Soon enough, the five Monster Mash boys were outside the tour bus.
Draco opened the door and went in first.
The space was small, and with how bulky they all were, it was a bit difficult to fit. Draco wondered how they managed, during the tours, to spend so much time cooped in here.
"Jade," Draco said. She was sitting on the floor, next to an unconscious Zeth, "We need your help."
"What is it?" Jade stood up slowly, clutching the sleeves of her jacket.
"We need you to be our model," Draco replied with jazz hands.
"Why do you want me to be in a music video? Why are you still insisting?" She grumbled.
"Because that will make Melody angry," Everett said, "You will revenge on crazy girl for yelling at you last night."
Draco and Alex looked at each other and then at Everett.
"We never told you anything about last night," Alex said.
"I followed someone too," Everett replied expressionlessly, "I actually don't understand how nobody noticed my huge truck."
"Plot-magic?" Draco asked.
"You followed me last night too?!" Jade was shocked. She must be very important then! Super, super important to them!
"I didn't follow you," Everett looked at Draco and Alex then, "Wait, who did you guys follow?"
"Ignore Everett, that is not important right now," Alex said, turning to face her, "You were the first normal girl to interview us, and we want to send a message: That we stand for all the Freaks in the world, unlike those pendejos."
"You just called me a Freak," Jade said.
"We need you to be the main attraction," Draco explained with his typical sweet, somewhat daring, fanged smile, "And we need as many people from the school as possible."
"We'll throw a bachelorette party, baby!" Alex cheered, "And you have to be the bride."
"I am not quite sure about this, guys," Frank said, twisting his mouth, "It's a last minute change and I don't like not having a plan. Besides, we still need to take Jade shopping and shoot her scenes at the salon."
"Alex and I will organize the event," Draco said, and Alfaro nodded, "Alex knows the owner of the place, I guess he can convince him."
"Elord Darke is a good guy," Alex snapped his fingers and winked at his friends, "And I'm the king of persuasion."
"Everett will take you for a hairdo, Jade," Draco said. "He's got experience, and he sure knows what to do with your style."
"Wait! I don't want to do anything to my hair!" Jade gasped and ran towards the door, but Everett reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Your hair looks horrible, like Baby Yeti," Everett smiled sweetly, "We Yeti are born with black hair that looks like scouring pad."
"Is my hair that ugly?" She gasped and blinked rapidly, "No, wait! No way, I'm not going to change it!" Jade yelled and tried to pull her arm away from him.
"Frank and Finn, you're in charge of rounding up as many people as you can," Draco said, and both boys nodded. "And we have to take Jade shopping," Draco scratched his head. "It'll be hard because we don't know anything about fashion, but..."
"Leave it to me," Zeth was sitting on the edge of Frank's bunk, looking weak and tired, but still trying to act tough. With a grunt, Zeth walked somewhat dizzily towards the group.
"Zeth! You are awake!" Draco immediately hugged him and Zeth patted his shorter friend on the back.
"You okay?" Finn asked, "I was worried about you."
"Yeah, Seamons, I'm fine," Zeth said in a low voice.
"You sure?" Frank asked and Zeth nodded.
"Bro! You scared us all!" Alex said, "Don't do that again, old man."
"I was so worried I cried," Everett said, "But only inside."
"So we'll go shopping?" Jade bit her lip, "You and me?"
"I'm always ready for shopping." Zeth looked her up and down. "Yeah. She needs my exquisite taste in fashion."
"Hey, I gotta tell you, I have a plan," Draco told Zeth. "We are going to shoot in another location."
"I guess... Woah!" Zeth was still swaying a bit, but Everett put his big hands on his shoulders to support him, "Thanks, Big Guy." Zeth cleared his throat and rubbed his temples, "I have no idea what's going on, but I trust you, Draco... I trust all of you, guys and girl."
"MulÈumesc," Draco nodded and pulled him close for another warm hug.
"Well, what can I say? You were Zafira's Great Adviser, weren't you?" Zeth laughed and ruffled Draco's scarlet hair a little, "So, what are we up against?"
"We're not facing anything serious," Draco shifted his shoulders, "But Fifth Octave is backed by a strong house because their leader is an Operman, Cadence's son in fact. The rest of our enemies are descendants of Houses Gheist, Greyston, Hellderson, Boogingham and a quite cute feline, but their alliance is fragile, so I think we can wait until they kill each other and focus on our business instead of making a plan of attack."
"You sound like when we were at the war council in... Wait... Did you just call one of them a 'quite cute feline' Draco?" Zeth looked worried,
"I propose direct attack." Everett said, "Battle with swords or knives. I propose Death Match. We could put spikes in Lyonfort and do what Duke Zehtt Rahman of Zeleste Island did to Tunebra Priests."
"That's not legal, Everett." Draco cocked his head, "And I'm surprised you know so much about Evalon. I mean, that happened like three or four generations before the Rahman dynasty of kings!"
