Author's Note: Long chapter ahead. Wanda's story was lengthy. What can I say?
Chapter Twelve: Worst Night Ever
Rain pounded the ground and Wanda sniffled, kicking the ground in a forced deer form. Cosmo had fallen asleep beside her as a stag and she wished she had their wands to erect a tent or shield against the howling winds. Cosmo had the sleep gift, where he could simply collapse anywhere and fall asleep. Wanda wasn't so lucky. Fraught with concern and painfully aware of their situation, she remained awake, wishing they had somewhere safe to stay.
Their godson had decided to play god and deny them their wands or access to magic unless he was around. Then, it had to be magic he approved of, and magic he wanted. They couldn't complain to Jorgen about him because he wouldn't allow them to disappear on him. He'd wished something to that effect, rendering Cosmo and Wanda as useful as real deer.
Wanda heard a wolf call and jumped out of her skin. She sent a tentative mind probe to Cosmo, but he was down for the count. Wanda stretched and debated trying to figure out how to determine how close the wolf was versus staying within sight of the cabin in case their godchild awoke. Her heart leapt into her throat at a second wolf howl and she nudged Cosmo's stomach with her head.
Cosmo rolled over and huffed.
((WAKE UP!))
Cosmo bolted upright, startled, and she looked at him. The wolves' howls were getting closer and her fur stood on end. She judged them to be within a mile, and that was far too close for their comfort. The cabin was about five hundred feet away.
"What? What's going on?" he said. "Where's the fire?"
The wolves' howls were closer and Wanda darted for the cabin door. Cosmo followed suit and the wolves suddenly got a lot closer, like within a hundred feet. They weren't real wolves. This somehow wasn't encouraging. Come to think of it, hadn't their godson wished they'd have an 'interesting' night? Spending their night being chased by magical wolves certainly matched 'interesting'.
"Let us in! Let us in!" Cosmo demanded, butting the door with his antlers. Their godson appeared in the window and grinned, white teeth gleaming, at them. He had perfect teeth, wavy black hair, and right now, glittering little black eyes. He was dressed in a white, ragged dressing gown and held a candle in his hand. Wanda suspected he'd been waiting for them. Thankfully for their godson, his parents slept through anything.
"Not until you've tired the wolves," he said with a nasty grin. "Good night, Cosmo and Wanda."
"That's not fair!" Wanda said. "We didn't know the way the wish would go, and you're inside a nice, warm cabin."
"Yeah, let us in!" Cosmo said, ramming the door again.
"Father wouldn't like wild animals in the house," the boy said. "Who knows what diseases they might carry."
"We're not wild animals, we're faeries!" Cosmo protested. "Let us in!"
"Not until you've fulfilled the wish specifications," he said and closed the window. Wanda butted the door with her head, and Cosmo did too, but the boy ignored them. Cosmo began to curse and then bit off, because the wolves were right in front of them. They weren't the normal colors- red, white, and gold featured prominently in their manes. They were also larger than regular wolves, coming up to mid flank, with vicious fangs. Cosmo whimpered and stepped back. Wanda took one long look at them and pelted through the woods. Cosmo was at her heels. The wolves laughed.
((What'll happen if they catch us?)) Cosmo sent.
((He can't wish for us to be killed,)) Wanda said.
((What about bleeding to death in a gutter somewhere?)) Cosmo said. His mental voice grew frantic. ((Can he wish that?))
((Less thinking, more running!)) They dashed through the woods at breakneck speed. The boy hunted around here all the time, but in the dark, everything had changed location. With the wolves at their backs, it was hard to think and focus on where things were. Wanda tripped over a rock near a spring and went flying, landing on her ankle and wobbling. It had sprained on the landing and she whimpered.
((Cosmo, I'm hurt.))
Cosmo didn't reply. She limped off, her right ankle throbbing, and the wolves snickered. Terrified of what might happen if she were caught, she began running again, putting all her weight on her other legs. Fortunately, it wasn't a great deal of weight, but it was enough to slow her down and render her off balance. A branch snapped beneath her feet, at least, she hoped it was a branch.
