Brazen tilted his head, confused. “What do you mean? Your eyes are gray.” Chaiyn smiled slightly and shook his head. “Not really. They’re supposed to be blue.” “It’s because of his curse. He’s fading so his eye color changed a while ago. They’re a little bluer than my eye,” Elena put in helpfully, gesturing to her right eye. Brazen nodded and his eye color shifted from a silvery-gray to a turquoise blue. I wasn’t sure which creeped me out more - the real Chaiyn with gray eyes, or Brazen-pretending-to-be-Chaiyn with blue eyes. “Can you do me?” Elena asked the Shifter. He nodded and his features changed yet again. Elena’s jaw dropped as she stared at an identical clone of herself. “Woah.” Brazen laughed and shifted back into himself. Elena smiled. “Can you try Eddie?” Brazen blinked and frowned, but after a moment of concentration he shifted again. Elena’s jaw tried to tunnel through the floor as she stared at Brazen. “Oh wow. You do know her.” Brazen nodded and turned back into himself again. “Maya, I told you he and his sister had met them. That’s how they knew the Kaka Forest,” Chaiyn remarked from over by the bookshelves. He’d given up- sorry, /took a break/ from working on the counter-ring a few minutes ago and was back to writing in a notebook. “I know, Chaiyn, but I was checking to see if he remembered,” Elena retorted. “Why do you call her Maya, Chaiyn?” I asked. “Elena is our mom’s name. Let’s just say Chaiyn is not on good terms with her so he refuses to call me Elena. He calls me Maya ‘cause that’s my middle name,” Elena answered. “Thank you, but I can speak for myself,” Chaiyn muttered. “Which do you prefer, Maya or Elena?” I asked Elena. She thought for a moment. “Elena. Maya sounds like a little kid name. But this one isn’t going to stop and it’s not worth arguing over,” she said, elbowing her brother. “Hey! I don’t treat you like a little kid,” he protested. “I know. Brazen, can you do a barn owl? But I’m eight years younger than you and I don’t like it,” Elena retorted, talking to Brazen while arguing with Chaiyn. “Do I act like you’re eight years younger? No! Besides, you don’t seem like you’re eight years younger and certainly don’t act like it. And another thing, you’re only seven years younger right now.” Brazen, who was now a barn owl at Elena’s request, flew over to the bookshelf behind the siblings and perched there, watching their argument with as much of an amused expression as his owl head could pull off. “Close enough. You’re basically sixteen,” Elena snapped back. “Not quite. I might be in a few weeks,” Chaiyn said, clearly accepting defeat but putting up a fight nonetheless. The clearing fell silent as the meaning of Chaiyn’s sentence spoke in. /I might be in a few weeks./ I realized Chaiyn had no confidence that he would be able to break his cursed ring in time. I didn’t know whose fault it was, but Chaiyn needed to snap out of it and believe in himself if he wanted any chance at actually being sixteen. A soft gasp came from the corner, and five heads turned towards Shadow. She looked up, one of Chaiyn’s notebooks with a black cover in her hand. I’d seen enough books with that color cover to know that it was one about his past. “Sorry,” Shadow whispered. “It’s just… your family is so /cruel/, Chaiyn.” He nodded. “I know.” She looked skeptically at the next page. “They wrote you a letter?” He nodded again, more hesitantly this time. “Yeah. Nothing important.” “It’s from Dad and it said that Chaiyn is a curse to this family and shouldn’t have been born. Everything along those lines. Very friendly,” Elena put in sarcastically. “/Maya!/” Chaiyn hissed. “What? They deserve to know,” Elena told him indignantly. “Wow. That’s harsh. I’m sorry you had to grow up with that,” Shadow said quietly, gently sliding the notebook back into place. The warning bell for dinner tolled three times. “We should head back,” Harlow admitted. Chaiyn nodded. “As soon as you finish your homework tomorrow, meet me here. Bring Shadow and yourself, along with Wolf and whoever else wishes to come. We’re going to stop this monster,” he told Harlow. She nodded and waved to Brazen the barn owl, who glided over, turned into a red dragonet mid–flight, and landed on her shoulder. Shadow followed the two of them out, and I stopped in the doorway. “How’s the ring coming?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. “Not good,” Chaiyn replied bitterly, closing his notebook and picking up said work-in-progress. “He’s already chucked it at a tree at least five times,” Elena called from a bookshelf by the green hourglass. I did not like how close that was getting to empty on the top half. “/Maya!/” Chaiyn hissed again. His hand holding the ring-in-progress flashed in and out of existence and he snarled. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself and Elena walked over to put a hand on his shoulder. (cont. below)
(Story cont.) I smiled. “Let me know if you need any help.” Chaiyn nodded. “After classes. Tomorrow. Here.” I nodded. “See you there.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes/Credits: If you're reading this, you probably know I wrote The Wolf Boy. Well, here's the sequel: The Monster's Curse. This is Chapter 23 Pt 2. Previous Chapter(s): Chapter 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/652476202/ Chapter 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/652950608/ Chapter 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655177024/ Chapter 4: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655177565/ Chapter 5: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655621072/ Chapter 6: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/656955201/ Chapter 7: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657580423/ Chapter 8: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657583863/ Chapter 9: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657586191/ Chapter 10: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657668860/ Chapter 11: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/658404211/ Chapter 12: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659115920/ Chapter 13: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659116659/ Chapter 14: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659117186/ Chapter 15: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659420154/ Chapter 16: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/661425573/ Chapter 17: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/661428771/ Chapter 18: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/661974554/ Chapter 19: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/662108449/ Chpt 20 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/663144219/ Chpt 20 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/663156194/ Chapter 21: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/663760516/ Chpt 22 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/674644356/ Chpt 22 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/674648505/ Chpt 22 Pt 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/674658226/ Chpt 23 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/683757147/ Credits: Me, for being the author Shannon Messenger, JK Rowling, Eoin Colfer, and many other authors for inspo @aqua_di_angelo, @AL600AWESOME, @Lanze_cupcake_face11, and @Yayabinks for inspo and supporting the story! QOTC: Do you think Chaiyn will be able to make the counter-ring successfully?
