Note: Once again, a huge thanks to TRDowden1 for help!
Just to let you know I'm going to change a character's name, and I apologize for any inconvenience.
Ch. 10: Saving You from Yourself
Todd smiled as he and his friends video chatted.
"So what's it like in Haven?" Dominic asked.
"Just what you think: small town stuff," Todd answered.
"Have you seen anything weird?" Samiir asked.
"What do you mean 'weird'?" Todd cautiously asked.
"Okay, when Mrs. Lackey heard you moved to Haven, she said there's been tales of the supernatural originating from there," Samiir said.
"What kind of supernatural stuff?" Todd asked.
"She didn't say what of supernatural stuff, but she was really certain," Samiir said.
"Well . . . there have been some strange things . . ." Todd said, but he checked the time. "I just can't get into it right now."
Todd's friends groaned and complained.
"Hey, I'm not avoiding the subject," Todd said, then said in a more serious tone, "Duke's been going through some tough times."
"Is he all right?" Bridget asked.
"Someone's messing with his personal life," Todd said. "I just want to help; he should be home right now, and I'm going to visit him."
"Man," Samiir said. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Todd said.
"Do you think you will make it for the Harvest Moon Dance?" Bridget asked.
"Hopefully," Todd said. "I know I can't make it for the Family School Carnival."
"It's not going to be the same without you," Dominic said.
Todd and his friends spoke for a while longer, before they said their good-byes.
Duke looked up from where he was sitting and saw Todd walking across the deck of The Cape Rouge.
"Hey," Todd said.
"Hey," Duke responded.
Todd sat down next to Duke and joined him looking out at sea.
"Removed any Troubles today?" Todd asked.
"Only one so far," Duke said, and Todd left it at that. No one said anything for a while.
"I've been thinking . . . about what the Void did to Jennifer . . . and I have an idea," Todd finally said.
Duke signed. "Well, I've worked with bad ideas before, so let's hear it."
"Croatoan said that Jennifer is partially an aether construct," Todd said. "And that's how the Void is controlling her. What if . . . you remove the aether and I purified it? Then—"
Duke raised a hand, stopping Todd. "Sorry, kid, I see a flaw in your plan. If we remove the aether from Jennifer she won't survive without it and she'll die. But that was a good effort—"
"I already thought about that," Todd said, and Duke looked a little surprised. "What if we somehow transfer the aether instantaneously?"
"Good idea, but how are we going to do that?"
"You remove the aether, give it to me, and I'll return the pellucid aether back to Jennifer," Todd said.
"Again, how are we going to do that?"
"Well . . . what if we cut our palms and let your blood go through my cut?" Todd suggested. "You'll be a conduit for the aether. Once the aether is inside of me, I'll purified it and return it to Jennifer. Maybe I can purify her Trouble as well."
"You realize we have no way of testing your idea to see if you're right," Duke said.
"I know, but you and Nathan took the risk of using the Reincarnation Trouble to save Audrey," Todd said. "And Nathan and Audrey took a chance trying to free you from Croatoan."
Duke deeply sighed before he look at Todd and spoke. "Have you heard of Don Henley?"
"No."
"He was a band called The Eagles."
"Oh, I've heard of them."
"Any way, when he went solo, he did a song called 'End of the Innocence;' you should listen to it."
"Why?"
"Because it perfectly describes life in Haven," Duke said. "We lose more than we win; you can alleviate the pain, but sometimes the suffering won't stop; only a few are luckier than others."
"But you don't know until—" Todd began.
"Save me the hope speech," Duke said, trying not to sound mean. "Look, when we stuck in Henry's dream world, he offered me my own happiness: a world where Jennifer and I are together and no Troubles. I rejected his offer. Do you want to know why? Because I knew that could never happen to me."
Todd didn't know what to say, but after a minute he spoke. "I remember you told me I have to stay in the real world to make my dreams come true. And I still recall your memories; how you fought for the ones you love, and how much you loved Jennifer. Isn't she worth fighting for?"
Duke was silent.
"Even if it doesn't work, doesn't Jennifer deserve to be free from the Void?" Todd said.
Duke didn't respond. Todd was about to leave, when Duke spoke.
"If I see the faintest hint of you getting weak, we back off," Duke said, getting Todd's attention. "We stop and we don't try again."
"We're going to do it?" Todd asked.
"Todd, if you feel you're about to collapse, stop," Duke repeated.
"I will."
