"... and I need your help to be saved!" the squirrel pleaded at the dark-haired boy from his shoulder. It crawled down on to him as he leaned against the tree; he didn't seem to be doing much.
"Sorry, not right now," the young teen shook his head. "I'm kind of busy." The squirrel took offense to the lie, it stood up and crossed it's tiny arms indignantly.
"I watched you for 10 minutes before I sought your help," the squirrel squeaked. "You do not appear busy." The teen chuckled and sighed.
"I'm waiting for someone," he said. His posture deflated and his shoulders slumped. "A girl," he added.
"Say no more, good Romeo," the squirrel replied.
"My name's Turbo," the boy smiled. The squirrel nodded.
"I cannot remember my name. My curse has endured for some time, but, a few more minutes will make no difference. Good luck, sir Turbo. I will await you upon among the branches," it said. It hopped off Turbo's shoulder and climbed the tree just as a dark-haired girl with black visor over her eyes walked past. Turbo was thankful she was alone and called out to her as he approached.
"Hey, Abby!" Turbo said as he came up behind her. The girl spun around, but her black visor was gone from her face. Instead, her black eye sockets were visible to the world and Turbo got a front row view of the two tarantulas in her eyes. They hissed at her as she screamed.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" Turbo stepped back in surprise more than anything. He knew why she wore the visor, so the spiders in her head weren't a surprise; but her reaction was.
"Sorry," Turbo shrugged and held his hands up to show he meant no harm. "Eury said that was your name." The tarantulas seemed to calm down when Turbo mentioned Eury. They stopped hissing and retreated back into her head. Then, Abby slid the visor on again to hide them.
"It is, sorry," Abby said in a timid voice. "I don't like strangers using my name though; I didn't know you knew Eury." Turbo nodded.
"Yeah, she asked everyone about you when you disappeared," he said. "And she was super happy when you came back. My name's Turbo," he waved at her. Abby nodded.
"Hi, Turbo. So, what's up? You need something?"
"Kind of," Turbo reached into his leather bag and pulled out a red wooden box. "I was hoping you'd test this out for me?" he asked and pushed the box towards her.
"Test?" What do you mean?" Abby asked as she pulled the top up off the small box. She found a folded black visor that resembled the one she owned; but, it seemed like a higher tier version than the one she wore. "Oh wow..," Abby said as she pulled the visor out of the box and looked it over. She almost brought them to her face but at the last moment, she felt a tinge of embarrassment. It was one thing to flash her spiders when she was caught off guard and upset. It was a different thing entirely to just pretend she didn't have spiders in her eyes. Turbo, though, thought she had a different issue.
"Oh, let me help," he said. He grabbed the red box from her to free up a hand. On the plus side, he knew what was behind her visor, and he was still there. Abby made quick decision before she changed her mind. She pulled off her visor. But, before she replaced it with the new one, she stopped and looked directly at Turbo.
"Say hi to Skeeter and Lefty," she said. Turbo chuckled and waved at the spiders.
"Hi Skeeter," he said. "Hi, Lefty," he smiled at the black tarantula in her left eye. Abby giggled and shook her head.
"That's Skeeter, Lefty's the brown one," she pointed at the hairy spider in her right eye. Turbo chuckled.
"Why's he named Lefty if he's in your right eye?" he asked. Abby shrugged as she slid on her new visor.
"He's left-handed," she said absent-mindedly. Then, her answer was followed up by a loud "WhoooaaA!"
"Looks like it works," Turbo chuckled. He could see golden stars outlined over the eyes in the black visor.
"Is this what Estrellas see??" she asked. "Your Aura is so cool!"
"Thanks," Turbo nodded. "Yeah, that's what Star Sight looks like."
"Wait," Abby pulled the visor off again; this time she did not hesitate in front of Turbo. "What do you need me for? You can see they work," she said. Turbo nodded.
"It's an extended test. Those are yours, let me know if anything glitches out," he said. Skeeter and Lefty focused on the visor for a moment; then, they looked up at Turbo as she slid the visor on again.
"Thanks, Turbo," she said with a smile.
"You're welcome, Abbb-," he dragged out the 'b' sound until he landed on a word. "-bigail...?"Abby smiled and shook her head.
"YOU can call me Abs," she said. "See you around, Turbo," she waved, then spun around to continue the way she was headed. Turbo leaned against the tree and watched her until she was out of sight. Then, the squirrel climbed down the tree and on to his shoulder.
"Good show, Turbo! I think the lady fancies you," he said. "Now.. about my curse...,"
"No sweat," Turbo said. He flicked his wrist upward to summon his Slate as the squirrel began to explain the curse.
"We've already missed the blue moon this month and we shall have to wait until the next one for an opportunity to break the curse. However, this benefits us because there are many dangerous ingredients we need to gather," he chittered away on Turbo's shoulder. Meanwhile, Turbo's fingers danced across the slate as he was typing up a storm.
"In one week's time, the silk hydra will enter its chrysalis stage. That will be a good starti-" the squirrel stopped talking all at once and to stiffened straight up. Then, it toppled forward off Turbo's shoulder.
The teen made no efforts to catch it; but, by the time he landed on the grass, the squirrel had become a full grown, portly man in chainmail armor. Turbo grinned at the confused man.
"Curse broken."