Morgan smiled and shut off the screen. "Sorcery is a trickier art to prove, but let's set aside legends and get down to science. The calculations are still running in the computer, but I expect a breakthrough at any moment." She opened her arms and herded us to the elevator. "Why don't you three wait in the common area. There's a kitchen nearby, and bathrooms, and you can catch up on your lost time. I'll call when something happens."
CHAPTER 6
We returned to the common area and plopped ourselves down in seats clustered close together. I rubbed my bruised arm and tried to fight off the daylight fatigue. My wolf senses told me to sleep.
"So how does your transformation work, anyway?" Dakota asked me.
I set my arm on the arm of the chair and shrugged. "I get mad and it happens."
"So it's like the Hulk?" she persisted.
"Next you're going to ask if she turns green," Lance teased. He studied me and his eyes fell on the inoperable bracelet. "I hope things haven't been too bad for you. Morgan said Fox kept you tamed through that bracelet and a collar."
I raised my hand and looked at the bracelet. "It wasn't fun, but I'm free now, and that's all that matters."
"Are you?" Lance countered.
Dakota gestured to me. "Of course. She's sitting right here with us."
"Abuse like Morgan described can lead to lasting effects," he argued. "Maybe even a distorted view of people."
I raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?
"Think about it. You haven't once mentioned that Fox should be prosecuted, and that's just not like you," he commented.
Dakota furrowed her brow and rubbed her chin. "Now that I think about it, that doesn't sound like you." She leaned towards me and squinted her eyes. "You really are Gwen, aren't you?"
"Who else would I be?" I countered.
"Maybe Fox has a robot factory and is trying to replace everyone in the city with a robot. His sister's got a pretty nice setup here," she pointed out.
I held up my hands. "Maybe I just don't think going to the police would do anything. He's rich and influential, and you know how well he hid my tracks with my bills and apartment. Besides, what would I tell the police? That he kept me under house arrest to keep me from giving fleas to everyone in the city?"
"How contagious are you?" Dakota asked me.
"You don't have to worry about me sneezing on you," I assured her.
"So that's it? You won't put up a fight?" Lance persisted.
"It's not that I won't put up a fight, it's just that I know I won't win," I countered.
"Guys, no fighting," Dakota scolded us.
I stood and frowned at Lance. "I think I need a drink of water."
The bathrooms were located nearby. I walked in and over to the sinks where I splashed my face with cold water with my gloves laid down beside the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror and idly wondered if Morgan had these tapped for sound. The mirror felt cold and solid to the touch. I sighed and slid my hand down the glass.
"How do I feel about what happened to me?" I muttered to myself.
I couldn't file my feelings into one simple drawer. Too much had happened over too short a time-span. The kidnapping, the dragon episode, the electric collar, the unicorn. Then the party and Morgan's offer to escape. I leaned against a nearby wall and ran a clawed hand through my thick hair.
I should have been elated to be free, but all I felt was ambivalence. My thoughts wandered back to that cold-stone house with its two strange occupants.
I managed a smile. "I wonder what Emery's going to do with all that meat. . ."
I frowned and shook my head. There was just wasn't any reason to miss them. I didn't know them for very long, and there was a lot to hate. There was also my two real friends waiting for me. I put on my gloves and walked into the hall outside the bathroom.
"We need to talk," a voice spoke up.
I yelped and spun around to find Lance behind me. He leaned against the wall near the door, but pushed off when I faced him. His lips were pursed and his eyebrows were knit together.
"Talk about what?" I asked him.
Lance walked up to me so we were only a foot away. His voice was stern. "Tell me the truth. What happened to you in that castle with Fox?" he wondered. "Did he. . .did he sexually abuse you?"
"He'd never do that," were the words that flew from my mouth. Lance's frown deepened. I took a deep breath and shook my head. "Fox isn't that type of guy."
"Then what type of guy is he?" Lance wondered.
"He's. . .he's difficult to explain," I replied. "Besides, I'd rather not talk about it." I tried to skirt him, but Lance rested a hand on my shoulder.
