VI. The Scattered Leaves

Cattleya feel like she could drop down at any moment out of sheer fatigue, but at least she had already left the sounds of battle behind. Another terrifying possibility suggested itself to her mind, t that it was no that she had left the sounds behind but that the battle had ended. And since the last thing she had heard had been her mother´s anguished scream, in that case it couldn´t have gone well to her. But she refused to even seriously consider it. If mother had been defeated, then the rest of them couldn´t do anything against it.

She turned the next corner, and hit something. The impact made her stumble back, and close her eyes reflexively. When she opened her eyes again, she saw her older sister right in front of her, still dressed in a lazy camisole, with her wand clenched in her hand. There was a bit of wariness in her expression, but not fear. Obviously. She hadn´t see what she had seen, nor hear their mother´s scream. Still...

"Cattleya?" it was unmistakably her sister´s voice. It didn´t dispel her nervousness. She had though about it being a shape sifter before, and now the possibility of it couldn´t leave her mind. Only the knowledge that it couldn´t have overtaken her keep her from running away. "What happened?"

"Mother is fighting Louise´s familiar."

"What... her familiar? That commoner? You must be joking."

"Is not a commoner, nor a human, either."

"A shape-sifter?" Eleanor said, confused."Those creatures are incredibly rare. For Louise to summon one... Ah, it doesn´t matter. Mother must have already finished it. I don´t heard anything anymore. Let´s go."

"We... We can´t be sure of that."

"Why?"

"I heard... I heard mother scream, before I left the room. At the very least, she has been hurt. We have to help her."

"Thats..." Eleanor frowned, fear entering her expression for the first time since she had bumped into her. "Fine. I don´t want to believe it, but... Were were you both?"

"Uh, my room."

"I see. I go help mother, if she really needs it. You go get Louise." she said. Her words almost made Cattleya jump. Louise. That´s right, Louise. She couldn´t forget about her little sister just because she was scared. No, more than that. It was precisely because she was scared that she couldn´t forget about her. A big sister has to protect her little sister.

"O-okay. Be careful, Eleanor."

"You too." she answered, after a moment. Maybe because of surprise. Then, she turned and ran from Cattleya´s room. She watched her go, until she disappeared behind a corner. She breathed in, and let it out, trying to steel herself. She turned, and broke into a run.

Louise was floating. She was watching a young, redhead boy sitting in the darkness of a room. She saw it all with stark clarity, despite that she couldn´t see any lights on. This wasn´t the boy´s room. At least, she didn´t think so. She could felt mustiness in the air, that indicated a window hadn´t been opened there in a long, long time and

(of course not because little George is dead)

the bed was too small. He couldn´t possible fit on that thing, let alone sleep on it. And the portraits-were they portraits? They were really strange- on the walls all looked appropriate just for a child only a few years old. Ridiculous

(cartoonish)

drawings of an animal jumping over another, what looked like a family of ducks dressed with some kind of uniform and a cap going towards a forest. And also a badly colored drawing of a clown

(oh, like Pennywise)

holding a stick, whose point ended in a circle with some kind of signal on it, in the middle of a street where strange carriage like things were crossing. Bah, her dreaming mind though. This is the kind of thing you can only see in dreams. So strange.

In the table by the window, there were some cards lined up, written in a language she couldn´t read. Which was also odd, but she didn´t pay it much attention. No, all her attention now was for the redhead boy, sitting on the bed with a book on his hands. She moved, somehow. Or drifted. Maybe drifted was a better word, since she didn´t sense her body at all. On the front of the book, there was something written. This time, she could read it. It read: My photographs. George Elmer Denbrough, age six. She didn´t know what photographs were, though, so being able to read it was useless.

The boy

(Bill, he is Bill)

opened the book. Inside there were paintings, what she could only describe as paintings. Lots of them in every page, covered in plastic. On them, there were people she didn´t know and places from cities she hadn´t never been to.

