IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
When a tall teenage boy growls loudly, and the hair on his head bristles upward, he tends to attract attention. So it was that everyone in the gym office stared at Ethan in surprise.
"What's with you?" asked Skyler. "You gone psycho?"
"Dude, Morgan's having his ears blasted off by Erie Shores" said Hodges, the loyal friend. "What's your problem!"
"Nothing" said Skyler, suddenly cowardly and awkward before his pals' twin death glares.
"Nothing's with me either" said Ethan fiercely. "Besides my ears feeling like a shotgun's got off. I just remembered. I have to ask Sarah something about the teams' yearbook photos.
"It's always the yearbook" complained Trixie. "Or something."
"Yeah" said Ethan. "Or something!"
"It's Erica, isn't it?" Sarah asked Ethan in a whisper.
"Man, if you don't know . . . then this has got to do with that demon right!" Ethan returned.
"I need to talk to you now"
"We'll just take a step in the hall" said Ethan aloud, somewhat bitterly. "I forgot my earplugs, and I can't take this noise anymore!"
The far end of the gym office had a door leading into a storage room. The three didn't stop there as the sound there was plainly audible in the gym office; and vice versa. As Ethan, Sarah and Erica left they heard Skyler's voice asking Hodges "What's going on with Ethan?" with a few swear words thrown in the mix for good measure.
"Nothing, man" said Hodges. "The guy needs his space."
Another door led to the "public" hall to the change-rooms. The south end of that hall exited on the main hall that went past the science labs.
A moment later Ethan faced Sarah and Erica in the first of the science rooms and locked the door.
"Chemistry Room 1C" featured long metal tables with tall plastic chairs behind them. Along the sides of the room were wooden cabinets with glass-doors containing equipment and various bottles.
Ethan smoothed down his still normal-looking head of hair, which finally had stopped bristling. Not only that, but he flattened his arm and back-of-hand hair for good measure. He swallowed again.
The fear had now disappeared from his face. It had been replaced by a visible nervousness and unease.
"Okay, Sarah. I have about ten minutes until I need to be back" said Ethan, looking at the clock and double-checking the Timex on his wrist.
"This is way too important for your ten minute time limit" Erica put in.
Ethan gave Erica a death glare, or as he had called it in the real world "a shooting invisible laser beams from my eyes" glare.
"Sarah" said Ethan, deliberately turning away from Erica. "My bad. I was a big jerk with the magical amnesia thing. I should have listened to you instead of jumping to conclusions."
"No, not really" said Sarah. "From your perspective, it made sense. You couldn't realize what's going on."
"Look, I may be a jock but I've still got all my brains" said Ethan impatiently. "As I always tell you."
"I'm the one who told you that jock aren't automatically stupid" said Sarah. "Just . . . jerks a lot of the time."
"Like Ethan here" said Erica, who wasn't going to be ignored.
Ethan looked angry again, but didn't deign to face Erica.
"I didn't call you stupid" said Sarah. "Just that you had no way of knowing."
"Well, now that she's here, I realize it's big" said Ethan, "And what you said to me earlier, Sarah, I know this has to do with me being a werewolf and you being strangely forgetful about me being a werewolf."
"Why?" asked Erica.
Ethan pretended to forget what time it was, so he looked at his watch and used the Indiglo feature though he could see very well in the dimly lit room.
"Ethan, you're too old to just pretend Erica isn't here" Sarah snapped.
"Yeah, you're right" said Ethan, although he very petulantly put his hands in his pockets.
Ethan turned to Erica.
"First thing is, Erica, is you're here and human" said Ethan. "You know why I took up smoking? Not because Hodges already had back in Dorval. But because I found that the stench of burning tobacco mostly blasts my crazy sense of werewolf smell. Anyone who hasn't smelt a school full of teens or worse, a gym locker room, will never know how sick it is! But I know what a vampire's un-dead stench is like, anywhere or anytime. Right now you have it on your arm. One of them just touched you, but I know the difference between a vampire touching someone and someone being a bloodsucker themselves."
"One of the new vampires just tried to kill me" Erica corrected angrily.
"What are you whining about?" said Ethan mockingly. "You're still here, and alive aren't you? Somehow! And you're human. But if I remember right, I could've sworn you'd hate being human again."
"Okay, I'm here and I'm human" said Erica angrily. "Where am I supposed to be?"
Ethan burst into a fit of mocking laughter.
"She gave me an opening you can drive a truck through" said Ethan to Sarah in his hoarsest voice, verging on his growl. "Or, as I used to say, fly the Death Star through."
Erica didn't say anything, but glancing into a glass-doored cupboard, removed a bottle marked "AGNO3".
"Where am I supposed to be?" repeated Erica angrily. "Or I'll throw this on you. It'll take several hours for your burns to heal."
