Chapter 4

"Jake, come on man open up," Spud pleaded as he knocked on the door of his best friend's room. Normally he would have just walked in, but when he and Trixie arrived at the house, they had been informed that he locked himself in his room earlier and hadn't been out since.

"Jake it's 6 o'clock, you can't just stay in your room all day." Trixie sighed when she got no response and leaned her back against the door. "He's really upset about the breakup."

"He sure is upset," The duo turned to see Haley approaching them, arms crossed against her chest with a familiar mischievous look in her eye. "but not about the breakup. Right guys?" Trixie faced the younger girl.

"Oh no? What about then?" she questioned.

"You know, the other thing. The day that he disappeared on everyone. Didn't he tell you?" she prodded.

"Oh, you mean you know about the-" Spud began but was cut off by Trixie.

"Hold up Spud." She bent down slightly so that she was eye level with Haley. "What 'other thing'?" The younger girl's sly smile faltered at the question.

"Y-you know when he was acting weird the other day. Didn't he tell you guys what was going on with him?" She asked, hoping they would take the bait this time. Trixie smirked and stood up straight again.

"Nice try, Haley. You're not getting nothing out of me." The younger girl pouted and stomped her foot.

"That's not fair! He's my brother, I just want to make sure he's ok!" She covered her face and appeared to be crying. Spud kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't cry Haley he's fine," he consoled.

"Yea everything's ok," Trixie added.

"Then why won't you tell me what's going on?" Her words broke apart as tears flooded her eyes. "I'm his little sister, I just want to help him." Before either of them could answer, the bedroom door opened. They turned and saw Jake standing in the doorway, rolling his eyes.

"Drop the crying act Haley," he said sternly. "That's how she found out I crashed dad's car into the mailbox last summer, remember? Spud." The other boy blushed at the memory. Haley's head shot up as she glared at Jake, wiping away her crocodile tears.

"You can't keep me in the dark forever you know. I'll find out what you're up to eventually." With that she turned on her heel and marched back to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Damn, she's good," Trixie stated. Jake smirked and stepped back beckoning his friends into his room.

The two of them entered and Jake closed the door after them. Trixie nearly ran back out once the pungent odor hit her nostrils.

"God, Jake when's the last time you cleaned your room?" Her hand shot up to cover her nose.

"Uhm..." he silently counted in his head. "About 4 years ago." Spud leaned his head back and took a deep breath.

"I don't know what she's talking about, smells normal to me." Trixie rolled her eyes at them and went to open a window, letting some much needed fresh air in. The light that came in illuminated the room and what Trixie saw on Jake's desk surprised her.

"Are those... books?" she asked. Jake followed her gaze to his desk. "And notepaper? Jake, are you studying?" Trixie walked over and picked up a piece of paper, she recognized her friend's barely legible handwriting on it. Jake took the paper from her hand and set it back on his desk.

"I'm just doing a little research." Spud looked over at the open laptop, the picture that he saw on the screen made him scream out loud.

"Dude what is that?!" He covered his eyes but snuck another peek through his fingers. Trixie was also disturbed by what she saw but she instantly recognized the creature she was looking at.

"It's a banshee," she stated. Jake raised an eyebrow at her wondering how she knew that. "I looked it up after you left my house the other day." Spud slowly lowered his hands.

"Oh man... that's what you saw?" He shuddered at the thought.

"Well I didn't see it, anyone that actually sees a banshee, will die soon after. I just heard it, but trust me that was bad enough." He walked over to the computer, clicking on the soundbar underneath the picture. A loud screech filled the room, it sent a chill through his friends and although the sound was just a couple seconds long, Trixie and Spud were visibly shaken by what they heard.

"You heard that?" Spud asked his friend.

"Something like that," Jake shrugged. The truth was that what Jake heard was far more terrifying and sinister than the sound that came from his computer, and he presumed that the banshee looked even more terrifying than the picture on the screen.

"Anyway," Trixie started. "Did you find out anything new?"

