Several days later, William and Chris waited behind a set of bushes outside of Corey Hall as the sun began to set. There were only a few students around as it was the middle of the dinner rush, everyone was lining up in the dining hall, and so there were only a few students out doing things on campus. William and Chris were waiting carefully for one person, Nick. William had suggested yesterday that the only way they were actually going to encounter him as a werewolf was if they actually followed him to his hide-a-way, and Chris had agreed.
Nick's head was down per usual, and his whole body seemed tucked into itself. He walked slowly but purposefully away from Corey Hall. After he had moved a good distance away, William and Chris slowly started to follow him or more importantly keep him in sight. Nick took a long winding route around campus, slipping into several dormitories and academic buildings before finally heading into the north west corner of the campus woods.
William had never actually made it to this far corner of the woods before, and was somewhat surprised that there was anything out here at all. With the benefit of the previous year's moving through the woods, William and Chris were able to carefully follow Nick without alerting him. William was happy that trees had finally started to bloom again providing shade as they followed Nick almost to the edge of campus.
They paused watching the tall boy as he stopped at an old partially rotted stump. William watched as Nick carefully bent over and ran his fingers down the inside of the stump, and then the stump slowly and silently slid open. Nick then stepped down into the hole and the stump slid back together behind him.
"Think it goes directly into wherever they're keeping him?" Chris asked.
"I don't think so, but we should wait just in case," William responded.
Darkness set across the forest quickly, and the boys quietly stepped up to the old stump. William ran his fingers inside of the old stump, and then found the small etched rune that would open it up. Pressing down upon it the stump gave way and William was surprised to see an actual set of steps carved neatly out of the rock. William crept down the steps carefully, pulling out his wand as he did. Chris followed close behind and as the stump closed behind them, they both carefully lit their wands.
The pair of seventh graders then began to creep along the dark tunnel, William found a number of cobwebs and little of the trash he normally found about in the tunnels. He was surprised, William had become accustomed to the various labels of fire whiskey and other wizarding liquors that piled up in the tunnels.
The other thing he noticed was the eerie quiet which had settled over the tunnels. Normally, even though there was never a lot of ambient noise beneath campus, there was always something scurrying in the distance, water dripping, or occasionally faint music. But at this moment there was nothing in the tunnels. Chris then murmured, which was easily loud enough to be heard in this environment, "We're definitely in the right place."
"Yeah," William whispered back in a barely audible voice, "Other animals avoid werewolves."
William crept forward down the tunnel, and it was after a few hundred feet they heard an anguished scream not far off in the distance. William looked back over his shoulder at his roommate who only nodded in the wandlight as the pair moved forward, wincing as their friend let loose pained screams that filled the ancient tunnels beneath Salem.
After another few minutes of careful walking, William came to something he had never encountered within the tunnels of Salem before: a door. The door was made of thick stone, clearly hewn from the stone of the tunnels itself. William noticed though that it seemed to have no hinges, Chris carefully walked up to it and placed his hand on it. There were various writings carved into the rock that become visible when Chris touched it.
Well, William quickly realized that he thought most of it was writing. There were a few drawings carefully painted upon the walls that he didn't quite understand, and then a number of things written in a language he definitely didn't understand. He tapped his wand against it and then asked, "Do you know what this is?"
"Looks like Gobbledegook to me," Chris responded as he crouched down still running his hand upon it. They heard another scream from beyond the door.
"Yeah, pretty much gibberish," William responded as he ran his wand beneath it.
"No," Chris said, "I mean it's goblin writing. I told you these were goblin made tunnels, or at least parts of them are."
"Oh," William answered, "Right." He then noticed as Chris crouched down and spotted letters he recognized, "Look, English."
Chris then read it aloud, "Command Center of the Eastern Continental Forces." He then ran his wand over some nearby carvings, "I don't recognize these symbols."
William recognized one immediately, "New Hampshire," he said pointing to one which matched the cloak he was currently wearing. "This must be from the Revolution."
Chris nodded, "I guess so," he then stood up, "So how do we actually open it."
William frowned and then raised his wand placed it against the door and said, "Alohomora." Then nothing happened. William shrugged as he stood there in front of the door, "It was worth a try."
"Yeah, I guess," Chris said as he then placed his hand upon the door again. The door depressed slightly and then slowly began to grind open. "Oh," Chris said, "I guess it was just locked."
As the door opened, the boys could see into a massive room lit with a number of torches, there were other doors on the far side of the room. However, they couldn't really take in the number of old historical artifacts that certainly littered the room. Sitting upon a raised dais on the far side of the room was a massive wolf-like creature. It suddenly sniffed the air, and rose up from where it had been laying.
William could clearly see the various scars and different fur patches that accompanied the nightly rages of a werewolf. William took a deep breath and then said, "Nick!"
However the werewolf didn't respond, and even at this distance, William could see that the creature that was staring back at him was not Nick. People under the influence of Wolfsbane potion, William knew, were supposed to retain their eyes in wolf form. Instead William saw not the chocolate colored eyes of Nick, but a surprising gold color in the sockets. The Beast let out a deep baying as it leaped off the dais on the far side of the room.
