Logan took out his eye and pointed it around the desk they were hiding behind, closing his other eye he could see clearly what their tormentor was up to. Remus was thinking about how cool that was while Virgil was absolutely disgusted. Said tormentor hadn't realized they had escaped yet, but that wouldn't last long. They had to gather information quickly. Roman, Patton, and Janus were tasked with finding a way out, while Logan, Virgil, and Remus found a way to change them all back. It wasn't really that they minded being turned into monsters, but they all had work on Monday, so you know the deal.

Logan was able to see the spell book being used against them and was deciphering it as quickly as possible. From what he could gather, they would have to create a potion to counter the effects of the one that had been slipped into the punch. He was still working on translating the ingredients when they heard a crash down the hallway.


"I feel like we've been walking circles." Roman was growing impatient. Knowing the situation was largely his fault he was determined to be of use.
"That's because we have been. That's the third time we've passed that statue. I told you we should have taken the left." Janus was even more impatient. He could barely see a thing due to the fact that he was wearing sunglasses to avoid turning the others to stone.
"Well, since we're back here, we can just go and take that left this time. Problem solved." Patton's eyesight was also limited because his glasses broke when he changed into his larger, furrier form, but he was always a much cheerier person.
"Alright. You're right. Jay, you get to lead from now on. I clearly have no clue where I'm going."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Ro. We know you're trying your best." Patton went to give him a hug but missed and managed to trip on Roman's trailing bandages, knocking the statue over and resulting in a loud crash. "... You don't think he heard that, do you?"
"I think we don't want to stay here to find out." Janus was, as always, the voice of reason, also known to the group as the voice of not dying. They had a lot of dangerously bad and stupid ideas that Janus never failed to talk them out of.


The warlock rushed out of the room, temporarily leaving his spell book and supplies unguarded. Logan decided to take the chance and take as much with them as they could. He had noticed earlier that one of the bookshelves was more than what it appeared, and in the spirit of taking chances, decided to chance that it would be a good escape tunnel, at least from that room. Remus's hat was good for grabbing various ingredients while Logan grabbed the book and figured out as much as possible and Virgil used his new bat ears to listen for movement.

"Guys, he's coming back," Virgil warned.
"I only need a few more seconds."
"We don't have a few more seconds. Remus, get the bookshelf."
"It's the red book. I'm almost done."
"Hurry up guys."
"Tunnel's open," Remus said.
"Great. Let's get going."
"Wait! We need one more thing but I don't know what it means."
"Then we'll figure it out later and find it when we need it. Let's go. Now!" Virgil dragged Logan into the tunnel and Remus shut it behind them just barely in time. They had left the book and tried to disturb as little as possible in hopes their captor wouldn't realize what they were up to.


They heard a door open and footsteps coming moments after they had turned the corner. They went as fast as they could, but Roman kept tripping over himself, so Patton picked him up bridal style and kept going. They took the left and reached a staircase. Patton then took Janus and Roman under an arm each and began jumping up the stairs a flight at a time. Strong werewolf legs weren't half bad. They reached the top and found themselves in what appeared to be an astronomy tower. They were going to need to find the others, because looking down, there was a door at the bottom that would lead outside.


"We can follow the instructions up to the last ingredient, but that's where I get stuck."
"Well let's think through it as we work then, shall we? We only have so much time and as much as I dig turning into a bat, I don't really like craving human blood." Virgil had already started pacing.
"You should at least try it once before you change back so you can tell me what it's like. I know for us it's like water with iron, but to you-"
"Not the time Remus. Let's get to work," Virgil interrupted him.
"First there is a list of what we have to grind into powder. I suppose we should find some rocks-"
"Done and done."
"Remus… Where did you- have you had those this whole time? Actually, nevermind. We're going to use your hat as a bowl. Now, the plants we need are Blind Eyes, Blood of Hephaestus, Earth Smoke, Love Root, Skin of a Man, and Sorcerer's Violet."
"What?! Did you just say skin of a man?" Virgil asked.
"Don't worry, Virgil. I will donate my skin to the cause."
"Remus, no! Those are just the old names for them. They are all plants that we grabbed.
Poppy, Wormwood, Fumitory, Orris Root, Fern, and Periwinkle."
"Oh. Maybe next time."
"I- ok fine. As far as I can tell, the amounts do not matter."
"I guess we should get grinding."
"I knew this would be a fun party!"
"Remus, no!" Virgil exclaimed.