"I'm serious, Todd," Duke lectured sternly. "I don't want you to risk yourself for this; I can't accept that."
"I promise!"
"You better keep your word," Duke said, then added with a tiny smile, "if you do, I'll get you a pet."
"You want me to do what?!" Croatoan exclaimed when they went over the idea in the armory with the others.
"We need you to be the bait; lure the Void away from Jennifer so we can save her," Nathan said. "Vince said the Void will be attracted to your aether."
"You're putting your faith in . . . a—a child's imagination?" Croatoan got out.
"I am not a child," Todd said, defensively, and Croatoan glared at him.
"Why I should I do this?" Croatoan demanded.
Paige was about to say something, but Duke spoke up.
"Forget it, this is a waste of our time," Duke said and turned to leave. "He's right, this will never work, even he knows he's outmatched. The Void is too clever for any of us."
Croatoan frowned at him. "What was that?"
"I'm sorry that your father is just a coward, Paige," Duke said and began to walk out, but Croatoan stepped in front of him.
"How dare you say that in front of my daughter!" Croatoan bellowed, outraged. "If I wasn't stuck in here, I would have rearrange your DNA into . . . something not human!"
"So you'll do it so your daughter won't think you're an egotistical phony?" Duke grinned.
Croatoan realized that he walked into Duke's trap.
A short time later, Croatoan was walking by himself on the sandy buff. A minute later, the Void appeared ahead of him, with Jennifer following behind it. Croatoan did his best to use the aether as a weapon against the Void, but it absorbed all of his attacks. When the Void was close enough, it lifted Croatoan up with one arm and began sucking in the dark fog that came out of Croatoan's mouth.
"Hey, Jennifer! Bet you can't catch me!" Todd teased, appearing behind Jennifer, getting both hers and the Void's attention, who paused in killing Croatoan.
Todd then ran off, and Jennifer looked at the Void. Seeing that the child was unprotected for a change, the Void gave Jennifer permission to hunt Todd with a nod before continuing feasting off of Croatoan.
Jennifer soon saw Todd run to the road, where Nathan was waiting in the Bronco.
"Get in, Todd! You'll be safe at The Cape Rouge!" Nathan called out and once Todd was safe inside the Bronco, Nathan drove off.
Jennifer stopped, watching the Bronco drive off. She then created a Door and walked through it to where The Cape Rouge was docked. She saw Todd and Nathan running onto the boat. Jennifer followed at a calm pace; she knew he couldn't go anywhere that she couldn't access easily.
She carefully listened and searched, locating the child inside the boat. She soon spotted him running into the hold and followed him. Once she was inside, Nathan slammed the door and locked it. Jennifer turned to look at it, her expression blank. She was not worried; she knew she could create a Door to leave, once Todd was dead. Just as she about to catch the boy, Paige grabbed her from behind and Duke stepped out from the shadows.
Duke cut his and Todd's palms, while Paige got out another knife and cut Jennifer's arm.
"Duke, now!" Paige exclaimed, trying to restrain Jennifer, and extended her cut arm.
The blood from Jennifer landed on Duke's other palm, and Paige let go, as Duke grabbed Jennifer with one hand, while his cut hand firmly grasped Todd's. Todd grabbed Jennifer's other arm and felt the aether exit Duke's body into his own.
Paige watched anxiously, hoping that Todd's crazy plan would work. She knew that if it backfired, she now had enough knowledge of aether control to fix the situation, plus Nathan was outside for backup in case Jennifer escaped.
She wished she knew of a way to make the process go faster, she reflected, keeping a close watch on Duke's silver eyes and Todd's glowing ones, making sure they were okay.
Duke felt the flow of aether through his body, somewhat surprised that Todd was right. He then checked on Todd, and a second later, he saw the boy stagger.
'Out,' Duke instinctively thought at Todd. The aether flowing through him was almost as though he were being electrocuted, unable to unclasp his grasp on Jennifer's arm or move his mouth to speak, and he worried that Todd couldn't let go either.
'Wait, it's almost done, I can feel it. Can you?' Todd responded, surprising Duke.
'I do,' Duke said. 'Time to get out, Todd.'
'We're almost there! We can do it!'
'Don't make me have Paige remove you by force,' Duke said. 'You said you would—'
'There it is!' Todd said, making Duke confused, but he saw a drop of blood land next to Todd's shoes and knew where it came from as Paige took a step forward. 'Don't worry! It's working!'
