Disclaimer: I do not own Boy Meets World.

Chapter 9

The walk over to the abandoned pier was both the longest and shortest walk he had ever gone on in his life. He kept questioning whether this was a smart idea or not. In the end, he always came to the same decision: smart or not, this was something he had to do. He couldn't just sit back at home and wait while his friend—his sister—was in danger. He had to do something, even if all he could do was lend some moral support that wasn't even wanted—and even if it was needed, he knew Dani would never admit to it.

Dani turned towards him as he approached. The surprise on her face briefly morphed to fear before anger took over. "What the hell are you doing here?" Dani asked. "This is too dangerous. Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Cory said, trying to ignore how his heart pounded at the reminder of how serious this situation was.

"This is my job," Dani said.

"You get paid?"

"It's a figure of speech. Paid or not, it is my responsibility. You need to leave. Now. Please."

"Dani, you brought your foster-brother?" Brody's voice rang out. "Why?" His tone was pleasant—not even the slightest hint of malice—but it made Cory's blood run cold. No turning back now.

"He was just leaving," Dani said. "Weren't you?" She turned to look at Cory. He met her stare head on.

"Nah," he said. "I think I'll stay. Nice place. Kind of cozy in a dank and dirty kind of way."

'Cory, what are you doing?' Dani's voice sounded in Cory's mind.

'I'm staying,' he thought back.

Brody looked confused. He purposefully walked towards them, eyes focused on Dani. Cory just barely stopped himself from budging. He glanced over at Dani. She had her full-on G.I. Jane look going, with her gaze directed towards Brody, but very obviously avoiding looking directly at him. Cory frowned. Was that how he did it? Through eye contact?

"Dani, what's going on? What's wrong?" Brody asked. Cory cringed at the false concern in his voice. "Why won't you look at me?"

Dani took a step forward. Cory almost stumbled when she nudged him backwards. "You can drop the act. I know who you are, or rather what you are," Dani said. "Diligo Venustas. Sound familiar?"

All sense of the mild-mannered boy he portrayed vanished. His normally care-filled and loving expression hardened. His lips quirked up in a smirk. His eyes took on a manic gleam. "So, you figured it out. I'm almost impressed." He took a few more purposeful steps towards Dani. "I have to say, I'm almost glad. It was exhausting trying to pretend I actually cared about your pathetic existence."

"Hey, pal," Cory said, walking around Dani. "The only pathetic one here is you. I mean, you actually used magic to get a girl to be interested in you."

"Cory, stay out of this," Dani said.

"I mean seriously . . . give it up. Go without a girl, if it's that hard for you. It's okay to be single, but a love spell, really?"

"Cory!"

"You can't get much more pathetic than that."

A ball of fire shot from Brody's hand.

Dani shoved Cory to the side.

The fire flew back at Brody.

He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The fireball flew through the smoke—hit a trash bin—burned up in a matter of seconds.

A puff of smoke re-appeared. Brody stood, unfazed, when it cleared.

"Cory, get behind me and stay behind me," Dani tele-spoke.

How could any of this be real? Well, yeah, he knew about Dani before, but somehow that seemed different.

He almost jumped a bit when he felt someone grab his arm. It was just Dani. She and Brody were locked in some kind of supernatural sparring match. He tried not to let his mind supply the fact that it was of the lethal variety. Cory felt a slight tug on his arm. Dani was slowly moving sideways in front of him. He moved with her. Cory snapped out of it enough to see Brody was moving with her too.

What were they doing? What good would circling around one another do?

Dani stopped before they even made it halfway around. She let go of his arm. Reached into her pocket for something. Whatever it was, it glinted in the light coming from the streetlights as she pulled it out. She threw it.

"Cory, shield your eyes," Dani tele-spoke.

Cory didn't question it. He just obeyed. Seconds after he did, his eyelids grew so bright, he could see the skin color of his eyelids. The brightness disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

He opened his eyes. Brody stood across the dock, blinking rapidly.

Dani turned around abruptly. Cory met her gaze. "Go." She nodded her head towards Cory.

Cory looked behind him. The old abandoned boathouse was right there. He didn't waste another second before running through the door. He crinkled his nose at the musty smell of the place. It was dim, with just enough light from the streetlamps outside drifting in through the many windows to help light it a bit. There were coils of rope piled in one corner—clusters of barrels, wooden cabinets, and stacks of crates scattered throughout the room. The floorboards creaked under his feet. He heard the telltale click of the door closing behind him. Dani was by his side in moments, guiding him over towards a stack of crates.

