Hey everyone, here's chapter 14 of The Misadventures of Vee. Our little basilisk got one of her friends back, let's see if she'll have the same luck here.
A Few Months Ago…
"You know you only need to use one stamp, right, Luz?"
Vee finished sealing the envelope flap with a row of the colorful stickers that humans called stamps. Inside was her latest update for the kind human Camilla who she'd quickly grown to care for through these letters. This particular message told the human about the Oracle magic Dani had been showing her and the exciting lessons they'd both taken about following speed limits and periodically checking your tire pressure, whatever that means. Vee still couldn't believe her luck; Reality Check Summer Camp had turned out to be a crash course in how to be a human. Any of her misunderstandings were happily corrected by the human instructors.
The basilisk quirked a brow at Dani. "But… how else am I supposed to keep it shut?"
"Lick the glue…?" Dani replied like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
Vee stared blankly at the envelope. She ran her tongue experimentally across the paper. "I think it's broken," Vee said when her saliva only smeared Camilla's address.
"Wow, your parents started you on smartphones really early," Dani mumbled, a little worried. She then pushed Vee toward the toolshed that doubled as the camp's post office. "Just send your letter to your mom already. We only got thirty minutes before our next class on mortgages or whatever. That's barely enough time to give you the makeover I have in mind."
Vee stiffened a little.
Mom.
Camilla wasn't her mom; Vee didn't have a mom or a dad. She'd seen where basilisks came from, grown like plants from fossils with magic in the Emperor's Coven's hidden warren. Vee didn't have any family, no one she could call her own, and yet every time Dani said the m-word a gentle warmth bloomed in her chest.
Vee stroked her thumb fondly over the letter meant for… her mom… and smiled.
"Welcome to the Post Office," greeted the cheerful Camp Counselor dressed in a mailman costume that was a few sizes too big. "How can I help you today?"
"One delivery please," Vee replied just as cheerfully. Dani rolled her eyes at the two's enthusiasm.
The Counselor took the slightly soggy envelope. "Excellent! And would you also like to purchase some mail insurance for your delivery?"
"Not on your life, buster, that's a scam," Vee recited the human phrase the camp had taught her, still unsure what it meant or even what insurance was supposed to be.
"That's right!" The Counselor plopped Vee's letter in a blue bin and rewarded her with a long nifty ribbon that humans called a 'receipt.'
Vee giggled and beamed at her accomplishment, adding the receipt to the collection around her neck. She had earned several scarves of receipts. Being a human on Earth was so much more fun than being a hunted fugitive on the Boiling Isles.
"Come on, I've got this lip gloss that'll make you look so cute." Dani tugged Vee's sleeve impatiently and jogged back toward their log hut. Cabin, Vee reminded herself, that was the human word for log huts. Vee was about to follow her to the 'cabin' when something caught her ear. Multiple growls deeper than a thunder of wyrms rumbled in the woods behind her.
As far as Vee knew there were no such things as wyrms or drakes or dragons in the Human Realm so she felt no fear in following the monstrous noise. On the other side of some thick bushes, she discovered the source. Not wyrms but the metal carriages that humans referred to as cars. A fleet of them puttered in a long row, all identically black and shiny except for the nearest car which was really, really long. This car was perhaps triple the length of Camilla's. Vee was excited. This must be the bus that was always late Dani had told her about. Buses meant humans, humans meant more campers, more campers meant more friends. So far, she only had Dani, the rest of the campers oddly avoided them with fearful glances which made making multiple friends as Camilla had instructed rather difficult. Here was her chance.
A human in a crisp uniform marched to the rear-most door of the bus and opened it with a bow. To Vee's joy a human boy came out, backpack and sleeping bag on his shoulders. She waited with anticipation but no more appeared.
