by S.J. Drew
clean. "Hey guys. I'm still working on all the references and appendices for my thesis and my professor wants some extra simulations run, just in case."
"Have you been spending a lot of time in the lab?" she asked sympathetically.
"Yeah, well, I am writing a thesis."
"You look like you're sick," she said.
"I don't feel good, but it's just stress, you know? My whole academic career is about to come down to one hour and three professors’ opinions."
"I'm sure you'll pass just fine."
He smiled wanly. "I'm sure you're sure. So, anyway, what are you doing in Cleveland?"
"We have a show! Downtown!"
"That's pretty cool. Where?"
"Fourth Street tomorrow night. I'll send you information and get you tickets."
"I don't have time for a show."
"You should take a break every now and then," she said. "It won't hurt."
"I'll think about it," he said.
"Okay, well, you did miss the last one. If you're going to miss this one, can we meet up for lunch Sunday before we head out again?"
"Sure, sure," he answered vaguely. "Listen, I need to get back to the lab. I'll see you tomorrow."
Maryann looked unhappy. "Okay, see you tomorrow."
Jason went back into the building and they slowly walked back to the Amasa Stone Chapel.
"He doesn't seem like himself," she sighed. "I'm sure he's under a lot of pressure, but I think he's been working too hard."
"Last time we see him he's slacking off playing some game," Nora said. "Now he's working too hard. Your brother needs to find a happy medium."
"He's met Isabella," Leah said.
The other three groaned. Then they heard a gravelly chuckle.
Isabella cast a spirit sight spell on herself and the rest of the band.
They could now see four spirits. Each was about five feet tall; three looked like angels and one looked like a gargoyle. The three angel spirits were also rolling their ethereal eyes while the gargoyle was obviously the one who was laughing.
"No one appreciates a good pun," Leah said.
"Well, not many," the gargoyle agreed. "It's nice to see you again."
"It's nice to see you too," Nora said.
"Do you have names we can call you by?" Maryann asked.
"Well, we don't have names as such, but we did pick something," answered the gargoyle spirit.
"I'm called Sabrina," said one angel spirit.
"I'm called Kris."
"I'm called Kelly."
"Let me guess," Maryann interrupted. She pointed at the gargoyle. "You're Charlie!"
"Very good," it said. "I thought about 'Bosley' since I'm actually interacting with them, but I liked 'Charlie' better."
"Why not Jill?" Maryann asked Kris.
Kris shrugged. "I liked Kris better. Jill was only there for one season anyway."
"Wait a minute. Charlie's Angels?" Nora asked.
They all nodded.
"Leah, you failed to catch a pop culture reference?"
"I think the woman named 'Maryann Ginger' is more likely to catch a reference to a campy '70s TV show than I am," Leah retorted.
“Actually, Gilligan's Island was a campy '60s TV show,” Maryann replied. “But Charlie's Angels was the '70s.”
Leah rolled her eyes.
"You were named after characters on Gilligan's Island?" Charlie asked.
She shrugged. "My parents loved that show."
"So, how are things working out for you?" Nora asked.
"Pretty good. There are just so many adorable cat videos!" Sabrina said.
"This internet is truly something amazing," Kris said.
"Also, we started our own guild and we're kicking all kinds of butts," Kelly said. "I think that's the right phrase. Human colloquialisms are difficult to master."
"But there is a problem," Charlie said. "It's not really your concern, but I do remember you mentioned you had a brother who attended this school."
"He still is, at least until this May if he passes his thesis defense," Maryann said.
"What's the problem?" Isabella asked.
"There is a darkness that has entered the boundaries," Sabrina answered. "We are trying to protect those within the boundaries."
"And I'm trying to keep the darkness out," Charlie added, "but somehow it bypasses my protections. I think the source of this darkness may be one of the students."
"Oh, no, poor Skipper," Maryann squeaked. "You think my brother is in danger?"
"All students are in danger right now," Kris said. "We know it appeared before the long winter break and is strongest on the full moon."
"Long winter break?" Isabella repeated. "So it showed up last semester. And is strongest on the full moon?"
"It's a werewolf," Leah said.
"How do you know that?" Nora asked. "That's just the most obvious answer. I'm sure there other possibilities. Right, Maryann, Isabella?"
