They all met at the firehouse later that afternoon. Janine brought them milk & cookies. Roland, Eduardo, Kylie, & even Egon all scrambled to grab a cookie before Garrett & Slimer got ahold of them. Roland put in some Mozart on the cd player while Garrett & Slimer fought over the last cookie. Eduardo had a look of disgust on his face, but whether it was over the music or the flying slime, Kylie wasn't sure.
She smiled at her friends' antics as she reached into her bag to get her textbooks. Her smile fell abruptly when she discovered they weren't there. Or rather, when she discovered the bag wasn't hers. She let out a cry of dismay.
"What, did you forget forget your brain at home?"
Kylie shot Eduardo a deadly look.
"Eduardo." Egon's voice was a firm warning. Then gentler, to his protege', "What's the matter, Kylie?"
"This isn't my bag!"
"What?" Garrett, distracted, lost the battle for the last cookie. He growled at the ghost, & Slimer ran off-- into the kitchen, of course.
"Someone ran into me today, some guy... He must have it."
Eduardo sat up straight. "Some guy took your bag?! Did you see what he looked like?!"
"No, no, it's not like that... He was just coming out of an alley as I was walking down the street & he ran right into me.
We both fell & dropped our things. He must have grabbed my bag by mistake & THIS one," she held it up, "is actually his."
Eduardo grabbed the bag from her. "Let me see that!"
"Eduardo!"
"There must be an ID in--" He stopped, his face gone pale. "Whoa."
"What is it?" Roland stepped over & peeked into the bag. Garrett, curious as to what could cause his buddy Eddy to be struck speechless, wheeled up on his other side. Egon & Janine stood behind him. Everyone was transfixed by whatever the pack contained. Kylie wanted to snag it back, but a sense of foreboding held her in place.
Slowly Eduardo pulled the object out of the bag. It was a tooth-- a very large one, maybe 5 inches. There was an amethyst embedded in it. The tooth was held by a silver setting, strung on a broken silver chain.
"Wow, Kylie, your new boyfriend's a big game hunter!" Eduardo tested the point of the tooth with the tip of a finger. "OWWww!" It was surprisingly sharp. A drop of blood welled up. He stared at it blankly.
"Oh, be careful!" Janine, mother hen that she was, grabbed his wrist & wrapped a tissue around his finger. Egon took the tooth from Eduardo.
"Interesting," their mentor murmured.
Garret ignored him, seeing an opportunity ripe for the picking. "Awww, did widdle Eddy get bitten by the big bad tooth fairy?"
Kylie scowled at Garrett. "What is it, Egon?"
He didn't answer. Instead Egon took the tooth over to his desk & searched through the mess there. A moment later he found his PKE meter. He held the tooth up to it & turned it on. Immediately it started beeping at a high pitch.
"Just as I thought."
"What?" Roland asked, stepping over to take a look at the little screen. He gasped.
"A Class 5!"
"Whu?" Garrett wheeled over to them. "A Class 5 what?"
"It's a cursed talisman," Egon elaborated.
Eduardo felt a chill go up his spine. "C-cursed?!?" His voice came out in a squeak. He hoped no one noticed.
"It's okay, Eddy, Kylie'll lift the curse for ya!" Garrett winked at Kylie. "Or maybe not..." He grinned.
Kylie desperately hoped she wasn't blushing. Why would SHE be the one to lift it? Did they know she was a witch? Sure, she had done spells before, but then so had Egon. Was she reading too much into this?
"What do you mean by cursed, Egon?" Roland's question brought Kylie back to the matter at hand. "How did you even know to check?"
"I was just reading about it." Egon gestured towards the open book on his desk. On one page was a large colour sketch of the tooth. On the other was some text, with "The Curse of the Garou" in big fancy script at the top.
"Do-do-do-do-Do-do-do-do..." Garrett intoned.
As much as his joking often annoyed her, Kylie couldn't help but appreciate the sentiment. This was just too odd of a coincidence. They had to have come across this talisman for a reason.
"So what, am I gonna die now?" Eduardo asked, trying to laugh & hide the nervousness in his voice.
"No, no, the curse has something to do with lycanthropy."
"Oh, well then," Eduardo rolled his eyes & threw up his hands, "that's all right..." He got up and stalked into the kitchen.
"Where are you goin'?" Garrett called after him.
"A wolf's gotta eat! Or else I'll end up eating one of you!" His voice carried to them from the other room. His head followed a moment later, poking from around the doorway. "Kylie would barely make an appetizer, but you've been fattening yourself up quite nicely..."
"HEY!!" yelled Garrett & Kylie.
