Henry did his best to keep William calm throughout the rest of the day, but it was hard when night drew closer and with it might come a repeat of the previous night's horrors.
William was very quiet all day, and he sat curled up on the couch while Henry explained to the kids in the most kid-friendly way possible, what might happen to him in a few hours. He sat with his arms wrapped tight around his knees and he stared, haunted, at a spot on the floor, as though he expected something to claw up through the carpet. The bruises from that morning had deepened and Henry was aware that, during the night, Will had hit his face on something and given himself a black eye.
Charlie, Elizabeth, and Nicholas sat on one long couch and across from them on the other sofa, sat Henry, Will, and Michael; Mike was excited to be on the couch with the adults and he eagerly clarified the parts of Henry's explanation that he felt might confuse his younger siblings. Charlie caught on quickly, though she didn't exactly believe them at first, but that was okay, just so long as they stayed out of the second basement. The younger ones believed immediately and asked William what they deemed very important questions such as what color his "bunny-form" was and if he had named it and why did he turn into a bunny instead of something cool like a velociraptor and could he do it right now for them please just once?
William didn't act like he heard them, but with each question, he sank a little further into himself and Henry realized that, inside, he was probably freaking out.
"Okay, you guys," Henry said cheerfully as he stood up. "Go outside and play and give your dad some space." Elizabeth and Nicholas reluctantly obeyed, after Elizabeth planted a surprise kiss on Will's cheek, which made him flinch. Mike and Charlie wandered outside, too, with a pile of comic books.
When they were gone, Henry sat slowly beside Will. "What do you need, bud?" he asked quietly.
William smoothed his hair back with his good hand, still staring at the spot on the carpet. "We should've never messed with that damned goo," he said under his breath. "Should have just…" He paused, picking at a patch of stubble on his chin he had missed shaving.
Henry put his arm around his friend's shoulder, the way he knew Will found comforting. "We'll figure it out," he said. "Okay?"
William nodded in agreement, but it looked more like surrender. William had never been good dealing with even mildly-stressful situations. If the party supply company sent them the wrong size party cups or they ran out of pizza with still more parties scheduled for the day, he would leave his apron, gloves, and name tag on a kitchen counter and announce he was going to go into the back to "get some work done," which usually meant he was going to lock himself in the safe room with the crime novel he had brought in his briefcase. And when he did, Henry would figure out alone how to make do with the tiny party cups and how to ration the pizza so there was enough for everyone.
William couldn't leave this one to Henry, though, as much as he would like to. There was a chance he wouldn't change tonight at all, and then Henry would happily return all the supplies to the farm store, unused, and years later they would sit on the porch and laugh about the time they were legitimately scared William was going to turn into a giant rabbit. But until they knew for sure, they had to prepare as though it really was going to happen.
William hugged his knees tighter and rested his forehead on them, hiding his face. Henry patted him gently on the back. "Come on," he said. "We better get everything set up."
They went down to Will's lab and removed all the equipment they thought the rabbit might damage, which ended up being everything except the desk and shelves; they left the old loveseat down there as well, which William promptly curled up on to watch Henry take the heavy stuff out. Henry didn't have the heart to ask him to help. Henry took boxes of half-finished animatronic limbs and trays of nano-technology experiments into his lab and tucked them into any spare corner he could find. The boxes lined the walls and covered the floors, leaving only a narrow walkway from one set of stairs to the other. When Henry finished, he went back into the second basement to check on his shell-shocked friend.
William was off the couch and standing in the center of the room with his back to Henry, opening and closing his hands nervously as he scanned the room for anything else the rabbit might break.
"Do you think it'll leave my desk alone?" he asked quietly and it took a moment for Henry to realize he was talking to him and not himself.
"With the tranquilizers, I'm hoping it'll leave everything alone and just take a nap," Henry replied.
William flexed his hands again. Open and closed. "Do you think it's really safe to have it here?" he asked. "Maybe we should do this out in the woods away from the house?"
Henry wasn't used to hearing Will talk like this. He had gone from denial that morning to now talking as though the transformation was inevitable. Maybe he felt something sour stirring inside: an unsettling knowing that something was going to happen, the way dogs always seem to know when a thunderstorm is forming.
