Chapter Seven
A growing trend in Gotham seemed to be waking Waylon up in the middle of the day to make him do stuff and leave his lighthouse. This time the rude awakener was Riddler, the one person who should know better, knocking on the door at nine in the morning with some video on his cell phone to show Waylon.
"You know I don't feel that bad about trying to kill you. Keep pissing me off and I might try it again." Waylon warned half heartedly as Riddler barged into the lighthouse. He didn't stay inside very long and quickly shuffled back out. He looked very agitated and rigid all of a sudden, as if he had just witnessed the most horrible thing in all of creation. Waylon couldn't figure out if it was the pile of bones or just the mess in general, both could make him equally as irritated.
"The mess..." He began, not even looking at Waylon he was that disgusted. Yep, that was it, his OCD outweighed everything else, even basic humanity. Riddler was weird.
"Then don't go in there." Waylon grumbled, standing in the doorway so Riddler couldn't see or complain about it anymore. "Now what do you want?"
"I thought this might interest you." Riddler announced, swiping on his smart phone to bring up a video on some news channel. Waylon peered at it. It seemed to show the inside of a jewellery store, only the place was a total wreck. The voice over news reporter was talking about an act of vandalism, accompanied by different shots of the wrecked jewellery store with necklaces, rings and bracelets scattered all over the floor, the glass cases smashed and the safe ripped open.
"And..." Waylon said, looking to Riddler to explain why he was showing him this.
"Keep watching." Riddler coaxed, swapping arms to hold up the phone. Waylon rolled his eyes and continued to watch the news report.
"The CGPD have identified a familiar pattern in the destruction as well as found evidence of claw marks on and inside the safe." The news reporter announced, the camera returning to the studio with a small square for images in the corner of the screen. "The likely suspected for this act of vandalism is meta human Killer Croc due to the familiar claw marks, however, the GCPD are yet to find a motive."
"What the fuck?" Waylon grumbled with disbelief. Damn straight they needed a motive, who the hell wrecked a jewellery store and didn't take anything.
"Well?" Riddler asked, putting his phone away.
"Well what? Wasn't me." Waylon protested. He didn't quite remember exactly what he did last night due to a bit of excessive alcohol consumption, but he certainly didn't destroy a jewellery store. Or did he?
"I know that you idiot." Riddler snapped, whipping his phone out again and shoving the screen in Waylon's face to show him the claw marks again. "Recognise them?"
"Should I?" Waylon grumbled, yawning rather loudly to make it clear he was tired and just to remind Riddler that he had very sharp teeth.
"They are the same size claw marks as the ones on the side of your face." Riddler hissed, sounding somewhat irritated that Waylon hadn't realized it straight away, but also somewhat smug for figuring it out and being able to flaunt his intelligence for doing so. It wasn't like proving he was more intelligent than Waylon was any great feat. Again, Riddler was weird.
"So you reckon whatever wrecked the jewellery store was the same thing from the Avery?" Waylon clarified, fairly certain that was what Riddler was suggesting. Why exactly he didn't know.
"Well come on, you could be a bit more interested." Riddler grumbled with frustration. "Don't you want to know what attacked you? I mean if it was powerful enough to knock you down then surely you'd want to have it on your side, or at least get rid of it."
"If it's powerful enough to knock me down then I don't want to bother with it. Sounds like way too much effort." Waylon sighed, turning to go back to sleep but Riddler wasn't finished.
"Come on. Are you really that apathetic that you'd turn down the opportunity to have a real fight? I thought you loved that sort of thing." Riddler protested. His words prodded Waylon in the wrong spot and irritated him instantly.
"What I do with my time isn't your concern!" He snarled, turning around suddenly to snap near Riddler's face. "And if I don't want to bother fighting something then I fucking won't bother!" He could feel his eyes want to shift to slits and his vision blinked red a couple of times. Oh no. No, he wasn't allowed to lose it again, not in the day time. Riddler had nowhere to run or hide either so if he did lose it then Riddler was screwed beyond belief.
Waylon turned around and skulked back into the lighthouse to calm down for a minute. Riddler did have a point however, he had become rather disinterested in everything. Once upon a time Waylon loved to fight everything, and the more difficult the challenge the better his mood. He'd lived for the opportunities when something dangerous came along and would actively seek out that fight to maintain his status as the biggest muscle in Gotham. There was also a bit of correlation between how often he got into fights and how often he came close to or totally lost control. Giving into his violent temptations seemed to keep his monstrous side happy and maintained within him, it was only when he resisted it that Killer Croc came out. That of course didn't account for Madeline's presence, when she was around he felt calm and perfectly relaxed, not a single desire to be violent what so ever, but once she left however, he could feel it creeping up inside him to kill, maim and wreak havoc.
