Path Into the Darkness
Part Four: WilyKit
When night passed into morning, the sleeping WilyKit awakened, stretched, and reached for the expected presence of her midnight lover. When all she felt beside her was the mattress, she opened her eyes wide and rolled over, only to have it visually verified. “He’s gone?” she whispered to herself. “But where did he go? Why?” she wondered. She glanced around the room, but there was no sign of him there. A quick look at the floor confirmed that his robe and nightclothes were gone as well.
Fighting back a wave of turbulent emotion, WilyKit climbed out of bed and quickly dressed. She knew there had to be an explanation for Darkail’s sudden disappearance, and she needed to speak to him now more than ever. She knew without a doubt that he was the Lunatac she had dreamt about, and that she and he had a past and apparently a relationship during her missing time. He was the key to regaining her memory and she wanted to ask him about it as soon as possible.
In her haste to make herself presentable, she tripped over Grune’s journal, which still lay upon the floor from where she had dropped it the night before. She paused for a moment, picked it up, and glanced at the page it was opened to. The former Thundercat’s handwritten passages detailed some intense venting of angry feelings, mentioning Kalin and how angry he was at her for her manipulative behavior when he had gone to visit her at the club. Grune had not been able to understand why Kalin enjoyed playing head games with him, and it apparently bothered him even more so that he let her get to him at all. WilyKit found herself relating to that all too well with how she felt at the moment, especially with the way Darkail had been so charming and attentive the night before only to leave her cold in the morning with no explanation.
WilyKit scowled and slammed the journal shut, and then placed it upon the nightstand beside her bed. “Kalin’s not the only Lunatac who likes to jerk Thundercats around,” she muttered as her irritation at Darkail began to increase exponentially with each passing moment. If Darkail was the man she remembered, why had he not said anything to her before last night? Why not when they met, unless there was something more going on than he wanted her to know? What kind of sick game is he playing with me, anyway, she thought angrily. WilyKit pulled on her footwear and then stormed out of the room, intent on finding the hunter and asking him that.
The quiet and pleasant breakfast atmosphere in the dining room was shattered when the irate WilyKit walked in, and upon seeing that Ambassador Darkail was not present, wordlessly took her seat at the table. The Thundercat’s expression reflected her mood, and the others seated at the table—Snarfer, Selene, Psiarik, Alluro, Jackalman, and Vultureman—stared at her with everything from concern, in the case of Snarfer, to amusement from the Mutants. The uncomfortable silence continued for a long moment, until Snarfer swallowed the mouthful of freshly baked muffin he had just taken and addressed her. “Snarfer snarfer, good morning WilyKit. How are you feeling?”
“Good morning,” she answered somewhat flatly, trying to rein in her foul mood enough to be polite. “To be honest, Snarfer, I’ve been better,” she told him, and then turned toward the section of the table where the Lunatacs present sat. “I need to speak with Ambassador Darkail as soon as possible. Do you know where I can find him?”
“I’m sorry, WilyKit, but he’s not here,” Psiarik answered her. “He left last night.”
“What do you mean, he left?” WilyKit asked, her voice shrill with emotion. This can’t be happening. He can’t just leave, not now, not when I finally start remembering, she thought desperately, fighting off a sickened feeling of realization as she realized that was probably why the hunter had disappeared so quickly. Why is he doing this to me? How can he just leave after last night, she wondered angrily.
Psiarik reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up note. “He left this on our table this morning,” he explained to WilyKit, handing her the note.
Selene nodded to confirm what her husband stated. “He said he had to take an extended leave of absence for personal business.”
WilyKit opened the note and read it silently. Due to personal reasons, I am unable to continue my duties as ambassador at this time. I humbly request an extended leave of absence during which time I can work out the circumstances forcing my leave and return when I am better suited for the responsibility. I realize the nature of my request is sudden and I hope that you will understand. I willingly accept any consequence of this, including the possibility of the position not being available upon my return. My deepest regrets, Darkail. WilyKit frowned. “What the hell does he know about responsibility anyway?” she grumbled angrily.
