Within only a few moments, the boy was gone and the demon was back.
Tom ached all over. The pain of turning back into his demon form was almost as bad as the first time. Not quite, but at least similar. For once, since coming to Astlan, Tom actually felt relieved to be a demon. This form, hooves and all, felt more comfortable. He didn’t feel like he was about to explode anymore. It just felt, ‘right.’ What a strange thought.
He felt like he could really relax. In the short time he’d been human again, his whole body had felt under deep stress. As if forcing itself into some unnatural position. It was altogether unpleasant. “Aaagghhh,” Tom sobbed. Talk about your Chalker-esk nightmare. Somehow he seemed to be mentally conditioned to prefer this form. Conditioned so that his old body was the unnatural one. Tom wanted to cry. He was a boy! not a demon! Naturally though, demons had no tear ducts so he couldn’t. What was he going to do? Even if he could somehow shape change into his old form, he knew he wouldn’t be comfortable. He’d always be fighting the urge to be a demon. There seemed like there was no going back!
“That was fantastic Tom!” Rupert’s voice brought Tom’s thoughts back into the kitchen. “I know it was hard, but for a first try that was great. It gets easier the more you do it.”
Tom hoped so. He couldn’t keep it up if it didn’t. “Yeah?”
“Yes, now try again. It’s the only way.”
Tom really didn’t feel he had the energy. Oh, sure physically he was recuperating fine now that he was back in his demon form, but mentally he just didn’t feel up to it. “I don’t know. Maybe I should wait awhile.”
Rupert was impatient, “And when the priest wakes up, and morning comes? How long do you think we can stay here. We’ll have to leave soon, you gotta practice. What happens if you pop back into demon from in the middle of the market.”
“A lot of people start fainting.” Tom answered testily. He knew the boy was right, he just couldn’t bring himself to want to try again. It was, Tom was sure, like the damn bicycle/horse etc. analogy, if you fall off, try again immediately. “Very well,” he couldn’t stand Rupert’s stare.
Tom relaxed, it wasn’t any easier this time. In fact it took longer because Tom had trouble concentrating and going into a trance state. Eventually however, he managed to superimpose the images, the feelings. Eyes closed Tom felt himself shrinking, contracting into the repellent puny pink and white form. From the inside, his skin felt feverish, again he felt like a bomb waiting to go off. He opened his eyes. Rupert was grinning at him.
“Can you manage to talk?” Rupert asked.
“Yess...” Tom answered hesitantly. His voice sounded weak, whiny. “I think so.” Tom had to concentrate to keep from exploding while he talked. He decided to gingerly test things. He stood up. He swayed and almost fell over. God, this damn form had no balance. He swayed gently, balancing as best he could he took a few steps forward. The floor felt really weird under his bare feet. He looked down, it was just a smooth wood floor. It must just be his feet, they seemed awfully tender compared to his hooves.
As he turned, he was trying to come up with a story in his mind about what to tell Jenn and the others. Given this belief thing, he didn’t want them to know he was the demon. But what could he tell them? Concentrating too much on what to tell people and not enough on his lack of balance, Tom began to fall over. He reached out and his hand rammed into the stone of the fire place. The shock of pain in scraping his hand along the rough stone jolted him. Agony ripped through his body as he lost control and his muscles started ballooning to gargantuan proportion again.
Jenn woke, she didn’t know how much later it was. Probably some time, considering how rested she felt. It was hard to tell though as there were no windows in the chapel. She glanced around; Gastropé was still asleep. The bound priest was wide-awake and staring at her fearfully. What was she going to do about him? The candles had burned out but light was coming under the door to the outside.
She got up and stretched. She was also hungry. She decided she’d explore the other room, the demon had gone in there, but hadn’t said what it was. She walked over to the doorway and looked through. It was a bit lighter in the kitchen as some filtered light was coming down the wide chimney. Sure enough, it was a kitchen. Actually rather strange for a temple, but then not many temple’s she’d been in looked like this place. The kitchen, however, proved to be rather bare upon closer inspection. No food was on the shelves. Actually, she suddenly realized, there was no demon or Rupert in the kitchen either! Where were they? She ran back out into the main room. They weren’t there either!
