back.

Vic wished he could’ve seen the fall, but his mind was fixed on the opportunity as he heard Giselle’s concerned steps and glimpsed at her reflection on a tin bowl nearby, moving out of the kitchen.

“Now! Now’s the time! Move!” Vic urged himself in whispers, getting up and reaching out for the storage room’s doorknob with the glove of dirty water around his hand.

From his cover, he got a glimpse at the surroundings. The kitchen was currently empty, but there was a direct line of sight to the back of the bar, where he could see parts of Trevor and Giselle talking as she helped him back up. Time was of the essence. At any second, they could turn around to look his way and it would all be over.

The panic made it hard for Vic to mentally map the inside of the lock

Concentrate, concentrate… he urged himself just to stabilize the image. He might’ve made a hobby of picking locks, but making it under this sort of pressure was still a new thing, with only seconds left from failure. The temptation to break the mechanism was tempting, but then there went the clean getaway…

“No no… stealthy and careful…” he muttered as managed to get the mental picture and found the pins of the mechanism. With a mental push and a twist, he forced the metal pieces to move and the stopgap to release the door without a squeak.

And immediately after, he was slipping in, and realizing that Caro had already crawled back through the vent and been waiting next to him all this time.

<Good job,> she congratulated him as the door was closed behind them with as much care and caution as they could muster.

<Thanks…> Vic answered by getting a look into the room. <It’s dark…>

<I know, think you can find the lights? I don’t think I can reach them anymore.>

<Will is here!> Gwen reported.

<Great,> Vic answered sarcastically.

After a moment of prodding, Vic’s dry hand came into contact with the light switch. With a small flick, the lights came on. And the celebration was almost real.

Two large barrels rested on a thick table, with nozzles down at the bottom, ready to open and serve. They were plugged to a bunch of machines that were meant to measure and regulate the condition of the contents: things like temperature, fizziness and other details that were outside of Vic’s expertise. Caro lost no time, hopping over to one of them and producing a flask from the bag that now fitted larger against her smaller frame.

Vic said as he noticed she was having some trouble holding it. <Let me help.>

<Thanks.>

With that, he poured some of the contents into the flask, being careful not to create a spill. Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be any sort of alarm or check around it. Will probably imagined that it would be counterproductive to have the dispenser require some sort of ID every time it was used.

<Again… I’m sorry for what I–>

<I got it. You wanted to use your curse… I get it.> Vic sighed. <I can’t say that the things you said weren’t true… Like the fight with Gwen…>

<I would ask what the story is… but I don’t think it’s the time. I just hope that Gwen can entertain Dereck and Will long enough.> Caro looked around, not noticing any camera in the vicinity. Even if there were, he hoped that the small jammer they’d gotten from Ping would any camera feed near them frozen.

<Here we are,> Vic announced as he screwed the cap on the flask, a good pint’s worth of the drink. <Now, how do we get back out?>

<Actually, I think that would be the easier part…> Caro noted, bringing Vic’s attention to the surroundings.

The storeroom was what one would expect, with shelves and boxes lining the walls, but for the most part it was empty except for a couple of paper towels and rags. But the more relevant part came from the back–or at least what was supposed to be the back. Past a couple of shelves that were placed as a sort of fake wall, they could see the other half of the room, extending into another room or clubhouse that had been destroyed as part of the renovations the previous occupant undertook.

Scattered about were piles of concrete and rubble where the dust overtook the floor… but also a large hole that led down to the dark level below.

<A way out…> Caro slipped out of the storage space to examine it.Her hand constantly gripped the waistline of her pants to keep them from slipping.

<Great… we’re getting deeper into the tunnels, in Whateley,> Vic said as he stepped to the edge.

<Relax, this isn’t the Tangle. We won’t end up lost… I hope,> Caro reassured.

<Don’t really have a choice about that,> Vic noted. It was either risk it, or deal with Crossby’s gang and Dereck to boot… and speaking of which, it would only be a matter of time before someone checked on the storeroom. Nearing the edge of the hole, he used the phone to illuminate the space below. A two and a half meter drop would get Vic down into another room, with just more piles of rubble and dust there to greet him. Leaning a bit to the side, he could spy pathways they could take. If this was another abandoned club room, there was a chance this could lead back to the outside… and if the only thing keeping it shut was an old lock, that was something Vic could handle.

<Here I go,> Vic said as he scooched closer to the edge, only to pause and look at Caro. <Will you need help going down?>

<Yeah…> Caro admitted before pausing. <One second.>

She reached into the bag and produced a ten dollar bill, quickly making her way towards one of the shelves and stashing it between the paper towels, where spotting it would be an auspicious find.

