11th grade, my junior year in High School started pretty much like any other. Gary and I sat together in our assigned seats in homeroom but really didn’t see each other much the rest of the day. I had my own car by then and was driving to school almost every day. I had inherited my Mom’s car that I had ripped the door off of a few years back. “You broke it, you bought it,” she said handing me the keys. They had the door replaced of course but the paint color didn’t match. Sometimes I think my parents did that on purpose to remind me to stay in control of my strength. My friendship with Gary still didn’t feel the same but that didn’t stop him from riding to school with me when I drove.
I also had decided to step out of my comfort zone a little by taking a public speaking class. All of the things I had to keep secret and my paranoia about someone finding out made me feel uncomfortable in large or small groups for that matter. I had hoped that the public speaking class would help me find myself. In the class I spotted Natalie Moyer, she was the new girl in school a transfer from Catholic school. I overheard some girl talking about her and they were spreading some not so flattering rumors about why she got thrown out of Catholic school. But never liked putting too much faith in rumors after what they had done to me a few years back.
A couple of days into the school year I went on a job interview at a local company, Garrett trucking warehouse. While sitting in the waiting room with another applicant I recognized her as the new girl from school. “Natalie Moyer right?” I said striking up a conversation. “Are you here for a job in the warehouse too?”
“No, the order processing office,” she replied. Natalie was rather plain to look at but I think that was the look she was going for always wearing loose jeans and a baggy t-shirt under a flannel shirt.
“Good luck!” I told her with a smile.
“Thanks, you too,” she said smiling back. Her smile made me think there was a pretty girl in there somewhere under all that shyness.
“Natalie Moyer,” the secretary called out stepping into the room. “This way please.”
As it turned out we both got the jobs we had applied for and I occasionally saw Natalie during my Saturdays 4 pm to 1 am, Mondays 5 PM to 9 PM, Thursdays 5 PM to 9 PM work shifts. In public speaking class we became lab partners and Natalie and I would sit outside at a picnic bench on our work breaks and talk about school. I even gave Natalie a ride home or picked her up for work on occasion. The friendship that grew between Natalie and I was much different from what Diana and I had. Because the sexual tension that Diana and I had from the start was not there with Natalie. She became more of a buddy to me taking Gary’s place in many ways as time passed. Everything was going great until one day when I was picking Natalie up for work when things got weird.
I was waiting out in front of her house when she came out to the car and stood at the passenger side door. I thought she was having trouble getting it open because sometimes it stuck after the incident. Then she bent down to lean in the open window. “My parents want you to come in the house so they can meet you,” she said in an annoyed tone.
“Meet me?” I repeated.
“I’m sorry they just want to know who has been taking me to work,” Natalie apologized.
“Okay,” I said turning off the car and hoping out. I dressed pretty shabby for work wearing an old stained t-shirt and torn up jeans. It was a little strange meeting someone’s parents dressed like this for the first time. At least it wasn’t like she was my girlfriend or anything, they would think I was a real douche bag then.
We went back into the house and Natalie’s parents were waiting for us in the living room. I didn’t know it before but her Dad was a policeman, he stood there in full uniform complete with gun in holster. He didn’t look too happy when I walked in and he reached out to shake my hand.
“So at last we meet,” he said taking my hand giving it a firm squeeze.
“Yes Officer Moyer it is nice to meet you,” I said politely. “Natalie hadn’t told me you were a cop.”
“Yes I am,” he replied. “An expert marksman as well.” he said pointing to a small medallion on his shirt. “Even got an award for it.”
“Stop it Walter,” Natalie’s mother said shaking my hand next. “Stop trying to scare the first boy Natalie had brought home.”
“Oh no I’m not scared by that at all,” I said. “I’m rather impressed, I’m a good shot with a bow and arrow.” “Got a couple awards at summer camp for it too,” I smiled. Officer Moyer’s face seemed to soften then after I said that. “My Dad was in the Marines, he’s taken me to the gun range a few times.”
“Military kid, huh?” Officer Moyer commented. “How’d you do at the range?”
“Okay I guess, I’m not a big fan of guns, I prefer quieter weapons,” I told him. From the look on his face I probably shouldn’t have. “I’ve kind of been thinking about becoming a cop myself,” I exclaimed, trying to save face.
“Come on, Steve we need to get to work,” Natalie said pulling my arm.
“Yes, you two kids run along,” Natalie’s Mom said. “But Steve you really need to come to dinner one night now that you two are dating.” I was in shock. Did she say dating? I glared at Natalie.
“Come on, let’s get to work,” Natalie said pulling me out the door.
The moment we were in the car, I said, “Dating?” “You told them we were dating?”
“I’m sorry,” Natalie said as we pulled away from her parents’ house. “It just happened.” “My parents are strict Catholics and after what happened at my old school it was easier to let them believe that we were dating.”
“Well now that we are dating I think it is time I asked you the truth about what happened at your old school?” I asked bluntly having avoided the subject for almost six months.
Natalie was silent for a moment as we turned into the parking lot at work. Then she blurted out, “Another girl and I got caught making out in the locker room.”
I parked in the lot and turned off the car before asking, “Are you gay?”
“I think so,” she replied staring at the floor of the car. “It devastated my mom.” “She doesn’t want to believe I’m a lesbian.” “It made her so happy when she saw you giving me a ride, I just couldn’t tell her the truth.”
“I need to think about this,” I said to her as I got out of the car. “We’ll talk about it on the way home.” Think I did all night at work. I even skipped my break that I usually spent outside with Natalie. By the end of the night I had a plan.
Natalie and I got in my car and sat alone in the dark. “Here is my proposal,” I started. “I will not tell your parents the truth, that is your cross to bare so to speak.” “I will also continue the act if you never let it get back to my parents.”
“Oh thank you, Steve you are the best!” she exclaimed reaching across the seats to hug me.
“One more thing,” I said, causing her to break the hug. “Prom is coming up and we need to make an appearance.” Natalie didn’t look happy at the suggestion. “Your parents will never believe we are a couple if we don’t go,” I added.
“Okay,” she said reluctantly.
It wasn’t long after that Natalie and I were assigned a project for public speaking class. We needed to work on our project together but Natalie’s Mom was becoming a problem when we were at her house so we were forced to work on it at mine. I dreaded Natalie meeting my parents for the first time. I made my Mom promise to behave when she met Natalie. When she came into the house she wearing make-up. Natalie never wore make-up what was she thinking? Once we were alone in my room I asked, “Why are you wearing make-up, here of all places.”
