“Damn it!” Nero growled. “Call Gelpack!”
“I am!” Wiz said as he started texting one-handed.
Laddin had had enough. He broke the grip on his wrist and pulled up the walkie-talkie. He had one hand on the button, then suddenly stopped, his eyes widening in shock.
Goo oozed around and under the door to his work area. It moved fast and with purpose. Laddin had spent his entire career on a Hollywood set, but this was something he’d never, ever, seen before. Hell, it was worthy of The Shining. He gasped and shrank back, the gesture bumping him into Nero, who took the opportunity to grab the walkie-talkie with one hand and restrain Laddin with the other.
“Don’t worry. He’s with us,” Nero said as the goo formed into the vague shape of a human.
“What is it?” Laddin gasped, but no one answered. They were too busy talking to each other.
“Why didn’t it work?” Nero demanded.
“I said it exactly right,” Wiz said, his tone defensive.
“Unless it’s him?” Nero said, looking back at Laddin.
“You think it’s the wrong spell?” Wiz asked.
There was an edge of controlled panic to both their voices, as if they were worried but used to working things out on the fly. And all the while, Laddin just stared at the goo as it turned to look at him. It didn’t even have eyes but the vague impression of orb indents, and yet Laddin would swear it was staring straight at him.
“What are your feelings at this moment?” the gel-like thing warbled.
Nero groaned. “Not now.”
“I cannot understand his emotions. I will fix the spell if he explains.”
“Later—” Nero grumbled, but the gel thing paid him no heed. It advanced on Laddin with steps like a man’s, though it appeared more like a mold that had been filled with water—fluid, liquid. If he’d seen it on the big screen, he’d have called it cheesy. But in real life, it made the hair on the back of his head stand up in terror.
And then the truth hit him full force.
Today was the day. He either died or transformed into…. “Magic,” he breathed, seeing his grandmother’s prophesy play out before him. Then he laughed, though the sound had a hysterical edge to it. “It’s today!”
“Um, yeah, this is magic,” Nero said, confusion in his tone. “Well, the spell was. He’s—”
“Magic!”
“—alien.”
Laddin shrugged. Either one worked for him. “I’m not going to die,” he said as he started taking deep, relieved breaths. His grandmother’s prophesy was coming true, and it didn’t involve him coming to a painful end. Relief sent waves of giddiness through him.
“Not intentionally. It could still happen by accident,” Wiz muttered. Then he peered at Laddin. “Are you okay? Maybe the spell did do something. Maybe—”
“The spell was ineffective,” the transparent creature said. “You did not say it with clear intent.”
“The hell I didn’t!” Wiz huffed. “I intend for this guy to become a werewolf. I intend to get it over with so we can move on to the next guy. I intend to get myself a really stiff drink after this is all—”
Laddin’s head snapped up. “A werewolf? Really?” The idea was exciting in a terrifying kind of way.
Nero twisted him around. “You believe in weres?”
Behind him, Wiz snorted. “This is Hollywood. People here believe everything.”
“We do not!” Laddin snapped, the reaction automatic. It was his grandmama who believed everything. And had taught it to him.
The gel thing addressed him. “I do not understand your emotions. Most people are frightened.” He raised his hand and extended it toward Laddin, who immediately choked on his giddiness. Except it wasn’t giddiness anymore. The sight of that clear ooze coming close to his face was terrifying, and he squeaked in alarm.
“That is better,” the thing said. “The spell should work now. His pattern has settled into fear.” The head spun toward Wiz. Not the body, not the shoulders, just the head—Exorcist-style. “Fear will make it stronger, to be sure.”
Nero blew out a heavy breath. “We were trying to do this nicely. Without trauma!”
“That was never going to happen,” Wiz grumbled.
“Shut up and do the spell again. With intent this time!”
Wiz started speaking, his words a mesmerizing mix of nonsense and real words. Laddin focused on it rather than the gel-like horror before him. Nothing here was odd, he told himself. In fact, he’d been waiting his entire life for this very moment. He felt his shoulders relax and his breath steady.
“He is not frightened enough,” the alien said. “His mind appears to be unusually accepting. Are you sure this is the right man?”
“Yes!” Nero snapped. “It’s Hollywood, for God’s sake. Who knows what people here think is true? For all we know, you’re not his first alien.”
“That is most unusual,” the thing said, and there was interest in his warbled voice. “I should like to probe this further.”
Laddin had no idea if it was intentional or not, but the word probe exploded in his mind and tightened areas of his body into hard knots of terror.
“Much better,” the alien said as he turned toward Wiz. “You may finish now.”
Wiz did. His voice rose with an impressive crescendo while his free hand danced in the air. Then there was a boom. Not an audible boom but a vibration that affected Laddin more than the biggest car explosion he’d ever pulled off.
His muscles quivered and his bones rattled with the power of it. His throat closed off and his shoulders hunched. But inside, he was still caught up in Grandmama’s prediction. Finally, the batty old woman had been proven right, and that made him happy. She may have plagued his childhood with one wacky idea after another, but in this, she was 100 percent right.
“Do not be so calm,” the alien warbled. “Otherwise you will die.”
The line was so stupid that it actually made Laddin loosen up even more. His cells were bathed in an electric current that was almost fun as it coursed through his body in erratic and
