"BC-13, come in," Evie was already frustrated. Her communicator wasn't working, she could only hear static as she stepped out from behind some bushes with Jade next to her, "Shit. I don't like this."
Evie turned cold inside.
Something was definitely wrong here.
"Oh! OH! Come on everyone! Let me hear you scream because this is Evil Rise!" Draco shouted on stage and all the people in the pool area cheered as the music played live.
Jade smiled. The electric guitar sounded perfect.
Maybe this would be the last time she would see the boys sing live, or the last time she would even be around them, but that was okay.
Her Monster Mash phase may not have lasted long, and she might never hear their music again, but for now, this was a nice closing to a cycle.
"Mama used to say..." Frank sang, glancing at Jade and Evie from the corner of his eye. "Never lend a hand... To the undeserving!"
"Now I see what that means," Draco stepped forward, dominating the stage while singing. The dancers writhed on stage, as if possessed, very into character.
Jade felt like a metaphorical rock had hit her. Was Frank singing to her? No, no, he was just watching Evie pacing like the paranoid lunatic she was.
"You like playing games? Victim night and day?" Frank looked at Evie again, but she didn't notice, she was too busy worrying to notice Frank's gaze.
"I thought you were lonely! But now I can only..." Zeth stepped forward, nudging Frank to focus on the job and not on Evie spinning around in circles. Frank said something to Zeth, and Zeth immediately changed his expression from happy to worried.
"Watch your evil rise!" Everett and Finn took a step forward and belted in unison.
"Watch this broken home! Collapse and die!" Alex and Frank stepped forward, singing their hearts out. "Should've never let you in! Get under my skin! And now your voice is in my mind! Now my life... Isn't mine."
Jade felt that like a heart attack, as if the lyrics of the song were telling her that she only came to destroy a home.
Stupid! She should have known better.
The radio-rock feel, the demonic howls and sinister laughter of the melody had her sinking into hellish thoughts.
She was always the villain of the story, the girl who was ungrateful and now had lost everything.
If only Jade could change the past and make things right, join them instead of fighting for the spotlight.
"Can anyone hear me? Anyone?" Evie asked, pressing her earpiece while she walked around in circles, desperately trying to contact her team.
This was wrong, so wrong!
Surely something had happened, something bad, and she was here without knowing anything.
She couldn't afford a distraction, and tonight she allowed herself one and now she was terribly sorry about it.
She couldn't lose the boys, she couldn't ever live without Frank's sweetness, Draco's cuteness, Alex's irreverence, Finn's firmness, Zeth's intelligence, Everett's social awkwardness or Paul's smile.
For the rest of the song, Evie tried to check the hotel cameras from her tablet only to find static, just like in her comms.
Evie then turned to the stage, her eyes fixed on everything she could lose if she failed tonight.
"I'll fight for my life!" Draco sang loudly, patting his chest at the height of his enormous heart.
"I won't let you break what's LEFT OF MINE!" Finn belted that high note with the intensity of a thousand suns.
"I'm much stronger than you think! Got family!" Zeth sang loud and clear, his eyes fixed on Evie.
"And that is something you don't have!" Frank sang emotionally.
"Step aside... Watch me rise." Draco sang, doing a flip in the air afterwards.
"Come on everyone! Sing!" Alex said with a hand up, looking at Evie, "You too, girl! Relax a little!"
"Woah-oh! Woah-Oh! OH! Oh!" Finn and Everett sang at the top of their lungs, and Everett smiled a little when he saw Evie, raising his voice until it almost drowned out the sound of Finn's powerful one, "Woah! Oh-oh-oh-oh!"
Jade looked at Evie.
Her heart shattered.
It was at that moment that Jade knew it was all over.
The fairy tale, the Wattpad fantasy, it was all for nothing.
"I better get going," said Jade and Evie looked at her, "It hurts to say goodbye, but I have to move on with my life and... Are you okay, Evie?"
"I have no eyes nor ears," Evie whispered, "Jade, you must go. I think you are at risk."
Jade turned cold inside when she saw Evie turning pale, sweating cold.
"Okay, I'll leave and call 911," Jade nodded, but just as she began walking towards the hotel...
"Oh! Don't go, Jade!" She heard Alex's voice, "We have something for you tonight."
Suddenly, a spotlight turned on, illuminating her, making her turn towards the stage.
"Hey everyone! This is our new friend! Her name is Jade!" Draco said on stage, with all the boys behind him smiling, "And at the end of the concert, we have an 'alien' surprise for her!"
