by Zara Zenia
“Yes,” Marina said. “He was a bear shifter.”
“And he died?” I was trying to wrap my head around it. I didn’t want to sound like I was panicked for her, but part of me was growing increasingly suspicious. “Do you think that Carlotta or another Hunter might have had something to do with the death?” I asked.
“That’s what we assumed at first,” Marina said. “Daniel, Colin and I went looking for her. We wanted to confront her—”
“That was really dangerous, baby, I don’t want you getting hurt,” I interjected.
“Well, we really just wanted to catch her in the act or see if she was anywhere near the campus. She’s human, so we figured between the three of us, we’d be okay.”
“Did you have any luck?” I asked the question, thinking that if they had in fact encountered a threat like Carlotta, we might not be having a chit-chat type of conversation right now.
“We found her…” Marina trailed off again. She went quiet.
“Are you still there, baby?”
I was practically hanging on the edge of my seat.
“She was dead too.” Her voice was soft, and I almost didn’t hear her.
“Carlotta is dead?” Now I was certain I wasn’t hearing her correctly. “Did she die of the illness? Wait, she couldn’t have died from it, she’s not supernatural, you just said she was human.”
“She had a knife stabbed into the back of her head,” Marina stated flatly as if she was telling me the weather forecast.
I was shocked. “What? Oh my god, babe. What the hell is going on over there?”
“We ran into a couple Hunters right after we found her—”
“Babe, you’re killing me here, do I need to come over there?”
“No, Tom, it’s okay, I’m okay, the guys are okay too. Professor Chiu found us in the woods fighting the Hunters. They had stolen enchanted weapons and were shooting at us, but the Professor took care of them.”
“Babe,” I said as I stood up and breathed out deeply. I rubbed my temples. This was a lot of alarming information to receive in a short amount of time. “Well, that probably rules Carlotta out as the suspect in Boris’ murder,” I mentioned.
“Not necessarily,” Marina said. “Professor Chiu started talking to us about supernatural diseases. I was wondering if you would be willing to help me and research information about them? We need information on how this is spreading, and more importantly, maybe a way to stop it or contain it from growing any further.”
“I would certainly love to help in any way I can, babe,” I said, jumping at the chance. “In fact, I have this awesome professor of healing magic. I can go and talk with him.”
“Would you?” It was like my radiant Marina was back. Her voice sounded chipper and optimistic.
“Absolutely.” I chuckled. “I’ll send him an email right now and see if he’s available to speak to me first thing in the morning.”
“You’re the best, Tom.” Marina’s voice was appreciative and a little dreamy.
“I’ll be sure to get back with you as soon as I talk to him, babe,” I promised. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too. When am I going to see you again?”
“Soon I hope, babe,” I replied. “Promise me you’ll be careful, and you’ll stay away from whoever’s sick?”
“I will try,” she answered.
“Bye, baby,” I said, “see you soon.”
“Bye,” she replied and then hung up.
As soon as I hung up with her, I was already my computer typing up an urgent message for Professor Quivens. If anyone was going to give me some insight, he was the best place to start.
The next morning, I found myself knocking on Professor Quivens office door on campus, set in the heart of the healing magic facility.
“Come in,” I heard him chime in an inviting voice.
After sending him the urgent email last night, I hadn’t had to wait long for a reply. He seemed extremely intrigued by the occurrences at Sleepy Hollow and was immediately willing to discuss the matter at hand as soon as possible.
He asked me to meet him in his office before classes started, so I knew he was making a special effort to see me, since I knew his first class wasn’t until late afternoon. I took a curious step into his office. There were books stacked on shelves and on his desk. There were magical gadgets everywhere, posters having to do with healing magic and a giant computer screen set directly in the middle of his desk.
“Please Thomas,” he said and enthusiastically waved me inside. “Come in.”
“Thanks, Professor,” I said, a little distracted by all the interactive elements in his room, including a life-sized vampire dummy with its pretend brain open and exposed for dissection.
“As soon as I got your email last night, I knew that this event happening at Sleepy Hollow was going to be something I would be fervently interested in.” He gave me an eager grin as I sat down across from him at his desk.
“Yes,” I scratched the bridge of my nose, “I …my girlfriend called me last night. She said she’s really worried about what is going on there. She said that the cafeteria manager actually died from the illness.”
“And no one has discovered its origin as of yet?” Professor Quivens leaned forward and pitched his eyebrow curiously. He examined me with expectancy.
“Not that I’m aware of.” I shook my head.
“Fascinating.” Professor Quivens began scribbling something on a yellow note pad. He quickly glanced up at me. “You don’t mind if I take notes, do you?”
I shook my head again. “Of course not, sir. Do whatever you feel is necessary.”
I was just grateful he wanted to give me the time of day at all.
“Now this disease, you said it killed the cafeteria manager. What were his symptoms?” Quivens peered at me through his glasses.
“According to my girlfriend, everyone who has been affected by the illness, including the cafeteria manager, had flu like symptoms. Coughing, sneezing, red, itchy eyes. A fever.”