"Not really," he said, disappointed. "There's not that much accurate information on the internet about banshees, it's mostly made up stuff. I borrowed some books about them from Gramps, but they all pretty much say the same thing." Trixie chuckled at that statement.

"Did he go into shock when you told him you wanted to borrow some books?"

"Nah, I just told him I needed them to hold my T.V. up while I played COD. Which was kinda true anyway." He pointed to a large stack of books that now sat comfortably underneath his television. "One thing I did find, though, is that a banshee is supposed to be weeping for the person that's gonna die, kinda like what y'all just heard. If you listen real close, you can hear that it's crying." He reached for his mouse to play the sound again but Trixie's hand quickly shot out to grab his.

"I, uh... I think we get it, Jake." She tilted her head towards Spud who had both hands clamped tightly over his ears. Jake nodded and gave him a small smile.

"Anyway," he continued, "what I was getting at is a banshee is supposed to be sad about the death and show its sympathy."

"By disguising itself as your sister and laughing like a lunatic? That doesn't sound like sympathy. That sounds evil," Trixie plainly stated.

"That's just the thing, they aren't supposed to be evil."

"How can they not be?" Spud asked. "I mean they pretty much kill people."

"Actually, they don't. People don't die because the banshee cries, the banshee cries because people die. See what I mean? Most people assume that banshees are just psycho murderesses that take pleasure in the deaths of their victims, and that's not how they usually are, but the one I ran into... seems like it was an exception."

Spud nodded and sat down on the bed.

"So then what now?" he wondered. Jake let out a breath and dropped down next to him.

"I got no clue, all I know is that a banshee's cry means the death of someone close to you, and usually it's someone in your household. But according to what the books say, it can happen up to 9 years after you hear it. So it could be anyone that I saw in that dream." He brought a hand up to push his hair back. "It's really starting to get to me. How am I supposed to live with all this for 7 more years?" Spud patted his friend's back in an attempt to console him.

"You might not have to, there's still a possibility that it was a mistake."

"That's the thing," he replied solemnly, "out of everything I read in those books, it never once said that banshees make mistakes."

"Hey, guys." They looked up at Trixie who had settled in at Jake's desk and was flipping through one of the books. "Listen to this, 'If one is to hear the cry of a banshee, someone close to them will die. This can be a close relative, friend, or on rare occasions even a pet. However, it is impossible to know who or when it will be, for a banshee is only able to sense those who will be affected by the death, thus sharing their grief with them, but not who the deceased will actually be.'" Jake jumped off the bed and went over to her.

"Wait, what?" Jake bent down next to his friend, silently re-reading what he had just heard.

"What does that mean?" Spud got up and joined them over by Jake's desk.

"It's saying that there's no way a banshee can predict who's gonna die, but it did with me, so that doesn't make any sense." Jake shook his head as he lifted the book. "I just don't get it."

"You didn't read this before?" Trixie questioned.

"I must have skipped over that part, I thought it was just gonna say the same thing I read in the other ones." His eyebrows furrowed as he read that section again and again. "I-I don't know maybe it's different for me since I'm a dragon. Maybe that's how I was able to see who it was. And I mean if the sound was different, maybe the rest of it is different too."

"Or maybe it was just a dream, Jake," Trixie said.

"Yea dude, maybe you were so freaked by it that you passed out and you just imagined all that about the kid in the hospital," Spud offered.

Jake closed the book and slumped down to his floor. Trixie slowly walked over to him, sitting down and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay Jakey?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I don't know..."

"This is supposed to be good news man, that means your little brother is gonna be okay," Spud said as he joined them on the floor.

Jake looked at his friends as their expressions grew more and more concerned. Finally, he nodded his head and smiled back at them.

"Y-yea you're right," he said with a chuckle. "That's awesome news."

"Yea it is, this calls for a celebration. Mrs. Long," Spud called as he made his way out of the room and headed downstairs. "We need some cake pronto!"

Trixie wasn't convinced by Jake's sudden shift in moods. She looked over at him as he got to his feet and started to follow Spud.