"So don't go home yet, girl," Alex said, "And if anyone sees her leaving, please help us bring her back!" And the whole audience laughed, "Okay, okay. Let's get on with the party! We will sing another song! Boogeyman!"
And the people exploded in screams.
But not Jade.
"Oh Jesus..." Kasey startled Jade. She didn't see the blonde approach until she was already by her side. "You know something? I don't know how Evie can work with them so closely without wanting to get married at the first opportunity."
"Yeah, me neither," Jade looked up at the stage.
The music played, a sound like trumpets of the apocalypse.
"Don't turn off the lights again." Frank sang as he walked to the edge of the stage, and then he stopped, staring at Jade while adding more emotion to the next line of the song. "I want you to see my face."
"Look at me... Think about me...." And then Draco started walking to the centre of the stage while singing.
"Just remember, it's me holding you. Don't say another name, I'm yours." Frank sang with his eyes fixed on Jade again.
"Kiss my lips... I'll guide your hips..." Draco sang but looked strangely at Frank.
"We hide under the sheets! And we scream!" Finn sang, "But we're not safe! The monster's right here! It's in your EEEEEYES! Baby. IT'S IN YOUR EEEEEYES!"
"Don't say that you looooove me! You, Boogeyman!" Finn, Everett and Alex sang in unison beautifully. "You make my fears come true! The worst of fears! Don't say that you looooove me! You, Boogeyman! You make my fears come true! The worst of fears! Oh! Really did my best but!"
"No-oh-oh-oh-oh!" Everett sang, "N-No-oh-oh-oh-oh!"
When Everett finished, Zeth, Frank, and Finn stepped forward to sing...
"You hide... Under my bed and come out just to haunt me! Saying the name of someone who's not like me!" The three of them sang loudly in unison, but Frank? He looked weirdly at Zeth, then he eyed Evie.
"Ummm... Evie?" Jade whispered, "Frank's looking at you really weird."
But Evie didn't listen.
Jade was so sick of it all right now, the mysteries, the secrets. She wasn't sure if she wanted this to be her last night with them, because even though she wanted to stay, she knew that maybe this wasn't the type of life for her.
Should she fight? Or stay away from them? She didn't know anything about them, she didn't feel ready to continue with this, she didn't know if it was the right thing to insist on an empty relationship.
Jade turned to see Evie by her right, pressing her earpiece, pacing frantically.
"Someone is jamming the cameras and my comms," Evie whispered, looking around at the people with prosthetics in the audience, "Beneficiaries and clients of Roman Industries." She glanced at the guys on stage, "One of the beneficiaries is a Trojan Horse and their prosthesis is causing the interference." She then analysed the company's employees, "They all have company pins on their clothes. Tiny cameras, so their boss knows everything without being here. Technology that works despite interference? Or what about telepathy? Someone who sees through the eyes of the audience? Oh no! The pins are Golden Heart amulets!"
Evie turned to look at Kasey walking towards the edge of the stage. She didn't look like a bodyguard in that black dress, that's why she was still here.
"She wants to leave the boys unprotected," Evie was breathing very quickly, "This sounds familiar..." Evie saw all these people, distracted and dancing, celebrating without knowing that there was a shift in the shadows. "The conquest of the city of Latmus, Artemisia staged a festival away from the city to draw the inhabitants out and then captured it without a fight... And the boys are singing 'Boogeyman' which means... Zeth's Vision!" Evie turned to look at the boys, "Shit. I know what is going on here!"
Evie didn't have much time to think about it though...
There were screams, people looking up at a window several floors above.
"Evie! Look!" Jade gasped.
From the tenth floor, a woman jumped, and all the people gasped.
The music stopped, the dancing too.
The woman fell like a cannonball, destroying the centre of the stage. Pieces of metal flew through the air, and the boys covered their faces and took several steps back as some of the dust cleared. The dancers ran away, there were electric explosions and screams.
There was silence, then there was whispering, and all the boys stood petrified when they saw a pale hand emerge from the hole between them.
"Enough of this ridiculousness!" A tall woman came out of the hole, wearing gold platform heels and a sand-coloured dress with an open leg. She was like an angel, with light blonde hair, almost platinum, and blue eyes as cold as ice. Her skin was like snow, her body was athletic, bodybuilding type, and her beauty was blinding. The wounds on her body healed as golden sand filled them, Her broken bones healed in a second too, the pieces of metal from the stage stuck in her skin were expelled by the same golden sand.
