The Unfinished Fairytale

Chapter 3

Jackie, still laying down, tilted her head in his direction.

"Heya, Will! Can you show me how to walk? I'm kinda stuck."
The pumpkin on his head turned in her direction.

"First you try, then I'll help you if you need it," he said.

Jackie shrugged and stayed on the ground. Will sighed.

"Before we go any further, it's customary I know what you are. I can see we've got a Centaur, a Satyr and a Vampire, but I'm not too sure what you two are," he said, pointing at me and Daniel. "Either of you think you know what you are?"

Daniel and I shook our heads.

Will reached up to the pumpkin on his head, then lifted it off. His face was pale, but still darker than poor George. His eyes were narrowed, bright cyan iris contrasting with his pure white pupils. Strangest to me, however, was his hair, which seemed to be made up of blue flame. Pale blue sparks flew from his hair and into the forest, then blinked out.

He tilted his head.

"Hey you- the one that looks normal. C'mere."

Daniel looked at me, then back at Will. He walked forward. When he got in front of the flame-haired boy, Will grabbed his chin and inspected his face closely. Daniel started muttering.

"What are you-"
"I'm checking your eyes. It isn't always obvious what you are."

He moved Daniel's head to the left and right, studying his eyes. After a moment, he released his chin, then stepped back.

"Yep, you're a lycanthrope."
"A what?" asked Daniel, confused.

"A werewolf, dumbass."

"Oh."
"It isn't obvious unless it's a full moon. Which is why you should be somewhere safe tonight if you don't want to go feral."
"What do you mean, feral?"
"You're real thick, aren't you?" he said, crossing his arms. "By feral, I mean you are going to turn into a wild animal tonight, with no human sentience. I've seen it before. Not pretty."
"How do you know there'll be a full moon tonight?" asked Daniel.

"Because there's a full moon every night here. Sure is a nice place, huh?"

Daniel very slowly nodded.

"Are the transformations painful?"
Will shrugged.

"How should I know? I've never been through one. I've seen people go through it, and it sure looks painful, but you never know. We should get going."

George, still in the shade, looked fearful.

"I can't. The sun burns."
Will, who had just begun to walk away, turned on his heel to face them again.

"Right, I forgot sunlight does that to vampires. Here," he said, reaching into one of his pockets, "Take this."
He pulled a black cloak out from the pocket, which had been folded tightly.

"This should help. I carry it just for times like these. Put it on, and we'll get going."

He tossed the cloak at George, who caught it and hastily put it on, eager to be safe from the sun. Will, before turning to walk away with them, had one more thing to say.

"Another thing I should know are all your names. Names have power here in the Fairytale, and since you know mine, it's only fair I know yours."

"I'm Kelly."
"Daniel."

"Jonathan."

"The names Jackie!"

"...George."

Will nodded, then began to return to the forest.

"Follow me if you want shelter."

Jackie, who had finally figured out how to get up, was trotting over to Will's position, the other's nervously following. I went after them, eager to see where we were headed.

After walking for a while, we came across a house. Just a completely normal house, like something pulled right out of a neighborhood.

"Why is there a house here, Will?"

"I'm not sure myself, but it was here when I got here, and I noticed every time a new Taler comes in, it'll add another room, but even stranger, it looks the same outside. So at the moment, there's probably ten bedrooms total inside, even though it looks like a max of two would fit inside."

"And since there's five of us, there's five more rooms?" Jackie guessed.

"Correct"
"Cool."

Will went up the steps of the house, then opened the door.