LET'S MAKE A DEAL
"One of these days I'm going to bite you" Ethan threatened.
"ETHAN!" said Sarah, with eyes of fire.
Ethan skulked to the door.
"He doesn't mean it" said Jane casually. "He says it once in a while when he's angry with me. He'd never do that. He's embarrassed to have even one werewolf in the family. Besides, he'd have to actually turn into a wolf to pass the curse on to me. Ethan told me that."
"I also told you not to listen in on me?" said Ethan.
"You said not to eavesdrop when Trixie or Jarod were over" Jane pointed out. "Or when you were talking to Sarah. And that's Sarah alone. Grownups and the teens at school might not recognize Erica, but I do. I wanted to know how and why the vampire girl you chewed up over two years ago was visiting. Now I do."
"So you do" said Ethan.
"I've heard everything" said Jane. "But were you three listening? I know where the bolt goes. And how it made Ethan a werewolf."
"You can't be serious" said Erica.
"Are you willing to tell us" asked Sarah.
"Yes" said Jane. "My life hasn't changed. But having a werewolf brother sucks."
Jane had a number of complaints.
"Ethan likes to howl in the park next door and keep me up at night! He's always growling. He hogs the basement with his work out! There's cigarette smoke always down there or outside! Ethan and Jarod are boring to listen to; they only talk sports, girls and whatever canoeing or camping trip they're planning for the summer! Even Benny was a lot more interesting! Jarod Hodges always talks about how much more fun it was to live in Dorval near Montreal! And with Ethan being a werewolf and smoking Marlboros, he smells like he just stepped out of that painting of the smoking dogs paying poker! Plus that smelly men's cologne Trixie always gets him as a present. Then there's how I wanted to have a pet cat a few months ago but I couldn't!"
"You never had a pet cat" said Sarah gently. "Even in my reality."
"Maybe because I had you as a babysitter, I didn't ever want a cat" said Jane, meaning it as a compliment. "Ethan's always getting Trixie over to babysit me. She just spends her time with Ethan or talks on the phone."
"You fired Sarah?" asked Erica.
"NO!" Ethan denied. "It's not that. We It's just Trixie's my girlfriend and . . . ."
"He always wants to canoodle with her" volunteered Jane.
"Never mind" said Sarah heatedly. "I get the idea. I wonder exactly what I said to Ethan about that, but that's not important . . . But Jane, where was the bolt!"
"I'll tell you" said Jane. "Because it's the right thing to do. But you have to make me a promise first."
"What is it?" asked Ethan.
"Not you, Sarah" said Jane.
"What is it?" Sarah repeated.
"You have to break your date with Dirk, Duncan, Dexter, Dagwood, or whatever his name is, and babysit me Valentine's Day night. Ethan's going out with Trixie to the dance and then to a party, Mom and Dad are taking a weekend getaway, so I was stuck with Mr. Hodges. All he does all night is show me old copies of his teen camping magazine and complain about his company closing and having to get a new job in Whitechapel. Or tell me how great his son Jarod is."
"If we restore the original timeline" Ethan said, "you'll probably have Evelyn Weir babysitting you. We can rewrite history tonight."
"Not if you're going to put the bolt back" said Jane. "You'll have to wait until Mom and Dad are out of the house to use that Lucy-thing you were talking about."
"So it was in the house?" said Ethan.
"Forget it" said Jane. "I'm not telling until I get Sarah's promise. I want to make sure I don't spend another boring night."
"Are your seriously trying to blackmail us?" said Erica.
"It's not blackmail, it's making a deal" Jane insisted. "After over two years, why can't you wait for Saturday morning?"
It now occurred to Sarah that she didn't know how the spell would end, if they did successfully manage to end it. Would time resume from the moment Tempus escaped from his coin? Or would it resume when the bolt was placed back and Tempes' dark energy was blasted off that bit of hardware stolen from time?
What it meant, annoyingly, was Sarah would miss her Valentine's Day date with Ethan (as he should be) to babysit Jane.
This almost prompted Sarah to argue the point. Or just try to reason with Jane. Sarah was sure that whatever they had to do, they could do it even with the Morgan's about the house. Even if they had to take a sledgehammer to the wall, Sarah was willing to take being yelled at or banned from the house by Ross or Samantha just to restore life the way it was the morning before.
Still, Sarah might be romantic but she was also smart. What mattered was restoring the timeline. If she had to meet Jane's babysitting ultimatum and miss the dance with Ethan, that was sacrifice she was willing to make. It was sad, but there'd be other dates and other Valentine's Days!
Besides that, whatever happened, Sarah did not want to go on her date with Dirk, Duncan, Doug, Dwight, Darren, Dino, Dexter, Dawson, Dagwood or whatever his name was. Whoever it was that neither Ethan nor Jane could bother to remember.
"I'll babysit you" said Sarah.
"Then it's a deal" said Jane, then gave Ethan a sly look. "Did you tell Sarah about Valentine's Day?"
"That I'm going to the dance with Trixie and then to Skyler Barton's party?" said Ethan. "Yeah. I did. And this gives me one last night before I revert back to how I'd supposed to be. At least I'll get to show off the basketball trophy at the dance."