“I’m sorry it was my Mom’s idea,” she explained.
“If my Mom thinks we are anything other than friends this is over!” I told her.
It was more than a little disappointing that all Natalie and I risked for the project and we only got a “C” on it. Mr. Lopez said that our project was overly rehearsed, not natural in presentation. Afterwards we went to the movies to see “War Games” to forget our grade.
Prom went fairly well except for Gary making Natalie and I kiss to prove we were really dating. By then the lie had become more of a joke between us and the kiss was little more than a laugh to us. Throughout the summer, Natalie and I continued to work at the Garrett trucking warehouse. We both picked up more hours and I was saving to get a new car. Natalie wouldn’t tell me what she was doing with all of her extra money so I didn’t pry.
My training picked up over the summer now that I wasn’t going to Camp Tandy anymore. It was a really proud moment for me when I finally bested my Mom in mock battle and I believed she really didn’t just let me win. After that she let me start using real weapons and not just the wooden practice ones. I had been training for years and it was hard to believe what a difference a real sword and shield made in my hands. Mom’s inappropriate comments began to show up from time to time. The one that truly floored me was when she said, “You have a beautiful body that I’m sure Natalie is a nice girl who’s interested in seeing it.” I was as confused as embarrassed. Did she want me to have sex or not? “You need to be careful of devious young girls.” It became clear then that she was just proud of me, not encouraging me.
That summer Dad came to the island a few weekends that year to train me to be more familiar with guns and ammo. It was a good feeling having them both there teaching me. But I had to wonder what was I going to do with all of this battle training. The things I had learned never really came into play in my day to day life. Over the years my Mom had alluded to the idea that I had some special calling that I would need this training for but she never really explained it to me.
It was senior year at last and it began with a big surprise. My Mom took me aside and we had a talk about how she was getting worried that I was moving too close to Natalie. It was obvious to me that she suspected something but not the truth. At this point in time for both Natalie and my sake I played up the anger angle telling my mother that, “Natalie is a strict Catholic, she doesn’t believe in premarital sex even if she did we are just friends!” I stormed out making it look good. Mom never brought up the subject again.
I spent the first half of senior year really thinking about what I was going to do with my life after graduation. I even took some time to talk it over with both of my parents who oddly offered little help. Then I talked to Natalie’s father about being a Cop. He had come to trust and I almost think like me at that point and he was very encouraging to the idea of becoming a policeman.
Not long after that I was at work alone in the warehouse. I did something fairly stupid. I was trying to get done early so I stopped using the forklift and started using my own strength to load a truck. I stumbled and dropped a large crate. I broke open all over the dock and when I saw what was inside I was in shock. The crate was full of what looked like illegal drugs. I called Natalie and she came out to have a look and then she called her Dad. He told her he would be right over but he didn’t want her anywhere near the crate when he got there. Natalie did as her father requested and returned to the office.
Officer Moyer arrive within half an hour and he was not alone. The police swarmed on the warehouse in force. They interviewed me and searched the whole warehouse for more drugs finding nothing else. Mr. Garrett was called in and he insisted that he knew nothing about the drugs that were being shipped through his warehouse. The whole incident lead Officer Moyer to force Natalie to quit her job at Garrett Trucking.
In the weeks to follow Mr. Garrett was cleared of all involvement with drugs. I was even surprised when Mr. Garrett came to me thanking me for what I had done in reporting the drugs in the crate. Mr. Garrett was the kind of man who knew everything that went on in his company and it made it hard for me to believe he was completely ignorant of what was going on. I continued working there while Natalie found a job at the mall that made her father happy. Things seemed fine at work until about a month before the Prom.
My parents had plans to go to a wedding for friends of the family that I had never met. At the last minute my Dad was called away on business and my mother insisted that I go to the wedding with her in his place. I was on the schedule to work that Saturday night but I managed to get Rudy Moser, who usually worked Sunday morning to switch shifts with me.
I went to the wedding with my mother and it turned out she had an ulterior motive for making me go with her. There was another guest at the wedding that she was eager for me to meet. It was strange almost the moment we arrived at the event I felt her presence. The woman’s name was Artemis and she was one of the three remaining original Amazons. Artemis was incredible. She had so many more historical stories of things she had done over her long lifetime than my Mom. I hung on most of her words through the reception. Toward the end of the night I began to get a headache that I just thought was from all of the things I had learned from Artemis. By then end of the evening I felt uneasy about not going to work and making Rudy work in my place and I had no idea why.
I was up early the next morning to get to the warehouse to work Rudy’s shift. When I arrived at work I found out why I felt the way I did at the wedding. After punching in I walked into the main warehouse. I couldn’t believe what had occurred, Rudy had been murdered. I found Rudy strung up by his feet nude from the rafters. His heart had been cut out and it laid on the floor under him in a pool of blood. The scene was horrific, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would do such a thing to Rudy. Twice now I had called the police from this job, I began to wonder if Officer Moyer had the right idea by making Natalie quit.
When police arrived to question me again they couldn’t believe my story that this was just a coincidence that I was alone again in the warehouse when I found Rudy. If not for one of the patrolmen, telling me that this had been the eleventh murder with this M.O. in the past eleven months. I think they would have arrested me. The only connecting factor between the murders was that all the victims were male between the ages of 18 and 21, unmarried, with no children and living at home with parents. Rudy did not fit this profile, he was married and had two young children.
When Officer Moyer arrived to talk to me he suggested that I was the one that was the target of the murder. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “Who would want to kill me?”
“The people whose drugs you found for one,” Officer Moyer told me. “Not only that if you were on the schedule last night who would have even known Rudy was here?” “You fit the profile not him!” That last line struck a nerve in me. If he was right that meant it was my fault Rudy was murdered.
I did quit my job at the warehouse after the murder but didn’t tell my mother about Officer Moyer’s suspicious. I didn’t look for a new job right away, giving me free time to begin hanging out at the police station to snooping into the other murders. For some reason my being at the police station caused me to have dreams that lead to clues in the murder cases. I began to turn up at more and more of the murder scenes that had been classified as a serial killer. I came to the notice of a Lt. Martinelli who told me to let the investigating to the professionals. After that I was banned from the police station and Officer Moyer was also denied access to the case. He was not happy about that but by then I no longer needed the police.
I talked to my mother about the dreams I was having that seemed to be based on real events. She suggested that I had many powers beyond that of an Amazon and perhaps my danger sense had evolved into a kind of clairvoyance of danger. By putting myself in harm’s way I had begun to see things in my dreams that would happen if I did not change them. I took that idea to heart and began to focus on having these dreams every night when I went to bed. I don’t know if it was the dreams that were unclear or if it was that I just couldn’t remember them clearly when I woke up.