"Master Lance, I implore you, please reconsider." The uniformed human kept glancing over his shoulder and sweating buckets as he insisted to the boy. "Your parents can hire children to come to the mansion rather than you suffer out here with these middle class—"
"I'll be totally fine, Jaune, I'm going to camp not to war," the boy, Lance, said, leagues more relaxed than Jaune. He gave off the cool air of someone who wouldn't let a hurricane bother him. "Remember, no checking on me. I don't want to hear the family chopper hovering over my head the entire summer."
"But, Master Lance—"
"Hello?" Vee called as she stuck her head into the bus. It was cavernous as she expected but empty. "Did everyone already get off the bus?" she asked the humans.
"Bus?!" Jaune sputtered, aghast.
"Uh, yeah, all gone," Lance quickly answered and shoved a brick of green leaves covered with the faces of men in wigs into Jaune's hands with a wink. "My bus fare, my good sir."
Jaune looked like he was on the verge of fainting. "Be careful, Master," he whispered and drove the bus away. The fleet of cars followed. While Vee was disappointed only one new camper had arrived, it was still one more potential friend.
"Hi, I'm Luz, welcome to Reality Check Camp," Vee said, holding out her wreaths of ribbons to Lance. "Do you want a receipt?"
"Um, yeah!" Lance replied with only a moment's confusion. He excitedly placed the paper garland around his neck.
"You wanna be friends?" Vee blurted, unable to control herself.
Lance gasped. "Totally!"
"Luz!" Dani stormed through the bushes before either could celebrate. "What are you doing over here?" She eyed the new boy warily. "Who is this?"
"This is Master Lance," Vee said.
"Lance! It's just Lance," he corrected.
"He just got off the bus. We're friends now."
"What?! You can't—He's not—" Dani abruptly turned a shade of red. Vee was unaware humans could change colors.
Angry, Vee noted, red humans meant angry humans.
Dani charged forward, getting in Lance's face and jabbing his chest with her finger. "Listen here, you thief, Luz is my friend. You are not taking her away from me!"
Vee was too flabbergasted to react. She'd never known Dani could get so intense. This was a fury that rivaled Emperor Belos. Vee had a sneaking suspicion what was the reason why the other campers had been avoiding them. Poor Lance, trapped in the girl's clutches… patted her shoulder.
"I hear you," he said kindly and calmly as if he were not addressing Death itself. It made his would-be executioner pause. "Dani, was it? Well, Dani, I promise I'm not going to take Luz from you. How about you and me be friends too. That way you can keep an eye on me."
"You want to be my…" The jabbing finger retreated and the red shifted to pink, the human shade of shame and embarrassment. It was unbelievable. Lance had essentially stopped a wildfire with nothing but patience and decency. The change was so fast Vee wondered whether Lance had cast some sort of Illusion or Healing spell to quell Dani.
"Sorry," Dani whimpered as if she'd been caught misbehaving. "I… sometimes I get a little—"
"Water under the bridge. Friends are supposed to forgive each other, right?"
Dani didn't correct him. She only smiled which to Vee meant it was true. The basilisk looped an arm around the necks of her two friends. "Then how about we give you the tour, Lance," she suggested.
"Yeah, why not," Dani shyly agreed.
"That'd be awesome," Lance cheered. "But first, where's the butler I leave my bags with?"
Dani blinked. "The what?"
Now…
Vee sighed, standing in front of the door to Miss Canis' office. The basilisk knocked, the door opening a split second later. She looked up to see Miss Canis smiling down at her with a hand on one of her wide hips.
"Hey Vee," Miss Canis greeted her, only for her smile to drop upon seeing the upset look on the girl's face, "What's wrong, sugar?" she asked with concern.
"I... I told the rest of my friends the truth about who I am..." Vee said.
"I'm guessing they didn't take it very well?" Miss Canis asked.
"Well, Vince was cool with it, although he went full-on science nerd about it," Vee started, "The other two... Lance hasn't been around lately, and Beth won't even look at me let alone talk to me," she informed the werewolf counselor, making her wince. If she were in her wolf form, her ears would be flattened as she'd be whimpering. "Has Lance been here recently?" Vee asked.