"A-G-N-O-3. Silver nitrate" said Ethan, uneasily stepping back, but with a stubborn expression.
"Where am I supposed to be?" said Erica.
"Burning. In hell" Ethan replied icily. "Or maybe rotting in that vampire limbo Jesse told Sarah about. I don't really know and I really don't care."
"Then that first time you turned into a werewolf . . . ." said Sarah thoughtfully.
"What . . . exactly . . . happened?" put in Erica.
"Yeah, that's when it happened!" growled Ethan bitterly. The yellow flooded into his eyes and the supernatural growl reverberate in his throat. "I don't know why you don't remember, but I'll once again go through the worst night of my life with you."
Ethan took a deep breath, forcing some control over his voice.
"Erica was in my basement, thinking that I was Stochowski" said Ethan. "You see, I remembered after because of all the human blood I swallowed that night. You see, human blood gives a werewolf memory of all that happens during his time it's . . . my brain, mind and cerebral cortex were mushed up and reformed into the mind of a starving, angry seven-foot hellhound."
"You still are one" retorted Erica, waving the bottle of silver nitrate. "Just in human form and over a half a foot shorter."
Ethan snatched the silver nitrate, and put it in one of the sinks around the room.
"Human enough" Ethan growled, and clamped down his teeth.
Some of the silver nitrate had crystallized around the top of the bottle, and Ethan had an ugly burn on the palm of his hand.
"You'll pay for that!" Ethan growled again. "You just better hope this doesn't wreck my dribble or my slam dunk!"
"You just try and make me!"
"Stop arguing!" demanded Sarah. "I hate to be peacemaker. Ethan, get off your high horse. We're going to help you undo that evening!"
"How the . . . ." said Ethan, and his attitude and yellow eyes changing immediately.
"Listen, that's how" ordered Sarah, which led Ethan to peacefully (and petulantly) resume his hands-in-pockets expression.
Erica smirked, but only for a moment.
"Erica, face it, you were a witch that night" said Sarah, choosing her words carefully. "I know you were cheering Ethan on to eat Benny. I was there."
Ethan looked at Sarah in surprise. Erica, however, just scowled.
"I thought Ethan was David Stochowski" said Erica.
"That, I know!" said Ethan.
"Besides, I accidentally ended up touching Ethan when he was naked" said Erica in disgust."You know, after he turned back, after you cured him with the bottle of that phosphorescent blue stuff. And I found out Stochowski was a loser were-dog. I think that was punishment enough!"
"That's not what happened!" said Ethan in wonderment, every trace of now anger gone.
"Why, what happened" said Sarah, looking at Ethan. "All afternoon we're being trying to find out . . . but all we can get out of you . . . or anyone is bits and pieces."
"Like that obviously fake story about rabid coyotes killing Benny and David Stochowski" Erica put in.
Ethan looked to his feet ashamed. Then he walked to the window and looked out in the distance.
"Give him his space" Sarah told Erica.
Erica listened. But she didn't care to be browbeaten by Ethan, so just in case she once again grabbed the bottle of silver nitrate.
"I will tell you. But first. . . what did that demon do exactly?" asked Ethan. "This morning?"
"His name is Tempus Mercator Daemonium" explained Sarah. "He was trapped in a coin. I had been collecting yearbook money with Erica . . . ."
"Who pays for the yearbook in coins?" Ethan interrupted.
"Focus" said Erica acerbically.
"Yeah, I think I know what's going on" said Ethan with dawning comprehension. "Tempus, Latin for time.
"The Demon Merchant of Time" Sarah added hesitantly. "Erica had been going on about how . . . well, Ethan . . . that I could have a cooler boyfriend."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"You were my boyfriend."
"Oh!" said Ethan. He looked awkward; but Sarah noticed that Ethan also sported a toothy self-satisfied smirk at the thought.
"Tempus was trapped in the coin until someone would stupidly made a wish while holding the coin. He could then go free after granting the wish. Well, I wished you were cooler" said Sarah with some effort, whose turn it was to look awkward. "And being a demon he twisted it to grant it in the worst way possible."
Ethan looked horror-struck, again going white as a sheet.
"Me being a werewolf" said Ethan. "Or, technically, Tempus altering time so I stayed a werewolf and . . . leading to everything that came from it. But . . . in real life . . . or the real life I know . . . at least you didn't give up your humanity. That potion, the Master Reversal Potion, it cured you!"
"I was cured . . . but it was about a year and a half later" said Sarah.
"That's a very long time to be undead."
"Not after-the-fact, I feel as if it never happened. So you don't need to worry about that. Rory feels the same way too."
"Rory?" said Ethan, raising his eyebrow. "He was still around? How did he take being cured?"
