Ghoul Break: The Familia's Final Outing:
Day2: Jacob's In a Pinch
"So this is a beach in the demon realm?" Danna mused to herself. "Not what I was thinking."
Drake looked at his sister with a teasing grin and asked, "What were you thinking, sister? A lava lake?"
"Maybe," Danna said, throwing her own teasing grin her brother's way. "We in a demon realm, after all?"
Sally shook her head as her husband and sister-in-law began a round of sibling bickering. She looked around and saw the beach was packed. This wasn't surprising; kids had a week off from school, so why waste it indoors?
What surprised the newspaper worker was how easily she could tell which witches were normal and which ones had been "knocked-down." It was like she could see an aura around those who had taken a rejuvenation potion. She noticed this when bathing Masha and decided to talk to her brother about this later.
With a soft smile, she looked back at her family and frowned as she noticed someone was missing. She sighed and looked back at the changing booth.
"Jacob," she called her current niece, "come out! It's not that bad."
"NO!" Jacob shouted back. "I'm not getting ten inches near any place that is filled with witches."
Sally shook her head and went over to the changing booth. She cocked an eyebrow when she saw the door wasn't locked and walked behind it. She saw her current niece hiding behind the booth, and the transformed human squeaked when she saw her aunt.
"Occupied!" Jacob screeched.
Sally shook her head again and grabbed Jacob by the wrist. The older woman led her relative to the rest of her family, where Jacob gave them the stink eye.
"What am I doing here!" she suddenly screamed.
James sighed tiredly and looked at his child. "Jacob, do we really need to go over this again?" he asked exhaustedly.
Jacob growled and looked away from her father.
Of course, she knew why she was here; as punishment for boldly and heroically trying to vanquish the vile witches and the ones they corrupted, she was turned into her current state.
The punishment was only going to last a month, but according to her family, Jacob continued to mess things up, and her sentence was extended. Jacob's family even decided to sign her up for school under the alias Jennifer Blacklight as they felt reliving her schooldays in a different body might straighten her out.
That plan didn't work, and Jacob's family decided to make a deal with her; if she came to the demon realm with them for the week and helped babysit the "Knocked-down" Coven, they would consider ending her punishment.
The transformed human saw this deal for what it truly was; she knew her family wanted this realm to corrupt her as it had them.
But Jacob was smart; she wasn't going to fall for the fake charms this realm would show her. She wasn't going to fall to this realm as the famous witch hunter Celab Wittebane did.
With a growl, she looked at her family and said, "I'm out of here."
She then walked off in a random direction before her family could say a word. Jacob planned to find a secluded spot to spend the day.
(SC)
Jacob was ready to pull her hair out. She has spent the last 30 minutes looking for a spot with no luck. To make matters worse, witches of all shapes, sizes, and genders were hitting on her.
"This is all because of this stupid thing," She muttered, staring at her swimsuit in disgust.
The suit in question was just a one-piece. She was also wearing white shorts and a matching jacket. Unfortunately, the swimsuit hugged her body in all the right places and highlighted her female features.
With a bitter sigh, Jacob went back to her search. She scowled as she saw the beach was packed, and there was no safe place where she could hide. She pressed on, combing from one end of the beach to the other.
Soon, it seemed like her efforts were rewarded; she found a place that was devoid of another living soul. As a bonus, there was a small rock wall with a gap large enough for someone her size to squeeze through. She peeked through the opening and was pleased to see there was a space open enough for her to move around, just a rock near the back of the opening.
She grinned as she turned her body sideways and was about to squeeze through the gap when a dark-skin witch with glasses and slightly wavey hair came rushing up to her.
"Wait!" Cat screamed, "Don't go in there! It's dangerous!"
Jacob glared at the young witch, studying her slightly; Cat wasn't wearing swimwear like the other beachgoers. Instead, she wore orange leggings, black boots that went up to the knees, a leather belt, a navy blue tunic, and a pair of leather gloves.
In all honesty, if the girl wasn't a witch, Jacob actually found her to be a bit cute. The transformed human cursed internally when that thought popped into her head and decided it was best to ignore the witch.
She looked away from the witch and proceeded to squeeze through the opening.
"Please don't go in there!" Cat screamed in distress. "There's a reason why no one is around here!"
Jacob ignored the witch's pleas and continued to slip the gap. She had to suppress a moan as the gap was narrower than she first thought, and the rocks were "irritating" the items on her chest.
