Pure Magic (Ballad of the Seer, Book One)

Chapter 30 - A Werewolf in Ashland

Terror ran deep, turning Dianna's blood cold as she stared at her friends, stuck on the wrong side of the barrier. Jack was slowly morphing into a horrible creature that would rip them apart if he caught them.

Lily took Duncan's hand and they ran past Sebastian, deep into the graveyard, out of sight of the gate. "What do we do?" Dianna asked the two women standing on either side of her.

"There's nothing we can do." Ms. Birch said. "They're on their own unless we can find a way to safely undo this spell."

"Lily brought the book." Mrs. Bishop said. "Maybe there's something in there to help."

The two women rushed over to the car to retrieve Lily's spell book. Mrs. Bishop took the broach off of Ms. Birch's sweater and used the pin to prick her index finger. She then laid her finger into an indention in the cover—the place where Lily had placed her locket to open the lock. The latch popped open. Mrs. Bishop held her finger in her mouth as she flipped through the pages.

Dianna turned back to face the graveyard, gasping as Jack's skin turned black; thick, dark hair grew out all over. His body suddenly bucked up. A terrible, agonizing scream escaped Jack's throat as his shoulders stretched out. His arms and legs were longer now. His torso was leaner. His chest puffed out as if his ribs had expanded. The only thing left of his clothes were scraps of fabric that hung on the monster and littered the ground around it.

Dianna couldn't believe her eyes. It wasn't what she imagined. She expected an actual wolf, like in all of those TV shows, not this strange hybrid man-wolf thing that stood just a few feet away from her.

The creature that had been Jack turned to look at her standing just outside the gate. She sucked in her breath as it moved to attack her, only to be thrown back by the boundary spell. It growled at her with a mouth that could swallow her whole head, full of long, razor sharp teeth.

The creature turned toward the open graveyard and sniffed the air. It moved forward on all fours, giving Sebastian a wide berth. Sebastian's stupid half smile never faltered as he watched the beast run off after Lily and Duncan.

Dianna felt helpless. She was not used to feeling like that, and she didn't like it one bit. There had to be something they could do that they hadn't thought of. Something she could do.

That's when Dianna noticed a branch that fell from the tree beside the gate, during one of Lily's attacks on Sebastian. She picked up the heavy branch and stalked forward, ignoring the frantic women rushing from their studies to grab at her. But they could no longer follow, once she passed beneath the arch. Otherwise, they would be stuck, too.

Dianna marched right up to Sebastian, who was still staring out into the open graveyard. She stopped just behind him and tapped on his shoulder. He barely had time to turn before she swung at him. The branch slammed into his jaw with a satisfying thunk, causing his teeth to snap together, loudly. He stumbled backwards before falling into the dirt. "Undo this, you stupid bastard." she said, kicking his leg as hard as she could.

Sebastian glared at her. His face was contorted into hateful a grimace. He thrust his hand at her. Dianna looked around, wondering what that was meant to do. Sebastian's eyes widened with shock. "How did you do that? What are you?"

"I'm Lily's best friend, dickhead. You really shouldn't have messed with her." Dianna raised the branch to strike him again, but he made a sweeping motion with his hand. The branch flew from her hands and sail through the air to hit the wrought iron fence, breaking in half.

Sebastian got back to his feet, dusting himself off. "Well, that was fun and all, but I have to be going now."

"You aren't going anywhere until you undo what you did to Jack." Dianna said.