Henry put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "This is the safest place for whatever happens," he said. "It always has been, hasn't it? You, me, the kids, the house, we're strong here."
William looked away and seemed like he was going to sink to the floor, but Henry held him up. "Hey," he said softly. "It's half past six, about three hours before sunset. What do you say we get dinner and relax for a bit? Jeopardy's on at seven. It's the championship tonight, remember?"
"I think I better stay down here and wait," said William unhappily.
"We'll eat down here with you, then," said Henry. "We'll get the rabbit stuff ready and the moment something happens—if anything does—we'll get the hell out. Sound good?"
"No…"
"Tough," said Henry, "Wait here and we'll bring the food down."
"No." William shrugged Henry's hand off. "Fine, I'll watch the damn game show with you." He clumsily climbed the stairs, muttering, "Last thing I need is my children to see me in a muzzle." Henry was glad to see a little life return to William and, thinking his pep talk had worked, he followed him up without further comment. Besides, William had been looking forward to the championship all week; watching might help take his mind off things, at least for half an hour.
As Henry climbed the final staircase into the kitchen, he almost ran into Elizabeth who was coming down the other way with her arms full of blankets. She tripped on the stairs and pitched forward and only avoided tumbling down into the lab when Henry grabbed the back of her shirt.
"Whoa, Lizzie! Where's the fire?" he asked.
"Daddy and I are having a sleepover," she announced and it was then that Henry noticed she was carrying two pillows and enough blankets for two people, along with a laundry bag full of toys. "I brought him toys so he won't be bored in his lab when he turns into a bunny."
Henry chuckled to himself. "Does your daddy know that?" he asked as he helped her take the supplies into his lab.
"Yeah," Elizabeth replied. "He told me earlier." Did he now? thought Henry. Elizabeth was so confident in her fibs that she didn't pay much attention to whether they were believable; it was no mystery who she had picked that up from.
Elizabeth peered down the stairs into the second basement. "You took all the stuff out of his lab," she said. "All his books and stress ball things and desk toys. Good thing I brought my ponies. He would have been super bored!"
Henry crouched to her level. "That's very sweet of you, Lizzie, but I'm afraid you can't stay with your dad tonight," he said. "You can hang out with him upstairs until it gets dark, but after that, you, your brothers, and Charlotte need to stay upstairs, okay?"
Elizabeth crossed her arms sourly, scrunching up the unicorn iron-on graphic on her t-shirt, making it look like it was frowning, too. "But what's he gonna do by himself all night? What if he gets lonely? Or sad or bored?"
Henry motioned to his own desk, which was piled with his and William's files of research and poorly organized tools, wires, and bolts. "I'll be right in that chair if he needs anything," he explained. "All he's gotta do is knock. I can keep a few toys and blankets down here in case he gets bored or cold. If you want."
Elizabeth crossed her arms tighter. "It's not fair," she said, her strawberry blonde curls falling into her face. "I wanna see him turn into a rabbit."
All three Afton kids looked quite a bit like William, especially when they made faces like that. Even though Elizabeth had her mother's hair, she had her father's signature scowl. "He might not even turn into a rabbit," reasoned Henry. "He might just sleep all night and nothing'll happen."
"Lame," muttered Elizabeth.
"Lame's good sometimes, kiddo," said Henry, ruffling her hair. She was still frowning but couldn't help giggling a little. "Come on, you can keep your dad company while I make meatloaf."
"Charlie and Mike are already making mac and cheese," said Elizabeth as they walked up the stairs into the kitchen together.
Sure enough, there they were, standing at the counter together, Charlie stirring the boiling noodles while Mike threw lettuce and what was left of the bacon bits into a bowl to make a salad. Nicholas was outside kicking a soccer ball at lawn ornaments and sprinkler heads. William was nowhere to be seen, but when Elizabeth ran up the stairs, Henry knew William wouldn't be alone for long.
With a smile, Henry went to the fridge and got himself a coke. "Thanks, guys," he said, pressing it to his face, sweaty from carrying all those boxes upstairs. "That's thoughtful of you."
