Turn Turtle

By ChocolateEclar

To Danielle Oaks: More magic is on the way…

To Artemis Obscure: Yes, I HAD to add a cliffy. *laughs* Thanks for reviewing.

To elvis lives in my fridge: Will do. Thanks, fellow MCBC-er.

To Aj Riley: Hey, fellow MCBC-er! Thanks for the review!

Chapter 4: Awkwardness

A Quarter of a Mile from Thompkin Museum

April 6, 2020 A.D

It was difficult to pull Mathias to a sitting position, and even harder to wrap his arm around my shoulder so I could pull both of us to our feet. I nearly toppled over before Mathias grumbled one word:

“Augeo.” It was barely a whisper, but suddenly I felt my spine stiffen and strength to flood through my body.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Augeo, strengthen,” mumbled Mathias groggily. I could tell he passed out then. His head drooped against his chest, and his hair fell into his face, covering his eyes.

I dragged us both onto the muddy path to the museum. Then, I hopped off the lane and onto the grass, so I could carry Mathias around to the house in back. Praying no one would see us, I cursed at the mud splashing onto my weak coffee-colored coat.

Wincing as Mathias’s feet banged against the porch as I hauled him up the steps, I hoped the mud that was coming off his shoes wouldn’t make it look like I had dragged a dead body inside. He was just so much heavier than me though. I was only one hundred and nineteen pounds, and he was so solid and tall that I bet he was probably atleast one hundred and seventy pounds. Not in a fat way though. It was just because of his height and build.

I pulled off his shoes and hid them behind a chair on the porch. I towed Mathias into the house. Now, the really hard part: getting him up the stairs. I couldn’t leave him downstairs. My dad would see him and ask too many questions, but it was horrible hauling him up the staircase. One time, I had to save us both from coming tumbling down by snatching onto the railing and leaning forward, so my body was pressed against his. Red-faced for more than one reason, I finally reached the landing. I lay panting for a few moments before I managed to drag Mathias’s into my room.

It was strange seeing him lying on my bed, pale and unconscious. The sheets and comforter were leopard-spotted beneath him, and the walls were a pale green. As I was watching, his skin began to change to the same color as the walls and then darker.

What the heck? His limbs shortened and a round lump formed on his back. Hair vanishing, his eyes snapped open. “Bother…” he hissed. I was leaning against the far wall in panic. He shut his eyes tight and grunted as his body became far from human.

Lying on his shell on my bed was now a turtle about two feet long.  Rocking on his shell, he tried to get to his feet, but was thoroughly capsized.

I recognized that sea turtle. He was Carl. But at the same time, he wasn’t. He was really a very handsome man. Confused beyond belief, I whispered, “What the hell is going on?”

Carl – err – Mathias kind of sighed and gave up on trying to get off his shell by swaying. This was like…magic really – straight out of a fairy tale.

I swear Mathias-Carl gave me a tiny smile then. I mean, with turtles it’s kind of hard to read their expressions, but I know he grinned at me.

“What are you?” I whispered.

“Turtle Boy,” replied Mathias-Carl with a snide curl of his lips at my ceiling.

“Turtle Boy?” I repeated skeptically.

“Don’t ask,” said Mathias-Carl.

“I already did,” I noted.

Mathias-Carl turned thoughtful at that – or as thoughtful as possible with a turtle face. “Well, yeah…” he supposed, before breaking out in a teasing grin.

“What the hell is going on?” I groaned.

“Well,” Mathias-Carl explained, “it’s complicated.”

“Very specific,” I grumbled sarcastically.

Mathias-Carl laughed so hard he tipped over and fell off the bed and onto his feet. He settled on the floor and said, “Basically, I’m cursed to stay as a turtle in this town unless I manage to gather up enough strength to resist, as I do sometimes.”

“Uh huh,” I mumbled, stunned.

“Lilith cursed me when I angered her about forty years ago,” Mathias-Carl continued.

“Who is she exactly?” I asked, trying to take everything in as slowly as possible – otherwise I was likely to burst.

There was a long pause as he debated his response.