"He has," Miss Canis nodded.
"Really? Has he said anything about me?" Vee asked.
"Sorry, sweetie, I know this is important to you, but I'm not allowed to disclose what I've discussed with other students," Miss Canis told with a tinge of guilt in her voice.
"Well, is he at least ok?" Vee asked. She got an answer in the form of the counselor shaking her head from side to side. That's when the warning bell rang, signaling for the students to head to their next classes.
"You should get to class, Luz," the hall monitor said as they passed by.
The basilisk sighed, "Thanks anyway, Miss Canis," Vee said with a hang of her head as she made her way down the hall.
As she watched, Miss Canis couldn't help but feel regret and guilt about what was going on. On one hand, if she hadn't told Vee to tell her friends her secret then the girl wouldn't be in this situation; but on the other, if they had kept quiet about this then things might have gotten worse with Lance alone. It wasn't easy being a guidance counselor. The werewolf had never seen a group of friends so broken... and she was older than the country itself.
As she made her way to class, Vee couldn't help but feel worried. Even since she revealed herself, she hadn't Lance at school. That was days ago! Her friend wasn't doing well and it was all her fault. That's when she spotted one of her other friends, Beth. Beth spotted her as well. There was a moment of silence between the two girls, Vee seeing the anger in Beth's gaze.
"Beth, I-" Vee tried to speak, only for Beth to snort like a bull and stomp away in a huff. Vee whimpered, that little moment stinging her heart a bit. Vee resumed her journey to class. Or she would've if something hadn't caught her attention. Out of a nearby window, she spotted Lance walking down the street. "Lance..."
Rather than heading to class, Vee bolted out of the building, completely ignoring the hall monitor shouting "Hooky!" Her mom probably wouldn't be happy about that, but she'd worry about that later. Eventually, the basilisk had caught up to the rich boy down the street.
"Lance!" Vee called out to the boy, making him stop, "I'm so glad to see you again! Where have you-"
Vee's sentence was cut off upon Lance turning to her, the basilisk cringing at his appearance. He looked pale with hollow cheeks, as if he hadn't eaten or slept in days.
"Hey Lu- I mean Vee..." Lance greeted, albeit in a tone of panic, "You're probably wondering why I've been absent the past few days. Well, I've been sick. Yeah, that's it. It's certainly not because I've been avoiding you or anything," Lance said while backing away in his panicked state.
This all caused Lance's shadow to take shape. It formed into Ash the Hym who seemed to be a lot bigger since Vee last saw him a few days ago.
"Ugh... I'm going to get fat if you keep feeding me like this..." Ash groaned in what sounded like discomfort as he held himself.
"Ash? Now I get it. Lance has been upset for the past few days and you've been feeding off his misery! How dare you take advantage of him like that!" Vee yelled in the scolding tone that she most likely picked up from her mom.
"Whoa, take it easy, basilisk," Ash held his hands up defensively, "I don't want to be attached to Lance again, not after last time."
"Then why are you attached to him this time," Vee folded her arms with a skeptical look.
"Hyms are like magnets, we attach to the strongest of negative emotions, whether we want to or not. Lance here has been feeling worse than every online gamer I've ever trolled... which, by the way, I'm missing online tournament where I can troll so many gamers." Ash explained.
"That's not true," Lance said in denial.
This caused Ash to groan and hold himself again, as if he were about to vomit. For him, this was the Hym equivalent of having indigestion.
"I gotta go!" Lance said, running away and taking Ash with him.
Vee narrowed her eyes. Ash had been feeding off Lance again. So, this was why her rich friend had been avoiding her. First the Hym was being starved from lack of negative emotion from Lance, and now he was draining him dry. If this continued, there's a good chance Lance might die. That's when she remembered what they did the last time they had to deal with Ash.