Charlie smiled back at him as she stirred. She was strong and lean from a childhood of backyard stick sword fights and falling out of trees; more than one baby tooth had been knocked out via both. She looked more grown up every day and Henry was immensely proud of her. He wondered what her brother would have been like as a teenager.
"It was getting late and you seemed busy," she said. "And Mike said his dad likes mac and cheese, so we thought it'd make him feel better."
Henry grinned knowingly at Mike, but Mike didn't smile back. Blushing, he focused even more intently on mixing the salad. Michael was a good, kindhearted kid, but for some reason he acted as though people finding that out was the worst thing in the world.
"I'm sure he'll appreciate it," said Henry, deciding not to embarrass Mike anymore. "Anything I can help with, Charlotte?"
"We got it handled, Dad," said Charlie. Then after a moment, "Maybe get the plates out?"
"Can do," he replied.
Once everything was ready, Henry went upstairs to find Will and Elizabeth, who were sitting on Will's bed together. Elizabeth was showing her dad her sky dancer toy and how, if she angled it when she pulled the string, she could make the rabbit ballerina land on the dresser. William still looked tired and stressed, but he did seem a little more at ease playing with Elizabeth. Henry knocked softly on the door, told them dinner was ready, and then went downstairs to turn on the TV, since it was almost seven.
Henry, Will, and the kids piled on the couches in the living room with their steaming plates of mac and cheese and a little salad as they listened to the familiar opening theme song play across the blue screen. Everyone's favorite part was trying to guess the answers to the questions, and then William would remind anyone who misspoke that they had to phrase it as a "who or what" question or it didn't count. With their mental capacities combined, they got about half the questions right, which was pretty good for a championship round and Elizabeth announced that if she was on Jeopardy, she'd win. Henry laughed and agreed she would. William seemed to be having a good time, but about halfway through his dinner, he got up and took his plate to the kitchen.
"Goodnight, everyone," he said hazily without bothering to poke his head back into the living room. Henry heard the basement door open.
"It's not even seven thirty," Henry called over the back of the couch.
"Goodnight," Will repeated more quietly and clicked the door shut behind him.
Henry waited for a moment for William to re-emerge, but he didn't. The error buzzer buzzed on the TV and Henry stood up. "I'll be right back, kids," he said and he strode into the kitchen, through his lab, and into William's.
William was sitting in the middle of the blanket they had laid on the concrete floor and was slowly removing the contents of the grocery bag, lining them up in a row. He removed the cap to the tranquilizer pills and set one on the floor in front of him. Then he folded his hands and stared listlessly at his lap.
Emptied of all his projects and toys, William's lab looked like a prison cell. The naked bulb hanging from the ceiling that they never bothered to buy a casing for cast sharp shadows across all the gray, painted concrete. It was silent this far under the ground and it smelled cold and wet like earth.
"The buzzer was wigging me out," William said, as if the explanation made any sense at all. In some ways, it did.
Henry scratched the back of his neck. "Are you feeling something?" he asked. "Like before?"
William shrugged and didn't make eye contact. "I feel kinda sick, but I think it's nerves," he replied, picking at the gauze on his hand. "Probably nothing." Even though he said that, he stood up and stripped to his tank top and boxers. He folded the jeans and button-up shirt and stashed them in the bottom drawer of his desk. "So we don't have a repeat of this morning," he said.
"Good thinking," said Henry. He moved to the couch and sat down. He looked at his watch and wondered when they would know everything was safe.
"I wonder how we should…with the rope," said William.
Henry looked at his watch again. It was almost eight. "Maybe we should figure it out before…"
William nodded and began unwinding it. Henry knelt in front of him and began looping it around William's hands. He didn't know what kind of angle he should restrain the rabbit's limbs in or what kind of knots would be strong enough. He hoped that, if the tranquilizers were effective, it would be enough to tie the wrists in front and tie the ankles together. That would at least stop it from running around and breaking things.
When he looked up, he realized William was crying.
"Will, what's..." Henry asked, surprised. "Is the rope too tight?"