I knew Natalie’s father would kill me or at least try, if I got her involved with any of this investigation, so happily this was a time when I turned back to Gary for help. Gary was always good at being sneaking and he loved my plan when I told it to him. My dreams had made it clear to me that after his screw up at the warehouse the killer had learned who I was and what I looked like. I could actually feel him stalking me on most days. At night I would dream of what he was planning for me. I just didn’t know why or who he was, so I had Gary stalk me as well to find out who was really watching me. My dreams changed slightly then to focus on Gary and not the killer. I learned what Gary would learn about the killer even before he did. I didn’t realize that meant that I was putting Gary in danger until it was almost too late.
I had been going about my life as if I had no idea what was going on around me. I had been going on job interviews on the night when Gary called to tell me what he had found out. When I got home I forgot to listen to the phone message to call him back and went straight to bed. That night I dreamt how Gary had become the killer’s next victim. The dream began as I watched Gary follow my stalker home. It was as if I looked over Gary’s shoulder as he went through the letters in the mailbox to find out who lived at the address. It was Mr. Garrett’s house but the man Gary followed was too small to be Mr. Garrett. Gary replaced the letters in the box and snuck up to the house. By now I had guessed that my stalker was Mr. Garrett’s son. I really didn’t know much about his son, Warren, other than he used to go to school with us until he got sick. Warren had MS or MD I wasn’t sure but he had been home schooled after he became sick. Gary moved to peek in the basement window where Warren watched videos of his crimes.
As it turned out the murders were all about the illegal drugs. Warren had been using the drugs to try and find a cure for his illness. On the videos Warren injected his victims with his drug concoction to test it. Warren’s guinea-pigs were all men our age. Each of them quickly died from heart attacks and Warren filmed as he cut out their hearts to discover the extent of the heart damage. Gary left having seen all he needed to see, going home to call me. “Steve, it’s me, you won’t believe what I found out!” he said onto my answering machine. “Give me a call back!” Gary waited for me to call back until he fell asleep on the couch.
Problem was that although Mr. Garrett didn’t have any cameras at the warehouse he did have many at his home. Cameras on which Warren watched everything Gary had done after he left. Next I was outside Gary’s house watching Warren break in.
I awoke in a panic that led me to throwing on my clothes from the floor and leaping out my bedroom window to run at top speed to Gary’s house. But I was too late, Warren had already injected Gary with his drug concoction. “What did you do?” I shouted looking at Gary convulsing on the floor next to the couch.
Warren stood up turning to look at me he pulled another syringe from his jacket. “I’ve found my cure!” he shouted, raising the needle and plunging it into his own chest. I stood watching as the frail little guy’s body began to swell. Every muscle in his body grew and expanded within his small tracksuit. It didn’t take long for the thin fabric of his clothing to begin to tear. Warren’s cure not only cured him but it improved him as he stood in front of me in his underwear. I have to admit his new body was impressive but I could not careless. All I cared about was saving Gary. I rushed forward to where Gary thrashed on the floor. “Not so fast boy!” Warren said as the back of his hand struck my face sending me across the room into the wall.
“You just made a serious mistake!” I said standing up from the rubble of the wall. Fists clenched I charged at him swinging landing a right cross to his jaw that just slid down his cheek.
Warren looked back at me smirking, “If that is what a punch feels like, I don’t know what I’ve been hiding from all of these years!” he said touching his cheek. He had become much stronger than I anticipated as he took a swing at me. I easily blocked his fist and returned with a knee to his gut. He slumped forward and I brought both of my fist down onto his back sending him to the floor. Warren grabbed my ankles tripping me back onto the coffee table that smashed under my weight. Warren had become faster too as he was instantly on top of me.
We tussled on the floor as I looked over at Gary. He stared at me with wide open empty eyes as pink foam began to drool out of his mouth. This asshole on top of me had to go. I managed to get my right leg up between us to use it to push him off. Warren went sailing back through the front picture window and outside into the night.
I scrambled to Gary, his whole body still trembling. “Dude what is happening to you?” I asked rhetorically not expecting him to respond. Gary’s trembling hand slowly moved to his chest. Oh my god it is happening, he is having a heart attack! I thought having no idea what to do to save him. I had gotten him into this, it couldn’t end like this. Suddenly his body went limp. I put my ear to his chest, his heart had stopped. I quickly cleared the foam from his mouth and pinched his nose close. Taking a deep breathe I began mouth to mouth on him. I had only done this in health class on an Anne dummy but I was sure I was doing it right. CPR is not something my Mom would have taught me so I had to depend on what I had learned in school for a change. I began compressions on his chest being extra careful not to do them too hard. Then I went back to mouth to mouth.
It was about that time that Gary’s Dad came home. “What the hell is going on here?” he shouted at the sight of me kissing Gary on the mouth in the center of his destroyed living room.
Gary is having a heart attack, call an ambulance I shouted over my shoulder at him as I began chest compressions again. I just kept repeating what I was doing not even sure if I was doing any good until the police and ambulance arrived. I sat on the couch in a daze for a while as my parents arrived as well. Mom sat down next to me and took my hand, “You did good, Steve,” she whispered to me. Dad didn’t look as happy.
Lt. Martinelli was the next to arrive, “Come on, let’s go,” he said to me.
“What, where?” I asked as he took my arm.
“Down to the station for questioning,” Lt. Martinelli answered.
“You can’t do this, my son has done nothing wrong!” My mother insisted. My Dad took hold of her arm to prevent her from doing anything rash, I’m sure.
“Are you the parents?” Lt. Martinelli asked.
“Yes,” my father answered.
“You can follow the car to the station,” Lt. Martinelli said leading me out of the Rogers’ house and to a police car waiting at the curb.
I sat in a room at a table alone for what seemed like hours before Lt. Martinelli came in to talk with me. “So you couldn’t listen when I told you to leave this to the police, could you?” he said standing over me at the table.
“How is Gary?” was my only response.
“Not dead like he could have been because of your interference,” Lt. Martinelli replied coldly.
“Did you know that Warren Garrett was the killer?” I asked begrudgingly.
“We knew his father was a liar,” Martinelli replied. So it turned out that Mr. Garrett was involved. He had been getting the illegal drugs for Warren to use in his experiments. My interference with that moved me to the top of the list of guinea-pigs only Rudy got in the way. “We were arresting Carl Garrett and were about to start searching his house when the call came in about your little escapade.”