"I just have to exorcise Ash from Lance again. If do that then Lance I can be friends again!" Vee said, a hopeful grin crossing her face, "But I'm going to need some help..." she said as she pulled out her phone and started a text.
"I can't believe I'm skipping school," Vincent whispered, keeping to the shadows, sights darting to the street corners as if he was expecting the police to arrest him at any second. "I've never played hooky before. What if I get detention? Suspended? Expelled!? I'll never be employable! This was a horrible idea!"
"Breathe, nerd," Dani said, out in the open for the cops to come get her. "One half-day isn't going to ruin your life."
Ahead of them, Vee was all confidence, lugging along all the ingredients needed for an exorcism, including saffron and her wand. "—and that's why we need you to do the spell again, Abuela," she said to her phone. "It should work through video chat, right?"
On the screen, her Abuela nodded sweetly in her kitchen which was filled with bubbling pots and pans. In the distant background, a chubby figure slept in a La-Z-Boy. "Si, si, claro, amada, there should be no problems. I'm cooking some habichuelas con dulce for Abuelo, I'll send you and your mami a bowl when they're ready."
"Habichuelas?" Even though Vee didn't know what that was, her mouth watered. Any dish her Abuela made was bound to be delicious. "Yes, please! I'm sure Lance will love to try that."
"Hey, Vee, I'm not so sure about this plan," Dani said cautiously.
"What are you talking about? It worked last time. Sort of," Vee reasoned. "We can't just leave Lance to be leeched off of by Ash."
"No, I agree we shouldn't but…" Dani looked away, trying to find the balance between supportive and critical, "...just don't expect this to make everything right with Lance. Problems aren't always that simple."
There was a sting in Vee's heart as a small part of her agreed with her girlfriend. But Vee buried that thought swiftly. "Pffft, you serious? Come on, this has to work. Once we stop Ash from hurting Lance he'll go back to normal, he'll forgive me, and we can all be friends again. Easy!" Vee marched onward, determined to get back her friend. She missed the worried glances Dani and Vincent exchanged.
They all arrived at the large gates. Far up on the secluded hill loomed Lance's mansion. "Alright, let's do this," Vee declared and pressed the doorbell.
Almost immediately a snooty voice chimed from the speaker. "Can I help you?"
"Hi, we're Lance's friends," Vee said.
There was a pause.
"And?" the snooty voice prompted.
"And… we're here to see him?" Vee finished.
"Master Lance is in school, as you should be."
"Agh! We've been made!" Vincent dove into some bushes. "Every man for himself!"
"Please vacate the premises before I'm forced to call your principal. Good day."
"No! Wait, wait, wait!" Vee pressed the doorbell repeatedly. "Lance isn't at school. He hasn't been there for days. I saw him wandering around town just a few hours ago."
"Days?!" the snooty voice sputtered, aghast. Vee suddenly recognized it. There was a click and a door opened on the other side of the wall. Out stepped Jaune, the uniformed "bus" driver from camp. He stiffly sneered down at the teens. "Did something happen?" he asked in a tone that said he'd concluded that it had and he'd already decided it was their fault.
Knowing it was indeed her fault, Vee hung her head.
"Something that upset Master Lance?" Jaune pressed.
Vee hung her head lower. It was all the answer Jaune needed.
"Hmph, I knew something like this would happen." Jaune pulled out a remote and pressed the button on it. A hole slid open in the mansion grounds and a car rose out of it. "I'll get him."
Vee perked up.
"Hold on, you know where Lance is? Where?" Dani asked.
"Oh no, you've done quite enough," Jaune snided, donning leather driving gloves and a scarf. "I warned Master Lance it was a poor decision to trounce about with your kind. I warned him it would only end in one way." He made for the car. "Now that you've done your damage, I'll see to it you scoundrels will never harm the young master ever again. Good day."
"Harm?" Vincent gasped.
"No, we'd never—" Dani started to say.