"Gwen, what happened to you? You're. . .you're different. Distant. What's wrong?" he asked me.
I took a step away from him and clutched my arms close to my chest. "Listen, I've had some really hard nights. A lot's happened to me. A lot is still happening to me." I raised one of my gloved hands and looked at the clothed palm. "Everything-Fox included-it's all complicated."
"Why is it complicated?" he persisted.
"I don't know. I just need time to think about it," I told him.
Lance grabbed my shoulders and swung me around to face him. His eyes met mine. "Gwen, you know I care about you-deeply-don't you?"
I blushed and cringed beneath his steady gaze. "I know-"
"Then you know you can tell me how you. . .how you feel about this guy. I'll understand," he offered.
I furrowed my brow. "About what guy?"
"About how you feel about Fox," he explained.
"How do I feel about Fox?" I questioned him.
He sighed. "Listen, I know it might be hard to admit, but you might be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. It's a mental disease where-"
"I know what it means, and I know I don't have it," I argued. "I don't love Fox. I just-well, I just don't think it's worth it to go after him, or even think about him. That's it."
"That's it?" he repeated.
"That's it," I affirmed.
Lance's shoulders relaxed and he smiled. His hands slid off my shoulders. "Good. Now that we've dealt with your past we'll have to deal with our future."
"'Our future?'" I aksed him.
His smiled slipped into a grin and he shrugged. "I just thought that we could-well, with me knowing your secret you'd know you could trust me and-well, get to know me better."
I snorted and held up my gloved hand. "We don't have a future until I get rid of this." Lance pinched one of the fingers and slipped the glove off. "Hey!" I snatched at the glove, but he pulled it away and dangled it above my head. "Give it back, Lance!"
"No. Not until you admit you're the only one keeping the gloves on, Gwen," he insisted.
I stopped grabbing at the glove and glared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you hiding behind the gloves," he explained. "You don't have to hide yourself from Dakota and me. We're you're friends." He caught my eyes. "I'd like to be something more."
"Lance, I-"
Lance held up his hand, then held it out to me. "Don't say anything, just give me your other hand," he pleaded. I pursed my lips, but offered him my other hand. He slipped the glove off. "Now the glasses." I sighed, but took off the glasses and squinted in the bright lights.
"Happy?" I asked him.
He smiled. "Actually, yes. What you did shows me you trust me."
"No, it shows you how much of a monster I am," I argued. I turned my face away and closed my eyes. "And can anyone really love-even like-a monster?"
Lance grasped my chin between his fingers and tugged me back to face him. There was a soft, gentle smile on his face, and his eyes twinkled. "I could love you even if you were a puddle of ooze."
He closed his eyes and leaned towards me. Our lips locked in a delicate, uncertain kiss. My mind whirled with images of his young, handsome face and his firm, blue eyes.
Wait. Lance didn't have blue eyes-they were auburn-but I knew a certa
in man who did.
I pulled away and turned from him. His hands that held me trembled.
Lance's voice was low and defeated. "It's him, isn't-"
"I hate to interrupt such an intimate moment, but I might have an answer to your species problem," a voice spoke up.
We turned to see Morgan walk towards us from the common area. Behind her was Dakota with a wide grin on her face. Morgan had a thick, leather-clad tome tucked under one arm and a smile on her face.
"Did you find something?" Lance asked her.
"I believe I did, and if you're up for a trial run we can begin immediately," she offered.
I nodded at the tome. "What's with the book?"
"A little light-reading while the numbers ran, but that isn't important. What's important is that we get you human again. Now follow me," she insisted.
CHAPTER 7
Morgan led us back to the lab. One of the doors to the tubes was open. Morgan set her large book on the top of the console and gestured to the tube.
"If you'll step right in we can let the magic begin," she told me.
My attention, however, was on something seated on the console in front of the tubes. It was a rough stone six-inches square and worn away by countless years of weather. The surface was tinged with green from years covered beneath slimy moss, and the corners were worn smooth.
"What's with the rock?" Dakota spoke up.
Morgan half-turned to the stone and stroked the surface of the stone. "A lucky charm I keep for special occasions."
