He was lost in Jade's eyes and didn't hear Rachel rise to her feet beside him. She turned to Dan and slapped him in the face. Hard! He recoiled, thinking how cold her hand had been; it was the one she had been resting on Jade's shell.
"How could you!" Rachel screamed, almost sobbing. She advanced on him and he backed away. "What gives you the right to do this to someone?" She slamming her hands into his chest as if to drive the point home. Jade, sensing danger, pulled herself into her shell for safety.
"I...I" Dan stammered.
"What were you going to do to your sister...?" She asked shrilly
"I..I..don't.."
"What were you going to do to MEEE!?!"
"I've always loved you", Dan sputtered. Rachel stopped advancing for a second. "Well, you have a funny way of showing it!" She replied.
"I wouldn't have hurt you, you have to believe me." Dan pleaded. "I wanted to get revenge on Kat for turning me into a frog earlier tonight". "And as for Jade", he looked over at her seemingly empty shell and tears welled up in his eyes, "I wanted to punish her for all the bad things she and Kat ever did to me".
"Look at her!" Rachel threw a hand in the shells direction. "She's some kind of disgusting freak". "What will her family say if they see her like this?" One cautious eye oozed out from the shell followed by the other. "They'll call the government and some scientist will want to cut her up and..."
"I'm sorry", Dan yelled back. "I don't know what to say. It's like something in my head was goading me on. It made sense at the time and I felt like it was what I wanted, but now.."
"Now you're filled with nothing but remorse," Rachel fired back. "Wait a minute. How did your sister get that book in the first place?"
"She said something about inheriting the power for her eighteenth birthday".
"Interesting", Rachel mused to herself. She was cute when she was pondering. "Kat was pretty mean to you in the past, but I think turning you into a frog was a bit over the top".
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking", Dan asked. "Could there be something about the book that twists your desires and makes you do terrible things like our slimy friend over there?" Dan pointed at Jade, who was fully "extended" and inching her way across the grassy patch.
"Maybe". Rachel waited a full minute before saying anything else. The only sounds were crickets and the disgusting "slosh" "squish" Jade made as she moved. "We have to assume that the book is not safe in anyone's hands". She glared at Dan as she spoke. "We need to find your sister, and quick, before she hurts herself or, more likely, someone else. Where do we start?"
Dan scratched his head for a moment.