Suddenly A Succubus

Chapter 61.4

February 13th.Two weeks until the full moon.

With a quick flourish, Nick finished tying his shoes, then stood up. As a test, he rose to the tips of his toes, took a few quick jumps, then nodded in satisfaction. He gently closed his gym locker, clicked the padlock into place, and walked over to the full-length mirror hanging on the nearby wall.

He normally didn’t pay much attention to his appearance. Years of constant exercise had given him a body he was proud of, but that was simply a fortunate coincidence. It also wasn’t that he was completely unaware of his looks; spending so much time with Amara and her friends had given him enough knowledge about fashion that he felt confident he wasn’t making a fool of himself every time he got dressed. He understood how clothes were supposed to fit him, how best to wash his hair, what colors to avoid; all things he was better off knowing than not knowing. No, his recent obsession with his appearance had nothing to do with fashion.

His hair, his skin, his eyes, every minute detail of his body was potential cause for worry. Had his eyes always been this shade? Did his hair always curl that way? After allowing himself more than enough time to double and triple check every potential detail, he decided he felt comfortable enough to head upstairs.

It certainly didn’t look like he’d been sick the last few weeks.

Memories of fitful rest, constant tossing and turning, and unsettling nightmares flooded his thoughts. According to Tadghán, his fever should have only lasted a few days, but for some reason that hadn’t happened. Days of suffering had turned into weeks, and no matter what medicine Tessa tried to give him, nothing had stopped the constant, throbbing soreness that assaulted his body. It was like every day was spent recovering from an impossibly difficult full body workout; unexplained soreness, strange twitches, and even the occasional bout of incredible hunger. Thankfully, everything had stopped of its own accord two nights ago.

Coincidentally, the same night of the new moon.

That simple fact weighed heavily on him. It wasn’t just that the new lunar cycle had brought freedom from weeks of torment, it was the uncomfortable truth that he’d known the exact phase, position, and size of the moon before asking Tessa about it.

For now, thankfully, the sun had yet to set, though its light was certainly waning. Now that Nick was feeling better, he’d promised all his friends an hour or two on the climbing wall. In the weeks prior, Sean had apparently taken a real shine to rock climbing. He claimed it was much more fun than running, and by spending so much time at the gym, he’d expanded his social circle by a considerable amount. His boyfriend, Caleb, was ecstatic about this, and both of them made sure to text Nick pictures of their various successes up and down the wall.

Today, they would be the only two friends present that knew the truth about Nick’s weeks-long sickness. As far as everyone else knew, he’d simply caught a mild fever that had knocked him on his ass for a while.

Thick rays of sunlight pushed aside the dark gray clouds hanging low in the sky, their radiance illuminating almost the entirety of the Griffith Athletic Center. The light brought a smile to Nick’s face as he left the basement, and from there it was only a short jog to the climbing wall.

“Yo! Nick!” Gabe shouted. He’d been in the middle of strapping on a harness, but immediately dropped it upon seeing Nick. He ran up, pulled Nick in for a hug, then playfully slapped his back. “You’re finally back on your feet!”

“Yeah, thankfully. Haven’t been sick like that in a while,” Nick muttered.

“Glad to have you back! You ready to start with belaying, or jump right into the good stuff?”

Nick gestured to the harness that Gabe had stepped out of moments earlier. “You go first. I’ll count holding the ropes as a warm up, and if that goes well, I’ll feel comfortable getting on the wall.”

“Hell yeah!” The two guys high fived, and Gabe quickly jumped back into his harness. “I’ll try not to embarrass you too much,” he added with a cheeky grin.

“Hey! I’ve been sick, if you kick my ass that’s hardly my fault!” Nick protested.

After greeting all his other friends again, Nick took his place at the base of the wall. He double and triple checked all of Gabe’s equipment, then gave him a thumbs up. Turning their attention to the wall, Nick caught Caleb’s attention and they briefly looked up at Sean, who was trying to break through a famously difficult spot for beginners.