<Was that necessary?> Vic asked as Caro gripped his clothes and signalled that she was ready. With a breath of preparation, he slipped off to dangle by the edge before dropping the remaining height. It still made for a rather awkward landing onto the piles of concrete that crunched and grinded upon one another. Fortunately, neither of them were harmed, and they quickly got up and looked around, using the light of his phone to lead the way.

Dust, rubble, a half broken table and a carpet that raised a small cloud with every step. A place that needed more than a simple fixer-upping was one he hoped they wouldn’t remain in for long. Caro clung onto Vic’s shoulder, just to stay above the dust level, but he really couldn’t blame her for that. Fortunately, she didn’t weigh as much as before, which he imagined must’ve felt upsetting given the more recent changes.

He began looking for a door while Caro sent a mental message to their partner in crime. <Gwen, found a hole in the back of the place. We’ll take our chances, but hopefully this’ll get us out. See you at my lab, alright?>

<I’ll cut the connection, Gwen, just as a precaution.>

<Alright.> Gwen’s mental voice sounded bitter and exhausted. Something must’ve gotten her upset and he could just imagine what it was .

Still, he couldn’t really worry about it while navigating the eerie space. It wasn’t exactly a long quest, as it shared a similar layout to the upper floor. Even though the door was rather rusted up, it still opened without the need for lockpicking, and out the two were into an illuminated corridor.

“We made it…” Caro said with her own voice. It was higher pitched than before because of the recent barrage of changes, but still not devoid of any joy or relief.

“Yep.” Vic looked at the flask of mead on his hand before slipping it into Caro’s bag. “Mission complete,” he breathed as a sigh of relief as they walked onward. “Now, please tell me there are stairs nearby.”

“Should be nearby…” Caro said, taking a deep breath. “It doesn't seem like many people pass through here.”

Vic sighed. “Not reassuring.”

“Thanks for the help, Vic…”

“Just glad it’s all over.” Vic clenched the water glove around his hand. Actively keeping the thing sticking to his hand was a developed habit that appeared to get easier with practice, though it was still bothersome enough to make him want to throw it aside the moment they spotted the access to the next levels. “And I get that silver bell you used last year, right?”

“Yeah,” Caro agreed, still holding onto Vic’s clothes.

“So, when are you getting off of me?” Vic asked.

“At this point, a step from you is more than two of mine,” Caro whined. “If you could… Please take me back to my lab.”

Vic sighed. “Fine.”

Saturday, January 22nd - 7:36pm
Tunnels - The tangle, fourth level - abandoned workshop

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Marlene was screaming in the back of her mind as she flipped into the air and touched the ground. Two soot rats were squashed upon her landing, and she spun around with her outstretched claws to carve through all the little critters that tried to swarm her. Each hit returned more of them to black dust.

Despite not being real rats, the things acted with a sense of self-preservation, reeling back when things appeared too dangerous before trying to rush in again. Although by then, Marlene had already carved her path through the charging horde. They tried to cling to her, sinking their tiny nails and fangs into her black pelt to grab hold, only to be thrown aside with a wild shake. She made it to a nearby chair, which she used as a stepping stone to get up to the table. Fortunately, the things appeared to have some trouble climbing up, making this a sort of island, for now.

“Sofia!? Sofia!?” she called. Turning to the side, she could see that behind the table, a figure was rising, much taller than the fellow cat had been a couple of minutes ago but with the same fur pattern, and growing by the second. This figure developed a more human outline and stance in between each swipe.

“Estas ratas!” Sofia swiped around and kicked, grabbing a rat that was climbing up her thigh and squishing it before driving a punch at one that tried to leap at her face. And yet, for each one that was felled, three more were climbing up her legs.

“Shit! Get these off me!” the girl screamed as she moved and tried to kick them off her body. Apparently it was trickier than expected. “I’m trying to turn into a horse here!”

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Marlene said, swiping at a soot rat that had climbed up her island.

Sofia slammed her arm to the ground, only for the rats to see it as another way for them to latch on. Even as she tried to give herself a larger animal’s strength, these things would be too small and too many to let her do anything. They would just keep climbing the colossus.

“I can’t!” Sofia growled. Getting up, she tried to dust the things off.

“Hang in there!” Marlene took a moment to consider what sort of spell she could use here. Her offensive arsenal was limited, especially when she was like this.