“That idiot,” Alluro muttered under his breath, although no one, including WilyKit, could hear exactly what he said.
“WilyKit? Is everything all right? Is there anything we could assist you with in his absence?” Selene offered.
“No,” WilyKit answered the Queen, using all the resolve she could muster to stay calm and fight back the tears that threatened to come out as she realized that her one chance at regaining her memory had vanished without a trace. “Not unless you can tell me where he went.”
“He didn’t say,” Psiarik told her. “He didn’t even mention where to have his mail sent.”
“Send it to Frostor, he has a pile of papers in his office anyway. He probably wouldn’t even notice a few more,” Vultureman cawed.
Jackalman chuckled and shook his head. “Nyah, just don’t give it to me. I have enough paperwork in this Ambassador position as it is. Ratar-O made me fill out stacks of it longer than he is wide.”
“That’s a lot of paperwork,” Psiarik remarked.
“You’re telling me,” Jackalman quipped back.
“What is it that you need Ambassador Darkail for anyway, WilyKit?” Snarfer questioned.
WilyKit sighed. “I remembered some stuff last night,” she told the snarf. “I used to know him. If I could talk to him, I think he can help me remember what happened to me while I was gone. But that doesn’t matter, and he didn’t want that I guess, because now he’s gone too,” she finished with a slight scowl as she stabbed her breakfast with her fork.
At that statement, Alluro shifted nervously in his seat. He realized that his suspicions that Darkail’s proximity to her would spark her memories were not only well founded but quickly turning into reality. He also knew that given how concerned Selene appeared to be about the Thundercat Ambassador, that neither she nor Psiarik would be terribly pleased if they were to find out that he had a hand in withholding her memories from her, and that he had said nothing about it even though it was now affecting them all directly. Just what did that idiot hunter do to spark her memory, anyway? And why did he have to drag me into his mess? Alluro wondered angrily. He picked at his food, his appetite suddenly gone. He decided it was a good thing for Darkail that he had decided to run off, because otherwise, the hypnotist would have been sorely tempted to thrall him into something painful and humiliating out of spite.
Selene was quite unaware of her father-in-law’s nasty thoughts toward the missing Ambassador as she gave WilyKit’s situation some thought. “Hmm, we can check with some of the night staff to see if he said anything to them before he left.”
Psiarik suddenly turned toward Alluro. “You know Darkail pretty well, did he say anything to you about leaving or where he was going?”
Alluro forced a neutral expression. “Not a word.” That much was true, although he hoped the conversation would not be taken any further.
“Well I’m sure we’ll hear something sooner or later,” Selene assured WilyKit. “And if there is anything else we can do, please let us know.”
WilyKit nodded appreciatively. “Thanks, but I really don’t know what else you could do.” She pushed her mostly unfinished breakfast aside. “Do you mind if I just go somewhere quiet for a while? I think I need to be alone.”
“Sure,” Psiarik told her. “Try the library. Frostor’s always using that for a quiet place to do his work or reading. If he’s not there, it’d be a good place to relax.”
“Are you sure you’ll be all right, WilyKit?” Snarfer asked, rubbing the last crumbs of his muffin off of his paws.
“Thanks,” WilyKit said to Psiarik, and then turned toward Snarfer. “I’ll be fine, Snarfer. I just need some time to think.”
With that she said a polite goodbye and walked out of the room. She made her way down the hallway she vaguely remembered the library being from her initial tour of the building, and eventually found it behind a tall and arched wooden door that bore the Lunatacs’ crescent moon symbol. The room had a high ceiling, and was full of more books than she could count on shelves that went from floor to ceiling. On the southern corner of the room there was a huge bay window that let in a lot of light, and in the center of the room was a heavy wooden table with several very comfortable-looking chairs around it. To her dismay, however, the library was not empty. Sitting at the table, leaning over a large volume and engaged in some form of heated discussion, were Luna and Frostor. WilyKit noticed that Amok was nowhere to be seen, which struck the Thundercat as odd, as she had never recalled seeing Luna without her guardian before. When she walked in, both Lunatacs looked up.
