I stepped away from him and held Kassie’s underwear up high. “You can’t have it.”
Lucien held up his hands in surrender. “I don’t want your girlfriend’s underwear, man. I’m trying to figure out what is going on because I am lost.”
I felt red glowing eyes all around me, and I stared back. With my tall form, I stood over them all. I shoved the panties back into my pocket, and I squealed loudly. “She is mine, do you understand me? No one can talk to her.”
“The fuck is going on?” One of them said from the back. “Atlas is usually quiet.”
Amos was sitting at the table. His lunchbox was open, and he was digging around to find something to eat. “It's that magic, guys. Remember? Those witches said having that much magic cloaking him extra at night might be too much. Kassie is able to touch his face, and it would feel more human, too. It’s all too much.” Amos shook his head and pulled out an apple.
He was right. It had been several days, almost a week, since I'd had so much magic running through my body. Was I at my breaking point? I felt like everyone wanted her. The way they kept asking about her, it felt like they were trying to take her from me, or her underwear.
My wings fluttered behind me, stretching wide to show how large I was. I wanted them to see that I was stronger, more powerful, and that they shouldn’t even think about looking her way or challenging me because I would destroy them if I had to. My arms were bigger than their tiny torsos.
I’d squish their big booty asses to make their hearts explode.
“Whoa, so pretty!” A sweet voice said behind me. I knew that voice, the voice that had haunted me since the moment I heard her. Her scent followed me everywhere.
She has opened me up to a world I never would have known because of her. She saw me, came after me, and didn’t care if I was… different.
My wings dropped, and I turned to see her. This was do or die.
Wasshemy match? She had to be, I don’t know what sort of male I would be if she wasn’t.
As I turned, everything slowed down like in those cheesy romance films Kassie forced me to sit through. The room darkened dramatically, except for a single beam of light that somehow found her face among the crowd, illuminating her features as if she were the only person worth seeing.
She really was the light I gravitated toward.
Kassie's gaze fixed on something beyond me—a swirling darkness materializing from thin air. A flash of light cut through the gloom, and suddenly, elongated tentacles seized her, wrapping first around her eyes, then sealing her mouth. Within seconds, her entire form disappeared beneath coils of ashen, rope-like tendrils.
Kassie’s voice was muffled until the sickening voice of the mayor spoke. “Sleep and awaken in darkness.” His head came from above the fog of darkness, and the room cleared, showing his form.
Kassie’s body went still.
I felt the tiny fangs in my mouth lengthen, the claws on my fingers grew. My wings spread, and my body grew rigid.
Mine.
“Calm yourself, Atlas. I have saved you from what you are not ready for. Your reveal.”
I screamed loudly. The entire room ducked and covered their ear holes. Even the Slenderman took a step back, taking my female, who was nothing but a rag doll in strings.
The mayor shook his head. “Be still and shut that mouth!” he snapped. “Elowyn, get in here!”
My heart pounded, my vision tunneled to where Kassie was being trapped under the mayor’s force.
“Let her go,” I snarled.
Elowyn, the witch who had been helping me with the many magic spells placed on me, stepped closer, her eyes wide with surprise. "Atlas, what's happening?" she asked, looking from me to the mayor and then to Kassie, bound, lying limp in the Slenderman’s arms.
"He's losing control," the mayor said, his voice echoing unnaturally in the room. "The magic is too much for him. You need to stabilize him, get rid of the layers of magic, or he'll be lost to the monster within. Who knows what he will do to her, to the rest of us?"
Elowyn nodded, her face pale but determined. She chanted, her hands weaving a complex pattern in the air. A soft glow emanated from her fingers, casting eerie shadows on the walls.
I felt a tug at my core, the magic within me responding to her spell. It was like a cool balm spreading through my veins, soothing the raging inferno that had calmed only slightly. My form fluctuated, the human facade flickering like a dying light bulb, revealing glimpses of the moth-like creature beneath. I could feel the beast within clawing to get out, desperate to save Kassie from the mayor's grasp.
Elowyn waved for me to step out of the room that wasn’t enchanted, so we could have our full forms out on display. I stepped into the showroom, and Lucien followed.
"Hurry up, Elowyn!" Hollow barked, his tentacles tightening around Kassie, to hold a sleeping Kassie in his arms.