The swarm of rats began to radiate towards Sofia as she thrashed about on the ground. The girl swung her arm around as well as her leg as she tried to get back up on her feet. And yet, no matter how many of those summoned creatures they swatted, more kept on swarming from the generative spell.

‘I have to cut that circle!’ Marlene thought as she ran along the length of the table, as close as she could without leaving the safety of her island. From there, she could see the cat creature sitting expectantly, and just ahead of that was the magical perimeter from which the rats climbed out, in chaotic bursts at varying intervals. She couldn’t even see the lines of the spell, but she knew they were there and, if she could cut the lines, then she would break the spell.

“Come on, come on…” With fitful concentration, she traced the lines of the spell through the air in front of her snout. The shot was lined up, aimed at the fringe, and from it, a pointed icicle was formed and unleashed. It probably wouldn’t be enough to break the spell, but when the rats suddenly piled themselves up to block it, she knew she was at least on the right track.

Still, the summoned rats hadn’t forgotten about her, having made it up the table and coming after her. Marlene had no other choice but to jump out of the way and onto the floor. At the first gap she could find, she trekked through as the critters snapped at her. Swipes and pouncing bites bought her time, but the trek was a struggle. She could feel them latching onto her back, clinging to her legs. The individual creatures appeared to merge themselves into a single black limb in an effort to ground her. Even as she climbed up onto the chair and clung to the table, they tried to pull her back by the hind leg.

And they would’ve accomplished it, were it not for Sofia’s timely intervention. At about three-fourths of the way to catdom, the shifter was still big enough to make some damage with a jumping slam, squashing the sooty limb before climbing up onto the island next to Marlene.

“Thanks…” Marlene said, shaking the bits of soot off herself.

“Detesto las ratas,” Sofia spat as her body finished reverting back to full feline form. “Getting big was useless against these…”

“I noticed,” Marlene said as they moved down the table in the opposite direction. The soot rats, no longer with their attention split between two sides of the room, began to converge on their island. And they could feel the quaking of the wood beneath their pawpads.

“What do we do?!” Sofia cried.

“We break the circle. We interrupt the lines that comprise the magical spell, that should end all of this!” Marlene said in between breaths, as the two made a daring leap, bouncing off a chair and landing atop of another table. “Or at least that should stop them from spawning!”

“Think so?” Sofia said as they began to keep on running.

“It’s a guess,” Marlene said, noticing how the rats kept on converging around them.

“I don’t think cat claws can break a magical line and scratch stone, right?”

“They can if you charge them with magic,” Marlene noted. “That means I should get closer.”

“In any case, we should stop running away from it,” Sofia noted as they stopped at the end of the table. There was no other island to run to

“We need a better strategy…” Sofia said. “We should split up. I’ll draw their attention again and–Woah!” Sofia gasped as the table they were on began to violently rock, forcing both girls to grip as best their paws would allow them.

Now coming in a huge mass, the rats had clustered around the legs of the table, merging themselves into lumpy, chittering tentacles that raised their footing above the ground in an effort to tilt the whole thing over.

And it was getting close to that point, as a hard yank threw Marlene’s balance off and sent her tumbling down off the edge to where the forming mass was there to grab… And it was at that moment that a black, white, and orange blur bathed in a red aura came flying straight into the pile, splattering several of the rats to burst into the black dust that wafted into the air.

“Chris! You made it!” Sofia called out.

“Here I come to save the day…” Chris sang off-key as she bounced away from the gathering pile of rats, and as she did, there was a twitch about her leg and tail.

“Glad you made it,” Marlene said, pulling back, urging Sofia and Chris to follow her.

“I almost got stuck through that tiny fence,” Chris reported as she caught up to them with a bit of a limp. “What’s going on? Where did these rats come from?” There was a bit of thirst in her voice.

“They were summoned by the cat we’re after. The plush is at the center, if you get me closer in, we can break the spell,” Marlene summarized as both she and Sofia leapt forth, squashing and slashing some of the approaching soot rats to keep them at bay.

But it was when they completely halted their advance that they realized something was wrong.

“Um… Chris? Are you okay?” Sofia asked, noticing how their friend had lagged behind, remaining still despite all that was going on… No, not still, but resisting. Her body shuddered and twitched. Holding onto the ground with her claws as her legs spasmed and her back arched itself.

