When Jade woke up in Zeth's room, she blinked slowly.
There was no difference between being awake and sleeping. It was just quiet. Like a dream.
The bed creaked slightly when she sat up.
The clock next to the bed made her gasp.
It was five in the morning!
Damn! Her biological clock was in disarray!
Jade immediately noticed a note on the nightstand next to a tablet that she read...
"I'm sorry I can't stay, but in my tablet, there is a song called 'Animatronic' and I would like you to listen to it. Love and kisses, Draco." She smiled unconsciously, "P.S. I like cheese."
The handwriting wasn't Draco's though; those were strange scribbles, very fast and deep on the page, so Jade knew that someone else had written that for him, probably Alex.
Jade was not good at reading Draco's cursive, so the fact that he asked someone for help so she could understand what the note said had a bit of romanticism in it.
But still, those were his words, and she couldn't help but feel warm inside. It meant she was really important to him. Maybe even more important than she had originally thought.
The sound of a frying pan and eggs in the kitchen made her turn to look at the door, but she didn't think much of it.
Frank was probably already on his cooking plan.
"Well, if I can't sleep, I guess I'd better get up and go have breakfast," Jade stood up with a grumble, her hair a mess.
There were seven golden gift bags on a dresser. Judging by the not-cursive handwriting on the cards, Egor had probably left them here on Zeth's orders.
Six of the bags contained the Monster Mash collector dolls, and boy! Were they unique pieces!
They all had a metal plate on the black coffin-shaped box with their names written on it, right on top of their heads, and included metallic microphones. All the dolls had plenty of points of articulation unlike the regular editions, and were dressed in the clothes they wore in the music video for 'Monster In Love' which was honestly one of her favourite songs. They were all black and white but with highlights of their characteristic colours in their eyes, hair and parts of their clothing.
The resemblance of the dolls to the boys was uncanny. They were identical except for the size. It was like the creators had shrunk Monster Mash.
They even had articulation in their fingers, hair that looked smooth and shiny unlike the sculpted hair of regular editions, and damn! They even had eyelashes and glass eyes!
These dolls must have cost a fortune each!
Each boy was in scale with each other, and even Frank's prosthetics were chrome metal and not plastic like regular editions.
In the other bag, there was a cat-shaped purse, a beautiful pair of jade-green pumps, red faux leather pants, and a beautiful golden scale-print blouse. And that red leather jacket?! It was a complete and utter beauty!
Inside another little box was a necklace of a Chinese Dragon with emerald eyes and diamonds embedded in it.
She didn't know what to do with these gifts or why Zeth would send them, but she was glad they came anyway. She felt special and cherished just looking at them.
She went to the huge shower in Zeth's private bathroom, putting the song 'Animatronic' on loop while she showered.
As she washed her hair, her body responded automatically and began to move to the beat of the song.
It was one of those songs she could dance to all day long.
The music was so intoxicating and maddeningly catchy that it had actually driven her to outright insanity, and she was pretty cool with that. It was a mix of rock with many electronic and robotic sounds, chaotic to say the least.
As for the actual lunacy of the song, it was frenetic.
But although the song was very good, Jade was also worried about the lyrics, wondering if Frank was okay. Perhaps he wrote this song in a dark moment, on the verge of madness.
This was a masterpiece, though.
The best songs were always created in the worst moments.
"Why did you close the safe room door? A devil dressed in rabbit clothes! Animatronic I've become! And this is all your fucking fault! I sing and dance on a stage! I'm hurt!" As Jade had already memorized the chorus of the song, she started singing in the shower. She even grabbed a shampoo bottle and held it up as if it were a microphone, "I'll take revenge for what you've done! Broken soul! Bionic bones! I'm not the mascot of this show!"
The music on the tablet played its usual loop again, and again.
By the time Jade applied some conditioner to her hair, she had already memorized the entire song.
Once she was done, she went to get her new clothes.
When she entered the bedroom, she dressed up quickly.
"This is! The mon-ster! That! I am! I'll haunt! You! Each! And every! Night!" Jade sang as she sat in front of a table with a huge triangular mirror to put on her earrings and take out the necklace Zeth had given her. Her heart warmed, and her cheeks flushed as she carefully undid the clasp and slipped it around her neck.
The weight of it against her collarbone made her breathe in deeply and smile.
When she saw how elegant and rebellious she looked, she had to bite her lip to stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.
This was such a wonderful feeling!
She felt loved!
Soon enough, she put on her green pumps and headed down the hall to have breakfast.