Now that he thought about it, Madeline had acted kind of like a drug. He would be angry and aggressive, then she'd come around and he'd calm down for a while, but after she left, he'd go back to being aggressive, even more so than before. Maybe her presence wasn't as helpful to him as he'd thought, and when she died he'd gone wild like he never had before. Now of course he had managed to gain control over himself without her around, a recovery from addiction if you will, but that only left him drained and listless, which in all honesty probably didn't help with his devolution. All he wanted to do was sleep, eat and just be left alone to his own misery. Perhaps it would be better to get out and do something, try and get back to normal. Madeline was gone, and she never coming back, he had to try and function without her drug like lullaby.
"Edward, wait." Waylon called, turning around as Riddler was just walking off.
"Change your mind?" Riddler asked arrogantly, turning his head with his nose in the air.
"Why do you want to investigate this thing?" Waylon asked, scratching the back of his neck.
"Because it's fascinating, and I don't have anything else to do." Riddler confessed, and Waylon did not doubt that Riddler was bored without Batman around to torment. "Besides, this could be some monster cooked up in a secret science lab, and you know how much I loved uncovering hidden things and solving riddles."
"Yeah I guess. You got a plan?" Waylon asked, not really that bothered about discovering any secret organisation and more concerned with trying to regain a bit of normalcy in his life. He was going to do something with his time and get back into the swing of things before he devolved completely. Who knows, perhaps it would slow it down or something.
"But of course" Riddler announced with his head high in the air. "Come to the orphanage this evening and I will have it all sorted out and we can catch this thing."
"Wait. Catch it? I thought I was just going to kill it." Waylon grumbled with confusion. Killing it would be easier than capturing it, plus he didn't do the hostage situation very well.
"You can't just kill it!" Riddler protested, outraged at the very concept. "I need to study it, conduct experiments."
Waylon rolled his eyes and grumbled. Riddler was a man of science so it was no wonder he'd want to do experiments. Personally the idea of him doing that did not sit well with Waylon for personal reasons, but after he got into a tussle with whatever this thing was he'd probably be more than happy to see it suffer a little. Maybe he'd just leave the room during the whole experimentation part so he didn't have any Iron Heights flash backs.
"Okay fine, I won't kill it." Waylon promised half heartedly, not really sure if he could keep that promise. "I'll be there at nine. You better have a plan."
"I always have a plan. You had better stick to it." Riddler warned, almost sounding like he was threatening Waylon who was notorious for going off script. Working together again would be kind of tricky considering the opposing personalities, but so long as they stuck to their own jobs it would in theory work out.
Waylon shut the door to the lighthouse and skulked back into the darkness. He curled up on the scattered mattresses and shut his eyes tight but he couldn't get comfortable again. After a while of tossing and turning he ended up lying on his back looking up into the darkness, his hands behind his head. What he wouldn't give to have Madeline with him again. Even if she was somewhat of a drug to him and her absence made his condition worse, the momentary high of her presence and sense or normality that came with it was totally worth it. And in that moment he would gladly loose all of his humanity for the chance to see her again for just one moment.
Madeline didn't quite understand why they insisted on strapping her down when she went for tests and observations. What was she going to do, claw them with her nails and feebly punch them in the arm. She wasn't exactly a formidable force to be reckoned with. However, Langstrom looked like someone who would go down with even the slightest flick so it was probably for his safety that they kept Madeline restrained. Madeline certainly felt the urge to punch Langstrom in the face though, not because he was particularly cruller or anything, but because he was so god damn boring. The guy didn't speak or anything, he just did the tests in total silence and had a look of nervousness on his face.
"Okay seriously man, you are so boring." Madeline complained after ten minutes of silence. That was all she could bare. Langstrom looked at her and frowned with a puzzled expression.
"I don't have anything interesting to say." He answered duly, and his voice was possibly more irritating than the silence. He sounded like all happiness had been sucked out of his body and he was just a shell.
"Really? For a guy that turned himself into a giant bat I find that surprising." Madeline insinuated, and her words seemed to annoy Langstrom a bit. Was that a sore spot perhaps?
"It wasn't intentional." Langstrom answered, checking the observation screen.