"He was still around and still a friend of yours" interrupted Erica. "Within a week, you had Rory back to loving being human."
"Yeah" said Ethan nostalgically. "Rory wasn't ever much into the vampires, except for Vampire Sasquatch. That is until Erica bit him!"
"Are we going to go through this again?" Sarah demanded.
"Sorry" Ethan muttered, and started pacing with his hands in his pockets. "Walking helps me think" he added in way of explanation. "It's a werewolf thing. Too much energy, nerves, you get the point."
"How did this demon change time?" Ethan said after a moment.
"All we know is some old poem about it being for the want of a nail" said Erica. "And he actually reached into space and gave Sarah a nut and a bolt."
"So it is something ridiculously small that changed the course of history" said Ethan. "Literally a bolt? You know how to undo it? Or . . redo the bolt?"
"We might" said Sarah. "But we'll need your help."
"Maybe I'll help" said Ethan tersely.
"WHAT!" said Sarah.
"You might at least start finally telling us what happened the night you first turned into a werewolf" said Erica.
"Okay" said Ethan, turning to face the girls "I owe you that at least. That night, after I talked to you over the webcam Sarah . . . as I was talking to you, Sarah, I had started to turn into a werewolf. I told Benny after you had left the scene. Benny ran over, tried to correct his spell . . . uh, canis lupis it was . . . that ricocheted off of Stochowski and cursed me into being a werewolf. It seemed to work at first, but a werewolf counter-spell needs a lot of raw power. Especially during the full moon. Somehow I ended up in the basement when it began again. Next thing I know, she . . . ."
"Erica" said Sarah.
"Well, she was encouraging me to eat Benny, Benny was protesting about something, begging" said Ethan, with a deep breath. "I remember his face when I tore out his throat. I think at the last second he knew who I was and what he had done to me. We were best friends since we were kids."
"If he did know, he wouldn't have blamed you" said Sarah softly, putting a hand on Ethan's shoulder. "But what about the others?"
Ethan started pacing again.
"After I killed him, Benny looked like . . . I can't describe it. I killed my best friend as a dog would have done it. The next thing was a girl screaming. No . . . it was Rory. He had limped downstairs. I don't know if he was stuck at the bottom of the stairs in fright, or had tried to stumble across to help Benny. I don't know if all the blood around short-circuited his brain. Then there was you again, Erica, encouraging me to go after him."
"In reality, Sarah had already poured the cure down your throat. All this wouldn't have happened but for the demon" Erica protested, although she herself looked guilty.
"I was very angry about Rory being there, because of the un-dead stench he brought with him" said Ethan. "Rory also burnt into a pile of dust when I was finished killing him. That made me angrier. Then I turned on you, Erica . . . and I have to say I'm not sorry. Same thing as Rory. Pile of dust."
Erica opened her mouth, but she didn't have much to say.
"You were the one who killed everyone!" she reminded Ethan.
"I can blame myself, Benny, or you!" spat Ethan. "Neither Benny nor me knew what we were doing. You did! And you know what! Maybe it was better not to have two undead teens roving around through the centuries. Maybe I did the world a favour!"
"I still have the bottle of silver nitrate in my hands!" Erica warned.
Sarah, who was annoyed at having to play peacemaker again, put her hands up.
"What happened to Stochowski?"
"He was next" said Ethan. "Poor guy had turned into a shaggy dog. Tied up with a metal chain. As soon as he was dead, he reverted. When I had finished in the basement . . . ."
"Finished eating?" sneered Erica. "We all know that humans are werewolves' natural diet."
Ethan tried to reply, but he couldn't.
"I . . . I. . ." Ethan started, then he changed tack. "IT's your fault. After, I ran up through the house" he said hoarsely. "The party had broken up by then. Sarah, you told me later you phoned up Benny's grandmother when you came to my house to tell me you were cured and and you found the bloodbath in the basement. That brought poor Mrs. Weir home very early the next morning. I still don't know how she kept my parents out of the way."
"Evelyn Weir also invented the story about Benny joyriding in the woods with her car, and the pack of coyotes" said Sarah.
"We helped her clean up" said Ethan, returning to his pacing. "You were the one who tossed me my clothes when I was stuck naked behind some bushes in the park next door. And you wouldn't remember when we both went to Benny's funeral. Can you believe it? I was one of the pallbearers. Of my best friend. The guy whose throat I turned out. And when Evelyn died a few days later, I was a pallbearer again. She had been going to make me an absolute cure as soon as she had rested up, but that didn't happen. In the meantime she had . . . ."
"Wait! And what about me?" asked Erica. "Why didn't you make a story up about me?"
"I did" Ethan said. "Sarah argued about it, but I got my way. You and Rory ran away together to Mexico City" said Ethan.
"What!" said Erica.