((Cosmo, where are you?))
She couldn't feel him. Terror rose in waves and she choked on it. The second half of her, the one she loved more than life itself, was suddenly off limits to her. She couldn't tell if he was alive...or not. What was worse was she didn't know where she'd lost him, and whether backtracking would help. Her leg crumpled under her and she raised her head to howl. There was a way to do magic without her wand, but it required using dark magic and faeries weren't supposed to rely on dark magic.
Struggling to stand, she fell back down and a red shape hurtled itself at her. It grinned, baring its teeth, and Wanda moaned. Opening its jaw wide, it prepared to take a huge bite out of her stomach. Without thinking, blindly relying on the land and hoping there were ley lines beneath the earth, she thrust out, searching for magic wherever it might lie. She locked into a rich source of it and changed into an animal a wolf couldn't easily catch. The transformation, though brief, was excruciating and her body ached with the exertion. The wolf lunged and she flew, an owl now, up into a tree. Her weakened right ankle made it difficult to stand in one place, so she leaned on her left leg.
The red wolf sniffed and pawed the tree, but was unable to reach her. After a minute, he gave up and Wanda relaxed, sagging against the tree. Continuing to run on the ankle hadn't improved matters. Inspecting it told her in no uncertain terms she'd broken it. Her heart sank. Transforming into an owl had taken too much power out of her. Healing her ankle without her wand was out of the question.
However, she was not the issue at the moment. Every second she couldn't feel Cosmo could be a moment he was in mortal peril.
Cosmo had accidentally blocked Wanda out. The last thing he'd received from her had been an admonishment and so, his magic had gone into lock down. When Wanda had sprinted to the left, he'd taken the right fork and had entered unknown territory. Two wolves pursued him and, in a blind panic, he almost ran into trees and rocks. He hadn't hurt himself yet, but it was only a matter of time.
He hadn't consciously noticed he couldn't feel Wanda. It was odd, since so much of their existence depended on caring about each other and being aware of the other. However, it was survival of the fittest right now, and without his wand, Cosmo was far from "the fittest".
One wolf made a leap that should have been impossible and landed in front of him. Cosmo kicked up dirt, desperate to avoid him, and the other wolf had him from the rear. Whining, Cosmo lowered his head and slammed his antlers into one. He was blindly reacting, and the other wolf took advantage of his exposed side to bite his leg. Cosmo screamed. The moon was a tiny sliver overhead, but the faerie blood sparkled on the ground. Cosmo, anxious more than ever, swung around on his weakened leg and tried to attack everything in sight.
The other wolf was dazed, but the second one, the one attacking him, bit his other leg hard enough to break bone. Cosmo could see bone, white and gleaming. He almost vomited.
((WANDA!)) She wasn't receiving. He didn't know why, couldn't have told anyone for the life of him that he'd blocked her out.
"You're a dead fairy," the gold wolf said.
"We can't kill him," the white one corrected. "But we can rough him up a bit."
Cosmo lowered his head again and both wolves jumped, biting him on the broken leg and in the flanks. Cosmo went down hard, panting and staring up at them with wide green eyes. Blood coated the ground and the two wolves laughed, and, amazingly, walked away. Cosmo couldn't think beyond his relief. He didn't think anything else could have happened, or that there might be anything more in store. He was just grateful to be alive, albeit in pain.
"Cosmo! COSMO!" Wanda shrieked and Cosmo moaned.
"Wanda..." Cosmo cried weakly.
Wanda swooped down, in an owl form, to land on him. She was careful not to put any weight on her right leg and instead looked like she was trying out for a ballet, balancing precariously on one leg.
"You blocked me out, you idiot," she said, but there was no real anger in it. "What happened?"
