It was quiet when Izzy returned home. A single light in the living room was on. She opened the door. It responded with a long loud creek. She winced and looked around, praying that no one heard her. She slipped her shoes off and crept past the living room.
"Cutting it a bit close Izzy," a voice said.
Izzy paused and slowly turned to face the living room door; her arm hidden behind her back. "Hey Peggy, I know...sorry..." She smiled weakly. "I'll go straight to bed." She hurried off and entered the bathroom before Peggy could say anything else.
Without hesitation she threw off her sweater and looked at her arm. There was a deep gash in her forearm. Blood spilled down her arm. She turned on the tap and placed the wound under the water. She winced in pain. From the medicine cabinet she pulled out a roll of gauze, medical tape and some disinfectant. Whatever that was couldn't be that clean. When the wound was dried, she slowly poured the alcohol over the wound, biting down on a towel to stop herself from crying out. Then she wrapped the gauze around her arm and taped it down. It wasn't great but it would do. She yawned, too tired to brush her teeth she shuffled to her room and collapsed onto her bed, falling asleep instantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Izzy woke early--earlier than usual. Beside her she could hear the soft breathing of her roommate, Anya. Silently, she pulled on some clean clothes before creeping into the bathroom. Gently, she unwrapped the wound from the night before. Good news and bad news. By now the blood had crusted over. But the wound had started oozing green. That couldn't be good. From the cabinet she grabbed rubbing alcohol and more gauze. Once again wincing from the pain, she quickly cleaned and rewrapped the wound.
Slowly, she took a seat on the edge of the bath, pulling out her phone. She started a group text: Hey, need to talk. Something's come up. Meet at the Starbucks at the intersection of Broadview and Danforth at 10:00. —Izzy.
She slipped the phone back in her pocket and sighed, her shoulders slouching. What was that thing that attacked her last night? Even though it had the body of a man, the creature was almost animalistic. Izzy had never seen anything like it before. And whatever it was, it was bad news. She groaned and rubbed her face gently. Suddenly, there came a loud knock at the door and the knob jiggled. Izzy jumped.
"Someone's in here!" She called.
"Can you hurry up Izzy? I really need to go to the bathroom," came the familiar voice of Sarah.
"Uh..." Izzy got to her feet and hurriedly placed everything back where it came from. "Sure...I'll uh...be right out."
"Uh...are you okay Iz? You don't sound your usual jaunty self," Sarah commented.
Izzy opened the door and looked tiredly at Sarah. She managed a small smile. "I'm fine, I just got in late last night and I'm really tired." She kept her arm behind her back as she passed Sarah.
"Okay, if you say so." Sarah stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Izzy remained in the hall, quietly, for several minutes. The events from the night before had really shaken her. Her heart pounded just thinking about it. After a few deep breaths to calm her nerves she finally managed to move. Slowly she entered the kitchen where Peggy was already starting the long process of making breakfast. One of the little ones dangled from one of her arms. Peggy turned.
"Oh, excellent. Izzy, could you take Liam here while I get the eggs and bacon started?" Peggy asked.
Without hesitation she took Liam from Peggy. A pain shot through her arm as the sudden weight pressed against her arm. Painfully, she took a seat at the table with him.
"Izzy, you're arm. You're hurt. What happened?" Peggy asked.
Shit, she had let her arm show. She looked down. "I...uh...was goofing with some of the guys last night and tripped and fell."
"Why didn't you tell me last night?" Peggy asked, crossing her arms.
"You know foster kids Peggy. They rarely ask for help...besides I'm okay," she lied. Izzy looked down and sighed.
"I know, but you know that I worry about all of you." Peggy walked over and placed a gentle hand on Izzy's arm. "Can I at least see the wound?"
Izzy pulled her arm away and pouted. "Don't...I mean...please don't. Really, I'm fine," she lied again.
"Alright...look if it gets any worse tell me. We may have to go to the hospital," Peggy replied, returning to the stove to cook.
Izzy remained silent and sat back with Liam.
After breakfast Izzy quickly cleaned her dishes and began to head to the door. "Hey, going to head out for a little bit...I'll be back this afternoon."
She didn't even wait for a response. She grabbed her bag and slipped into her sandals, hurrying out the door towards the bus stop. She managed to get there just as the bus pulled up. Flashing her card, she took a seat at the back, as per usual. Izzy popped in her headphones and closed her eyes, and without realizing it drifted off to sleep.