"Oh. Then how does one accidently turn himself into a giant bat?" Madeline asked cheerfully, genuinely curious but also feeling the urge to be irritating.
"I was trying to find a cure for deafness." Langstrom answered, sounding almost a little upset. Definitely a sore spot, but why?
"And..."
Langstrom was either socially awkward and didn't understand basic verbal prompts or he didn't want to talk about it anymore because he never responded to that and remained silent for the duration of the tests. Then, some people in hazmat suits came in to escort Madeline somewhere else. Possibly back to her cell. However, on the way back they stopped midway down the hall and another person in a hazmat suit who Madeline instantly recognised to be the mysterious woman stepped into view.
"You did the task very quickly with Field Test B, however, you were rather sloppy about it so this time I want you to be fast and quiet, leave no evidence behind." The woman explained, sounding like an endearing mother prompting her child to improve on their school work.
"You can tell me all the stuff you want but it won't make any difference since I have no memory of doing any of these field tests. I'm not conscious for them and I have no clue what they entail." Madeline snapped, fairly sick of this woman and her bullshit.
"Don't worry." The woman reassured. "It will stay in your subconscious so when the gene activation dosage is administered you will regain a vague memory of what you are supposed to do."
"Are you ever going to tell me what exactly this gene activation does to me?" Madeline asked casually, as if she were merely asking for the answers to a test. "You guys turning me into some sort of monster or something?"
"It's better for your mental state if you don't know." The woman reassured, and Madeline just knew that she was smiling menacingly beneath the hazmat suit. "Don't want you to go crazy now do we."
"Yes because being tested on day and night in some secret underground facility with strangers in hazmat suits all around isn't enough to make you go bonkers."
The table Madeline was on rolled away from the woman before she got her answer, and instead of being rolled back to the cell they were taking her down to the garage where they had taken her for Field Test B. They kicked the wheels up on the table like ambulances do with stretchers as they loaded her into the back of a truck. Only Langstrom climbed into the back of the truck with her and produced a syringe with the dreaded gene activation dosage inside.
"Another field test?" Madeline asked curiously as she watched the needle stick into her arm. Since this was the third time Madeline was going through this she didn't freak out about it anymore. It was kind of scary how quickly she'd come to accept what they did to her as just part of the daily routine, but perhaps that was partly because she didn't have a choice in the matter and there was only so many times you could kick and scream.
Langstrom injected the dosage and Madeline felt her body go hot and begin to ache like it had the last two times. She braced for the mind melt and the agony of having her brain scrambled, her bones break and who body generally go into turmoil. She willed it to hurry up so she could get the painful part over with and go straight to black out, but the more she tried to force herself to hurry up and pass out, the longer it seemed to take. Her mind was racing and her eyes burnt, her skin felt like it was being peeled off and her mouth felt very dry. She also felt a pang of hunger start to grow in her stomach and the urge to eat anything and everything in sight, even if it meant gnawing off an arm. Then, the convulsion started, as if she were being electrocuted, and she felt her conscious start to fade away as everything went red.
Riddler was certainly prepared to hunt down whatever this thing was, and he had certainly been busy that day setting up cameras all over Gotham and hacking a few security feeds in the process. Waylon was rather irritated however, as when he arrived at Pinkney Orphanage, Jack was still hanging around.
"You still here? I thought I told you to go home!" Waylon growled as he pushed past the kid into Riddler's office.
"I'm not leaving until I find my sister." Jack argued, but Waylon just ignored him.
"Actually he's been very helpful." Riddler said, surprising Waylon a little with how quickly he had come around from finding Jack annoying to finding him useful. "He helped set up some of the cameras. It does help that he isn't a wanted criminal." Jack looked to Waylon for some sort of nod of approval but Waylon never supplied it. He wasn't bothered if the kid was useful or not, he just wanted him to go away.
"So, what's the plan?" Waylon asked, leaning on the desk but then quickly standing up again when he heard it creek a little. Riddler glared at him for nearly breaking the table but then returned to the plan.
"I have cameras set up all around Gotham and I've hacked into the security feeds for most places. It's a lot of space to cover, but I have a program installed that will alert me when a specific type of movement pattern is captured on the feed."
"That sounds... complicated." Waylon mumbled, not bothering to follow. Riddler however, was determined to make his rather dull brain understand and attempted to explain it.
"It is set so more animalistic movement activates it, large mammals, reptiles and birds. Also it's sensor only picks up movement belonging to something larger than a full grown man."