"Why did you close the safe room door? A devil dressed in rabbit clothes! Animatronic I've become! And this is all your fucking fault!" Jade sang at the top of her lungs as she passed Finn, Alex, and Draco's doors, moving her hips. Something had filled her with energy because she even jumped outside Frank's door.
The smell of pancakes was intense, delicious, with a slight hint of something else Jade didn't know what it was.
"That smells delicious, Frank!" Jade said, holding the tablet in her hands and pausing the song. "Hey, Draco! I love the... Song." But when she looked up, she froze. "Who the hell are you?" Jade asked as a blonde in a black dress with an open leg and high heels sat at the table of the dining room, grabbing some toast from a basket.
The table was set: Scrambled eggs, bacon, toasts, hash browns, pancakes.
There was everything for a nice American Breakfast.
"Oh! Glad you are awake, Jade. Don't worry. Evie and I used to be close," the blonde said with her mouth full. "Come on, sit down and eat. We don't have all day."
"You haven't answered my question." Jade looked at the girl strangely but opened a chair and sat in front of her. Was she... No, it couldn't be her! "Who are you?"
"Oh Jade! Why are you so defensive?" the blonde chuckled. "I don't think I've ever seen your face in person. You have nice hair."
"Thanks, you too," Jade took the cup of coffee in front of her, but before taking a sip, she lowered it. Maybe this blonde wasn't who Jade suspected, after all, it wasn't possible. "Evie sent you to escort me everywhere, right?"
"Oh no, no, no," the blonde laughed, taking a bite of a pancake, lowering her knife and fork, looking straight into Jade's eyes. "I actually came here to make you my hostage. My name is Kasey by the way, or at least that's what everyone around here calls me."
Jade froze.
So yes it was her!
The blonde the boys were talking about, the hunter, was here, having breakfast with her as if they already knew each other, as if they were friends.
"You're the..."
"Yes, Evie's fake-sister. You know, this brings back some great memories." Kasey said, "When Evie and I pretended to have a happy family. Did she tell you that story?"
"N-No, I don't think so," Jade stuttered.
"Well, she and I were given an undercover assignment. We both acted as the daughters of two veteran hunters and relocated to Hallow Woods. Evie was twenty-one, I think, and she was in her last year of college with Frank. You know, she had to make him fall in love so he could give her the location of his grandfather."
"Oh that's... Interesting," Jade could not hide her discomfort.
"I was aware that the family aspect was a simple ruse, not gonna lie, but I loved them all like they were my actual family. I was so sad when Evie detonated the bomb and I realised we had to return to the Hunter Academy."
"So, you and Evie met there? In the academy?"
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We were both kidnapped and taken on a cargo ship to The Hunter Academy when we were little girls. In fact, when they took us out of the heated metal container, and soldiers attempted to take me away, Evie went to my defence. I saw her as an older sister since then." Then she began laughing, "Oh dear! She saved my life so many times! Once, I failed a fight test against her and do you know what Evie did when they were going to execute me?" Kasey asked, all laughs, and Jade, traumatized, shook her head, "She held the soldiers at gunpoint while I clung to her. However, on Vanessa Helsee's signal, Evie and I were sedated and placed in a prison cell."
"That sounds awful," Jade whispered and Kasey nodded.
"Oh it was worse when they threw us into ice cold water after fights," the blonde took another bite of her pancakes, speaking with her mouth full. "Come on... Eat! I didn't make... Breakfast so you'd just sit there... Glaring at me."
"But you're going to..." Jade looked down and fixed her eyes on a knife.
"No-oh, don't even think about it," Kasey replied, took a sip of her coffee, and then put it down. "If I wanted to, I'd already..."
"You would have killed me already," Jade pointed to the hallway of doors. "When I was asleep."
"Exactly," Kasey said, intertwining her fingers and looking straight into Jade's eyes. Her blue gaze was intrusive and firm. "Did you notice that the note Draco left on the nightstand wasn't written by him?"
Chills made Jade tremble.
"Yes, I noticed. Draco writes in cursive."
"That guy's adorable. Maybe he knew you wouldn't understand his handwriting, so he asked one of his friends to write that," she said, taking bacon from her plate and chewing with her mouth open. "And that handwriting says a lot. A man, very sexual, ambitious, confident, quite firm and impulsive, unstable, with high standards."
"Alex," Jade said, and the blonde pointed a fork at her, not in a threatening way, but in a way that expressed Jade's talent for this. "You went into Zeth's room then? Did you steal something?"