She was awoken by the driver gently shaking her shoulder. She jumped and looked up. Realizing where she was, she gave the driver a smile in thanks and headed out the door. Before heading down into the Subway Izzy checked her phone. Everyone had gotten the text and made some sort of comment acknowledging that they were going to meet her there. Good. She shuffled down the steps towards the trains—still very tired. Fortunately, the train was there so she stepped on and took a seat. Within minutes the train left the station. With music blasting, Izzy watched the blackness pass her, letting the rocking of the train relax her.
She eventually got off at Pape Station and checked her phone. She still had another twenty minutes before she had to meet everyone so, decided to walk the rest of the way. Besides, it was too nice a day to spend on a train. She always loved the Danforth, especially in summer. The restaurant patios were open, there were always performers playing, and the smells were to die for. Even the crowds walking up and down the sidewalks seemed cheerful and there were always lots of dogs to pet. She couldn't help but smile.
Once she got to the Starbucks she slipped inside, greeted by the refreshing feeling of air conditioning. She wiped the sweat away from her forehead and looked around. It seemed that she was the only one there so far. So, she bought a drink and nabbed a table near the window.
The first to arrive after her was Lily. And, as usual, Lily gave her a wide smile through the window and waved enthusiastically. She entered. "Hey Izzy, what a wonderful way to spend a summer day." She placed her bag down and grabbed her wallet. "I'll be right back." She gave Izzy a playful wink before leaving.
While Lily was busy in line ordering Tanya and Nicholas entered together, holding hands. The two gave Izzy a smile and Nicholas took a seat, while Tanya went to grab them something. Lucas arrived next, taking a seat, preferring not to get anything. Eventually, Tanya and Lily returned. By that point, Chris came rushing into the Starbucks, panting. They all chuckled. Out of all of them, Chris lived closest to the Danforth, and yet, was consistently late.
"Dude, you okay?" Nic asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine...man, I should stop smoking," He panted. "Be back in a few minutes...need a drink."
He hurriedly ordered and returned within minutes. Finally, when everyone was settled, with drinks in hand, Nic looked over at Izzy.
"So...you called everyone here saying that something came up? What's up, Iz?" He asked.
"Okay, so after Lily and I separated last night, something really weird happened to me. Like...crazy weird," Izzy began. There was a pause. "I was walking down the street, heading for the Subway, and for some reason I got this really weird feeling that I was being watched."
"Oh no, were you being followed by a Ring Wraith?" Chris laughed.
Izzy shot him a glance. "Stop that, seriously."
"Oh, sorry," Chris chuckled, raising his hands.
Izzy moved her mouthed Chris' apology sarcastically before continuing. "Like I was saying, I had this weird feeling. So, I was trying to get to the subway as soon as possible. I eventually stopped at the intersection at the end of your block Nic. That's when I was suddenly grabbed from behind by this...er...man...I think," Izzy explained.
"Whoa, you were attacked last night?" Lily asked. "Are you okay?"
"I got through it, so yeah, I'm fine. That's not the weird part. It may sound odd but this man I don't think he was a man at all. He was this weird thing with lots of hair and sharp teeth. He seemed to want to bite me. What was really weird was that when my necklace fell from my shirt and touched his arm, his arm fizzed and burned."
"A man with sharp teeth, who supposedly got burned from your necklace, attacked you last night," Tanya replied, monotone. "Sure."
"It's the truth. I wouldn't be lying!" Izzy said. "Why would I?"
"Look, I don't doubt that you were attacked last night Izzy," Nic began. "That's something you should totally tell the police, that's a serious crime. But I highly doubt that the man had sharp teeth or got injured from your necklace."
"Yeah, according to research the mind plays tricks on you when you're put into a high stress situation," Lucas suggested.
"Maybe your brain got scrambled," Tanya chuckled.
By now Izzy was frustrated. "No guys! I'm not making this up. It's real...look." Izzy pulled up her sleeve and unwrapped the gauze from her arm to reveal her wound that was still slowly oozing green.
Everyone suddenly went silent. Around the table there were mixed reactions to her wound. Some stared in horror, while others seemed shocked, some even giggled nervously. There was definitely something odd about the wound. Wounds were not supposed to ooze like that.
"Oh, dear Lord, you got that last night?" Lily asked.
"No, this is stage make up. I put it on this morning to fuck with you guys," Izzy replied sarcastically. "Yes, I got it last night, from the man who attacked me. He said something strange as well. He said "don't you smell sweet m'dear." And then he tried to bite me, like he was going to eat me," Izzy tried to mimic the man's voice the best she could.
"Honey, that doesn't look so good. Maybe you should go to the hospital," Lily suggested.
"And do what? Ask them to kiss it better?" Tanya asked. "We need to do something more than just go to the doctor."