“He’s really pumped about this, huh?” Nick asked.

“More than me at times!” Caleb said with a quick laugh. “He’s actually started asking me about workouts that might make this easier. It’s nice seeing him so excited, you know?”

Nick smiled. “We’re happy to have him around!”

Returning to his task, he locked his eyes on Gabe and focused on keeping him safe. They’d done this often enough that very little communication was needed, but they still occasionally shouted bits of sass and encouragement at each other.

Gabe wasn’t the best climber, but he’d been making great progress recently. Even in the few weeks Nick had missed due to his condition, he noticed several big improvements in Gabe’s form. He passed Sean with relative ease, as expected, but several sections that had previously given him trouble were now little more than slight hurdles. In the end, he missed a crucial jump and was forced to bail, but Nick still heartily congratulated him on the new record.

Belaying for Gabe convinced Nick he was ready to give the wall another attempt himself. He eagerly traded places with Gabe, strapped into his harness, and grabbed a tiny bit of chalk to help his grip. Now standing at the base of the wall, he took a brief moment to stretch and test his previously sore muscles. Thankfully, everything felt better, and he looked up at the wall with a smile on his face.

The first few minutes flew by, as expected. Experienced climbers sometimes tackled more obscure routes to give themselves a challenge, but he had no need to mix things up; his goal was the top, plain and simple. He knew which handholds were most comfortable for someone of his size, and his fingers twitched with anticipation as they remembered the subtle differences of each grip.

As he approached the middle of the wall, the section where handholds began stretching farther apart, Gabe shouted up from the floor.

“Woo! Nick, you’re killing it!”

Nick grinned, exhilaration racing through his body as he briefly reached up to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Surprisingly, he found very little, which he took as a good sign.

Heart racing, he set his sights to his next route. It was the same route he’d taken last time, and it had brought him to a new personal record. Of course, he’d squandered his chance to go even higher by waving to a friend, but today was different. Today he felt lighter than air, his body itched with anticipation of the challenge, and he desperately wanted to best Gabe.

A familiar pattern emerged, one that felt more natural now than it ever had. Find a target, adjust his footing, test his balance, then reach. Grab the handhold, mold his fingers into the ideal shape, then look down for the next foothold. Shift his weight onto the other leg, take a deep breath, reach up and plant firmly, then repeat all the prior steps. With Gabe’s encouragement feeding his exhilaration, the steps began to blur together, becoming an effortless dance that felt as natural as walking across campus.

Before he knew it, he’d reached his previous record. He remembered the view, the perfect angle to see runners circling the wall around him, and he loosed a powerful laugh before reaching higher.

Beneath him, at the base of the wall, Gabe demanded the attention of all their friends, pulling together friends and even relative strangers into an impromptu crowd. They cheered and hollered with each consecutive transfer, thrilled as they watched Nick shatter his previous record. Although most of his attention was on the wall, he couldn’t help but overhear the murmurs that he might reach the top today.

Nick felt amazing, but reaching the top? There was a world of difference between matching his previous record and actually conquering the wall. At this point, the handholds were even further apart, and only the most dedicated climbers were able to navigate the final stretch on their first try.

No doubt the murmurs of the crowd could be attributed to hype, to the desire of a crowd to see someone reach the top. He did his best to ignore their cheers, focusing instead on besting each consecutive step.

Turning his gaze towards the stretch of wall ahead of him, his stomach dropped. He’d never been this high up before, and because he hadn’t expected to do so well, he hadn’t bothered planning a route. Without that foresight, he’d simply followed his gut as he picked his last several handholds, and he now had no good option for continuing.

He silently chastised himself as he looked around. He’d heard from other friends that the wall had been purposely built this way, mostly as a trap for aspiring climbers seeking an easy path to the top. Now, with dozens of people watching behind him, he faced a difficult choice.

The safer choice would be to double back, to try and lower himself down and take a different route. Even considering that option felt insulting somehow, like it would impugn his honor to double back on his efforts.