"Jake..." He continued walking as if he hadn't heard her. "Jake!"

He stopped and turned to face her.

"Huh? Oh, my bad baby girl." He put his hand out to her and helped her up off the floor.

"Thank you, but that's not what I was trying to get your attention for." She crossed her arms and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"What's wrong Jake? There's something you're not telling us."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head.

"I dunno what you mean Trix." He found himself looking at everything in the room but her and switching awkwardly from foot to foot.

"Jake! Mom says to ask Trixie if she wants to stay for dinner!" Haley called. Finally, he made eye contact with her.

"It's nothing, Trixie."

"Jake..." she insisted.

"I mean it, I'm fine," he promised. He put his hand on her back and gently led her out of the room. "Let's go eat."

oOoOoOo

Rose slowly opened her eyes, but quickly shut them again when she was nearly blinded by a bright spotlight, wincing in pain as her head ached. She started to bring her hands up to her head in an attempt to stop the pounding sensation, only to find that she couldn't move them.

Instantly her eyes shot open and she looked down. She was strapped to a chair with what appeared to be thick leather belts that were tied around her waist and also tightly holding her wrists down to the arms of the chair. She groaned as she tried to slip her hands out of the restraints but found the more she pulled, the tighter they seemed to get.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a strange voice spoke.

She snapped her head up quickly and instantly regretted it when the throbbing pain returned.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" She tried to sound braver than she felt. In response, she heard a chuckle and light footsteps of someone approaching from behind her.

"You shouldn't get yourself so worked up, love. I'm not going to hurt you."

She turned her head slowly away from the light that was shining in her face, trying to detect who was speaking. The person was definitely male and had a watered down Australian accent. But that's all she was able to get from the voice.

"Who are you? Where am I? What do you want from me?" she hated that she heard her voice quiver.

"So many questions. Why don't you just pick one at a time?" he said with a laugh that made Rose grow even more furious. She spoke through gritted teeth as she remembered the last faces she saw before she woke up.

"Where are Nathan and Kario?" There was a short silence before he answered.

"Ah, numbers 88 and 89. They'll be with us shortly, had to make a quick run. We thought you might be a tad hungry when you woke. Do you like chicken? I figured you probably do. I mean everybody likes-"

Rose lifted both of her feet and stomped them hard on the ground.

"Enough! Tell me what's going on and let me out of this damn chair!" More silence before that sickening laugh once again invaded her ears.

"Temper, temper. Unfortunately, I can't let you out of this 'damn chair' just yet. Not until we know for sure that you're on our side." The calm tone of his voice irritated her to no end.

"And who is 'we'? You, Kairo, Nathan, is that all?"

"Again with the questions. You'll know everything you want to in good time love. But for now, let's have a little talk."

She heard the footsteps again as he came around to the front of her. She glared against the spotlight, trying to get a glimpse of him, but all she could make out was a pair of heavy boots.

"I see you're such a coward that you won't let me see who you are," she said as she looked away from the light once again.

"A coward? Never that. As I said before, we need to know if you're 100% on our side first. You seem to have a history of being a bit of a... what's the word? Flip flopper."

The blonde girl rolled her eyes and again tried pulling at the restraints on her wrists.

"You're just determined to harm yourself aren't you?"

"Look, I just want to go home ok? Tell 88 and 89 that I take back what I said and I'm not coming back to help them. Now if you'd just let me go, we won't have any problems." He seemed to be letting her words sink in before he spoke again.

"So... you don't want to help us."

"Are you deaf? That's what I just said. I know we had a deal, but I was speaking out of anger. Killing innocent creatures, and innocent people isn't something I want to do ever again."

"There's actually much more to it than that," he started. "Look, we have about 15 minutes before 88 and 89 come back. Give me that long to explain and if you still don't want to go along with it, you can have a piece of chicken and go home. Deal?"

Rose said nothing, he took that as a yes.

"First off, we don't plan to 'kill' all of the magical creatures. In fact, we don't plan to kill any of them." She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion.