"That's not what I was asking about" said Jane. "You really didn't tell her you're going to a dance and a party on the night of the full moon? Ethan keeps an almanac for this."
"Jane!" Ethan complained.
Ethan Morgan, cornered, reluctantly pulled an almanac from his drawer.
"Right after sunset it reaches its height" Ethan replied. "February 14, 2014. Sunset 6:03. Full Moon 6:53 pm. So that's the night I would turn."
"You are mental" said Sarah sternly.
"I told you why it didn't matter" said Ethan.
Sarah, not wanting Jane to hear what she was going to say, walked up to Ethan and whispered.
"You're hanging out with the jocks and going to a kegger the night your instincts are at their worst. And you're one waffle-shaped talisman from becoming a maneating monster?"
"I have it covered" Ethan muttered. "I already told Hodges and Barton that I was going to be designated driver. No beer, just soft drinks and water"
"Ethan" said Sarah exasperatedly, "you're still a geek at heart. You're the team captain. You just won the basketball trophy."
"And? It makes perfect sense I'd step up and be designated driver."
"He doesn't get it" said Erica, who was amused.
"No, you three don't get it" said Jane, who hadn't any idea what this was about. "Come downstairs and I'll show you what happened."
But just before Ethan, Sarah and Erica followed Jane out the door, Sarah told Ethan what he "didn't get".
"A guy like Skyler is throwing a party, and you're the team captain and star player . . . everyone's going to expect you to get hosed. You're not going to be able to stand up to them. I know you won't be able to stand up to Trixie."
"How do you know?" Ethan said agitatedly. "You never hung out with jocks or cheerleaders either! I have. Besides, I have willpower. What do you take me for . . . Rory?"
"I know the only reason you're going to a kegger on a full moon is you couldn't let your team or Trixie down" Sarah observed. "The only thing worse than a werewolf is a werewolf that's drunk as a skunk."
Jane led the three teens to the Morgan's living room. Ethan, Sarah and Erica looked at her expectantly. At first glance, the room the same as it had the day before.
"Look up!" said Jane.
The three looked upwards.
Nothing special. Nothing but the white ceiling and a mahogany-coloured ceiling fan with a large frosted glass light in the centre.
Jane flipped a power switch on the wall. The ceiling fan spun around and around, faster and faster.
"And?" said Erica.
Jane flipped on the light on the ceiling fan.
And a light went on in Sarah's head!
"And is right!" said Sarah. "There wasn't a ceiling fan here a couple days ago. There was just an old brass chandelier. Chandelier. Wait!"
"It broke . . . a couple years ago" said Ethan. "When I turned into a werewolf. I thought I broke it on the way out of the house."
"No you didn't" said Jane. "That was the one thing you got in trouble for when Mom and Dad came home. I told them it was broken at your party."
"Now I know what I was missing!" said Sarah triumphantly, looking at Ethan. "The night Benny turned, you, Ethan, into a werewolf, I never heard you howling. Try howling!"
"My old lady will hear!" objected Ethan, who was still annoyed with Sarah's comments about the party.
"Just do it" said Erica. "Werewolves have their own particular howl."
Ethan obliged. As quietly as he could. "Ah-oooooooooo"
"I hate that idiot dog!" complained Samantha's voice from the kitchen. "Ethan, see if it's in the yard!"
"It's gone!" Ethan shouted back.
"It wasn't so deep" said Sarah. "It was . . . it was . . . Rory! Now I remember. Rory was at Ethan's party, swinging from the chandelier. It was his howling that brought me to the house. It wasn't Ethan's howl at all!"
"The dude was mental" said Ethan, nostalgically. "Swinging from the chandelier and howling! I don't even do that."
"Rory didn't have a chance to howl" explained Jane. "Two swings and Rory came crashing to the floor with the chandelier and a hunk of ceiling. As soon as everybody saw the mess, they ran off."
"What did you do?" asked Sarah, with a smile. "Go to your room?"
"Yes" admitted Jane. "I didn't break the light and I didn't want to get into trouble!"
"I'm happy you did" said Ethan, putting his hand on her.
The brother and sister shared a warm moment. A brief moment.
"I really like you better when you weren't a werewolf' said Jane.
"But what about Rory?" interrupted Erica. "I supposed instead of looking for the VIP room, he just went to the basement looking for Ethan. Or just anybody in general?"
"Yes" said Ethan, awkwardly. "One of the things I remember Rory was limping when you told me to kill him. Poor Rory . . . he . . . uh . . . well . . . screamed like a girl and tried to get away. He couldn't climb the stairs fast enough to get away from me. No super-speed . . . for some reason."
"Because he was hurt" Sarah observed. "Rory limped downstairs looking for the rest of the party. Vampires heal fast, but not instantly. That must have been some crash to knock out his super-speed."
"It was!" said Jane.
"Because Tempus Mercator Daemonium stole a nut and a bolt from the mounting bracket holding up the chandelier" said Ethan. "And when Rory swung, he pulled down the chandelier.
"And a lot of the ceiling" Jane put in.
"Rory didn't howl" Sarah mused, "I didn't run over, and history was changed for the worse."
"And it was all for the want of a nail" concluded Erica, narrowly looking at the ceiling fan that should have been in some other house. "Or a bolt . . . or whatever.