Chapter 8
Pete saw the scar on Clark's shoulder. "Weird scar."
Clark nodded. "It's itchy. Uh...Pete? You better run."
"Why?"
"For some reason, you look delicious, and I mean that in the most literal sense possible." Pete kept on looking at Clark like he was crazy when he noticed his teeth begin to sharpen and resemble fangs. "Pete...run!"
* * *
"So now there are three of them out there?" Jonathon asked when Pete finished his story. They stood in the kitchen, awaiting Martha's next batch of cookies. He couldn't help but stifle a yawn – farm work had taken its toll on him and he was tired though it was only nine in the evening. "How'd you escape?"
Pete shrugged, "I can't really remember. I know that as soon as Clark started growing fangs I got freaked out. I got out of there as fast as I could. What would a super-powered werewolf be like?"
"Werewolf?" asked Martha doubtfully. "That's a bit 'mythical', isn't it?"
"Hello! We got an alien living on this planet with the ability to shoot fire out of his eyes and bench-press tractors! Why rule out the possibility that they're all werewolves?"
"I don't know, I just don't like that term. It seems too out there."
"Lycanthrope," mumbled Jonathon. "They're all suffering from lycanthropy, the condition where someone thinks that they're a wolf."
Pete looked at Jonathon. He never realized how smart he was until this sudden moment of intelligence. Of course, he knew that Jonathon was no idiot, but he didn't think that he had a PH.D. or any other degree that required them to know the technical names of conditions. "All right, so they think they're wolves. How are we going to stop all three of them?"
"We can't," announced Martha. "But we stand a better chance with Clark on our side and now he's running around with fur too."
"He might not even be much help anyway, Martha. This morning he told me that his fight with, what was his name? Edward? Anyway, he hurt Clark. I'm worried that if he does get some sense back, he'll only end up killing himself." Jonathon sighed. "It all seems so hopeless."
"Maybe not. Maybe he still has his weakness," insisted Pete.
"Kryptonite?"
"Yeah." Jonathon hesitated at what Pete was suggesting, but finally nodded. He left the kitchen and went for the meteorites he had stored in the barn. Pete looked at Martha. "But we'll need a Plan B if he's immune to them in 'wolf mode'."
"Sunlight, perhaps?" Martha offered Pete a cookie, which he accepted. Minutes later, Jonathon returned with a lead box in his hand.
"If Clark has any of his old self, any at all, he might come back here."
An hour passed of unbearable silence. Finally, Pete could swear that he heard a rumbling, like giant footsteps. They grew closer until, finally, a hairy figure leaped in through the window.
He was covered in thick, black hair, and he clutched his head in pain with one hand. He used the other to signal Jonathon, Martha, and Pete to stay back. "Please...help me!"
Jonathon clutched the box tightly, still hesitant to expose his son to the meteorites. To both his and Pete's surprise, Martha yanked the box out of his hands and rushed to Clark's writhing side. She cried as she opened the box and said softly, "Clark, honey, I'm so sorry..."
The meteorites shone green like they always did around Clark. He calmed down and began to sit still. Slowly but surely, his hair began to retract back into his skin as well as his fangs and claws.
In moments, the old Clark returned. "Mom?"
Martha burst into tears and almost shut the box when Clark protested. "Mom, no! The rocks – I can't feel them!"
"What?" asked Pete and Jonathon in unison.
"When I was struggling against the urge to bite all of your heads off, I was in pain because of the conflict. But then mom opened the box and the transformation was painless. I can't feel the radiation now, either. I think they're keeping me from turning back into the wolf!"
Jonathon shook his head. "This can't be permanent. We're going to have to find a solution that is, for Edward's and Lex's sake as well."
"Right."
* * *
Yet another hour later, Clark and Pete stood in front of Edward Drake's yard. Clark wore a ridiculously thick rope with a chunk of kryptonite attached to it to prevent him from transforming. He'd opted against a chain because a chain would make too much noise. Meanwhile, Pete looked at Clark incredulously. "What are we doing here?"
"This wolf business started as soon as Edward got here. It may not be his fault, but he's behind this. We have to find out if he has any idea if there's a cure."