The other choice was jumping. There were no connecting handholds, no bastions of safety to guide him from his current position to his desired perch. It would be a completely unsupported leap through open air, and he would only have a split second to grab a handhold and swing the rest of his body into position, ideally finding purchase with his other hand and at least one foot.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins, and he took a moment to examine his current state. Shockingly, despite how tired he’d been the last time he neared this height, he felt amazing. The connection between his body and mind seemed flawless, and his gut told him he could trust himself in this moment.

He coiled his body tight, tensed his arms and legs, then launched himself sideways. His target was several feet to the right, and the crowd beneath him audibly gasped as he sailed through the air. Electricity danced through his limbs, keeping him more alert than he’d ever felt before, and he managed to stretch his arm far enough to grab the hold. His hand briefly slipped, slamming him into the wall, but at the last second he curled his fingers inward and found the grip he needed. Utilizing the momentum from his jump, he kicked up his right leg and wedged it against a slightly lower hold. It almost slipped, and he panicked as he realized he was almost completely sideways. He’d never put himself at such a steep angle before, and he held his breath as he tested his grip.

A second passed.

Then another.

His realization that he was safe came at the same time as the crowd below. Every single one of them erupted with cheers and applause, and their encouragement drove him further. He managed to reset his grip and transfer to another handhold, and took another look at his surroundings. Now that he’d successfully repositioned, he had a much better path to continue climbing.

The next several maneuvers were difficult, but in the shadow of his massive jump, they felt like child’s play. He caught glimpses of several students now watching from the second story running track that surrounded the wall, but quickly tuned them out. His sights were set firmly on the path forward.

Handhold after handhold passed him by, moving so quickly he barely had time to register their unique textures and colors as he climbed. He’d never felt so alive, so full of life, and part of him wished this would never end. He wanted the wall to extend forever, to become the base of some steep mountain that might dare him to climb it. An impossible cliff that none but the most extreme daredevils would attempt, and he would put them to shame by conquering it on his first try.

So lost was he in his fantasy that, when he reached the top of the wall, it seemed almost anticlimactic. He slapped the final ledge with his palm, triggering a flashing red light and a soft alarm that announced his victory to the entire Athletic Center.

Applause broke out, nearly completely drowned by the cheers and screams of the impressive crowd that now stood at the base of the wall. Climbers reaching the top was a rare occasion, and in that moment, he saw the exact trajectory of his next hundred conversations. Looking down at the ground, the infectious cheer inspiring him to pump his fists in victory. With a quick signal from Caleb, he leapt off and began safely rappelling down the wall, reaching the bottom in seconds.

The celebration blurred together. He barely had time to undo his harness before all his friends swarmed him, jumping up and down as they fought each other for an opportunity to congratulate him. Completely lost in the moment, Nick was just as overjoyed as everyone else, and soon enough he finally found Gabe in the crowd.

“NICK! That was fuckin’ sick, bro! You’re a beast! You’re an animal!!” Gabe shouted as he threw his arms around Nick.

Gabe’s words landed like a sack of bricks. A knot formed in his stomach, one that twisted tighter and tighter with each passing moment. His smile, previously a genuine show of excitement, now sat frozen on his face, a mere facsimile of joy that he wore in hopes of not alerting his friends to his thoughts.

When he’d first arrived, the sun hadn’t quite set. Since then, Nick had been so caught up in belaying and climbing that he’d failed to notice the sun’s absence. The campus just outside the Athletic Center was now bathed in the cold, luminescent glow of dozens of lamp posts, and the night sky above them shared what few specks of starlight were able to break through the thick blanket of light that rested atop Ekstápoli. Some instinctual part of Nick, a part that had never been there before, told him to look up. Not only that, it told him exactly where to look, and exactly what he was about to see.

Sure enough, as he turned his attention to the sky, he found it.

Nestled between several thin, wispy clouds, barely visible from inside the Athletic Center, Nick saw the faint outline of the waxing crescent moon.