The other two and the spirits exchanged glances.
"It is probably a werewolf," Charlie conceded. "We didn't want to frighten you by saying so directly. The angels tell me I am too blunt, so I was attempting to be tactful."
"Really?" Nora asked.
"I know, I'm not very good at it," it said.
"No, no, not that tact thing. I mean, there's really no other option for source of darkness on a full moon besides a werewolf?"
"Well, in theory, there could be other things," Maryann said.
Isabella sort of shrugged. "Sometimes the most obvious supernatural cause is actually the right one. Of course, we won't know unless we run into this werewolf."
"That's the kind of evidence I can do without," Leah said. "Unless one of you packs a gun and some silver bullets, we're likely to get torn apart."
"Yes, such creatures are very powerful," Kelly said. "This one we feel is new, however, and somehow drawn to this university. There are other spirits attempting to learn the source of the creature, and to protect the students."
"We do not think the creature was cursed with lycanthropy on the university grounds," Sabrina said. "We would have known about that sort of magic and our protection should prevent that from happening."
"We know this student does not live on-campus. But we are limited by the boundaries and so is our investigation," Charlie said.
"We'll figure this out," Maryann replied. "My brother may be in danger. And we're the only ones who can do this."
"Oh, so you have the gun and silver bullets," Leah said.
"Um, no."
Nora sighed. "Look, I don't want to sound like a total jerk here, but we aren't really qualified to hunt dangerous supernatural creatures and we have to roll out in two days for the next show."
"I can't leave Skipper here with some werewolf running around!"
"He's graduating in May. He won't be here that much longer," Leah said.
"Leah!"
"What? It's true."
"Ladies, ladies," Isabella interjected. "We'll do what we can in the two days we have. Maryann, I'm sorry, I know you're worried, but odds aren't good we'll find this thing and I don't know how we'll handle it if we do. Anyway, if there's no full moon, we've got almost no way to find this thing."
"Actually, tonight and tomorrow night will have full moons," Charlie said.
"Who's surprised? I'm not surprised," Leah said wryly.
"This happens every time," Nora sighed.
"Please, do not endanger yourselves," Sabrina said. "If you should be so unlucky as to run into this creature, do not attempt to fight it. Run away as fast as you can. We will protect the university. That is our job. It is not yours."
"But he's my brother!"
"Maryann, please, listen to the spirits," Isabella said.
Maryann looked like she was about to protest, but she crossed her arms angrily. "I'm going to at least try divination to figure out who it is. I don't know all the students here, but if
I can get a name or description, it'll help you, right?" she asked, addressing the spirits.
"Yes, a name would be best but a description would be helpful," Charlie answered.
"Perhaps, since this is a student, you may find information related to their year or major, which would also be helpful," Sabrina said.
"Come on," Isabella said. "Let's get some rehearsal time in and when the moon comes up you can try your divination, okay?"
"Okay," Maryann answered grumpily.
"We'll check in with you guys if we find anything," Isabella said. "And if we don't we'll at least try to stop by on Sunday before we head out of Cleveland."
"That sounds fine," Kris said. "But again, please be careful. Do not pursue this creature!"
The band led Maryann away, reluctantly, to their hotel and then managed to get through a few hours of rehearsal in which Maryann was clearly distracted. They finished up, had a quick and cheap dinner, and then Maryann pulled out her favorite tarot deck. The others watched mostly to see how Maryann would react.
"Um," she said after she'd thrown out the spread.
The others gathered around to look.
"I'm not surprised to see the Moon out there, but that's pretty literal," Isabella said.
"Translation, please," Leah said.
Maryann sighed. "Okay, I used a typical ten-card spread. The first card is the questioner but since I'm asking about someone else, this card is the person we're looking for, which is the Page of Pentacles. That's the student card."
"So the werewolf is a student at Case, which we already knew," Nora said icily.
Maryann glared at her. "The opposing force is the Moon. I'm asking about the identity of a werewolf, and that's like Isabella said - pretty literal."
"But the card even has two wolves on it. What else would it mean?" Leah asked.
"Actually, one's a dog and usually it means deception, which I guess it could still mean that since we don't know who's the werewolf," she replied.
"I thought divination wasn't supposed