"Eduardo!!" chorused the others.
It was a harsh thing to have said, even for Eduardo. He sneered at them and disappeared back into the kitchen. A moment later Slimer came schreeching out of the kitchen. He flew right into Janine's arms & shuddered there. Roland moved to give Eduardo what-for.
"No, Roland." Kylie stood & grabbed his arm. "He's just upset. Leave him be & let him cool off." She didn't know why she said that. She wanted to strangle the grunge-boy herself.
"Huh. I'm just amazed he knew that 'lycathropy' was a fancy term for werewolf..." Garrett muttered, obviously wanting to hurl that barb in Eduardo's face.
Egon seemed to consider the situation himself for a moment, then shrugged.
"I need to research this more. That book there," he pointed to it, "doesn't say much, other than that the talisman is tied to the Garou family, known lycanthropes. You might as well get to your studies for now..."
"Kind of hard to do without books", Kylie grumbled.
***
Eduardo took his time getting a sandwich together in the kitchen. He felt bad about what he'd said, & wanted to apologize, but then he thought about how they all had treated him & got angry all over again. It was when he was nervous or angry that he really ran at the mouth; if he went out there still feeling the way he did, he might say something else he would regret.
So much for his resolution to keep quiet.
Still... why was it okay for Garrett to tease him, but not for him to tease Garrett? It wasn't fair...
***
"You should be happy!"
Harold Hunter ran the silver head of his cane along the bars, driving the poor canines inside mad.
"I've brought your brother Louis back to you!" At that one of the beasts threw itself against the bars, snapping. "Now, Louis, aren't you glad to be back with your packmates? And soon you'll have even more of them, when I find that girl you ran into... It's a bit annoying that you had to go and 'accidentally' switch bags with her & loose the talisman, but this might work out for the better... Yes, Fate works in mysterious ways, but don't for an instant think She was helping you out, Loius. Fate was leading me to a new prey, not hiding your family heirloom for you. Trust me, I'll find that pretty little witch, I've never failed a hunt yet..."
***
After a long while, Eduardo got himself together and came out of the kitchen. The others all had their noses buried in books, Egon & Janine at the desk & the younger Ghostbusters around the coffee table. Kylie was using Roland's physics book, since they had that class together. Eduardo got his own books out and lay his history book near her; that was the class they shared. She didn't seem to notice. He sighed softly & tried to loose himself in algebra. He got lost, all right-- he never idid/I understand it. But this time he felt too awkward to ask questions.
"Hey Eddy, what did you get for problem 30?" Garrett was in his algebra class. This was his way of saying it was ok, & that he was sorry.
"Whu?-- Oh, ah, I dunno, man, I haven't gotten that far."
"Oh." The awkwardness had gotten so thick you could cut it with a proton beam.
Eduardo tried to start his homework. As he started to write, though, he found that the finger he'd pricked really hurt. He sucked on it, trying to relieve the pain.
"You ok?" Kylie's face was full of concern. Was she no longer mad at him?
"Uh, yeah, just hurts a little... Did you find out who that bag belongs to?" Kylie's eyes widened. "Oh! Y'know, I didn't even..." She picked it up & started rummaging through it.
Didn't even finish looking after I caused such a scene, Eduardo finished.
Her brow furrowed. "There's no ID, nothing with the guy's name on it! Just some clothes!"
"What, was he on his way to a sleepover? Hey, check his underwear, maybe he wrote his name on it!"
Garret sniggered.
Roland ignored Eduardo's attempt at levity. "Well, you had your ID in yours, right?" Kylie nodded. "Well then, I'm sure this guy'll look you up so he can get his own stuff back."
Eduardo didn't like that choice of words, that the guy would "look" Kylie "up". It made him uncomfortable. "Oh, yeah, he's gonna be real anxious to get back a cursed tooth & some ugly clothes. He probably stole the other bag in the first place, & thinks Kylie's stuff is better." At Kylie's stricken look, he ammended, "Then again, how many people have that kind of taste?" She kicked him under the table. "Owww! I didn't mean it in a bad way!"
Egon, having been listening while he was researching (ever the observant scientist, Janine noted), offered "He may not even know what he had."
"But wouldn't he have been cursed by the object? Hard to imagine being cursed with lycanthropy & not noticing..."
"Oh, I dont think it would be that difficult," Kylie said sweetly, giving Eduardo's goatee a playful tug. He knew he should have protested, but he kind of enjoyed the contact...
"Maybe, Maybe not," Egon replied. "We don't know how the curse works yet. Let's hope it's not a simle matter of possesion, or we could ALL be in trouble."
