Chapter 1: Long Before Hotel Transylvania 2
The winter was rough on the American land in the beginning of 2000. Many humans did their best to stay indoors and avoid the insane blizzard that had hit them. Even the monsters, who were still in hiding at that time, preferred to stay in a warm hiding spot unless they were already spending their winter holiday in Hotel Transylvania, far off in the titular land.
The Snow Clan, the snow spirit monsters who did not mind humans, also took the wise advice of staying indoors. All of them were part of a monster race that was playful, kind, and unafraid of humans. They usually enjoyed using their snow powers to create soft layers of snow for human children to play in and generate ice for the older humans to create lovely performances. But naturally, being human-friendly monsters, they'd never cause such a blizzard that hit the United States.
Only ice spirit monsters, their human-hating counterpart, would be willing enough to create a snow storm at the beginning of each year. It was already a miracle that humans at the end of the 20th century were so evolved, they thought the storm was just the result of nature going wild and not the act of ice spirit monsters trying to kill them.
While that mayhem was happening in the Midwest, one snow spirit in particular resided in Bianca Hills, a small town in Maryland. Like any winter season, his garden was covered in snow and his sidewalk had salt to melt the ice away. The few monsters hiding in Bianca Hills knew he was pretending to be a normal resident to fool the humans, and most of the humans who knew him just thought he was being cautious like everyone else. That particular snow spirit monster's name was Nicolas and he had managed to live for now 300 years (for humans, he looked like he could be 30).
Nicolas opened up his window and used a spyglass to observe the western part of the sky. All he could see for the moment was a pure white sky covering Bianca Hills, but as he adjusted the settings of his spyglass, he got a zoomed in view of the Midwest. Humans were lying frozen in the snow, cars got tires fractured by ice, and the wind was blowing viciously. The human authorities, 'evolved' as they were, thought that the weather was responsible for such casualties, but Nicolas knew that was wrong. His spyglass managed to show him ice spirit monsters breathing frost onto humans, generating ice shards, and creating the storms before then running off.
"Bastards," Nicolas spat. He closed the window and put his spyglass back on his desk just in time to answer his ringing phone. "Nicolas Fjordson on the line."
"Nick, it's just me," a female voice answered from the other line.
"Oh, Danae!" Nick smiled when he recognized the voice of one of his snow spirit monster cousins. "How's your vacation in Hotel Transylvania going?"
"Very lovely as usual. The Dracula clan is as welcoming while its patriarch is human phobic." Danae shrugged on the other line.
"I envy you," Nicolas said.
"Nick, I'm calling because your brother Cetus called yesterday. Is it true about Luna and Peter?"
Nick said nothing. He briefly looked at the only framed picture he had on his wall. It was a photo of his late young sister Luna, her mortal husband Peter, and their hybrid infant. "Yes," he sniffed. "I told her that it was a bad idea to move in at her husband's home in Chicago. The ice spirit monsters are on their hunting spree... and Jack Frost managed to pick up the scent of Luna's child."
Danae gasped on the other end of the line. "You mean Jack Frost did the deed?"
"You know how he despises hybrids more than he despises humans. He must have found out that there was one in Chicago and made the crime easier by killing the entire family. It was a good thing that I followed Luna to Chicago to help her with the move in, and when we all went on a ride to visit Peter's parents... I spotted Jack Frost sending small ice shards to fracture the tires of Peter's car..."
"You managed to jump out?"
"Yes... and I took the baby with me. Jack Frost was so busy gloating when the car slid towards a truck carrying flammable oil and burned them all, he did not notice me flying back to Bianca Hills with my niece."
"Bless your snowflake soul!" Danae said happily.
"It's not going to be easy, raising a half-human half-monster. She has to be raised equally by both sides." He sighed. "I already know I can't take her on a holiday at Hotel Transylvania."
"Why not? Your niece is half monster."
"And half human. Dracula doesn't accept humans in his hotel, I highly doubt he'll accept a half-human hybrid. Besides, he's already generous enough to allow 'human-friendly' monsters like us come to his hotel for a holiday." Nicolas held the framed picture in his hands. "I do hope you're right, though. In 2019 will come the Half-Centennial Slumber, the one time where our ice spirit rivals give us a break by going into 50 years of hibernation. My niece will turn 20 on the winter solstice of that year."
"By then, her hybrid scent will have dissolved through her maturity, and Jack Frost prefers targeting hybrids before they reach adulthood. Raise her well and once Jack Frost and the other ice spirits awaken, fifty years will have passed and they'll mistake her for a regular snow spirit."
"Yes." Nicolas put the picture back on the desk. "And naturally, I'll have you and the rest of our family's support?"