She sighed when she was finally through the gap and away from that witch, who was still yelling at her. She smiled as she looked around, satisfied with her surroundings. She walked up and took a seat on the rock she had seen earlier.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back as she bisked in the silence. That didn't last long as she heard a noise, and the "rock" began to vibrate.
She jumped off of it and watched as creatures began to emerge from the rock she now realized was a nest. Jacob thought they looked a little like carbs. But these creatures were slightly smaller than the carbs on earth, and stone covered their pincers and backs.
Suddenly, Jacob got a bad feeling about the place and decided it was best to heed the witch's warning. She slowly made her way to the gap, eyes on the carb creatures. She saw, with growing dread, that there were twenty of these creatures, and they were snapping their pincers.
Jacob reached the gap and realized she wouldn't be able to make it through before the carbs were on her. Suddenly, the rocks glowed brown and pushed apart. Jacob looked at the witch from before, who had been joined by the trio of witches she had met at that house a day ago and a short, older witch who looked like a construction worker.
"You need to move away very slowly," Cat instructed softly. "Stonarbs are very territorial, and you set on their nest."
Jacob did as he was instructed and slowly moved close to the group. Unfortunately, she wasn't aware of her surroundings and hit her knee against the side of the rock wall.
The transformed human grabbed her knee and screamed at the top of her lungs. The scream startled the stonarbs, and they quickly moved to Jacob. The former male screamed again when the creatures crawled up her legs and sank their pincers into her skin. She screamed for a third time when she felt something besides pincers entering her skin and panicked.
Jacob ran, trying to pull the stonarbs off her as she shoulder-checked Mason. The ex-Coven head twirled around and then fell to the ground as the human ran in a random direction.
"WAIT!" Cat screamed, giving chase. "Don't try to pull them off! That will just make it worse!"
The BATs watched as the human and witch left the area, and Amber looked at Manson.
"Otay?" the "knocked-down" bard asked cutely.
"I'm fine, little one," Mason wheezed, slightly winded from the fall. "But you better go and help that healer before the stonarbs inject their toxins into the human."
The trio of bards looked at each other and silently agreed. They then took off as Mason got into a sitting position. The ex-Coven leader sighed as he watched the witches follow after the human.
Because he was watching the witches, Mason was unaware of two stonarbs making their way to him.
(SC)
"WHAT ARE THESE THINGS!?" Jacob screamed as she tried to pull the creatures off of her.
She managed to pull a few of them off her and threw them to the ground. Because of her panic, she wasn't aware pulling the stonarbs off her was more painful than it should have been. Jacob also failed to realize the Stonarbs' stone shell absorbed the impact when thrown, allowing the creature to recover quickly.
Jacob screamed when she felt the stonarbs crawl up her legs and pinch her again. She ran in a random direction, unaware of four witches watching her.
She kept running even after she started to feel weird. It was like her body was getting heavier. Still, somehow, Jacob managed to run half away across the beach and only stopped when she ran into a witch.
The two fell and got tangled together as Jacob continued to panic. Suddenly, she was lifted and held in the air by someone's magic. Jacob was too panicked to hear straight, but she made out a few words. She did, however, scream when a giant bird appeared in front of her. But she screamed not because of the illusion but because the stonarbs were painfully releasing their hold on her.
The next few minutes were a blur for Jacob as she felt something soothing wash over her. Through her bliss, she felt something leaving her body, and a few minutes after that, her head started to clear.
Jacob blinked twice, and her vision cleared. She couldn't help but blush ever-so-slightly when she looked at the relieved face of Cat.
"Good, we got the toxins out of your body before any real problems happened," the healer-in-training said with relief.
"What were those things?" Jacob asked weakly.
Cat sighed and took a seat in front of the transformed human. She made a spell circle and sent an analyzing spell through Jacob. While she was sure she got the toxin out, she remembered the lessons her cousin, Willia, taught her; it was always good to be thorough.
As she worked her spell, Car began to explain things.
"Those were stonarbs. Like I said, they're highly territorial and don't like any other creature coming into their territory. They also have tubes in their pincers that can inject a toxin into whatever their pinch."
Cat smiled a kind smile at Jacob. The transformed human could feel her face warm slightly, and she looked away. That was a mistake; a small jolt of discomfort suddenly went up her neck, and she made a face.
This went unnoticed by Cat as she was in full lecture mode and continued with her explanation.
