Running From the Devil

Chapter 13

Laney (Continued)

I sobbed for a long time clutching the silver wolf that I knew I should be afraid of.  Eventually the wolf whined before slipping from my grasp and disappearing into the bathroom.  A few moments later Jenna, beautifully human Jenna, emerged from the bathroom wrapped in one of the cotton robes that hung in the linen closet.  She sat on the floor with me, wrapped her arms around me and held me for a long time, rubbing my back and murmuring assurances at me.

When I felt calm enough to actually talk instead of scream obscenities I leaned back, wiping the tears and snot from my face on my sleeve.

"What..." I started, anxiously pulling on the hem of my shirt.  I took a deep steadying breath and started again.  "What in the hell is going on around here?"  Then my stomach roared, breaking the seriousness of the moment.

Jenna laughed and got up off the floor before picking up her clothes. 

"Tell you what, why don't you go take a shower and I'll whip us up some lunch and we'll discuss this on full stomachs."

I agreed, a little too eagerly.  On the one hand I needed some kind of explanation and on the other hand I was desperate to avoid the truth, as if ignoring it would make it go away.

She slipped out of the room and I dragged my stiff, sore body into the bathroom.  The first sight that greeted me made me gasp in shock.  Trembling I raised my hand to my cheek watching the ghastly apparition in the bathroom mirror do the same.  That could not be me.  Tangled limp hair hung dully down to my shoulders, my red flower clip dangling drunkenly behind my right ear, holding on to just a few strands of hair.  My skin was blotchy: tomato red in some patches and stark white in others.  There were deep hollows below my eyes and my lips were cracked and dry.  My top made it look like I had been in a war.  Scratches were torn though the material and I one shoulder had been completely ripped through.  I vaguely remembered something about my clothing being too tight.  I felt like I was suffocating.  Had I done this? 

After starting the bath water I plucked the clip from my hair, peeled the sweat stiffened clothing from my body and drizzled in the last of the divine honeysuckle oil I had been using.  While a good soak cured a world of hurts I couldn't wait to shower properly again.  Everything about bathing was awkward.  I had to twist myself halfway into a pretzel to make sure I didn't get water in my cast when I washed my hair.

I wasted a good hour in the bath until I felt ready to rinse off and get on with it.  Besides, my stomach was telling me in no uncertain terms that there would be hell to pay if I didn't feed it immediately.  Wrapped in another one of the robes I walked into my room the same time that Jenna bumped the door open with her hip carrying a large tray. 

"Don't mind me!" She said as she started uncovering plates.  I dashed to the dresser and pulled out pants and shirt, not bothering with underwear or even seeing if anything came close to matching.  Who could worry about coordinating colors when the world had been turned upside down?  Once properly clothed I came out of the bathroom to see that Jenna had unloaded the tray and set up the table for a very nice lunch setting.  There were huge turkey sandwiches with all the trimmings, fruit kabobs and a moist slice of chocolate cake that made me groan as I floated in taste-bud heaven.  By the end of lunch I almost didn't care about the voodoo stuff going on around here as long as they kept feeding me this way.  The joking thought led me back to the cold hard truth that there was something completely impossible happening here that terrified me on every level there was to be terrified on.  With great reluctance and a rapidly souring stomach I set down my fork. 

"So what, exactly, are you?" 

Jenna put her hands in her lap and looked at me with those big amber eyes.  She looked immensely guilty and sad.