Janine looked up from her own book at that remark. "Oh, Egon! Can't the curse be lifted?" The others exchanged anxious glances.
"I don't know." Egon went back to reading.
The others tried to go back to studying. No one managed to learn anything new that night.
***
She smiled at her friends' antics as she reached into her bag to get her textbooks. Her smile fell abruptly when she discovered they weren't there. Or rather, when she discovered the bag wasn't hers. She let out a cry of dismay.
"What, did you forget forget your brain at home?"
Kylie shot Eduardo a deadly look.
"Eduardo." Egon's voice was a firm warning. Then gentler, to his protege', "What's the matter, Kylie?"
"This isn't my bag!"
"What?" Garrett, distracted, lost the battle for the last cookie. He growled at the ghost, & Slimer ran off-- into the kitchen, of course.
"Someone ran into me today, some guy... He must have it."
Eduardo sat up straight. "Some guy took your bag?! Did you see what he looked like?!"
"No, no, it's not like that... He was just coming out of an alley as I was walking down the street & he ran right into me.
We both fell & dropped our things. He must have grabbed my bag by mistake & THIS one," she held it up, "is actually his."
Eduardo grabbed the bag from her. "Let me see that!"
"Eduardo!"
"There must be an ID in--" He stopped, his face gone pale. "Whoa."
"What is it?" Roland stepped over & peeked into the bag. Garrett, curious as to what could cause his buddy Eddy to be struck speechless, wheeled up on his other side. Egon & Janine stood behind him. Everyone was transfixed by whatever the pack contained. Kylie wanted to snag it back, but a sense of foreboding held her in place.
Slowly Eduardo pulled the object out of the bag. It was a tooth-- a very large one, maybe 5 inches. There was an amethyst embedded in it. The tooth was held by a silver setting, strung on a broken silver chain.
"Wow, Kylie, your new boyfriend's a big game hunter!" Eduardo tested the point of the tooth with the tip of a finger. "OWWww!" It was surprisingly sharp. A drop of blood welled up. He stared at it blankly.
"Oh, be careful!" Janine, mother hen that she was, grabbed his wrist & wrapped a tissue around his finger. Egon took the tooth from Eduardo.
"Interesting," their mentor murmured.
Garret ignored him, seeing an opportunity ripe for the picking. "Awww, did widdle Eddy get bitten by the big bad tooth fairy?"
Kylie scowled at Garrett. "What is it, Egon?"
He didn't answer. Instead Egon took the tooth over to his desk & searched through the mess there. A moment later he found his PKE meter. He held the tooth up to it & turned it on. Immediately it started beeping at a high pitch.
"Just as I thought."
"What?" Roland asked, stepping over to take a look at the little screen. He gasped.
"A Class 5!"
"Whu?" Garrett wheeled over to them. "A Class 5 what?"
"It's a cursed talisman," Egon elaborated.
Eduardo felt a chill go up his spine. "C-cursed?!?" His voice came out in a squeak. He hoped no one noticed.
"It's okay, Eddy, Kylie'll lift the curse for ya!" Garrett winked at Kylie. "Or maybe not..." He grinned.
Kylie desperately hoped she wasn't blushing. Why would SHE be the one to lift it? Did they know she was a witch? Sure, she had done spells before, but then so had Egon. Was she reading too much into this?
"What do you mean by cursed, Egon?" Roland's question brought Kylie back to the matter at hand. "How did you even know to check?"
"I was just reading about it." Egon gestured towards the open book on his desk. On one page was a large colour sketch of the tooth. On the other was some text, with "The Curse of the Garou" in big fancy script at the top.
"Do-do-do-do-Do-do-do-do..." Garrett intoned.
As much as his joking often annoyed her, Kylie couldn't help but appreciate the sentiment. This was just too odd of a coincidence. They had to have come across this talisman for a reason.
"So what, am I gonna die now?" Eduardo asked, trying to laugh & hide the nervousness in his voice.
"No, no, the curse has something to do with lycanthropy."
"Oh, well then," Eduardo rolled his eyes & threw up his hands, "that's all right..." He got up and stalked into the kitchen.
"Where are you goin'?" Garrett called after him.
"A wolf's gotta eat! Or else I'll end up eating one of you!" His voice carried to them from the other room. His head followed a moment later, poking from around the doorway. "Kylie would barely make an appetizer, but you've been fattening yourself up quite nicely..."
"HEY!!" yelled Garrett & Kylie.
"Eduardo!!" chorused the others.
It was a harsh thing to have said, even for Eduardo. He sneered at them and disappeared back into the kitchen. A moment later Slimer came schreeching out of the kitchen. He flew right into Janine's arms & shuddered there. Roland moved to give Eduardo what-for.
