Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
A/N: Long time no update. Remind me never to take on more stories than I can handle lol. Hope this chapter will aid in your forgiving me.
Chapter Ten
Portents of Doom
"Geez, Santana, your hand is like a dead fish," Tina said, pulling her hand from the Latina's sweaty grasp.
"Shut up," Santana said, wiping her hand on her skirt self-consciously. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly in a calm place right now."
"What are you doing?" Kurt said as he saw Santana and Tina had disjoined hands. "Keep your hands together at all times!"
"Calm down," Santana said, gripping Tina's hand once more. "Happy?"
"Do not let go," Kurt admonished, still holding Tina's other hand tightly. Tina nodded while Santana rolled her eyes. He walked forward, leading Tina and Santana through the darkness.
They were walking back to their lockers, the place where Kurt had lost the Grimoire. Kurt gulped as they drew closer, for it was also the place where Sam and Mike had attacked him and Puck. As they turned the corner down the hall the lockers he'd enchanted were still lamely squeaking open and close. The papers that had spewed from their bellies had settled to the ground, so the tiled floor wasn't even visible. The three slowly wandered down the hall, their clasped hands emitting a low, glowing light as they tentatively reached Kurt's locker.
"Well, we're here Glinda," Santana said. "Where's the book?"
"It was…down here," Kurt said, leading the others like a train down the hall. "Mike was dragging me, and I hit him with the Grimoire and he grabbed it from me and threw it down the hall, and that's when Noah lunged at him."
"Mike?" Tina asked worriedly. "Was he like the others…?" She let the question hang between them, Kurt's silence speaking volumes.
"So I guess your spell really did affect everyone," Santana said, pulling the two down the hall so they could look for the book. "Let's go."
"I'm sorry Tina," Kurt said comfortingly, even as Santana dragged them. "We'll fix this. He'll be back to normal in no time."
"It's all my fault," Tina said teary-eyed. "Everyone…all the pain and hurt, making all the boys fall in love with you, our friends, Santana's messed up leg…I did it. I did this." She let her hair drape around her face as she cried uncontrollably.
"Oh Christ," Santana sighed, gripping Tina's hand. "Yes, you fucked up. We all do. Your fuck up was just super bad. But it doesn't matter because we're going to fix this and then everyone is going to go back to their normal, boring selves, and no one is even going to remember that you created the biggest band of gay guys since N'SYNC." She eyed Tina steely, forcing her to stop crying. Tina nodded her head, blinking back the tears and agreeing with Santana.
"Believe it or not," Kurt said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping Tina's cheeks as her hands were entrapped between Kurt and Santana's, "but that was Santana's way of saying everything is going to be alright." He smiled encouragingly at Tina, who felt a renewed sense of strength from the reassurances of her friends.
Santana kicked at the debris, Kurt and Tina looking around for the tome. "It should be here," Kurt said, shuffling through all the papers on the floor with his boots. "Where could it have gone?"
"Great," Santana sighed. "How the fuck could we lose something the size of a stack of newspapers?"
"Maybe someone took it," Tina suggested. The others looked at her confusedly.
"Who would want to take the Grimoire?" Kurt pondered. "They don't even know what it is."
"No one took it," Santana said, brushing off Tina's suggestion. "It's just lost. We have to do a locator spell."
"You remember that off the top of your head?" Tina asked.
"Of course," Santana shrugged, "how the hell else would I find a missing vibrator in my gigantic mess of a room? Hand me the messenger bag." Kurt slipped the bag off from around his shoulders, unlocking hands with Tina as he did. Santana disengaged her hand from Tina as well, Kurt biting his bottom lip as the bright light from their enjoined hands dimmed and was replaced by the flickering, unreliable fluorescent lights above them.
"It'll be okay, Kurt," Tina reassured him, seeing him worry over the fact that they were no longer holding hands. "We're not going anywhere." Kurt nodded as Santana rummaged around in the bag.
"All I need is some graveyard dirt," she said, withdrawing a small glass vial, "and some flecks of Dead Sea salt," she finished, pulling out another glass vial filled salt. Mixing them together in her palm she withdrew a pinch and let it fall from between her fingertips as she said, "Guiding spirits, I ask your charity. Lend me your focus and your clarity. Lead me to what I cannot find, return that and my peace of mind." As the sea salt and dirt fell from her fingertips they turned golden, floating before her as if held in place by an invisible string. As she took a step forward they flew ahead, lighting her way while waiting for her to catch up patiently. She smiled back at Tina and Kurt obnoxiously. "It worked," she bragged.