“Something is happening to me… I don’t feel so good,” Chris said, her quivering voice telling how she was trying to resist it. The whites of one eye turned dark in the squint as she tried to look at them, yet her eyes fixated on the swarm ahead, getting the fur on her back bristle wildly. “I… I’ve felt wrong since I stepped in here!” She said, with her snout opening to reveal fangs. Fangs that felt sharper than before.

“What’s happening to her, Marlene?” Sofia took a step back as their ears picked up the sound of cracks and pops from Chris’s tensing body. The calico appeared to be growing, her claws getting sharper as her legs stretched themselves longer, with more muscle swelling to them.

“It’s the curse!” Marlene realized. “The ratcatcher’s curse acting up!”

“I want…” Chris said, opening both eyes to reveal the dark blue scleras. “I want to kill… these… rats!!!” She roared and bared fangs as her accelerating field engulfed her body. Then she charged through the mass of rats, carving a path through them in an explosion of soot.

“Will she be okay?” Sofia asked.

“I think… I think so,” Marlene said, reassuring herself with a “She will be fine,” even as Chris let out a feral roar and charged through the forming masses. “I’ll just have to exorcise her as soon as this is over… just to be sure.”

“Magic and its troubles,” Sofia grumbled as she ran to the side. It was her thought to provide support from the flank as a berserker Chris sliced through the bulk of the forces. And yet, the flow from the magic circle didn’t stop; it just replenished itself as the soot flew back in.

“Yeah, magic and its troubles,” Marlene agreed as Chris let out a wild roar in tandem with a slowing blue field that claimed the area around her and made the summoned critters around it stumble rather than run. More false rodent instances were ended easily as the hulked-out cat pummeled them.

Marlene shook her head. “Have to finish this fast!” she urged herself as she leapt back onto the table and sprinted her way back to the target’s side while her friends drew the attention of the soot rats.

“Chris? Are you there?!” Marlene asked in between strides. “Are we still your friends?”

“Marlene? I am…” Chris slowed her attacks for a moment. The summoned creatures feared her so much that they actually gave her the wide berth to do so. “I am in control. I am… I feel… not great, but not terrible!” Chris had a bit of glee about her as she swung claws to slice at many. “I just… I just need to teach these rats who’s boss! I want them to learn their place!” Her laughter was vicious as she slammed her foreleg down onto a forming blob, raising a cloud of soot as the shockwave blew everything away.

“Just keep on remaining in control, Chris. Keep on thinning their numbers…” Marlene said. Even if the spell made sure that any kill was replenished right away, Chris would still be the bigger target, with Sofia running as a secondary distraction. Practically only a handful of rats were trekking their way towards the legs of the table she was on. This was the opportunity that she wasn’t about to waste.

Pressing the attack, Marlene leapt off the table and touched the floor running, chasing after the perceived origin of everything. The cat creature saw her intent and quickly spun around with its tail charged with mana, just to bat off an icicle. Without even a hiss, it leapt out of the way, taking to the back exit of the room.

Marlene chased after, stopping only at the threshold. Several strides ahead, the creature had also taken a pause from its run, casting a look back at her. Paired with a playful swish of its tail, it felt more like an invitation for a next time than anything else. And with that, it retreated, taking more steps away into the dark as it disappeared within the smoke that manifested around its body.

“Marlene!” Sofia’s labored voice brought her focus back to the problem at hand. She turned around and rushed back into the room. The soot rats were trying to bundle themselves together to face up against the two girls. Or rather, against one of them. Chris appeared to have it under control, her visage inspiring terror in the simulated rats, which left them either frozen or in flight, but Sofia was the one finding herself rushed by the fleeing critters.

With fewer rats being killed, the flow of the summons had gone down, and Marlene could see the markings of the spell circle, thrumming with the arcane energies at work.

Running on all fours became strides on two as Marlene’s transformation worked in reverse. Her pelt retreated and detached, turning back into cloth, denim, and leather. She reached out, her fingers lengthening while still retaining the fur and claws. Magic concentrated at her fingertips as they traced the air. The spell came down swift and fast, meeting the lines on the side. Sparks flew in a brief moment of resistance, but ultimately, the swipe slipped through.

Her claws carved lines across the spell, leaving a broken circle that could no longer function. It fizzled out and so did the spell it directed. One by one, the summoned rats disintegrated, puffing into soot that faded eerily into the air. Even the large conglomeration that clumped around Sofia died off, letting her ragdoll figure bound back and away.

“Did we make it?” the shifter asked in relief.

“We did…” Marlene sighed as her hand traced the lines of what was left of the spell. She watched each of the black lines break apart and disappear as well. And all that was left was the plush standing on the other side of the magical circle, practically untouched. “Got you, Puck…” Marlene said as she picked it up.