"I'll hear none of it!" Jaune spat and revved the engine. "I say good day to you!" The gates swung open and the teens had to leap out of the speeding car's way. Exhaust clouds left them coughing.
"Great," Dani mumbled. "What are we going to do—"
"Here." Vee shoved the exorcism supplies into Dani and Vincent's arms, then got on all fours.
In a burst of magic, she transformed into a majestic, rainbow-maned, cyan-colored Pegasus. She also seemed to have a picture of cloud that had a rainbow-colored lightning bolt shooting out of it on both sides of her rump.
"Hop on!" Vee ordered.
Vincent and Dani gaped.
"Piàoliang… (Beautiful…)" Dani whispered, transfixed.
"I can't see. Vee? What is happening?" Abuela's voice called. Dani, still slack-jawed, held up the phone. "Ay, que hermosa."
They were among the clouds in a few flaps of Vee's wings. Vincent was busy trying to calculate the aerodynamics of a flying horse, while Dani's inner-child squealed as she experienced what it was like to be a fairy princess. Gravesfield sprawled beneath in a dazzling landscape most humans could only catch glimpses of through an airplane window. There wasn't time to appreciate the splendor though, they had a mission.
"I see the car," Vee shouted over the wind, pointing with her muzzle. They swooped lower until they were gliding a few stories over the vehicle.
"Alright, we need to figure out where he's going before he gets there," Dani said, pushing aside her fantasies of sailing through the stars atop her magical steed for now. "Vince!"
"On it." He pulled up a map of the town on his phone. "Lance would most likely go to a place that is publicly accessible but not constantly monitored. We're heading east by northeast, which narrows the options down to… no… no…" His eyes lit up. "Pickle Park!"
"Are you sure?" Dani asked.
"Eighty-seven-point-twelve percent."
"We'll take those odds. Now we just need to stop Mr. Snoots-A-Lot."
Vee hummed. "I think I have an idea…"
Down on the road, Jaune came to a gentle stop at a red light. He smoothed his mustache. He cleared his throat. He checked the gas.
Then a horse landed on the hood of the car with a mighty crash. Immediately, the front tires burst, black smoke spewed out of several spots, and the engine died. Jaune stared dumbstruck at the animal, and then at the two teens on its back.
"We attained terminal velocity," the boy whimpered, clinging for dear life to the horse.
"That was your idea?" the girl wheezed, shaken.
"Sorry. But it worked," the horse replied sheepishly.
Then the horse galloped away with its riders, sprouted its wings, and took flight. The minute it took off, it created a sonic boom. It wasn't just any sonic boom though. This sonic boom shot a rainbow ring that spread across the city.
The light turned green and Jaune decided he needed a minute.
Pickle Park was a long expanse of grass with a playground at one end and a baseball diamond at the other. It stood at the top of a small hill in the corner of Gravesfield and was only really used for birthday parties. No parties were being held in Pickle Park when Vee landed, no children hung on the jungle gym and no baseball players were stepping up to bat. There was, though, one boy huddled on the pitcher's mound, arms wrapped tightly around his knees. Attached to his feet, Ash hovered over him like a bloated fat tick who had gorged itself on an All-You-Can-Eat buffet.
"Yikes," Dani muttered. "You weren't exaggerating, Vee. He looks awful."
"This is… a strange place for Lance to go," Vincent said.
"What are you talking about? You're the one who figured out he was here."
"Yeah but… it doesn't make sense," Vincent insisted. "Lance has never mentioned being into baseball. Why would he—"
"We can figure that out later, guys," Vee interjected, morphing back into her human form and taking the exorcism supplies. "First we gotta fix this." She led them to the baseball field, ready to make things right. "Hey, Lance, we found you," she called.
Immediately, Lance flinched and whirled around. His pale sickly face somehow got even paler as he shot up. "Oh! Luz—I mean, Vee, I mean—How did you find me?"
"Bleeghlluffaaaallg…" Ash gurgled, followed by a belch. The Hym appeared to be in a delirious food-coma.