"Brown noser," Tina muttered, walking past her.
"Really, Santana, if you put the same amount of effort you put into spellwork into your studies you wouldn't be repeating Pre-Calculus," Kurt admonished. Santana rolled her eyes as she followed Kurt.
"I'm repeating Pre-Calc because I called out Mr. Rasmussen on being a homophobic asshole," Santana said, crossing her arms as her ponytail swayed with each step.
"Wait a minute," Tina said, walking in front of Santana, "is that why he started going bald last semester?"
"Male pattern baldness is a horrible disease," Santana said shocked. "I had nothing to do with that prick losing his hair." Kurt eyed her suspiciously before she broke out into a chuckle. "Okay, that was totally me."
"I shudder to think what would happen if you fully embraced the dark side," Kurt said, rushing them on. "Okay, let's go find the Grimoire."
The flecks of golden light rushed before them, and they followed, cautiously looking down every hallway before they stepped out into the open. They hadn't gone far, however, when they spotted someone ambling around down an empty hall they'd just entered. They ducked into an open doorway, staring down at the floating lights that shined by the figure. It was oblivious to the guiding lights swirling around it, muttering something to itself as it scratched its nails impatiently on the locker it was resting its head on. Kurt squinted through the darkness, recognizing the figure in the lights of the hall.
"Oh no," he gasped, looking to Tina. "It's Mike."
"My Mike?" Tina asked worriedly. Kurt nodded. Tina was about to run out to him when Kurt and Santana grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back into the doorway.
"What are you doing?" Santana hissed. "Do you want him to pull you apart like a rag doll?"
"I have to see him," Tina said urgently. "I can heal him! I can make him better!"
"Tina, what are you saying?" Kurt asked. "Do you remember the countercurse?"
"No," she replied timidly, pulling her arm from Santana's grip and rubbing it gently. "But I think…well, if they are possessed like you guys say they are, then their mind is just clouded. I can fix that. I can streamline their thoughts and clear their mind."
"How?" Santana asked skeptically.
"Remember that concentration spell you used to pass your Chemistry exam?" Tina asked her.
"I remember nearly dying from seizures because of the insane amount of brain activity going on in my head, yeah," Santana said irritably.
"Well we won't have to worry about that with the boys," Tina began. "Look, possession is someone else controlling a person's mind, right? And we only use about ten percent of our minds anyway. Well we can bypass the possession by awakening the dead zones of the brain, overpowering the ten percent of the mind that the demon is controlling with the other ninety percent."
"Won't their brains overheat, like a computer with no fan?" Kurt asked.
"It is a long shot," Tina said, gritting her teeth as she eyed Mike worriedly. "But I'm willing to risk it. The only downside is we're going to need to physically touch them for the spell to work." Kurt and Santana silently agreed, gripping her hands tightly as they realized they'd have to get closer to Mike. Tears clouding her eyes, Tina rummaged around in the messenger bag before withdrawing different vials and pouring their contents into her hand. She began mixing the herbs, Santana helping her out as she'd performed the spell before.
"This is just a temporary solution. There's no way this spell can help them regain their sanity," Tina explained as she shook all the ingredients into an empty glass vial and blew on them, the dried leaves and powder burning under her breath brightly as if they were embers. "We still need to find the counter-curse to permanently heal them. I just – I need Mike back," she said, blinking back her guilty tears.
"This will work, Tina," Kurt said comfortingly. Santana, who was keeping a look out, nodded that it was clear. The three crept out from the doorway and snuck up behind Mike, whose back was turned to them in the hallway. Before they reached him, however, Sam flew out from the darkness and clutched at Kurt.
"I knew you'd come back!" Sam gloated, tugging at Kurt. Kurt's eyes were wide with surprise as Sam appeared out of nowhere and had his cold hands grasping at his shirt. The girls tried to pry Sam off when Mike spun around on the spot, his face a mask of joy as he lunged forward for Kurt as well.
"Lay off of my Kurt," Mike said, shoving Sam away angrily so he could pull Kurt tighter to him.
