Chapter 25 Donovan in Danger
"What's going on?" asked Diamond, seeming to arrive at the scene at the exact same time as Kim.
She had burst into the kitchen only to see her parents and her grandmother standing exactly where they should be but no Donovan. Her mother looked shaken and had fallen to the floor with her hand covering mouth in despair, a kitchen knife in her hand. Kim's father had taken more of aggressive stance a wielded a rubber, cooking spoon which he quickly put away. Her grandmother on the other hand was quickly hiding in her coat pocket whatever the first thing she had pulled out was and Kim failed to notice what it was.
"What happened mom?" said Emily, rushing to the scene only seconds behind followed quickly by John and Corbin.
"Where's Donovan?" Professor Silva called before she even reached the kitchen.
"Come on children let's go upstairs," said Grandmother Alberta who seemed to recover the quickest. She shot a glance at Kim who was the only one she didn't forcefully ussure up the stairs.
"Where is Uncle Donovan?" Kim asked when there was still no answer to Professor Silva's question.
"G-gone," said her mother, in a shaky voice.
Mr. Banks helped her to her feet. Kim had never seen her mother this scared before and it was more terrifying than a night alone in the forbidden forest under a full moon.
"What do you mean gone?" Kim asked desperately. "What was that scream?"
"Kim, your mother is very upset right now I don't think you should-" said her father but Mrs. Banks cut him off. She looked dead serious and looked at Kim with intention in her eyes.
"There was this man who came out of nowhere," she said in a very low tone. "He told us he'd been tracking our family. Then Donovan came and he was holding the necklace Gran gave you. The man took one look at it, grabbed Donovan and then disappeared into thin air."
Kim stumbled backwards and Diamond had to catch her. Professor Silva broke down into tears. What were they going to do with Donovan? Who had taken him? And with him gone there was no escape from tonight's full moon. Her entire family was in danger.
"Kim you and Diamond need to go upstairs," said her father as her mother started to cry again.
"No but I-" Kim said.
"Go!" said her father
"Dad I can't I-"
"Kimberly, GO NOW!" He shouted so loudly all the pigeons grazing in her front lawn suddenly flew off with a jump and just kept on flying.
Kim and Diamond ran upstairs. Trapped in her bedroom, Kim paced back and forth. Idea's running through her head, none of them any plans to save Donovan. Diamond was upset two and kept bouncing a ball against the ceiling which made an annoying sound.
"Would you quit that?" Kim snapped and the ball fell to the floor.
It was already five o'clock, the time that she and Donovan should be leaving and yet there was nothing here that could bring her safety. Kim had only one choice to protect her family. She would have to run away.
Kim began packing as Diamond tried to convince her out of doing it.
"You have a basement don't you?" she said. "We can just lock you in there for the night and everyone will still be okay."
"My family will hear my freaky wolf howls," Kim said. "I don't want them to know."
"Well that's not really a choice right now," said Diamond, a little louder than Kim had expected. "They're not going to just let you out of the house when a psycho kidnapped just broke into your house. I wouldn't be surprised if your grandmother has enchanted the entire house by now. There's no getting in, or out."
Kim sat back down on her bed and buried her face in her hands.
"At sundown you can lock me in the basement," she said quietly. "Just promise me you won't let me hurt them."
"I'll do whatever it takes," Diamond said.
The last few hours of Christmas went by quickly only it didn't feel like Christmas anymore. It felt more like a freakish nightmare gone haywire. A little later, Corbin asked if he could go play in the Christmas snow just one last time and Kim thought this was also a good idea because she'd be able to keep a better watch on the sky this way. She and Diamond went outside and played on the snow covered swing set, only they didn't really talk. They just watched the sky.
"What was that?" Kim said and she stood up abruptly from her swing.
She could have sworn she'd seen a flash of light from off in the forest. The Banks had a house where the backyard opened up into the piney woods. It was a place Emily use to take the other children exploring when they were a little younger. It was always fun because there was a little creek they could splash around in and pretend they were swamp creatures. There was another cry and none other than Donovan appeared at the edge of the forest. He was badly injured.