“Hello,” Frostor greeted WilyKit. Luna simply made a contemptuous face at her.
“I didn’t realize anyone was in here. Sorry, I’ll just go somewhere else—” WilyKit began, but Frostor cut her off before she could say anything more.
“No, stay, I insist.”
“What?” Luna grumbled, clearly displeased with the icewalker’s show of hospitality.
“WilyKit, you’re an ambassador of peace, so you’re welcome anywhere here. Have a seat,” Frostor offered, while Luna sulked in silence. Selene had earlier made it clear to Luna that if she had nothing nice to say to either of the ambassadors, then she wanted her to say nothing at all. Although she did not particularly want to, Luna decided to humor Selene, at least while Frostor was around, since he would probably rat her out anyway. Although she and Frostor were friends, he had a similar irritating honorable streak much like Selene had.
Frostor noticed the troubled expression on WilyKit’s face as she took the offered chair. “Bad morning?” he questioned.
WilyKit nodded. “I don’t suppose you two have any idea where Darkail left to, do you? I needed to talk to him about something.”
The ice general shook his head. “Not a clue. Darkail is somewhat unpredictable. He keeps to himself most of the time, and doesn’t really say much about his personal life. He’s pretty aloof.”
Luna let out a snort of amusement. “All those hunters are weird and aloof, if you ask me.”
Luna’s comment made WilyKit curious. “Why do you say that, Luna? Was Kalin like that?”
The tiny lunar woman was stunned at the mention of her long gone colleague’s name. “Kalin? You know about Kalin?”
“I read about her,” WilyKit explained. “A few weeks ago when we were excavating the ruins of old Cat’s Lair back on New Thundera, I found something interesting in the rubble, the journal of Grune the Mighty, or as he was known after all of his crimes, Grune the Destroyer. I’ve been reading through it, and I found entries that mention not only you and the other Lunatacs that were on Third Earth, but a hunter named Kalin who worked for you.”
Frostor thought for a moment. “You know, I remember from back when I wrote my thesis on you, Luna, reading a bit about her. No records of family in the area, although I assume that was because she was from Serilune. She worked for you for a year or so and had an affair with Grune the Destroyer. She was fatally shot evading arrest after King Lunaro put out a warrant for the arrest and capture of your group for treason. Kalin was the only one who didn’t escape. I never was able to find out too much about her aside from that though.”
“Nobody knew much about her,” Luna stated. “Kalin wasn’t one to talk about her life outside of her assignments. She was an excellent assassin, though. Calm under pressure, very cunning, and quite deadly. She also knew how to keep her mouth shut when need be. I held a great deal of respect for her for that.”
“Really?” WilyKit said, interested. “What was she like? Was she like Darkail?” Frostor also looked toward Luna, waiting to hear the answer.
It struck Luna as odd to be discussing her past on the Moons with a Thundercat, but she rattled on anyway, for if there was one thing Luna liked it was to talk and be listened to. “Somewhat. Like I said earlier, she and Darkail had things in common that most hunters do. Like him, she was secretive and never brought up the past or where she came from, or what it was like to live in Serilune with the hunters, almost as though it were some secret to not be shared among those who weren’t born and raised among them. She was very intelligent and conniving, a trait which the Ambassador also appears to have, and she could be very charming if she wanted to, again, like Darkail.”
“Yeah, and they both also get off on playing head games with Thundercats,” WilyKit said with more than a trace of sarcasm.
“What do you mean?” Frostor asked.
“That’s why I’m looking for him,” WilyKit explained to the two elder Lunatacs. “It turns out that I know him, and that I met him in my missing time. I assume Selene mentioned my memory loss to you?”
Frostor and Luna both nodded an affirmative. Luna then put two and two together, and met the Thundercat’s eyes curiously. “So is Darkail your child’s father, then?”