"I don't see you coming up with any ideas Tanya," Lily replied.
"Quiet, both of you," Nic snapped. "You're both right. We need to go to the hospital and we need to do something more. So, the most logical option is that we split up. Lily, Chris, you two take Izzy to the hospital to get that arm of hers checked out. Lucas, Tanya and I will head to the library to do a bit more research. Maybe there's something there we can find to figure out what that is." He indicated Izzy's wound.
Everyone nodded. It wasn't a great plan. But it was a start. They all got to their feet. Before they left, Lucas snapped a photo of Izzy's wound with the camera on his phone.
"Text when you're done. We'll meet back at my place," Nic said before leading Tanya and Lucas to Broadview Station.
Lily, Chris and Izzy watched the three of them leave before walking to the street and hailing a taxi to head downtown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a quiet ride to the library. Lucas seemed to be absorbed in the picture. As Nic looked over Lucas' shoulder he swore that he saw the wound glow, even in the picture. Tanya was absorbed listening to music loudly on her phone. Nic sighed and turned his head, sitting quietly in his seat. He looked thoughtfully out the window. Things certainly had gotten crazy ever since Izzy had brought that book to the last game. First, there was that crazy episode where the house creaked and the lights went out. Now, Izzy was injured and oozing green. What next? Alien invasion? He gave a sigh and turned back from the window, crossing his arms casually across his chest.
It didn't take long to get to the library. They hadn't hit the rush hour crowds on the Subway so maneuvering their way through Bloor Station was easy. From there it wasn't that long a walk to get to the Toronto Reference Library. They entered the library in silence and stopped in the front foyer.
"So, where do we start?" Tanya asked, placing her hands casually on her hips.
Lucas naturally walked to the information desk and cleared his throat politely. He waited while a young woman, who was clearly in her late twenties, looked up from her computer. She pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled politely.
"What can I help you with today?" She asked sweetly.
"We want to do research on the supernatural. You know, magic, aliens, supernatural creatures, stuff like that. Where could we possibly find books and articles on that particular area?" He asked.
The woman nodded and looked back at her computer. Her fingers typing furiously over her keyboard. There was silence for several minutes as she looked. Without hesitation she took a sheet of paper from a tray and began to write book codes on it. Eventually, she looked back up.
"Here are some books I thought would help. The books you're looking for are on the second floor," she said.
"Thank you," Lucas said with a smile and took the paper.
He led the others up the stairs, clearly familiar with the library's layout, and quickly found the section they needed. He ripped the paper neatly into sections.
"Okay, Tanya, take this section. Nic, take this section and I'll handle the rest. Let's do this," Lucas said.
The three of them each grabbed a book, settling on the floor. The first books they found were mostly fiction, written on the subject: Twilight, Dracula, The Queen of the Damned. All of them pure rubbish when it came to real magic and the supernatural. They spent hours looking over the material and found nothing. After the tenth book, Tanya groaned.
"I can't believe the garbage people are coming out with these days. This is useless."
"Though, I agree with you Tanya, I don't think we should give up yet. The answer is somewhere," Lucas replied, slipping his book back on the shelf.
Tanya rolled her eyes, placing her book beside her. Leave it to the bookworm to be pro-research. Meanwhile, Lucas pulled another book from the shelf and opened it. Lucas quickly glanced at the table of contents. A wide grin spread across his face. Tanya and Nic eyed him. What had he found?
"Here we go. There's a chapter here on supernatural wounds and how to identify them. It seems that there's some weirdo out in the academic world who's interested in this sort of stuff," Lucas explained, flipping through the book the page. "It says here that not much is known about supernatural wounds except from old journals, and those are only speculation."
Lucas placed the book in his lap, while Nic and Tanya shuffled over. Nic looked over his shoulder.
"What else does it say?" Nic asked.
Lucas skimmed the pages as quickly as he could. "The journals are mostly arguments on various supernatural phenomenon. For example, there are various ways to identify vampire wounds. The usual ways are, of course, the bites on the neck. But others arguments claim that another way vampires' attack is by biting the middle of the arm and slashing down along the forearm."
As Lucas explained, there were sketches of the wounds that went along with the explanation.
"I see. Are there any pictures that look like Izzy's wound?" Nic asked.
Lucas opened his phone to the picture and began to flip through the pages. The book had every supernatural creature listed from Ananasi, Bake-kujira, Camazotz, Demons, Fairies, Keresh, Qilin. Nothing seemed to match Izzy's wound. Eventually, Tanya gasped and pointed her finger on a picture.
"Stop, look..." Tanya pointed enthusiastically at the page. "This looks exactly what Izzy has," she said.