"How do you have so many cameras throughout the whole of Gotham?" Waylon wondered, ignoring all the science spiel. He knew Riddler was prolific with leaving stuff all over Gotham, like those annoying trophies he had for Batman.
"Information is key, and the more information you have the more power you hold." Riddler explained, sounding like an evil genius. Waylon chuckled to himself.
"Yeah, or you could hit the gym some time."
"Oh ha ha ha, very funny, I'm weak and feeble, you're big and strong. I get it!" Riddler snapped, years of being bullied as a child coming back into his memory no doubt. "Jack, intelligence is more important than brawn, remember that."
Riddler handed Waylon an earpiece so they could communicate and sent him to the middle of Gotham via the sewer system. The idea was for him to wait there so he'd be an equal amount of distance to all the possible targets around Gotham that the creature might hit. It was hard to predict the kind of location that would be hit next since the first had been an Avery and the second a jewellery store with no distinct link between them. What was it even doing anyway. Waylon crouched in the dark sewers, the rancid water slowly running past him and a few rats scurrying by. It was a fairly dismal and depressing setting, but it was his hunting grounds. However, the grime on the narrow path way, the scurry of rats and the smell of rot didn't remind him of days gone by where he'd hunt down the GCPD officers foolish enough to hunt for him down there, or the sewer workers taking a wrong turn. It all reminded him of that day four years ago. What a horrible place for someone to die, and to make matters worse he'd just left her lying in the filth like some common street walker. There had been no respect for her, and Madeline had deserved better than that.
"Waylon!" Riddler shouted through the earpiece, giving Waylon a small heart attack.
"Ah, what the fuck! What?" Waylon grumbled, ripping the earpiece out to yell at it. Got he hated technology.
"My cameras have picked up movement near the Gotham Library. I can't get a clear look at what it is but it's certainly reptilian looking." Riddler announced quickly, and Waylon shoved the earpiece back in before heading North as fast as he could. He had to run on all fours to get the speed up and followed the sewer system through the quickest route. He had the whole system mapped out in his head so he knew the fastest way to get to any location, but the library was still kind of far away from where he was. He had to get there before the creature disappeared.
"So its reptilian huh?" Waylon wondered to himself, but Riddler had heard it and couldn't help but provide his input.
"Looking at the size of it its smaller than you, but its proportions make it look like it'll be a lot faster and more agile." Riddler explained, his brilliant mind at work.
"Great, and here I thought the crocodile look was my trademark." Waylon complained with a heavy sigh, taking a right turn at a split in the sewer system.
"I can't really see much from this image alone since it's kind of pixelated, but I'd imagine something with that body shape wouldn't be good at head on conflict. It will most likely strike fast and aim for your weak points, like your throat so keep that in mind."
"How do you know what my weak points are?" Waylon grumbled curiously. It was a little unnerving to know that someone knew how to bring him down. The skin on his throat and underside wasn't as tough as the skin on his back, hence why he mainly kept his head down and stayed on all fours when fighting.
"Because I am a genius." Riddler announced, sounding so full of himself. "And I probably know more about crocodiles than you do."
"Oh really?" Waylon asked, feigning surprise. "Did you know crocodiles have the strongest jaws in the whole animal kingdom?"
"Yes, of course I knew that." Riddler scoffed.
"Good." Waylon beamed sarcastically. "Then you can guess what I'll do to you if you keep annoying me."
Riddler did not provide anymore unnecessary input for the duration of the trip to the library, and it was only when Waylon peered out from under the manhole cover outside the library that Riddler spoke again.
"You know I could just put a piece of string around your mouth and you wouldn't be able to open it again." He muttered quickly and Waylon groaned with frustration. Did he always have to have the last word? Waylon checked that there weren't too many people around. Thankfully, due to Gotham's high crime rate, no one out after sunset was the kind of person who called the police upon seeing Killer Croc skulk into the public library. He kind of hoped no one would see him, it would be bad for his reputation if people thought he was trying to make himself smarter.
Crawling out of the sewer he quickly skulked around the side of the library to the side door. The Gotham Library was an old building and the windows were higher up, a long stretch of stone between Waylon and a way in. Luckily for him, his claws weren't just for decoration, and were strong enough to break into the stone and support his weight as he climbed up the side to the closest window. He hauled himself up onto the ledge and peered through the window. He could see something down there in the darkness, moving quickly between the book shelves. It was being especially careful not to knock anything over, a drastic change from the jewellery store. Unfortunately for the creature, its stealth would be disrupted because Waylon had no intention of being so courteous to the books.