(oh that's a lie you have been in Derry)

There was the redheaded boy too, but much younger-three years old at the most- at the hospital and covered with bandages. The very same boy keep on turning the pages stolidly, even though she could see that it hurt him from the expression of his face. And the end of the book, there was an only an single painting. The other page was all blank. The painting was of a little boy, perhaps this George, grinning, his teeth exposed, revealing that he was missing his front teeth. And then it

(all went out of the blue and into the black)

moved. The portrait moved.

(jay-sus christ on a jumped-up chariot-driven crutch!)

The little boy´s eyes rolled, and turned to meet the eyes of the redheaded one. George joyful smile turned into almost mad leer, and he winked. With such a smile on his face, it was clearly a threat. As good as saying he was coming for him. Bill threw the book. It hit the ground, and opened. The pages turned of their own. There was no wind, but they did. The movement stopped when that horrid painting was reached. Blood flowed from it, somehow and

Louise waked up. Her eyes shot open. Her nightclothes were sticking to her skin to due her sweat, and she could taste bile on her mouth. She looked around frantically, for a moment, almost expecting to see him there, that George, with his crew-neck shirt, his missing front teeth and that malicious leer, ready to drag her down to her death. But there was nothing. Of course. It had all been a horrible nightmare. She breathed a sigh of relief, despite herself, and sat up on the bed. She curled into a ball, hugging her knees.

Something about that nightmare bothered her. She had nothing concrete about it, even the details that bothered her were fading away from her mind, just the sense that there was something she was overlooking. Something had happened before all of this, right? Something that somehow had to do with this. For some reason, that though made her shiver. What could possible be? No, better question. When did that thing happen? There was a series of knocks at the door, jarringly interrupting her thoughts.

"Louise!" Cattleya panicked voice send her heart into an overdrive. What could have happened, at a time like this? "Louise, open up."

She hurriedly got out of the bed, so fast that she tripped and almost fell over. She went towards the door, still in her wet nightclothes, unlocked it and opened it. Cattleya rushed towards her, dressed in flowing green dress, and drew her to her chest, crying. This wasn´t normal at all. The academy was one thing, but they were at the Valliere state, and mother was a veritable monster, the strongest wind mage in existence. Nothing could have happened. If she didn´t know any better, she would have asked herself if she was still dreaming.

"Big sister, what..."

"Later, Louise. We are in danger." Cattleya grabbed her wrist, and pulled her out of the room. "We have to get out of here."

"B-but, wait a second..." Louise stammered out, not sure what to think and then her big sister broke into a run, dragging her with her, towards founder knows where. She was still in her nightclothes, for founder´s sake! At least she had started to sleep with panties since Pennywise´s summoning, because if she hadn´t this would have been doubly embarrassing. "Hold on. Even if you can´t tell me was going on, we have to get Penny... I mean, my familiar too."

A strange expression crossed her sister´s face. It wasn´t fatigue, or anger. No. It was as she didn´t know what to say, not because she couldn´t find words for it but because telling her what happened would hurt. A horrible possibility entered her mind, but she pushed it aside easily. Not because of sentimentality, but because if Pennywise had died, then she would have feel it, so he wasn´t dead.

"What happened, big sister? Please, tell me." there was just another possibility; somebody, or a group of people, had attacked and Pennywise had been seriously hurt in the process. It wasn´t unlikely, but she preferred to heard it from her sister´s mouth.

"Bob... Bob is what happened, Louise."

"Uh? What do you mean by that? Speak plainly!" she knew she shouldn´t speak to her big sister like that. She had only show her kindness, and here she was, repaying her like that. But she just couldn´t help her. What her words implied made her nervous and, most of all, angry. Pennywise had been kind to her from the beginning. He had obeyed her orders without complaining, always supported her and made her laugh a lot. He never could be a problem, without a doubt.

"Louise... he is not human."

"What?" there was silence, for a moment, and then she laughed. Her laugh was shrill, grating even to her ears. "Impossible. And even if he wasn´t human, so what of it? Is that really such a problem? The familiar ritual was supposed to summon some kind of creature, not a human, in the first place."

"Mother tried to kill it, but..."