“You know about that, too?” WilyKit said, somewhat surprised and embarrassed. She supposed she should have expected that after the fiasco the night before. She had not asked Selene to keep the matter quiet, and it made sense that the Lunar Queen would have told others in the Tower to ensure that she was well taken care of in her condition. Besides, how long could such a thing really be kept a secret, anyhow? “Yes, he is. I am almost sure of it,” she told them. If nothing else, maybe Luna would be able to offer her some insight, although it struck her as utterly ridiculous that she was speaking with someone like her on such a matter. “I had some more... nightmares... last night, after the first episode, and that time Darkail was the one who found me. He calmed me down and took me to bed.”
“I’ll bet he did,” Luna remarked dryly. Frostor shot her a warning look, but WilyKit did not seem fazed by the comment and continued.
“Anyway, I wanted to ask him some questions, and maybe get some real answers about my missing time, but unfortunately he chose now to disappear.” She paused, and then settled back in the chair a bit. “Anyway, I’m sure the two of you don’t care about my problems, so I won’t bore you with anything else.”
“Not at all,” Frostor reassured her. “Things like this don’t happen every day around here, and it’s always a nice change of pace when something interesting goes on.”
As Frostor answered WilyKit, Mumm-Ra and Torlei chose that moment to seek out WilyKit again, and target her for another faux ghostly attack. They were invisible and inaudible to the three living individuals in the room as they teleported in, but they could see and hear one another, and they were fully aware of everything that was going on. Mumm-Ra grinned evilly and turned toward his bride. “It’s a pity WilyKit is not alone, but perhaps we should show that Ice Lunatac just how interesting we can make things? It might make them question how safe it is to keep that Thundercat around their peaceful home,” he suggested with a sneer.
Torlei met his gaze and laughed. “That sounds delightful, darling.” She focused her powers and levitated a large book off of a top bookshelf, allowing it to hover in the air for a moment before she dropped it with a resounding thud in the center of their table.
“What in the Moons—?” Frostor exclaimed. “How did that happen?”
“Gravity?” an equally shocked Luna suggested.
“Gravity knocked a book securely on a shelf across the room onto a table several feet away, without so much as a breeze in the room?” he replied incredulously.
Luna rolled her eyes and fought back a nervous feeling forming in her stomach. “Well, what else could it be?”
WilyKit felt an awful sense of déjà vu just as the terrible, cold hand from the night before made its presence known on the back of her neck. “Oh no… not again,” she murmured. Her entire body tensed at the revolting alien touch.
Frostor immediately noticed the change in WilyKit’s demeanor. “WilyKit? What’s happening?”
While Mumm-Ra was using his icy invisible hands to frighten the Thundercat senseless, Torlei positioned herself beside Luna and drew on all her reserves to summon enough power to solidify her invisible arm. “Mumm-Ra dear, I can’t tell you how long I have wanted to do this,” she said, and backhanded Luna right across the face. Luna shrieked at the sudden blow as she was knocked clear across the room. Torlei cackled in cruel delight. “That smug bitch has had that one coming for years.”
Frostor hurried to Luna’s side and helped her up into one of the chairs. “Luna! What happened?”
Meanwhile WilyKit reached her limit of the horrible clammy touch of her ghostly assailant. She leapt out of the chair, but of course Mumm-Ra followed her so she was not able to escape it. “Stop touching me!” she screamed desperately. Mumm-Ra grinned and slid his deathly cold hands from her neck down along her back, tracing the contours of her spine.
Luna looked around, but saw no one there but Frostor and WilyKit. “This is insane!” the furious and more than a bit frightened lunar woman screamed. “What’s going on? Someone hit me! And what is that Thundercat screaming about?”
WilyKit flailed about madly, trying to brush the invisible hand off of her in vain. “Stop it, leave me alone!”
“Never!” a sinister voice, Mumm-Ra’s in disguise, boomed throughout the room in a thundering echo. To emphasize the point, Torlei caused books to fly off the shelves as rectangular projectiles aimed at the three living individuals in the room. Frostor saw the incoming barrage and shouted a warning to duck, and they barely avoided some serious bruises as the stack of books collided with the floor, chairs, and table around them.
