The Tiny Curse (Werewolf High Book 2) (12 page)

The polo team returning from practice. And I was stuck in Astor's locker.

I hadn't thought my plan through to the extent of how I'd get out of the locker, but there was only really one way. I had to throw my full weight against the locker door and hope for the best. Even if I landed headfirst on the cold concrete floor, that would be way better than getting caught by Astor in his locker.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and rammed into the locker door. I flew through the air, hoping for the best but expecting any moment to black out from the contact with the floor. I landed on something soft, and drew a sharp, relieved breath. That was a mistake. I'd landed in someone's sweaty socks and the smell was overwhelming. The herd of polo players was almost upon me, so I fought my way out of the socks to try to reach the safety of Tennyson Wilde's coat pocket.

I ran as fast as I could, using the terrain of discarded shoes and bags to my advantages, ducking behind them and hiding once the polo players were there. Every time I thought I was safe and could take a moment to catch my breath, the landscape would move — someone would pick up with sweatshirt or sit down right next to my head. Then there was the other danger. I did not want to get up close and personal with the most intimate places of sweaty polo players, and I certainly did not want to invade their privacy by being forced to look at those intimate places, but it didn't seem as if I'd have much choice. They stripped off their clothes and frolicked around naked as they prepared for the showers. Why did they need to frolic so much, were they actually trying to trample me? Sheesh, just get in the shower already, what was with all the towel-snapping and name-calling and whatnot.

Finally, I made it back to Tennyson Wilde's pocket. He had not taken off his clothes, but was sitting primly by his locker. He looked down as I climbed up into his coat and I gave him a thumbs up to show that the mission was complete, before I ducked down out of sight. I covered my eyes and ears just to be on the safe side, those naked polo players really liked to flaunt their stuff.

It wasn't surprising that I had a little nap. My energy levels seemed to be proportionate to my size and getting into Astor's locker had been a mammoth effort. Plus, there was something super comforting about Tennyson Wilde's pocket; something about the smell, the luxurious texture of the fabric that made me feel as if I was protected from anything the outside world could throw at me. Through my nap, I was vaguely aware of being carried back to the house, but I didn't see any need to be alert for it. Rather, I just let the soft motion of his footsteps rock me back to sleep.

I was woken up by yelling. It took me less than a nanosecond to figure out what was going on.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Astor yelled.

"Buddy," said Nikolai. "Everyone you've ever met thinks you're stupid. That's hardly the issue here."

"Did you think I wouldn't have back up copies of the video? You think I don't have it scheduled to upload if there's no response from me? See, that's exactly the problem with you lot. You think you're so much better than everyone else and then it's a big shock when you find out you're not, right?"

I didn't dare to peek out of the pocket to see what was going on but things sounded heated.

"You know what this tells me?" Astor asked. "It tells me you're never going to hand over the girl. You're going to find some way to weasel out of this, just like you weasel your way out of everything. Well, that's not going to work on me. I'm sick of playing around with you losers. If you don't hand over the girl by midnight tonight, that video is going live."

I heard stomping footsteps and then a door slam, and Tennyson Wilde sunk down into his chair. I climbed out of his pocket and up onto the table.

"We're not handing her over," said Sam, sitting opposite.

"Obviously not," said Tennyson. "She is our only bargaining chip. If we hand her over, we lose any leverage against him."

"We need to discredit him," Nikolai said, pulling out his phone. "I'll make some calls."

"Even then, does anyone ever care about the integrity of the person who starts a scandal?" I asked. "People will watch the video and make their own conclusions."

"I'm sorry," said Sam, quietly.

I shot him the finger guns. "People probably won't even believe it," I told him, trying to sound upbeat. "It doesn't even look real; you look like you're wearing some sort of freaky Halloween make-up or something."

Sam's face fell and I bit my lip. Yeah, way to win his heart, Lucy, by insulting his face.

"That is true," said Tennyson. "Humans do tend to rationalize. But even if the video is passed off as a fake, there are those out there who will know the truth of it…" His eyes met Sam's across the table.

"The people who captured me."

Tennyson nodded. "And others like them. The opinions of the general public matter little and are easily swayed, but if the wrong people see it and learn where you are, we will all be in great danger."

"What, like werewolf hunters?" I asked, looking around at their worried faces.

Tennyson shook his head. "Nothing so straightforward. We call them The Others. We do not know what they are, not really. They are human but not entirely. We only know of them because of those like Sam, people lucky enough to survive them and brave enough to oppose them. They do hunt us, that is true, but they also steal from us, distort us, torment us, and only kill us when they have no use left for us. They are scientists and magicians, part demon and part fey, combining the worst of both natural and supernatural worlds for their evil purpose."

I sat down with a thud. I didn't want to think about that kind of thing even existing, let alone being out to get Sam. I remembered that figure I'd seen the night Sam had vanished, the screaming I'd heard, and I completely understood the fear in Tennyson Wilde's voice.

The three of them discussed different plans, ways they could get into Astor's room and find any hardcopies of the video he might have, but I felt a million miles away.