"Is that the Cornerstone?" I questioned her.
Morgan turned back to me and her sly smile slipped onto her lips. "Perhaps, but if you would step into the tube we can start the procedure."
"Are you sure this will work?" Lance spoke up.
"One can never be positive until the experiment is complete," she pointed out.
I steadied myself and reluctantly stepped into the confining space. Morgan pressed a button on the panel in front of the tubes and the door sealed shut behind me. She turned to my friends and waved her hands at the wall some twenty feet away. The floor was covered in different-colored linoleum than the rest of the room.
"You two go over to the pads on the floor. They indicate the point of safety should something go wrong," Morgan instructed them.
My two friends moved onto the pads. Morgan stood in front of the console before the tubes and pressed a few buttons. She flipped open the book and studied the pages.
I frowned and pressed my palms against the glass. "What are you doing?"
"Patience. This shouldn't take more than a few moments," she told me.
I glanced at my friends. Lance's lips were pursed, but Dakota was all smiles. She stretched out her arm to give me a thumbs-up, but her knuckles collided with something a foot in front of her.
My friend frowned and pressed her hand against the something. An invisible wall shimmered in the bright lights of the equipment. Lance, too, stretched out his hands and his palms pressed against the invisible walls. They furiously tried the area around them and found they were boxed in on all sides in a small rectangle. There was even a wall separating them from each other.
"What's going on?" Lance yelled.
"Let us out!" Dakota shouted.
Morgan lifted her eyes and turned her head left to right to grin at the three of us. "Oh dear, I believe I've made a mistake."
"What kind of mistake?" I growled.
"I had told you I was going to change you back into a human, but the spell here-" she tapped on the book, "-doesn't exactly do that."
"Spell? What are you talking about?" I questioned her.
Morgan's eyes widened and she opened her mouth slightly. "Did I forget to tell you that part, too? How foolish of me. It seems I neglected to mention that I don't actually go in for all that science stuff my brother finds so interesting. I'd rather take a more natural route." Morgan flung off the lab coat, picked up the book and swept her hand over the pages. A thick mist of smoke rose from the paper and drifted into the air. "Quite a pretty display, isn't it?"
"She's a witch!" Dakota yelled.
Morgan turned to Dakota with a scowl. "I prefer the term sorceress."
"Let them go, Morgan. They don't have anything to do with this," I told her.
Morgan laughed and turned her sly eyes on me. "On the contrary. They have everything to do with the spell I'm about to perform. You see, I'm going to take your fur that you so kindly provided to me and-" she gestured to my friends, "-change them into werewolves."
"What?" I cried out.
Morgan laughed and walked up to my glass prison. "Don't be so surprised. I'm sure Fox told you not to trust me, and he was right."
"But why the hell would you do that?" I shouted.
She cradled the book in one arm and picked up the stone. "It's all because of this delightful present provided by my dear brother. You see, we have a little game we play together, and this is the greatest prize."
I narrowed my eyes. "Checkmate?" I suggested.
Morgan's smile widened. "Precisely. This wonderful prize is capable of providing an infinite source of magic, or so the stories go. I'll test those stories by using its power to change your friends into werewolves."
I nodded at the lab. "So all of this is a lie?"
Morgan laughed and walked up to one of the panels against the wall close to where Dakota and Lance stood. "I'm afraid so." She rapped her knuckles against one of the control panels. The panel clattered to the floor and revealed an empty box where circuitry and wiring should have been. "
"Then why this building? Why this entire ruse?" I asked her.
Morgan shrugged. "For the benefit of my brother. I wanted to prove I could build a more secure facility, and I believe I've done it," she explained. "But I think that's enough monologuing. I'd like to test my new toy."
Morgan moved into position between my friends and me so her back was to the elevator. She lifted the stone into the air and studied the book.
"By forest and by den, among the monster fen," she chanted. A wind picked up and swirled about the room. The false panels vibrated and many clattered to the floor. "Heed the wolf hair I doth hold, and by these words spoken bold." The air crackled with energy and the Cornerstone gave off a blue glow. "Change these two entrapped by I, into werewolves cursed by thy."
