Moonlight

Chapter 12

Lilith said" Can't remember doing this much cleaning the last time I was in this stupid group."
Randall said" There better be some kind of Mr. Miyagi-style lesson behind all this."
Jack said" There's not, it's just cleaning."
Hamish said" Look on the bright side. We can always sanitize them to death."
Lilith said" I vote we take their memories away, see how they like it."
" Ah, but then they wouldn't know they were being punished." I slapped Hamish's hand as he put it on the chair I needed to clean.
" True."
Jack said0 What's wrong with gutting them like pigs and leaving them to rot in the sun?"
Randall and I said" Wow."
Hamish said" Dude."
Lilith said" Even I'm appalled."
Jack said" Yeah, Midnight is not patient. He wants revenge, and blood. Mostly revenge."
Hamish said" Well, Midnight's gonna have to wait."
" I keep telling him that, but he keeps pressing to be released, Hamish."
" You need to keep him under control. We've lost our greatest asset."
Randall said" Our youthful optimism?"
" Our anonymity."
" Our anonymity. Once we retaliate, the Order is gonna know we have our memories back."
Jack said" So let's just kill them all."
I said" Are you sure that's really just Midnight talking?"
" Yes. Mostly."
Hamish said" I was gonna say we need an exit strategy."
Lilith said" So until then, what?"
Randall said" Wax on... wax off."

