Weremyra
By: Leloni Bunny
Part 2: One Witch Knows
"Cal, what are you wearing?" Hamton asked.
Somewhere along their walk, the coyote had donned a trench coat, a fedora and sunglasses. Despite already being well-covered, Calamity tried to burrow even further into his attire.
"Hee, hee! You look like a spy-head," giggled Elmyra.
A groan rumbled through the trench coat. Without looking up, Calamity pointed upwards. Hamton and Elmyra's gaze followed his pointing finger towards the sign above them. The sign's logo read; 'A Thyme for Thine Herbs for Thine Every Need'.
Much to their chagrin, the trio had agreed that they were going to have to use Elmyra's werewolf form to scent track her attacker again. But this time, they'd need a way to control Weremyra. Calamity's HIC web search led them to a supposed werewolf repellent which was an herb known as 'Wolfsbane'. If it served as a repellent, perhaps it could also be used as a method of control. Whether Calamity liked it or not, an herb shop was the most likely place to get Wolfsbane.
Calamity's face was full of contempt as he peeked out from his trench coat. He held up his HIC screen. "I'm a coyote of science – not hokey pocus!"
Elmyra's eyes narrowed into a nasty glare as she placed her hands on her hips. She took a few steps towards the coyote. "Gee, I'm sorry. Would you have felt better if my wolfism had been a lab accident?"
Surprisingly, Calamity nodded. With a quick typing motion, his HIC read, "Of course! Chemical interactions resulting in catastrophic mutations are easily within the plausibility of science."
This response wasn't to Elmyra's liking. Her lips curled into a snarl. She scowled, "Well, tough tooties! I didn't get the option to choose between mysticism and science. Maybe we should go out and find that wolfy tonight and see if it'll give you the choice of bites!"
Her voice was nearly a growl as she hovered over the cringing coyote. Calamity shuddered as he cowered in fear. Even Hamton stood in stunned silence. That kind of snarky comment wasn't like her at all. Elmyra realized it as well. She quickly backed away from Calamity. A deep radish-red colored Elmyra's cheeks as she bowed her head shamefully. "I-I'm sorry, puppy wuppy. I didn't mean that. Every day just gets harder and harder to control myself. I just don't know what's going on."
"Maybe it has something to do with the moon," Hamton guessed.
Calamity did a quick web search. His expression became very concerned as he held up the HIC. "Full moon – THIS WEEK!"
"Then, we'd better hurry," Hamton said as he grasped the shop's door handle. Taking a deep breath, the pig pulled the door open. Instantly a bell rang out, announcing the trio's entrance. All three of them froze. They'd hoped to slip into the shop quietly. The last thing that they wanted was to call too much attention to themselves in this situation. Thankfully, no one called out any greetings or approached the door. One by one, Hamton, Elmyra and Calamity entered the shop. Again they all cringed as the bell rang through the door's closure behind them. Only after a few seconds' silence did the trio start breathing again.
The shop was divided into several rows of tall shelving units separated by narrow aisles. Jars and baskets took up every bit of space within the shelving. Even the walls were full of packaging neatly stacked in shelf compartments.
"Um, ok," said Hamton as he looked around. "Let's each take a different aisle. Whoever finds the Wolfsbane first should come find the others. We don't want to bother anyone. Agreed?"
"Agreed," said Elmyra. Calamity nodded.
"Any questions?" Hamton asked.
'Just one."
The boys turned towards Elmyra. "What's that?" Hamton asked tentatively.
"What does 'Wolf's Vein' look like?" asked Elmyra. She winced with a nausea-greenish expression. "Cuz, if it looks like the anatomy books, I don't wanna touch that ucky stuff!"
The boys stared at each other. Clearly neither of them had any idea of what the object looked like. Hamton's irises shrank in horror as he considered the possibility of Elmyra being right about the appearance of Wolfsbane.
As usual, Calamity turned to his HIC for answers. Elmyra and Hamton gathered around him to watch the HIC in action. A quick web search brought up several pictures of floral clusters on long plant stems. The trio breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that they were looking for a normal looking flower.
