“Baba are you okay,” Circe called. The crone weakly lifted her hand in the air, giving the group a weak thumbs up as they glared at their preschool sized attacker.
“You’ll never defeat us,” the child sized fox cub shouted. “We shal never yield to the like of....HEY PUT ME DOWN!”
Circe, Katie, and Mary Elise stared in stunned silence as the giant wolf beast Fenrir now dangled the small fox cub by the scruff of his neck. “Ayami,” he asked. “You didn’t say their would be puppies here.”
“I’m not a puppy,” he screamed. “I’m a soldier of Yomi. You shall never defeat us.”
“Well you look like a puppy,” Fenrir mumbled. “Ayami I can’t hurt him even if he is a bad guy. He’s just a puppy. I mean look at him, he’s kinda cute. Can I keep him? I promise ill take good care of him.”
Circe smirked as Ayami, Claudia, and Mika now chuckled at their monstrous creature. “Ayami,” Circe said. “Is this the boy you were telling me about.”
Ayami nodded as she now placed a hand on Fenrir’s massive shoulder. “Whoa hold up,” Claudia exclaimed. “What do you mean boy? How is this guy.”
“I’m nine,” Fenrir proclaimed proudly. Claudia, Katie, Mary Elise, and Mika’s mouths dropped as they looked at the boy before turning to Ayami and Circe. “You turned a kid into THAT,” Mika exclaimed.
“Zack was dying,” Ayami proclaimed. “I wasn’t about to just let him die of cancer. This was the only way to save him.”
“Shhh Ayami code names,” Fenrir whined. “I can’t let the bad guys know who I am.” Ayami smiled at her young charge taking his free hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay Zack,” she said softly. “They, um, they helped us take out the bad guys. They’re on our side. Listen why don’t you change back to normal okay.”
“Okay,” Fenrir sighed. “But you should probably hold the puppy. He wiggles a lot and I wouldn’t want to see him hurt.” As Fenrir now handed the child sized fox to Circe the group watched as the wolf beast slowly shrank. Fenrir’s muzzle slowly retracted as his size decreased while his muscles thinned. Fenrir’s eyes slowly but surely transformed from a golden brown to blue once more as his dark fur vanished from his body. In only moments a very skinny 9 year old boy stood where a giant wolf beast had. “Hi I’m Zack,” the boy said cheerfully as he waved.
“Um Mika,” she said numbly. “This is Claudia.”
Claudia waved timidly, giving the small boy a weak smile. “Hi Zack,” she said. “Thanks for um saving me back there.”
Zack smiled, thanking the two college women before turning back to Ayami and Circe. Circe could only smile as she listened to the boy talk of the fun he had. Despite the child’s innocent nature, he appeared to have reveled in the brutality he delivered, believing that he was not only destroying evil monsters. While Circe would not corrupt the child’s innocent nature she would certainly use the child’s naivety to her advantage. Before she could say anything she noticed Lilith, Merlin, and the others emerge with a very dazed Jack, Kellie, And Mia returned to their original ages.
“Kellie are you okay,” Katie asked with concern.
“Ugh been better,” she replied rubbing her eyes. “My brain feels like it been through a blender.”
“Yomi’s Magic was quite powerful,” Hikari stated. “The children have been returned to normal as I promised. They will need some time to recover before they regain their full strength.”
“No thanks to you Kitsune,” Circe growled. “You dare show your face after what you have done.”
“Hikari assisted us Circe,” Lilith stated calmly. “She was not the one responsible for this attack. I have dealt with the guilty party and delivered divine justice. She and the rest of those abominations shall trouble us no more.”
Hikari growled at Liliths comments as the demon witch slowly assisted her son away from the manor. “Merlin,” Hikari said quietly. “A moment.” Merlin nodded as he guided his daughter towards her friends and away from Merlin. As Kellie now talked with her friends the Kitsune pulled Merlin to the side.
“I can not apologize more for the actions of my sister,” she said softly. “But Lilith can not be trusted. She insults my family, threatens them, she even went so far as to torture my parents by slaying their youngest daughter in front of them.”
“I know Hikari,” Merlin said solemnly. “I do not hold you personally responsible for Yomi’s actions. I am indebted to you for helping to save my daughter. And you are correct, Lilith can’t be trusted. However, my dealings and knowledge of her are quite limited. Trying to face her now would only lead to more death.”
“You are correct wizard,” Hikari sighed. “No move can be made now against her. You should know though that news of Yomi’s death will spread. Other Kitsune will not be as understanding, they may take action either here or in the other timeline.”
Merlin paled slightly as he took in Hikari’s words. Lilith May have inadvertently started a war that could spread to the other timeline and jepordize Kellies family. “I would suggest we meet soon Hikari,” he said. “In secret, we need to discern how far this will spread and if we can uncover any weaknesses in Lilith.” Hikari nodded, bidding Merlin and the others farewell before vanishing into the forest. As she did Merlin could only rub his chin thoughtfully as he gazed at not only Lilith and her family but his as well. While they may have proven victorious today, and possibly become allies in the process, they may have made some very powerful enemies. For now Merlin would need to bide his time.