Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

"Virginia, Virginia. Oh delicious Virginia. You look so delectable in the moonlight," Wolf murmered against Virginia's ear. He had crawled up to Virginia from behind and held her tightly in his lap. They were sitting around by a fallen log to get some rest before they moved on into the next village. Melody had lay down and fallen asleep by a small shrub.

Virginia leaned her head back against Wolf's chest. Sometimes she still couldn't get over the fact that she was married to a half-man, half-wolf. And above all, she still couldn't get over that she had killed her own mother who was also the evil witch of the fairy tale kingdoms! Her life was definitely not ordinary. And now her life had once again been disrupted. She had a son, though, so she had to think about matters in a whole different light now. She loved Wolf with all her heart but sometimes she knew she didn't let him know it enough. She’d always had a hard time showing her feelings.

"Wolf?" Virginia whispered to get his attention.

"Yes, my scrumptious trollop?"

"You know that I..." Virginia was cut off when Wolf all of a sudden jumped up and knocked her to the dirt floor. He began sneezing uncontrollably.

"Cripes! Not again!" Wolf growled between sneezes. He then collapsed to the ground and huddled into a fetal position. "Argh, Virginia, I'm getting horrible cramps! Where's the medicine?" Wolf groaned and rolled around on the ground.

Virginia fumbled through her knapsack and retrieved a small bottle.

"Can't you hurry up, Virginia? Why do you always have to be so slow?" Wolf growled. He moaned again and started muttering something about rabbits beneath his breath. "Virginia!"

"All right, all right. But you need to take this with some water. And we ran out already. We need to head to that village up ahead. Come on, get up." Virginia pulled at Wolf. He growled and snapped at her hand. "Wolf, stop it! Come on!"

Virginia woke Melody up from her nap and explained to her that they needed to head out, for Wolf was terribly sick and needed his medication. She turned back to Wolf and began helping him up to his feet again. Wolf whimpered and growled all at the same time but he complied and they started towards the village lights ahead.

Melody followed along behind them. She had been feigning sleep and had been listening to Virginia and Wolf correspond quietly. They love each other very much, don't they? she thought to herself. How can a man love her? A killer! She deserves to be dead! Melody hated Virginia and was getting so sick of how Wolf doted over her constantly. Maybe there's a spell in my book that can help me torture her just a little. Just a bit before I kill her, Melody planned silently in her head.

The trio reached the village. By then it was already pretty late and most of the villagers were sound asleep except for one man who was walking around the street with a lantern.

“Wee Willy Winkle ran through the night. Upstairs, downstairs, in his night cap,” the man shouted into the night.

"What in the world is he doing? He's going to wake everyone up!" Virginia hissed.

Wolf ignored the question and sat down on a wheelbarrow, huddling his arms against him. "I don't care who he is. If he doesn't shut up I'm going to bite his head off!" Wolf growled. The man got closer to them and was just about to say something again when Wolf snapped at him and growled underneath his breath. The man freaked out and ran away.

"Wolf, stop that! Come on, there's an inn up ahead. Let's go there. You can get something to eat too, Wolf." Virginia began making her way towards the small inn.

Wolf perked up at the idea of eating so he quickly followed in her wake.

Melody followed slowly behind, looking through her book of spells. She squinted through her fake glasses but couldn't quite make out all the words. If I'm right, this spell should cast hatefulness onto the victim, she read silently to herself. All she needed was some tea and some other herbs and potions from her bag. This should work wonderfully. If I have Wolf drink the tea, and have him see Virginia instantly, he will start despising her! That will make "sweet" Virginia miserable! Melody snickered beneath her breath and quickly headed into the inn to find the kitchen.

A little while later, Wolf had ordered all the food he could eat. Virginia went to go find some clean water for she didn't trust the muggy water that the inn served. Melody went up to Wolf and handed him a small cup of something warm.

“Here, drink this. It should help you with your tummy aches,” she said and handed the cup to Wolf. He grabbed it out of her hand and quickly put it to his lips.

“Wait...” Melody said too late. She had forgotten to get Virginia.

It was too late; Wolf downed the liquid in the cup. He slammed the cup down onto the table, smashing it into pieces. He looked up at Melody and gave her a warm smile. Something sparkled in his eyes. "I think that did the trick. I'm feeling better already. Thank you very much, Melody."

Wolf grinned and studied Melody in the dim light of the inn. He sniffed at the air but couldn't quite find a specific scent. His sneezing fits had completely disrupted his sense of smell. Melody sure does look scrumptious though, he thought to himself and panted.

Melody closed her eyes and expected the worst. Now that Wolf had seen her right after drinking her potion, he should be wanting to kill her by now. But nothing happened. She opened one eye and peeked out. All she saw was Wolf with a silly grin, staring at her. She smiled back and sighed with relief.

“It didn't work, damn,” she mumbled beneath her breath.

"What was that, sweet Melody? What didn't work?” Wolf asked, pulling a chair out for her to sit down. “Come, join me at my meal. A wolf should never eat alone. Well, actually, that's just a rule I made up on my own.”

Melody ignored his questioning and sat down to eat. Virginia appeared suddenly and handed Wolf a cup of the cleanest water she could find and a small pink pill.

“Huff puff, I don't need that anymore. Melody here cured my cramps. Can you believe that? Not even with medicine. I think she might be a genius!” Wolf announced and began chowing down at his meal vigorously. And he accidentally knocked over the water Virginia had brought him.

“What?” Virginia looked confused. She gave Melody a questioning look and asked, "How did you ease his cramps?"

“Well, uh... I told the innkeeper's wife of the problem and she suggested some tea. She made me a batch and I had Wolf drink some. That was all. It seemed to have worked pretty well.”

“Oh. Well, Wolf, you still need to take the pill. It will keep your moods under control at least.” Virginia handed the tiny pill to Wolf. He groaned and whined a bit but he finally took it and swallowed it whole.

“You needed to take it with water,” Virginia exclaimed.

“It went down fine. Don't worry about me. I'm feeling much much better now,” Wolf said between bites of his food. Virginia looked around for a seat to sit down but there were none available. She had to walk across the room to find an empty table and pulled the empty chair back to the table they were sitting at. She finally sat down and just picked at her food.