Calamity enlarged one of the pictures so they could each get a clear idea of what the flower looked like. The flowers were actually tube shapes rather than clusters. Many little tubes hung in columns on a single long stem. While several colors of the plant were displayed, various shades of regal purples appeared to be the dominant color for the Wolfsbane.
Without a word, the trio separated and began their search among the racks of wares. Calamity continued to study his HIC. Occasionally, he tapped a few more buttons as he walked.
Hamton chose to start in the shelf unit furthest to the left of the shop. As he walked past the front window, Hamton noticed that a small garden display had been set up on the window's wide ledge. Since it didn't have anything that looked like the HIC picture, Hamton didn't give it too much of his attention.
Near the front window stood a sales counter. A register peeked over the back side of the counter. Oddly enough, no one was around to run the register. One thing that did catch Hamton's eye was a large, oval mirror hanging on the wall near the counter. The mirror didn't seem all that remarkable. For some reason, it had a cord extending from its bottom down into an electrical outlet near the floor. Although he couldn't see any lights for the mirror, Hamton could only assume a light fixture was the reason for a cord to be in a mirror. Besides that, the mirror just gave the pig a very uneasy feeling.
Hamton tried to shrug off the feeling as he turned towards the shelf unit to his right. He began to browse through the jars on the shelves. Immediately the pig's culinary palate began to tingle. The pictures and words on these jars were quite familiar to him. Ginger Root Powder: Orange Peel: Oregano and even Cinnamon Bark Powder were all herbs that Hamton knew very well. The next shelf down only made him hungrier. Castor Oil: Almond Oil and Grapeseed Oil had Hamton starting to salivate. He gulped hard to try and keep himself focused. If Wolfsbane was some kind of seasoning, he might have a difficult time keeping it for Elmyra's use rather than his own.
"May I help you?" a soft, raspy voice asked.
Hamton nearly jumped out of his skin. He quickly straightened up as he turned to face the voice's owner. A young lady stood before him. Although she had a polite smile on her lips, her eyes were not at all welcoming. She seemed to be looking Hamton over as if scanning him for something. Her gaze made Hamton all the more uncomfortable.
He forced himself to smile despite his fear. "Um, yes, please," he squeaked. "Do you, by any chance, have any Wolfsbane?"
Now the smile faded from the young lady's lips. She flat out looked very displeased. A curl of pumpkin-orange hair hung just between her eyes. It seemed to curl up just the slightest bit as if expressing the lady's discontent. She placed her hands on her hips. In a much harsher tone she asked, "And just why might you be looking for something like that?"
Hamton trembled in his overalls. His brow began to sweat profusely. Again he gulped and tried to keep his smile going. "Well, um, you see, um…"
Suddenly, Calamity rushed around the corner of the shelving. He practically threw his HIC at Hamton. The coyote was obviously distressed about something. Hamton blinked at Calamity and then looked at the HIC. Calamity had found an article about the Wolfsbane flower. The pig's eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he read the words on the screen. "Wolfsbane, also known as Aconite, is a highly toxic plant. The level of poison within this flower is extremely dangerous even in small doses. It is not recommended to allow contact with bare skin. Ingestion of, even small, amounts can be fatal! Good grief, Calamity; we're looking for a poison?!"
The coyote shook his head frantically. Hamton didn't need a text message to know what Calamity was trying to say. He thrust the HIC back at Calamity. The pig said, "We can't use that on Elmyra!"
"Elmyra!" exclaimed the young lady.
"You called?" The carrot-haired subject of the conversation stuck her head around the back edge of the shelving. She blinked a few times before her eyes light up in delight. "Sandy!" Elmyra rushed around the shelving and embraced the young lady tightly. Sandy grimaced but she returned Elmyra's embrace. "Elmyra, sweetie! I never expected to see you…" her voice trailed off.
Sandy pushed Elmyra back. She took a quick look at the girl. "Oh dear, it's you!"