“While you were doing that Gary was dying!” I retorted.
“And whose fault was that?” Martinelli shot back. He was right it was my fault and I knew it. “Think twice the next time you put your friends in danger.”
“Did Warren get away?” I asked hoping no one else got hurt by the nut.
Sitting down at the table Martinelli spoke bluntly to me. I think he was trying to scare me. “He’s dead.” “We found him on the lawn.” “It would seem his cure was temporary and his heart exploded.” The only thing I could think of is what could have happened to Gary if that drug killed the guy who said he found his cure. “We listened to the message Gary left you so how is it you came to be at his house?” the cop asked.
“I just felt like something was wrong,” I said feeling silly. “Our plan was for him to follow the killer but not do anything.” “I was worried that Gary might have screwed-up.”
“I am all too aware of Gary Rogers’ screw-ups of the past,” Lt. Martinelli told me revealing to me that he had met Gary when he had scrapes with the law in the past. “You told the officers on sight that you struggled with Warren Garrett, did he get injected with the serum by accident or did you do it in self defense?” he asked.
That familiar tingle at the base of my skull signaled me that this question was a trick to catch me in a lie. “Warren gave the shot to himself before the struggle claiming that it was the cure to his ailment,” I told him just as I told the officer on the scene he had mentioned.
“You also said the serum made him stronger, super-human,” Lt. Martinelli suggested.
Again he was manipulating me. I was guarded when I spoke to the first policeman about how Warren was changed. “The drugs he injected made him appear healthier, stronger like that of someone on hard drugs, not superhuman,” I told the detective.
“But you did throw him through the front window?” Lt. Martinelli asked.
“More like pushed,” I said. “I just wanted to get him out of the house so I could help my friend.” The detective didn’t seem to have any more questions for me as he got up from the table and left the room without another word.
I didn’t wait for much longer before my parents came in. My Mom gave me that hug and whispered in my ear how proud she was of me. “You did a good thing tonight, don’t let anyone tell you different,” she said.
Dad looked happier than he did at the Rogers’s house. “Let’s get out of here tough guy,” he said putting his arm around my shoulders.
“How is Gary?” I asked immediately. “Martinelli wouldn’t tell me anything more than he is alive.”
“He’s in the hospital, we can head over there now, if you want?” Dad said. He didn’t have to ask twice, we went right to the hospital.
At the hospital I was more than a little afraid to see Gary. I figured he would be unconscious and banged up from my attempt at CPR. I walked in the room alone as quietly as possible. Gary was laying there on the bed with his eyes closed. He looked good compared to when I last saw him. I stood there like a dork for a few minutes before I finally said something. “I’m so sorry I never meant for this to happen to you,” I said to my unconscious best friend.
Gary opened his eyes to look at me. “So I heard you saved my life,” he said.
“Ya, after I nearly got you killed,” I replied looking at the floor.
“Please, who could have known there were cameras at the house, I didn’t see any,” Gary said. “It was more my fault than yours.”
“Do you remember anything about what happened?” I asked wanting to know if he remembered the fight.
“Not really, I fell asleep on the couch after calling you,” Gary told me. “Next thing I knew you were kissing me,” Gary laughed.
“I wasn’t kissing you, you asshole!” I said cracking back. “You stopped breathing!” “What did the doctor say about the drugs he gave you?” “How long are you going to be in here?”
“Doctor said I can go home tonight,” Gary answered giving me a shock. “The drugs went right through my system no after effects.”
“What are you talking about?” I exclaimed. “Your heart stopped, I thought you had a heart attack!”
“Nope, Doctor says my heart has no sign of any of that stuff,” Gary told me. I was sure his heart had stopped, maybe I was just in a panic and overreaching. But if the drugs killed Warren then how did Gary survive without any ill effects? No one else did.
Then I thought, “How’s your chest?”
What do you mean?” Gary asked pulling down the front of his gown to show his chest to me. It was completely unmarked. How was that possible I wondered. I was sure I bruised him when I was compressing his chest. My willingness to risk my own life to save my friend was the fourth step to becoming a Master Warrior.
Gary did get out of the hospital that night and everything felt like it was back to normal. Until gym class a few days later. We were doing wrestling and I was paired with Gary. We had messed around wrestling before and I always held back. This time was different. When we were down on the mat I could feel that Gary was stronger than ever before when we wrestled. I lost my head for a minute letting my warrior instinct take over and fought back for real. The other guys in the class started cheering us as we wrestled. Their cheers brought me back to reality. I eased up and let Gary pin me to the mat as usual. As Gary jumped up to claim his victory all I could think is something was not right here. Even if the doctors couldn’t see it those drugs did have an effect on Gary. I rolled over on my back and Gary put his foot on my chest like the conquering hero. “Get off!” I said pushing Gary’s foot away.
“Okay Rogers, you and Scorsese,” the coach instructed. I looked to Joey and he was still twice Gary’s sized, but if he had become as strong as I thought this could be a problem.
“Coach is that really fair?” I piped up.
“Mind your business, Roberts!” the coach told me. I watched the match, it didn’t last long as Joey pinned Gary. Gary looked as surprised as I was when he lost. It was like his sudden burst of strength was gone. Things were great the last quarter of my senior year after that. Gary and I were hanging out more. He still seemed to be very competitive with me in most things we did. Gary and his flavor of the day would go on double dates with Natalie and me a couple of times. We were all getting along great.
As senior Prom drew closer it felt like I needed to have a talk with Mr. & Mrs. Moyer. I chose a Saturday when I knew Natalie was working at the mall. I went over to the Moyer’s house and Mrs. Moyer answered the door. “Natalie is at work dear,” she said in her usual cheerful tone.
“No, Mrs. Moyer I came to speak with you and your husband privately,” I knew that came out wrong, I can only imagine what she must have thought.
“My husband is right in the Living room come on in,” she said politely. I followed her through their home that I had been in many times to the Living room. Officer Moyer sat in a recliner wearing a t-shirt and old jeans. It had been the first time I had seen him out of uniform but I still offered the respect I felt he deserved.
“Officer Moyer, I know you are aware of what happened with me and Warren Garrett a few months ago,” I began. “I felt in light of that event it would be best if I asked your permission first about going to the senior Prom with Natalie.” Officer Moyer just sat in his chair rubbing his hand over his day’s worth of beard growth. “I would completely understand if you did not want me to go with your daughter,” I added.