"Through the power of friendship," Vee answered, already chalking the exorcism circle around Lance.
"Actually, it was more like the power of probability," Vincent corrected as he and Dani laid out the candles and the salt.
"Don't you worry, we're going to separate you and Ash. That way you'll feel much better, you won't be scared of me anymore, and the two of us can be friends again. Isn't that great?" Vee finished her half-crazed desperate explanation with a wide toothy grin, leaning perhaps a tad too close to Lance.
A long painful moment of silence passed. In it, Lance leaned back, he trembled, and over and over again his eyes kept glancing to his left.
"Uh, what are you looking at?" Vee asked, starting to follow his glances.
"NOTHING!" Lance jumped in the opposite direction. "There's nothing over there. I wasn't looking at anything. Who said I was scared of you, Vee—I mean, Luz—I mean, Vee? I'm not scared of you."
"You're not?" Vee asked, feeling a glimmer of hope. "Really?"
"I—mmm." Lance scrunched his eyes shut and ran.
"Lance!" Vee chased after him. "Wait, we still need to do the exorcism."
But Lance didn't stop. He kept running blindly out of the circle. The hope Vee had clung to crumbled and burning tears began to brim. She was losing Lance. He was afraid of her—pursing him like this was probably not helping. His life was slowly being drained from his body. And worst of all, it was all because of her and her stupid lies.
Then a cold pit opened in her stomach.
"Lance!" she screamed. "Look out! Stop! Open your eyes! The hill!"
But it was too late. Lance wasn't looking where he was going and sped right over the edge of the flat park land and tumbled face first down the rock-covered slope. Half a second later, Vee was tumbling with him. Wrapping her arms around him from behind, she clenched and morphed as quick as she could into a slime. Her new gelatinous body enveloped Lance completely, shielding him as she took the impact of several sharp stones and kept rolling. As a slime she felt no pain but the constant spinning left her dizzy. When they finally reached the bottom, the world was still swirling in her eyes. Eventually, though, things came back into focus and Vee found herself staring up at Pickle Park. From here she could see Dani and Vincent peering down in wordless panic… but also the pitcher's mound barely cresting over the hilltop.
Huh, Vee thought. It was as if the pitcher had a perfect view of this exact spot.
It was then that she realized Lance was no longer contained in her gooey self. Fearful for his safety, she started to rise only to spot him on the other side of a bush that hid her from the street. There, he sat on the sidewalk in front of a boy their age with an ice cream cone in his hand. Both stared at each other as if unable to comprehend what they were seeing.
"Lance?" croaked the stranger. "Is that you?"
"Hey," Lance greeted the boy.
"You just rolled down a super dangerous hill. Are you hurt?" the stranger asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, man," Lance said, returning to his usual nonchalant manner, dusting himself off as he got up.
Lance wiped a globule of slime off his arm. The slime quickly slithered to the bush where it rejoined with the rest of Vee's slime body. She then reverted back into her human form, watching and listening to Lance's conversation intently. How does Lance know this guy? There pregnant pause between the two boys, as if they didn't know what to say to each other. That's when Lance spoke.
"Well, I've got places to be—"
"Lance, wait!" the boy called out to him, making him stop in his tracks, "Lance, I... I owe you an apology."
"No, you don't need to apologize. My parents were the ones it," Lance told the boy.
"No, it was my fault. I should've said no and not taken the money. In fact, I wish I hadn't because anything I bought just reminded me of the face you had when you found out your parents paid me to pretend to be your friend," the boy said, cringing at the memory of seeing Lance's face of betrayal upon learning the truth.
When Vee heard this, she growled, her cheeks red with anger.
"Hey, you!" Vee leaped out of the bushes and approached the boy in question, "How could you do something like that to Lance? You'd be lucky to have someone like Lance, who notices the little things, who always keeps things upbeat, as a friend!" she said in a scolding tone. Spending time around Dani and Camilla had really given her more of a backbone.
