W.I.T.C.H.: The Bloody Throne

Part 12

               After feeding her family food from a can and then putting them to bed, Danny finally allowed herself a moment of silence. She loved her family and knew she could handle them; but Jack was a fussy infant and the twins only had two states of mind, computers, and food. With everything quiet, she sat down on a worn-out armchair in the living room and cracked open a can of cheap beer for herself. She knew she should not be drinking at her age, but she liked the taste and never drank to get drunk, so Ella allowed it. With a content sigh, she leaned her head back and listened to the sound of the quiet house; she didn't care when Ella would get off work, when Roger would return from his night searching for a bar, or when Tony would return from his date with Rodney. None of those things mattered; she didn't even care how Gwen was doing, she only felt sorry for Elyon's parents for having the little girl pushed on them for the night. No doubt, Gwen was in the middle of demanding sweets and watching horror movies at full volume right now. For Danny, this peace and quiet was a rare treat and all that missed to fulfill this moment was a cigarette.

As Danny sat in the chair, her quiet moment was ruined by a scratching sound coming from the front door; opening one eye, she saw how Janet had moved from her perch on the sofa to the door and was gently scrapping on it like a puppy needing to use the bathroom. "Hey, Janet, need to take a dump or are you just there to annoy me?"

Janet looked over its' spindly shoulder at Danny and let out a low groan. Danny knew she could use the toilet like a normal human, but since being in her care Janet had been acting more like an animal or a child away from their overly protective parents. With a groan in return, Danny replied. "If you want to go outside, you have to change into your human form. I am not going to risk someone seeing you like this. The family business is still a secret after all. Plus, I am tired, so just use the toilet like everyone else in the family."

In response, Janet shifted its' body it began to contract; within moments, its' body was back into her human form. Danny groaned and finished her beer, here was no way she could allow Janet to roam Heatherfield unattended; she had not only promised Sheela to keep an eye on Janet, but she loved her old hometown too much to let an unknown monster run around freely. Luckily, Janet had been wearing a long nightgown, so there was no need to dress her and, without another word of protest, Danny opened the door and followed Janet out. The Winter night was cold and the wind bit at Danny through the leather jacket, but she ignored it; she had lived through the cold Canadian winter, so she could live through a Winter in Heatherfield.

As Danny had expected, Janet didn't need to use the bathroom, but simply wanted to explore her new surroundings and expand her territory. Luckily, Janet kept within Danny's sight and sniffed everything, only stopping now and then if a scent was interesting or to see if Danny was still following her. As Danny followed Janet, her surroundings became more and more familiar; they were coming closer to Downtown Heatherfield. Inwardly, Danny wished she hadn't chugged the rest of that beer and stifled a burp as Janet approached a closed antique book store and lightly scrapped at the door. In her croaky voice, she said. "Will...Elyon...Phobos...Irms...Taranee..."

"So, they come here and hang out. I am not surprised. Are you ready to go home now?" as Danny had expected, Janet only snorted in response and kept walking. Janet was on a mission to map out her new territory and there was nothing Danny could do about it, so choking back another burp, she capitulated and followed her crawler friend. After a while, Janet stopped in front of another house and sniffed the air. Danny looked and recognized the house as Irma's.

"Irms..." croaked Janet and Danny only sighed.

"Yeah, I know it is Irms's. If I ever lose my friends in a crowd, I'll simply drag your nose along to find them." Replied Danny, but Janet didn't listen and kept on walking. Danny was annoyed by this; she wanted to go home and prepare for another day of school, but here she was babysitting a crawler in human form in the middle of the night. Sometimes, Janet would stop and rub her face or shoulder against a house corner or tree, which meant she marked it as part of her territory. Whenever she did this, Danny would look around to make sure no one was watching; there was no way she could explain this to an innocent bystander. After a few more minutes, the gates to Heatherfield park came into view and, against Danny's hopes, Janet wandered into it. By now, it was around 11:00 pm and Danny could feel her energy sinking lower and lower; Janet, however, was as active as a spring-chick. In a way, Danny felt jealous of her monster friend; Janet never had to worry about school, work, and family; all she had to worry about was her own preservation.