Then an unexpected smile crossed his lips. “Mister Roberts you might well be the only boy on the planet I would feel safe with sending my daughter to the Prom,” he said smiling. “You are right I read all of Lt. Martinelli’s reports and even though you went about it all wrong you did save your friend’s life and brought down a serial killer.” “I think you would make a very good police officer one day once you learn the rules,” Officer Moyer told me still smiling. I almost felt guilty about the secret Natalie and I were keeping from him, but I had become accustomed to keeping secrets from others.
The Senior Prom did not go as well as the Junior Prom because Natalie insisted that we go to my house to let my parents see us all dressed up. Mom tried to keep it under wraps but I could tell it was eating at her, the pressure of Senior Prom. “Don’t you think Steve looks handsome in his suit Natalie?” she asked.
“Mom,” I warned. “Don’t answer that Nat!” Then at the dance Natalie had a real surprise for me I didn’t expect. After dinner Natalie told me what she had been saving her money to do. She actually told me the whole story of what happened to her at Catholic school. The girl that she was caught making out with was not a girl at all. Her name was Susan Chandler and she was a teacher’s assistant not much older than us. It had also been more than a few kisses, they had been having a secret affair for months and were in love. When they got caught Susan was fired and forced to move away. But in all the time since Natalie and Susan had stayed in contact. Natalie had secretly taken GED and was planning to leave school and her parents before graduation to go live with the woman she loved.
I was proud and a little scared for her. She was finally going to reveal her secret to her parents but I was hoping she was not making a rash mistake. The Monday after Prom Natalie left for Chicago. I wished her luck and she was gone from my life. Her mother called me a few times after that still upset about how her daughter left home hoping there was something I could do to get her to come home. Mrs. Moyer even when so far as to suggest that I needed to have sex with Natalie to see that she was making a mistake. I told her I was not going to do that even if she paid for my plane ticket to Chicago.
Life continued on, with Natalie gone Gary and I begin to hang out more again. I kept an eye on him to make sure he didn’t have any residual effects from the drug treatment given to him by Warren. He seemed completely normal again, well normal for Gary. He did still love to challenge me to arm wrestling or foot races. But I seemed like no matter how hard I tried to let him win he couldn’t.
Just before Graduation I was relieved when my Mom told me she was satisfied that my training was completed. By then I had given it a lot of thought and decided the best way to use my powers to become a policeman. Graduation went well, my parents wanted to have a party for me but I told them I really wasn’t up for that. So after graduation, I went to the gym to workout and then out with Gary and Wayne. Wayne was going to get a head start on college at NYU starting only a week after graduation.
The rest of the summer it was only Gary and me hanging out, because I never did find another job. Gary acted different that summer. I think it was because I told him I was going to go to the police academy in the fall. He had taken to calling me Officer Steve whenever he did something like his old self. The term Officer Steve quickly became annoying, I was almost glad when he left for college in Ohio.
My enrollment at the Police Academy was pretty standard. The worst part of enrollment was when they gave us all the same haircut, shaved on the sides and back, longer on the top. Also I think it was my first day at the Academy that I gained a new nemesis, Thom Foster. Thom was perfectly friendly to my face as we attended the Police Academy orientation. But when I shook his hand, I got a much different feeling. I got the slightest tinge at the back of my skull making me very suspicious of him. Classes started almost immediately. The physical aspect to the Academy was a breeze for me. It was the classroom work that really put my brain to the test. There was just so much to remember and consider in every situation.
I hadn’t had a precognitive dream since Gary’s attack. So, before I moved into the Academy I went to Mist for help on that front. The wise man explained that my premonitions were completely focused on my immediate future and those close to me. That is why I could so clearly see what was happening with Gary. “You will never have a vision of the destruction of a world renowned landmark if you don’t live in that city,” Mist told me. Life had gotten fairly boring until I got to the Academy. It was about two days into training that I got my first dream.
The Academy was set up with three dormitories and the Administrative offices and Education center on the north side around the training field. It was night and the moon was full in the sky as I stood at the east corner of the south building. A noise drew my attention to the front of the south dormitory building. A figure slipped from the side door at the other end of the building moving low and fast across the training field. I was too far away to make out the man’s identity in the moonlight. He reached the Administrative building and swiftly leaped up onto the wall, scaling it with ease. I strained my eyes in the dim light of the moon to see the man’s face. I had to learn who this man was and what he was up to. As the skillful climber reached a window on the third floor he looked back his eyes glowing in the darkness. I couldn’t believe what I saw, he was not a man but a feline were-beast. The shock of the man’s appearance woke me from the dream. Sitting straight up in my bed I looked over to my roommate, Adam Grant who slept soundly undisturbed by my sudden reaction. I laid back down to think about my dream. I had no idea who the were-cat was but I knew he came from the south building, where as my dorm was in the East building. Currently the West build was vacant as far as I knew so it lessened my suspects. The real question was, why was he breaking into the Administrative offices. I knew that if this dream was a premonition it would most likely take place tonight. If I wanted any answers I too would have to sneak out of my dorm.
I planned my night investigation all day long while going to classes. I need very little practice in the physical training of the Police Academy because of what my Mom put me through in the previous five years. A lot of the other cadets spent extra time training, making it all the easier to do two things at once. The cadets in the South dormitory did not train with us. They had started classes two earlier than we had in the East dormitory. My only chance to get a look at the cadet trainees from the South side was when they were out in the yard doing their workout. I managed to get a chance to spy at them from my CSI class. Obviously the female cadets were of no interest to me. It was the men I had to get a good look at as they worked out. Several of the guys were just too big to be the nimble cat-man I saw in my dream. There were several smaller more limber cadets that became my suspects. “See anything you like, Cadet Roberts?” Sgt. Dossier the class instructor asked.
“No, no,” I answered turning my attention back to class away from the window.
“Perhaps you could answer my question then,” Sgt. Dossier said.
Dossier assumed because I was looking out the window at the men on the field that I was not listening to his class, he was mistaken. “When attending a victim of a crime make sure not to disturb any possible evidence or allow the victim to do so either.”
Next up after CSI class was outdoor field exercises. I managed to catch a glimpse of the other class as they were leaving the field. To my surprise I recognized one of them. I was Joey Scorsese from High School. I hadn’t ever heard him say anything about becoming a cop. But there he was as big as life. “Joey!” I yelled to him. He turned to see me walking toward him with that big smile of his on his face.
“Steve what are you doing here?” he asked shaking my hand like we were long lost friends.
“Me? Look at you,” I replied. “I never knew you wanted to be a cop.”
