Take a Chill Pill - Assorted Be More Chill Stuff

Toad

Part of my new BMC/DEH crossover sorcerer au serial oneshot book thing, Quia in Aeternum. Check it out if you're interested.

 "Hey, Evan, have you seen Michael?" Jeremy asked over the cafeteria lunch table. "He ran off during his free block to work on a math project or something and I haven't heard from him since. He hasn't answered any of my texts or anything."

"I, um... No, I don't think so, sorry."

"Are you sure? This isn't like him." Evan stared down at his tray of "food." The spaghetti noodles were brown and bland and grainy. The sauce was too thick and too runny all at once. No one knew what the meatballs were actually made of. The milk carton still had a chunk of ice in the middle. He sighed and pushed it away. Jeremy had returned to his own lunch and was stirring it with his fork, his usual bubbly fire put out without his best friend.

"I-I mean, one of my English classmates was complaining about her partner for her Calculus project..." Jeremy's head snapped up.

"Who?"

"A-Alana? I don't know her last name, um... She's a really good student, so maybe she kept him around to finish it? I don't know what else she would've done, unless he was annoying her..."

"Yeah, see, Michael's not the studious type. He's super fucking smart, but he sucks at the whole applying himself thing. If that would've gotten on her nerves, I guess..."

"Uh oh."

"What?" Jeremy's voice held a panicked threat.

"I'll, I'll talk to her after school. She's usually in the library. I'll get Michael back for you, I, I promise."

"Get him back? Evan, what's that supposed to--" The bell cut him off. Evan scrambled to grab his things and leave, swept out with the crowd and spared having to explain anything to his brother.

"Alana, give him back," Evan said, looking down at the girl with her laptop and open spellbooks sprawled around her. She nudged her glasses up her nose and squinted up at him.

"Give who back?"

"M-Michael. His name is Michael."

"Who?"

"The, the junior you were doing the Calc project with earlier."

"Oh, him. Sorry, Evan, but you're too late." Evan's heart dropped.

"What did you do to him?"

"He was being a thorn in my side. The little toad wouldn't shut up, so I turned him into a toad and fed him to my owl."

"...Please, please tell me you're kidding. You can't--you can't just feed kids to your familiar because they, they were annoying." Alana rolled her eyes.

"Of course I didn't. Here." She reached into her bag and pulled out a wriggling amphibian. She dropped it into Evan's outstretched hand. "He'll turn back on his own in three days or so, but I doubt that'll be very good for his psyche, so feel free to reverse it if you want. I don't really care. Basic transmogrification spell, shouldn't be too hard. Just get out of my hair. I have a lot to do, you know." Evan didn't argue, he just bundled the squirming Michael into his pocket and rushed home.

On the third try, the counterspell finally worked.

"Okay... What. The. Fuck?" Michael's voice still sounded a bit like a croak. He coughed, wincing. "That hurt."

"I'm, I'm sorry, Michael. Alana just does things like that sometimes. Someone should've warned you or something." Evan was stuffing his books back on their shelf, not looking at his brother's disoriented friend.

"She just does things like that? It's normal for her to turn people into frogs? Because that's both awesome and terrifying."

"It's, it's not something you're supposed to know about. I'm sorry--I'm sorry you had to deal with that and I'm sorry I'm not very good at undoing other people's spells, but--"

"Hold up. Are you a witch too?" Evan froze. He had backed himself into a corner. This was Jeremy's best friend. If he knew the truth, he'd tell Jeremy for sure, but he sort of deserved an explanation. It's not everyday you're turned into a toad.

"Not, not a witch."

"Wizard, Magician, whatever. That's sweet! I thought that was all made up! I mean, sure, I've always been more into sci-fi than fantasy, but this is epic! Wait 'till I tell Jeremy!" Evan's heart stopped.
"You can't! You can't ever tell anyone!" He winced at how loud he'd shouted. It was a good thing Jeremy was blasting music in his room.

"Shit, dude, alright. Why not?"

"I just... No one's supposed to know. Ever. I can't--I can't deal with it if people know. I barely fit in already. If everyone knows I'm--"

"Okay, okay. I get it. My lips are sealed, okay?" Michael held his hands up in mock surrender.

"I'm, I'm sorry."

"What for?" Evan swallowed. His hands were shaking as he picked up a vial from his potions cabinet. The glass was cold and filled with something shimmery and purple.

"Just, just drink this. It's, it's um... It's to help with the, the spell's after effects, yeah."

"Well that sounds like a load of bullshit. I feel fine." Michael shrugged and stood.

"P-please just drink it. It's safe, I swear."

"Yeah, okay, whatever. As long as it doesn't taste like piss." Michael took the bottle from him and popped the cork. "Bottoms up." Michael downed the potion in one gulp and grimaced. Evan rushed forward and helped him back down onto the bed, pulling the empty glass from his hand. The mattress squeaked a bit under Michael's weight.

"Michael? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you--do you remember anything? From, from earlier today?" Michael blinked and bit his lip.

"No."

"O-okay. Good. Now, Jeremy's in his room. Just, just go in and, and tell him you're sorry you didn't text back. Um, tell him your phone died, yeah. And you had to leave school early for a family thing, I guess? Just go and talk to him. He's been worried about you."

"Right." Michael didn't move. "Who's Jeremy?"

Haha! Sorry, but I so rarely get to be sadistic. I quite enjoy it. If you want the ending, you'll have to read Quia in Aeternum. Bye!