“What do you want?” WilyKit demanded of the invisible tormenter.
“Vengeance. You will pay for what you did, you will all pay!” Mumm-Ra’s disguised voice answered, echoing off the high ceiling.
Torlei then took the opportunity to slap Luna again, this time striking her right in the eye. Her reading glasses fell off her face from the blow, and she reached around her to retrieve them as she rubbed her reddened eye. “Damn you!” she screeched angrily. “Frostor, find Amok! I need him!”
Frostor got to his feet and headed toward the intercom when some of those in the Tower, who had heard the commotion from down the hall, came in through the door. The first to arrive were the 2 children, Erissa and Silvian, who had been in a playroom a few doors down. Erissa’s eyes widened in fear as she took in the scene of WilyKit shrieking and flailing, and the flustered Luna screeching from being slapped around by the unseen force. The toddler Silvian clung to the older child and whimpered, frightened silent by the scene. Selene, Psiarik, Alluro, and Snarfer arrived a few moments later, having heard the commotion in the dining room. Upon seeing all the new visitors, Mumm-Ra and Torlei withdrew into the background to watch the scene unfold before doing anything else.
“What's going on?” Selene demanded, and ran over to help Luna. “Aunt Luna, are you all right?”
Psiarik leaned over and picked up little Silvian in an effort to calm him, while Erissa ducked behind her much older brother. The psi looked around the room suspiciously and immediately got the sense of an evil presence in the area. Although the supernatural activity had stopped, his innate psi senses still detected the sinister force lurking in the air. Instinctively he held his young son tighter and kept a watchful eye on the bookshelf.
Vultureman approached the doorway, having heard the screams and crashes from the floor below. “Cawww, what is going on up here? I can’t concentrate with all this racket!” the Mutant exclaimed.
Chilla, who had answered Frostor’s call for Amok, approached from behind Vultureman with the brute in tow. She pushed past Vultureman and glared angrily, her gaze falling upon the distraught WilyKit and the equally upset Luna as Amok went over to comfort his tiny mistress. “Don't tell me that you two got into a brawl,” Chilla said incredulously.
“No, we didn’t. But I think this is my fault,” WilyKit said softly. “They’re after me. This is what happened to me last night too.”
“I thought you said you had a nightmare last night,” Selene said.
Snarfer jumped up on the table and put a comforting hand on WilyKit’s arm. “But how could this be your fault? Brrrr, I don’t understand.”
Luna narrowed her eyes at WilyKit as Amok placed her atop his back, patting her affectionately as he set her into place. “And if it wasn’t a nightmare, what did happen last night?” Luna demanded.
WilyKit sat down in a chair and buried her face in her hands, searching for the words to explain what had happened the night before without looking like she had completely lost it. “I did have a nightmare last night, the first time I woke up. That was when all of you found me. But after that, I woke up again, even later. I’m not sure how much later, but it was long after the rest of you went back to sleep,” she explained. “At first I thought it was just another dream. I woke up out of a sound sleep from what felt like a shock, and I heard these horrible, evil voices. I thought I was just imagining it, that maybe my mind was playing tricks on me after reading about Grune, but then I saw this disgusting corpse appear at the foot of my bed. It was so realistic and frightening that I just ran to the bathroom to clear my head. And then…” her voice began to choke up as she recalled the worst of the previous night's events.
“Go on,” Frostor urged her. “What else did you see?”
“Something started touching me. I don’t know what it was, and there was no one in the room with me… but this cold, clammy hand, like what the one on that corpse I saw would have felt like, started touching me.”
“A hand appeared out of nowhere and just started touching you?” Luna repeated.
“No, the hand didn’t appear,” WilyKit corrected her. “I didn’t see it. I just felt it.”
Alluro, who had been silent up to that point, frowned as he turned toward the Thundercat. “Did you recognize the corpse you saw? Was it someone you knew?” His tone hid the suspicion he harbored as to what she had actually seen and why, but he asked anyhow, mostly to get a validation to confront Darkail with when the hunter finally returned.