"Fuck off," Sam said, pushing Mike into a row of lockers. "I knew when I saw those fucking lights Kurt was coming. He's so smart," Sam complimented, rubbing his erection up Kurt's leg and trying to stick his hand down his pants.
"Jesus," Santana muttered, "get a hold of yourself, Salmon Lips. Shouldn't you be swimming upstream to spawn somewhere?" She tried pulling Kurt away, but Sam's hold on him was vice-like.
"Come with me, Kurt," Sam said, peppering his face with kisses. "I can make you so happy." Santana was struggling with Mike while Kurt tried to hold Sam off, waiting for Tina to do the spell.
"Any day now, Tina," Kurt said as Sam gnawed at his lips hungrily, drawing blood. "Argh!" Kurt cried, the skin on his lips broken by Sam's teeth.
"You hurt him!" Mike screamed, pushing through Tina and Santana and forcing Sam back. "You fucking blond prick! You hurt my Kurt!" He threw a punch at Sam, hitting him in the face. Sam growled as he lunged at Mike, tackling him in the chest and pinning him to the lockers. Santana tried pulling Kurt and Tina away from the fight, but Tina was too intent on healing Mike.
"Leave it, Tina!" Santana exclaimed as the boys threw wild punches, narrowly missing her head in their desperate attempt to hurt anyone that could come between them and Kurt. They fell to the floor, bumping into Kurt's leg, tripping him and sending him falling to the ground as well. "Let's go!" she said as she leaned down to help Kurt up. She looked down at the hall entrances, afraid their yelling would attract more of the Enamored. She held Kurt's hand as they ran a short distance before seeing Tina wasn't with them. Turning back they saw her uncorking the vial and pouring the contents into her trembling hand.
"No!" Tina cried, her eyes dripping with tears after seeing how Mike lusted after Kurt and ignored her. She began chanting, spraying the contents of the vial over Mike as he continued to fight with Sam on the floor. Kurt, seeing her distress at her boyfriend so changed, rushed to her side, Santana reluctantly running back to them and the three finally joining hands and saying the spell.
"The words we speak in this spell shall pierce Minerva's thickest veil. Hazy minds she will devour, impart her clarity upon this hour." As the three said the spell a shock ran through their bodies, and they felt charged, as if they were a living coil of electricity. Tina reached out to touch Mike, but before she could Sam broke away from the fight and grabbed Kurt. He cried out as his hands fell upon Kurt, and the three could feel the electric feeling drain from their body as Sam's eyes rolled back into his head. He disconnected his hands from Kurt and flew back against the lockers as the three slumped to the floor in exhaustion, their heads spinning. Tina saw Mike come flying to Kurt and she screamed in alarm just as Santana got to her feet. Santana's eyes glowing red, she held out her hand and surprised herself when a searing heat erupted from her palm, stopping Mike in his tracks and then sending him flying down the hall, out of sight.
"The fuck was that?" Santana asked, looking at her hand questioningly. "My hand was like a goddamn microwave."
"It didn't work," Tina muttered to herself as she kneeled on the floor, ignoring Santana's remark. "The spell didn't work. Mike's not okay."
"Tina, we'll find a way to fix him," Kurt said, lifting himself up and then helping Tina up as well. Their heads still spinning, they dusted themselves off when they heard Sam moaning from where he'd hit the lockers.
"Shit," Santana said, standing before the other two protectively. She blinked her eyes as she stood unsteadily on her feet, her head still spinning from the spell they'd just performed. She knew she wasn't alone in feeling unwell when Kurt and Tina leaned on her, trying their best to stand despite feeling as if the room were tilting on its side. "You guys stay here," Santana whispered, "I'll go kick his head in." Santana stalked quietly over to Sam's slumped form. Just as she was getting ready to slam his head back into the locker he groaned, lifting his head up and looking her right in the eye.
"Santana?" he asked, his breath deep and ragged. The Latina stood still, looking down on Sam before turning back to see the shocked faces of Tina and Kurt. None of the possessed boys had even acknowledged anyone else besides Kurt before, so for Sam to recognize Santana was surprising.