'Todd . . .'
An unseen force flung everyone to opposite sides of the room. Duke felt light-headed as his eyes returned to their regular color and looked around. The first he saw was Todd lying on the floor, his eyes were normal, but blood was coming from them.
"Todd . . ." Duke managed to get out as the door was opened. He heard Nathan yelling something, but he couldn't make it out as he collapsed and slipped into unconsciousness.
When Duke regained consciousness, he found himself lying in a hospital bed.
"Hey," Duke turned to see Nathan coming closer. "How do you feel?"
"Tired, but fine," Duke said.
Nathan had a thin smile on his face. "Just like when you exploded, you got out fine."
"Todd?" Duke asked.
"Unconscious, weak, but stable," Nathan replied, but stopped Duke from getting up. "But I don't think you should go see him right now."
"Why?" Duke asked, getting worried.
"Because Gloria's watching over him," Nathan said. "Trust me, if you value your newly-regained life, you'll leave Todd to face his judgment before you see him."
Duke nodded understanding, and then nervously asked "Jennifer?"
"She's in a room across the hall. Dwight's with her. She's unconscious, but alive," Nathan said.
Duke felt he was about to cry tears of joy. "Something actually worked."
"I guess once in a while something does go right," Nathan said, smiling.
"Where's Paige? Is she all right?" Duke asked.
"She's fine. She's at the armory right now. Vince somehow summoned Croatoan back into the armory before the Void could kill him; he's barely alive," Nathan said.
"Something had to go wrong," Duke said, and he and Nathan laughed. "Do you think I could see Jennifer?"
Nathan nodded and Duke got up and dressed. He then lead Duke to Jennifer's room. Dwight greeted them. Duke saw Jennifer, and went to her side. He gently touched her cheek, and Jennifer fluttered her eyes opened. The first thing she saw was Duke.
"Duke?" she said.
"Jennifer," Duke breathed, crushing her against him, and Dwight and Nathan both could see the gleam of a tear as it traveled down Duke's nose.
He pulled back at length, stroking Jennifer's face gently.
"How do you feel?" he asked tenderly.
"Really tired," Jennifer responded and sat up straighter. She then examined Duke closely. "Wait, did you cut your hair? When did you do that?"
She then noticed the expressions on the men's faces.
"What happened?" she asked.
"There's . . . a lot . . . you should be updated on," Duke said, and pulled out a chair.
"So I died?" Jennifer reviewed and Duke nodded. "Then the Void, which is somehow sentient, brought me back to life as a half-human, half-aether construct? Later, you died, but you survived because Croatoan, who is Audrey's father, who is now Paige, found a way to transport your spirit into a distant relative named Todd Beale-Grant? Dave was killed by Croatoan, and Vince is kind of not here because he became the Controller for the Barn, which is now the armory? And you're alive again because Croatoan and Paige?"
Duke nodded. "Yep; you got it."
"I need more morphine," Jennifer said, trying to call a nurse and Duke laughed. "Oh, what about Todd? Is he okay?"
"I—" Duke began.
"OF COURSE I'M UPSET! HOW DO YOU THINK I'D REACT WHEN I FOUND OUT ABOUT YOUR CRAZY PLAN?!" they heard Gloria yelling down the hall.
"Um, excuse me, Jennifer, I have to go save Todd before Gloria performs a live autopsy on him," Duke told Jennifer.
Jennifer smiled her understanding.
"I'll stay here with Jennifer," Nathan said, glancing at Dwight.
"Yeah—it's safer in here than it is out there," Dwight added.
Duke stole a quick kiss from Jennifer, and went out into the hall, following the sound of Gloria's angry voice, and heard the unmistakable sound of Gloria delivering a sound, smack to the back of Todd's head.
"Ouch! Why did you hit me?" Todd asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"To knock some sense into you," Gloria sternly replied. "You are grounded. You're coming straight home after school. No skateboarding, no social media, no calls."
"Until when?" Todd asked.
"Until I calm down," Gloria said.
Duke then walked into the room to find Todd indeed was rubbing his head—and himself right in the line of fire of a very irate Gloria.
"And you," she snarled, walking up to Duke. "Going along with that insane plan!"
"Before you flay me alive, hear me out," Duke protested. "I did tell Todd to stop, but he wouldn't listen." He then saw Todd's protesting face. "I am not throwing you under the bus, but out of all people, Gloria should know how stubborn Crockers are, no matter how far off they're related. We sacrifice for those we love. It's just sometimes we don't consider the cost to ourselves."
