Post by StoryGirl83 on Nov 9, 2011 13:50:26 GMT -5
Chapter Five – Is It Over?
Considering how rapidly things had went downhill with Wyatt and Olivia, neither brother wanted to take the time with the stairs. They orbed in just outside the door to the room where Nathan and Andrew still were. They heard yelling coming from the other side of the door.
Wyatt entered the room first, wanting to protect his brother if one of his friends was dangerous. As Chris closed the door behind them, Wyatt looked at his two friends.
Andrew was pacing the room, ringing his hand and occasionally stopping to yell some sort of unintelligible babble. The gibberish that came from his mouth seemed to comfort him in some way.
Nathan, on the other hand, sat in the far corner of the room, his arms wrapped around his knees, rocking back and forth, as he argued with some unseen foe.
Chris stared at them in horrified wonderment. “What is he doing?” he whispered as Andrew screamed.
“No! No! No!” came Andrew’s finally intelligible cry.
Chris put down his backpack and pulled out two bottles. He handed one to Wyatt.
“I won’t do it!” Andrew yelled. “You can’t make me!”
Chris raised an eyebrow at his brother. “You want to deal with him? Or should I?”
His words weren’t soft enough and Andrew stopped his pacing to look at them. “What did you say?”
“We’re trying to help, Andrew,” Wyatt told him, trying to calm him.
Andrew shook his head. “No, no you’re trying to hurt him, too.”
“Trying to hurt who?” Wyatt asked confused.
“Nathan,” Andrew informed him. “Can’t you hear them?” His eyes narrowed as he stalked closer to the brothers. “Or maybe you’re in league with them.” He took menacing steps toward them. “That’s it, isn’t it? You sent the voices.”
Wyatt moaned. “Andrew, remember the conversation we had earlier. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
It was silent except for the sound of heavy breathing as Andrew eyed them critically.
“Lacey needs me,” Nathan announced, breaking the silence.
Andrew looked at Nathan. “Do you have any idea what I did?” he asked looking back at the brothers.
“I was here,” Wyatt reminded him.
Andrew shook his head. “You don’t get it,” he accused, anger returning to his eyes. “I killed my best friend. Look at him, he’s dying in pieces.”
“Andrew, you didn’t infect Nathan,” Wyatt reminded him. He shot a glance at his brother.
Chris correctly interpreted the look and backed up against the wall. He slowly edged out of Andrew’s line of site and toward Nathan.
“Let me help you, Andrew,” Wyatt offered.
“I don’t deserve help,” Andrew insisted. “I killed Nathan.”
Wyatt shook his head. “Andrew, Nathan’s not dead.”
“But he is,” Andrew insisted.
Chris reached Nathan and squatted down a couple feet from him. In a low voice he began to speak for Nathan’s ears only. “Hi, Nathan. I’m Chris, Wyatt’s little brother.”
Nathan made a clear effort to focus his eyes on Chris. “I think we’ve met before,” he mumbled.
“Probably,” Chris agreed. “You were just saying that Lacey needs you.”
“And Glory,” Nathan added.
“And who are they?”
“Lacey’s my wife,” Nathan appeared to be exerting a lot of effort to say that. “But I can’t return to her if I’m going to hurt her.”
“Are you going to hurt her?”
Nathan nodded. “I caused all this. I opened the box. I infected Andrew with it and Olivia. And Andrew infected Wyatt. It’s all because of me. I’d only hurt Lacey if I went to her like this.” The more he spoke, the less effort he seemed to require. “I hear Andrew over there ranting and raving about hurting me, but it’s my fault. If it weren’t for me, he never would have tried to kill himself. And he never would have attacked me. It’s not in him to do stuff like that.” He scowled as he looked up at Chris. He had stopped rocking. His eyes were perfectly clear and lucid. “It’s all because I scoffed at the idea that the crystal was magical,” he decided. “Had I ignored that box . . .”