"Payback!" said Ethan, turning on her with a growl. "First, there was Benny who you encouraged me to kill. The dude had his life ahead of him. He was my best friend. We lived next to each other since we were six. And let's not forget Rory. He was also a pal. He once had a life ahead of him too. You bit him, you bought him. Rory would have loved the story of you running away with him. And you know what! Believe it or not, I'm a nice guy! Your familys wanted closure. Neither of you left a body, so I had to come up with somewhere you went off too. So, a couple months later the Federalis . . . and there are certain police stations in Mexico that are easy to hack . . . found you two dead of undetermined causes in Mexico City. And you were cremated and sent home roundabout through FedEx, Canada Post, the USPS and the Correos de Mexico. And your ashes were even comingled together."
"WHAT!" said Sarah and Erica together.
"I knew you'd hate it, Erica" said Ethan cooly. "But Sarah, it wasn't my doing, . . . really, Sarah. I wouldn't have gone that fax. The dust was mixed together. We just couldn't tell them apart in my basement."
Erica looked daggers at Ethan. But Ethan wasn't the least bit impressed or intimidated! Erica, to her annoyance, realized that both Sarah and Ethan had a point about her actions that night. Attempted in real life . . . in this reality, actually resulting in the murder of one person, two vampires and a were-dog.
Well, there was nothing Erica could do about this miserably reality, besides undo Tempes' spell. Still, something important was bothering her.
"Why wasn't I at least mentioned in the papers or online?" Erica complained.
"It surprised me too" Ethan admitted. "I didn't put in how you died - and the Mexican police couldn't figure it out."
"Given Erica and Rory were vampires killed by a werewolf in Canada that's no surprise" Sarah observed. "How could they find that out in Mexico?"
"But what does that have to do with anything?" Erica demanded.
"Well, you know, they don't publish news about teen behavior they don't want to encourage" said Ethan lamely. "It was very weird to have a fourteen and sixteen year old die that way, we live in a smaller town . . . I guess the newspapers and TV stations were afraid Rory and Erica had some sort of . . . pact. It's not as if your families wanted the attention. Benny's Dad didn't like being asked how he felt about Benny being . . . torn apart . . . by . . . coyotes."
Ethan began pacing again.
There was now an even longer pause as all three were lost in their own thoughts.
Ethan, Erica and Sarah all felt guilty for very different reasons.
"Well, we can undo all this" said Sarah at last. "The sooner the better."
"Maybe" said Ethan. "We can talk about it tomorrow after school."
"You're out of your mind" said Sarah.
"Why?" said Ethan. "This happened over two years ago, in real time. One day doesn't make a difference. I have a game to win for the team. I have a pizza party to attend. I have a Dad who's proud of his athlete son. I have a girlfriend who loves her jock boyfriend and has a house all to herself."
"Isn't saving your friends and yourself more important than all that" asked Sarah.
"Saving myself?" said Ethan incredulously. "Consider this, Sarah. If I undo whatever this Tempest Mercator Daemonium did, I erase myself. I erase two years of my history and my life and my friends and my entire relationship with Trixie. I become the guy I would have been otherwise . . . but I'm as much a stranger to that Ethan as I seem to be to you. You're asking me to sacrifice my entire life"
"We can stop you from going back to that basketball game" said Erica.
"How?" said Ethan.
Erica held up the bottle of silver nitrate again.
"But we're not going to" insisted Sarah. "But so you won't be a stranger, in the real world, you made a list of our adventures. So you find out what you've done and what you think about our kicking monster-butt. I'm emailing it all to you."
"Uh, thanks" said Ethan. He sighed. "I can tell you this. Even if I don't help you, I won't get in your way from what you have to do."
"Why don't you help us now?" asked Sarah. "You know, if you do, you'll save Benny and Rory's lives. And maybe a lot of other people you don't know about yet."
"That's the only reason I haven't said no to helping you" said Ethan. "Yet. Just give me time. Meanwhile, that karate I used to take . . . thanks Sarah . . . taught me how to compartmentalize and relax my mind. I have a team to captain and a game to win. And Coach will kill me if I'm not back in time!"
With that Ethan stepped out.
But only for a moment.
"Erica better stay at your house" Ethan said. "Erica's family moved out after she died. Trixie has her old room."
Ethan ducked out the door before the silver nitrate hit him in the head.
"I hope he loses his big game" gasped Erica. "I'm dead, my remains are mixed with Rory's. And what else? Trixie has my room! And Ethan's probably been there, too! Can this reality get any worse?"
"No" said Sarah thoughtfully. "Because I know Ethan . . . and I think Ethan's going to help us. If he's still in spirit the Ethan he was two years ago, he'll sacrifice two years of memories to save the lives of his friends. Nothing will change that about him."