“Maybe Grune, like you said, you were reading about him,” Selene suggested.
“It wasn’t Grune,” WilyKit said with a shake of her head. “I couldn’t recognize it. I don’t even know if it was male or female, or what species it was. But I don’t think it was Grune. That horrible voice… it wasn’t Grune’s. It was cold, evil, and insane… but not Grune.”
“Then are you trying to say this place is haunted?” Vultureman cawed in disbelief.
“Haunted?” Erissa repeated, startled. “With ghosts?”
Chilla hissed an irritated frost into the air. “There’s no ghosts here,” she snapped in her child’s direction. She glared at both Vultureman and WilyKit for putting such a notion into the girl’s head, as she would be the one to have to listen to it if she went to bed afraid of the dark.
Psiarik frowned. “No, there’s something going on,” he said quietly. “There was some kind of presence in here when I first came in, it was subtle, but—”
“You’re not a trained empath,” Chilla rasped. “So maybe you were mistaken.” She glared at him meaningfully, not appreciating being undermined in her attempt to keep the children calm.
Selene looked to WilyKit again. “What else happened after the, whatever it was, touched you?”
“It became more violent,” the Thundercat continued. “It struck me, and knocked me onto the floor. Then I started hearing this other voice, telling me that if I relaxed and let it take control it could make it all stop and go away. I didn’t know what to do or what to believe. But then Darkail came in—I guess he heard me arguing with the voices—and all of a sudden it just stopped. I had thought it was just a really vivid dream, but now…” she fought back tears, losing her battle to not break down yet again in front of her Lunatac hosts.
No one quite knew what make of her explanation, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Vultureman made an expression indicating that he thought WilyKit was bonkers, while Selene reacted more sympathetically.
The latest bit of information puzzled even Alluro, for while he could see a mind block causing hysteria or delusions, something that transmuted into the physical realm was something else entirely. Especially the last bit she “imagined”, of the spirit asking to take over her. “Something asked you to let it take over your body?” he asked. “That sounds like an attempt at possession. A spirit can not easily enter and control another’s body without at least a small degree of consent.”
Vultureman was not impressed that the Lunatacs appeared to be taking the Thundercat’s story seriously. “Are you saying you’re buying into this ghost nonsense?”
“Well it certainly wasn’t the wind that threw me across the room,” Luna snapped at the vulture.
Chilla fixed her gaze upon Alluro. “You believe this?”
“I’m just saying that’s what it sounds like,” he said, putting up a hand in protest. “I wouldn’t believe anything without proof.”
“It smacked me so hard I fell out of my chair!” Luna screeched. “What more proof do you need?”
“It’s proof that whatever it is, it has taste,” Alluro muttered under his breath.
“This is ridiculous,” Vultureman cawed. “We’ve all been here for years and haven’t seen anything like this before. Not until she came here anyway.” He gestured to WilyKit.
“Maybe that’s it,” Psiarik said thoughtfully. “WilyKit, you've been the focus of these… events. Maybe it's more accurate to say that you’re haunted. Something was here, although I can’t really sense it now.” He strained to see if he could get any sort of psychic vibe, but Mumm-Ra and Torlei were easily obscured with their magic from the prying presence of an untrained psi.
Frostor eyed WilyKit carefully for a moment before turning to the group as a whole. “Whatever it was, it said it wanted vengeance. What do you think that means for us?”
It wants vengeance? Alluro mused, struck with the realization that the situation with WilyKit and Darkail might have advanced to a level that he did not even expect. Darkail had told him all the details of what he made WilyKit forget, as it was necessary for him to be able to do the mind block most effectively. In light of what he had been told, it was not that surprising that the feline was being haunted by a vengeful soul. From what he knew, there was at least one spirit that would have a very legitimate reason to hate her enough to seek retribution from beyond the grave. Something has to be done about this, and soon, he thought. Then an idea occurred to him, one that could possibly eliminate the problem without involving a removal of the block and the subsequent uncomfortable explanations. He stepped forward. “If this is some form of haunting, then there is something we can do.”
