The Tiny Curse: Werewolf High Book 2(23)

"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."





Chapter 16


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.