Elmyra giggled and nodded. "Well, of course it's me, silly. How many other Elmyras do you know?"
Sandy frowned. In a stern tone she said. "No I mean that you're the werewolf that I'm sensing."
The boys ventured forward a few steps. Hamton asked, "You can sense werewolves?"
Sandy flashed a wry smile at them. "You could call it one of my 'special gifts'."
Calamity's bewilderment showed on his face. Hamton began to rub his forehead with his fingers. He sighed, "I had a feeling that this was eventually going to get weirder."
Sandy approached the boys and stared into Hamton's eyes. The pig nearly withered in fright. Sandy's evergreen irises pierced Hamton's soul like piney needles. Her voice was full of menace as she asked, "And you two are…?"
Elmyra quickly interjected. Placing her hand on Sandy's shoulder, Elmyra explained, "It's ok, Sandy. These are my friends. The piggy-wiggy and the puppy-wuppy agreed to help me cure my wolfyness."
Again, Sandy gave the boys an accusing glare. They gulped and did their best to look innocent. Sandy rubbed her chin thoughtfully. In a much softer tone, she said. "Ahhh, I see. You three thought that Wolfsbane would help in the cure. I think you'd all better come with me."
Sandy motioned for everyone to follow her as she headed towards the back of the shop. She led them through a 'Staff Only' labeled door. Once they'd all gone through, Sandy closed and locked the door.
The trio glanced around the large room. All of the walls were lined with layers of shelving completely full of the shop's inventory. A plain table stood in the center of the room. To one side of it, a single chair awaited use.
Sandy's petal pink sundress flared just a little as she turned towards the trio. She clapped her hands together to get their attention. Though her voice was firm, her face expressed a gentle tone. "Now, let's get down to business. Shall we."
The trio nodded. They waited quietly, expecting Sandy to say something more. Instead, she raised her hands in the air as if she were about to cheer for something. Her skirt as well as the bow on her dress collar began to rustle a bit even without any wind gusting through the room. Her curls of hair wisped about under her flower-blue hat. Suddenly, a burst of smoke enveloped Sandy's entire form. Just as quickly, the smoke disappeared. In Sandy's place, a very different woman stood before the trio. Wrinkle covered mint-green skin draped over an elderly form. Bloodshot eyes peered out from under a wide brimmed kettle-black witch's hat. A long prune-purple gown kept the elderly lady mercifully modest. Around her shoulders rested a kettle-black shawl cloak.
Hamton's reaction was immediate. He shrieked and jumped into Calamity's arms. The coyote was too frozen in shock to do anything besides catch Hamton. Sandy's wrinkly lips started to curl into a snarl. Before she could speak, Elmyra started clapping and cheering wildly.
"Hooray! Yippee!" the carrot-haired girl chortled. "Do it again! I just love that trick." She sighed dreamily.
A raspy chuckle escaped Sandy's lips. She paused a moment as if reveling in the praise. In a much more elderly voice she stated, "Heh, heh, It's nice to be appreciated every now and again."
Finally, Hamton managed to find his voice again. He whispered, "Y-you're a witch? A real broom-riding witch?"
In response, Sandy reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. She held it up for everyone to see. She said proudly, "A card carrying member since 1883. Things weren't working out in Tombstone. So I thought that I'd give that old black magic a try." She smiled smugly as she replaced her card where it'd come from.
"Well, I'll be doggoned," Hamton mused. His words triggered something in Calamity. The coyote finally awoke from his shock. He blinked at Hamton sitting in his arms and promptly dropped the pig on the ground.
"Ow!" exclaimed Hamton as his rump slammed on the hardwood floor. While Hamton found his footing again, Calamity did some quick typing on his HIC. He showed the screen to Elmyra. "You're friends with her?"
"Sure," Elmyra answered with a nod. "I helped Sandy with her fishy-wishy problem and we've been friends ever since."