Pete noticed a tree on the side of the house that led straight up to an open window. He nudged Clark and pointed at the tree. "This may be just a hunch, but I think Ed's room is up there."
Clark saw the window that Pete was talking about and flashed on his x- ray vision. He saw posters, a desk with a computer on top, a bed, and some magazines inside. He surveyed the rest of the house and found only one person in the whole building, presumably Edward's father. "I think you're right, Pete. Stay down here and let me know if anyone comes."
Clark super-climbed the tree in a heartbeat and leaped into the room through the window. He turned his x-ray vision back on and examined the room a little more closely. There was nothing under the bed, nor any safes or anything like that behind the posters. He looked at the desk and saw a strange box. He felt around to see if he could find the drawer it was inside, but couldn't find it. Momentarily confused, Clark slapped himself when he realized that it was duct-taped to the under side of the desk. He yanked out the box and inspected it.
It was a pack of silver bullets. I can see why he would want to hide this. Where he got them was a mystery until he remembered the article Chloe wrote about him. Edward lived in Ireland for a year before coming to Smallville. Whatever's wrong with him now probably started there. He pocketed the bullets.
Clark looked through the door down the hall, where Edward's father slept peacefully and snored rather loudly. Confident he wouldn't be heard, Clark opened the door and crept into the rest of the house.
Still in x-ray vision, Clark surveyed all the other rooms. Two bathrooms, the bedroom where Ed's parents slept; a kitchen, living room, and dining room downstairs – as well as some sort of office.
The stairs were wooden, so Clark expertly leaped "over" them and down to the carpet bottom. He tiptoed to the office he'd spotted and looked inside. The first paper he noticed sported the name "Lionel Luthor". This confirmed that the room was worth checking out.
Silently, Clark entered the room and began examining the contents. Very few folders contained papers that dealt with Lionel, and the one he found seemed to be a contract for her to work for him. A lot of the papers dealt with notes she'd taken in Ireland. One folder contained a picture of the flower she had been analyzing. In captions underneath read: "Medicinal properties?"
If the flower indeed cured people, perhaps (though it was a long shot) it could heal him and Lex and Edward of their lycanthropic condition. Satisfied, Clark put away everything where it had been and returned upstairs to Edward's room. He poked his head out of the window just in time to see Pete waving his hands frantically. Clark looked at the driveway and saw a jeep pull up. A female drove it. Edward's mom? In the passenger seat was a potted flower that looked exactly like the one in the folder.
Sara stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door with the flowerpot in her hand. She paused for a second before unlocking the door. She had the ridiculous sense that she was being followed. A second later, she shook her head and opened the door.
FWOOSH! Something sped past her and out into the street. Sara was horrified and ran inside to make sure nothing had been stolen. It was after she was sure that everything still seemed to be in place when she noticed that her flower was gone.
* * *
When Clark and Pete returned to the Kent Farm, they were surprised to find Chloe in the kitchen. Jonathon was handing her a mug of coffee while Martha sat down next to her.
"Clark, Pete, where were you?" asked Chloe. "Your dad says you've been missing for hours. And what's that around your neck?"
Clark played it off. "Uh, well, after we escaped from Lex and Edward, we thought we'd snoop around and tail them to see if we could find their weaknesses or something. Uh, and I wore this to..."
"What's that you're holding, son?" asked Jonathon, changing the subject.
Clark held up the flower for all of them to see. "It's a plant from Ireland. I thought since it came from there and Edward's...condition probably started there, they could be linked. I found a paper saying it might have medicinal properties."
"Where exactly did you snoop? I could have helped," said Chloe.
"Ed's house. Look, I don't have time to explain everything. Please, just get home where it's safe," pleaded Clark.
Chloe nodded and walked outside to her car. Pete announced that he would go along with her for her safety and left as well.
"Ok, now we have to figure out how to use that shrub to cure you," noted Jonathon. "Martha?"
"I've...made medicines from plants in the past, yeah, but... Clark, you said this was from Ireland, right?"
Clark nodded.
"And that may be where Edward developed lycanthropy, right? Clark, what if this plant causes it?"
"Mom, there's only one way to find out. Please, extract whatever you need or burn as many leaves as you need to; I don't want to be a werewolf!"