"W-what? Let me go!" she screamed, and tried to pull her hand out of her big sister´s grip. He needed her, her familiar needed her. She couldn´t´waste time like this. She could tell Cattleya had been surprised with her outburst, but she wasn´t unable to get out of it."I said let me go!"

"Louise, calm down, please. Let me explain..."

"Explain?! There is nothing to explain! You are just letting mother do whatever she was, because you don´t have enough guts! I hate you! I hated you all! Why..." she tried to hold back the tears, but she just couldn´t. She broke down. At this point, she didn´t even give a fuck. "Why would you do this to me? I... I trusted you, loved you. And you are just trampling of my feelings, just like mother, and Eleanor, and father, and everybody! Everybody!"

"When mother told me to run, he said that I wouldn´t. That I was his. Just like you, me, everybody. Just cattle for him to break. Regardless of what mother did, he can´t be anything good! Please, I just want to protect you!"

"Eh?" Louise trailed off. "No way, no way, no way..."

A sudden wave of nausea assaulted her, making her double over. Her vision spun twice, and she fell on her sister arms, with her eyes closed. She could tell Cattleya was saying something, but she could only make out the words, and even those sounds were quickly fading away. She passed out, her sister´s warm following her down into the darkness.

Eleanor clunked her tongue. She didn´t have the foggiest idea of what was really happening, but still, she wished mother had contracted some guards instead of just cleaning staff and medics. Even if they would only serve to calm down and lead the panicked servants out of the house in something resembling a civilized manner. Oh, well. It was useless to lament that now. Maybe she would tell mother about that, when Louise´s familiar was put down for good. If it hadn´t be finished off already, of course.

Someone appeared from around the corner, in front of her. She almost expected to see mother, disdainfully cleaning off her sword-wand, but she didn´t. It was that thing, dressed like a court jester, smiling widely and covered in blood. It couldn´t be its own blood, though, since, at least as far as she could see, it was unwounded. She tensed up, but almost immediately dismissed that thought as impossible. Because it was. Mother couldn´t have lost to that thing.

"Where is my mother, you beast?" she demanded, her wand pointing between the eyes of the creature as it dragged itself through the corridor.

"Oh. She is with me, inside me. In the deathlights."

"Deathlights? What do you..."

"I mean I killed her, and then I ate her corpse. Of course." that thing said, and it let out a croaking laugh which, along with its words, chilled her to the bone. "She tasted like chicken."

"A lie, a lie, that´s a lie! You couldn´t have possibly harmed her, let alone defeat her!" she screamed, as if to drown out its words. She thought back to what Cattleya said, that she had heard mother scream in pain, but she still couldn´t accept that. It was just too messed up. Mother had stalled an army and killed hundreds just by herself, so if she had been defeated so easily, what chance did she have? What chance did any of them have? But... also, the childish part of her was screaming against the very possibility that her idol, the woman she admired so much and she wanted to model herself after, would have lost.

"Is not a lie, but is not like it matters if you believe me or not." it´s smile widening even more, to the point that it became a madman´s leer. "Is time for you to die."

And, right in front of her eyes, it changed. Where a second ago had been standing a man, there was a wolf. But not just any normal wolf. It was standing on his hind legs, like a human. Its arms looked thick enough to break her in half, without much effort. Its mouth was half opened, showing its sharp teeth, shining in the pale light of the hallway. But the worst part of it all was saliva drifting between those teeth, and dripping down its chin. It was disgusting. Absolutely disgusting! She took a step back, and started trembling for head to toe, despite herself. It leaned its head back, and howled. That sound almost made her drop her wand. The wolf put his front legs on the ground, and broke into a run towards her. That broke her paralysis.

"Get away from me!" she mindlessly screamed, and casted a spell. A torrent of high pressure water shot out from the wand, and hit the wolf right in the head. It didn´t even faze it. It keep on going, its pace not slowing down for even a second. She looked around desperately, her mind working over what she could do against this beast, while continuing to launch spells. She had hoped the continuous spells would wear his resistance down, but it didn´t happen. She turned around, ran, opened a nearby door, closed it and locked it. She backed away from the door. With a flick of her wand and a quick incantation, she levitated a bookcase and gently dropped in front of the door, just in time. There was a loud thunk, the sound of the wolf slamming all the weight of its body against the door. She heard its claws scratching the wood.