"So how do we find them?" Roman asked.
"Well it's not like we have someone in our group with an incredibly strong sense of smell, fast legs, and the strength to carry anyone too slow, so I have no idea." Janus rolled his eyes, annoyed that no one could see him do it.
"Well you don't have to be sarcastic about it. Patton, do you think you could sniff out the others?"
"I just have to think if what they smell like. If I remember correctly, Virgil smells like vanilla from eating all of those cookies and Remus was wearing that… interesting cologne. I think I can focus on that."
"Ok. Do you want us to go with you and stay in a group, or would it be easier on your own?" Roman asked.
"While I don't like the idea of splitting up, I think in this case it might be safer for me to go alone, especially now that I know what the warlock smells like. He'll definitely still be looking for us and it will be easier to get away if it's just me."
"Ok. But be quick, and let out a howl if you get caught," Janus instructed.
"Don't say that! He won't get caught."
"Now, now Roman. Jay's right. It's always good to have a plan."
"Ok… but be careful."
"I will."


They were working quickly when Virgil heard something coming. It sounded big and was moving fast.

"Guys, we're either saved, or in grave danger."
"That better not have been a pun." Logan was preparing for the worst, ready to sacrifice himself.
Virgil gave a half hearted smile and shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

They waited a moment before they heard something at the door of their secret room. They weren't sure what it looked like from the outside, but it wouldn't have been obvious there was a room there. There was sniffing, scratching, and whining that stopped abruptly before the door was thrown off its hinges.

"I found you! We found a way out! Are you ready?"
"As we can be." Logan replied before being picked up like a sack of potatoes. Once Patton had everyone, they were off. Occasionally Patton would have to stop and back track of take another route because he could smell their captor. The others could hear him yelling. Patton got to the stairwell and was greeted by Roman and Janus.

"We didn't figure waiting at the top was the best plan unless we wanted to jump to freedom."

Once they got outside, they heard something coming their way that they definitely didn't want to meet. They ran and ran into the woods until they didn't hear it and kept going until they ran straight into a barrier and bounced off.

"Ouch." Roman landed on a rock.
"Hey!" Virgil had turned into a bat so he wouldn't fall and then changed back so he was still up right. "How come Remus can get through?"
"I would assume," Logan said as he reattached his arm, "that since he is still human the barrier has no effect on him."
"And you said my costume was stupid." His costume being, of course, just a fedora.
"Well in any other case it would be." Virgil grumbled.
"We should work on getting ourselves back to normal and away from here as quickly as possible." Logan warned.

The last ingredient proved to be a difficult solve. Liquified soul mixed with purified earth blood. Earth blood was easy enough to determine as water, but liquified soul would be tough. At least they could have all six of them working on it instead of just three.

"Let's think about things that have to do with the soul and from there determine if anything related to that could be liquid."

They were all trying but started bickering back and forth. Janus and Patton couldn't see, Remus was being Remus, Roman was being Roman at Remus, and Logan just wanted some quiet to think.

"That's it!" Virgil exclaimed.
"What's it?" Logan whipped his head around to face Virgil, almost dislocating it.
"Eyes! Eyes are the window to the soul, yeah? Well tears come out of eyes and those are liquid."
"Great job, Kiddo!"
"Praise me after it works."
"... So… Do we just like, start weeping?" Roman asked.
"I can punch you if it helps."
"Remus, if you punch me, so help me, I'll-"
"Ok, you two. Cut it out," Janus interjected.
"He started it." They replied in unison.
"And I'm ending it."
"Anyway, at least one of us has to get tears out. We'll be getting some unpleasant company before too long, so I suggested someone become sad quickly."
"It's not really that easy, Logan, and I'm guessing fake tears won't work." Virgil was trying his hardest, honest, but the only way tears were getting out of him was a panic attack and that would not be helpful when they were found.
"Wait. I think I have an idea…" Roman spoke up.
"Which would be?" Logan inquired.
"Sorry, Pat." Suddenly Roman was on him tickling him. Roman knew Patton's tickle spots best and the latter was in tears in no time. "Great work! Into the hat."

They managed to get some of the tears into their mix and suddenly it began to glow.

"Uh, that's what it's supposed to do, right Logan?" Virgil asked.
"How am I supposed to know?"
"You're the one who read the book!"
"Well it didn't mention anything but the ingredients!"
"Ok!"
"Ok!"
"Well if Logan and Virgil are done with whatever that was I suggest someone try the potion so we can get out of here. No rush though, it's not like this is a life or death situation or anything." Janus was growing impatient.
"... I'll do it."
"Are you sure Roman?"
"Yeah, Pat. Someone's got to."
"Ok, but…"
"Really, Pat. I'll be ok."

Roman took a sip and began to glow himself. There he was back to normal.

"Augh! That was awful!"
"Uh… Roman. You didn't have to drink it. You just had to touch it."
"Really, Specs? You couldn't have told me before hand?"
"I would've but you just kind of went for it. Anyway, it works, so let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

Once they had all changed back, Patton turned to Roman and pulled him in by the gauze. Roman was the only one who was shocked that he was being pulled in for a kiss.

"It's about time." Virgil smirked.
"Yes, yes. Very good. Now, can we get going? We're not out of the woods yet. Literally."