Andrae - Chapter 5

"Hey!"
I felt someone poking my leg but I ignored it and studiously kept my eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. I assumed it was Rudy doing the poking, as it was his voice that accompanied it.
"Hey! I know You're awake, Andrae. I could hear you snuffling all the way on the other side of the room."
He started again with the poking, and I continued to ignore him.
"You know you're never gonna get her back unless you grow some balls and get out there and do something about it."

"And just what am I supposed to do??" I yelled, jumping up with balled fist to face my tormentor.
The poking had finally got to me, and I was ready to punch someone.
"Hey..Hey! I'm just trying to help!"
Rudy jumped back away from me, eyes on my fist.
"I have it on good authority *ahem* -Aster-" he continued, "that things with Val and Meaghan are not what they seem. But, of course if you aren't interested...."

"Okay, I'm interested. What did you hear?"
"Well, Aster thinks that Val is casting a spell on Meaghan - she called it a Love Charm. Trouble is, he is always with her - never lets her out of his sight."
A flicker of hope sprang to life deep in my chest. All we had to do was get Meaghan alone somehow, and then... the tendril of hope died as quickly as it had bloomed. I had no idea how to break a witch's charm.

I threw up my hands in despair.
"Even if we can somehow get her alone, do you know how to break the charm? I sure don't. Do we just kidnap her until it wears off? Everyone hates me enough already,without adding something like that into the mix."
Rudy shot me a sly grin.
"You're right, I don't know. But I know someone who does. And she and I have a plan worked out, sort of."

Rudy filled me in on the details of this so-called plan, which to my mind sounded more like 'lets make up shit as we go along', but he was so stoked that I eventually started to catch his excitement. Maybe it could work after all. It was better than doing nothing, anyway.

My part of the plan was to wait at the back of the library cellar for Meaghan and Aster to arrive. Rudy was in charge of distracting Val. I wanted that job, wanted the pleasure of taunting Val then leading him on a wild goose chase. But Rudy convinced me that I needed to be there when the charm was broken. So I snuffed out the candles in the back corner and waited.

I was imagining all the terrible insults I would have hurled at Val before suddenly changing into wolf form and loping off, not too fast, just enough to get him to chase me. I was still lost in thought when I heard footsteps on the stairs. Aster appeared first. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Meaghan appear right behind, both of them giggling like crazy.
After a few seconds, Meg stopped and looked around in confusion.
"I thought you said Val would be here. You know he doesn't like me going off by myself."
My heart almost broke all over again at her words, and I had to keep telling myself that it was the charm talking, not my sweet Meaghan.

Now came the tricky part - or at least, one of the tricky parts. I thought Aster was going to somehow get Meg to drink the cure potion she had gotten from her mother, but instead she tossed it at Meg's feet in one swift motion, just like Eagle had done with the potion of angry bees.

I held my breath, waiting to see if this odd delivery system for potions actually worked. I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but as soon as she was hit with the potion, she became so disoriented I thought she was going to faint.

I rushed toward her from my hiding spot, even though I was supposed to wait and make sure the charm was dispelled.
"Meg?" It came out as a hoarse whisper. She was so beautiful, standing there staring off into space as if she was trying to remember something.
"Meg? It's me, Andrae."
"Andrae?"

"Andrae! Is it really you?" She threw her arms around my neck, and I held her tight.
"Yes, it's really me. Are you okay?"
"I..I don't know. What happened to me? Everything is so... fuzzy. I remember being really sick, and Moonflower and Val came to visit."
She frowned in concentration.
"It's so hard to remember. Why is it so hard? Val said he had a.. a spell to make me feel better..."

Her eyes narrowed in anger as she remembered, and she pulled away from me then. I watched the anger to fear.
"He .. oh Andrae.. he did.. things.. to me.. I'm sorry, oh I'm so sorry... please don't hate me.. you must be so angry with me."
By now tears were streaming down her cheeks. She looked down, refusing to meet my eyes. I took her hand in mine and lifted her face gently with my other hand.
"Look at me, Meg. I'm not angry. I promise. See?" I smiled slighted, even though I was seething with anger at Val.
"None of it was your fault. Val cast a charm on you. He was controlling you..."
"And he's going to do it again if we don't protect you," Aster interrupted.
"I know my brother, and he'll try again, especially since Meg is.. well, we won't get into that right now."

"Which is why I brought this for you. My dad gave it to me. He said I'd know what to do with it when the time came, which by the way was entirely cryptic at the time, but makes total sense now. He said it has a way of finding someone who needs it. Anyway, here. I think it wants you."
Aster held out her hand, and Meaghan gasped in wonder when she saw the necklace.

I don't know much about jewelry or charms, but even I could tell that this was something amazing. The large round piece of amber with a flower imbedded inside glowed softly as Aster placed it around Meaghan's neck.
"There. See? I was right. It wants you. My dad said it's supposed to lead you to your heart's desire, but I discovered something more practical about it, when Val tried to fire blast me when I wasn't expecting it. It also protects you from spells. So Val won't be able to charm you again."
Meg looked so happy at that moment...

I was not prepared to see her face suddenly scrunch up into tears again. She turned to me with the saddest expression that I had ever seen.
"Meg? What's wrong, love? Everything's going to be fine now. Meg?"
"Nothing is fine. I just remembered something that makes everything not fine. It makes everything a giant mess," she sobbed, not meeting my eyes.
"Whatever it is we'll deal with it. I promise."
"I.. I'm.. pregnant..."

I was ready at that moment to change forms, and hunt Val down, and beat him to a pulp, but I needed to stay with Meg. I knew she needed me to be there for her more right now that ever before. But I had to ask..
"Did Val.. is the baby.. is it his?"
Wrong thing to say, I could see that the second the words left my stupid mouth. The tears started falling faster, and she began to turn away from me.

I gently turned her back around to face me.
"It's okay," I whispered softly, brushing away the tears. "I promised you I wasn't angry with you, and I meant it. We'll deal with whatever comes, together. And it could be mine, you know - remember the night in the hot spring before this all began?"
She smiled a little through her tears.
"I remember."

Then I took her in my arms and kissed her very thoroughly, not even minding that Aster was standing there watching. I never wanted to let her go, but soon we heard a commotion behind us.

Rudy had returned, and I was relieved to see, alone.
"Mmm.. baby. I see it all went as planned on this end."
"Mmmph"
 I deliberately kept my attention focused on Meaghan.
"Ma is gonna have your hide if she finds out about that, Rudy."
He came up for air long enough to answer.
"And you think she'd just gonna let you waltz off with Meg, now that you have her back?"
This was true. I hadn't figured out yet what I was going to do about that.

"Alrighty then. Listen up kids, I have it all worked out. The last phase of the plan. A way forward for you and Meg, and me and Aster. And for this part, I really need you, big brother."
I nodded. His plans were always crazy, but he had this way of catching me up in them, and they usually worked mostly as planned.
"I'm gonna challenge Ma for leader of the pack, and I need you to back me up. If we both face her, she'll have to back down."
I was right. It was a totally crazy plan.

"Well, are you coming?"
Rudy took Aster hand and started up the stairs. I looked at Meaghan and shrugged and held out my hand. She put her hand in mine, and we followed Rudy and Aster out into the night.