Thud…

Marlene looked up just to see the figure of the monstrous cat fall to the ground before toppling to the side. The sight made her blood run cold. “Chris!” she yelled out as she ran over.

“Is she alright? Is the curse going to kill her?” Sofia’s figure slowly grew bigger as she reverted into a more humanoid appearance.

“It shouldn’t. Definitely shouldn’t,” Marlene said, while the words ‘It shouldn’t have made her fall into that hunting bloodlust either…’ stuck in the tip of her tongue. She made it to Chris, noticing that the accidental calico was shrinking down and reverting back to a more normal appearance

“Come on, Come on. It shouldn’t be that bad…” Marlene whispered, scooping Chris up into her arms as she recited a practiced spell. The magic coated her hand, and she pressed it against her friend as eyes closed in concentration.

“I see our bags,” Sofia reported. The shifter pointed to the side path they’d come from. “There’s Chris’s bundled-up combat suit, too, I’ll go and get them.”

Marlene didn’t respond. Her focus was fully dedicated to the urgent magical prodding. The spell around her hand reached past Chris’s flesh and reached through to the ethereal side, finding parts of the curse that dwelled within. There were faint echoes of the thing acting up, which was the quelling aftermath of the outburst, but other than that, there appeared to have been no interruptions, no broken lines that would signify an infection into one or another. Marlene’s hand clutched the ghostly layer that was the ratcatcher’s curse and tugged it, finding it accommodating to her pull.

A sigh of relief escaped Marlene as she began the gentle caress. Her enchanted hand teased the feline form, while her fingers stroked Chris’s fur.

“Marlene…” The words were heard, but they made Marlene breathe a sigh of relief.

“You’re awake.” She sighed in relief as she felt the feline form stir in her arms. “How are you feeling? Does anything feel off?” Her hand rested on Chris’s stomach, making her friend squirm.

“That tickles!” Chris’s paws tried to press Marlene’s hand.

“Do you feel anything? Any lingering bloodlust or something broken?”

“I…” Chris paused as she stretched her body. “I feel… like I ran a marathon and pulled a… well, an everything. All my body. It hurts… but it’s passing. I just feel sore now…”

“That’s a relief,” Marlene said. “That must be a side effect of the burst change you went through.”

“What happened to me?” Chris asked. “Feels like I really went all out with my body and warper powers.”

“The curse got triggered by the rats, drove your body into overdrive.”

“I could feel that. I went a little insane, didn’t I?” Chris said it with a small laugh, but there was concern in her voice. “Will I be alright?”

“I just checked. Doesn’t seem there’s anything wrong,” Marlene told her. “So… congrats on surviving being cursed.”

“Do I get a medal?” Chris mused, her words devolving into purrs Marlene’s fingers caressed her chin and stomach. “Stop that! That feels funny!”

“Did say you would get some pets, wouldn’t you?” Marlene mused. “It’s not every day you get to treat a friend like this.”

Chris giggled. “We’re on a mission.”

“Oh, we’re done with that part.” Marlene held out the plush, offering it to Chris.

“Feels so much bigger like this.” Chris snickered, batting the plush’s face.

“Am I interrupting something?” Sofia chimed in, now back to her human form just finished dressing up. “I mean, I can step back for a moment if you need some privacy. Although I wouldn't want to be alone down here.”

Marlene’s only answer was a knowing smile as Chris squirmed in place for a moment before rolling off her lap. Her paws touching the ground were wobbly at first, but she quickly recovered after a simple stretch.

“How is she?” Sofia asked.

“She’s fine. There don’t seem to be any signs of the curse seeping through or taking a hard root within her. Physically she appears fine. Still, I would have her get checked by the Mystic Arts department…” Marlene sighed. “If I get grounded by Mrs. Barton in the following days, I’ll know I fucked up.”

“I’m fine,” Chris assured, earning a couple of headpats from the two girls.

“Still, get yourself checked, Chris.”

“Well,” Sofia said. “We’re done here, right?”

Marlene waved the doll. “That we are.”

“Great! Can we get out of this place before we get jumped by ghosts, attacked by monsters or sealed off again?”

“Right…” Marlene agreed, reminding herself that they were deep within the Tangle, one of the most dangerous places in the tunnels. With all the things they’d experienced thus far, she really didn’t want to linger here any longer. “We should get going…. But first,” she said, pulling out an empty bottle from her utility belt. Her hand lit up with the same spell she’d used earlier. “It would be better if we exorcised Chris first.”