She put her arm around his shoulders. He could feel the pressure as she began to lower herself to the ground. He followed her lead and did the same, hiding behind the stack of crates. Cory stayed down when she released his shoulders.

He met her gaze. "Stay here," he heard her voice in his mind.

Cory grabbed her arm when she started to stand. "Where are you going? Are you nuts?" he thought back.

"He'll be here any second. I have to deal with him."

"He'll kill you."

"He'll try. And he won't stop trying until I deal with him."

Cory still wanted to stop her. She shouldn't be dealing with this. She should leave this to someone older—more qualified—more experienced, but that was the problem . . . there wasn't anyone else. Not here, anyways, and he didn't even know the first thing about how to contact anyone like that. There probably wasn't even time for that either, but this was insane.

Cory aborted another attempt to pull Dani back when she stopped herself.

"Here Dani, Dani, Dani," Brody's voice echoed around the room.

Cory suppressed a shudder that had nothing to do with the damp chill in the air.

"Come out, come out wherever you are."

Cory never knew a cliché could be so creepy. Cory rested his forehead against the rough wood in front of him. He wanted to be anywhere but here. Heck, even History with Feeny was better than this.

"I know you're in here. I can sense your power. It's just radiating off of you. So much power."

Cory felt his stomach churn at the almost hungry sound in Brody's voice—like his foster-sister was nothing more than something to be devoured.

"Did you know that fear and adrenaline make it all the more potent? I could probably sense you from across the world right now."

Cory looked over at Dani. Her eyes were closed. She had to be terrified. The only sign of it, though, was her closed eyes.

"You're just delaying the inevitable. I will find you."

Dani opened her eyes. Her G.I. Jane look was back in place. "Cory, stay here. No arguments. Please." She looked around the side of the crate.

Cory just barely stopped himself from trying to grab her when she quickly and quietly moved over to crouch behind some barrels that were clumped together, staying low to the ground as she did so. This couldn't be happening. This really couldn't be happening. This creep was trying to kill her, and Dani was going to face him.

By the time he looked over towards her again, it took a moment for him to find her. She had moved again. She was standing with her back to the side of a tall wooden cabinet. She closed her eyes briefly, before reaching into her pocket and pulling something out. Cory squinted. It looked like a sheet of paper. She looked straight up for a moment before grabbing her necklace and stepping out from her hiding place beside the cabinet.

Brody, for the moment, thankfully, seemed not to notice yet.

Cory watched Dani purposefully walk forward, one hand clutching her necklace while the other held the paper out in front of her. "This isn't your place," she began, voice strong and commanding. "This world—this realm—this plane of existence doesn't belong to you." She let go of her necklace and stretched her hand out in front of her towards Brody. "You don't belong here."

Brody disappeared—that same weird puff of smoke Cory saw back on the dock left in his wake. There was another puff of smoke directly in front of Dani. "On the contrary." Brody appeared as the smoke cleared. "This is exactly where I belong." Brody grabbed Dani. They both disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Cory felt his stomach plummet. He frantically looked around the room, giving up any attempt at hiding. She couldn't be gone. She couldn't—

There was another puff of smoke over at the back wall. When it cleared, Cory saw Brody pinning Dani to the wall. The creep's hand was holding Dani's jaw, holding her head in place. Brody's own face was only inches from hers. Not good. Not good at all. If Cory's guess was right, if eye contact was what cast the spell . . . .

Dani's eyes were closed. There was little relief in that.

Cory frantically looked around him. He had to do something. There had to be something he could do. There . . . . One of the lids on a barrel was loose. It was shifted so it was only partially covering the barrel. No, he couldn't. Could he? Only one way to find out.

Cory rushed over to the lid, picked it up, threw it like a frisbee at Brody. It grazed the warlock's back. Not quite what he was hoping for, but . . . .

Brody looked straight at him. He let go of Dani and took a terrifying step towards Cory. Okay, so maybe Cory didn't really think this through.

Brody flew backwards. Cory looked back at Dani. She lifted her one arm out to the side. Cory backed up a step as a barrel flew over, hitting into Brody just as he was getting up. It kept ramming into him and tripping him up anytime it seemed he was making progress.

Cory's eyes widened. Well, alright then.