Tennyson said they needed me as leverage, but I didn't think Astor was bluffing about uploading the video. I couldn't just sit there and let them risk themselves. Not just their lives, but their family's, their entire world. They'd protected me while I was tiny and now it was my turn to protect them.

They were so involved in their planning that Nikolai had discarded his phone on the table beside me. They didn't notice as I opened up the school messaging app and sent Astor through a message.

"This is Lucy. Let's discuss terms."

I waited until the others were asleep to sneak out and meet Astor. Getting out of the Golden House was no easy thing, there were sensors everywhere and everything was locked up tight, plus everyone who lived there had super hearing. I had to use every bit of my stealth to get out undetected but finally I escaped out into the night.

It had been difficult to find a suitable place to meet Astor. It had to be neutral ground — I didn't want him to have concrete proof that the Golden had been harboring me, but it wasn't as if I could get very far on my own either. He was going to have the advantage no matter what but I didn't need to make it easy for him. We agreed on the entrance to the bamboo forest. I could get there without help if I just followed the path and it provided ample hiding spots and places to escape should my plan fail.

My plan was going to fail. I had no illusions about the lameness of my plan. It was so lame that Tennyson Wilde could've come up with it. The best possible outcome was that I'd get Astor to wipe the footage of Sam and agree to never bother the Golden again, and I knew exactly how likely that was, which was not at all. And even if he did agree to that, no way was I coming out of this meeting safely. I wasn't sure what he wanted from me, what his end game was, if he even had one, but I knew it was nothing good. Astor was a jerk and that surely meant he was motivated by being a jerk.

Even though the bamboo forest was close, it was still a huge walk for my short legs. I'd gotten used to being carried around in fancy hats and pockets all too quickly and it was a rude shock to be faced with the huge, scary world all by myself again. I'd planned to be early, to set myself up in the prime position for the meeting, to give myself even the slightest advantage, but it took me longer than I anticipated and I'd barely scouted out the area when I heard Astor's booming footsteps approach. I ducked into the forest and hid behind a bamboo stalk as I waited for Astor to stake his spot. I let him sweat for a while as I went over in my mind what I planned to say to him to get him to agree to what I wanted.

He grumbled under his breath as he waited, shuffling from one foot to the other. When I thought he'd waited long enough, I spoke up, still keeping myself hidden.

"Do you have the video?" I asked him, trying to project my voice so he wouldn't find me straight away and stomp on my head.

He snorted. "Do you think I'm stupid? As if I'd bring the video so that your little werewolf buddies can jump out of the trees and attack me and take it."

Wow, that plan was actually way better than my plan, dammit!

"It's in a safe place. Once you fulfil your side of the bargain, I'll tell you where it is and give you my passwords so that you can check it is deleted."

"I have no guarantee that you don't have backup copies of it or you won't just release it once you have what you want."

Astor was definitely not as good as his word, that was for sure.

He sighed as if I was the one being troublesome. "I don't know where some cheap-ass commoner like you gets off doubting me, but I guess I should expect it from you."

He took out his phone and started dialing someone on speaker phone.

"This is Tennyson Wilde."

"I'm sending you through a video," said Astor. "After you watch it, call me back and tell me what was on it." He hung up without saying anything else, which I bet made Tennyson Wilde mad.

A few minutes later, Astor's phone rang.

"It's a video of you saying any footage of supernatural activity released by you is false," said Tennyson. "That you have a long held grudge against us and have tried to discredit us with lies, as well as several other more embarrassing confessions. You do realize this is not good enough. Just release the video to us."

Tennyson kept talking but Astor hung up. Did he have no concern for his own wellbeing at all? Tennyson Wilde was going to end this guy for sure.

"Is that good enough?" Astor said.

It wasn't, not by a long shot, but it was the best I could hope for from Astor, and better than I'd expected.

"Delete the video," I told him.

"You seem to be expecting a lot without giving anything back," Astor said. "How about you show yourself and then I delete the video."

"How about you break the spell and then I show myself." It was worth a try.

Astor snorted. "Even if I could break the spell, you think I would?"

Suddenly, my hiding spot didn't seem to provide much cover. My blood ran cold at his words. He couldn't break the spell? I'd known he'd capture me, maybe even torture me a bit, but I'd thought at the end of it all he'd get bored of it and make me big again, or I'd convince him somehow, find something to use as blackmail. The thought that I'd never be normal-size again wasn't something I'd ever seriously thought about. It didn't seem possible to be stuck like this.

"Oh, don't worry," Astor said, laughing. "It's not like it's forever. You're getting smaller all the time. Soon you'll vanish completely."

Was that true, I wondered. Or would I just keep getting smaller, smaller than even an atom. It would be like existing on a completely different plane, in a different universe. What would I eat? What would I do? It might be okay if I was among friends, if there was someone to help me make provisions should I become too small to be seen, but if Astor caught me I'd be forced to dwindle away to nothing. My family would never know what became of me, or Sam, I'd just vanish. It was terrifying to think about, in some ways even scarier than dying, to just become nothing.