“Alright.” Chris stretched her body as Sofia picked her up, just so Marlene wouldn’t have to crouch. “This was fun! But I miss having thumbs.”

“Let me get better at curse-handling and we can try it again sometime,” Marlene said as she placed her hand on Chris’s head. With a re-whispering of the spell, her hand was coated with ethereal energy that spread across the feline body as her magic mentally grabbed on. With a gentle pull, she felt the curse detach itself from the girl’s body, sliding off like a wave in the ocean. “You should start changing back soon.”

“How long is ‘soon’?” Chris asked, looking at her paws.

“Minutes. an hour maybe?” Marlene said thinking for a second before picking Chris up and putting her on her shoulder. “I’ll see if I can accelerate the process with what little energy I have left. I’ll carry you for now, but we have to get on searching for the exit.” her hand wrapping around Chris’s paw.

“Let’s go.”

Saturday, January 22nd - 6:35pm
Corridor near Emerson, third basement,

“Gwen… wait!” Dereck called out as his hastened steps caught up with Gwen’s steady fast march.

She gave no answer, instead carrying on with her walk. But to where? She just wished she could forget about all this and go home to Poe. Caro would be alright on her own, right? No… the spell specified a gathering of five. Could she go over to Caro’s lab with Dereck in tow? What if he butted himself again? Would he be able to behave if Vic happened to be there?

I have to deal with this now. Gwen stifled a groan within her.

“Are you mad at me? You’re mad at me, right?” Dereck sounded anxious. Anxious about not really getting what was bothering her. “I just came to lend a hand. Like any good boyfriend would.”

“You didn’t need to,” Gwen told him. Fortunately, at the moment, there was no one in the corridor to hear them. “I told you that this was supposed to be my job. I was the only one who could’ve pulled this off. Just get in, distract Peter so that V- Caro! So that Caro could get out with what she needed to break her curse. You didn’t need to get involved!”

“I wasn’t going to let someone else think they had a shot at you.”

“But that’s what we needed them to think. That was the point! It’s the only reason why it could be me. The only reason why I spent the past twenty-four hours making peace with the job, only for you to step in!” She punctuated the words by shoving Dereck, holding her emotions back to make it as light as possible.

“I think I did the right thing,” Dereck said. “Having them think that campus royalty was paying them a visit would’ve convinced them.”

“We’re only ‘royalty’ for those who care about that kind of thing, the bootlickers and aspirants! That didn’t work on them!” Gwen said. “You almost blew it.”

“Almost? Wait, does that mean…”

“Yes, Caro managed to make it out with what she needed, fortunately,” Gwen said before taking a deep breath.

“How did you know?”

“Comms,” Gwen said, pretending to touch an earpiece. “However… I have to admit that there was probably little I could’ve done by the time you showed up. When Will arrived, the only thing I could’ve done was make a scene… and we both know how much I suck at those.”

“Yeah…” Dereck said.

“So do you…”

“I do not!” Dereck frowned, trying to laugh things off, but Gwen wasn’t going to let him.

Her next words were quieter. “I still don’t understand why you stepped in when I told you not to.”

“Because… I love you.” Dereck’s words either made Gwen’s heart feel heavy, or jump. She couldn’t say for sure which. Either way, her body felt like a nerve.

“I love you too…” she said slowly before taking a deep breath. “You know? I never had someone my age say that to me before. I never thought it would happen before last year. But when you asked me to be your girlfriend, I had so many feels, so many thoughts. I don’t know if it was joy or love… or fear that it would be the only time someone ever said that to me. Not sure if that’s the case anymore.”

“What, you’re going to break up with me?”

“I’m not… I don’t want to. I really don’t,” Gwen admitted. By now she was pacing around, as if trying to think where she was going. “I just want things to quiet down. I’m sorry if this isn’t what you wanted to hear…”

“Then we can go back to being together?” Dereck asked after silence reigned for a bit.

“We’ll see.” Gwen said, her feet bouncing off against as her powers encompassed her, letting her levitate. “Now… I have to check on my friend… By myself.”

“Alright, fine.” Dereck sulked. “Good night, Gwen.”

“Good night…” Gwen called back to him as she picked up speed flying down the corridor. Her nerves shivered as an emptiness within her used them to reel in tears. Maybe this was for the best. She prayed that it was.

“Some distance… that’s fine…” she told herself as the glow around her faded and her feet touched the ground. She almost believed it.