The elderly Sandy cringed in disgust. She explained, "A nasty little hareball left me transformed into a fish and took my main magic powder box with him. If Elmyra hadn't shown up 2 days later, I might have starved to death." Sandy patted Elmyra's head affectionately causing the girl to giggle. "Luckily my ditzy dearie here found my spare magic powder. She poured it on me thinking it was fish food. I should've broiled her for trespassing. But she did save my life. And really, she's not such a bad little girl."
Elmyra hugged Sandy tightly. "She's the fun auntie I never had. Teehee!"
"And if we don't cure you," Sandy replied, "You'll be the werewolf that I never wanted."
Putting her fingers to her lips, Sandy gave a little whistle. Three folding chairs popped out of the storage shelving. All three chairs hopped over to Elmyra, Calamity and Hamton. The chairs unfolded themselves for the trio to sit down.
Elmyra flopped down on her chair without hesitation. Hamton gingerly sat down on his chair. Calamity only sat down after giving his chair a thorough examination.
Once everyone was seated, Sandy said, "I think that you kids had best tell me what happened."
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They say that even witches have feelings. Most witches simply choose to hide them. However, Sandy Witch made no effort to hide hers now. Beneath those green wrinkles was a frail senior lady. Her features expressed a grandmotherly softness as she asked, "Elmyra, dear, why didn't you come to me in the first place?"
"Uh, I dunno," the girl replied. She quickly recoiled in pain as Sandy rapped her boney knuckles on Elmyra's head. "OW!"
"Wanna try that again?" growled Sandy. The harsh witch was back.
Rubbing her sore skull, Elmyra chuckled sheepishly. Sandy tapped her fingers on her arm as she waited for Elmyra's explanation. Finally realizing that she wasn't getting out of this one, Elmyra took a deep breath and said, "Cuz I bit Duncan's action figures in half, broke Granny's piano during lessons and wrecked Monty's house to piecies-wiecies. I… was afraid that I'd end up doing something bad to you too. Then I got so focused on finding someone else to help that I just forgot." Her sincerity was as evident on her face as in her voice. "Can you forgive me? And um….Pleasey-weasey-squeezy-cheesey-louisey-breezey-meesey-keezey-"
Hamton cupped his hoofy hand over Elmyra's mouth. "Could you please help us, Ms Sandy?"
"We-ell, normally werewolves would be something that the gypsies deal with," Sandy mused. "Luckily for you, I spent a few years traveling with a band of gypsies, scamps and fleas. Studied with the illustrious Gypsy Pose E. Now there was a lady with style. Heh, heh,"
Sandy closed her eyes. A peaceful expression spread across her face. When a few seconds passed without Sandy saying anything more, Calamity impatiently snapped his fingers. Sandy jumped as her eyes quickly opened. She gave the boys an irritated glance. Hamton gulped. "Um, s-sorry to interrupt. Would you please continue with what you were saying?"
Calamity and Elmyra quietly nodded their agreement. Sandy's cheeks brightened with a powdery pink blush. "You'll have to forgive the memories of an old lady." She cleared her throat and continued, "As I said, normally you'd need a gypsy to help you with werewolves. But I've spent my many long years becoming a well-rounded sage of magic. In short, yes, I can help you."
The toony trio breathed a sigh of relief. Elmyra rushed to embrace Sandy again. "Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Than-"
She ran smack dab into Sandy's out-turned hand. Elmyra bounced off of Sandy's hand and fell backwards onto the floor.
"Don't be too quick to thank me yet," the elder lady said. "Unfortunately, this isn't going to be as easy as any of you would like to think."
"What do you mean?" Hamton asked. Chivalrous as ever, he helped Elmyra to her feet.
"If Elmyra had come to me in the first place…" Sandy cast an accusing glance in Elmyra's direction before she continued. "I could have made up a cure for the attacker wolf right away."
"Why does the werewolf that attacked Elmyra need a cure?"
"Because Elmyra remains bound to that werewolf until her own transformation is complete. Whatever happens to that werewolf happens to Elmyra."
Now Sandy had Calamity's full attention. The young coyote did some quick typing on his HIC and held it up. "So the cells of a bite victim remain connected to the parent cells of a fully-matured werewolf until the transformation is complete? Destroying the parent cells would cause the daughter cells to cease their metamorphosis and shut down?"
