Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H.
Dean was feeling somewhat better, he was breathing fine again and the stomach didn't hurt that much, although he still could feel the cold claws around his neck. True enough he had just been face to face with a creature right from a horror movie and he was certain he was going to have nightmares about it for a long time, but better to have some really bad dreams than none at all. He looked first at Susan and William to be sure they were fine. Then he looked at Will who just pulled back her arm from the hole she had made in the wall, and as she did that, she folded her ehh… fascinating wings. Without taking his eyes of his stepdaughter, he asked Susan, "How did you know it was that thing, and not Will that was on the outside?"
This rather peculiar question got Will's attention, "What do you mean?"
Dean said, "As we were hiding in this room we thought we heard you calling on us from out in the corridor, but when I was going to open the door, your mother ran past me holding a chair over her head and struck the person on the other side before I understood what was going on. It turned out it wasn't you who had been calling us, but the creature you just beat up."
"But I was down on the first floor, looking for you there! Did you hear me calling for you all the way up here?"
"No, I think it was the creature that borrowed your voice to pretend it was you in order for us to open the door for it." Then Dean turned to his wife, "How did you know it was the creature and not Will?"
Susan still holding a sobbing William in her arms trying to calm him, answered, "Two things. Number one: Will call you almost always by name. Two: I remembered when I was following after Will earlier tonight, when I walked after her, the only sounds came from my own footsteps on the floor, Will for some reason didn't make any at all, let alone made she the floor creak. Right before we heard her voice on the outside, there was both footsteps and creaks that alerted about somebody's coming"
"That I never thought of," said Will as she looked at her parents. She knew her mom often had encouraged her to call Dean, dad, but it never felt entirely natural for her to do so and she always fell back to "Dean". Even after being guardian for years, there were still many things she didn't knew about her enchanted body. She tried to walk a few step towards the rest and concluded that she really didn't make any noises. "Ha, I guess you are right!" exclaimed Will, sounding a little surprised.
A long and awkward silence followed after this. None said anything but only stared at each other, her parents obviously waiting for an explanation while Will was at loss for how she should explain this as she never truly had prepared for it. In the end, her mother went towards the wall, sat down on the floor next to a window, and said, "Will. Could you please give us an explanation for all this and what happened tonight?"
Will facing Susan and Dean, suddenly looking very unsure and nervous, "I, uhm," Will began, "I am not really sure how to start this."
"Will, if you feel this is going to be a long story, perhaps you would rather like start with what is going on in this house. It is perhaps the most pressing issue right now, we can always talk about the other things later instead." Dean said while giving her a weak smile and trying to be understanding towards his stepdaughter.
"Thank you Dean," Will said, still not feeling entirely well about her situation. Luckily, her mother also seemed to be understanding and gave her an approval nod.
"As I already mentioned for you a little earlier, the story this crazy old man told about his place is real, people have been disappearing from this place, and I am sure you by now can guess the cause behind that."
"But how did you know this?" said Susan.
"I didn't, I also thought it was some sort of joke until Annett gave me reason to think otherwise."
Dean looked at her, "Who is Annett?"
"Oh, Annett is the TV, she really doesn't work and haven't done so the last thirty years. That's why you couldn't turn her on. I think she said her cable is broken or something like that. Anyway, she told me she had heard people had begun disappearing from this place after Mr. Henderson started to work here, and that he and you aunt had been seen come and go at strange times. She didn't know much because the asylum closed down just two years after she came. And not long thereafter, Mr. Henderson also disappeared one day, presuming never to be seen again."
"So did my aunt know about what was going on here?" said Dean and looked at Will for an answer.
"I honestly can't tell about her role in this, neither can I truly tell what role Mr. Henderson had either because I don't know yet. I only know that these things have happened here before because when I went looking for some answers myself, I found the books from the monastery period that told about similar happenings back then."
"And what did they say?" Susan said, still sitting beside the window.
"There was an old Indian legend about two tribes were one of them called upon a creature to take revenge on the other one, for something they had done. But when the creature had destroyed the other tribe, they couldn't control it so turned upon them and killed he who summoned it. Thereafter it terrorized the remaining tribe for years until someone managed to seal it into twelve objects. These objects were buried until the monks started to build a monastery right upon were they were hidden. It didn't take long after the monks had moved in before some of them began to disappear leaving no clues for their disappearances. However, one of the chief monks managed to learn about this legend one day and found the objects under the floor in the basement, which had sealed the demon."
"I can guess which basement that was," said Dean, as the history teacher in him suddenly taken a personal interests in this.