Lucas cleared his throat. "It says here, that this is a Werewolf wound, the most common Werewolf wound found. It goes onto explain that it's normal for it to ooze green. It means that the Werewolf has targeted you for death...once targeted the Werewolf obsessively stalks you until death."
"You gotta be shitting me," Nic said.
Lucas shook his head and pointed to the passage. Nic stared at the passage stunned. "What's the cure?" Tanya asked.
"The article is vague. Not much is known about cures except for speculation." Lucas adjusted his glasses as he skimmed the rest of the article. "Says here that we have twenty-four hours to cleanse the wound with blessed silver before it's completely set in--even then it may not work."
"It's the best we have," Tanya said. He checked his phone. "It's three now. So..." There was a pause. "We have until tonight."
"That doesn't give us enough time! We need to warn Izzy now!" Nic suddenly cried.
A chorus of "ssshh's" were directed at them. Nic winced and help up his hands apologetically. He turned sharply towards the others and hunched forward.
"Photocopy that and I'll try and get in touch with the others," he whispered. He got to his feet and hurried out to the front of the library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, after hours of waiting, Lily, Izzy and Chris were permitted to finally see a doctor. As Izzy got to her feet, she winced. The wound was really hurting now and was starting to make her sick. Sweat ran down her face, her skin paling. She felt her knees buckle as she stepped forward. Chris grabbed her and placed his arm under her shoulder, slowly walking her to the hospital room. She was taken to a secluded room, where she took a seat on the bed. The trio waited several more minutes before a doctor entered.
The doctor was a tall man in his early thirties. Under his glasses, he was already slightly wrinkling. His black hair had slight flecks of grey. Still, he looked attractive in a middle-class kind of way. He wore a slick pair of scrubs and a white coat. Around his neck he wore a stethoscope. On his feet he wore a worn pair of tennis shoes.
"Hello..." He looked down at his chart. "Isabelle Tolonsky. My name is Doctor Reed. I heard that you've come in with a serious wound. Can I have a look?"
"You know, you share a name with some guy on Criminal Minds," Izzy said, smiling deliriously.
Lily and Chris rolled their eyes. Of course, she had to make that reference.
"So, I've been told Miss." He gave a smile as he took a seat. "The wound?" He pointed to her arm.
Izzy nodded silently and, with the help of Lily, unwrapped her bandage. She raised her arm to show the Doctor. By now, the ooze had stopped. However, the area around the wound had now turned black. She winced in pain. Doctor Reed pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned forward. Gently, he took her arm to get a better look. He squinted his eyes. This was certainly something he had never seen before.
"This certainly needs to be taken care of Isabelle. Excuse me, I need to consult some of my colleagues on this situation." He got to his feet and walked out of the room in a hurry.
He was gone for several minutes. They could hear slight whispers from the other room as they waited. Eventually, a group of four doctors entered the room. Doctor Reed gently took Izzy's arm again and raised it. She winced.
"Ow," she said.
"I'm so sorry Isabelle. We just want to take a closer look at this wound. This is no wound that we've ever seen here at the hospital," Doctor Reed explained. "We don't really know what we can do for you except clean the wound, re-bandage it and give you an anti-biotic injection and see if that works."
Izzy gasped and gulped. Needles were a common thing when she lived with her parents. Because of that, she always had an aversion to needles. Doctor Reed turned and pulled out a needle. From one of the cupboards he grabbed a clear liquid. Izzy watched as the Doctor began to fill the needle. Already her heart was beginning to race; and instinctively she grasped Chris' hand to squeeze. Before the Doctor turned back Lily felt her phone vibrate, indicating that she was getting a text. She quickly read it and got to her feet. She nudged Chris and showed him the text. Chris tensed.
"Uh...we better go...sorry to have taken up so much of your time," Lily said.
She grabbed Chris and Izzy and dragged them out of the room. The Doctors, with much protest, followed them out of the room and stared in horror as the three teens ran out of the hospital.
"I just got a text from Nic, he said that they may have found a cure to what you have Iz," Lily explained. "We need to meet him at his place as soon as possible."
Izzy was relieved to hear that the others may have found a cure. It beat having a needle. They hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address. The ride over to Nic's was silent. The familiar sights of downtown washed over their faces slowly. Once they arrived, the others were already waiting for them on the porch. They paid, slipped out and hurried over.
"We got your text. You said you possibly found a cure for Izzy's wound?" Lily asked.
"Let's not talk out here," Nic whispered as he opened the door.
The house was, as usual, empty. Despite that, the group instinctively walked down to the basement, taking seats on the couches.
