I was starting to feel the anxiety settle in. It had been over one whole hour since Ray and Corra had entered the building, and Alice suddenly making a strange appearance wasn't helping either. Julian was as lax as ever, it was strange how someone so strict and orderly could also be so relaxed and calm.
A sudden brief rustling noise caught my attention, I whirled to see Ray swiftly leap from one of the side windows of the home and into the bushes. He also appeared to be holding a figure in his arms as he hit the dirt, as I looked closer I realized it was Corra. I immediately sprung into action, my body moving on its own as I sprinted over to the bushes where they had landed. I reached out my hand to Ray as he steadied Corra, but he simply ignored it as he got to his feet, Corra in his arms.
"What happened? Is Corra ok?" The words struggled to leave my mouth as I looked at Corra's unconscious face. She appeared to still be breathing, but her slumber was almost trance-like.
Ray started to sprint, and I followed, "We need to go, now."
Julian had made his way over as we briskly made our way down through the streets of town, "What's going on?"
"We need to get to safety now."
"Kinda hard when we're in a town where everyone wants to kill us, don't you think?"
Ray made a sharp right turn as we screeched to a halt in the corner of a back alley.
"Look," he panted, "I can't explain it all now. But basically, Corra sort of might have sworn to a creed that could possibly put her in serious danger."
"What sort of danger?" Julian asked.
"She could end up like me." Ray replied.
"I see, that's a pretty big problem then, isn't it?"
"Clearly, and if we don't hurry-"
Ray was cut short as he glanced down at his arm, a single patch of fur was slowly creeping to the surface of his skin like a parasite. I glanced at my own arm, but thankfully nothing was there but skin. I was relieved until I felt a scratchy sensation on my neck, my feathers were returning.
"We need to leave, now." A few of Julian's scales were also returning, his face looked like a barely started puzzle.
We all nodded in agreement and dashed back out into the city streets, pushing back the hordes of people that cheered and danced blindly. I glanced back at Corra who was resting in Ray's arms as the wind pushed my dark shaggy hair into my face, one of the fox ears that lay nestled in her hair was beginning to return.
After narrowly missing a few Dawn Syndicate guards, we managed to make our way to the hotel and barrel into our room without any major hiccups. Jack immediately got up to greet us, it looked like he had begun to turn back into a creatara as well. The smell of freshly squeezed orange juice wafted into the nostrils on my now returning peak as Ray set Corra down on the large leather armchair next to the massive window in the center of the living space.
"Where's Alice?" Ray had advanced on Jack, he seemed suddenly agitated, the usual calm and coolness in his voice was replaced with a burning heat.
Jack stepped back, flinging his arms into the air, "She's asleep. She hasn't left the room since you left."
"Not likely," Ray spat, advancing on the doors that led to the bedroom.
I watched as Ray turned the brass doorknob as the door swung open, revealing a peaceful Alice quietly resting under the white sheets of the bed. Ray stood silently.
"Well?" Jack replied.
Ray shut the door without a word, immediately switching gears and focusing on the unconscious Corra. I leaned next to him, noticing that his dark brown ears had returned along with his whiskers. His cold emotionless eyes hadn't changed however, I doubted they ever would.
"What happened?"
Ray didn't answer, I watched as he took Corra's pulse.
"It's a curse." Julian had suddenly entered the conversation, he was so silent I had forgotten he was in the same room as us.
"A… curse?"
Julian kept his eyes on the floor, his hand brushing back and forth on the hilt of his silver blade, "Curse magic. Extremely hard to master, but extremely deadly. I assume judging by her state of unconsciousness, it's what happened to Corra here."
I watched as Julian walked over to Corra's body, a look of intensity in his eyes as if he were facing an old enemy. Slowly, he squatted down so he was next to Corra's face, Ray tensed.
"May I?" Julian looked Ray in the eyes, and he nodded.
"Curse magic is usually afflicted through an object," Julian opened Corra's eyelids revealing strange deep purple eyes as he talked. "They usually inflict status like conditions that affect the target over time. Corra's been infected with a paralysis curse, putting her in a sleep like trance. What was it exactly that she interacted with?"
"A book." Ray replied.
"Ah, a classic." Julian chuckled, "However it doesn't seem like the curse is too severe."
"How do we dispel it?" I asked.
"Well," Julian stood back up, closing Corra's eyelids, "Usually some potions can be made for most curses, but unfortunately I don't possess the skills nor the materials to make one. The only other way is through healing magic, but Alice is not in the condition to be casting that powerful of a spell."
"Her saving our asses a couple minutes ago begs to differ." Ray replied.
"Well yes I… wait did you say she-"
"Indeed. She strolled into the room and took care of the man who had a gun pointed to my head in a matter of seconds."
"She never left our hotel room I swear of it!" Jack replied.
With almost comedic timing, I heard the creaking of a door to my right, as a yawning Alice slowly lulled into the room. Her normally perfect straight hair was all tangled and matted, and one of her sleeves was folded all the way up to her shoulder.
"W… What's up guys?" Alice yawned, almost falling over before leaning against the wall for support.
"Alice?" Ray had taken most of his attention off of Corra now. He had that look in his eye he got when he craved answers.
"Yeah?" Alice was almost on the floor, her brief lean had become an awkward sag as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
"Do you… have something you want to tell us?"
Alice looked confused.
I hadn't noticed, but Jack had left to grab a glass of orange juice from the kitchen, Alice proceeded to spill half of it as he cupped her hands around its round frame.
"She needs more rest." Jack looked back at Ray as Alice dropped the glass on the floor, giggling like a child.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked.
"She's delirious." Julian replied, "Her magic power is completely drained. It's a miracle she hasn't passed out yet."
"Oh!" Alice cut Julian off, her eyes were half open as she stumbled forward before crashing into the glass coffee table next to the recliner. "I… Something really strange happened to me while you guys were gone."
"What was it?" Julian asked the question with a higher tone to his voice, as if he were coaxing a child.
"So you know that… Greyson guy?"
The room instantly grew quiet. Alice just laid on the floor giggling like a lunatic.
"Well," she continued, "He like, came to me and stuff. We had a nice chat. He seemed like a pretty cool dude."
"Like I said." Julian chimed, "Delusional."
"Alice," Ray interjected, "What did he say to you?"
"I dunno."
"Look," thankfully Jack stepped in front of Ray, despite his emotionless expression, he seemed to want to snap Alice's neck more now than ever. "Alice you need to get some rest."
"Rest?" Alice yawned as the words escaped her mouth, and before she could finish was already on the floor sleeping. "That… sounds like… a good… idea…"
We all sat in silence for a moment, the only sound that trickled amongst the room being the chirping birds and the soft breathing coming from the dreaming Alice flat on the wooden floorboards.
"So…" I asked, breaking the hush. "She was lying about Greyson, right?"
Ray turned back to Corra and cracked his knuckles, and in those words that he spoke, I knew our mission was about to take a dark turn.
"No... she was not."