It took a few tries before William could get the words out. "What if this…is my life now, Henry?" He looked small and vulnerable at that moment, as wide-eyed and frightened as a child. "If it is, I don't…" he choked on the words. "I can't…"
Henry wrapped his big arms around Will and hugged him close, as though he could shield him from the rabbit lurking in the shadows waiting to tear him apart. William couldn't hug him back because his hands were bound, but he leaned his face on Henry's shoulder and wiped snot on his shirt. "You're okay," Henry said, stroking his back the way he would his children when they were in distress. "You're okay," he said, even though he didn't know if he was. They stayed that way until William stopped whimpering and hiccuping and his breathing slowed to a normal pace.
There was a knock on the basement door. William's head jerked up and Henry turned around.
"Yes?" Henry called.
"Liz and Nicky want to say goodnight," said Charlie, "but I told them they couldn't just barge in. Can they come in?"
"Uh…" Henry looked at William.
William struggled away from him and began pulling at the rope. "Get this damn rope off of me," he said. "I gotta kiss'em goodnight, I can't—you fucking tied this too tight, Henry, you—"
"Breathe," said Henry, staring him in the eye. William inhaled sharply and let it out, then again more smoothly. The mania ebbed away but not before Henry caught a strange glint in William's eyes; his pupils had looked like flat glowing disks just for a second, like dull mirrors. Henry untied William's hands and William sprang up, wiped his face on his shirt and smoothed back his hair. He strode to the door to the basement and opened it himself.
His kids fell into his arms and for a moment a grin spread across his face that was different than the one he gave Henry when he was teasing him or the one he gave customers so they would leave a nice tip. This smile was soft, unguarded, and whatever William pretended otherwise, it was clear he loved his children dearly. If not for them, he probably wouldn't have agreed to any of the precautions that night. He probably would have just gone to bed like normal and been mildly shocked when he woke up on the kitchen floor with the house trashed around him.
"You have to read to us tonight, Daddy," said Elizabeth. "Nicky says so, too. And you missed last night, so you have to read two stories!"
"I have to stay down here with Uncle Henry tonight," said William, his smile fading. "Have Mikey read to you." Mike, who was lurking in Henry's lab, crossed his arms irritably.
"He reads too fast!" said Elizabeth.
"Too fast," echoed Nick.
"And he doesn't do the voices."
Will leaned to the side to look at Michael. "Do the voices," he said.
Mike sighed. "Fine."
"And make sure they brush their teeth."
"I got it, geez. Watch your children for you. Message received."
William was quiet for a moment and seemed to go stiff. He was still hugging Elizabeth and Nicholas, but Henry saw his hands clenching so tightly they were shaking. Something was happening, William was fighting something, and Henry thought back to how he had grabbed him in Freddy's kitchen the day before and talked about killing things. Charlie noticed it too and her eyes met Henry's.
"Okay," Henry spoke up, clapping his hands together cheerfully, "Time for bed. Say goodnight, kids."
William hugged the little ones, gave them each a quick kiss on the top of the head, sent them upstairs to Michael with a half-hearted wave to him, and went to sit on the floor again. Henry walked up the stairs quickly to say goodnight to Charlie.
"Sure you're good?" Charlie asked under her breath.
Henry gave her a hug and thanked her for her concern but said that he'd be fine. "Keep everyone out of the basement, no matter what," he said. "Can you do that for me?" Charlie confirmed that she could. "That's my girl," said Henry. "Sweet dreams."
Charlie went upstairs and shut the door behind her and Henry returned to the second basement. If anything was going to happen, it was going to happen soon and with the way William was acting, the theory of the rabbit episode being a one-time fluke was becoming less and less likely. The way William was staring at the floor, knee bouncing, made him seem even more like a time bomb.
"Maybe we should get you all set up," said Henry. "It's any minute now, I think."
William's knee bounced faster. "Nothing's going to happen," he said firmly. Henry didn't say anything; he hoped Will was right, however unlikely. "Nothing's going to happen and I don't want to do this."
"It's just a precaution," said Henry. "You just have to deal with the ropes and muzzle for a few hours and then it'll be over."