Saturday, January 22nd - 6:45pm
Tunnels outside of Caro’s lab

A sigh escaped Gwen’s lips as she stood outside of Caro’s lab waiting for the rest of her friends to get back. With the door locked, all she could do was wait and hope that things had gone well enough. Her eyes dropped down to her phone, looking for any updates, but considering the rather mortifying past couple of hours, she wasn’t able to bring herself to smile. There hadn’t been any status updates. Not even from Chris’s group, who supposedly went off cat-hunting.

“Caro getting cursed, Vic changing, Dereck just being… Ugh, I need a break and it’s barely been two weeks since school resumed.” She just wished for the night to be over, to at least knock one of her problems off her list.

A sigh escaped her as she waited for who knew how long before she resolved to call Caro and Vic. She was starting to fear that something wrong might’ve befallen upon them… that was, until she heard sounds from down the hall near her. This being above the Tangle, there were only a handful of options.

Her guess was correct as Vic emerged from around the corner.

“Glad you made it! About time…” Gwen’s words trailed off as she spotted Caro clinging on Vic’s back, now shrunken down and covered in fur. The girl looked even more like a humanoid rat than before.

“Caro…” Gwen said as she looked down at her diminished friend. “What happened to you? You changed so much.”

“I just did what needed to be done. On the flipside, we didn’t get caught,” Caro explained as she leapt off Vic’s back, pulling out the club keys before passing them to Gwen. “It’s okay, I’ll fix myself afterward.”

Gwen would’ve voiced her concern on the matter if Caro’s wavering voice didn’t spell out that doubt was starting to get to her. “Did you get the mead?”

“We did,” Vic said, producing a flask from his pocket before handing it over to Caro.

“Now, to wait for Sofia, Marlene and Chris,” the rat-girl said, stepping into her lab. “And then, off to break the curse.”

“Good luck with that,” Vic said.

“Thanks, Vic. I’ll owe you a big one.” Caro stood by the door’s threshold, waiting for Gwen to step in.

“Right…” Gwen said. “Could you… could you give us a second?”

“Sure…” Caro said as she carried the flask back in, grunting slightly as she pushed the door to a close.

“I guess we’re going to have that talk now…” Vic noted.

“Okay… tell me, what happened exactly?” Gwen asked.

“It’s as I said. Apparently, I caught a spirit at some point.”

“At some point while you were …”

“… While I was in Massachusets,” Vic said. “Come on say it. That I did this to myself by tagging along with Josh.”

“I’m not going to say it,” Gwen sighed. “I’m just sorry. Like, I’ll always wonder if this would’ve happened if I’d been there rather than going to Whateley. Things could’ve gone differently.”

“I know what it’s like to wish things had been different,” Vic said. “Doesn’t make a difference, even if it’s so tempting.”

“And… what are you gonna do now?”

“I really don’t know. I have no idea.” Vic looked down at his hands. “I mean, it’s not like anything normal is on the table for me anymore.”

“You don’t know?” Gwen thought for a moment before nodding. “Guess staying in this school is still the best option to find you something to go on with. And Lifeward might be able to help you.”

“Hopefully there’s something for me.” Vic shook his head. “Was it too much to ask to be an accountant or an office worker?” Though, being honest, he himself had no idea what he actually expected as a career.

“Come on, Vic.” Gwen took a deep breath. Honestly, with all the things that happened, she was exhausted from the soft spoken social act she’d been so used to putting on for others. “Don’t be like that. There’s always a way around things. Before you know it, you’ll find something to work on.”

“Yeah… Something will work out.” Vic took a deep breath of his own as he leaned against a wall.

“I guess this just means you’re less likely to see Dad,” Gwen said.

“It complicates things… But I already said I’d be fine on my own.” Vic looked away at nothing down the corridor. “How is he doing?”

“Miserable? Worried?” were the words stuck in Gwen’s tongue, but in the end, she chose for something less guilt-inducing. “He wants to know if you’re safe.”

“It’s complicated,” Vic said. “I just wish he could go back to how things were before everything happened with my Mom… he had a life, and I had one.”

But you don’t have her anymore… The thought saddened her.

“It’s okay. I think my dad will be okay,” Vic assured himself.

“Alright, just don’t stay alone, okay?” she told him, leaning upon the opposite side.

“For some reason, I don’t think I’ll always be alone… and I’m not talking about the spirit.”

“About this spirit of yours, is it here with us now?” Gwen asked.