"Uncle Donovan! Professor Umbridge!" the girls called after him as they ran forward.
"No stay back," he croaked.
The snow beneath him was turning an unfortunate ruby color and Diamond stumbled backward a few feet. Just then a dark cloud appeared and left behind a man dressed in all black who was wielding a wand aimed at Donovan.
"Crucio!" hissed the man and a strange spell Kim didn't recognize seemed to take over Donovan's body making him rock back and forth.
"Stop!" Kim shouted, boldly marching forward even though she seemed to no longer be in charge of her legs. They had a much braver mind of their own.
"Aw a little girl," hissed the man in dark robes. "Want to join this man here to die?"
The direction of the man's wand now pointed at Kim. She heard Donovan scream something inaudible but it was too late. Kim was filled with unbearable pain and was forced to her knees in the snow. She was hot and her insides were burning. The pain levels were now almost greater than they were when she transformed. She griped at the snow, trying to cool her insides down but Kim didn't know how much longer she could take of this. All of a sudden there were new footsteps running behind her.
"Stupify!" cried the voice and a red light cleared Kim's vision.
She lay face up in the snow but who she saw standing before her was not her grandmother like she'd expected but her mother. Mrs. Banks stood firmly in the snow, wand pointed directly at the kidnapper who had been blasted back several feet. The blow had caused his head to hit a tree trunk with a thunk and he was now lying under a mountain of snow from the branches, unconscious.
"Mom?" Kim muttered, still in shock of everything that just happened.
"It's okay baby, it's okay," Mrs. Banks said, running her hands through Kim's browning, blonde hair. "You're alright now. Don't do anything like that again. Mom!" she called. "Harold! Emanuel!"
Donovan was still in life threatening danger. He was losing a lot of blood and was quickly joined by Professor Silva, Mr. Banks and Grandmother Alberta. Professor Silva held his hand and ran her fingers through his hair while Mr. Banks pulled out his wand and began binding the wound using magic. Kim was pretty sure he was completely unconscious now.
"You and dad are wizards?" Kim asked, still hazy from whatever curse she'd been hit with.
"Not now honey," said Kim's mother who helped her sit up. "We'll talk later about this. Let's get you inside. We'll put on a cup of tea. Everything will be alright."
Just then the kidnapper started to stir and Kim was once again filled with strength. She stood up and whipped out her wand and pointed it at the villain just as he was about to disappear. Rule or no rule, this guy wasn't going anywhere.
"Kim!" Diamond suddenly screamed sheer terror and pointed at the darkened sky. The last cloud had finally moved away and a flat, silver glowing orb stared down angrily at Kim and the Banks family.
"What is it?" said Mrs. Banks scanning the forest desperately for whatever she thought Diamond was screaming about.
Kim could already feel that it was too late. The thing inside had already clenched hold of her muscles. and as the moonlight fell over her, her gaze went slack. She knew she had to fight harder than she ever had to fight in her entire life but after enduring that awful curse, she had little to no strength left. Suddenly she was bear tackled by Diamond who helped stop her from falling down but she stood rigid and immobile in her friend's tight clench, shaking back and forth as her limbs all threatened to expand at once.
"You know who you are Kim, you know who you are," screamed Diamond.
Kim's family still didn't seem to understand what was happening. They just stood there frozen like ice sculptures.
"Find it in yourself Kim. You know who you are. You're truly in here," Diamond shrieked and jabbed a finger into Kim's expanding chest where her heart should be.
Kim could feel her pulse quicken and her mind threatening to slip away at any given second. Her face grew painfully hot and painful as her muzzle exploded outward and her fangs shot out. There were terrified reactions around her as everyone took a step back. She didn't want to watch them any longer or feel the pain of transformation. All she wanted was to let go.
"Diamond let go of me!" she wanted to scream but no words came out, only a terrified howl.
Finally Kim grew so big and grotesque, Diamond was forced to release her and was sent sprawling backwards in the snow. Kim could hold on no longer. She let her wand fall to the ground and raced off into the forest.