"Trouty Mouth?" she asked back, leaning down cautiously. She brushed back Sam's bangs to look onto his bruised face, scanning his eyes to see if he truly was healed. His blue eyes looked questioningly up into her face, seeking answers to the myriad of questions swimming through his head. "It's you," she whispered, smiling as Sam held her hands tightly. "It's fucking you!"
Kurt and Tina walked toward the fallen boy, leaning down beside Santana to see Sam for themselves. Sam blinked in wonder as Tina and Kurt came into his view. "Guys," he said wearily, reaching out to make sure they were real, "what the fuck is going on?" Kurt and Santana laughed at the surreal situation they might have to explain to Sam, while Tina stared at him forlornly.
"The spell worked," she said, holding Sam's hand fast. "It worked, but not on Mike. It worked on you."
"Spell?" Sam said, leaning back against the lockers tiredly. "What do you mean 'spell'?"
"Don't worry about it," Kurt said comfortingly. "Are you alright?"
"Except for the fact that it feels like I drank a Slurpee too fast and my mind is on permanent brain freeze, yeah, I'm great," he said sarcastically.
"Do you remember anything?" Tina asked.
"From today?" Sam asked, looking at each of them as if they could tell him. In the silence he could hear the trampling of feet, and the locks on the lockers jangled as the pounding of shoes came closer and closer. "What is that?"
"Fuck this," Santana said as she heard the Enamored clamoring closer. "Look, do you remember anything about a book?"
"A book?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Santana said hurriedly, her voice rising as the hallway got louder. "A big ass book, like two huge encyclopedias sewn together. Do you remember anyone taking it or seeing it laying around?"
"No," Sam said, shaking his head. "I don't remember any boo – ." He stopped as he gagged, his hands grasping around his neck as he felt something rising up in his throat. The others moved back a bit, afraid he was going to vomit on them, but seeing he was struggling Kurt patted Sam on the back as he continued gagging. He bobbed his head back and forth as he opened his mouth, something bubbling up and falling from his wide lips. He spit it out onto the floor, the four of them looking down at the large object that came from his mouth.
A large, black feather lay between them, coated in Sam's spit. He looked up worriedly at the other three, his eyes bloodshot and shining with fear, his lower lip trembling. The clamoring got louder as the Enamored came nearer, forcing them into action. The three got to their feet, lifting Sam's limp body as they went. Sam began gagging again, sinking to the floor out of their grasp. They tried to rouse him, but he wouldn't budge. Just then from the far end of the hall the first wave of Enamored came running towards them, the lockers clanging as they ran faster because they saw Kurt.
"Forget it!" Santana yelled. "He'll be fine! Just go in a classroom and keep your head down," she advised him. "It's you they want!" she said to Kurt. She left Sam and ran ahead, urging Tina and Kurt on. Tina ran past them as well, but when Kurt tried to go with them Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
Still gagging, he held Kurt's hand tightly, forcing him to look into his eyes. "Kurt," he said with great difficulty, a large lump forming in his throat. "Kurt…"
"What is it, Sam?" Kurt asked hurriedly, eyeing the Enamored worriedly as Santana and Tina waited impatiently at the other end of the hall.
"Beware…," Sam said, tears falling down his cheeks as he struggled with whatever was coming up his throat, "beware…the…beware the…"
"Beware the what?" Kurt screamed, seeing the Enamored rushing towards him. Santana and Tina yelled at him to hurry up.
"BEWARE THE WOMAN!" Sam yelled, his face contorted in pain. As he yelled a flock of crows erupted from his mouth, flying out in an endless stream of black feathers. The hall was darkened as the crows flapped around, clawing at Kurt's face. He ran, trying to shielding his face from the birds with his hands as they nipped and pecked at him. He tripped and fell, and from the floor he could see Sam's mouth was still open and birds continued to pour from inside him. Above him, though, Kurt could see the same strange man he'd seen before was holding Sam by the hair, smiling wickedly as he waved at Kurt. Tears continued to pour down Sam's face as the birds flew out from his mouth.
Santana and Tina rushed forward and lifted Kurt up. The birds pecked at them as they ran, their beaks pulling at their hair and stabbing at their skin. They could hear the eerie cries of the Enamored as they too were attacked by the birds. They ran blindly forward, unable to see as the crows completely darkened the halls ahead of them.
"I can't see a goddamned thing!" Santana screamed over the cawing of the crows, crying out in pain as they nipped at her.