“But this man was the only one so far to perish?”
“As far as I know at this point, yes.” I nodded with confirmation.
“Interesting.” Professor Quivens kept his head down in concentration as he animatedly continued to push pen to paper. Every now and then he would give me a coaxing nod of approval.
“Sometimes,” he said and crossed his fingers together, “Viruses and bacteria can be enhanced and altered with magic,” he explained.
“Human viruses?” I asked.
“Yes.” He nodded. “But I must say, that altering a disease of any kind takes considerable talent and experience. It’s not something that any ole ordinary witch would be able to do.”
“Hmm…” I pondered. “Who at Sleepy Hollow would be capable of doing something like that? A professor?”
Quivens frowned. “It’s doubtful. Unlikely at best.”
“Not even a professor would have what it takes to enhance an illness?”
“That isn’t what I mean. They may have the knowledge, but what would their reasoning be? I cannot see any reason why they would want to do it in the first place, unless there is a serious staff problem at Sleepy Hollow, which I cannot imagine to be the case. In any case the skills needed to perform this kind of magic would mean the witch or wizard would have to be highly trained and have a gift for magical enhancement.”
I leaned back in the chair, still feeling frustrated.
“What happens if the supernatural diseases somehow spread to the human population?”
Professor Quivens whistled and shook his head with a regretful expression. “That is not something that we would want to happen. No, not at all. That would be extremely dangerous.”
“But it is possible?” I asked and stared at him.
Professor Quivens appeared to contemplate, twisting up his features. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
“There is an amendment to the Geneva Convention specifically banning a
nything like this kind of magical illness. If it were to reach the humans… it would be extremely bad for the supernatural community. We need to keep that from happening,” he said.
The Geneva Convention protected civilians, or, in our modern-day society, the humans lacking supernatural talent.
“Let’s just pray that doesn’t happen then,” I whispered and flickered my gaze to Professor Quivens.
He nodded somberly. “Will you keep me informed with updates on how things are faring at Sleepy Hollow?”
I nodded. “Absolutely, Marina will let me know if there are any changes and I’ll be the first to let you know, Professor.”
Professor Quivens stood up and I followed suite.
“In the meantime, without a source, there really isn’t much I can do aside from digging into research and studies about how witches can enhance diseases.”
I pumped his hand. “Anything is better than nothing.”
“That’s right.” He nodded approvingly. “Being proactive keeps the mind fresh.”
I raced back to my room so I could call Marina with the information. I didn’t want to talk to her out in public, because I was worried that someone might overhear our conversation and I didn’t want to open that can of worms for panic just yet. Not that anyone at Salem University had anything to worry about right now. So far everything was contained to Sleepy Hollow.
Marina answered on the first ring. “Hi, Tom, did you talk to your professor?”
“Hi, babe,” I said. “I just finished speaking with my professor who studies healing magic. He had some interesting things to tell me.”
“What did he say? Did he have an answer for us?” she asked.
“Well for starters, he said that human viruses and bacteria can be enhanced and altered with magic. But, just like your professor explained, it takes a substantial amount of skill to pull it off. It’s not just something that anyone would be able to do.”
“It’s scary to know that there is someone out there with that kind of power,” she said. Her voice was full of dread. “I guess it couldn’t have been Carlotta then. None of the students she would have had access to have that kind of skill.”
“Probably not,” I said. “But if she’s dead, it means she knew something and whoever killed her didn’t want her to leak it.”
“I didn’t think of that, but you’re right, she must have known who was doing it,” Marina said. She paused for a moment. “Tom, there’s… it’s getting worse.”
“What do you mean?” I felt dread pierce my heart. God, I hoped she wasn’t getting sick.
“There are two more people in my dorm building who are sick now,” she whispered.
“Are you serious?” My heart stopped. “Marina, baby, you need to be careful, do what the humans do to avoid these kinds of things.”
“I’m going to try my best, Tom, I promise,” she said.
“Babe, you should avoid anyone who shows signs of being ill,” I cautioned. “Even if they just sneeze once, get away from them.”
Marina exhaled slowly. “I think you’re right. That’s a good idea. And I’m avoiding the dining hall, eating prepackaged stuff only. And washing my hands like crazy.”
“I know you’ve got classes, so I’ll let you go now. Call me tomorrow with an update?” I suggested.
“I definitely will, Tom,” she promised.
“Bye, babe,” I said, “miss you.”
“Miss you too.”
After I hung up, I felt even more unsettled than I did before. I just had to hope for the best and in the meantime, do as much research as I could to figure out if there was a way to stop this danger from crawling into my beloved Marina’s system. If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t know what to do, but I knew it would lead to despair. Professor Quivens words of advice echoed through my mind. It was time to be proactive.
12
Vlad
Laying in my bed, I stared up at the ceiling as both Marina and Daniel attempted to fuss over me. It was both obnoxious and glorious to have my girlfriend and best friend give me such pampered attention.