"And sometimes you know the cost and you do it anyway," Gloria finished, and kissed Duke's cheek, then smacked it. "If I could ground YOU too, I would; going along with him on that insane plan." She then relented. "How is Jennifer?"
"Alive and awake," Duke replied. "The last she remembered was the lighthouse."
"There's been an awful lot of ground covered since then," Gloria said. "Maybe you should go back and catch her up. I'll stay with the kid here."
"I updated her; I just came to make sure you weren't performing reconstruction surgery on him," Duke said. "It might have been his idea, but I was the one that said yes."
"So you can share equally in his punishment," Gloria said. "Your sentence will be to do the gutters on the house and the yard work. Linc's too old to be climbing up that ladder and doing all that anymore."
"Fine, I accept," Duke said and grinned at Todd. "If he helps me, will you let him have his phone back? What if something happens? I don't want him not being able to reach one of us, not with this Void-William-thing on his trail."
"He's right, Gloria," Dwight said, coming into the room. "Never thought I'd see the day I'd say Duke was right about something, but we can't run the risk. This thing wants him dead, and I imagine it's because he can do what he does with his Trouble."
"All right," Gloria grudged, seeing Todd's smile. "You get your phone back. But that means instead of losing your phone, you're now on Didie Duty—for the next two weeks."
"You can keep my phone," Todd said, and Dwight and Duke laughed out loud.
"What are you doing here?" Duke asked Dwight.
"Paige is here; she's with Jennifer," Dwight said. "She asked me to get Todd."
"Why?" Gloria asked.
"She says Croatoan told her how to make Jennifer fully human," Dwight said. "But she needs Todd."
"I trust Croatoan about as much as Duke," Gloria said. "So why does Todd need to be involve?"
"Paige said that when she removes the pellucid aether, it will be drawn to someplace familiar," Dwight told her. "Since Todd can purify aether, they'll be drawn to him. If he's not there, the pellucid aether will just go to random places."
"All right, let me check with his doctor to see if he can get out of bed ," Gloria exhaled.
The doctor approved of Todd visiting Jennifer for a while, and Dwight wheeled Todd into Jennifer's room where Nathan and Paige were. Jennifer saw Todd and smiled warmly at him.
"Hi, you must be Todd," she said. "I'm Jennifer Mason . . . well, you already knew that . . . just it's nice to meet you . . . not as the Void's slave."
Todd smiled; Jewel was just like her.
Paige nodded to Nathan, who closed the door. Paige closed her eyes and placed her hands on Jennifer's arm. Soon, pellucid aether floated out of Jennifer and circled around Todd, like butterflies finding a flower. Paige later opened her eyes as she lifted her hands.
"It worked," Paige said, but she sounded tired. "How are you feeling, Jennifer?"
"I think I need to rest," Jennifer said. "I think I saw an anteater walked by."
"Um, what am I supposed to do with them?" Todd asked, indicating the pellucid aether still circling him.
"Croatoan said that the pellucid aether will respond to your wishes," Paige said.
Todd concentrated and soon, the pellucid aether gathered together and settled on his lap. Dwight got out the extra blanket from the closest and covered the pellucid aether with it.
"I'll . . . hide these when I get back," Todd said.
"Um, does everyone know I'm back from the dead?" Jennifer asked.
"Since Vince is now the Controller, he can change people's memories," Paige said. "The majority of the townspeople will believe you went back to Boston to help some old friends recover who were in an accident."
Jennifer nodded, understanding. She then looked at Todd and smiled at him. "Todd, thanks for saving me."
"You know, you did save Jennifer," Duke said. "It was your crazy idea that saved her. Even though you're grounded, you should get a reward."
"Like what?" Gloria asked.
"I did say Todd could get a pet if he kept his word," Duke said and Gloria stared at him. "Even though he kind of broke it, he shouldn't be completely punished; his crazy idea did work."
"I can really have a pet?" Todd asked.
"Okay, you can have a pet," Gloria said and thought something over. "In fact, if you're interested, I may have something for you. I'll show you when you come home."
In a few days, Duke, Jennifer, and Todd were discharged from the hospital and waited in Gloria's living room. Gloria entered, carrying a cardboard pet carrier that had a constant stream of meowing coming from inside it.