The boy was stunned by such passion.
"Are... Are you his girlfriend or something?" the boy asked, making Vee suppress a growl.
"No, I already have a girlfriend!" Vee said with a little restraint, "I'm Lance's friend, one that wouldn't trade him for all the money in the world!" she told the boy.
There was another brief pause in the conversation. The boy cracked a small smile.
"I'm glad to hear that," the boy said, and then turn to Lance, "It's good that you finally found a real friend, Lance. Well, see you around," he said and started walking away.
"Wait!" Lance called out to the boy, making him stop and look back at Lance. "If my parents hadn't screwed up, do you think you and I could've been real friends?" Lance asked him.
"Sorry, but no. You're a nice guy and all, but always found your "everything's cool, man" attitude kind of annoying," the boy said before walking away once again.
"That was a little mean," Vee commented, and then looked at Lance when she heard him sigh in what sounded like relief.
"I... I really needed that," Lance said with a genuine smile.
"What?" Vee looked at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
Lance's Mansion…
Like liquid darkness, Ash flowed out Dani's backpack and into his gaming chair. His distended belly formed an umbral muffin top above the armrests. The Hym moaned and groaned and belched.
"Ugh, is it… is it over?" he gurgled.
"Sure is, Ash," Dani said, trying and failing to pat his ghostly head. "You and Lance are separated again."
Vincent offered him a controller and headset. "Now you can troll gamers as much as you want, buddy."
"No! No more negative emotions! Are you trying to kill me, mortal?!" Ash chucked the gear across the room as if it were on fire and rollie-pollied away. "I, blegh, I need to sleep this off."
As Dani and Vincent shared a chuckle, Vee surveyed Lance from a distance. The boy was still in the exorcism circle brushing off the saffron. Color had returned to his skin and he no longer looked sickly. He was still in that strange peaceful state he'd been in since the nameless guy told him they could never have been friends, but Vee didn't want to make the same mistake again and scare Lance so she remained by the game room's edge. A shadow fell over her.
"Not for all the money in the world?" asked a snooty voice.
Vee craned her head back and met Jaune's stiff upper lip. The man had arrived huffing and puffing at Pickle Park just in time to overhear Vee. She felt a bit on the spot having her own words echoed back at her, as if Jaune still held doubts about her intentions. Matching the man's stern frown, Vee nodded.
Jaune sniffed and faced Lance. His frown hadn't gone away, but it now carried a hint of respect. "He is fragile," Jaune finally said. "The young master wears a smile every day even though he rarely has anything to smile about. Whenever he can't smile, he returns to the spot where he and his 'acquaintance' got ice cream. Even though their time together was an act, I suppose he's still fond of the memories. It was always like that until he met you miscreants. When he returned from camp, that was the first time I had seen the young master… genuinely happy."
The compassion hidden in Jaune's all-business tone moved Vee. Underneath that higher-than-thou attitude he truly cared for Lance. This also gave new light to Lance's hiding his rich status from the MCH. The boy didn't want the past to repeat itself. He just wanted a friend.
"I will always be Lance's friend," Vee said. "But whether or not he wants to be my friend… that's up to him. I'm not going to force him to forgive me."
"You won't have to. Good day," Jaune said offhandedly and marched off, leaving Vee wondering what he meant.
"Lu—Vee."
Vee nearly jumped when she realized Lance was next to her. He was nervously averting his gaze and stood well over an arm's length away but he had come to her.
"I meant what I said, I'm not scared of you. After all the magical creatures we've dealt with, vampires, genies, kitsunes, you not being human wasn't what bothered me." A shudder racked him. "The lie did."
Vee understood. After his first friend turned out to be nothing but a paid liar who didn't even like him… finding out his first real friend was lying too had to hurt.
"You're not hiding anything else, are you? Like, you're not secretly plotting an invasion of Earth or something?"
