Zelgadis stared blankly for a moment before the gears of his mind whirred into action again.

He had to warn Lina. Xellos had taken his body, and heaven only knew what he was planning to do with it--never mind that the fool probably wouldn't be able to take three steps in it, he always had some twisted plan in mind.

Then it hit him: how could he explain? He was wearing Xellos's face, for God's sake. Nobody would trust him. They'd think it was some kind of weird, sick joke. Which he supposed it was, in essence.

But she had to know. She had to be ready. She couldn't be vulnerable to an attack...

He bit his lip, winced at the unfamiliar pain. He'd forgotten how many small aches a human (well, largely human) body could have. Right now, he still felt fever-eaten; although he knew he would heal quickly from the spell-trauma, there was still a faint buzzing in his ears, and his knees felt weak. He would need some support to walk.

Where was the staff? He raised his head and looked around for it, rubbing at his clammy forehead with one hand. Maybe Xellos took it with him... but then, I don't think he actually needs it now. Unless he tied that switching-spell to it... maybe I should try researching body-switching before I go back to--

"Hey, anybody there?"

Almost before he heard it, Zel sensed the voice--or, more precisely, sensed the emotion behind it, as plainly visible in his mind's eye as a well-remembered face. He could see/feel concern, tinged with a familiar lofty irritation--Lina.

"Hello-o?"

Zel almost shouted a reply, then remembered his voice had changed as well. Desperate, he made one last visual sweep of the area, spotted the staff lying at the foot of a nearby tree, and sprinted for it. As Lina's presence came closer, panic stabbed at him, and he did the only thing he could think of--grab the nearest branch and climb.

He managed to haul himself into the upper branches before Lina came into the clearing. The greyish light made her normally fiery-red hair the dull colour of rust, but it highlighted her eyes as she turned. Beautiful, Zel thought, then blushed and bit his tongue.

"Zel?" she called. "Zel, I know you're out here. C'mon back to the inn, we'll get coffee."

Her concern washed over him.

"C'mon, Zel. Please." She shifted her weight; the light dimmed slightly as she turned to look to another part of the clearing. "Look, I'm sorry if I made you upset or anything."

He began to rub his hands together, nervously.

"Zel, what the hell are you trying to pull? Come out already!"

And then she noticed the gloves.

Dammit, he thought as she bent to retrieve them from the ground. She's gonna suspect something. Xellos Metallium, I swear when I get hold of you--

"Xellos's staff?"

Oh, crap. She'd spotted it. He felt another wild stab of panic, and before he could stop himself he'd swung out over a branch:

"Wait, Lina, don't touch it!"

She whirled.

"Xellos?" Her eyes narrowed immediately. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Lina, I can explain everything--"

"Yeah, I'll bet you can."

"Please, Lina! Just don't touch the staff!"

Lina planted her hands on her hips, expression wary. "Why not? Is it gonna release some huge mystical thingamajigger on me? --Oh, wait, let me guess. That is a secret."

This is worse than being a chimera, Zel thought with a sudden pang.

He swung down from the tree, a bit awkwardly, and landed at Lina's feet with a muffled flump. Pain sliced through his bruised shoulder.

"Don't joke, Lina. Please." He started to get to his feet. "You don't understand what's going on."

"I usually don't until after you've blown up everything in sight."

"Lina, I'm not Xellos!"

There was a terrible pause.

Then she stepped back and slapped him.



Back to the "Pure Evil" index