“Someone else would have grabbed it and opened it,” Chris informed him. “Had it not been you it might have been someone who grabbed it and brought it up stairs while the museum was open, infecting countless numbers of people with it before they even realized what had gone wrong.”
“It’s kind of hard to ignore the green glow and the chilling feeling of evil,” Nathan retorted. “They’d have known.”
“Did you?”
Nathan frowned and looked at Chris. “What do you mean?”
“Did you know it was as bad as this?” Chris asked. “Did Wyatt? Or Andrew?”
Nathan’s brow furrowed as he considered the question. “I guess not.”
“I have a cure for it,” Chris informed him. “It’s kind of awful smelling, but it works and it will allow you to go home without hurting your wife.”
Nathan looked at him interested.
“I kind of forgot to bring something for you to wash it down,” Chris admitted, “but it works. Olivia and Wyatt already had some and see how much better Wyatt seems.” He was only guessing on that. He knew how Wyatt had been when he’d found him, but he didn’t know how Wyatt had seemed when Nathan had seen him.
Nathan stared at him for several seconds and nodded. “I want to go home to my pregnant wife.” He held out his hand.
Chris looked at the outstretched hand in surprise. He held out the small bottle still held tightly in his hand.
Nathan took it and unscrewed the lid. He wrinkled his nose at the smell. “For Lacey,” he mumbled before he used his free hand to pinch his nose closed and tipped the bottle up to his lips.
As it had with Olivia and Wyatt green bubbles began at his head and made their way down to smoke at his toes. Nathan took in a deep breath of air and smiled. “That’s amazing. The feeling of evil is gone.” He looked down at the empty bottle in his hand. “It really is magic, isn’t it?”
Chris didn’t answer. There wasn’t any chance to.
“What did you do to him?!” Andrew yelled. “Was that poison?”
Wyatt moaned. When Andrew ran at him he lifted his shield.
It had the desired effect of shocking Andrew out of his rant. Andrew stared at Wyatt in shock. Apparently what he knew of magic was mostly in theory.
Nathan gasped and stared at the shield. Even as Wyatt dropped it, he stared at the place where it had been. He looked at Chris. “Was I seeing things or did your brother just generate a shield around himself out of thin air?”
Chris looked at his brother, not sure how much he should say.
Wyatt nodded. It was time his friend understood a bit more about him.
“I’m not sure I’d say it was out of thin air,” Chris commented, “but Wyatt certainly did generate it. It’s not something I can do to be sure.”
Andrew’s eyes fell on Nathan and he took in several deep breaths as his eyes cleared. “Nathan’s alive.”
Wyatt nodded.
“He’s not going to die.”
“Not today,” Wyatt assured him. “Nathan will be all right. He’s cured.”
Andrew shook his head, confused, not believing.
“Andrew,” Wyatt called, trying to force Andrew to focus on him, “Nathan is fine.”
“He doesn’t blame you for any of this,” Chris added.
Andrew turned to look at Nathan. “You don’t?”
“Of course not,” Nathan protested instantly as he stood up and walked over to his friend. “Why would I?”
Andrew frowned, looking at him confused. “I tried to kill you.”
Nathan shrugged. “And?”
“Isn’t that enough?” Andrew asked, his confusion growing.
Nathan shook his head. “Not when you’re cursed.”
“When did you start believing in curses?” Andrew asked surprised.
“About the time I started believing in magic,” Nathan admitted.
“Which was?” Andrew pushed.
“When my best friend strung himself up and I just watched,” Nathan informed him, regret in his voice. “And then instead of trying to stop him, trying to save him, a voice in my head was telling me to kick the chair out from under him.”
“Which you didn’t,” Andrew reminded him.
“But I thought it,” Nathan argued.
“You didn’t do it,” Andrew argued back. “I did. I tried to kill you.”