Martha nodded.
Pete saw the scar on Clark's shoulder. "Weird scar."
Clark nodded. "It's itchy. Uh...Pete? You better run."
"Why?"
"For some reason, you look delicious, and I mean that in the most literal sense possible." Pete kept on looking at Clark like he was crazy when he noticed his teeth begin to sharpen and resemble fangs. "Pete...run!"
* * *
"So now there are three of them out there?" Jonathon asked when Pete finished his story. They stood in the kitchen, awaiting Martha's next batch of cookies. He couldn't help but stifle a yawn – farm work had taken its toll on him and he was tired though it was only nine in the evening. "How'd you escape?"
Pete shrugged, "I can't really remember. I know that as soon as Clark started growing fangs I got freaked out. I got out of there as fast as I could. What would a super-powered werewolf be like?"
"Werewolf?" asked Martha doubtfully. "That's a bit 'mythical', isn't it?"
"Hello! We got an alien living on this planet with the ability to shoot fire out of his eyes and bench-press tractors! Why rule out the possibility that they're all werewolves?"
"I don't know, I just don't like that term. It seems too out there."
"Lycanthrope," mumbled Jonathon. "They're all suffering from lycanthropy, the condition where someone thinks that they're a wolf."
Pete looked at Jonathon. He never realized how smart he was until this sudden moment of intelligence. Of course, he knew that Jonathon was no idiot, but he didn't think that he had a PH.D. or any other degree that required them to know the technical names of conditions. "All right, so they think they're wolves. How are we going to stop all three of them?"
"We can't," announced Martha. "But we stand a better chance with Clark on our side and now he's running around with fur too."
"He might not even be much help anyway, Martha. This morning he told me that his fight with, what was his name? Edward? Anyway, he hurt Clark. I'm worried that if he does get some sense back, he'll only end up killing himself." Jonathon sighed. "It all seems so hopeless."
"Maybe not. Maybe he still has his weakness," insisted Pete.
"Kryptonite?"
"Yeah." Jonathon hesitated at what Pete was suggesting, but finally nodded. He left the kitchen and went for the meteorites he had stored in the barn. Pete looked at Martha. "But we'll need a Plan B if he's immune to them in 'wolf mode'."
"Sunlight, perhaps?" Martha offered Pete a cookie, which he accepted. Minutes later, Jonathon returned with a lead box in his hand.
"If Clark has any of his old self, any at all, he might come back here."
An hour passed of unbearable silence. Finally, Pete could swear that he heard a rumbling, like giant footsteps. They grew closer until, finally, a hairy figure leaped in through the window.
He was covered in thick, black hair, and he clutched his head in pain with one hand. He used the other to signal Jonathon, Martha, and Pete to stay back. "Please...help me!"
Jonathon clutched the box tightly, still hesitant to expose his son to the meteorites. To both his and Pete's surprise, Martha yanked the box out of his hands and rushed to Clark's writhing side. She cried as she opened the box and said softly, "Clark, honey, I'm so sorry..."
The meteorites shone green like they always did around Clark. He calmed down and began to sit still. Slowly but surely, his hair began to retract back into his skin as well as his fangs and claws.
In moments, the old Clark returned. "Mom?"
Martha burst into tears and almost shut the box when Clark protested. "Mom, no! The rocks – I can't feel them!"
"What?" asked Pete and Jonathon in unison.
"When I was struggling against the urge to bite all of your heads off, I was in pain because of the conflict. But then mom opened the box and the transformation was painless. I can't feel the radiation now, either. I think they're keeping me from turning back into the wolf!"
Jonathon shook his head. "This can't be permanent. We're going to have to find a solution that is, for Edward's and Lex's sake as well."
"Right."
* * *
Yet another hour later, Clark and Pete stood in front of Edward Drake's yard. Clark wore a ridiculously thick rope with a chunk of kryptonite attached to it to prevent him from transforming. He'd opted against a chain because a chain would make too much noise. Meanwhile, Pete looked at Clark incredulously. "What are we doing here?"
"This wolf business started as soon as Edward got here. It may not be his fault, but he's behind this. We have to find out if he has any idea if there's a cure."