"Can't we get rid of them?" Tina cried breathlessly, just as the razor sharp talons of a crow slit her cheek open.
Kurt rummaged around in the messenger bag, which was made all the more difficult as they were still running and a bird had tangled itself in his hair. He could feel the sharp beak pecking at his head, the blood running down his face and dripping into his eyes as he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the bird in his hair and threw it off, feeling as if he ripped out a large portion of his hair as well. He then threw the vial he found to the ground, the glass shattering as the seeds it contained flew in all directions.
"Sacred herb, take root and thrive. Thrashing, crashing, come alive!" he cried. The seeds rattled, and then long, thin, web-like tentacles spun out from their pods. The tentacles pierced the tiled floor, burrowing into the ground and then erupting from it a moment later, dirt and tiles spraying everywhere. The tentacles had thickened, coiling out like thick, green ropes. It lashed out at the birds, grabbing them and choking them, pulling them to the ground. It completely blocked off the flow of crows, growing over the doorways and hallway so they couldn't even see them anymore. The three stopped, brushing off feathers from their hair as they touched the scratches they had all over their exposed skin. Before they could catch their breath, however, the rumbling of the plant continued, its great roots thrashing forward to where they had stopped. Seeing it was rushing towards them they began running again. The tentacles reached outward, ripping through the walls and demolishing lockers as it made its way down the hall.
"Kurt!" Tina cried as the plant grew out of control, "you can stop it now!"
"Good idea, Tina!" Kurt shouted back sarcastically as they ran for their lives. They were no longer running from the birds; they were now running from the plant Kurt enchanted.
The thick tentacles of the plant slithered towards them, crushing through the lockers, the metal crunching under its heavy, leafy coils. One wrapped around Santana's ankle, dragging her back. Kurt and Tina gripped her hands as she was dragged backwards, but the plant was too powerful. She screamed as she was thrown into an empty classroom, the entrance of which was covered by a fast growing tangle of roots. Tina and Kurt were then separated as a large tentacle slammed between them, knocking Tina into the lockers behind her so she was unconscious, and then wrapping around Kurt. It dragged Kurt kicking and screaming, his nails digging into the floor as it pulled him back. It slammed him through countless classroom walls, covering him in dust and debris before flinging him from its grasp. Kurt lay unmoving, the minutes ticking by before he was able to regain consciousness. His eyes fluttered open to the soft, reassuring voice of Miss Pillsbury shaking him gently awake.
"Kurt," she said, her large doe eyes shining with worry. "Kurt, are you okay?" He was surprised to see her usually neat figure was now dingy with dried blood, her skirt ripped and her blouse torn with what he hoped weren't scratch marks running down her exposed torso. Her hair was disheveled, and her face had a large, crooked cut running down from her left eye to her chin. She looked down on Kurt, clutching his hand without fear of germs or bacteria now that she was in a life-threatening situation.
Kurt sat up. Looking around he realized the plant threw him far off course, away from wherever Santana and Tina had ended up. He got to his feet, Miss Pillsbury helping him up.
"Where are we?" Kurt asked, looking around for clues as to their location.
"The Language Lab," Miss Pillsbury replied. "You're the first person I've seen all day that wasn't…" Kurt looked at her, seeing the fear in her large eyes.
"It's okay now," Kurt said reassuringly.
"There's no way out," she said tearfully. "All the exits are locked from the outside, and the boys…there's something strange about the boys…"
Kurt walked around, gathering his bearings as his head still shook from the plant throwing him through all those walls. He blinked repeatedly as he thought he saw lights flickering in front of him. His vision focusing itself, he saw it was the lights from Santana's locater spell. They swirled before him, waiting patiently for him to follow.
"Where are you going?" Miss Pillsbury asked as he made to exit the classroom.
"I don't know," Kurt said unsurely. "Just…follow me." She nodded before walking behind him silently. He was going to ask how she found him, and how she survived for so long on her own, when Sam's warning echoed in his mind. He looked back at her cautiously, wondering if he could trust her. He bit his lip worriedly as he continued to follow the lights, pulling a black feather from his tangled hair as Miss Pillsbury huddled closer to his figure.
A/N: The spells in this one were of my own invention…which is why they suck so hard hahaha. Except for the locater spell. That one comes courtesy of Charmed. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!