"I am cultured Yeti," Everett smiled slightly.
"Yeah, but I think whatever you're talking about doesn't apply here," Finn said, raising a hand, "We must show the world that Fifth Octave are horrible, rude people. Maybe if we secretly record them and..."
"We should go beat them up! I agree with Everett!" Alex exclaimed.
"And deal with the Operman lawyers? No thanks." Zeth shook his head.
"To hell with the lawyers! A beating will put them in their place!" Alex continued to act impulsively. "How tough can a lawyer be?"
"A direct attack without knowing our enemies is a mistake." Said Zeth, calming the quarrelsome spirits of the boys, "I'll tell you this... During the Clash of the Rahmans, Countess Nephty 'The Impulsive' Rahman and her dragon, Ptahx, arrived above the Great Pyramid of Zeth and burned Zer Treevor Nosferatt's soldiers with dragon fire. Ptahx was then attacked by King Anuber Rahman atop Anubyx and Commander Heruz 'The Giant' Rahman atop Horrux. Nephty and Ptahx died and you know why? Because she had no plan and no information about the enemy. If we do the same, all our efforts will be in vain and we will lose more than we will gain. Our best option is to send Evie to investigate as much as she can about them, with enough information, then we can proceed."
"I would have used the example of King Maahel 'The Crushed' Rahman's failed conquest of Hellstorm but..." Draco shifted his shoulders, "That was a good one too."
"The crushed?" Alex asked.
"King Maahel died when Damon Hellfire hurled a rock from the battlements of Devil's Mouth. It's said that the king was so happy to have managed to get this far into Hellstorm with his already tired armies that he started dancing at the entrance of the castle and then..." Draco trumpeted his tongue, "I believe his time on the throne was less than a week."
"Six days in fact," said Zeth, "But he spent three days marching south."
"Days? Evalon isn't a very big place, is it?" Alex asked and Zeth shook his head.
"Not much really. One could go from Moonfall to Hellstorm by dragon in a matter of about thirty minutes."
"Oh! I once flew from The Titan to Guardian Fort in twenty minutes," Draco said, checking his nails, "Not to brag, but I think I'm faster than Anubyx."
"I don't want to interrupt this cultural breviary, but don't we have work to do?" Finn asked, crossing his arms.
"A lot of work to do indeed! I'll take Jade shopping and to the salon with Everett," Zeth said, rubbing his head, his eyes looking red, his voice slow and low.
"Frank and I will go find people for the video," Finn said. "We'll get them to the location before six o'clock."
"Alex and I will go to the location to set everything up," Draco said as Alex put an arm around his shoulder, "We'll meet you there."
"The place is called 'Devil's Tango' and it's near the paper factory." Alex winked, "Don't be late."
"We need some camera crew to shoot Jade's makeover," Zeth said, but Jade was still nervous.
"But I don't want to..." Jade sighed and dropped her shoulders, "There's no point in arguing with any of you. Fine! I'm in."
"You are brave for agreeing to do this," Everett smiled, then frowned, "I gave you compliment so that you feel guilty if you regret it later."
"Thanks?" Jade raised an eyebrow.
"Don't leave Everett alone with her for a second, Zeth," Frank whispered to his leader, who nodded with an annoyed face.
"You are welcome." Everett smiled slightly, patting Jade's head, "Now I will tell you something nice I actually believe... You're tiny, like mountain goat."
"How come Everett has more luck with women than me?" Alex raised an eyebrow and Draco shifted his shoulders.
"Thanks, Everett." Jade looked at the other guys doubtfully. She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but with Everett, she preferred not to know.
"You're in good hands, the best," Zeth said, holding them up, pretending to squeeze something. "Mine, obviously!"
"Oh... Really?" Jade bit her lip, squeezed her thighs as if wanting to pee, and blushed, smoothing her hair.
"Jade wants to mate," Everett said, "Let them mate."
"Oh my God!" Frank shivered. "Please! Don't say mate ever again!"
"I don't understand why they make it so complicated," Everett shifted his shoulders. "Back home, it was easier. Yeti Girl would approach Yeti Boy and say, 'Hey! I like you! Do you like me?' And if boy said yes, they got married and had Baby Yeti. And if he said no, she beheaded him. Simple!" He concluded with a smile.
They all fell silent, giving the Big Guy disturbed or confused looks, one or the other, never both.
"Anyway!" Zeth said, waving dismissively. "Girl, let's make you a star!" He knighted her with his hand, "You are officially a part of Monster Mash now."
Jade nodded.
She never asked for a makeover, but if that's what the guys had in mind, she'd do it for them.
So she agreed, albeit hesitantly.
She never thought there was something wrong with her style, and if she was being honest, she didn't want to change anything.
But at the same time, she trusted Everett and Zeth knew what they were doing.