He leaped through the window, his arms up to the shield his eyes from the shattered glass. He landed with a thump but it didn't hurt the slightest bit. Waylon scanned the area for the creature but it was deathly silent in the library as whatever this thing was tried to stay hidden. Waylon was beginning to think it might have done a runner but then he heard the slightest sound of a nail on the wooden floor and turned around just in time for his arm to block what could have been another slash to the face.
The creature was fast, deadly fast, and didn't give Waylon so much as a second to lower his guard and fight back as it slashed from all angles. Riddler was right about the fast strikes as the creature darted around, trying to attack from all sides. Its claws were sharp too, even cutting through Waylon's skin and leaving his arms lacerated. There was only so much of this he could take so he quickly turned around and bashed the creature in the side with his tail as its claws clattered onto his bulletproof back. The creature went flying into a book stand and knocked it over, scrambling like a rabid dog to get back onto its feet. Waylon only got a glance in before it came at him again, snapping its jaws dangerously close to his face. He managed to put his arm up just in time to push back against its neck. He couldn't kill the damn thing since Ridder wanted to do tests on it, but damn was it stronger than it looked.
The creature certainly knew its anatomy as well as it made a slash for Waylon's chest, slicing through the skin and flesh, making him bleed and loose a bit of strength for a moment. A moment was all it needed as it lunged forward, shoving Waylon's arm to the side, and going to latch its teeth around Waylon's neck. Waylon didn't have time to grab it before it got to his neck, so he was forced to use his head for once, quite literally. He thrust his head forward and slammed it into the creatures nose, forcing it back as it clutched its face in agony. It staggered backwards, its eyes shut in pain. Waylon took his chance and lunged forward, knocking it to the ground and pinning it down by the neck with his forearm. The creature clutched at his arm and tried to slash through with its claws, kicking its legs about and whipping its tail around in a desperate attempt to get free. It was stronger than it looked but not strong enough. It wasn't getting up.
Now that it wasn't moving around at lightning speed Waylon could finally get a good look at exactly what it was. It was certainly reptilian looking with scaly skin like him, in a more turquoise looking shade of green, but it's underbelly and back had the same type of skin so it wasn't bulletproof. It was almost the same height as Waylon but it stood with a more vertical posture in comparison to Waylon's hunched over form, and its body proportions were more equally distributed and less bulky with more raptor like legs and claws. It's tail was longer and the creature seemed to be in more control of it, but it didn't have the intelligence to use it in a fight. Waylon observed the creatures face as it snapped and hissed at him. It had a more reptilian face than he did, but it certainly looked more aesthetic. It had somewhat of a short snout with small nostrils and teeth that stayed neatly inside the jaw rather than protruding over the lip like Waylon's did, and instead of spikes on the top of its head it had long, pointed, feather like strands of hair.
"Waylon? Have you got it?" Riddler asked through the earpiece.
"Yeah." Waylon answered, looking around for anyone who might try to help the creature.
"Good, bring it back here." Riddler ordered, and Waylon scoffed at how easy he made it sound.
"This thing won't stop squirming, plus its stronger than it looks. I don't think I can knock it out without giving it brain damage." Waylon complained. As he spoke, he felt the wriggling subside, as if the creature had heard him complain about its squirming and decided to be helpful. He looked down at it with confusion and instead of hissing at him, it just looked at him. Then he felt the weirdest thing. The creature's tail seemed to move and wrap around his tail, curling around it in some sort of weird tail embrace. "What the fuck are you doing?" Waylon asked nervously, moving his tail away from the creature's tail since it was weirding him out. He looked at it, puzzled, and the creature looked back with familiar eyes. Familiar green eyes. Familiar emerald green eyes. Waylon felt his heart stop and everything the world seemed obsolete. Those eyes. He knew those eyes. They belonged to...
In his confusion and shock, he'd unintentionally lost his grip on the creature and it wriggled free. Kicking him in the gut and scurrying away from him. Waylon didn't even attempt to get back up, he just sat on the ground and stared at the creature as it scurried up the wall to a higher window, presumably the one it came in through. Before it left however, it stood on the walkway banister and snarled at him. As it stood there, its body relatively straight, Waylon could see its feminine figure. It had modest breasts that seemed out of place on a reptilian body, but they certainly weren't bad to look at, and its elegantly curved waist lead onto wide hips and a bottom that seemed just a little bit bigger than the bottom you would expect on a creature with those proportions. It was beautiful.