"So my friend, Talitha Freemantle, found this in her backyard," Gloria said, placing the cardboard carrier on the table, continuing to meow. "Talitha wanted to keep her, but the next day her health turned for the worst and had to be taken to the hospice. They wouldn't allow pets at the hospice, so she asked me to either keep her or find her a good home."
She opened the carrier. The meowing stopped, and out crawled a two-month-old seal-point Siamese kitten with long legs and tail. The kitten steadied herself on the table and looked around.
"I don't know if you're a cat person or you're allergic to cats, but if you like—"
Gloria didn't need to finish her sentence as she watch Todd brought his hand closer to the kitten, who sniffed his hand and studied him. She then rubbed his hand and purred. Todd smiled and picked her, bringing her into his lap and the kitten purred louder as he stroked her.
"So I guess this mean we need to get a litter box?" Gloria said.
"Thank you, Dr.—Gloria," Todd said, still smiling.
"She's adorable!" Jennifer said, smiling at Todd. "What are you going to name her?"
Todd studied the kitten and thought. "Reinette."
"Hmm, what do you think?" Duke asked the kitten.
The kitten noticed Duke, sniffed his hand, then gave his hand a lick and purred more.
Jennifer chuckled. "I think she likes the name."
"Well, if you're done gushing over your new pet, we have to go shopping for supplies, food, and toys for her," Duke said.
A week later, Reinette was proving to be a playful and energetic kitten. She was also very intelligent, and was also quite vocal, as everyone had remarked on more than one occasion. Gloria officially declared Reinette to be 'more Crocker than Beale,' due to the fact she tried to steal food from the kitchen, and a few times succeeded, plus Reinette was very good finding where they hid stuff and love to drag it out to play. However, Gloria didn't seem to mind when Reinette made her favorite chair her most popular place to nap.
Duke and Jennifer decided to have lunch with Todd and Gloria, and Duke was going to bring the food and do the cooking. Gloria greeted them and let them inside.
"Where's Todd?" Jennifer asked.
"Reinette! How did you find them? No! You can't play with pellucid aether!" they heard Todd exclaimed. Duke was about see what was going on when Todd spoke again. "Come back here with it! Here! Get your favorite ball!"
A cloth ball was thrown towards them and Reinette chased after it. Todd soon appeared and Reinette trotted to him with the ball in her mouth.
"She can fetch?" Jennifer asked as Reinette gave the ball to Todd.
"It's one of her favorite activities," Todd said, and gave the ball back to Reinette, who played with it.
"Is everything all right?" Gloria asked. "We heard you yelling."
"Oh, it's okay. Reinette just hid a pellucid aether sphere; should I go look for it now?" Todd said.
"You know all of Reinette's favorite hiding spots, so you can look for it after lunch," Gloria said and they all went into the kitchen. "So, what's on the menu for today?"
Duke placed the food on the counter. "Well, for a surprise, how about—"
'FISH!' a girl's voice excitingly said, as Reinette jumped on the counter when Duke took out the fish. She then rubbed Duke's hand and purred.
"Um, thank you for finishing my sentence, Jennifer," Duke said as he placed Reinette down, but Jennifer looked confused. "We also have—"
'FISH!' the girl's voice said again as Reinette jumped on the counter once more.
"That wasn't me," Jennifer said.
"Um, Todd, how about you put Reinette in your room, while we let Paige know there's a Trouble at my house," Gloria said.
Todd nodded and went to get Reinette.
'NO!' the girl's voice exclaimed as Reinette jumped down and ran away from Todd, hiding underneath the table.
"What if . . . what if it isn't a Trouble?" Todd said. "What if . . . the pellucid aether affected Reinette?"
"Aether can't affect animals," Duke said.
"Can it?" Jennifer asked.
Todd got out a can of Reinette's favorite cat food.
'FOOD!' the girl's voice said once Todd placed the cat food in the bowl and began eating. 'Yummy!'
Todd looked at Duke.
"No . . . there's no way . . ." Duke said.
'Okay, enough,' the girl's voice said, as Reinette stopped eating and looked at the fish again. 'Now fish!"
"You can't have the fish, Reinette," Todd said, catching Reinette before she could jump on the counter.
"Todd, I may believe you that we're hearing Reinette, but to think she can understand us—" Gloria began.
'But, fish smells yummy,' Reinette said. 'Why can't I have fish?'
Todd put Reinette down and they all stared at her. Reinette blinked at them.
'What?' Reinette innocently asked.
"I never thought Haven could get any stranger," Gloria finally said.