The Blue Werewolf
Part II: The True Hearted
C/By: Kenjaje
Edited by: raVen
Chapter 4: The Book Without Words
October 29: 7:32 PM: Upstairs Hallway
The hallway was much darker than Lilo expected. She stepped slowly out of the elevator, her bare feet squeaking as the heels of her feet slowly let themselves down. Stitch's feet were almost noiseless, except for the light, quick, tic-tic-tic of his claws. In her mind, Lilo could clearly hear the violin playing; a slow, edgy tone that made each hair on the back of your neck stand rigid, and sent a small quiver down your spine, that would shiver a bit quicker as the thunderclaps complimented the steady foam of the rain.
She began to move down the hall, one step at a time, feeling her way along the wall. Stitch followed right behind, the ticking of his claws a steady rhythm against the violin, thunder and rain. They reached the first door, but Lilo did not open it.
"Later." She whispered. They continued for a moment more, and then turned at the stairs, and the violin gave a shriek as the lightning roared in through the windows downstairs, illuminating the room for split second. Lilo paused, and then took the first step down the stairs. A long groan came as her heel eased down with a soft wooden thump barely above a tap. The second step groaned even louder, and the third louder still. The fourth began to quiet down, and too the fifth, but the sixth was the loudest of all, and the longest.
It was then, Lilo noticed, that there was an absence of the tic-tic-tic and the groaning of the stairs as her friend came down. She glanced back, just as a flash of lightning struck through the windows again, and the violin took another sharp note that made her shoulders twitch. She stood still for the longest time before she turned back to the end of the stairs. The violin began to pick up, but not too quickly; still low, still slow, but more frequent. And now it was joined by a deep bass, which made her bones vibrate with tension.
Two more slow, quietly groaning steps, and she was at the bottom. She looked about the room, over everything. He was somewhere, waiting, watching, even if he could not see her clearly. Her breathing quieted, and steps were softer; she made her way into the kitchen, step after step, always watching to see when he would show up. If she was now the mouse, she would need a weapon.
The tile floor felt cold to her toes, but she was able to relax a bit more. He would not dare go into the kitchen, she knew, for if he did the ticking would certainly give him away. She went to the sink, and reached beside it. Her fingers gripped around the neck of a short, tapered spray bottle. She picked it up and wrapped her index and middle around the trigger, and kept it well at the ready in her palm. She looked around, thinking. He was waiting for her, waiting for the right time, so wherever he was, he was staying, and she had to find him first.
She walked slowly to the back hall, past the back door where she made sure he wasn't hiding behind the window shade. The violin and bass were suddenly quiet, and now only the storm could be heard. She crept through the shadows, against the wall, making her way carefully into the laundry room. She opened the door with a steady moan, looking all about on the ceiling and across the floor.
She stepped into the room with her weapon poised and shut the door behind her. In the absence of the storm the violin and bass began to play again, slowly, softly. She moved along the wall, cautiously closer to the washer and dryer. The instruments stopped as they loomed in front of her, and she leaned over, and struck the metal body lightly.
Nothing happened. She hopped on top, and lifted the lid to peer inside, but couldn't see anything. She opened it all the way, and as the shadow whisked away, no one was inside. She closed it, wedging her fingers in between the opening and slowly slipping them out to soften the metallic echo it made, and hopped down to the floor. She watched the shadows again as she moved to the dryer; again she struck it and nothing happened, and again she looked inside to see that no one was there. This room was clear, for now.
Unnoticed to her, the doorknob had turned, and with a click the door opened without a stutter. The figure behind her walked in, without making so much as a soft, cottony brush against the floor. Just as soon as she had shut the lid to the dryer and turned around, the dark figure loomed over her, and laid a hand on her shoulder. She screamed.
"'Ey! 'Ey!" Came a stern voice, which sounded rather calming. Lilo backed out from under the hand on her shoulder and shivered. "Don't be scared; s'me, Bo." Lilo blinked.
"S-scared?" She asked, trying to cover her stammer, "I'm not sca…scared" She had to pause to swallow. Bo grinned, she could tell because she could slightly see his teeth—and his hair for that matter—in the pale blue darkness.
"Ok, I b'lieve ya. Now c'mout-a the dark, I don't want you gettin' hurt or anything." He said, turning to the door and stopping to let her out first. "What're you doin' in here anyway?" He asked her out of curiosity while she passed him.
"I was looking for my dog; he's trying to scare me by surprising me." When Lilo looked out into the kitchen, where a source of light had snagged her eyes, she saw Stitch sitting at the kitchen table, which upon rested a fairly large candle. "There you are! Nice try, but you didn't scare me one bit!" She teased.
"Huh?" He asked quietly, so that Bo wouldn't hear.