"No, Roland." Kylie stood & grabbed his arm. "He's just upset. Leave him be & let him cool off." She didn't know why she said that. She wanted to strangle the grunge-boy herself.
"Huh. I'm just amazed he knew that 'lycathropy' was a fancy term for werewolf..." Garrett muttered, obviously wanting to hurl that barb in Eduardo's face.
Egon seemed to consider the situation himself for a moment, then shrugged.
"I need to research this more. That book there," he pointed to it, "doesn't say much, other than that the talisman is tied to the Garou family, known lycanthropes. You might as well get to your studies for now..."
"Kind of hard to do without books", Kylie grumbled.
***
Eduardo took his time getting a sandwich together in the kitchen. He felt bad about what he'd said, & wanted to apologize, but then he thought about how they all had treated him & got angry all over again. It was when he was nervous or angry that he really ran at the mouth; if he went out there still feeling the way he did, he might say something else he would regret.
So much for his resolution to keep quiet.
Still... why was it okay for Garrett to tease him, but not for him to tease Garrett? It wasn't fair...
***
"You should be happy!"
Harold Hunter ran the silver head of his cane along the bars, driving the poor canines inside mad.
"I've brought your brother Louis back to you!" At that one of the beasts threw itself against the bars, snapping. "Now, Louis, aren't you glad to be back with your packmates? And soon you'll have even more of them, when I find that girl you ran into... It's a bit annoying that you had to go and 'accidentally' switch bags with her & loose the talisman, but this might work out for the better... Yes, Fate works in mysterious ways, but don't for an instant think She was helping you out, Loius. Fate was leading me to a new prey, not hiding your family heirloom for you. Trust me, I'll find that pretty little witch, I've never failed a hunt yet..."
***
After a long while, Eduardo got himself together and came out of the kitchen. The others all had their noses buried in books, Egon & Janine at the desk & the younger Ghostbusters around the coffee table. Kylie was using Roland's physics book, since they had that class together. Eduardo got his own books out and lay his history book near her; that was the class they shared. She didn't seem to notice. He sighed softly & tried to loose himself in algebra. He got lost, all right-- he never idid/I understand it. But this time he felt too awkward to ask questions.
"Hey Eddy, what did you get for problem 30?" Garrett was in his algebra class. This was his way of saying it was ok, & that he was sorry.
"Whu?-- Oh, ah, I dunno, man, I haven't gotten that far."
"Oh." The awkwardness had gotten so thick you could cut it with a proton beam.
Eduardo tried to start his homework. As he started to write, though, he found that the finger he'd pricked really hurt. He sucked on it, trying to relieve the pain.
"You ok?" Kylie's face was full of concern. Was she no longer mad at him?
"Uh, yeah, just hurts a little... Did you find out who that bag belongs to?" Kylie's eyes widened. "Oh! Y'know, I didn't even..." She picked it up & started rummaging through it.
Didn't even finish looking after I caused such a scene, Eduardo finished.
Her brow furrowed. "There's no ID, nothing with the guy's name on it! Just some clothes!"
"What, was he on his way to a sleepover? Hey, check his underwear, maybe he wrote his name on it!"
Garret sniggered.
Roland ignored Eduardo's attempt at levity. "Well, you had your ID in yours, right?" Kylie nodded. "Well then, I'm sure this guy'll look you up so he can get his own stuff back."
Eduardo didn't like that choice of words, that the guy would "look" Kylie "up". It made him uncomfortable. "Oh, yeah, he's gonna be real anxious to get back a cursed tooth & some ugly clothes. He probably stole the other bag in the first place, & thinks Kylie's stuff is better." At Kylie's stricken look, he ammended, "Then again, how many people have that kind of taste?" She kicked him under the table. "Owww! I didn't mean it in a bad way!"
Egon, having been listening while he was researching (ever the observant scientist, Janine noted), offered "He may not even know what he had."
"But wouldn't he have been cursed by the object? Hard to imagine being cursed with lycanthropy & not noticing..."
"Oh, I dont think it would be that difficult," Kylie said sweetly, giving Eduardo's goatee a playful tug. He knew he should have protested, but he kind of enjoyed the contact...
"Maybe, Maybe not," Egon replied. "We don't know how the curse works yet. Let's hope it's not a simle matter of possesion, or we could ALL be in trouble."
Janine looked up from her own book at that remark. "Oh, Egon! Can't the curse be lifted?" The others exchanged anxious glances.
"I don't know." Egon went back to reading.
The others tried to go back to studying. No one managed to learn anything new that night.
***