We were cleaning up... something, it was gross, we heard the ringing.
Randall said" Man, I would love to hunt down whoever's doing that."
Jack said" Just be patient."
" I am being patient."
" Still talking to Midnight."
Hamish said" I have an out of the box idea. Let's stay a while."
Randall said" You cannot be serious."
" It's obvious that, as far as our training to be Knights goes, we dropped the ball."
Lilith said" Maybe a little."
Hamish said" Our predecessors were werewolves and practitioners. The more magic we learn, the more formidable we become."
" It's not the worst idea on Earth. That would be Jack's. Maybe there's some kind of enchantment to protect our memories."
Randall said" Exactly. The only thing remotely good about that idea is that we'd be war-wolves. Warlock werewolves."
Hamish said" See, I was thinking were-locks."
Lilith said" They're both sexist."
Jack said" Guys, shut up." We stood straight as Vera walked in,
Vera said" That altar should be clean already."
Hamish said" We're almost done."
" I don't have time for almost done. A physics student just mummified on the main concourse. Step away from the altar. Purgetur!" She walked out as the altar became spotless,
Randall yelled" Hey, when do we learn that spell?"
——
We were at the Chalice,
Jack said" Okay. How about this? We don't kill everyone, just everyone in charge."
Lilith said" That should create a power vacuum that lasts for a while 10 minutes."
Randall said" Lilith's right. Coventry was barely gone before Vera went all Order 66 on us."
" Even if we wipe out everyone here, we still have the other chapters to worry about."
" Wait, other chapters?"
Jack said" Yep. Four other temples in the US alone. You've got Washington DC, California, Oregon, New Orleans. Then international ones. Brazil, France, Germany."
Lilith said" Each temple averages 100 people. That's 800 people, not to mention the adepti."
Randall said" Of course, the adepti."
Hamish said" They're like the field agents for the Order. God knows how many of those there are."
" Check out the big brain on Ham sandwich."
" Absolutely not."
Jack said" All right, maybe there's too many of them to kill."
" That's another thing. Nobody is killing anyone until we track down this rogue practitioner." Randall sighed," And kill them." Randall hissed, happy that we get to kill someone eventually.
Jack said" Her."
Randall said" She's a she? Are you sure?"
" Pretty sure I saw her when that guy in my ethics class went all jack-o'-lantern. She was in the hallway, chanting some incantation."
Hamish said" What'd she look like?"
" I didn't get a good look at her. But she was filming the magic on her cellphone."
" That's not very helpful."
" Well, I was in the middle of transforming, so you get what you get."
Randall and I said" We could start with the videos."
Hamish said" The order probably scrubbed the internet clean by now."
" I'm saying it's a start."
Lilith said" You do realize if we go hunting without permission, the Order will realize we have our memories back."
Randall said" We can't do nothing. We're the Knights of Saint Christopher. We fight bad magic."
" Our priority has to be to protect ourselves, and I found a potion that'll do that. It protects the mind from any form of manipulation. It's complex, but if we can get our hands on an Acheron's cauldron, I think I can brew it. Don't... swipe." Randall showed us pictures,
Jack said" Cute."
Randall said" You look very cute together."
Lilith said" I asked her out before my memory returned. Of course she waits until I get it back before she says yes, so now I have to keep up this facade."
Hamish said" Could be worse."
Jack said" Listen, it could be Gabrielle." I choked, Randall started fake gagging, Jack shook.
Hamish said" We'll track down this magic tourist. Lilith, brew the potion." Then Nicole walked up,
She said" Potion? You acolytes better not be practicing unsupervised magic." Randall and I pointed to Jack immediately,
Jack said" Me? No. Well, no, see, what I was saying is my tutor wants me to brew a potion. And I'm just a little nervous."
Lilith said" And now's a good time to go."
Hamish said" Agreed." Hamish, Jack and I walked away, Randall being Randall stayed. I turned around and walked to him, Jack and I grabbed his hair and pulled him away. I pat his back and let go of him, Jack let go of him too.
I said" Jack, we've gotta do something about your hair."
Jack said" It's not that bad, is it?"
" I like your original color, blond does not suit you."
" Not my fault."
" Oh, I know... but ugh."
" You're concerned about my hair in all of this shit?"
" I can multi-concern, thank you very much."
——
We were at the den, Jack came in,
He said" Guys, something's happened."
Randall and I said" Ooh, shiny." We ran to the cauldron and Randall picked it up.
Lilith said" Hey, you got the cauldron already."
Jack said" Yeah, I made a deal with Alyssa. She gives us the cauldron, and we hunt down the tourist."
Hamish said" Smart. Now we have an alibi."
" Yeah, great. Uh, look, I got to tell you guys something."
Randall said" What's so great about an Acheron's cauldron anyway?" He put it on his head,
" Guys." Lilith took it away from Randall,
Hamish said" According to legend, it's been carried to the afterlife and sterilized in the river Acheron, making it the purest surface possible for creating potions."
" Yeah, guys, look. I-"
Lilith said" Somebody's been studying stuff."
Hamish said" What did I tell you? We have to take advantage of this opportunity."
Jack shouted" Guys, will you shut up and listen to me?"
Lilith said" Wow. Midnight's extra bitchy today."
" No, it's not Midnight, not anymore. All right, Alyssa took me down to this giant vault. All of our shit is down there, including our lockers. Silverback was there, and I tried to take him."
Randall said" So now you have two hides in you?"
" Yeah, I do."
" Oh, shit, I was kidding. Dude, you totally have to transform. What if you become some kick-ass, two-headed war-wolf?"
Hamish said" Were-wock."
Lilith said" They're both sexist."
Jack said" I don't know. I don't know. I was back in the collective unconscious, and Professor Clarke said that these two hides are killing me."
I said" Did he say transforming was a bad idea?"
" No."
Hamish said" So give it a shot. Do it."
Randall said" Do it."
I said" Do it."
Lilith said" Do it." We all kept repeating,
Then we chanted" Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!" Then Jack passed out, we walked over to him, Jack moved a little.
Hamish said" See? Told you, he's not dead."
Randall said" But no transformation."
Lilith said" Too bad. A two-headed werewolf would have been sick."
Jack said" Guys, I gotta figure out a way to ditch one of these hides." We all crouched down to him,
" Easy." She pulled out a knife,
" Without actually dying."
" Well, if you want to be finicky about it."
Hamish said" We'll figure something out. In the meantime... we hunt."
——
We were at the house where the ringing was coming from, Randall sent Jack a text, telling him where we were. We walked past a glass door, we saw a girl inside, we walked to the front door and walked in.
Hamish said" She was right here."
Randall said" Maybe she knows how to teleport." Then we retch as we see what she did to a poor mouse, we moved away from the cage.
" Eleanor Taylor. Now we have a name. And her magic."
" Hamish, take a look a this. Hamish." We watched the video play, Hamish walked over to us.
I said" She recorded everything."
Hamish said" Magic snuff films. Great." Randall picked up the laptop,
We heard Jack scream" Guys! Guys, get out!" Then we heard rattling, we looked up,
" Move!" We ran out, running out the door.
We found Jack on the ground,
He said" You guys okay?"
Randall said" Yeah. You?"
" I'd be a lot happier if I just caught her."
Hamish said" At least now we know who we're looking for."
" This would all be a non-issue if I could've just wolfed out." We heard sirens coming,
" Even if you could, you shouldn't. We can't risk anyone on campus seeing a werewolf. The Order would be all over us."
Randall said" Werewolf on Campus. I'd totally watch that show. Come on." I grabbed Jack's hand and Randall and I pulled him up.