Half of What I Could Be

Chap 29

Hmmmm, how to cut off its head and make a fire? I took a quick survey of my surroundings. Man-boy on bear trap, a tree was broken down, sulfur lingered on the ground where the last head disintegrated... Sulfur?

"Hey, man-boy, how did the Hydra lose its head?" I asked as I motioned to the sulfur dust. At this point the hydra was now a good 30 feet away with its back to me. It seemed to be heading to an unknown location. It did not care about our presence. Lucky for us, those little hydra legs are slower than John finding my berries.

"I knawed it off, why?" He yelled back at me. It was then I noticed the man-boy was naked. He had his hands cupping his mushroom, but his butt was totally bare. He had a nice butt. It was hard for me to tell if someone wore clothes or not. I always forget what one is socially acceptable. The locals were not happy last time I showed up in town...

"Can you bite it off again?" I yelled back.

"No! I am a little preoccupied with this bear trap!" He bellowed out.

I let out a large laugh. I was pretty sure the trees were laughing with me, "Those bear traps don't work silly man-boy!"

"What!"

"I set them out to scare away John. The stupid human kept trying to take my berries. I think it is still illegal to kill humans, so I couldn't actually rig the traps. Wait, is it still illegal?" I asked. Because if it wasn't, the spells I could do...

Without dignifying me with an answer he leapt from his trap. As said, nothing sprung from the absence of his weight. As he reached the apex of his jump, fur grew from his pores and his nose enlarged. By the time his paws hit the earth, he was fully wolf. He took off toward the head of the hydra holding his beloved doll.

I turned away from his advances and made west toward the sulfur dust. My sister and I liked sulfur dust. We were always bad at making fires. She had no patience, and I had no hand strength. Yet with sulfur dust, all you had to do was create a little bit of friction with some sticks, and BOOM! Fire.

I knelt down and grabbed a small handful. Demon sulfur was unpredictable. Too much and I'll lose another eyebrow, but too little and Papa Hydra's head would just get angry. I also grasped two small sticks. This should do, I hoped.

But the time I turned back to the Hydra, it's head was nearly off. Wolf-Boy-Man was very efficient with his mouth. I laughed as I thought that. If Ron was here, he would have said, 'that's what she said.' I don't understand the saying, but he thought it was funny.

I did a quick skip over to the beast. The girl was still in the mouth, in a cage like a prisoner. The Hydra was doing its best to fling the wolf off, but keeping the doll in its grasp and fighting off the foe was a task too many. It seemed that the Hydra was protecting the doll.

Wolf was nearly done, maybe a ligament or two left. I hope the wolf brushes his teeth after this. Other heads were trying to attack him, but he was fast. A nimble little wolf he was.

One ligament left

"Right when the head falls, jump off the beast!" I yelled at wolf-man-boy. He showed no signs that he heard what I said, so I had to hope he did. I kept the handful of sulfur in my hand and raised it parallel to my eyes. I cocked my hand back behind my unbrushed hair and got ready.

Like tearing apart the last piece of steak, the head fell off and dropped to the forest floor. In that instant I threw the sulfur on the headless neck. The dust floated in the air for a second before little particles settled on the stump. I sprinted toward the stump with as much energy I could muster, and started rubbing the small branches together.

What was it my sister used to do? Count to three so the fire won't land on me?

1,2,3...

I dropped the sticks and jumped back as the fire engulfed the neck stump. The remaining heads let out a howl as its body slowly knelt to the ground. I turned away. I did not like watching the moment of death for any creature. Even though I couldn't see its impending doom, I could hear the ferrel cries. I knew it wasn't actually dead, but the act of dying hurt nonetheless.

The doll was nestled into the college of discarded leaves. Sulfur dust lay all around her. The wolf-man-boy was on his knees beside her, softly stroking her hair. She was breathing. I could smell it. I could also smell her. She was something new. Something that never graced the middle world. She was a wolf, but something else.

"Your doll is very pretty," I said to the wolf-boy-man as he stroked her hair. He was whispering something to her, which I couldn't hear and did not want to hear. It was too personal.

He looked up from the doll, "Are you Katelyn?" He asked in a tone that feigned no emotion.

"Sometimes," I responded as a knelt by the doll-girl. I did it slowly as to not evoke a negative response from wolf-boy. I neared my head toward her forehead and he gave me a cautious look, "I am going to help her. I will not cause harm," he gave me a look of approval, so I continued the route of my hand.

She was burning up. Burning would actually not be an accurate word for how she felt. She was on fire. Her cells were pure heat. Her eyes were still closed, and her face showed no sign of pain. The heat was the only sign that something was severely wrong and she was not just sleeping. The heat and the blisters trailing up her arm. Which arm? Everything is right and left to me. Near her wrist was a faint outline of black. That was when it all clicked.

Tattoo girl

And the tattoo was broken. Her hidden self was attacking the part she had always known. If I did not fully remove the tattoo, she would continue her war. Even then, she might not make it.

"We need to bring her back to my home right now," I said. My words were harsh, but my voice was a dainty flower. He just stared at me for a second, "Do you speak English wolf-boy-man?" I asked. It was a sincere question. Maybe we were actually speaking Romanian the whole time. I did not know any Romanian.

He ignored my question. He quickly brushed her hair behind her ear, and hoisted her up in his arms. Like a little baby in a cradle, "Lead the way, Witch."

And so, we went to my house. I hoped Ron cleaned.