"Well, if you want to get all scientific about it, yeah," Sandy scowled.
"Great, so all we need is for you to make a cure while we go find the werewolf. We can do that!" Hamton cheerfully replied.
Calamity suddenly slapped his brow. He held up another HIC message. "Since you can cure a fully transformed werewolf, why bother looking for the attacker wolf? We can just wait until Elmyra completely transforms and then cure her."
"Hey, that's right! Great thinking, Calamity," Hamton praised the coyote.
"No, BAD thinking, Calamity," Sandy replied, crossing her arms.
"B-but you just said-"
"I'll admit, that in normal circumstances, that would be the best option at this point. But…"
"But?" the trio asked.
"Well…. A werewolf's transformation is complete with a full moon. No matter what you believe or don't believe in, most people will agree that strange things happen during a full moon. The extra energy has adverse effects on things."
The trio nodded. Even science-minded Calamity was willing to admit that full moons did bring out the loonies.
"Unfortunately, the next full moon is the Hunter's Moon. It has double or perhaps triple the energy level of most full moons. Going through that final transformation is difficult enough for a new werewolf. There's just so much going on during this timeframe, autumn harvests, winter preparations, celebrations and festivities not to mention that the veil between the living and spirit worlds is becoming thinner. In other words, the air is thicker than fog with energy. A blood red moon…. It's just too much for a new werewolf to handle. The energy intake will drive Elmyra truly insane and tear her apart."
There was a moment of silence as the group processed that information.
"Surely you don't mean that a little extra energy will kill her," Hamton offered. "You mean she'll just explode a little, right?"
"That's Sandy, not Shirley, Hoggert," Sandy snapped. "And no, I don't mean just some toony little explosion. The energy will be too much and literally KILL her."
There was another long silence as the group realized how serious this situation was getting. Elmyra suddenly burst into tears and sobbed loudly, "Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I don't wanna be a werewolfy overrun with energy and explode into itty bitty piecies and die!"
Hamton patted Elmyra's shoulder. Immediately he found himself in a bear hug embrace as the sobbing girl cried on his shoulder.
The pig did his best to comfort her. "It's ok, Elmyra. We'll just have to cure your attacker before the full moon. No problem, right?"
Sandy rubbed her chin. Finally she said, "Well, yes and no."
Hamton groaned. "Why can't it ever be easy?"
"I can create a seeking stone of sorts to find the werewolf quickly," Sandy explained. "But the cure may be just a bit harder."
The coyote groaned deeply. Hamton nodded towards Calamity as Elmyra continued to sob on his shoulder. "Why will making the cure be difficult?"
"I have most of what I need for the cure right in the shop. However, only silver can defeat the werewolf within. And not just any silver either. We need the silver from a mirror."
Elmyra finally stopped crying and turned to Sandy. The girl's eyes were puffy and full of tears. Her voice quivered as she spoke, "Why is that so hard?"
Hamton handed her a tissue. "Yeah, there are mirrors all over the place. We could get one at any dollar store."
"The cure requires mirror silver. Unfortunately, you just never know if your mirror is silver or aluminum these days. The only way to be certain that a mirror has silver is to use antiques." Sandy replied.
"Well, why can't we just use yours then? It looks pretty old," Elmyra asked innocently.
"Because that's my magic mirror. Do you know how long it takes to make one of those things?" Sandy demanded.
"Actually, we could get a telescope mirror," was Calamity's HIC message. After allowing the group a moment to read his screen, the coyote did a web search. Apparently, the results were more shocking than reassuring. Calamity's eyes bugged out of their sockets as his jaw nearly hit the ground. The others gathered around to see what could cause such a reaction. Their reactions quickly mirrored Calamity's. The price tags on these mirrors were as astronomical as the stars they would help magnify.
Once their shock wore off, Hamton asked, "Um, I don't suppose anyone has a credit card limit that would cover these?"