"Ha! As if I would be interested in any of those trinkets! Ha-ha! The only interesting thing in there are the Paragon Rings," Kasey said, clapping her hands once. "Come on, chop, chop, we don't have all day."
"What did you put in my food?" Jade asked, and the blonde shrugged her shoulders.
"Salt and pepper for the eggs, a little sugar in the coffee," she replied. When Jade looked at her weirdly, Kasey nodded while chewing. "Fine! I admit it... I put a little cinnamon and... Oats on the pancakes... But that makes them special! Or are you allergic to oats?"
"I wonder when Evie will realise you are here," Jade raised an eyebrow. "How did you..."
"Get here? Well, they forgot to take off my bra. I hid lock picks in the fabric of one of the straps," Kasey dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Your boyfriends are filming something, and there was a cart of clothes nearby, so I took these clothes. Then I saw an outfit on a hanger and a sign that said they were for you."
Jade tilted her head. Clothes for her? Did the boys want her to appear in another music video? For Jade, the strip club show was more than enough, and no one informed her about it this time.
"The point is, I asked a short man where you were to give you the clothes. He told me you were here, so... Here I am! Oh, and your outfit for the video is over there, I left it on the couch, maybe it got a little wrinkled. Woo-Hoo! I'm the best, baby!" Kasey raised her hands, making a happy dance while sitting, chewing loudly. "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I came to talk. But you were snoring a lot, and I was fed up and hungry. I saw that they had everything here to make an American breakfast and I said, why the hell not? I love the hospitality of this place."
Jade was tense. She couldn't let her guard down.
Yet, the blonde seemed pretty harmless.
"You're quite the escape artist, I see," Jade said, and Kasey laughed loudly.
"I really don't know what they were thinking. They locked me in a room, four walls, floor, and ceiling. Did they think I was going to stay there forever? Anyway! Will you eat those pancakes?"
Jade shook her head.
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry."
"Your boyfriend knows something," Kasey took Jade's pancake from her plate and put it on her own. "I'm talking about the Ken Doll."
"Zeth?" Jade looked at her suspiciously.
"I think he knows something about my client that I don't." Kasey pointed the fork at Jade again.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, I want to be a millionaire again! Oh yeah, baby! No more minimum wages for me!" And then she made her happy dance again, "I will be the new leader of the Hunters."
"Hunters are no more."
"Evie told you that?" Kasey chuckled. "Evie is a big liar. There are still several out there, some unemployed and others hiding in the shadows, murdering people like your friends. Why do you think Zeth is hiding everyone here?"
It felt like someone punched Jade in the stomach. She couldn't look away from the blonde. Her smile was bright, her blue eyes sparkling, and her pink lips slightly swollen. She wasn't the trained killer Jade was expecting.
The presence of this girl was menacing but also unsettling, paradoxical.
"You already know about this place, you already know where the monsters hide. Why haven't you gone back to your hunter friends?"
"There are no friends in this business," Kasey replied as if offended. "Only bosses, people to please to make more money. So! I want to know where Evalon is, and Zeth and Draco know it. And I wasn't going to ask politely without a hostage!" Kasey said it as if it meant nothing, yet Jade couldn't help the small twinge of annoyance rising up in her chest. It only lasted for a second, however. "Those two old men left that place that has not appeared on maps for centuries. Surely they remember where it is. Can you imagine? I will achieve what Vanessa Helsee could never!"
"So you're going to use me to find a secret world?" Jade narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"You know nothing yet, do you?" she replied. "I guess they haven't told you anything about Evalon. Now eat, I promise not to hurt you, just use you as a hostage. You will return home safely to Erich at 3904 Venture Street without a scratch, I promise."
"So that's what you're here for," Evie's voice said, and Kasey immediately stood up with a knife in her hand. But out of nowhere, the knife flew from Kasey's hand and got stuck in a wall, as if an invisible force had thrown it away.
Jade turned, just as Paul became visible by the front door...
"Paul?" Jade raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, Jade." he replied. Evie was holding him by the shoulder, with a gun in her other hand, dressed in a black battle suit and stiletto boots as always, with holsters for her weapons on her thighs.
"I should have suspected that it was all too easy." Kasey raised her hands. "The cart and the sign on the clothes, the short guy who happened to be passing by... Do you think I can at least finish my breakfast before you take me as your prisoner again?"
"I don't think so," Evie replied, but Paul put a hand on her gun and lowered it. "What are you doing, Paul?"
"Let me talk to her," Paul said. "Alone. I know I can make her reconsider. Monster Mash is all about second chances, don't you think?"