William got suddenly to his feet and went to his desk, pulling his clothes back out of the drawer. "I'm not going to sit down here like some animal. I can't believe I let you convince me that this was a good idea."
Henry rose slowly. "Will, what are you doing?"
"Going upstairs to get some work done." He began putting his pants back on. "This is ridiculous and because of you, I've wasted an entire day on this shit."
Henry grabbed William's arm. "You can't," he said. "We talked about this. It's too dangerous."
"Says you," William spat, struggling to get out of Henry's grip and trying to get his other leg into the pants. "Let go, damn you!"
"You're not thinking clearly," said Henry. If it came to physically fighting him and locking him down here, would he be able to do it? "I'm not letting you upstairs."
William pushed him but he couldn't get loose. "Let go! I can't be down here—"
"You have to—"
"It's dark and it smells bad and if you don't let me go I'll—I'll bite you I'll—I'll bite your fucking head off!" William grabbed Henry's shoulders hard. His fingers dug into him and clenched, sending needles of pain through Henry's arms. When William looked up again, his eyes were glazed over and reflective like before, like dirty mirrors. And running down his face, from his tear ducts and nostrils, were big drops of black blood.
Henry pulled out of William's grip and grabbed the bottle of tranquilizer pills. "Here, take them." He dropped two pills into William's shaking hands but William didn't swallow them; he just stared down at them in wonder, as though his brain was working hard to figure out what to do with them. Henry took the pills out of his hand and slipped them into Will's mouth. "Swallow them. Like food," he said trying to smile, realizing that William's mind was slipping away and Henry was talking to the beast inside him instead, just trying to avoid being attacked. William, or whatever it was, chewed the pills and coughed and gagged.
"Good job," said Henry, mind racing. "A-plus, buddy. Now why don't you come over here, that's good, yes, just come over here and we'll take a nap, doesn't that sound nice?" William walked haltingly with him for a moment, then his gaze floated up to the open basement door. He started walking toward it but Henry stopped him. "No, not upstairs, it's time to go to sleep, okay?" William was pushing and Henry was having a harder and harder time keeping him back.
Suddenly, something snapped in William's expression and he lunged at Henry. Henry saw a flash of sharp teeth and he pushed him back hard. William slipped in the blanket and fell.
Henry used the momentary distraction to race up the stairs to safety. As he went, he heard William cry out in agony, and before closing the door, he looked back.
Will was on his stomach on the floor, writhing in pain. Henry heard something like bones snapping but he tried not to think too much about what was breaking. William's shoulders were growing and shifting, his face was transforming so fast it almost looked like it was splitting in half to make way for a snout of sharp teeth. His ears stretched long and flat, his limbs grew and bent and grew again.
William struggled his head upright on his thin, elongated neck and glared at Henry with the anger of a predator tricked into a trap. And even though his body was still tearing itself apart, the beast clawed at the floor and tried to pull itself toward the stairs.
Henry closed and locked the door immediately. He backed up against his desk. Sooner than he would have thought possible, there came scratching and snarling from the other side. The door will hold, he told himself. It's steel. It's a deadbolt. It will hold. The door shook in its hinges as the rabbit threw itself against it and Henry wondered if he needed to retreat upstairs and barricade that door instead. But finally, the assault began to subside and the scratching faded to nothing. In fact, he didn't hear anything for a long time.
Against his better judgment, Henry quietly unlocked the door and cracked it open, just wide enough to peek inside. William, now fully transformed into the rabbit from the night before, was lying at the bottom of the stairs, fast asleep. Henry let out a sigh of relief and locked the door again. He set the bottle of pills on his desk and collapsed into his chair, wishing that he had been wrong.
—
Elizabeth waited a long time just to be sure everyone was asleep before climbing down from the top bunk and sneaking out into the hall. She had tucked her Circus Baby plush under one arm and her Bonnie plush under the other, because if Uncle Henry was sleeping in the lab like he said he would, digging in the toys she had brought down originally might wake him up. And if he woke up, he'd never let her go down to see her dad.
