Chapter 9

SEVERAL WEEKS LATER

Verity

"Aagh!" I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and glared at the scroll in front of me.

Okay, technically that wasn't the sound I made. I just hadn't wanted to say that I'd growled.

Abidos looked up from his own book, and it looked like his eyes were going to start crossing. "Should I go for another book of curse-removers?"

"Don't bother, that one was the last – I checked. Every curse-remover spell that's been tried on the Maygo bloodline when the Wolfshadow appears has killed the host!"

"Well…if death is the only solution…"

"No! I'm not having a murder on my record, it's spotty enough where I came from and besides, I don't want to inflict that on Lady Kisara!"

"Thank you, Verity, I appreciate it."

I didn't react, even though I hadn't recognized the "voice." Since I didn't recognize it, though, I figured it was Professor Maximar.

I let the scroll roll up again. "Okay, time for a break. You look on the verge of a headache, and I'm not much better."

He closed his book and we went in search of the infirmary.

Actually, our "saving-the-universe assignment," as Chazz calls it, was the only thing not going so well. We were both doing okay in our classes, and I was actually starting to get a few more acquaintances – hardly more than nods in the hallway, but at least I wasn't isolated anymore. I'd finally pointed out to my few friends where my "room" was, not that I expected to be visited.

After we got our headache remedy, we went to find Syrus and the others.

They were all together, as per usual. Alexis looked up, took in my backwards-twitched ears and asked, "Not any closer to finding a solution, are you?"

I bared my teeth, and not in a smile. Abidos answered for me. "Yes and no. We have found out that standard curse removal has already been tried on predecessors, and hasn't worked."

Then Hassleberry suddenly piped up. "You know…it's possible you're approaching this battlefield from the wrong end of the horse."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well…you're trying to figure out how to get this curse off of him before it wakes up, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Maybe you should be looking for a way to beat this curse after it wakes up, but before it starts trashing the place. I mean, well, you know…"

I stared at him as Chazz started making fun of him. Then I interrupted. "Actually, it's barely possible that that could work!" As they stared at me as if I was crazy, I went on, "The weirdest thing about the Wolfshadow curse is that it doesn't react like a curse, more like a possession, and the thing doing the possessing is smart enough to kill its host if somebody tries to remove it!" Then my ears dropped. "Of course, there is something of a catch."

"What kind of catch?" Alexis asked.

"Well…okay, the idea I had is, Professor Maximar retreats to a dark corner of his mind, the wolf takes over, and then I challenge him to a Power Game before he thinks to look for Maximar..." At their blank looks, I glanced through their memories and amended, "Shadow Duel, the basic meaning is the same…anyway, and the loser gives up their soul. This takes the wolf out of Professor Maximar without killing him. The biggest problem with this idea is…I only barely know how to duel, and I'm the only one with any power under conscious control."

Chazz remarked snidely, "Again, barely."

I ignored that. "The point is: we're talking about an all-or-nothing duel for the fate of the universe, and I barely know what I'm doing with the cards."

"Um…if I may interject here?"

We all jumped. I spoke aloud. "Professor Maximar?"

"The one and only. I've been eavesdropping on your conversation, as you already know, Verity, and I told your idea to my sister. She said the only way that would have even a prayer of working is if Verity and Abidos tag-duel him. I suspect that He wouldn't even care about the inequality of two-on-one."

I glanced at Abidos. He looked like someone had smacked him with a board.

"The way that it would work is, Verity would shield both their minds from His powers, while Abidos carried most of the strategy. As it is extremely hard to do two things at once, I suggest Verity concentrate mostly on the shielding part."

Suddenly I realized what it was that the professor was "saying." And I started shaking with terror. "I…I…I…"

Abidos

Suddenly, Verity spun around and dashed off, her tail actually tucking somewhat between her legs!

"What was that all about?" Alexis asked.

"She went to her, ah, room, Abidos. You…might want to talk to her. She's got a lot of, um…issues…that she needs help to get through, thanks to her upbringing and…heritage."

That, evidently, was just to me, as no one else in the room reacted. I turned to look at my friends. "I'll go find her."