The sounds continued for sometime as she nervously watched on and then suddenly stopped. She tensed, unwilling to believe it had gone away. Perhaps it was trying to find another way inside. There were several windows in this room, after all. The wolf couldn´t possibly fit through it, but all was change form again. She breathed in deeply, and let it all out. No matter. So as long as she was prepared for its appearance, it didn´t matter. She wasn´t going to let herself be killed that easily. She started preparing a triangle level spell, which should be enough to damage it. It should. But there hadn´t been a scratch on it, and it had fought mother, so... No. It had just defeated her quickly, without giving her the time to unleash her stronger spells. There was just no way...

A slam. The door burst open, bits of wood flew about. The staircase went flying over her head, fell on the top of a desk, and broke it in two. The wolf appeared behind it all, on his fours, savagely snarling. Eleanor released the spell, and pointed it right at the wolf´s head. It was the same spell as before, but much stronger, since it had all her power behind it. As she had expected, it didn´t even brother to dodge. The spell hit it head on, again. But this time, it drove the wolf back and it let out a scream of pain. Yes! It was possible to hurt it, after all! A chance, she had a chance...!

Her happiness was short lived.

It righted itself again, snarled and jumped. She back away hurriedly, almost tripping on her own feet, but she wasn´t fast enough. All the weight of its body hit her, driving her to the ground, with the wolf on the top of her. Its jaws opened, and they closed it on her. The wolf viciously tore her apart. Eleanor didn´ even have time to scream.

Cattleya whole body burned out of fatigue. Every step was a nightmare, but she had to keep going. Her little sister´s unconscious body was on her arms. She felt bad about leaving Eleanor and mother behind, but she just couldn´t leave Louise. She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. She was feeling quite lost. She knew were she had to go, the carriages servants would prepare to take them all out of here in case of emergency, but she didn´t even know what to think anymore. Bob turning up to be bad and a shape-sifter, mother´s anguished scream and Louise´s break down at all pulled the rug from under her. She never though a situation like this would have been possible.

She felt Louise stir in her arms. She looked down at her, and watched as she slowly open her eyes. Louise looked up at her with a groggy, confused expression.

"Cattleya?" she said. Then, she looked around rapidly, her expression going darker at darker by the moment. "It wasn´t a dream, after all."

Having say that, she closed her eyes again. Cattleya could see unshed tears brimming in the corner of her eyes. It feel wrong to even think it, but she felt a little happy. At least, Louise hadn´t reacted like back then. It had scared her a little. Well, maybe a little wasn´t such a good word. Maybe a lot was actually the truth. It had been so unlike her... she had started to fear she couldn´t never live with it. But this was a start. Maybe not a good start, but a start. It would still hurt, of course. A familiar was supposed to be a partner for life, not a backstabber, but someday it would become just a far away memory. And they would help her get over it. She opened her mouth, not knowing what to say but feeling like she needed to say something, and Louise cut her off.

"Unhand me." she said, and opened her eyes again. "I can walk by myself."

"O-of course." Cattleya spluttered. When she made to send her down on the ground, something hit her from behind and she went flying. She dropped Louise in the process, and her wand fell out of her pocket, hit the ground, rolled and lost itself among the grass. She hit the ground face first. She felt her nose break upon impact. She was turned by strong, hairy hands and started at...

A wolf, it was a monstrous wolf, significantly taller that her. It was leaning over her, its mouth hanging open. Its blood drenched teeth shone by the light of the sun. It was the shape-sifter, surely. It couldn´t be a simply wolf. The wolf raised its right hand over its. She stared, almost mesmerized. Die, she thought. I am going to die. There was nothing she could do. In her mind, she asked for Louise forgiveness.