“Because I infected you with a curse,” Nathan pressed. “And you stopped.” There wasn’t a trace of doubt in his voice. He turned unquestioning eyes to Wyatt. “Didn’t he? Remind him that you didn’t stop him from killing me, that he stopped himself.”
“Were you conscious?” Wyatt asked, confused. “I don’t remember you being conscious.”
Nathan shrugged and looked at Andrew. “I know him. He’s been my best friend since before we turned two. We fight sometimes, but not even a curse could make either of us kill the other.”
Andrew looked around the room.
“They have a cure for this,” Nathan informed him. “If you take it, the voices will stop.”
“I won’t do it,” Andrew announced, forcefully.
Nathan looked at him startled. “What?”
Andrew shook his head. “Not you.”
“Andrew,” Wyatt drew his friend’s attention to him. “You said you believed in magic.”
Nathan looked at Andrew in surprise.
Andrew nodded.
Wyatt held up the potion that his brother had handed him. “In this bottle is a potion that will cure you.”
Nathan frowned at the word “potion”.
“Olivia drank it,” Wyatt continued. “I drank it. Nathan drank it just a minute ago. Now, it’s your turn.”
Andrew stared at him for several seconds and then oddly enough, he chuckled. “Potion, right,” he mumbled with a laugh. He held out his hand. “I’m ready for this to be over.”
“It tastes pretty nasty,” Nathan warned as he watched Wyatt handled the bottle containing the potion to Andrew.
Andrew opened the potion and wrinkled his nose. He looked up at Wyatt. “This really works?”
Wyatt nodded. “Olivia and I were trying to kill each other when Chris came upon us. Well, I was trying to kill her. I’d already knocked her unconscious.” He grimaced. “I had a voice trying to get me to do all manner of terrible things and it’s gone. It hadn’t stopped making some sort of sound, some sort of suggestion at least once a minute, usually more. Now, there’s nothing. It’s all me.”
Andrew tipped the potion to his lips. As soon as it touched his tongue he pulled it away. He made a face as he held it away from his mouth. “You’re not kidding, Nathan. This is nasty.”
“Just drink it,” Nathan directed him. “I want to go home.”
Andrew sighed and lifted it to his lips, again. In a quick movement, he tipped it and let the liquid run down his throat. As he handed the bottle back to Wyatt, the green bubbles began at the top of his head and worked their way down. His eyes widened as he watched this progress down his body. “Just like that?”
“Hardly,” Chris retorted. “If you had any idea what it took to get the ingredients needed for that. A little bit of this thing only found in this one location. A little bit of this other thing only found in this other location far away from the previous item. Fortunately the item my companion claimed was the hardest to find turned out to be the easiest for me.”
Wyatt looked at him sharply at the word “companion”.
Chris held his stomach. “And it was the worst form of transportation I have ever experienced. And it just got worse with ever location we traveled to.”
Wyatt frowned. “Seth bothered you?”
Chris snorted. “It wasn’t Seth. He was doing his own research which I’m going to deal with now.”
“I’m going with you,” Wyatt announced.
Chris shook his head. “No. Right now anyone looking in will only see another person who got trapped in this building. You leave and they’ve got a suspect. There are police out there, Wy.”
Wyatt moaned. “What exactly are you taking care of?”
Chris smiled a little. “Apparently my former boss had an affinity for rare gems and got himself cursed.”
Wyatt looked at him startled.
“Two of his best friends got themselves cursed in order to protect him from himself. They tied him up and then each other before the curse started effecting them and relied on another friend to stay uncursed and to keep them alive for the next week.” There was a look of clear respect on Chris’ face as he added. “I don’t know that I could have done what they did, but I think it’s time they were given the chance to get rid of that curse.”
“Your brother did that,” Andrew informed him. “He got cursed because he chose to come in here and save my life.”
“Magic,” Nathan mumbled, shaking his head. “This is going to take some getting used to.” He began rummaging through his pockets.
“What are you looking for?” Andrew asked, more curious than anything else.