“She’s an enchantress,” said Mathias-Carl vaguely. “She told me, ‘For calling me an old hag’ ” – here I smirked – “ ‘you will be cursed to stay like that unless the following tasks are completed:

Befriend a fish,

Upon a shooting star make a wish,

And then you may speak again.

Gather five potatoes,

Eat them with tomatoes,

And then you are human once more.

For a time.

And when all is completed,

A kiss upon your lips in such a slimy form,

Is what will return you to your norm.’ ”

“Basically, it means you have to kiss me to stop my death,” he explained.

“That’s a horrible poem,” I replied.

“Of course. Lilith wrote it. Now, are you going to kiss me?” he asked.

“No.” I am not kissing a turtle! For all I know, he could have deserved to become one!

“Then, I’ll die,” Mathias grumbled.

“I don’t believe you,” I retorted.

“I’m doomed,” Mathias groaned.

“Can you turn back into a human or am I going to have to push you down the stairs like that?” I asked, quickly changing the subject.

Mathias sighed and said, “Give me a few hours up here like this and then I should be able to transform for a bit.”

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The Thompkin House

April 7, 2020 A.D

It was three in the morning and I was still awake and pacing. I had given up on sleep after Mathias left around ten. I was just too confused. Magic had been what I had craved for as a child. I adored stories where the girl was powerful, invincible.

Had Mathias been like that? Now, he certainly was far from it. He was weak, frail, and coughing up blood on occasion. I wanted to help, but giving him a kiss was not something I needed with my feelings so confused.

Mathias had told me his birthday was coming up in thirteen days from yesterday. “At midnight when that day arrives, I will die. As Lilith decreed, that will be forty years a turtle and my dying moment.”

Why was I so against kissing him then? I mean, he was hot and if one little kiss would save him…then things would work out well for both of us, right?

A slight sting on my wrist made me inspect my hand with the light of the moon coming through my curtains. The simple silver bracelet wrapped around it was the previous year’s birthday gift from Mamie Malachi. Dangling from a link in the chain was one pendant, a black cat. The tail of the cat was digging into my skin, causing the slight pain. Adjusting the bracelet so it wouldn’t hurt, I returned to my thoughts.

Laughing, Mathias had said, “I became friends with tons of the fish in that tank without even thinking about Lilith’s poem. None of them cared I was human. It was nothing like in the old days where some countries killed you on the spot if you were a wizard, witch, or stronger.”

“Were you ever caught?” I had queried. To my embarrassment, I was curious. This man fascinated me.

“Oh yeah,” Mathias chuckled. “After awhile, I let them catch me so I could use new ways to perform my magic to escape. It was all a game to me.”

“Weren’t you afraid the first time you were caught though?”

“Well, yeah,” he admitted. “But, er, my mother bailed me out.”

“Your mom?”

“Yeah, the Goddess Meinwen of Felines.”

“What was – is she like?” I queried. She was probably still alive being a goddess, but then, why hadn’t she helped her son when Lilith cursed him?

“Lilith betrayed her to her enemy, the Death God, and so my mother died,” sighed Mathias. So that was why…

“Oh, Mathias, I…” I didn’t know what to say.

Cheering up, he said, “You can call me Matt, you know. Besides, it’s all right. It’s been two hundred years since my mother’s death. I didn’t know it was Lilith’s doing until she whispered the truth in my ear before she cursed me though.” This Lilith sounded like a real bitch.

After a long silence, I decided to bring up a safe part of the poem. “So did you wish on a shooting star?” I questioned, fidgeting.

“Every chance I could,” replied Mathias – I mean – Matt. “Obviously I ate the potatoes and tomatoes together too.”

“Yeah,” I agreed weakly. Don’t say anything about the kiss… Don’t say –

“You know you want to kiss this great green skin,” teased Matt, walking on his little turtle feet towards me.

“Not a chance!” I hissed, blushing despite myself. Damn it.

And so, here I was, pacing long after he had gone back to the tank in the museum. The transformation back to human both thrilled and frightened me. There was something wild about it. And yet, he was wild like a tamed animal. I know that sounds weird, but go with it. Put it this way: like a tamed animal, he may look like you have him figured out and under your finger, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to bite the hand that feeds him.

And I had a feeling I was going to get bitten.

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A/N: Please review!