Waylon noticed something however, on the curve of its slender waist, a few scar marks that cut across, healed up but permanently there as a reminder of a terrible injury. A terrible injury he had an inkling would match up with his jaws. And then, it was gone. In an instant it disappeared from sight and Waylon was left unable to breath, unable to think, unable to even comprehend anything.
"Waylon?" He heard Riddler call through the earpiece, but he seemed so far away it could have just been a figment of his imagination. "Waylon are you there?"
"No way." Waylon gasped in whisper, rubbing his face to try and wipe some sense back into himself. "I wouldn't be."
"Waylon? What's going on? Did you lose the creature?" Riddler asked, sounding a little panicked. Not because he was worried about Waylon but because he might have lost an opportunity to study something new.
Waylon staggered to his feet and looked around the library. The knocked over stand lying on the floor, Alice in Wonderland books scattered all over the ground. What the hell was going on. What had it wanted in a library, why was it exist in the first place. It shouldn't exist, it shouldn't be alive, it was supposed to be alive.
"Edward. Hack into the city records and find out where Madeline was buried." Waylon ordered, making his way to the door. At this point he couldn't be bothered using the window, so what if people saw him.
"What? Why?" Riddler asked, sounding confused.
"Just do it already!" Waylon snapped, and quickly hurried outside and into the nearest sewer entrance. Some thugs saw him but he just ignored them completely and slipped into the dark, dank tunnels. He quickly strode through the system towards the cemetery. Gotham had three cemeteries. The more illustrious members of society were buried in the cemetery to the north of Gotham, while the other two for everyone else were in the south, and most likely where Madeline's grave would be.
"Anything?" Waylon snapped as he came to the junction between the two sewer systems that would take him each of the cemeteries.
"Err, hang on a sec..."
"HURRY IT UP!" Waylon roared, and he could hear Riddler almost fall of his chair in shock.
"Alright alright. Hang on. Ah ha, they cremated a Caucasian Jane Doe four years ago after her body was found in a sewer system. Age approximately twenty five, brown hair, lacerations to the lower abdomen..."
"That's her! Where!" Waylon snapped, desperate to know. He hadn't wanted to see before, but now he needed to know like his life depended on it. He needed to see that she was dead, he needed to know that she was dead and hadn't been turned into whatever that creature was. He didn't want her to suffer as a freak like he had. She deserved better.
"Mère l'Oye cemetery in the a public crypt. Box... one hundred and twenty three. Its sealed up now since its full."
"Doesn't matter." Waylon spat, and yanked out the earpiece. He look the left system and followed it all the way to the edge of the Gotham River. He leaped into the water and followed along the edge of the land until he reached the cemetery on a raised hill by the water. He clambered out and ripped up the pitiful fence that blocked his path. The door to the crypt was indeed sealed up, but he didn't have the time or the patience to be nice about breaking it. With a hard shove against the sealed up door with his shoulder, Waylon knocked it down. The wood splintered and made an awful sound but Waylon was already half way into the crypt before the dust had even settled. He scanned the boxes for the correct number and eventually found it down near the end. There was no name on the box. There was no fucking name on the box. No one knew her name. She had been buried as a nobody when she had been so much more than that.
He hesitated before he opened the box. How would he even know if the ashes in the box belonged to Madeline, they could be anyone's. Perhaps Riddler could do some tests or something to be sure, but would that even work? Would this even give him the answer he needed. What was the answer he wanted? Some part of him still hoped Madeline was alive and that she was that creature. That beautiful looking, powerful reptilian creature with emerald eyes that was like him. She was like him. If it was Madeline then perhaps... No, she wouldn't be happy as that creature, and it hadn't acted like her, it hadn't even recognised him. But still, for a moment she seemed to have something behind those eyes, some sense of humanity and a memory of him. The way she'd held onto his tail with hers... No. That wasn't right. Madeline was dead, and this box contained her ashes.
He opened the draw slowly, expecting to see a small jar of ashes. But when he opened his eyes to peer inside, holding his breath expectantly, there were no ashes whatsoever. Inside the box, neatly placed so it looked as stunning as it had in the store when he'd stolen it, was the emerald green pendant, and next to it, a small silver figure in the shape of an owl.
Sorry this took a little while but I made it extra long for you. Big reveal here, and OMG an owl, what could it mean? Anyway, merry Christmas to you all and have a happy and safe holiday.