It couldn't be!
"A Golden Heart." Kasey took slow steps back, approaching Evie and Jade without taking her eyes off this mysterious woman. "We're going to need this," Kasey said, blindly reaching into her purse, handing a firearm to Evie.
"Where did you get this handgun?" Evie asked as Kasey pulled one out for herself.
"From under the front seats of your car, you know what I'm like," Kasey said, pulling out her grapple gun and tossing the cat purse to the side.
"Who is she?" Jade covered her mouth, turning to see Evie and Kasey with serious expressions on their faces, "Evie! What is... Oh God!" A strong bronze-coloured, metallic arm hugged Jade tightly from behind, squeezing her. This man was tall, almost as tall as Frank.
"Jade!" Evie and Kasey shouted in unison.
Kasey pulled the trigger. The man in the robot suit laughed as his bronze helmet deflected the bullets.
"You again," Evie whispered, taking a step back at the sight of this old enemy, "No. Not again."
"Oh my God! What's going on?!" Jade heard a shot, the incomparable sound of a grapple gun, and then she started going up fast, just as fast as when she climbed onto Everett's back. The guy in the bronze suit was laughing as they ascended, "HELP! Evie! Guys! HEEEEEELP!" Jade screamed as she disappeared up into the air.
"Jade!" Evie drew her grapple gun, aiming up.
"Jade!" Frank looked up, "I am coming for you!" He raised his grapple hand but...
"Frank! Watch out!" Finn shouted.
Frank turned slowly.
The blonde woman slid across the floor with two swords made of some type of golden energy in her hands, slashing at his robotic legs, slicing through them like a hot knife through butter.
Frank fell to the ground, on his chest, with a loud thud.
People screamed all around them and ran to the emergency exit of the pool area.
Evie looked at Frank grunting on the stage floor, then up to where Jade had disappeared.
"I'm sorry Jade. My job is to protect the boys," Evie whispered, "But I promise to rescue you."
"A Golden Heart with Yeti weapon-summoning powers?" Kasey asked Evie, raising an eyebrow, "What's next? A Lycan with Golden Heart powers?"
"Wait! What did you just say?!" Evie whispered, looking at her in terror, "Kasey. I think I know now why the Rubinsteins and the Alfaros created the Lycandros-Alpha project."
"Athenisia!" Zeth shouted on the broken stage, and the blonde woman frowned as she unsummoned her golden energy swords.
"And who the hell are you?" She whispered, turning to look at Draco, "Oh! I know you, Von Stroker!"
"I'll go get Jade," Everett bent his knees to gain momentum, but Athenisia summoned an energy spear and put her foot on Frank's back, threatening him with the tip of her weapon near his neck.
"No. You are going to stay here, Yeti," Athenisia ordered, "Or your friend here will lose more than just his legs. Now. Where is Zeth Rahman?"
"It's me you're looking for," Zeth raised his head, standing in front of his friends.
"What a way to hide in plain sight, I didn't recognise you," Athenisia scoffed, "You and I are going to settle our differences here, Uncle Zeth. You're going to tell me where your heart is."
"What if I refuse?" Zeth raised an eyebrow, but Athenisia raised her spear and pierced Frank's robot hand.
There were sparks and smoke.
"Zeth! Don't tell her anything!" Frank begged and Athenisia laughed.
"Sparks and smoke? I thought there would be blood and pain," Athenisia put the tip of her spear on Frank's flesh-and-blood hand, "Maybe this one does bleed?"
There was a gunshot, Athenisia looked up at a lighting truss being pierced by a hook.
"Get off my boyfriend!" Evie used her grapple gun to swing, kicking Athenisia off Frank, landing hard in front of Zeth with a bang.
"EV-13, the traitorous hunter," Athenisia summoned and threw a golden energy dagger at her. Evie screamed when it lodged itself in her right thigh.
"Evie!" All the Monster Mash guys gasped.
"Hang on!" Kasey shot her grapple gun and swung, but Athenisia brandished her spear quickly, cutting the metal wire.
Kasey fell face first on the stage.
"Guys, stand behind me!" Evie said, with the dagger stuck in her thigh, grunting, "I'll protect you."
"A hunter like you protecting monsters? How funny!" Athenisia laughed.
"I will too," Kasey said, standing next to Evie, both nodding at each other as Athenisia laughed.
"Let's settle this with a Death Match then," Athenisia held her glowing spear with both hands, "Let's see who survives in the end."