Pete noticed a tree on the side of the house that led straight up to an open window. He nudged Clark and pointed at the tree. "This may be just a hunch, but I think Ed's room is up there."
Clark saw the window that Pete was talking about and flashed on his x- ray vision. He saw posters, a desk with a computer on top, a bed, and some magazines inside. He surveyed the rest of the house and found only one person in the whole building, presumably Edward's father. "I think you're right, Pete. Stay down here and let me know if anyone comes."
Clark super-climbed the tree in a heartbeat and leaped into the room through the window. He turned his x-ray vision back on and examined the room a little more closely. There was nothing under the bed, nor any safes or anything like that behind the posters. He looked at the desk and saw a strange box. He felt around to see if he could find the drawer it was inside, but couldn't find it. Momentarily confused, Clark slapped himself when he realized that it was duct-taped to the under side of the desk. He yanked out the box and inspected it.
It was a pack of silver bullets. I can see why he would want to hide this. Where he got them was a mystery until he remembered the article Chloe wrote about him. Edward lived in Ireland for a year before coming to Smallville. Whatever's wrong with him now probably started there. He pocketed the bullets.
Clark looked through the door down the hall, where Edward's father slept peacefully and snored rather loudly. Confident he wouldn't be heard, Clark opened the door and crept into the rest of the house.
Still in x-ray vision, Clark surveyed all the other rooms. Two bathrooms, the bedroom where Ed's parents slept; a kitchen, living room, and dining room downstairs – as well as some sort of office.
The stairs were wooden, so Clark expertly leaped "over" them and down to the carpet bottom. He tiptoed to the office he'd spotted and looked inside. The first paper he noticed sported the name "Lionel Luthor". This confirmed that the room was worth checking out.
Silently, Clark entered the room and began examining the contents. Very few folders contained papers that dealt with Lionel, and the one he found seemed to be a contract for her to work for him. A lot of the papers dealt with notes she'd taken in Ireland. One folder contained a picture of the flower she had been analyzing. In captions underneath read: "Medicinal properties?"
If the flower indeed cured people, perhaps (though it was a long shot) it could heal him and Lex and Edward of their lycanthropic condition. Satisfied, Clark put away everything where it had been and returned upstairs to Edward's room. He poked his head out of the window just in time to see Pete waving his hands frantically. Clark looked at the driveway and saw a jeep pull up. A female drove it. Edward's mom? In the passenger seat was a potted flower that looked exactly like the one in the folder.
Sara stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door with the flowerpot in her hand. She paused for a second before unlocking the door. She had the ridiculous sense that she was being followed. A second later, she shook her head and opened the door.
FWOOSH! Something sped past her and out into the street. Sara was horrified and ran inside to make sure nothing had been stolen. It was after she was sure that everything still seemed to be in place when she noticed that her flower was gone.
* * *
When Clark and Pete returned to the Kent Farm, they were surprised to find Chloe in the kitchen. Jonathon was handing her a mug of coffee while Martha sat down next to her.
"Clark, Pete, where were you?" asked Chloe. "Your dad says you've been missing for hours. And what's that around your neck?"
Clark played it off. "Uh, well, after we escaped from Lex and Edward, we thought we'd snoop around and tail them to see if we could find their weaknesses or something. Uh, and I wore this to..."
"What's that you're holding, son?" asked Jonathon, changing the subject.
Clark held up the flower for all of them to see. "It's a plant from Ireland. I thought since it came from there and Edward's...condition probably started there, they could be linked. I found a paper saying it might have medicinal properties."
"Where exactly did you snoop? I could have helped," said Chloe.
"Ed's house. Look, I don't have time to explain everything. Please, just get home where it's safe," pleaded Clark.
Chloe nodded and walked outside to her car. Pete announced that he would go along with her for her safety and left as well.
"Ok, now we have to figure out how to use that shrub to cure you," noted Jonathon. "Martha?"
"I've...made medicines from plants in the past, yeah, but... Clark, you said this was from Ireland, right?"
Clark nodded.
"And that may be where Edward developed lycanthropy, right? Clark, what if this plant causes it?"
"Mom, there's only one way to find out. Please, extract whatever you need or burn as many leaves as you need to; I don't want to be a werewolf!"
Martha nodded.