I was paralyzed by my thoughts, completely absorbed in them, so I didn't notice when Astor moved until the stalk of bamboo I was hiding behind started to shake. I ducked under a leaf but I knew it wouldn't hide me for long. Astor was looking for me and it was only a matter of time before he found me.

I had to run.

It was hard to keep my footing on the straw ground covering, it was all slippery from the melted snow, so it felt as if I was running in place as I ducked and weaved through the foliage. Astor was right above me and I knew that as soon as he spotted me I was done for. The best thing I could do was to stay very still and hope he didn't notice me, but my mind was seized with panic and I couldn't help but run. I felt like an ant, skittering about on the kitchen sink trying to avoid the inevitable end, waiting for the faucet to turn on and flush me away. I ran deeper into the bamboo forest, hoping to at least confuse him, or bore him into giving up. It was pointless. The air was filled with his booming laugh. He knew exactly where I was, he was just playing with me.

I had to outsmart him. Even at two inches tall, surely my brain was still bigger than Astor's. It was my one advantage. I had to create a diversion so that he didn't see where I went to hide. I ducked under a broad leaf to give myself a moment to take in my surroundings and come up with any ideas. I spotted something almost immediately. Rats. They were cowering out of harm's way and it was kind of a jerk move of me to disturb them but I was sure they'd be safe. Astor would be looking for anything small and running around on the ground. He'd know in a moment if it wasn't me but that moment might be long enough to save me. I grabbed the biggest pebble I within reach and climbed to a slightly higher vantage point then threw the pebble with all my might to crash down just behind where the rats sheltered so that they fled in all directions.

As I'd expected, Astor let out a yelp and flailed around, trying to stomp on the scampering rats, but they were too fast for him. I took my chance and ran as fast as I could in the other direction. I ran blindly, only thinking to get away from Astor, to find somewhere to hide. There was nothing. Nowhere was safe. My time was running out. Astor was stupid but even he would soon realize the rats were only a distraction and come after me again.

The bamboo had shot up rapidly since I'd been in there last and there were new shoots all over the place. I leapt up onto the nearest bamboo shoot and began to climb. It was slippery, difficult to find a grip or a foothold, and I'd lost track of where Astor was to know what was safe. I climbed as far as I could, and when I felt as if my muscles were about to give up completely, I found a spot where two wide leaves crisscrossed over an offshoot from the main stalk. The offshoot was wide enough for me to sit comfortably and the leaves provided ample coverage. I settled in and waited for Astor to give up, not yet daring to hope that I'd get out of this in one piece.

As I waited for it to be safe, I kind of wished I wasn't alone. Of course, there was no way I could've told the others my plan, they'd never have let me go through with it. I missed Hannah. I wondered if she missed me, if she worried about what had become of me, if she'd realized she'd been wrong about me. Before her, I'd never had a proper friend, a girly friend, to talk about boys and TV shows, and it had been a different sort of luxury for me to hang out with Hannah. More precious than all the diamond chandeliers or medieval tapestries, but special because of the rare sweetness of it. Kind of like the Special French Toast, only not edible. If Hannah had been there with me, well I mean that would suck for her of course. It wasn't as if she'd be able to do anything to help and we'd both be facing tiny doom, but at least we wouldn't be facing it alone.

The bamboo forest became still again. The rats stopped scurrying, there were no clomping footsteps. Even the wind in the leaves had stopped. It was quiet enough that I could feel every thud of my heart, and I listened as it slowed down, as my body became calm. Maybe everything wasn't lost after all. I could get back to the Golden House. Tennyson Wilde had that video of Astor as back up against any scandal, so they were free to act against him. Even if Astor didn't know how to break the spell, surely he knew who he was taking orders from. We could get the information from him somehow, or maybe the Wildes knew someone who could break the spell on me, or even just stop the shrinking. I mean, not that I wanted to be tiny forever, but it was better than nothing. People coped with all sorts of disabilities in this life, being two inches tall was hardly something to complain about once you got used to it.

I waited and waited but still couldn't hear anything. Maybe Astor had given up already. I started to feel a bit cheered. Everything had been seeming so bleak but really if you looked hard enough you could find a way out of any tight spot, right? I waited some more just to be sure, and then a while longer. I started to need to pee, so I knew I'd have to stop waiting soon, but held out as long as I could, just to play it safe.

Finally, I decided I'd waited long enough. I'd been sitting there at least half the night and I was sure Astor didn't have the patience to stay still and quiet for that long. He'd obviously given up and gone back.

I stood up on the offshoot and stretched out all my limbs, feeling my joints pop from where I'd seized up being in one spot for too long. I wasn't sure which direction I'd ran into the forest, so I pulled back the leaves that were covering me so I could figure out the best way to get back. That's when I saw it, covering the entire sky. Astor's big, ugly head grinning down at me like a vengeful god.

It was the face of my doom.