Everyone shook their heads. Elmyra let out a tearful wail and grabbed onto Hamton again. The pig couldn't help but feel depressed as he allowed himself to be cried on. Calamity tried another web search. It gave him similar results with much the same reaction. Even Sandy's face was downcast as she crossed her arms over her chest. For awhile the room was quiet save for Elmyra's sobbing.
Finally, she pulled away from the pig. Tearfully, Elmyra wailed, "Well (sob) I guess that I (sniffle, sob) should go say good-bye to everyone (sob) then; my mom and daddy (sob, sob) and Duncan and sis and the baby and (sob, sob) Grandmaaaaaaahahahaaawaaah!"
Hamton walked over to Sandy. "Please," he begged, "Can't you use your magic to get a mirror? Elmyra hasn't always been the nicest person that I've ever known but…. We can't just stand back and let her die."
Sandy shook her head. "This isn't television, Kiddo. Magic doesn't quite work that way. In order to bring things here, I need to know where I'm getting them from. That whole 'materialize out of nowhere' thing is pure bunk."
"Well, what are we supposed to do then?" Hamton's humble demeanor finally cracked. "You're supposed to be some wise and wonderful witch! Why can't you DO SOMETHING to help us! You owe Elmyra your life! The least you could do is get her cured."
The pig huffed and puffed in Sandy's face. Surprisingly, she didn't even bat an eye. "Are you done?"
Hamton blinked. He backed up a few steps and cleared his throat. "Um, yeah, I guess so."
"As I said, what we need is an antique mirror," Sandy said calmly. "I can't just poof one out of nowhere. Running a business doesn't exactly leave me much extra cash to go around buying antiques either. But perhaps…."
"Perhaps?" gasped the pig through clenched teeth.
Sandy walked over to Elmyra. She asked the girl, "Dearie, didn't you once tell me that your grandma lives with you?"
"Uh-hunh," sobbed Elmyra as tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
Sandy pulled out a handkerchief and wiped Elmyra's face. "Well, she's probably got a lot of old stuff. Maybe she's got an antique mirror that you could use." Sandy turned to the boys. "That goes for you two too. Maybe one of your relatives has one. Otherwise, I've haunted enough attics in my time to know that treasures abound in storage areas like that."
Elmyra, Calamity and Hamton exchanged looks. Their hesitation made Sandy angry. "Look, I'm the one doing most of the work here. All I'm asking you kids to do is get one ingredient." She paused a moment. "Well, actually maybe two."
The trio glared at the elderly witch. She chuckled modestly. "You wouldn't happen to have some hairs or a tooth or something from your attacker. Would you?"
Calamity nodded. He pulled out the baggy in which he'd placed the wall hairs during the previous day. Noticing Elmyra and Hamton's bewildered looks, he gave a quick explanation with his HIC. "The Loo is closed on Sundays. So I have to keep the sample safe until tomorrow."
"Perfect!" declared Sandy. She snatched the baggy away from Calamity. She took a quick look at the hairs. "Hmm, a golden werewolf? Don't see too many of those these days. Almost a shame to have to cure it really."
The coyote started to protest the theft. Sandy shushed him. "Which matters more to you, science boy? Finding that werewolf or having some hairs for your microscope?"
With a sigh, Calamity allowed his precious study opportunity to be taken away.
"That's what I thought."
Sandy placed the baggy in her pocket for safe keeping. She then unlocked the door and held it open. "Now, you kids run along and find me that mirror! I'm going to get started on the cure and that seeking stone. Oh! And Elmyra?"
"Y-yes?" Elmyra asked.
"Whatever you do, make sure you stop by here tomorrow morning. I'll have something to help you keep control of your werewolf form, for now at least."
"Ok!" chirped Elmyra. Her tears were finally subsiding as hope filled her again.
"You won't forget now."
"Course not!"
"All right. I'll see you in the morning then. And you boys make sure to call me when you've got the mirror. Got it?"
"Got it!" replied Hamton. Calamity nodded.
"Good luck, kids. We're all going to need it."
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