Struggling to think with the pain surging through him, he had a hard time retelling the story. With a grimace, Wanda wrenched his mind open to her again and went through the memories herself, since scanning his mind was much more coherent than waiting for him to piece everything together again. When she finished, Cosmo lowered his head and concentrated on not passing out. Between the two of them, they were a sorry pair.
"There wasn't a sense of wish fulfilled," Wanda said. "There might be something else out there for us."
"Maybe he'll change his mind," Cosmo said weakly.
"He's trying to kill us," she said and shuddered. "You know Da Rules, but there are loopholes and ways around them. He doesn't have to wish us dead. He can find alternate ways to do it."
"But why..." Cosmo said.
"I don't know," Wanda said. "I wish I did."
((How did you change, anyway?))
"I don't know..." she said. "I just did."
((Can I do it?)) He was too weak to speak aloud.
"Not in that condition," she said. "We need to get back to the cabin...unless you want to wait for him to find us."
((I can't walk back,)) he pointed out.
"I'll fly back and fetch us our wands, dumpling," she said. "Then we'll be okay."
A tremor went through her. "I hope."
Wanda zipped in through an open window near the cabin's rear. The boy, Daniel, wasn't asleep as she'd hoped. Her spirits sank. He faced the window and clutched their precious wands in his hands. Resigned to an argument, she landed on his night table on one leg and stopped herself before she fell over.
The room was small and his bed stuffed with hay. It had the nightstand, with a candle she knocked over trying to right herself, and the floor was worn wood. Daniel could walk from one side of the room to the other in three short strides. Wanda couldn't smile as an owl, and, considering the distress she received from Cosmo, she couldn't fake one.
"Sport, I don't know why you feel compelled to do this, but, Cosmo and I really need our wands," she said.
"No," Daniel said. "Why should you be entitled to healing powers when my mother wasn't?"
Wanda flinched. "I told you. We can't bring the dead back to life."
"You should have tried harder," he admonished. With her keen eyes, she saw what she hadn't before setting out tonight. His right eye was swollen.
"We can't bring the dead back to life. It's against Da Rules," she said. "But that doesn't mean Cosmo and I can't be as good parents to you as-"
"Excuses," he scoffed. "And now I expect you'll tell me the wolves got Cosmo and you really need your wands, or they'll come back and finish him off."
Wanda's mouth dried. "They're coming back?"
"It's only a matter of time," Daniel said. His eyes narrowed. "How did you shift without your wand?"
In the future, Wanda would have much more sympathy and affection toward her godchildren, partly because she'd be with them longer. She'd only been with Daniel a few weeks, and he'd treated her and Cosmo like dirt. She was losing patience. Cosmo was injured and with the wolves returning, he'd be unable to defend himself with his wand.
"Please give us back our wands," she said.
"Or what?" he said.
A rippling pain seized her. It felt like someone had torn into her stomach and ripped out her intestines. Sobbing, she fell off the table and hit her wing on the floor. Daniel watched, impassive. Cosmo needed her right now and she hadn't been quick enough. His thoughts were a blur, incoherent and full of anguish. Wanda didn't think; she shot straight up and grabbed the wands out of his hand with her beak. She thought she might have pecked Daniel, and maybe she had, but she wasn't going to react to it.
Instead, she surged out the window with the wands in her beak and hoped for the best. Cosmo's upset affected her own and she didn't realize she could have summoned him to her with the wands. Instead, she beat a path through the air and sent frantic messages.
"Cosmo..." she whimpered.
The front door slammed open and, clad only in slippers, Daniel ran after her. She halted, torn between her worry over her husband and her duty as a godmother. Worry won out and she pelted for Cosmo. She thought Daniel was shouting at her, but she couldn't hear him.
"Wanda, I order you to halt!" Daniel snapped, near the stream she'd sprained her ankle. Wanda paused and hovered, whining in agitation.
"Cosmo needs me," she said. "He might die without me. You have to let me save him."
"Like you saved my mother?" he said scathingly. "You said you could grant any wish."
"That Da Rules allows," she moaned. "Please, I'm begging you."