Lucas flipped through the photocopied pages again and pulled out the page they needed. He raised it up. "Recognize this?" He asked.
"Yeah, that looks exactly like my wound," Izzy replied.
"'Cause it is. From what we learned this is a Werewolf wound. And the reason why it's glowing green is because you've been targeted to be the creature's next victim. We have twenty-four hours to cure it or else it's not curable. And in order to cure it we need cleansed silver."
"Werewolf? No wonder the guy reacted to my necklace. It was made of silver." She reached for her neck instinctively to grasp her necklace, only to realize that she had lost it when she encountered her attacker.
Sensing Izzy's distress, Lily cleared her throat and pulled off a small, silver, bracelet from her wrist. "Will this work?" She asked.
Lucas shook his head. "It won't sadly." He looked back at the reference. "Apparently, cleansed silver needs to be blessed by someone religious. A cross or even a rosary would work."
Izzy sat back and groaned. Where were they going to get something like that? She winced again as her wound began to throb with pain.
"Hold on, I may have something in the house. My mom went to a Catholic School when she was a kid, she should have some blessed cross or something," Nic said.
He jumped to his feet and ran up the stairs. Nic stormed into his mother's room and began to go through her jewelry box. From the basement he could hear Izzy give a cry of pain. He had to hurry. He hurried through the boxes where he found piles of jewelry. How could his mother have this much jewelry? Finally, he found a box filled with necklaces and earrings attached to small crosses. He picked out a silver necklace adorned with a cross. Perfect! He scrambled back downstairs and knelt beside Izzy. She gave another cry of pain, clenching at her arm. Sweat rolled down her face.
"What do we do now Lucas!" Nic snapped.
"Uh..." Panicked, Lucas began to flip through the photocopied pages. "Here we go...healing methods." He skimmed the page quickly. "Lay her back first and make sure that she's as comfortable as possible. Next, we need to make sure that she's pinned down, we don't want her to move. This is going to hurt."
Lily helped Izzy stretch out and laid pillows under her head. Gently, she spoke in Izzy's ear and stroked her head, making sure that she stayed as calm as possible. Meanwhile, Chris and Tanya held her gently, but firmly. But she was strong, even for someone her size. Nic looked at Lucas.
"What's the next step! Come on, come on!" Nic cried.
"Don't rush me!" Lucas snapped back. Again, he skimmed the pages. What did Nic expect? That the answers were obvious? He was reading an article that was based on superstition rather than facts. "Okay, so according to this, all you need to do is press the item to the wound. That will cleanse whatever taint there is in her. Lily, go get some rubbing alcohol and bandages, we'll need to clean the injury after this is all done."
Lily nodded and got, hurriedly, to her feet.
"The rubbing alcohol and bandages are in the medical cabinet above the sink in the bathroom," Nic explained.
He watched as Lily ran up the stairs taking two at a time. Nic looked back down and raised the necklace. "This is going to hurt Izzy, but it's going to make you feel better, I promise." He pressed the silver to the wound.
Izzy gave a haunting cry as the silver touched her skin. The wound bubbled and hissed. The smell of charred skin filled the room. Green ooze formed around the shape of the necklace before rolling down her arm. Tanya snubbed her nose in disgust and pulled her hand away. The ooze dripped off Izzy's arm and onto the floor where it fizzed before disappearing. Izzy arched her back and tensed. She hadn't felt this much pain in her entire life. She gave another cry as tears ran down her cheeks.
As Lily came back down the final drops from Izzy's wound fell to the floor. Izzy fell back onto the couch and gave a tired sigh. Nic and Chris sat back. Chris wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed.
"Izzy, remind me never to restrain you again, cause damn, that was hard," Chris panted.
She looked at Lily, clearly exhausted. Lily walked calmly over to her. She knelt and poured some rubbing alcohol onto paper towel. "This is going to hurt dear." She placed the paper towel on Izzy's arm.
Izzy tensed and closed her eyes. A painful shiver went up her spine. Lily sympathized with Izzy but knew it had to be done, so continued to clean the wound. Once clean, she looked at it. It now looked like an average wound. The green glow had completely disappeared. Now the wound was slightly pink. Gently, Lily wrapped a bandage around it before sitting back. By this time Izzy had curled up and had fallen asleep on the couch. Gently, Lily placed a blanket over her sleeping friend before pulling up her knees.
Meanwhile, Nic got to his feet. "Tanya, mind coming upstairs with me to grab some cleaning supplies? We need to clean this place up as soon as possible."
Tanya quietly got to her feet and followed Nic upstairs, leaving the others to watch over Izzy.