"Don't be silly. Family always sticks together. For the moment, I don't know how I can contribute, but maybe you and the child could come visit us in Norway in summer."
"Great, we'll stay in touch." Nicolas gave his cousin Danae a small goodbye. He hung up his phone, just in time for crying to be heard from across the hallway. He turned into a gust of snowflakes that flew out into the hallway and reformed into Nicolas once he arrived inside one of the house's bedrooms. This one in particular was a nursery with blue snowflake wallpapers, a mix of human and monster toys, a small closet to hold the baby clothes, white curtains, a nightstand, and a blue crib made out of wood that was carved to look like a mass of carved snowflakes. Nicolas over the crib and picked up the few weeks old infant that had cried under her snowflake patterned bed sheets and her plush polar bear.
"My little Minerva had a bad dream?" Nicolas cradled the baby in his arms. The baby Minerva calmed down as her uncle stroke the small locks of hair she had on her small head, a physical trait she got from her mother Luna.
"It's OK, your uncle Nicholas is here," the snow spirit said reassuringly. Minerva giggled in his arms while her eyes widened eagerly. Her human father's grey eyes shined while Nicolas readjusted the snowy owl mobile on top of the crib. He put his baby niece back in the crib and grabbed the one decoration on the nightstand: the one thing he managed to salvage from Chicago other than his niece. It was a musical snow globe, with a snow spirit monster smiling and sharing a heart-shaped snowflake with a human. Nicolas turned the key five times and he shook the snow globe. The little Minerva giggled as the tiny snow fell with the musical box version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
"Your daddy built it for your mommy after they zinged," Nicolas said with a smile as he let Minerva play with one of his fingers. "When you grow up, you'll become the loveliest hybrid ever. Monsters and humans will adore you, and among any of them, you'll find your own zing."
"Zing, zing!" Minerva squealed, causing Nicolas to get excited as he just witness his infant niece's first word.
Four years later, in December 2004
Like most half-human, half-hybrid monsters, Minerva grew rapidly. She looked like an ordinary human four-year-old close to turning five, only her snow spirit monsters were developing quicker than those of a regular one. At the age of one, she created her first snow blast when she accidentally sneezed on her uncles Nicolas and Cetus (who was visiting at the time). At the age of two, she was already capable of creating more than enough unique snowflake patterns, which did catch the temporary jealousy from one of the family cousins residing in France. At the age of three, she was already able of commanding the snow to shape up into a snowman that was just as tall as her uncle's house. Right, she was in the front yard practicing ice generating for the first time ever under the watchful eye of Nicholas and Cetus (who was yet again visiting).
"Just imagine you want ice to appear under your foot," Nicolas said.
Minerva put her index fingers on her temples and tried to imagine ice on the driveway she was standing on. She just began growing a sign of frost on the stone, causing her uncles to get eager, until Minerva stopped and scowled when she saw a group of older human boys shoving a Bhutanese girl of her age into the snow. Her uncles could not predict Minerva using her powers to have snowfalls fly right at the boys and succeed her first ice generating... which was icing the boys' shoes so that they'd slide all the way down the street.
"Well she did manage to create ice," Nicolas tried to reassure Cetus. "Not out of malice."
"Hopefully those bullies landed in a pile of snow," Cetus said.
The uncles then noticed Minerva walking towards the Bhutanese girl and helping her stand up. "You OK?" She asked.
"Uh huh," the human girl nodded. She picked up her backpack. "Thanks. I saw what you did with the snow."
"You don't think I was scary?" Minerva twirled one of her blue locks in embarrassment.
"No." The human girl shook her head. "I think you're cool." She held out her hand. "I'm Priscilla, but my parents call me Prissy."
"I'm Minerva." The hybrid shook hands with the human. "But my Uncle Nicolas has humans call me Mindy."
Another four years later, on December 21st, 2008
Minerva blew the candles of her birthday cakes. All the kids and parents who attended the party, a mix of humans and monsters from Bianca Hills, applauded. Even some of Minerva and Nicolas' snow spirit monster family managed to make it to the party.
"OK, we took care of the cake flavors," Nicolas said as he started slicing the three layered birthday cake covered in human blue coating and monster scream cheese snowflakes. "Chocolate and coconut half for the human guests and we checked on the possible allergies," the uncle said to the nodding human guests, "and nightshade velvet for monsters."
Everyone got excited and continued chatting while eating their respective cake slices. To think that while monsters were still hiding off in Hotel Transylvania, the monsters from Bianca Hills were having friendly social relations with their human neighbors. Even the kids got along and watched Minerva (or as they called her with her human name, Mindy) open her presents. Naturally, she loved all the presents she got from her human and monster friends.