Vee nearly choked. "Invasion? Lance, have you met me? I can't stop people from cutting me in the lunch line."
The sheer absurdity of his question suddenly struck Lance and he laughed at himself. "Yeah, hehehe, you always end up at the back. Hehe—" The laughs stopped and Lance made a face like he'd caught himself breaking a rule. He forced his smile off and became more serious than Vee had ever seen him. "I want to be able to trust you again, Lu—Vee, but it's gonna take a while."
Vee barely resisted the urge to wrap Lance in a hug, there was hope after all. "Really? You mean it?"
"Friends are supposed to forgive each other, right? Will you… work with me on that?"
"Yes, of course, you don't have to ask."
"That's the spirit, sugar," Miss Canis said, stepping into the room. "Once a week, both of you together in my office, no secrets."
"Huh? Whuh? Once a week?" Vee stammered, blindsided by the Guidance Counselor's entrance. "Miss Canis, what are you doing here?"
"This was something I suggested to Lance the last time he visited me. Sessions will be overseen by me where you two are completely honest with each other. No judgment, only the truth."
Never had Vee heard something more daunting. Being completely open and honest without the option to run and hide as she'd done since she came to this world was… it was almost too much.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Lance said and she could tell he meant it. This was Miss Canis' idea, they could find another way.
Vee took a deep breath and made her decision.
"No secrets," she said.
A band of magic rolled over Vee and her actual basilisk self was exposed. As he had the first time when he saw her like this, Lance flinched but there was no fear now. His eyes traveled over her in wonder, her green arms, her blue hair, her long tail. He took in every detail. Then he suddenly looked concerned.
"Who chained you up?" Lance asked.
A chill ran down Vee's tail to the single iron link pierced through her fin. It was all that remained of the enchanted restraints that had kept her a prisoner of the Emperor's Coven. It couldn't be removed. Magic had melded the metal with her skin. She'd have to lose the fin entirely if she really wanted the link gone. Dani had mistook it for a sort of fashion accessory, but Lance could see the difference. Such a little thing… of course Lance would notice. He always did.
Knowing that he cared loosened the knot in her throat. She smiled at Lance. "Let me tell you all about it."
"Hold up," Miss Canis cut in. "Glad you're both onboard, but we need some privacy. Lance, honey, could you get the door?"
Lance pressed his hand against the nearest wall. It opened a hidden door that appeared to be reinforced like a vault. Inside, Vee spied gold and gem-encrusted knight armor and other precious valuables that belonged to Lance's family.
"Uh… is it really okay for us to be in there?" Vee asked.
"Totally, this is where my parents keep the less than a million dollars junk that they don't care about," Lance said. "But they also let me keep my stuff here. Nobody will bother us."
Side by side, Vee and Lance went in. They weren't quite friends again but as they passed through the doorway Vee spotted something and she knew the first step, which is always the hardest, was behind them. Set apart from the rest of the wealth, perfectly preserved in its own glass case as if it were the greatest treasure of them all, was the necklace of receipts she'd gifted him when they first met.
"And since we're all being so open with our true selves…" Miss Canis transformed into her werewolf form, standing on her hind legs like a person. Gone was her school-mandated dress suit. In its place was a tight revealing tube top and an even more revealing loincloth. "Woof! That's the stuff. Nothing beats being able to stretch my legs."
And stretch she did. Lance, unprepared, had some rather enlightening dreams that night.
End of chapter 14. This chapter was co-written with I Write Big. Looks like Vee was able make up with Lance, although it might take a while for our little basilisk to be completely forgiven. As for her friendship with Beth… well, let's just say being friends with her again is going to be easier said than done.
As you might've noticed, I had Miss Canis' werewolf form's bipedal mode have a revealing outfit. I have no shame in doing that because 1: she's technically an animal in that form, so you can't really expect her to wear clothes anyway, and 2: She's a sexy woman, she's bound to wear something attractive, whether it be in human form or werewolf form. Again, I have no shame in this.
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