"What? But they said-"

"88 and 89 were instructed not to give you all of the details of our plan. I wanted to tell you myself because honestly, the two of them are a few pages short of a chapter if you know what I mean. I wanted to make sure you fully understood what we plan to do."

"Then why didn't you just come out and tell me at the park then? And what's the point of knocking me out and bringing me here?"

"I don't like to resort to violence unless it's absolutely necessary. In this case, I felt it was. You see, in the past, you seem to have had a hard time choosing which side you wanted to be on. Even though you agreed to join us the other day, I was certain you would change your mind. And as I can see, I was right. I couldn't risk you knowing where we were located when I wasn't sure you would keep quiet about it. And the chair, that was more for your protection. I hear you're quite the fighter and I would hate to have to hurt you." Now it was Rose's turn to laugh.

"Hurt me? I thought you knew everything about me. Apparently not," she scoffed.

"I know you were the top huntsgirl at one point in your life. But as skilled as you are, you're no match for me, love." The certainty in his voice unnerved Rose just a little bit. "Anyway, as I said, our intentions aren't to kill off the creatures, we simply want to live in a normal world. A couple years back, 88 and 89 came to you while you were on a cruise, yes?"

She nodded.

"They were supposed to be there to recruit you for this very project we've been working on. But they said that once you caught sight of them, you hardly let them get two words in. So we decided to wait, let a little more time pass before approaching you again. I was certain that we could manage without you but they guaranteed you were the missing piece that we needed."

"Needed for what?" She heard him walk away for a few moments before coming back into the room. This time along with his footsteps she heard wheels against the floor. A television was rolled in front of her, the glare from the spotlight made it hard to see at first but her eyes finally adjusted.

"For this."

The screen cut on and she saw a strange room that looked a lot like a doctor's office. In the middle of the room, there was a metal table with a shirtless Elf strapped down onto it. He squirmed and cursed as he lay flat on his back.

"What the hell..."

"He was just a little nervous, being strapped down and all you know."

Soon after, Kairo appeared on screen in a lab coat, rolling in an EKG machine and hooking the small man up to it.

'Calm down now, Lawrence,' he said. 'You'll be just fine in a moment.'

He turned his head and nodded to someone off screen before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a syringe with a large needle sticking out and a strange green liquid inside. The sight of it made Rose's stomach churn. Was she about to witness some sort of lethal injection? She closed her eyes and turned away.

"Just watch. It's ok." She opened her eyes but cringed as Kairo stuck the needle in the creature's arm and pushed down on the plunger. The Elf jerked and his tiny body spasmed as he screamed a terrifying scream. A tear rolled down her cheek as she watched. Finally, he stopped moving and the sound of the heart monitor played one long high pitched note.

She clenched her fists and turned away as more tears stained her cheeks. It was bad enough what they did before, but now they expect her to make them suffer like that?

But then, something unexpected happened. It was the sound of the heart monitor, it was no longer playing that one long note but was now in a pattern of steady beats. She looked back to the screen and her jaw dropped at the sight. A puff of green smoke swirled above the Elf and quickly his features started to change. His ears were no longer pointed, his eyes shrunk down to a normal size, but the most amazing thing is that he grew several feet. So now instead of a 10 inch tall Elf, he was a 5 foot tall, man. Once the transformation was complete, Kairo grabbed a jar and collected the green smoke. The Elf lay still on the metal table.

'Dayum! Kairo you saw that bro?' Nathan's voice came from behind the camera before the video ended. Rose stared on in shock, unable to remove her eyes from what she saw in front of her. Eventually, she found the words to speak.

"H-how..."

"We call it, 'The Cure' short, simple, and we couldn't agree on anything else." He pulled the T.V. away and returned to standing in front of her, still hidden behind the light. "It's pretty clear what it does. Turns magical creatures into normal people. There'll be no more need to be anxious wondering if, or when these creatures are going to snap. Eventually, they're going to wonder why humans are the dominant species and yet they're the ones with the powers. Then they won't be scared anymore. They'll end us, no, annihilate us. The only way to stop that from happening is to level out the playing field. And since turning everyone into magical creatures is not only impossible but would most certainly lead to destruction, the only other choice is to turn them human." Rose's head was spinning.