The house was dark and quiet and she knew no one was watching her. She crept past Charlie's open bedroom door, but Charlie didn't stir. Elizabeth was proud of her sneaking skills; she could be perfectly quiet when she wanted to be. She tiptoed down the stairs, staying close to the wall to avoid squeaking, and skipping the stairs she knew squeaked all the way across. Finally, she reached the ground floor. With the skill of Johnny Quest, she turned the knob to Henry's lab and opened the door without making a noise. The basement stairs were creakier than the ones in the main part of the house, but Elizabeth had been down them so many times, that she had memorized the only quiet path.
Henry was asleep at his desk with the basement light on. His hand was clenched around a bottle of what looked like vitamins. Elizabeth craned her neck in curiosity as she passed, trying to figure out what they were, but the words were too big. All she could tell was there was a horse on the front. Maybe they were horse-flavored chewables.
Now for the hard part. With a glance to make sure Henry hadn't woken up, Elizabeth reached up to the deadbolt high up on the door and slowly turned it, paying close attention to any sign of resistance, anything that might cause the metal to squeak or grind. She worked it loose and finally got it fully unlocked. She was so excited to see her dad, to see what his bunny-form looked like, and so excited that she had gotten this far without being caught, that she was tempted to rush, but she stopped herself from yanking the door open like she usually did. She turned the knob carefully, glancing back at Henry all the time. He was so close to her that, if his eyes opened even just a little bit, he'd see her and would be able to reach over and grab her. But he didn't. She opened the door just enough to slip through, and eased it silently closed again.
Elizabeth stood on the top stair of her dad's lab. She looked around for a rabbit for a moment but then she realized that the lump of greenish-yellow fur at the bottom of the stairs was the rabbit. It was her dad. She crept down the stairs, careful not to make any noise, and stepped around the giant rabbit. It was the biggest animal she had ever seen up close and she felt bad that she had told her dad to turn into a velociraptor instead, because this rabbit-form was pretty cool. Maybe he had taken her advice and changed to a cooler version of a rabbit, more dinosaur-like with long claws and muscles and less like the fluffy ones you could buy in pet stores.
Elizabeth crouched down close to her father's massive head. His eyes were closed and his whiskers were twitching; his big, floppy ears were lying sloppily on the floor like a basset hound's. He looked like he had gotten hurt and there was some sticky black and red stuff in his fur, but he was still pretty cute. She liked his thick yellow fur. She smiled and stifled a giggle, thinking how lucky she was that her dad could turn into a rabbit and how jealous the kids at school would be.
The floppy ears shot up and the big glassy eyes popped open; both locked onto her. His nose wrinkled in a snarl, showing his long slobbery sharp teeth. His hackles rose and he began to push up onto his forearms.
The sight might have scared anyone but Elizabeth. She had taken care of a feral kitten before, so she wasn't fazed. Of course the rabbit would growl at her at first, she reasoned; it just meant he was scared because he didn't know what she was going to do. She took the Bonnie plush out from under her arm and showed it to him. His ears relaxed a little and he stretched his nose toward it, sniffing and cocking his head to the side to see it better.
"You like that one?" Elizabeth whispered. The rabbit finished sniffing and she tucked Bonnie under his paws. She showed him Circus Baby. "I like this one, too."
Her rabbit-dad reached out one clawed hand and grabbed the plush. He brought it to his nose and sniffed it for a few seconds, then set it next to the other one. Elizabeth reached out a hand and began stroking the fur between his ears. He jerked back at first, surprised, but as he stared into her eyes and she kept petting and he realized nothing bad was happening, his shoulders and whiskers relaxed and eventually, he rested his chin down on the stuffed toys. He looked sleepy, maybe a little sad, and Elizabeth felt like the petting helped.
She continued stroking his fur as they sat there together. His ears sank to the floor again and he closed his eyes with a tired sigh. Very slowly, she scooted closer and leaned her head against his bony side. Without opening his eyes, he lifted his arm to make room for her and she cuddled in close.
A/N: Lizzie never went through a "horse girl" phase, but she did fancy herself an animal-whisperer who could make friends with every feral cat and mouse and raccoon. Looks like she was right.