The glow exploded into a stream of light that flew across the room and covered my friends. They threw their heads back and screamed as their bodies began to transform. Their clothes split as their muscles stretched and fur sprouted from their bodies.
"No!" I screamed.
Morgan dropped her arm and gazed at them in sadistic wonder. Her face was illuminated by the brilliant light and cast cruel shadows over her features. "Beautiful," she whispered. She lifted the stone and examined its glowing surface. "I never would have imagined such magic inside such a small stone."
While she admired the magic my friends writhed in agony. I scratched and clawed at the door, but the glass was too well fitted. I pulled back my arm and threw my fist against the glass. The tube vibrated, but the glass didn't shatter. Morgan heard the vibration and turned to me with a smirk on her face.
"Try all you like. That glass is unbreakable," she warned me. "You'll only-" I let out a roar and slammed my fists against the glass. Tiny hairline fractures appeared at the points of impact.
Morgan's eyes widened. "That isn't possible!"
"She seems to have a habit of being underestimated," a voice spoke up. Morgan spun around, and I looked up towards the elevators. Fox and Emery stood in front of the closing doors, and Fox held his gun at his side. "Did you forget that I was still playing the game, my dear sister?"
Morgan's eyes narrowed and she backed up. "How did you find this place?"
"I admit it wasn't easy. The depth of this lab made tracking Miss Rogers difficult, but nothing a little time couldn't solve," he explained to her.
Morgan scowled at him and pointed one of her hands at me. "Another step
and I'll turn on back on the bracelet and fry your precious little pet with your own toy."
"It won't do you any good. I permanently deactivated the bracelet when I saw it had been tampered with," Fox replied. He raised the gun and pointed it at Morgan. "Now if you will kindly reverse the spell and put down the stone and book."
Morgan grinned. "Over your dead body."
Morgan swept the stone across her front. Spears of blue light shot out and flew at the pair. Emery and Fox jumped out of the way, and the spears embedded themselves a foot into the thick concrete walls. Fox grabbed one of the loose false panels and threw it at Morgan. The wind took it and flung it into the air. My eyes widened and I ducked as the sharp metal flew at me. It slammed into the glass and finished what my fists had started. The glass shattered a hole large enough for me crawl through.
I dropped to the ground and rushed over to my friends, taking the panel with me. My friends still writhed and screamed as their faces elongated into snouts and their fingers became claws. Their transformation went beyond anything I'd experienced. They were behemoths. Monstrous werewolves that towered over six feet on their thick, fur-covered legs. Their backs were bent over and their hands nearly reached to their knees.
I swung the panel in front of me and sliced the front of Dakota's prison. The barrier dissipated, and so did the blue light around her. She dropped to her knees and I caught her before she fell onto her face. Her body was heavy, but she lost a lot of weight quickly as her body reverted to her human self. I set her unconscious form on the ground and grabbed the panel for a swipe at Lance's cage.
Unfortunately, the light in his cage extinguished itself. Lance collapsed to his hands and knees. He faced the floor and panted.
"Lance?" I whispered.
Lance lifted his head and blinked at me. His eyes were still human, but the rest of him was a monster. He raised his hands and looked from one to the other.
"No. . ." He murmured. He shut his eyes and turned his face away. "What did she do to me?"
I pressed a hand against his prison. "Lance, keep calm. We can fix-"
"Keep calm? KEEP CALM?" he roared. "Look at what she did to me!"
"Revenge later, fixing now!" I ordered him. "Now help me get you out of-"
Lance threw a fist at the magic barrier. The wall collapsed and he climbed to his feet. He looked around and his eyes fell on Morgan close at hand.
While I had rescued my friends, Fox and Emery had their hands full with his spell-happy sister. She threw spear after spear until the wall behind them looked like Swiss cheese. Her laughter echoed off the walls as the stone burned brightly in her hand. Fox aimed his gun and fired off a shot. The bullet would have made him an only child if it had hit its mark, but Morgan raised the stone and a barrier appeared in front of her. The bullet hit the wall and clattered to the floor at her feet.