“My cell,” Nathan informed him. “I need to call Lacey to reassure her if she’s heard anything.”
“It’s in the air duct,” Andrew announced, pointing at the air duct in question. “You threw it in there, remember?”
Nathan sighed as he looked up at it. “I’ll never get it out.”
Wyatt held out his hand and blue white orbs formed into a cell phone in his hand. He handed it over to Nathan. “Try not to put it in there, again. I’m not really supposed to use my powers for that sort of thing.” He waved away Chris protest. “I figure I can get away with this, because you did that under the influence of a curse.”
Chris sighed. “Before I get going, we need to figure out what to do with that crystal. We can’t just leave it here.”
Wyatt nodded. “Agreed. Did any of your research have suggestions on how to destroy it?”
“There wasn’t much research that was actually mine,” Chris admitted. “Most of it was either Peter’s, Nick’s, or Brianna’s, but I think I know how to find an answer. Brianna mentioned a source that might contain the answer. I’ll have to relocate her, which isn’t going to be easy. For now, let’s get it somewhere it won’t be messed with.”
“You do that, if you can,” Wyatt suggested. “Apparently, I’m going to be needed here. Just don’t touch it.”
Chris snorted as he gave his brother a look of disbelief. His gaze went back and forth between the three young men so recently cursed by that crystal. “Are you kidding me? After what I just saw, I wouldn’t dare risk it. I want to cure other victims, not infect more. And I sure don’t want to . . .”
“Act like us?” Wyatt asked, finishing the sentence as his brother trailed off.
Chris sighed. “Pretty much.”
“Well, it didn’t affect Nathan until he made physical contact with the crystal,” Wyatt informed him, thinking back to what had happened early that morning. “So don’t touch it and you should be safe, but keep that antidote close. I don’t want my little brother getting cursed.”
Chris nodded and grabbed up the box and orbed out with it.
Nathan stared at the empty space where Chris had been stunned. “This is going to take a lot of getting used to.”
“Can I trust you to keep this a secret?” Wyatt asked.
Nathan nodded.
Wyatt handed over his cell phone. “Call your wife. Andrew and I are going to see if we can let people in. Kelly apparently decided to take advantage of the silence, so she won’t be a problem. Olivia wants answers and I don’t want to talk to her again until I have something to say to her.” He frowned. “Actually, Andrew, you get to try the doors. I need to return a cell phone.”
Andrew looked at him surprised. “What for?”
“In case you forgot,” Wyatt reminded him, “Nathan broke mine. I borrowed one from the accountant auditing Lauren.”
“Did he get infected?”
Wyatt shook his head. “He’s fine. I think his sister would have killed me if anything had happened to him.”
“You’re afraid of his sister,” Andrew snorted.
“You know his sister,” Nathan added amused.
Wyatt groaned. “A few minutes ago you were ready to kill each other or at least yourselves.”
“Not ever,” Nathan protested.
“Fine, Andrew was,” Wyatt shrugged. “The point is, now you’re ganging up on me.”
“Is there something to gang up about?” Nathan asked with a grin.
“I hardly know the girl,” Wyatt protested, not sure how this got out of hand. “Look, I need to return this phone. I’ll see you guys later.”
Nathan watched with amazement at Wyatt orbed out. When the last orb bubbles were gone he turned to Andrew. “As soon as I call Lacey you are going to tell me how it is that you aren’t surprised by any of this.”
“Not surprised?” Andrew chuckled at him. “I’m dumbfounded. I won’t deny I know some things about magic, but I’ve never seen it before. Be glad Wyatt is magical or we might all have been dead by now.”
Nathan nodded. “I guess. I don’t want to think about that.” He flipped open his phone and started dialing his wife’s cell.
Andrew didn’t wait for him to finish dialing. He headed out of the room and shut the door behind him. His eyes slid closed as he slid down the wall on to the floor. “Has it started? Was this about Wyatt? Or was it about me?”