"Yes, but the monk also discovered that some of the objects had been broken so he repaired them. And to seal the demon back again he told some prayers from the bible, he wrote which it was, but I have no clue about that whatsoever. Anyhow, he seem to have been successful and hid those objects again, this time some place in the forest so nobody would find them, but as Annett told me, both Mr. Henderson and you aunt were seen coming back from odd trips in the forest… More I don't know about this, because when I was going to look for more clues, first mom came after and surprised me, then I met you in the kitchen and then all this happened."
Neither Susan nor Dean made any comments, but their faces gave her an understanding look, something that gave Will enough confidence to calm her nerves.
"So, this thing that have been chasing us is in fact the demon that somehow have been released?" Dean said, "Do you have any idea what it will do now?"
Will thought for a moment, "No, I am not sure what it is planning to do, but it seem to be restricted to this house for now because I can't find any evidence that people on the outside have been targeted."
Susan closed her eyes for a moment and sighted before she opened them again and looked hopefully at Will, "Do you know what to do, I certainly do not. Can you seal it again or send it back to where it once came from?"
"Hmm," Will murmured before she started to speak slowly, "Sealing it would only be a temporary solution and I frankly know little about how it was done in the first place. I am sure I can do it someway, but sending it back home would be better, though it will be difficult since I have absolute no idea which world the creature came from."
The last statement caught Dean's and Susan's attention "Which world?" they both said simultaneously and looked at each other before Dean continued, "You mean there are more worlds? Like planets or do you mean universes?"
"Yep! Both in fact. There are an infinite number of worlds and universes, not to mention dimensions and other strange places." Will said and smiled weakly as she put a finger close to her lips and gazed up to the ceiling as looking for an answer there, "But I can't remember I have seen anyone that this creature might have come from."
After this came to Dean and Susan's knowledge, another silence followed, but fortunately not as awkward as the last one, and it lasted until Will took the word again as she knew what was on their minds.
"Well, long story made short, it has become my duty to travel to other places/worlds to help people living there to solve their problems, usually magical problems or something that may cause havoc in other worlds if it come out of control." She said carefully, not sure how her parents was going to react.
"Ok," said Susan equally slowly and added, "So when things like this happened, it is your job to solve it. Are you doing this on your own or do you have company?"
"Yes, it is my job and duty, but I wouldn't change it for all in the world, because I share it with my best friends. We are W.I.T.C.H." Said Will and grinned.
"Are you witches?" Asked her mother,
"No, it's Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin!" said Will proudly with emphasis on each of theirs initial.
"Oh, I was wondering when they would come into the picture" Susan said and allowed herself a tiny smile, at least her daughter was not alone in this. Besides, it also explained why she unexpectedly, sometimes just had to see her friends at every strange hour.
Will understood this could turn out to be the beginning of a long explanation, something she didn't want as long as the creature still was on the loose and nobody knew what it was going to do next. Therefor she said, "I guess you probably want to hear more, but please, let us wait until later and rather try to find a way to deal with our immediate problem, like getting out of here or getting rid of the creature."
"You are right" said Dean and stood up again "let's try to do something."
"Maybe there are some clues in the book I found of what to do?" Will said to Dean.
Dean looked at Will, "What book?"
"You see, when I fought the creature in the basement, I was knocked into the wardrobe so hard that it broke, and out from it fell a book that seem to have been written by Mr. Henderson. I am positive that he must have written something there that can tell us what to do."
"So where is that book now?" asked Susan.
"I don't have it here; I think I must have dropped it when I heard you scream, so it has to be down on the first floor some place. I will go looking for it." With that, Will turned and walked to the door, but stopped and looked back at her parents to see what they were going to do, "Would you like to come with me or do you want to stay here and wait?"
Neither Susan nor Dean wanted to be left alone again, so Susan stood up and said, "We will come along and help you look for it, it would be bad if the creature came back again when you are not here. Neither of us are a match for it, but you seem to be more than capable enough to take care of him" She lifted up her son and then they went together looking for the book.
Now they have met the creature, but will they be able to learn more about it and what happened at the asylum before it shut down? Dean and Susan might seem relatively calm about all this so far but that is mostly because of fear and rationality. They are afraid and therefore won't do anything rash that can put them in more danger. They are rational about this because Dean and Susan know Will is the only one who has some knowledge about this and can save them, therefore they will not question her uneccessary (But Will is probably in for an explanation later...if they survive).
How do you think so far? Please leave some reviews and tell me, and as always, thank to those of you who have.