"You're lucky. Those stonarbs weren't adults; their poison sacks weren't fully developed," she said as her spell finished and she looked at the results. She nodded and looked at Jacob with a smile. "The toxin didn't get a chance to settle, so all you should feel is a few bouts of discomfort and maybe some random stiffness for the next few hours."
The BATs and the Blight Twins looked at Cat with childish awe. Edric was starstruck and couldn't help but become curious.
"How know?" he asked with childish curiosity.
Cat giggled at this and replied, "Simple; before it came common, I was secretly studying beast-keeping under my cousin. We in the Oldstone family figured we could use Beast-keeping knowledge to help improve healing techniques."
Edric became even more awestruck and began rapid-firing questions at Cat. The healer-in-training laughed and was more than happy to answer any question she could understand.
Jacob, head now clear, decided it was time to leave. Being around this witch was giving her a funny feeling, and she was starting to think that one of the spells the witch used was some kind of charm spell.
"Well, thanks for all you did," Jacob said, somewhat insincerely, standing, "But I need to get goi-AHHH!"
Jacob suddenly felt her legs give out on her, and she fell to the ground. Cat sighed when she saw this and moved to Jacob's side.
"I just said you could suffer from bouts of stiffness," she said, lightly scolding the transformed human. "Here, let me help."
Jacob wanted to curse out the witch for being so close to her. But she found she couldn't; strange thoughts were swirling in her head as Cat helped her to her feet.
"Do you know where you're family is?" Cat asked, looking at Jacob with a kind smile.
Again, Jacob felt weird when she saw that smile and had to remember that this was a creature born from the dark pits of the underworld.
"I-I think they're still near the entrance to the beach," Jacob said somewhat bashfully, and Cat nodded.
Jacob felt like kicking herself for the way she was acting as the witch began making her way to the beach's entrance, the BATs and Blight Twins following close behind.
Soon, the group reached the beach's entrance, and luckily, Jacob's entire family was still there. The second James and Danna saw the condition their child was in, they rushed over to her.
"Jacob!" Danna cried in distress and then looked at Cat. "What happened to him?"
Cat flashed a reassuring smile at the human and replied, "Don't worry, Mrs.-"
"Hopkins, Danna Hopkins," Danna interrupted gently.
"Don't worry, Mrs Hopkins, your kid had a run with some territorial creatures," Cat explained. "But there's nothing to worry about. She's not in any danger. I got the toxins out of her before any real problems could develop."
Danna and James's eyes snapped open when they heard the word toxins. They quickly calmed down when the rest of Cat's words sunk in. They smiled gratefully at the healer as James took Jacob from her.
"Thank you for all you have done for my son," Danna said gratefully and looked at Cat curiously, "What's your name, miss?"
Cat smiled and replied, "Catile Oldstone, but my friends call me Cat."
"Well, thank you, Cat," James added, just as grateful as his wife. "Our boy may be a handful, but we love him."
"Think nothing of it, Mister and Mrs. Hopkin," Cat replied kindly, "It's like my cousin always says: healers should help those in need."
The Hopkin and Blacklight families smiled at this. They could admire the kid's dedication to her craft.
"Still, thank you all the same," Drake said gratefully, then turned serious. "But is there anything we should be aware of?"
"Just have her as relaxed as possible," Cat informed the group. "I may have gotten the toxins out of her, but she would be stiff for the next few hours and will suffer random joint locking."
James nodded and, with his wife, took their child someplace to relax. Cat smiled at this and, feeling like her task was done, decided to get back to the reason she was at the beach in the first place; collecting samples to help improve her magic.
She was about to take her leave when she felt something tug on her pants legs. She looked down at the eager faces of the Blight twins, and she didn't need to be an oracle to know what they were thinking.
"Would you like to come with me?" Cat asked kindly.
The healer couldn't help but laugh when the twin nodded eagerly and then looked at the BATs.
"And what about you three?" the healer-in-training asked. "Would you like to help?"
The trio of bards exchanged looks and then looked at Cat. Derwin nodded, speaking from his friends/sisters, and Cat smiled. The healing student took Ed and Em by the hands and, with the BATs following, went to collect beast samples.
From the spot her father had set her, Jacob watched as the group of witches departed. The transformed human's eyes stayed on the healing witchling until she disappeared, feeling something fluttering in her stomach.
She cursed under her breath as she finally realized what was happening to her. "Stupid curse messing with my head," she muttered angrily.
(G Corner)
And with this, witches and demons, we end the second day. Next up, the Owl Familia gets some surprise visitors, so look forward to the next installment.