“Throw her out so she takes the ghosts with her?” Luna grumbled.
“Aunt Luna, that is not an option,” Selene chastised her relation. “We do not evict Ambassadors of peace.”
“Do you mean an exorcism?” Psiarik asked, and Alluro nodded an affirmative.
At that statement, Vultureman could not hold back any longer. “An exorcism? Caw, are you even listening to yourselves? Didn’t we have enough of this supernatural magic mumbo jumbo all those years we spent being jerked around by Mumm-Ra? With all due respect, Queen Selene, maybe you should reconsider sending this basket-case Thundercat home, so they can put her in the loony bin where she belongs!”
“I’m not crazy,” WilyKit stated defensively, but at that point she was not sure she even believed it fully anymore. Too many things were starting to indicate otherwise.
“Cool it, Vultureman,” Frostor warned, exhaling a thin icy mist as he thought about everything that had been said. “Besides, even if WilyKit were crazy, it wouldn’t explain what just happened in here before the rest of you came. Luna and I witnessed and experienced the phenomena too.”
Selene frowned and glanced at the two psis in the room. “But if we were to do an exorcism, who would do it? Isn’t that a ceremony only done by the psi healers and clerics on Mirindet? Even if I ordered them to do so, I doubt they would be eager to leave the Fourth Moon to come here and perform the rite for a non-Lunatac, and a Thundercat at that. No offense intended, of course,” she added, turning for a moment toward WilyKit.
“None taken,” WilyKit replied tiredly.
Psiarik shrugged. “I don't really know much about that sect. I wasn’t raised on Mirindet. I grew up here. What about you, Dad, you lived there for a while, right? Do you know if they’d do it?”
Alluro shook his head. “They might, but it’s hard to say. The clerics are an aloof bunch, very set on tradition and ceremony. Not all of them are trained to do exorcisms, either. I think that is left to a select few very high in the order. It would take some time to get one of them to come here, even if they were willing to assist a Thunderian.”
“What about on New Thundera?” Frostor asked WilyKit. “Perhaps your family or fellow Thundercats could find and send someone to you.”
Snarfer nodded in agreement. “I think that would be a good idea, snarfer snarfer.”
My family... like who, my parents? WilyKit thought bitterly. The parents whose names I don’t even know? My only real family by blood is WilyKat. She sighed as she debated whether or not her brother or the other Thundercats should be contacted. She knew how worried they all had been prior to her departure to the Third Moon, and they had not even heard the worst of her news yet. But if anyone would support her, it would be WilyKat, and she knew she could count on him to come and give her a big hug and tell her things would be all right no matter how dire things got. “Yes, call them,” she decided finally.
Selene nodded and left to place the call, while the others just stood around awkwardly trying to figure out what to say to one another. Snarfer leaned against WilyKit reassuringly. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it all out and stop it, snarfer snarfer. Yep, we sure will!”
The distressed Thundercat offered her snarven friend a weak smile back, but she was not so sure that figuring out what was going on and stopping it before it broke her entirely was possible any longer.
* * *
“We make convincing ghosts,” Mumm-Ra chuckled in the shadows to his bride. “Did you hear? They want to exorcise us now.”
“Well in all fairness, darling, I am essentially a ghost at present, so I should be able to get that act right,” Torlei answered with a wicked grin.
“Getting something right, that would be a first,” Mumm-Ra murmured, fixing his scarlet eyes on the scene of worried Lunatacs and company in front of him.
Her amusement changed to a scowl when she heard him, but she let the remark slide. “What shall we do now, then?”
Mumm-Ra studied the group for a moment, and then turned toward her. “We wait… and while they’re so busy warding off the boogeyman, we will strike again while their guard is down. The Thundercat is weakening with each attack. If there are no interruptions, you should be able to finally possess her body once and for all the next time we strike.”
“And then we’ll go on a rampage and destroy them all,” Torlei finished with a cruel laugh. Mumm-Ra joined her in her laughter, and then two of them vanished from the room completely.
Back to Fanfic Archive