[First Draft] Chapter 17: Honest

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"Polly! NO!" I screamed.

The force of Polly knocked Luc off his feet and his head hit the coffee table which made an unpleasant crack. The moment he was down she was on him like an animal, her fingers extended like claws trying to dig into any inch of flesh they could grab. Her hair was aflame, mussed and tangled from days of sleep, so that it formed an impressive halo of angry red around her face. He took her by the wrists, attempting to push her away, but she fought against him with all her strength—apparently rejuvenated after her two week long sleep—mumbling curses at him with every breath.

"You bastard—you piece of shit—how dare you do that to me—AND RACHEL," the volume of her voice swelled, "—how dare you use your magic on us—keeping us sedated—trapped—wasn't attacking us with that beast enough?!"

Luc's face twisted in pain that had nothing to do with the eager, brutalizing hands of the furious woman pinning him to the ground. I knew that Luc was innocent of that accusation, and I saw that he was tortured of the pain he inadvertently caused her. I knew that he could easily throw her off, simply because he was larger and bulkier, but it seemed he was unwilling to hurt Polly even if it was to protect himself.

I knew I had to do something to stop this, make her understand. I flung my arms around Polly and heaved, trying to separate the two. Polly thrashed against my grip, trying to throw me off, but it was enough to break her focus enough so that Luc would escape her clutches. Luc gave a final push and slid away from Polly, out of her reach, scrambling to his feet. I kept my grip on her, doing my best to keep her away from him.

"I'm sorry!" Luc shouted. "But don't you see why I had to keep her sedated? She did this before, when she first woke up, and she wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't get her to stop long enough to listen! I was hoping you'd explain it to her when you were well enough to wake up."

"Why did you sedate her though? Couldn't you have... tied her up or something? Tried to explain it to her then?"

Luc simply looked aghast at the suggestion of tying Polly up, of tying anyone up.

"Rachel!" Polly screamed over her shoulder at me. "What are you doing? We need to kill this fucker if we're ever going to be free of the curse! He's the one who summoned that thing and it won't stop until he's dead!"

"You don't know that Polly! You don't understand! He's not controlling it, it's not his fault, he must've only summoned it by accident..." I protested, informing her of my theory.

"That's not true either,"

Polly and I stopped struggling. My grip loosened, but Polly didn't return to attack Luc. We both just froze on the spot, looking at him.

"I didn't summon it. I have nothing to do with it except..." his voice trailed off, his eyes staring at the floor searching for something unseen. "...but that doesn't matter. It is my fault. The blood is on my hands. And I understand that you may hate me for it, but you need to understand that we're the only ones who can help each other now... and that I mean you no harm."

For once, Polly didn't say anything. She may have been blinded by fury, but even she could see the torment and guilt that was etched into his face.

Luc managed a final pleading look at us before once again turned and headed into his room, locking us out.

A heavy silence followed his exit—if you didn't count the increased activity of the Beast next door, riled up by our shouting match—as we both worked through his last words in our heads. Polly remained curiously quiet, especially since I expected her to round on me the minute Luc was out of the room.

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