However, all kidding aside, I had never been this sick in my entire life. Supernaturals didn’t get ill. This was an extremely rare disturbance that had everyone scratching their heads and grumbling with worry.
I didn’t know how to react to being debilitated in bed for hours on end. I was growing increasingly sick, and when I appeared to be getting worse instead of better, it only raised more red flags not only in my own mind, but to everyone else around me too.
I did my best not to let my qualms project on Marina and Daniel. I tried to downplay the illness so that they wouldn’t be afraid to come near me, but every time I sneezed, something caught fire and needed to be put out. I didn’t want to be alone, because being alone meant that my thoughts would corrupt my brain. I couldn’t afford to get tangled up in the web of festering anxiety.
I groaned and rolled over, shivering and ripping the sheets off my body at the same time.
“What’s wrong, baby? How can I help you?” Marina whispered softly to me and gently stroked my sweaty head. My hair was matted to my temples and forehead.
“I’m hot,” I complained. “I don’t know how that’s possible, because I was just freezing cold a minute ago.”
“You are just having intermittent hot flashes and chills,” Marina explained.
“When will they go away?” I whined, withering a little in the sheets as the discomfort continued to settle into my bones, causing me to ache all over.
I saw Marina give Daniel a wary glance. The unfortunate part of all this was the fact that since no one had yet to determine how this sickness spread in the first place, or where it came from or even how to stop it, there were more questions than answers.
My teeth chattered, but at the same time, I was burning up. I whimpered in constant discomfort.
“I want more covers,” I said, but as soon as Marina cloaked them over me and tucked them up to my neck, I immediately swatted them away.
“Never mind,” I said regretfully. “They don’t feel as good as I imagined. I can’t have them against my skin.”
“Dude, you are being high maintenance,” Daniel said and gave me a begrudging look as he sat at the edge of my bed.
“He doesn’t feel good, Daniel,” Marina said in a pacifying tone. She soothingly stroked my chest. “Do you want more tea?”
“No.” I shook my head. “It just makes me feel even more nauseated than I already am.”
“I’m so sorry this happened to you…” she trailed off with an overwrought expression that did little to settle my own wired nerves.
I curled up in a little ball. “You don’t have to stay here with me. I’ll be just fine.”
Daniel let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. “Now he’s just feeling sorry for himself.”
Marina frowned in contemplation while continuing to give me an inspecting glance. “Can you blame him? He really doesn’t feel well at all.”
“I’ve never been ill before in my life,” I said.
“You will be as good as new in a few days. Just keep resting and intaking fluids,” Marina coaxed gently.
“It feels like I’m never going to get better,” I complained, feeling another sneeze come on. Panicked, I looked at Marina.
She stood up and out of the way, as I sneezed, sending flames shooting across the room charring the wall some more. Daniel quickly dowsed the flames as if it was a natural thing to do. I sighed and slumped back in the bed, giving Marina a pitiful look.
None of us wanted to mention the elephant in the room, which was the fact that Boris had not come out of the illness on the other side. He hadn’t made a full recovery, or any recovery at all. He’d died of the strange sickness. The fact that Boris was dead was a gnawing thought in the back of my mind that deeply unsettled me. What if I had the same fate as him waiting around the corner?
“You just need to get some rest and stop worrying about things that haven�
��t happened yet,” Marina whispered.
I eyed her suspiciously. “Are you reading my mind right now, babe?”
Her facial features displayed earnest confusion. “No… why?”
“No reason.” I sniffed and wiped my nose with a tissue that was on my bedside table.
“What were you thinking about?” she pressed.
I glanced at the floor. “Nothing.”
“Maybe we should let him get some rest,” Daniel said, still sitting at the foot of my twin bed. “He must be hallucinating through his fever.”
“I’m not hallucinating,” I barked defensively.
“I don’t think we should leave him…” Marina trailed off with much reluctance.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
“What else can we do for him now?” Daniel asked. “We brought him tea and soup, we’ve tucked him into bed and coddled him. I think that giving him a little space might help him and if he sneezes again, he’ll call out to us.” Daniel’s right, baby. I’m just going to go to sleep as soon as you leave,” I said.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to lay beside you?” Marina asked. “Until you do fall asleep?”
“You don’t need any further exposure than you’ve already gotten, baby,” I said.
“Exactly, which is why it doesn’t matter if I’m here cuddling up next to you,” Marina said. I muffled a sneeze and a little plume of smoke exited my nostrils.
I glanced between Marina and Daniel in horror. “Baby, I might shift…”
“That’s okay,” Marina said.
My heart pounded. “The same thing happened to Boris right before he—”
“Don’t say it,” Daniel abruptly interjected. “Don’t even think it.”
I looked at them with chagrin. I leaned my head back on the pillow. “Just let me be, so I can wallow in my sadness in peace.”
“Try to think positively,” Marina mentioned in a loving tone. “Maybe that will help?”
I let out a labored sigh. Every muscle in my body hurt. “It’s doubtful, but I’ll give it a shot, baby.”
Marina grinned as if my response was satisfactory enough for her now. “Good. Thank you.”