Dani clutched the paper still in her hand back in front of her. She brought her other arm back in and grabbed hold of her necklace. The barrel still kept Brody busy. "This is not your place," she began again. "This world—this realm—this plane of existence doesn't belong to you." She let go of her necklace and stretched her hand out towards Brody. The barrel knocked the warlock over again. "You don't belong here. Your power—your control over others is diminished. You have no power over me—over anyone. Your power from Hell means nothing. This is God's earth. You don't belong here. Leave this place. Go back where you came from. Go back to where you belong. Go back to Hell."

Cory's eyes widened further. He could almost feel a static charge in the air. He just knew if he lifted up his sleeves and looked at his arms, he'd see all the hair standing up. A slight breeze blew through the room. It almost seemed to grow a little lighter. Cory didn't need to look outside to know it wasn't coming from the lights out there.

Dani walked towards the warlock. "You don't belong here. Leave now. Go back to Hell."

Flames leapt up from the ground below Brody. Cory stumbled back a bit. The flames surrounded the warlock—didn't burn him, just grabbed him—dragged him down. All traces of the flames and Brody were gone.

Cory stood frozen in place. What just happened?

Dani lowered her raised arms and put the paper back in her pocket. Cory was already staring at her when she looked over at him. Their eyes instantly met. "You okay?" she asked.

Cory tried opening his mouth to reply, but couldn't get any sound out. He felt a little like a fish. "Am I okay?" That came out a lot weaker than he was hoping for. Not surprising. "I'm not the one who just . . . ." He waved his hand around to indicate everything that just happened. He didn't even know how to put that into words.

"I'm used to this. You're not. So, yeah, I'm asking if you're okay." Dani's voice was gentle, soothing almost.

It almost felt like the earth was moving beneath him. This building was anchored into the river with several wooden posts. It shouldn't be swaying, right? "I'm . . . I'm . . . I don't really know what I am right now." Dani seemed pretty steady ahead of him, so it had to just be Cory. He really wished he could stop swaying.

He barely noticed when Dani helped him sit back down on the ground again. "Cory?" she asked. Cory jumped a little at her voice and snapped his focus back onto her. She was crouched in front of him. When did that happen? He could have sworn he saw a look of hurt flash in her eyes for a second, but it was gone so fast, he wasn't sure if he had just been seeing things. She moved over so she was sitting beside him, back to the crate, like he was—except there was enough space between them, at least one other person could sit there. "I'm sorry, Cory," she began, voice gentle. "I know this is a lot to take in—a lot to deal with. You never should have had to see any of this."

'A lot to take in' was an understatement.

"When we get back to the house," Dani continued, "I'll give you your space, but I need to get you back there first. I can't just leave you here like this, and I'm sure you have to understand now why no one else can know about this. After we get back, I'll keep my distance. I promise."

Cory stared over at her. She was looking at the wall. What? Why would she think that?

Then it clicked. He hadn't imagined that look of hurt. She'd noticed him get startled when she crouched in front of him before. She must have taken that to mean it was because of her. "Dani, that's not . . ." Cory said. He shifted so he was facing her more fully. "You tried to keep me out of this. I was the one who chose to come, and I was the one who chose to stay. I don't want you to keep your distance. You're my friend—my sister. I . . . ."

She finally met his gaze. He didn't miss the slight confusion there.

"I just . . . I . . . ." This was all just too much. He wished he could put the genie back in the bottle. At the same time, though, he didn't want to. Like everyone else, he was tired of the mystery surrounding Dani. And here it was . . . out in the open. He knew more than anyone else, but he still didn't know everything. If he did this, there was no going back. Not the first time that thought crossed his mind that night. The memories of this past night ran through his mind. No going back. The lid was off the lamp. Time to get the genie to come the rest of the way out. "What are you involved in? What is all of this? I know you explained a little before, but . . . I need to know. Please. No more secrets."

Cory and Dani stared at one another for a long time. Cory wasn't sure if she was going to answer him. After what seemed like an eternity, Dani finally gave a slight jerk of a nod. "Alright," she said. "No more secrets." She looked away from him for another long moment. "I'm one of the Protectors. We're individuals chosen to fight evil and protect people from that evil—the evil, of course, being the warlocks that I already told you about."

"Demons in human form," Cory said, recalling what she said earlier that evening.

"Right." Dani gave a slight nod. "It's my responsibility—and the responsibility of others like me—to . . . well, to banish them back to Hell."

That was what Cory had just witnessed. "Why? Why you? How did you even get involved in this? Why would you get involved in this?"

