6

Matrix took a bite of his fish. "Needs salt." He said through a mouthful.

Farrow narrowed his eyes at Matrix. "No one grabbed salt. I said I would get the medical supplies and what did you grab?"

Matrix didn't say anything. Truth be told, he didn't know what to grab. Vladimir grinned a bit. "Erick grabbed the food." He said, his voice whispery. "Blame him."

Farrow sighed. "Eat your food and quit complaining idiots."

Matrix didn't say anything. As he ate the saltiness fish, he thought of Erick. Something was wrong with him. Matrix sighed. "Vladimir, I think those outbursts were caused by you."

Vladimir nodded. "I know."

"Why'd you do it then?" Farrow asked.

"After the first outburst, I learned what was in the sack. I also learned where he got it from, which is why I looked again."

Farrow looked confused. "I thought you could only see people's dislikes?"

Vladimir smiled just a bit. "I was lying. Erick would not have trusted me if I were to tell him that."

Matrix nodded. "What did you learn?"

"He sack indeed hold the meeting table."

"What? Why would he bring it? How doe sit fit in there?"

"It's a magical sack made to hold only one specific item. Once the sack is used in an item, only that item can be held in it. Why he brought it, I don't know. But, where he got it from intrigued me."

"Where'd he get it from?" Matrix said, stuffing some more fish into his mouth.

Vladimir looked at him with longing, as if he wished he could do that. Farrow looked absolutely disgusted. Vladimir sighed. "Anyways, he got it from the merchant."

Matrix almost choked on his food. "Th-the-The Merchant?"

Vladimir nodded. Farrow looked confused yet again. "Who's the Merchant?"

Matrix shook a little. "The merchant is a demon who scorers the earth for random items that were abandoned, and then enchants them to do certain things. He then sells hem for free and it curses the person who purchases it."

"So, Erick is cursed?"

"I'm assuming so."

Matrix wondered. If the table was cursed, and he had pricked himself on it...no, he couldn't think about it...everything with him was fine.

"Matrix, didn't you cut yourself on it?" Farrow said.

Matrix grumbled his reply, which wasn't the most nicest one. farrow rolled his eyes, probably thinking Matrix was being annoying. Matrix cleared his throat. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to annoy you. I had the same thought."

Farrow nodded. "You don't usually apologize Matrix."

Matrix rolled his eyes. "Your so annoying, a Farrow."

Farrow grinned. "Thank goodness yr back to normal!"

The boys laughed, even Vladimir. They continued talking and joking with each other like normal teenage boys. Soon, the moon was getting close to a quarter of the way into the sky. Matrix looked up. He looked back at Farrow and Vladimir. Farrow was half asleep sitting by the warm fire, and Vladimir even looked drowsy.

Matrix stood up. He jolted the other two to alertness, and then they stood up too.

"Let's head to bed, 'k guys?" Matrix said, hoping that Farrow wouldn't fall asleep on Vladimir.

The others nodded, then headed toward their bed. Matrix sat on his bed, and stared at the ceiling of the tent. He sighed. Suddenly, he saw Erick sit up, breathing heavily. Erick was sweating and his clothes were soaked with sweat and he looked as if he had seen a ghost. Matrix sat up slowly. He reached out to touch Erick. Erick looked over at him before however. "Matrix, what are you doing up?"

Matrix sighed. "Not tired. Full moon tonight."

Erick nodded. His face looked ghostly pale. "Erick, what happened?"

Erick sighed. "Nightmare. I'm terrified of spiders." Erick smiled, and Matrix wanted to believe him, but...

Erick turned away. Matrix opened his mouth, then closed it again. Erick looked back over at him. His usual bright green eyes were dull. Something was wrong with him. Matrix was worried for him. They hadn't known each other for long, but since a Matrix had met Erick and learned some of the elf customs, he had become more sympathetic. He knew his father would disapprove.

Matrix gulped. He knew all about the things werewolves disliked. Pity was one of the large ones. Showing pity meant showing mercy. Showing mercy meant you weren't strong like a normal werewolf. Matrix wasn't a normal werewolf though, nor a normal vampire. Maybe his father would understand, but he was still strict with people he was close to. Matrix knew he wouldn't be able to escape a punishment.

Matrix lied back down. He shut his eyes. Suddenly, someone tapped him. He opened his eyes again. Erick was holding a bottle of some sort of liquid. It looked almost like potato soup, just a bit more white, almost like milk. "What is that?"

"It's a sleeping potion. It's supposed to help you sleep."

Matrix nodded, then gulped it down. It tasted oddly familiar. "This tastes familiar."

"I put it in your potato soup when you were healing. You needed sleep. Healing does best when your asleep. More focus on the injury."

Matrix nodded. He grew drowsy, and before long, he couldn't keep his eyes open. As soon as he closed them, he fell into dream land.