"This can't be real. How could you have found a way to turn them human?" she asked.

"So you've accepted the fact that you live in a world where mermaids and fairies and... dragons are real, but this is what you have a hard time believing," he said in disbelief. "Miss Hunter, this cure, it can save the world. And not just for us, for all of them too, they want to be normal people, have normal lives. In fact, I can safely say that once we perfect it, about 85% of the magical community will be knocking down our doors to get it."

"Oh really? And what about the other 15% that doesn't want to be cured?" she asked. He was quiet, she could hear the creaking of a chair as he seemed to have sat down.

"Well... as I said earlier, I don't like to resort to violence unless absolutely necessary..."

"So you'll kill them."

"You seem to be missing the bigger picture here." With another creak of the chair, he was back on his feet, pacing the floor. His normal calm demeanor seemed to be slipping as he tried to get his point across. "With these creatures roaming free we're always going to be in danger! You can't trust that they're just going to stay in hiding forever. Even if they don't do anything this year, or the next, or the next, or even 20 years from now, is it worth risking the future generations? Our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren don't they deserve to live in a safe world?!"

As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. Rose had seen first hand what magical creatures can do when they turn bad. What if all of them turned bad? The world would be destroyed. The man took a breath and returned to speaking in a calm manner.

"So, Miss Hunter, you've seen that this cure will work. The only thing is, we need a sample from every magical creature out there to make sure it works on them all. We've only been able to test this cure on Brownies, Leprechauns, and as you saw, Elves. Since the other creatures have gotten so good at hiding, it's extremely hard to find them. But since you've been around the magical community for a little while now, we figured you would be just the person to help us find them and collect more samples so we can hopefully get a cure that works for them all."

"I'm the only person you could think of?"

"Well... we did have someone else helping us but she couldn't be trusted. So you're basically our last hope. I'm asking you, please consider it. The fate of our world is at stake unless we do something now."

Rose took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. What this person was saying sounded like it could help a lot of people, and she couldn't help but also think of the benefits she would have if she was able to use this cure for Jake, if he were human, they could have the life she always dreamed of. But there was still one problem...

"Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about your request," he said as if reading her mind. "Trixie Carter, age 16, 194 Shorn Eagle Drive, New York. Did my research, seems easy enough, if needed I'll attend to it personally." Rose gave a bitter laugh.

"I thought you didn't like to resort to violence unless absolutely necessary."

"If that's what you need to be done in order to help us, then it is absolutely necessary."

She looked up in the general direction of where he was and nodded.

"Okay," she said softly.

"I'm sorry, I need a bit more confirmation than that."

"Okay," she repeated, louder this time. "I'll help you guys."

"You'll be completely on our side? No turning back. Because if I get even the smallest inclination that you're turning against us... Unfortunately I'll have to take matters into my own hands." Rose swallowed, her throat was dry, something about this person made her nervous and she didn't like that.

"I understand. I'm completely on your side."

"Alright then, welcome to the team. I suppose we don't need this anymore."

With that, he pushed the light away, but Rose's eyes had adjusted to it already, so moving it caused her to see bright splotches everywhere. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment and felt her wrists being untied. Once the belt around her waist was off, she stood up slowly, stretching her stiff body and rubbed her eyes. Once she was able to see normal again she finally laid her eyes on the mystery man. The sight of him nearly made her fall back in her chair.

"How?" her voice was barely a whisper.

Although the lower half of his face was still covered she could tell he was smiling. Smiling at her shock, at the fact that he caught her off guard. The man that stood in front of her was wearing the uniform she had only seen on one other person, the one she only knew as... Huntsmaster.

A/N: Hey guys, there's been a small change in the story, I realized that I made a slight boo-boo when I said the incident with Jake and the banshee was 5 years ago, it was supposed to be 2 years ago. I already changed it in chapter 2 so hopefully, there won't be any more confusion!