Crystal Folly

Runise and her Magic Board

Enzefer was ravaging the hotel, looking for the others. His thoughts, however, would've revealed that it was all an act.

"Where are they?!" he yelled. Everyone else in the room looked at him like he was delusional, including Caroa and Sylvia. He grabbed a nearby table and threw it against the wall, which left a hole there and completely destroyed the table.

"I have no idea where they went, Enzefer," Caroa replied. "How about some tea to calm you down a bit?" he asked, knowing that would at least let Ender get control for a bit, even if it was only until his cup of tea was finished. The instant they heard the question, Enzefer agreed to let Ender take over.

"Yes, I'd like some. Peppermint?" Ender asked. He then noticed the destruction that his other half had caused. "Should I ask if Fari Varis can cover this?"

"No, no, it's fine. Those were old tables, anyway," Caroa told him, shrugging it off. "We've got new ones just ready to be put out here," he continued as he was looking for the tea in his private pantry. "Here we are," he happily announced after finding it.

"So how fun has Enze been?" Ender questioned, knowing full well that Enzefer was just doing what was asked of him. "I see he's trying his best at remodeling," he joked.

Caroa chuckled after hearing it. "Yeah, well, he wouldn't be the best home improvement guy," he ragged after getting the tea bags into a small pot. It began to boil after about ten minutes.

"Hey, what's the time?" Ender asked. Hopefully it's been longer than half an hour since they left, he thought.

"It's a quarter to four. You expecting something?" Caroa replied. He seemed to not know about Ender's cool down time for his cat form.

"Not really, just wanted to know," Ender answered. His mind was racing with excitement, however. Only fifteen minutes left! he thought. They should already be in the woods by now.

"Oh, well. Least I tried to pry a bit," Caroa mumbled, disappointed slightly. He began to grab cups for them when his cell phone began to ring. "Must be my boss calling again," he muttered after setting Ender's cup down.

While Caroa was on the phone, Ender grabbed a spoon to taste the tea, tasting just like he'd expect it to, and made sure it was too hot to drink straight from the cup, which it was. Perfect, he thought. He was just beginning to drink some more with the spoon when Caroa came back from his call.

"That was your brother. He called to check on you," he told Ender. "I told him you were under control, but he insists that you stay until a little after four." He grabbed his cup and began trickling a thick line of sugar into it, then began stirring. "So, what's this about a cooldown for your cat form, Ender?"

Might as well explain since the cats out of the bag now, Ender immediately thought. "Well, since the seal that kept me and Enzefer separate is broken, I've decided that I need to be in that form until we can fix it. I can't be in the form for a full twenty-four hours, though," he answered. "I'm sorry to have to have burdened you with that earlier, Caroa."

He really wanted to hide that from me? Caroa thought. What if one of us were hurt? What if he destroyed the place? He checked his watch, which read 3:57. At least it's almost time for him to be able to become the cat again.

Ender was just finishing the tea when he felt cat ears move up into his hair and his tail swaying on the ground. One ear twitched before he said anything, which surprised both of them. "Well, I guess my break is up. We'll probably be back tonight if possible, Caroa. Thanks for the tea," he told Caroa. I can tell he feels something for me now, I only needed to confirm it, he thought once he received a hug from Caroa. He never hugs anyone outside of his family, not even his friends, except for me. Should I tell him that I'm not even remotely considering him as an option?