Then its arm came down. Its claws gauged out her throat. She howled, almost passing out from the pain. She wished she had. It was close enough that she could see the yellow corneas of its eyes, that she felt its breath on her. In its right claw, she could see see bits of meat and blood. Her own. She stared at her neck wound, at all that blood flowing, staining her green dress with red. Oh. She feel a little lightheaded, and even the pain that had made her scream to wake the dead seemed far away. There was... something... almost funny about that. Something.

Cattleya breathed her last.

Louise watched as the wolf tore her dearest older sister apart, stunned and unable to move. Her wand was still in the pocket of her nightclothes, but she couldn´t even muster the effort to take it. She was watching the blood, all that blood. It was so bright it was almost blinding. The blood stained Cattleya, and the ground beneath her. With the bits of meat mixing it, it almost looked like puke. That though almost made her breakdown again.

Cattleya breathed, and closed her eyes. Death. She was death, like the rest. And like them, she wasn´t going to come back ever again. Ah, ah. Shit. She was alone. Mother and Eleanor had pretty much abandoned her a long time ago, and now even Cattleya was gone. And if her words were to be believed, which they surely were, then Bob was rotten to the core. She watched as the crouching wolf stood up. Would it be so bad to die here? What reason she had to live on, anyway? That´s right.

She watched dispassionately as the wold dragged itself towards her on its hind legs, snarling and stopped near. She waited for her death. It didn´t come. The wolf changed right before her eyes, and in a moment there was a man in its place. Bob Gray, her familiar, still smiling that wide grin painted with red, like there was nothing wrong, like nothing of this was real. She cried tears of anger. It was true. He had betrayed her. He had killed her big sister, right before her eyes. Mother and Eleanor were nowhere to be seen, so he surely killed them too.

"Why?" she screamed at him, her voice almost breaking down. "Why did you betray me? I trusted you, l-loved you like you were family, so why..."

"Betray you?" he tilted his head. "That´s wrong, this is not a betrayal. I never cared about you in the first place."

"You..." she trailed off, and bit her lip. Of course he never hadn´t. She couldn´t keep on with those stupid questions. She had to do something to get herself out of this mess, something to dealt with him. "Stop. Is an order."

"Huh?"

"I am not stupid, there is only conceivable reason that normally dangerous magical creatures obey without questions and that´s it the familiar runes. So you will obey me." she explained, her right hand slowly itching towards her wand. B-It held out its right hand, and took off its gloves, revealing the familiar runes. Then, they disappeared. She sucked in a breath, her mind going into overdrive. "W-what? H-how..."

"Don´t be so surprised. This trifle didn´t held any power over me since the begin. I existed before anything came into existence, before there was even a concept of time, so all that you pathetic creatures hold in high stem are just insignificant toys to me." it sounded unbelievable, but believing his words or not was the issue. The important part was that, in regard to the familiar runes, he was telling the truth. "Anyway, get out of my sight. Is not your turn to die just yet."

"You are just letting me go?" she said, her eyes widening.

"That´s what I said. Get out my sight quickly, or I may change my mind. But don´t get too comfortable. When I pull this world from its roots, I will come from you and your soul will join the deathlights." he looked down at her. She clenched her empty hands into fists, so hard her nails dung painfully into her skin.

"I kill you."

"What did you say?"

"I kill you, you bastard!" she screamed, took off her wand from the pocket of her nightclothes and pointed it at him.

"Oh, do go on. I even let you hit me with your best shot." he said, and extended his arms to each side, leaving his chest completely open. She didn´t pay him any mind. She was busy chanting the words that had suddenly come to her mind, submerged in an almost palpable power. She brought her wand down, like a sword.

"Dispel!" the spell hit him right in the chest. The disdainful expression left his face, and he howled in pain. His shape dissolved like ice, and all that was left was an amorphous yellow blob that twitched as if alive. It dragged itself away, shuffling through the grass, before her stunned eyes. Was that Pennywise´s real shape?

She doubled over, and her hands went to her stomach. Her wand slipped from her grasp, hit the floor and rolled away. She didn´t care. Her vision had started spinning, so hard and fast she could only barely hold her bile down. She wanted to scream, but only pathetic whimpers crawled out of her throat.

Louise passed out.