“My Uncle Vito’s idea, he’s a detective and thought the training and discipline would do me some good,” Joey told me.
“Vito Martinelli is your uncle?” I exclaimed, putting together the name with one of the detectives I had known.
“Ya, that’s him,” Joey answered. “I don’t think I’ll really become a cop even if I do make it through this training.”
“Well good luck you’re almost done aren’t you?” I asked.
“Just two more weeks,” Joey said sounding relieved.
“Guess I’ll be seeing you around over the next couple of weeks then,” I said, letting him get back to the rest of his group.
After bed check that night I made sure Adam was snoring before I slipped out of bed to get dressed. We had all been issued black sweat suits that worked perfectly from my nocturnal creeping. I knew there were security cameras throughout most of the dorm so I made like I was going to the men’s room. I thought about using the toilet before I when on my mission but then got the odd feeling that I should hold it until afterward. There were no cameras in the locker room so it made it easy for me to slip out the painted shut window to the training yard. I wasn’t sure what time it was in my dream except from the placement of the moon so I made my way to the east end of the South Dormitory building to wait for the cat-man. I felt kind of foolish taking this risk based on a dream. If nothing happened and I got caught there would be no good reason I could give for being out here. My doubts were quickly relieved as I spotted the figure move across the lawn. It all happened just like in my dream but this time I was not caught off guard by his appearance when I looked closer at him. He was definitely a were-cat of some kind, not just a guy wearing a mask and suit. I was finding the existence of such things easier to accept after coming face to face with that Shark-thing at Celaerio. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing at the time. He scaled the building just like in my dream but this time after he looked back I hid behind the building not to be seen. Peeking back I watched as he used his sharp claws to unlock the window and slide it open.
It was time to see if I could be as stealth as a cat as I ran across the lawn. I may have not been stealth but I was much faster. On the ground three stories below the open window I stopped to listen. My Mom had trained me how to concentrate and focus my hearing. I could hear the creature moving around in the room above me. It sounded like he was opening and closing file drawers. I looked up at the wall to the window. I was not a climber like the cat-man. I was a jumper. I could probably jump to the top of the four story building but that was not necessary. I only needed to get up to that window to peek in. Like the feline before me I looked around the courtyard to make sure I was not being watched. Then I pushed off from the ground jumping up to grab the window ledge. Doing a pull up on the ledge I peeked over the window sill into the room. It was a file room, I was right about the file drawers. I spotted the intruder going through files in the drawer labeled “S”. It was nice to know he wasn’t looking in the “R” drawer at least, but what could he be looking for in the student files.
I got a better look at this character now as I spied on him. His build was completely human except for the golden blonde fur that covered his face, hands and what I could see of his legs and feet. His ears were normally placed but had points on them like a Vulcan. He was dressed in an Academy issued sweatshirt and shorts. On his head he wore strange black skull cap that covered the top of his head. I guessed that without the fur he was a much smaller man, because the fabric of the clothes he wore was stretched tight over his body. If he was wearing a full body furry cat suit he would have to be crazy to put clothes on over top of it.
The cat-man’s attention suddenly changed from the files and my danger sense quivered. I feared he had caught me so I released the window ledge to fall back to the ground below. Hitting the grass running I sprinted around to the side of the building at top speed out of his line of sight. I watched from my hiding place as the cat-man leaped out of the window, landing on all fours in the grass below. I don’t know if he found what he was looking for but he was moving faster this time than before when he crossed the training field. To my surprise he did not return to the South dorm but to the East, my dorm.
I felt a stronger urgency of danger so I fled back to the open locker room window. I jumped up and in the window. I could hear voices in the hall letting me know I had to think fast. I quickly stepped into a toilet stall and dropped my pants to sit down. There were no doors on the stalls so when Sgt. Dossier and Captain Smith came in the locker room they stood directly in front of me as I sat on the bowl.
“What are you doing in here at this time of night, Cadet?” Captain Smith asked.
“Taking a shit, sir,” I replied.
“Prove it!” Sgt. Dossier charged.
“What?” I replied surprised.
“Stand up and let us see,” Dossier commanded, that guy really had it in for me.
With a grimace I stood up from the toilet, “There you go,” I said. Dossier stepped into the stall to look past me into the bowl to see my log. “Would you like me to wipe for you too?” I asked sarcastically.
“That won’t be necessary, Cadet,” Captain Smith said a look of disgust on his face. “Finish up here and get back to bed.”
“Yes, sir,” I said sitting back down on the bowl. Thank God for perfect bowel control, I thought silently laughing at Dossier. I returned to my bed and laid there wondering about the cat-man. I wondered if the golden fur corresponded to the color of the man’s hair in human form. That would narrow my list of suspects now that I knew he was in my dorm.
After a good night of dreamless sleep I was up with the sun and out on the track with the rest of the Cadets in my dorm. As a person who spent years obsessing about the other guy’s pubic hair of which I had none, I noticed something odd in the showers after our track workout. Thom Foster had a head full of black hair and his bush was much lighter, almost blonde. That seemed very off to me. If he was a natural blonde and dyed the hair on his head but nothing else it would make sense why the cat-man wore a cap.
“You got a problem, Roberts?” Thom Foster exclaimed at me when he noticed me staring at him.
“No, No,” I said rinsing off and leaving the shower. He probably thinks I’m gay for him and that could be a problem if he is the were-cat. I got dressed and out of the locker room quick to avoid any more confrontation with him.
The rest of the day went smoothly until after bed check. I was eager to get to sleep in the hope that I would find out what my were-cat was up to tonight. My roommate had gotten a furlough for the night, a sick relative or something, so I was alone in my room. I wanted to sleep but my brain wouldn’t let me. I faded in and out of sleep not even noticing the slight sounds in my room before it was too late. I was lying on my side and someone was slipping into bed with me.
“Is this what you wanted?” a voice whispered in my ear. It was Thom Foster, before I could react I felt something sharp at my throat. I could also feel him dry humping my ass.
“It would seem it is what you want,” I said moving to grab his wrist on my chest. I discovered that it was not a knife but his claws that were sharp on my throat. There was no question that this was my were-cat now. He was strong but I was stronger and with a little squeeze of his wrist he was forced to release me. He hissed at me jumping from my bed onto his feet as I still held his wrist. We stood there in the dim light, me still holding his wrist for a minute. He was different this time, he was nude his body fully covered in the soft golden fur. On the top of his head was a mat of dyed black fur, proving my suspicions right. There was no question now that Thom Foster was the were-cat. Did he really come here to rape me? I wondered why my danger senses didn’t warn me of such an attack. Thankfully he had no visible signs of arousal or any genitalia for that matter. “Where is your tail Kitty?” I mocked. From the look in his eyes he was not expecting me to be this strong or resistant to his attack.
