Terrible Friend

Chapter 22

Beverly stopped chanting. She looked around the room and spoke to Jax. "Now is the time to choose your appearance Jaxolox. Picture what you want to look like and concentrate on it."

Albert and Beverly watched the still ghostly form change before their eyes. The finger nails lengthened and turned a deep red. The fingers themselves elongated and grew slender. The color of the skin paled and smoothed.

"Jax! Be serious. Do you really want to be a woman for this?" Albert shouted.

Beverly cackled. "Probably the best thing he could be." She went back to chanting.

The form continued to change. The finger nails receded and grew white. The fingers remained long but plumped up like hot dogs cooking on a grill. The skin hardened and stretched over muscle that wasn't there a moment before. Large veins appeared, slightly raised under the skin. The tone darkened to an olive brown.

The still fair image of a third person in the room slowly started to rise up and forward, away from Albert. He unfolded and stood, still inside the circle. Beverly nodded and turned back toward the altar, focusing her attention on the necklace now. She dropped more ingredients into the cauldron and a few over the necklace itself.

The tapered candles on either side of the tablet sparked and whizzed with electricity shooting between them. The flames were large and bright and a blue-white line of energy flowed between them and to the necklace. The glow around the necklace changed colors at a rapid pace and grew brighter.

Beverly picked up the necklace and turned back toward Albert and Jax in the center of the room. She was taken aback when she saw the form Jax had chosen. A tall, dark haired man was  in front of Albert, still seated on the floor. He floated in the air. Arms at his sides, he slowly looked up to meet Beverly's stare.

She noticed that his eyes were dark and menacing. Something about them made her skin feel warm and cold at the same time. She broke the stare and looked down. She gazed over the brazenly male shape he had chosen to take, floating there in front of her, naked.

Jax followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow as he watched her facial expression change and color filled her cheeks. <Not to shabby, huh?> He turned with his arms out, allowing her a view of the rest of him as well.

Beverly rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I think it worked." She didn't bother looking over the rest of him. She turned and picked up the necklace and turned back toward Jax. She continued to chant loudly as she approached him. His form taking a more solid appearance than even a moment ago.

"Hey! Turn around. You nearly put my eye out asshole!"

Beverly laughed out lout as she stepped forward .  She motioned for Albert to stand up. When he was on his feet, she motioned him out of the center circle. Albert took 2 large steps backward. He continued to stare in awe of what was happening.

Jax continued to float in the air between them. The necklace still glowing a dark green, she lifted it in the air and chanted something new, again in a language that Albert had never heard before.

She kept the necklace held up right and looked at Jax. Repeat after me Jax. "Nobu sobe kulu tut." 

<Nobut sobe kulu tut?>  Jax repeated what he thought he heard.

Beverly nodded and spoke it again. Louder than the first time and enunciated the tone.

Jax matched the volume and repeated the words again. <Nobu sobe kulu tut. Nobu sobe kulu tut.>

As they spoke, the necklace's green glow morphed into a solid white and she started to lower it over Jax's head.

Albert recalled the blindness that overtook him earlier and instinctively closed and shielded his eyes with his arm. The necklace grew brighter and brighter as they chanted.

"It's not bright enough.  Albert, repeat after me. Nobu sobe kulu tut."

Albert whispered what he thought he heard.  "New boo so be chtulu tut?"

"No time for jokes Albert, repeat the words exactly like I do or the spell won't work."  She slowed the chant down. "Nobu sobe."

"Nobu sobe." Albert repeated her exactly.

"Kulu tut."

"Kulu tut? That doesn't make any sense."

"Doesn't matter. Just say it."

"Fine. Nobu sobe kulu tut."

Beverly rolled her eyes. "Look. Say it right or you will turn into a toad. Words matter. Tone matters. Rhythm matters. Nobu sobe kulu tut."

Albert tucked away his humor for the moment. He didn't know if magic worked that way, but he didn't want to find out by ending up being a toad. "Nobu sobe kulu tut."

Beverly smiled and nodded. 

As he chanted out the right words the right way,  he watched the necklace start to glow brighter. As he grew confident with the words, he spoke them louder and louder, and each time with more conviction than the last. He made a note to himself to ask Beverly what it was that he had said later.

Beverly continued to chant and encouraged the other to as well until the necklace reached a super brightness that her eyes couldn't take. She dropped the necklace and shielded her eyes.

As the chain settled on Jax's shoulders and the charm slapped gently against Jax's now solid chest, an ear piercing crack and a ripple of light flowed out in all directions. The force of the sound threw Beverly and Albert backward.

The curtains that enclosed the small dark space flew open with gale force winds. The solid walls of the storage room shook and rattled around them. The bright flourescent bulbs in the light fixtures above them shattered. Darkness and glass fell around them.