“It’s complicated. Don’t roll your eyes. I mean it. The spirit is there, I think, but she’s weak. In the beginning, she lent me help when I needed a power boost… then, I began to share dreams and then, we began to talk in dreams. But something… happened that had her knocked out. Don’t think she’s gone.”

“She?” Gwen said, feeling a tinge of concern.

“Yeah… weird, isn’t it?” Vic noted. “Her name is Nerealu Nih-Eidire, if I recall it right. I call her Ner, for short. I would tell you more, but I’m not sure you’d believe me. And since the only time we talk is in dreams, it’s a bit fuzzy right now.”

“I believe you,” Gwen said. She was deeply intrigued by all of this… but at the same time concerned. “Though… there’s just one thing that concerns me. It’s a female spirit, right?”

“Think there’s a chance I might end up as… you know?” Vic gestured at Gwen, seemingly reading her thoughts.

“I mean, yeah.” Inwardly, she was already dreading the idea that her step-brother’s life might get cast into an even deeper abyss than she expected. “I can’t exactly talk about it… but we both know what happened to me, right? I mean… I know avatars aren’t exactly the same thing, but, I would have to mention that this is something that might happen.”

“I thought of that… When I saw her, I thought of that. I mean, I was worried that I would go through what you went…” Vic trailed off. “Sorry. Don’t mean to sound offensive.”

“It’s okay. I did have a rough time…”

“It’s not the same as what you went through, right? I mean, my roommate, for example, is an avatar with a female spirit and he’s just as much of a boy as anyone else in Twain. I compared myself to Ner and there are already differences between our appearances in terms of colors.” Vic held out his colored hand. “Plus, Lifeward and the school took blood samples and said everything was normal.”

“And you’re sure?” Gwen asked slowly.

“It’s not going to happen to me,” Vic said with conviction.

“If you say so,” Gwen conceded. She had no idea how every young mutant case developed, and if Vic insisted it was fine, she opted not to press the concern. “What else can you tell me about Ner?”

“She called herself a neotriton…”

“A neotriton? You’re kidding me. Is that a thing?”

Vic shrugged. “That's what she said…”

“Sounds fancy,” Gwen mused.

“I know. I delved into her memories, she showed me an underwater city and said some rather curious things.” Vic shook his head. “Honestly, I hadn’t done much research into them. Think I saw a couple of university or archeological investigations… but most of the time I got directed to the conventional ‘triton’ legends.”

“You’re going to have to tell me about what you find…” Gwen said with a light smirk.

“Will do.” Vic answered with a small smile of his own. “So, how was the holiday?”

“Same old, same old,” Gwen said, leaving aside some of the depressing aspects. “Got together, celebrated Christmas, did a lot of New Year’s shopping and just had a good banquet. As good of a time as we could. How about you? How was your break? You spent it with Lifeward, right? How was her place?”

“I didn’t have that much to complain about. She has a nice house, had a room prepared for me. Didn’t really want to abuse her generosity…” Vic paused for a moment, as if considering what to say. Gwen knew him enough to at least wonder if he was hiding something there. “Other than that, I didn’t exactly go out much because, you know.” He showed his hands. “I did run into Josh over Christmas, though.”

“Really?” Gwen blinked as a surge of happiness propped up within her. It’d been a while since she’d heard of the third wheel of their friendship tricycle. “How is he?”

“He’s doing well. Lifeward got him into an apprenticeship where he can work on his inventions and go to school.”

“Nice… Glad that he found a way out of that situation. Both of you. I’m sorry for what he went through with his dad. Sorry I wasn’t there.”

“It’s fine.” Vic detached himself from the wall as he pulled his phone to check the time. “I should get back to Twain.”

“Alright, Vic,” Gwen said, doing the same.

“I’ll send you Josh’s number later, alright?”

“Please do,” Gwen said. “And would you consider messaging Dad?”

“I did, but I'll send him another one.” Vic sighed. “Have a good night.”

“We’ll talk more later… Okay?” Gwen said.

“Yeah, we will,” Vic agreed, at least managing a smile that echoed Gwen’s.

Once alone, a sigh of relief escaped her lips, after all things that went through, at least now she felt a little bit better about something. And as she entered Caro’s lab, she hoped the trend would continue.

Inside, Caro waited by her desk, checking her phone and raising her head when Gwen stepped in. Her ears twitched as she asked, “Things alright?"

“They aren’t perfect, but they’re better, I think. I hope.”

“I’m glad.” Caro sighed. “I feel the same.”

To Be Continued