"Holy shit," Chris said, "That isn't Nick."
William could only stand there stunned, after all of his efforts to give it to his friend, and his consistent refusal, William realized, and spoke in a numb voice, "He doesn't take his wolfsbane potion."
The werewolf was quickly closing the gap on the boys, and Chris was trying to grab onto William to get him to run but was having trouble getting the smaller boy to do anything. With nothing else to do Chris shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" At the werewolf, the beast froze, and Chris breathed a sigh of relief.
Chris then grabbed a hold of William and shook him, "Dude, come on, we got to close this door and..."
His voice was cut off by the deep growl that emanated from the slowly moving werewolf. The creature slowly moved back up to its feet, and began to shake like a dog throwing off water. The movement was slow at first but was quickly picking up steam.
William just stood there blinking, terror gripping his body for a brief moment as he saw the beast. William felt a phantom pain in his left leg and he suddenly took a sharp intake of breath as he experienced the pain again. William clutched his leg as the beast suddenly began to slowly walk toward them gaging their reactions. Chris shook William some more and shouted, "William, that's the Beast not Nick we need to do something."
Suddenly the werewolf lunged forward making it's way toward Chris. Chris gulped realizing that this was the end of his life, when suddenly William let out a yell that he didn't recognize and a gout of flame burst from the end of his friend's wand. The flame caused the beast to twist back at the last second and pace back into the room, watching the two seventh graders carefully. "I don't think we can run," William said, "It'll chase us."
"Shit," Chris said for the second time, watching the prowling beast staring back at them with its yellow eyes. "So we should fight it you're saying?"
"Or create a way it can't get to us," William said cautiously, as the beast made another running charge, this time William consciously yelled, "Tagann!" The spell hit the werewolf and slammed it hard into the ground. Chris petrified the beast again, and it began to once more slowly try and break the petrification.
"We need to close the door," Chris said as he began to scrabble at the wall where the door had slid into, finding no seams or any way of closing it. He then lit up his wand as he searched the walls nearby for any sign of a switch or rune that would close it.
Slowly the beast rose again, and William now settled into his dueling stance, this time he carefully watched as the beast came at him head on. William took a deep breath and then out a call of, "Diffindo," a blast of light came out and cut the werewolf on the shoulder but the small burst of pain wasn't enough to slow it down. William once more yelled, "Tagann!" and sent the beast flying backwards and slammed it into the dais.
"Problem," Chris said suddenly, "There's no switch on this side, I think though it might be on the other side." William then looked at Chris, who then took a deep breath, gave a devilish smirk and said, "Come on man, what's the worst that could happen?"
William wanted to shout a number of things at Chris as the beast once more stood up, and William summoned up another gout of flame to distract it. William then decided that he had no other choice but to submit to Chris's never wavering optimism. "Good point," William lied through his teeth, he then walked in slowly to the cavern bringing another gout of flame out to push back the beast.
Chris slowly followed in behind William, tossing out any jinx he could think of at the werewolf. Slowly he looked around and began grabbing at the walls for anything that might help in closing the door. Meanwhile, William once more raised his wand and this time called out the tripping hex Clark had given him as the werewolf charged at him, when it fell he once more launched it across the room.
"Got it," Chris exclaimed as he smashed his fist down onto the rune etched into the wall. Suddenly though the door closed rapidly, and they could hear a firm click within it. Chris then turned back as William moved closer to him, "I think it automatically closes and locks, there's no way we're going to get out of here."
William nodded and then said, "I think we're going to have to wait it out." The werewolf once more came at them, and another barrage of hexes sent it back with a deep guttural growl.
"How do you plan on doing that," Chris asked.
As William summoned another gout of flame that caused the werewolf to back up, William called back, "Fire I guess." As the creature stood back, pacing around trying to find a way to get at the boys without them hexing it, William said, "Come on we'll put our backs against the door." The boys slowly moved with their backs against the wall to the door's alcove.
Once there, the werewolf charged them, and Chris called forth every hex that came to his mind to drive it back. William tried to ignore the scary sight of a werewolf dancing and laughing in the center of the cavern as he began to summon up as many blue bell flames as he could. Soon the ground around them were covered in waist high blue flames. The werewolf glared at them wary of the fire set up on the ground.
"William, aren't blue bell flames harmless?" Chris asked huddled behind the flames wand in hand.
"I'm hoping it doesn't figure that out," William whispered also crouched behind the flames watching the werewolf. The beast howled and then charged at the boys, William once more summoned a gout of flame and it backed away.
Standing behind the flames, Chris then murmured, "Engorgio," which caused the flames to swell and the ends of them turned red and orange dancing around the edges of the blue fire. The werewolf came close to the edge again but then back away scared by the fire, and the hexes that the two boys flung back at it.
Soon the creature was merely standing far back from the magical flames, baying and growling. It quickly resorted to gnawing upon it's own flesh. Whenever this started, Chris and William would throw a variety of hexes at the creature to protect their friend from the beast that was now in control of him. The night passed slowly, and the mixture of the fire and the howling of the beast kept the boys awake.