Tightening the muscles in my neck to protect my throat, I rip my upper body forward and down in one thrust, shredding the branches around my head, neck, and arms, as well as a good chunk of the lattice I was attached to. I’m so strong, it all comes apart like wet paper. And I’m so fast, I’m able to use my free hands to rip off the vines around my stomach and legs before she even has a chance to react.
She’s barely finished widening her eyes in shock when I hear Collin yell: “Nowhither, Alvin! Hard as you can!”
I’ve never hit anyone in my life, but I charge straight at her like a linebacker, left shoulder forward, yelling “AHHHH!” and trying to channel the entire fifteen minutes of football I’ve ever watched on TV. (Mom hosted a Super Bowl party once. The goblins ate the coffee table. I mostly hid in my room.) Tara’s only able to shoutout a single word before I ram myself into her. For good measure, I smack up that stone bowl of mush she was carrying with my right hand and ram the whole thing into her face.
Let’s see howshelikes being poisoned!
Again, I’m just blown away with how strong I can be after I feed. The impact of my body slam knocks her back a full ten feet, off the lawn and into a whole bed of red, orange, and blue flowers.
But even as she’s flying back in the air, I realize that despite my super-powers, I was still too slow. Apparently, one quick brush of her fingertips against the runes under her shirt was all she needed. Quick as lightning, her body stretches and transforms mid-flight. She becomes browner, furrier, and much, much bigger as her limbs tear through all her clothes in an instant.
What tumbles into the flowers isn’t human.
“Oh, shite,” Collin gasps. “She’s turned herself into a grizzly bear!”
Other than a few furtive glances at some of the leather dudes at the Folsom Street Fair, my onlyactualexperience with bears is with the stuffed teddy kind. And I guess I’ve seen a nature doc or two. I’m still crazy-strong, though, so I’m not sure how much trouble I’m in here. It’s just a big animal, right?
But Collin seems to know. “This changes things. You’re not going to be able to outrun her. She’s got four-inch claws, ten times your weight. Almost three feet of height on you when on her hind legs. You’re a little faster, but you won’t be for long.”
In the upper right of my vision, a half-filled horizontalgreen bar with a black outline slides in, like a heads-up display in a video game. It’s labeled INCUBUS POWER, is currently at 65%, and it’s going down at least a percent a second. (Well, that’s handy to know!)
The massive grizzly bear rolls up onto her feet and roars.
Okay. Gotta admit, this thing is monstrously huge. And yeah, super-powers or no, she is legit scary.
Collin picks up on my fear. “Don’t worry. We are a long way from done, Alvin! You got the lotus tree paste in her eyes, which should impair her vision and will eventually have a sedative effect. And unlike with a werewolf, she’s still 100% human in her head. She won’t want to kill you, which means she’s also going to need to be careful. A lot more careful than you need to be.” He glances up to the right in his unfocused way, then twists his head over to the house. “Got it! Grab that rake over there!” He then looks back at the garden next to us. “And then swing it at the base of that little bush with the bell-like blue flowers. You’ll need to use the rake to scoop it up from the roots!”
He shouts all that out super-fast, in less than a second, somehow expecting me to understand him when facing down a terrifying grizzly from ten feet away. But, of course, I do understand what he wants. Completely. Because that’s how using the Avatar works. I’m not even sure he used actual words, but I justgetit.
It also helps that the rake, which is propped up in shadow against the back wall of the house, is now glowing brightly with a big red arrow pointing to it. Ditto for the plant he wants me to scoop up in the garden.
Of course, those two things are completely across the lawn from each other. Regular Alvin would have no hope.
But there’s nothing regular about me right now.
The bear and I start running at the same time. I’m going for the big garden tool, and she’s coming for me, moving at least 25 miles an hour. But I’m going 40, feet whipping back and forth on the grass so fast they blur, so I get to the rake while still keepingalmostthe same distance between us. Its metal handle is long and cool.
“Now, pivot and jump!” Collin yells.
I turn to see a glowing green upside-down parabolic path arcing over the oncoming grizzly that leads to a spot just a couple yards from the glowing plant. I crouch and leap as best I can in its direction. My usual flabby thigh muscles explode with force. The bear is only a yard away from me when I spring, but I clear her head by several feet.
My legs flail in the air and I’m sure I look awkward as hell, but I also feel like I’m flying! If I weren’t so terrified, I think I’d actually like it.
I land on my feet several yards behind her and just a few feet away from the blue-flowered shrub. Collin is already there, demonstrating. He’s swinging his own phantasmal replica of the rake along a sweeping curve into the ground, again and again. He’s showing me the exact angle I’ll need to dig the plant up. I glance up and notice that the Incubus Power Bar is at 40%. And the bear is now just a few feet away. There’s no time, but Collin still gives me the 411.
“The rake buys you distance, and this plant is wolfsbane.It’s pure toxic, even just to touch it. You’re going to shove it right in her mouth!”
Well, I certainly appreciate his optimism!
I burst forward and swing the rake sideways into the loose garden soil, easily scooping up the plant at the roots with my extra strength (while spewing a massive spray of dirt all over the place). I spin around, and the grizzly is almost on top of me. Her jaws stretch open wide, hot breath belching out, pulling strings of drool, ready to clamp down on my arm. And I realize that’s exactly what Collin was counting on.
Using all my strength and speed, I throw my upper body forward and try to shove the entire end of the rake, now gripping the four-foot-wide plant, down the monster’s throat. A grizzly is quick, but not quick enough to dodge me at point-blank range. And even though the rake head is bigger than the creature’s jaws, I still get a bunch of the flowers, leaves, and stems deep inside her mouth before she can stop herself.
The massive bear reels back and actually pulls more of the plant off the tines with her teeth in the process. Annoyed and angry, her jaws snap open and shut, her tongue flailing as she tries to get the wolfsbane out. Then, almost immediately, her eyes widen with very human-looking horror. Looks like Tara’s now recognized what I fed her! She immediately brings her claws up to try to dig out all of the poisonous plant, but a bear’s paws are much bigger and clumsier than a human’s. Between her jaw working and the awkward mitts, she’s actually eating more of the stuff than removing it.
Collin is grinning. “Bang on, Alvin! The toxin won’ttake any real effect for a few minutes, but there’s no known antitoxin. She’s going to need to do everything she can to get it all out. And if she goes human, her body weight will drop, and it’ll just poison her worse. You’ve just bought us the time we need. Now,leg it!As fast as you can!”
I glance up again at my Incubus Power Bar and see it’s at 26%. Collin creates one of his glowing, green arrow-paths to sprint on, and I book away from the grizzly and Tara’s backyard at full speed.