I slipped out and found the hole that led to the place she was calling her room. Then I got down on hands and knees and carefully slipped in. It wasn't long before I had to resort a bit more to something resembling what Hassleberry would probably have called an army crawl, as the tunnel ceiling wasn't high enough to let me creep on my hands and knees. "Verity?"

I could hear her quick breathing up ahead. Then a golden light brightened slowly in the darkness, just in time to show me that my "floor" was on the verge of dropping away under my hands.

I pulled myself completely into the cave, sat on the floor and looked around.

The tunnel entrance was about an armlength up the wall. And the flat surfaces down here…they weren't soil anymore, or at least, not all of it was. It was more like stone: solid, smooth and light red. There were pillars reaching from floor to ceiling…and the ceiling wasn't all that high, I probably couldn't have stood upright in here. It was obvious that the stone was Verity's doing, and she was prioritizing: the pillars and ceiling were all of that substance, and a great deal of the walls. I glanced over my shoulder and noted that a lot of the top half of the entrance tunnel was that same substance, to prevent it from caving in. The floor of the cave was still just earth, but it was slowly turning into something else entirely: something soft and dark green, what I could see of it.

Then I turned my attention back to the contents of the room. The furnishings were sparse, and all formed out of boxes: a wardrobe and a desk, the latter of which had the light source resting on it in the form of a glowing ball. There was a bed, of sorts…mostly made out of worn-out blankets, with a single good one over it all and a pillow at the head.

Verity was on the bed, curled up and shuddering.

I crawled over to her. It wasn't a long crawl by any stretch of the imagination; the room was only long enough for three people to lie down head-to-foot. Then, slowly, I reached my hand over to her. My plan was to touch her shoulder. My hand had its own ideas, though, and I found myself very lightly gripping the lowest edge of her ear.

And images surged through me like the Nile River during inundation time. The most I was able to figure out before I was swept along on its current was that it was a story told by pictures, colored by sound.

A woman with white-streaked hair wandered along a forest path towards the house of a relative in a nearby town. She had almost reached the building when she hesitated: something was wrong. Her powers, though strong, were fairly simplistic – mind communication and a limited foresight.

Suddenly, a strange hybrid form leaped from among the trees – furred, nine-tailed, fanged and male.

The pictures changed to show the town. A shriek cut the psychic air in the streets, and people flocked out of their houses and ran to the rescue.

They found the woman with the white-streaked hair pinned to the ground with the strange creature on top of her, just baring his teeth for a kill-bite. Some well-fired arrows forced him to abandon his prey and run away after snarling at his attackers.

Several women separated from the crowd and approached the downed lady, who had curled up and was sobbing. They helped her up and gave her a blanket, which she wrapped about herself to hide her torn clothing and marked flesh. She was escorted into the town to see to her wounds.

I let go and sat back, gasping for breath. It hadn't been so intense that it was a memory of Verity's, but it had been intense enough, especially once I realized I'd halfway-witnessed rape. "What – who was that?"

Verity rolled over a little and squinted at me through one eye. "Congratulations. You're the first person who I've ever shown that story. That…was the day my mother met my father."

It was like my world had just come to a complete halt. "Your…that thing…was your father?"

She closed that eye again and returned to her original position. "Ever since I learned what had happened from one of the people who'd rescued my mom – who I think was trying to make me feel guilty – I've been scared…of losing control. I mean, who knows what my father was capable of!"

Suddenly, I suspected I knew what was going on with her. Who knows what power like what she had was capable of, indeed: her fear was finding an outlet through her powers, and making those fears a reality. Her telepathy control was already a failing grade.

Then something else dawned on me. It was probably a long time, if ever before this point, that anyone had believed in her and her ability to control her powers. She'd probably grown up hearing – and "hearing" with her mind as well – those doubts, and as such killed any self-esteem she might have had.

"Which of course, by the way, would feed her powers; it's why her powers sometimes don't work: no self-esteem, weakened powers."

Thank you, Professor Maximar, for that piece of information.

Now what?