“I may not have a tail but I’ve got claws,” he hissed slashing at me with his free hand catching my cheek. I released his arm to grab my face. He must have been surprised by my defense to his attack as he turned to jump out the second story window of my room. I dove out the window after him as he fled, he wasn’t getting away that easily. I flipped in midair to land on my feet running in the grass. I wasn’t even thinking about the risk I was taking of getting caught as I chased Thom-cat across the field. I had tipped my hand in the shower and that was a mistake I had to correct. I watched as he sprang up on the ten foot high, barbed wire topped fence and flipped over it with ease. My running approach made it easy for me to jump the fence like an over high hurtle. His landing was much more nimble than mine giving him even more of a head start down the street. I was foolish to reveal my powers so easily to him but somehow it felt too good to stop.
We ran for blocks before he turned a corner a vanished. It must have been a mile from the Academy and I was only a little winded. He had thrown many obstacles in my way as we ran to slow me down and it had worked. I looked around trying to figure out exactly where I was in the city. I was down by the waterfront. There were a lot of warehouses and self storage places. He could have ducked into anyone of them. I looked up to the roof tops realizing he could have went up too. I lost him or rather he lost me far too easily.
Then something else caught my eye, claw marks on a metal door. The marks were too high to be an animal. When I held my hand up to the scratches I could see they were made by a human hand. It was like he was marking his territory. I was surprised to find that the door was unlocked. I knew it could be a trap but I was still having no help from my danger sense. I stepped inside the dark warehouse. I figured with his cat eyes Thom-cat would have a much better chance at seeing me than me him, so I kept on guard. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see the warehouse was mostly empty. I found a switch box on the wall. Throwing the switch an array of partially blown out lights came on. The lighting was just enough to cast deep shadows in the room.
I could now see that at the center of the room a boxlike room was constructed from two by fours and sheet rock. The box was about fifteen feet by fifteen feet wide. It had no door but the walls were about twenty feet high. He was keeping something or someone inside that he knew couldn’t get over the height of the walls. The height of the walls couldn’t keep me in or out. But why do what might be expected of me. I drew back my fist and punched through the sheetrock. I continued to break open a hole large enough for me to step through. I was shocked by what I found inside the walls. A man tied to a chair, blindfolded. It was Joey Scorsese. I took off his blindfold, “Joey what happened how did you get here?” I asked.
“Jesus Christ Steve, get me loose and find my pants!” he shouted when he saw me. The way the shadows cast in the small space I hadn’t noticed that he was nude from the waist down.
“What happened here?” I asked untying this hands from behind his back in the chair. I looked to see his shredded pants on the floor in the corner.
“Another fucking nut job like that Cynthia Steele bitch going on about Amazon children,” Joey complained standing up from the chair. He jumped me, brought me here, tied me up, and gave a few blow jobs before taking off!”
I knew the name Cynthia Steele all too well, but I had never heard Joey say that about her before tonight. “Oh my god, Joey we need to call the police,” I told him. I knew what Joey had just said meant there was a good chance Thom was looking for me after all. He had made the same mistake as Cynthia somehow.
“Screw it,” Joey yelled picking up his torn pants. “I’m done with all of this shit!”
“What do you mean you need to report this assault,” I insisted with him. “Did you get a look at his face?” I asked knowing that I had broken all the rules again and had no evidence against Thom Foster.
“NO!” “The cocksucker wore a ski mask the whole time!” Joey told me pulling on his shredded pants.
“At least go to the hospital maybe they can get some DNA off of you?” I suggested. Grasping at straws for anything to catch Thom Foster.
“The hospital, you must be joking,” Joey said stepping through the hole I broke in the wall. “I’m not even going back to the Academy!” “I’m going to Hollywood!”
“What are you talking about?” I said following him through the warehouse.
I’ve had enough, I am following my true calling!” Joey said. “I’m going to be famous!” I thought he had lost his mind but there was nothing I could do to convince him otherwise.
Before returning to the Academy I had a call to make. Back then the city was littered with pay phones, but finding one that worked was a different story altogether, making it not so easy to call home. While I dialed the phone I realized for the first time that all I was wearing was my underwear and a t-shirt. Even at this late hour I would need some clothes.
“Steve, what time is it, what has happened?” my mother asked answering the phone.
“Relax Mom everything is fine, I just have a question.” I explained. “Have you ever encountered a werewolf?”
“Steve there are no such things as Werewolves,” my mother giggled. “There are Animalist wolf-men, shape shifters and there are beast curses, things like that.”
“Well not so much a Wolf as a cat,” I added. “He looks normal by day, Cat-man by night.”
“A cat-man?” Mom repeated. “How did you come in contact with this cat-man?” she asked.
“Mom, what do you know?” I asked.
“It all depends on what this Cat-man is after,” Mom prided.
“I’m not sure but he might be, don’t over react,” I said before finishing my statement, “after me.”
“I’m coming there tonight,” she said.
“NO YOU ARE NOT!” I said firmly. “Just tell me what you think he is.”
She left out a big sigh before answering, “He sounds like a Hecate Familiar.”
“What is a Hecate Familiar?” I asked.
“Remember the story of Circe and how she turned sailors to animals?” Mom asked.
“Of course,” I replied.
“Circy used something called a Hecate spell to do that,” Mom told me. “Hecate was more than a goddess she was a daughter of Quzita.” “Legend says she created a spell that allowed her to mate with animals creating the Animalist race.” “Circy was the first witch to duplicate that spell.” “And she took it one step further, she mated with the men she had transformed into animals, giving birth to a Hecate Familiar.” “A witch can only do this once but the child born of this spell is of both the human and Animalist species.” “Human by day, Animalist by night.”
“So these Hecate Familiars have no powers during the day?” I asked.
“Hecate Familiars are witches at heart, they have power during the day but they are at their most powerful at night,” Mom explained. “The one I met was a fox-man and he was formidable.” “You are going to need my help.”
“Yes, I am and this is it, tell me how to stop it,” I told her.
After that I snuck back into the Academy and to bed. The cut on my face was almost healed by then. In the morning it would be little more than a scare. In a week I wouldn’t even have that. Mom also told me that my Danger Sense might not work around a Hecate Familiar. That cleared up why I didn’t get a warning about him climbing into my bed, but I was fairly sure Thom would not come back tonight. Mom always told me the legend of Amazon semen had been lost to history but it sure seemed like every witch in town knew about it.