"I think yer pup was jus' curious." Bo told her, passing her to sit down at the table. "Saw him come into my room while I was unpacking; must'a seen the light under the door."
"Uh huh," Lilo rolled her eyes. "Where's my sister?"
"I b'lieve she's gone to the store with that large uncle and…somewhat dangerously skinny aunt-a yours. She's not sick or anythin' is she?"
"Pleakley?" Lilo asked, "No, he's—I mean she's—not sick, she's just really skinny, I think it's on her mother's side."
"Well all right then, 'cus if she was sick I would-a made m'special chicken soup; cure's anythin'."
"It's hard to do that when the power's out though…"
"Yeah I s'pose so." Bo agreed. "But hey, I'm sure it'll be back on in a jiffy'r'two." Lilo suppressed a giggle; the way he spoke was a funny kind of strange to her. "Until it does, I'll be happy to keep you two comp'ny, especially if you're…scared." As if on cue the loudest roar of thunder and the brightest flash of lightning erupted against the house, showing Bo's grin as he spoke the word, as if he knew that the effects would happen. Lilo shivered at his look, the normal smile seemed different in flicker of pale violet light lightning.
"Well, what do we do, just sit her and talk?" Lilo asked. "I'm not much of a talker…especially to tourists." She threw in with a frank tone.
"We don't haf'ta, if you want I got a lil' book I brought with me upstairs somewhere in my stuff, seems like a nice setting for stories don'tchya think?"
"I guess so." Lilo agreed. "You want us to help you look?"
"Wha'sure." He motioned, getting up out of his chair. "It's a big brown book, kinda old; you'll know it when you see it." He said, as he led the way upstairs, with Lilo at his heels and Stitch at their sides on the railing. When they arrived in her old room, she noticed it was being furnished with Bo's things.
"Must have been unpacking while the power blew," Lilo thought.
"You two start over there, and I'll start here. I'm pretty sure that dog-a yers'll find it faster than I can what with that nose-a his."
"Ok and you bet he will." Lilo told him. Stitch followed Lilo to the other side of the room, where, once he felt the coast was clear, immediately said something that Lilo found strange at first.
"Bo smell different." She gave him the eyebrow for a moment, trying to understand what he meant. Once it hit her she smiled with realization.
"He's from Texas," she told him, "so he might smell like Texas." She suggested, sifting through some bags on the floor.
"Teskaz?" Stitch said, trying to pronounce the unfamiliar word.
"No, Tex-as," Lilo repeated with pronunciation, "it's a state in the continent of North America, the United States—remember when I explained that?"
"Oh, oketaka." He said with a nod. "But, not smell like Tegapas, smell is different…Stitch know smell, but doesn't know smell also, cannot identify."
"I think your nose is acting up." Lilo told him sarcastically. "Oh hey!" She exclaimed, as she uncovered the corner of a brown book. "I found it!" She said, pulling it up out of the bag. She opened it as Bo came over, and noticed something strange. "Hey…how can you read from this book, it doesn't have any words?" Bo's eyes seemed to flicker with tension.
"That's another book, don't worry'bout it, jus' put it on the desk o'er there, would'jah?" Lilo shrugged and carried the book over to the desk as Bo went back to look on the other side of the room. Stitch hopped up on the chair as soon as Lilo put the book down and opened it.
"Careful Stitch, don't rip out any pages—it's not yours"
"Segaba, segaba." He told her with reassurance. He turned back to the book and let the cover fall open. He stared at the pages. His mind churned. He flipped pages over and over and over, looking through the book, trying to figure out where Lilo had opened it.
"Hey…what's with you?" Lilo asked, when she noticed his mad dashing through the pages.
"Lilo wrong." He said.
"I'm wrong? Wrong about what?"
"Takka-takka," he urged, lifting the book to face her. His finger trailed across the pages, and as her eyes followed she wondered what he was trying to show her.
"What is it?"
"Letters!" He told her. "Book has letters."
"No it doesn't." She told him. He gave her the eyebrow with a fragrance of frustration, and turned to look at the page he had opened. They were there; he could see them. Letters of a strange fashion, letters he had never seen before. He turned the book back to Lilo.
"What do Lilo see?" She let out a rasp sigh.
"I don't see anything—the pages are blank Stitch."
"…Whatever!" He huffed with aggravation, slamming the book closed.
"Ah, here it is, thought-ah left it in the big box." Came Bo's voice from behind them. "'Ey, what's yer dog doin' with m'book?"
"He's just curious…and being weird."
"Well, I'm sorry, but that books quite a treasure t'me." He said, taking it from Stitch's hands. "I'd appreciate it if you two would leave it alone. C'mon now, before the power comes back on and ruins the mood." He beckoned, heading down toward the kitchen.