"I didn't choose this. It chose me. As for why me? I've been asking myself that same question for the last four and a half years. I don't know. I just know one day I was normal, and the next, I wasn't. The first warlock attacked about a month or so after I first started getting my powers. Then I went looking for answers. I found a bookshop that specialized in the weird and unexplained—didn't even really know what I was looking for. The shop owner came over to help when she saw how lost I looked. She took one look at my necklace and said she knew exactly what I was looking for. She went into a back room, then came back out with a book that had the same symbol as my necklace on the cover. I asked her how much. She said it was on the house. That it was the least she could do. I understood when I read through the intro. It explained what I am, what warlocks are, and what I'm supposed to do. I didn't choose to get involved in this. I was thrown into this and had to learn how to deal with it or die trying."

"How old were you?"

"Twelve."

Cory stared at her. What?

"Long ago, those destined to be Protectors got their abilities when they were young so they could learn how to use them." She held out her necklace. "They'd have one of these necklaces so they'd have a key to finding answers when curiosity drove them to look. Everything else didn't kick in until they were 18. Somewhere along the line, more and more warlocks stopped honoring that agreement. Warlocks can sense our power the moment we receive it. I guess there must be a different feel to it in underage Protectors versus of age. I don't know that any of them bother to pay attention to that anymore."

She'd been dealing with stuff like what he'd just witnessed since she was twelve. The biggest problems he'd had when he was twelve were Harley Keiner, Frankie "The Enforcer," and Joey "The Rat." Granted yeah, dealing with those three had been a big deal for him, but compared to what he just saw, that was nothing. It explained a lot about Dani. Wow.

"What was that you called Brody before?" Cory asked "Something about Deli . . . Dili . . . ."

"Diligo Venustas?"

"Yeah. What does that mean? Is that his warlock name or something?"

"It's his clan," Dani said. "There are some things that all warlocks have in common—teleportation, Electrokinesis, and Pyrokinesis. Many also have other abilities that are specific to their clan. The Diligo Venustas clan is known mainly for mental and emotional control through eye contact. Not all are love spell types, that's just Brody's M.O. It's always important to know the clan, not only to know what I'm up against, but also because the banishment process is sometimes specific to the clan."

Cory's mind reeled with everything he had seen and learned. And he couldn't tell anyone about it. Okay, maybe he could—at least the rest of the island family—but he knew he shouldn't. Not even their parents. At least now, one person knew everything that was going on with Dani. If he gained and managed to keep her trust, at least she wouldn't be completely alone in this. If he betrayed that trust—and telling anyone about this would betray that trust—that might not be the case.

Neither Cory nor Dani said much on the walk back to their house. Cory had a lot to process, and Dani was either giving him space to do so or she was trying to deal with everything that she went through . . . maybe even both.

Even though both of them had snuck out of the house earlier, Dani wouldn't let him climb up the tree. That was probably for the best. He still felt shaky.

The kitchen light was still on. Their parents were both visible through the window. The foster-siblings looked at one another before walking in the door.

Their parents looked over at them as soon as they walked in the door.

"I thought both of you were upstairs," his dad said. "When did you go out?"

"You know you're supposed to tell us when you're going somewhere and where you're going," his mom said.

'Let me handle this,' Dani tele-spoke in Cory's mind. "Yeah, sorry," she said out loud. "That's my fault. Brody and I broke up. I just went out for a walk—needed to clear my head and all. Cory decided to tag along. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry about that."

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I thought everything was great between you two."

"It was at first, but it turned out he was a little too controlling."

Talk about an understatement.

"Are you okay?" their dad asked.

"I will be," Dani said. "I'm pretty tired. It's been a long night. I think I'm just gonna finish my homework and turn in. Good night."

They all said 'good night' back before she walked up the stairs.

Cory stared at the steps for a few seconds longer after she had turned the corner. He sighed and looked back at his parents. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything before I left. I probably could have caught up with her after coming to let you know we were going out. I just didn't want to leave her alone."

His parents shared a look. "It's okay this time," his dad said. "You were just being a good friend and a good brother."

Cory turned to head upstairs.

"And about that guy she was dating—Brody, was it?" his dad asked. "What—?"

"It's really just what she said. He was just . . . controlling. Just completely and totally controlling. I mean, controlling like you wouldn't believe." He was in danger of rambling. He couldn't let himself do that. "But yeah, Dani broke up with him, so . . . ."

He tried to ignore the look his parents gave one another. They were pretty good at reading him and knowing when he was keeping stuff from them. And now he was keeping a huge secret from them. Things were definitely going to be interesting. That's for sure.

"I think I'm gonna turn in too. Good night."