The Lost Ones Book 2: Welcome Home

Chapter 63

Charlotte turned around and quickly bowed. "My queen."

Jason's eyes widened and he pushed his back against the cage bars.

"Aw, is my little bird scared?"

Jason didn't answer and looked away.

"You know, Phoebe is quite distraught about you." she told him as she tried to think of what to do to him.

"So I heard..."

She turned to him. "So I thought of a way to fix that."

Jason glanced back at her.

"We'll just make you one of us!"

Charlotte's eyes widened.

"N-NO!"

"Here's the thing, starlight... you can't stop me." She told him with a grin as she moved forward to take a hold of his cage. "Though we might need to be in my workshop for that..."

"N-no! STOP!" Jason tried to stand up.

"Make me." She replied as she grabbed the chain and lifted it off the hook it hung from.

Jason fell to the ground with a cry as the cage forcefully swung around.

She carried it into the hall and Charlotte hesitated but followed.

"LET ME OUT!" Jason got back up, grabbing onto the bars to keep his balance.

"Hmmm.... No."

"I'M NOT PLAYING YOUR GAMES ANYMORE!"

"You don't have a choice."

Jason huffed and pulled on the bars, even trying to squeeze his body through.

"Don't make me make those bars closer together, starlight."

He ignored her.

She glanced at the cage and bars going sideways wrapped around the cage making it impossible to squeeze through.

Jason winced in pain as some of the bars squeezed his body, some even scraping him on their way around.

"I warned you."

He rolled his eyed as he wiped a bit of blood off his face.

They soon entered her workshop and she set the cage down on the table. "This will be interesting, I haven't tried to change someone's species before..."

"Species?!"

"You're going to become one of us, Starlight, we aren't mortal humans like you. And well... I take that back. I've never attempted to change it all the way." She glanced at Charlotte who was watching from afar who withered back under the brief gaze.

"N-no! You can't-!" Jason began to panic.

"Can you stop me? No. So yes, I can."

His breathing quickened and he began to tug at the bars once more.

"That's pointless." She scolded him. "Now... Where to start..." She moved over to a station with pottery stuff. "I'll need to play with some ideas for you..." she sat down after grabbing some clay.

Jason continued to walk around the cage, trying to squeeze himself through the holes.

Penny ignored him but suddenly stood. "Oh! Rajie's back! I'll be right back, Starlight!" She quickly left the room.

Charlotte slowly peeked out then approached Jason. "Are you okay?"

Jason collapsed onto his knees with a loud sigh. "N-n-no..."

"I'm so sorry... I... I can try to help?" She offered awkwardly.

"I don't think you can..."

"I can try, can't I?"

"I-I guess."

She came over and grabbed ahold of the bars. "Lets see if we can pry some of these off or at least out of the way."

Jason nodded and moved over to her, grabbing the same bars that she did.

She started pulling, trying to move them.

He pulled them the same way she did, the metal not moving.

"I can try tying some string to it?" She offered, unsure of what else to do.

"You can try." Jason answered, looking around the room. It was filled with tools but all were far too large for either of them to pick up.

She started to spin some webbing but stopped sensing Penny was coming back. "I... I have to go... I'm so sorry..." She told him, her eyes sad that she couldn't do anything.

"N-no! P-please don't!" His voice shook.

"I have to..." She tore herself away and scurried away to hide and moments later, Penny came back. "Alright, I'm back! I just had a little talk with Rajie. He agreed to bring all your little friends here for the surprise!" she beamed. "Isn't that exciting?"

"You leave them alone!" Jason yelled back. "Who do you have trapped here, anyways?!" He had a faint idea, but wasn't sure.

She waved her hand. "Oh, just some people you and little kitten know, I don't really know or care who they are."

"UGH! JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

She sighed. "I told you, you can't stop me. The more you protest, the more I want to do it."

Jason grew angrier but didn't reply, beginning to pace around the cage once more.

Penny sat down and got back to work.

He continued to pace, occasionally stopping to pry at the bars.

"You're not getting out of there starlight." She told him as she crafted with her clay.

"That's what you think..." He muttered to himself, as he tried to get out.

"Would you rather me chain you to the table? Cause I'm willing to do that."

"I'd rather you not."

"Then stay there."

Jason was hesitant but stood still, facing away from her.

She glanced over at him, giving a small hum of thought before turning back to her project. About thirty minutes passed until she finally stood up. "I think I'm finished!" She announced, holding something out of sight in her hands. "Though, I'm not sure if your clothes will go well with it but no matter, we'll deal with that part after!"

Jason turned to face her, his body growing tired from refusing to sit down. He tried to get a look at what she had.

"Oh, you want to see it? You can in a moment but only after I'm finished. Are you ready, starlight? Try not to thrash about too much or it might hurt more than it should which hopefully isn't at all but who knows! It might."

He grew even more nervous at this and shook his head.

She sighed. "Well. It's happening anyway. Brace yourself, starlight." Jason backed up against the bars, sweat dripping down his face.

She waved her empty hand and the cage opened up. She made a gesture and Jason was pulled out of the cage and into the air. "Here we go." She started casting her spell and light engulfed Jason and her other hand which she opened but he couldn't see it due to the light.

Pain spread through his body as it changed.

Jason screaming in pain, his body curling in on itself. His vision went blurry with tears and his head spun. It felt as if his whole body was going to explode at any moment. All he could hear was Penelope's laughter as everything went black once more.