damned
hot
in here?
* * *
Juliette sat at the table in Aunt Marie’s trailer, a small volume the size of an address book sitting before her.
“I’m not surprised you missed this one earlier,” she said. “Not only is it small, it was tucked beneath one of the bookcases. I think Marie used it to keep the case level.”
Nick and Hank stood on either side of Juliette, looking down at the small book.
“Aunt Marie had her own way of organizing things, that’s for sure,” Nick said.
“You told Nick we weren’t going to like what you found,” Hank said. “On a scale of one to ten, with one being a minor irritation and ten being complete disaster, this is…?”
“It depends,” Juliette said. “If what’s recorded in this book is just a legend, we have nothing to worry about. If it’s an historical account, we’re looking at a ten-plus.”
“Great,” Nick said. “Okay, give us the bad news.”
She opened the book and flipped to a page that she’d bookmarked with one of her business cards. She removed it and set it to the side. Nick gazed down at the open pages, and although the text was written in cramped handwriting, the ink faded by the years’ passage, he was relieved to see that it was written in English.
“This account tells the story of a Grimm named Soffya who encountered a Wechselbalg in a small village in Hungary in the late 1800s. Soffya tried to kill the Wechselbalg, but the creature attempted to duplicate her to protect itself. Soffya didn’t die, but she was weakened long enough for the Wechselbalg to get away. The Wechselbalg survived, but it ended up duplicating Soffya’s form.”
“That’s pretty much what happened to you,” Hank said.
Nick had informed both Hank and Juliette of the word he’d found in the Skalengeck graffiti, and what he believed it meant.
“Yeah,” Nick said. “But bad as that is, it doesn’t sound like a ten-plus yet.”
“Here’s where it gets bad,” Juliette said. “The Wechselbalg, acting as if it were a distorted version of a Grimm, became an indiscriminant killer of Wesen. Good, bad, it didn’t matter. And it gets worse. Something else happened to
both
the Wechselbalg and Soffya. Some sort of weird side effect of their very powerful but very different physiologies coming into contact. They both became carriers of a disease—or at least what the people of the time thought of as a disease.”
Nick tensed. “What sort of disease?” Was he in danger of infecting Juliette and Hank? Should he get away from them? Without thinking about it, he took a step backward.
As if sensing his unease, Juliette said, “Don’t worry. It only affects Wesen.”
Nick let out a relieved breath. If he did have this disease, or whatever it was, it sounded like Juliette and Hank were in the clear.
“What are the symptoms?” Hank asked.
“Wesen are normally able to control their transformations, but this condition caused them to woge uncontrollably, and eventually they became stuck in their Wesen forms, unable to change back. What’s more, they were unable to conceal their Wesen appearance from humans. Anyone could see what they truly were.”
“That’s bad,” Nick said. “
Really
bad.”
“I can see how not being able to hide their Wesen identities would be a problem,” Hank said, “but couldn’t they have just left the village and gone into hiding? I’m not saying it’s a perfect solution, but it would’ve gotten them away from humans. And more importantly, from the kill-crazy shapeshifter.”
“Some tried,” Juliette said. “But they soon realized they could spread the condition to other Wesen. That meant they couldn’t go anywhere, because if they did, they risked breaking the Wesen’s highest law.”
Nick nodded. “The Wesen’s book of law, the
Gesetzbuch Ehrenkodex
, states that Wesen must keep their true nature a secret from humanity at all costs.”
“Right,” Juliette said. “And the Wesen Council enforces those
hot
in here?
* * *
Juliette sat at the table in Aunt Marie’s trailer, a small volume the size of an address book sitting before her.
“I’m not surprised you missed this one earlier,” she said. “Not only is it small, it was tucked beneath one of the bookcases. I think Marie used it to keep the case level.”
Nick and Hank stood on either side of Juliette, looking down at the small book.
“Aunt Marie had her own way of organizing things, that’s for sure,” Nick said.
“You told Nick we weren’t going to like what you found,” Hank said. “On a scale of one to ten, with one being a minor irritation and ten being complete disaster, this is…?”
“It depends,” Juliette said. “If what’s recorded in this book is just a legend, we have nothing to worry about. If it’s an historical account, we’re looking at a ten-plus.”
“Great,” Nick said. “Okay, give us the bad news.”
She opened the book and flipped to a page that she’d bookmarked with one of her business cards. She removed it and set it to the side. Nick gazed down at the open pages, and although the text was written in cramped handwriting, the ink faded by the years’ passage, he was relieved to see that it was written in English.
“This account tells the story of a Grimm named Soffya who encountered a Wechselbalg in a small village in Hungary in the late 1800s. Soffya tried to kill the Wechselbalg, but the creature attempted to duplicate her to protect itself. Soffya didn’t die, but she was weakened long enough for the Wechselbalg to get away. The Wechselbalg survived, but it ended up duplicating Soffya’s form.”
“That’s pretty much what happened to you,” Hank said.
Nick had informed both Hank and Juliette of the word he’d found in the Skalengeck graffiti, and what he believed it meant.
“Yeah,” Nick said. “But bad as that is, it doesn’t sound like a ten-plus yet.”
“Here’s where it gets bad,” Juliette said. “The Wechselbalg, acting as if it were a distorted version of a Grimm, became an indiscriminant killer of Wesen. Good, bad, it didn’t matter. And it gets worse. Something else happened to
both
the Wechselbalg and Soffya. Some sort of weird side effect of their very powerful but very different physiologies coming into contact. They both became carriers of a disease—or at least what the people of the time thought of as a disease.”
Nick tensed. “What sort of disease?” Was he in danger of infecting Juliette and Hank? Should he get away from them? Without thinking about it, he took a step backward.
As if sensing his unease, Juliette said, “Don’t worry. It only affects Wesen.”
Nick let out a relieved breath. If he did have this disease, or whatever it was, it sounded like Juliette and Hank were in the clear.
“What are the symptoms?” Hank asked.
“Wesen are normally able to control their transformations, but this condition caused them to woge uncontrollably, and eventually they became stuck in their Wesen forms, unable to change back. What’s more, they were unable to conceal their Wesen appearance from humans. Anyone could see what they truly were.”
“That’s bad,” Nick said. “
Really
bad.”
“I can see how not being able to hide their Wesen identities would be a problem,” Hank said, “but couldn’t they have just left the village and gone into hiding? I’m not saying it’s a perfect solution, but it would’ve gotten them away from humans. And more importantly, from the kill-crazy shapeshifter.”
“Some tried,” Juliette said. “But they soon realized they could spread the condition to other Wesen. That meant they couldn’t go anywhere, because if they did, they risked breaking the Wesen’s highest law.”
Nick nodded. “The Wesen’s book of law, the
Gesetzbuch Ehrenkodex
, states that Wesen must keep their true nature a secret from humanity at all costs.”
“Right,” Juliette said. “And the Wesen Council enforces those
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