Chapter 8: An Improvement

He walked down the hallway. There was something familiar about this, but he didn’t know what it was. He came to the cell door, and it opened. Once he was in, he walked to the back of the cell where CJ was chained to the wall. He felt satisfied seeing that she was still there, chained to the wall. He approached her.

“So, are you ready to join me?” he asked. “I’ll even make you the queen.”

“I don’t want to be a queen,” she said. “This isn’t you. Just let me help you!”

“I don’t need help!” he said. “Just be my queen and watch as I destroy my enemies!”

“What have you become?” CJ asked. You’re not the Wess I know!”

“If you’ll not be my queen, perhaps you’ll be my pet,” he said.

He moved closer and started to stroke her hair like she was his pet. She suddenly jumped from his touch and moved as far away as the chains would let her. This seemed to enrage him even more. He jumped forward and grabbed her by the throat, and started to pick her up. She struggled more. He picked her up higher. She started kicking and fighting harder, but it was no use. The cloak made him too strong for her. Her struggling was getting weaker, and she fought less. She was about to pass out, but he didn’t want that to happen. He wasn’t finished playing with her. He dropped her on the ground and stared at her for a minute. He stepped forward to grab her again, but he stopped.

He remembered why it seemed so familiar, but it was too late! Suddenly, he was yelling no! There was a sudden flash of darkness, and he fell backward. When the darkness faded from his eyes, he could see CJ. The chains were gone, and she was standing over him. He thought she would attack him, but she held out her hand to help him up instead. He reached out and took her hand and pulled him up and into a hug. He was confused.

“Why are you hugging me after what I just did to you?” he asked.

“You were influenced by dark magic,” she said, releasing him from the hug. “But whether that was you or not, I’m glad that you’re back to normal.”

“I’m not back to normal,” Wess said. With my spirit unblocked, I’m aware of the transformation, but I can’t control it. If I can’t find a way to prevent or get rid of it, that is what I will become permanently. I need to get some rest!”

“Seeing how it’s still the middle of the night,” she said, “We should both go back to our rooms and sleep.”

“That sounds good,” he said. “By the way, how did you snap me out of it?”

“With this,” she said, holding up a small charm. “This is a powerful artifact that allows me to see any part of my life, past, present, or future. And I can communicate with myself anywhere on the timeline. I was going to go back and warn myself. Then I thought it would be better to bring a past me here so I could see what’s going on.”

“So, what happened?”

“I cast a reversal spell on it, but instead of me, it made it work on you,” she said. “I’m just glad you’re such a good guy inside.”

CJ and Wess went back to their rooms. Wess entered his secret lab to hang up the cloak he had worn. When he got there, he saw that Bobby was still in there waiting.

“Master Wess,” he said, “You’re back so soon?”

“Just call me Wess,” he said.

“I see that you’re back to normal,” he said.

“As normal as I can be,” Wess said, “I no longer require your assistance. You may go.”

“Yes, Master Wess,” he said. “Thank you, Wess.”

Then he disappeared. After hanging the cloak back where he got it, Wess lit the dark candle, exited back to his study, and closed the door. The wall slid forward, hiding the door once again. He changed for bed and climbed under the covers. There were only a few hours until he would typically wake up, but being Sunday, he could sleep late. When he fell asleep, Art cast a no-dream spell on Wess to get some sleep and recover from his ordeal. Art loved Wess. It was like Wess was his father. He would be loyal to him no matter what he became.

Wess woke up feeling relaxed and rested. It was just after ten A.M., so he got dressed and headed downstairs. CJ must have slept in too. When Wess got to the dining room, she was just sitting down. He joined her at the table and started eating. At first, they just ate in silence, enjoying the food and the quiet of the morning. Wess would look up every once in a while and notice that CJ was doing the same. He had a feeling that she wanted to say something, but she was waiting until after breakfast. When they finished eating, Wess just looked at her waiting for her to speak.

“They canceled school,” she said.

“For tomorrow?” he asked.

“For the rest of the year,” she said. “There were only three weeks left, but they canceled the finales and announced that everyone had passed. They said there was some kind of vandalism.”

“Do you think that I had something to do with it?”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible.”

“I don’t remember what happened for three days,” he said, “but I’m sure that the school is a place that I would attack if I were looking for revenge.”

“It’s not important now,” she said. “Let’s take the day off. We can continue training tomorrow.”

Wess stood as CJ got up, but he didn’t leave yet. Something had caught his attention. He waited for CJ to leave the room before investigating. Setting at the edge of the table was a plain wooden box. Wess discovered that there was a note attached to the case. The letter said, To Wesson, Thank you. When he looked in the box, there was only a domino set. He was confused for a minute, but then it hit him. He had played cards with an unknown servant a few days ago. He picked up the box, and as he started to leave, he said, “I’m going upstairs if you want to play.”

He wasn’t sure if anyone was there anymore, but he thought it was worth a shot. He went back to the attic and looked around. Back in the corner, he found a folding table. Bringing it closer to his door, he set up the table, laid the dominos out, and set up a game for two players. He went to get some paper to keep score. When he got back, there was a double six in the middle of the table. He was right. It was a servant who wanted to play.

He placed a six/three on the table giving him fifteen. It was a good start, but those were the only points he scored. In the next game, he did better but still lost. Game after game, he was met with defeat. He knew that his luck was terrible, but dominos was the only game at which he was decent. Either this person was great at this game, or they were looking at his hand.

“This has been fun,” he said, “but I don’t think I can handle one more loss.” He packed up the dominos and left them on the table. He started to walk back to his room, but he stopped before he got to the door and turned around. “Can I at least see the person to whom I’ve been losing?” he asked. Wess looked around and didn’t see anyone. “I guess that’s a no,” he said. He turned around to go into his room when he heard a tiny sound so low that he almost missed it.

He turned around, but he didn’t see anything right away. Then he saw movement near a stack of boxes. He was about to walk over to check it out, but before he knew it, a girl stepped out from behind the bins. She was Wess’ height and looked to be close to his age. The first thing he noticed, though, was her black hair. It was long, straight, and had purple highlights that seemed to bring out the green in her eyes. Her skin was a light beige color and looked as smooth as silk. She had on a simple dress with flowers printed on it, and she was barefoot.

He was about to ask her name, but before he knew it, she was gone. He thought that Angela, his crush from school, was beautiful. But this was the most beautiful girl Wess had ever seen. And he didn’t even know her name. Wess wasn’t sure if she was still there or had left, but he was convinced that she wouldn’t answer either way. He decided to leave her a note inviting her to play again this evening. He left the message on the table and went into his room, closing the door.