Next morning, crack of dawn out to the training field just like the past few weeks. No sign of Thom Foster though. I was sure that just like Cynthia before him he had figured out that Joey wasn’t the Amazon son that I was who he wanted. I felt bad for Joey having been pulled into my circle the way he had been. That is why I didn’t stop him when he left. He might have the right idea to get as far away from me as possible.
Still no Thom in CSI class or self-defense. It was at lunch when I was outside at a picnic table reading through a law statutes book that a hand with long sharp fingernails leaned in on my book. I looked up to see it was Thom. He grinned at me. “A cat with no tail is called a Lynx,” he said with a slight snarl. “Best be on guard when you piss one off because he becomes deadly.” Thom held up his other hand and it was in a cast from his palm to his forearm. He stared me down for several minutes with his green eyes before turning to walk away across the courtyard to the Administration building.
Well, that was not too veiled a threat I would say. At any rate, Gary would love that I finally had someone who wanted to blow me, just my luck it is a guy who wants to kill me afterwards. I may have the fountain of youth but Thom’s threat made it appear that he did not know that he had to keep that fountain flowing. That made him more dangerous than I previously believed. I just hoped my plan works.
Weeks past and Thom made no move to attack me. I was almost beginning to believe he had given up his quest. Mom was right my close proximity to the Hecate Familiar prevented me from dreaming about Thom’s undercover actions. He laid low right up until graduation. I graduated at the head of my class making Thom Foster appear even more frustrated. Several of the other graduates and I went out to a local bar to celebrate our graduation from the Academy and the few days of freedom we had before starting out new jobs. Thom Foster was not one of them. By the time I spotted him lurking in the crowded bar is was too late he had already slipped me a Mickey.
When I woke up I was tied to a chair just as Joey was in a small apartment. Something that smelled horrible was cooking on the stove. Next to the stove on the counter sat a variety of bottles and jars. From my vantage point I searched the counter for the bottle with the peeling label. Once I spotted it I could only hope he used it in his foul brew. “Awake already?” Thom spoke from the kitchen. “You must have built up a resistance to the potion since my half-sister Cynthia used it on you,” he said walking into the room. I knew it must still be night because Thom was still in full Lynx mode. On his furry body he wore only boxer shorts.
“So that is your connection to Cynthia Steele,” I said from my chair. “How is sis?”
“I have no idea she ran away to hide with her daddy after her encounter with your mother,” Lynx answered. “When I went through some of her stuff I found a diary that talked about how she had found a male amazon.” “She wrote down everything she had learned while working at that McDonalds, even the name Joey Scorsese.” “But her final entry in the book was gone.” “So I tracked him down, what luck that after I learned Scorsese wasn’t the male amazon that you showed up to be the big hero.”
I looked down at my lap. My junk was out in plain view but felt to have been untouched. “So, then why haven’t you had a taste of what you wanted me for?” I asked him.
“First of all I wanted you to be awake for your humiliation and domination,” Lynx responded with a sneer on his feline lips. “Unlike Cynthia, I have no fear of you escaping.” “My potion will keep you weak and potent.”
“So you intend to just keep me as you prisoner in this apartment indefinitely?” I asked.
“Another way I am not like my half-sister, I do not enjoy what must be done to get what I need from you so I found a solution.” Lynx told me returning to the kitchen and his bubbling pot on the stove. “This brew will make your seed’s effect on me permanently.” “One and done.” Lynx used a ladle to scoop some of the black stew from the pot into a frozen ice mug to quickly cool it. “Then I get to kill you!” “Cheers,” Lynx said to me raising the mug and drinking the potion down. He braced himself on the counter for a minute before looking back to me. He walked none too steady toward me.
“Something wrong, Lynx?” I asked glad to see my plan had worked.
“No, no, it is stronger than I thought it would be is all,” Lynx replied.
“Perhaps, you put a wrong ingredient in your little cocktail,” I asked smiling. “Check the one with the peeling label.”
Lynx staggered back to the stove picking up the bottle with the peeling label from the counter. He peeled the label off to read the one underneath. “Eucalyptus?” he mumbled. Then “Eucalyptus?” he shouted at me.
“Kinda ruins your plan doesn’t it?” I said smiling not at all feeling weak.
“How?” he mumbled crumbling to his knees in front of me. “How did this happen?”
“You mean, how did the one thing that can make you totally human end up in your permanence potion?” I asked.
“No, No, NO!” he began to cry as his golden fur began to shed from his body to the floor. He grabbed at the fur trying to put it back. Soon his ears returned to normal and his fanged teeth shrunk too. Lynx was vanishing before my eyes, reverting to plain old Thom Foster.
“I think we have all we need, guys,” I said signing Captain Smith and the other policeman that had been listening in via hidden microphones, to break down the door and arrest Thom for multiple offense. With my help those charges included the assault on Joey.
Later I learned that a little research found that Thom Foster was not his name at all. Cody Steele was his name, his mother never married either of their fathers.
They say that a good storyteller lets some facts out to build suspense. That is what I did. When I talked to my mother on the phone she told me that Eucalyptus was the only thing that could turn a Hecate Familiar human. Thing was I needed a way to get him to drink it. So I made the thirty mile run home that night and my mother and I took a trip to Magic Island that was far out of range of the Hecate Familiar’s power. I took a few hour nap there and dreamt of the night Lynx would kidnap me. The dream I had was much different than the events that really happened. In the dream Lynx’s potion worked perfectly and he took what he wanted from me and became ageless. It was when he slit my throat in the dream that I woke up. I told Mom and Mist what I dreamt and we made a plan. Mist cast a spell on me that would dilute the strength Thom’s potion. I would still be knocked unconscious but not left weak and helpless as Lynx planned.
I knew what would happen but not when, our hope was that we would have enough time to outwit him. I returned to the Academy just before dawn as my Mom went about finding Thom’s apartment. It was she who switched out one of the potion ingredients for the Eucalyptus. Mine was the hard part. I had to convince Captain Smith that Thom Foster was a dangerous man. It wasn’t easy but getting Joey to back up my story helped. All we had to do was wait. I kept the officials in the dark about the Hecate Familiar angle that is why I waited until Lynx was human before I called the cops in. Captain Smith had some questions about the conversation I had with Thom about Amazons and immortality but I managed to convince him that Foster was just out of his mind.