April's Fool Chapter Fifteen (Patreon)

The Wolves were brought to the racquetball courts inside the sports complex. Miss Minnick assigned each wolf one of the courts, and the door was shut and locked until something else could be done with them. She returned to her teacher form after, and thanked the staff of the sports complex.

“Do not open those doors for any reason,” she said. “We will return for them in a couple of hours after we’ve taken care of the rest of the victims.”

Insane with fury, the wolves ran around the court, hurling themselves against the thick glass. Saliva mixed with blood as they attempted to penetrate the walled enclosure.

“Let’s get you examined,” Miss Minnick said, leading me away. An ambulance had pulled up in front of the complex, and Miss Minnick led me to the back where ‘April’ and ‘Ernest’ had just been examined. A technician bandaged a scrape along my jaw, and gently cleaned my elbows where I’d apparently fallen in the conflagration. Luckily, Desdemonia’s subcutaneous fat had cushioned my fall. My hair was in crazy disarray with leaves, twigs, and other detritus caught in Desdemonia’s hair spray. I attempted to pat it back into place but had no idea what or how to fix it.

“Other than the obvious translocation, you are physically okay?” Miss Minnick said.

I nodded. Every motion felt strange, with parts of my body jiggling and wiggling to every motion. “What happened?”

“The magical pressure must have been greater than anticipated,” Miss Minnick said. “It created a rather dramatic corporeal translocation event with anyone in contact with the two of you.”

I held my head. It throbbed with pain behind my eyeballs. “My head hurts.”

“A side effect of the translocation,” Miss Minnick said. They got me some pain relievers and I swallowed them with a cup of water. Even those simple motions were strange and new, like I was having to learn to operate my body again.

“What happens now?” I said. My voice was a croak. I was so tired and sore.

“Well, it appears the emergency of the conjoining has been relieved for now. I suggest you go home and get some sleep. You’ve been through a traumatic event.

I looked down at my arms, and shook them a little. Desdemonia’s bracelets jingled in response as the fat wobbled back and forth.

I closed my eyes, Desdemonia’s eyes. They were heavy and thick with the mascara and I could actually see my eyelashes. “This is going to take some getting used to—“

“Your friends can help you,” Miss Minnick said. I looked up. Mitzy Butterfly and Jeff Farnum both waved at me from behind police tape. I nodded.

A woman approached me wearing a regal purple robe and staff. “Desdemonia?” she said. She appeared in her late forties.

I shook my head.

“Desdemonia Landcaster has been involved in a corporeal translocation event,” Miss Minnick said. “Until all parties can re-orient, I will ask you to give her some space.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Is that true?”

I nodded, “Yes.”

She looked panic-stricken. “Then where, or who exactly is Desdemonia?”

Woman, I thought. That now applies to me. She, her, Ms…God, was Desdemonia married? April must have a father. I tried to remember from our dates if she’d ever spoken about him.

“Am I married?” I said. The two women looked back at me.

“No, dear,” the woman in the purple robe said. “You’re my life partner. Well, Desdemonia is. Please, where is she now?”

Miss Minnick led the woman away. I heard her cry out in pain and sorrow as ‘Brother Langmore’ took her into his wide arms. I winced, feeling the throbbing of my own head as I walked to Mitzy and Jeff.

“Um…Seth?” Jeff said. “Is that really you?”

“Yeah, man,” I said. “Long story.”

“How do we know someone isn’t playing an evil trick on us?” Mitzy said.

“Miss Minnick said they’d had a body swap, is why.”

I stumbled in Desdemonia’s shoes, and they both caught me under the armpits.

“Can you take me home?” I said. My head was fuzzy and throbbed with each step.

“On level 32 of Enemy Mine, as your entering the Lair of the White Worm, who do you meet?” Jeff said.

I winced. “Level 32…” I thought about it. Enemy Mine was an old old game we’d played when we were in Junior High. I remembered Lair of the White Worm, it was deceptively difficult because the first thing you had to overcome was—

“Two-Face Mcgee,” I said. “And you got killed like fifteen times before you finally overcame the Lair and took the Scepter.”

“Nine times!” Jeff said.

“Bullshit,” I responded as they both helped me to Jeff’s Scout.

It took me a few tries to get into the passenger seat. Desdemonia had zero upper body strength and I was so sore, tired, and confused they had to push my fat ass into the passenger seat. Mitzy climbed in next to me, and Jeff got into the driver’s seat.

I heard the final bell ring as the rest of the student body of High Valley High came streaming out of the main doors. Jeff fought with the standard transmission and we jerked forward.

“Jesus,” I said, wincing. “Can you take it easy? My head feels like it’s going to roll off.”

Mitzy snuggled up next to me. “Is that really you in there?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Thank God you didn’t get trapped as a feral. They said it was really April in the feral wolf form?”

I nodded as I felt I felt a lump rise in my throat. April. She really didn’t deserve what had happened to her. Sure she’d been a bitch, but in a lot of ways, she’d been less in control of the situation than I had.

It was all too much. Tears fell from my eyes, and soon as I was sobbing old lady sobs. “There wasn’t anything I c.c.could do!”

“Hey,” Mitzy took my hand. “We are going to get you out of there.”

I nodded. That wasn’t the point.

I’d loved April. Love April, current tense. She didn’t deserve to be a feral wolf. But what did it matter if this Who or whatever came through the gate? Could it come through the gate now, if the Key had been taken out of the equation? Was that one minor benefit at least?

And my father. He’d been so careful about our were curse. Rules layered on rules. We had a cabin up north where we spent our time every month. It was in the deep wilderness, only accessible by helicopter. I thought about the feral burning red eyes as it hurled itself again and again against the glass of the racquetball court. There’d been zero intelligence there, just the ferality of the Wolf struggling to break free and consume everything in its path.

I sighed, struggling to get myself under control. Mitzy handed me a tissue, and I blew my nose, but couldn’t stop sobbing.