"And I begged you and you didn't deliver," he said harshly.
"I can't stay here," she said. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."
"I wish you'd stay," he said scathingly. Wanda froze. Beneath her fur, she had gone completely stiff and horrified. She'd never outright denied a wish before, but the yearning was too strong. Lingering here would be excruciating, to say the least. Mouth agape, she stared at her godson.
"Please," she begged. "Anything but that."
"I wish," he said and grinned from ear to ear, "you'd stay here. You have to grant it. No choice."
Wanda's mouth dropped as far as it could go and she absently shifted back into faerie form. Her ankle, she was disturbed to discover, had swollen. However, it paled in comparison to what she felt through her link to Cosmo. Daniel had ordered her to stay, and she had to stay, or else she'd be explaining to Jorgen why she couldn't. But if Cosmo died because she wasn't there to protect him, and he was counting on her to come back...
Cosmo's scream tore through her mind and she abandoned all pretense of being a decent godmother to this awful, monstrous child. Jorgen could punish them all he wanted later. She didn't care what happened to her, as long as Cosmo was alive and safe. Daniel might have been chasing after her, but she no longer cared. She flung her mind open wide to her beloved and, using the wands, changed into a rampaging rhino. It didn't matter if it didn't match the environment or how angry Daniel might be getting.
The wand had healed her ankle, too, and she pawed the ground near the wolves. Without allowing them a chance to contemplate their moves, she plowed them into trees, slammed her horn into their heads, and smacked them around. Trees fell. The ground sank beneath her massive weight and Wanda continued, prepared to murder anyone who came within inches of Cosmo.
"Wait! Stop!" Daniel said, throwing his hands up. Wanda snorted and lowered her head. Cosmo yelped.
((Wait!)) he called and sent a weak mollification through her. It paused her and she contemplated her godson with her poor vision.
Whatever Daniel had intended to say, it was lost in the giant cloud arising and Jorgen slamming his wand into the ground. He glowered at Cosmo and Wanda and, with another jab, transformed them back into faeries. He grabbed them in one huge fist. Cosmo's shirt was soaked with blood and Jorgen paused, his fingers coated with it. Startled, he looked at Daniel and then at Cosmo and Wanda.
"What is going on here?" Jorgen demanded.
"I request a transfer," Daniel snapped.
"You tried to kill us!" Wanda retorted. "And you tried to keep me from Cosmo-"
"Wait a minute," Jorgen said and squeezed Cosmo tighter. The green haired fairy turned blue.
"...can't...breathe..." he panted. Wanda groped for her wand, waved it, and healed her beloved, also replacing his clothing. Daniel sneered, but he had a faraway gleam in his eyes.
"Is this true?" Jorgen thundered. "Did you try to murder your fairy godparents?"
Daniel looked down and then back up. Lips curled, he said, "I want a transfer. Now."
Jorgen pounded his wand on the ground and brought them back to Fairy World. Wanda groaned, grateful Cosmo was alive but more than a little worried about how Jorgen was going to take the news.
"Wait," Timmy said. "You're telling me the worst godson you've ever had also tried to kill you?"
He folded his arms across his chest. "How exactly does that make us different?"
Cosmo and Wanda exchanged a look. "Uh..."
"He was just a bastard," Tootie suggested. "And you were brainwashed."
Timmy glared. "I don't really see the difference."
"Hang on, we've got more!" Cosmo promised. Wanda groaned. Sad but true.
"The only difference I see is that Jorgen actually cared last time," Timmy jeered. "What the hell is keeping him from noticing us now?"
"That's a very good question, sport..." Wanda said. She and Cosmo exchanged a look. "I don't know..."
"But it's getting late, so we should go to bed," Cosmo said. "Night!"
"It's only seven thirty," Timmy said blankly.
"Yeah, well, early to bed and early to rise makes something something...uh, line?"
((Why isn't Jorgen monitoring us?))
((I don't know...))
It was a disquieting thought that lingered.