"Cool, a baking set!" Minerva clapped when she opened Priscilla's present.
"I know how much you like cupcakes," Priscilla said.
"Here's for you." One of her monster friends said as he gave her his unwrapped present. He was a young monster called an amarok. Basically, he was close to a regular wolf, only he was albino and preferred to be human-sized rather than giant. His name was Kendrick and he was Minerva's monster best friend while Priscilla was her human best friend.
His present for Minerva was a fake white wolf fur coat. "That way you can wear it when you go visit your relatives in Norway in the summer."
"Thank you, Ken," Minerva said as she tried on the coat.
"Hey Mindy, why do you and your uncle always go to Norway in summer?" One of her human friends asked.
"Yeah, why would you spend summer vacation in the mountains when you could go to the beach?" Another human friend suggested.
"Because she'll melt under too much heat," Priscilla retorted. "Snow melts quickly when it's hot, but since Mindy is half-human, she doesn't melt that fast."
"It does hurt." Minerva nodded. "It's like getting a lot of sunburns all over your body."
"OUCH!" All of her human and monster peers yelped.
While the kids did their things, the parents were socializing with one another. "It's so nice to see Mindy being happy on her birthday," Priscilla's mother told Nicolas. "Priscilla really enjoys hanging out with her."
"Believe me, it's a pleasure," Nicolas nodded. "It's helpful for my niece to have a mix of human and monster friends."
"Do you often take her to monstrous places?" Priscilla's mother asked curiously. "I only thought about it when my husband mentioned Priscilla talking very much about what Mindy told her whenever you take her to Norway for the summer."
"She does have a point," one of the adult guests, a living Egyptian shabti monster, commented as he ate his piece of cake. "When on earth are you and the rest of the snow clan going to take her to Hotel Transylvania for a holiday? Minerva's eight now and her half-human stench is being dominated by her half-monster stench. I bet the other monsters at the hotel would easily think she's a full monster."
"Hotel Transylvania?" Priscilla's mother asked. "A hotel for monsters?"
"Yep. Count Dracula himself built it... though he and many monsters are still stuck with the old-fashioned belief that humans are going to kill them. But since his daughter is bound to soon turn 118, I'm sure he'll have to let go of his prejudice eventually."
"I'd rather not take the chance yet." Nicolas shook his head. "Besides, it's not Count Dracula that worries me but Jack Frost."
"Oh, right." Priscilla's mother gave a sympathetic look as she briefly looked at the children. Minerva was helping Priscilla put on her blindfold on for the game of pinning-the-snake-on-the-Gorgon's head.
"I mean, my relatives and I are hoping to take Minerva with us to Transylvania once the Half-Centennial Slumber nears."
"It's that time of century when Jack Frost and the other ice spirit monsters go into a 50 year hibernation," the shabti monster explained to Priscilla's mother. "Usually, to celebrate their rivals leaving them alone, the Snow Clan performs from the winter solstice all the way to the middle of January at Hotel Transylvania for that time period until the ice spirits reawaken."
"So Mindy should be good by then," Priscilla's mother said positively.
"Yes," Nicolas shrugged.
Later in the night
Nicolas and Cetus were just done cleaning the house once the birthday was over. All the guests went home and the two brothers went up to wash up when they saw Minerva coming down and running into them.
"Minerva, shouldn't you be in bed?" Nicolas picked up his daughter and carried her in his arms even though she was past the age.
"Uncle Nick, Uncle Cetus, I was wondering... is it bad? That I'm half human, half monster?" The small girl asked cautiously.
"No!" Nicolas hugged her and carried her downstairs.
"Yes, who gave you that idea?" Cetus asked as they sat down on the couch.
"Well... I heard you and the other parents talking. Is it because I'm a hybrid that you can't go to Transylvania anymore?"
Cetus and Nicolas looked at one another. The former gave an affirmative nod and the latter had Minerva sit between them. They went on to tell her the truth, from monsters fears of human, Dracula building the hotel as a sanctuary for monsters after humans killed his wife, and to finishing with how Nicolas narrowly managed to save Minerva as a baby when Jack Frost tried burning up the family in a car accident because he found out they had a hybrid infant.
"I always knew I was different," Minerva said upset. She looked at her uncles. "Can't I just become a full monster? That way Jack Frost wouldn't hate me and we could finally go to Transylvania with the rest of our family."
"Sweetie, I would never ask you to force yourself to become something that you aren't." Nicolas hugged her. "It's just hard to change prejudices that exist since forever."
"Besides, nature's rules on blood decree that negative consequences happen when a hybrid is forced to choose one side of his or her heritage to live with permanently," Cetus added. "If you had chosen to renounce your monster blood, you'd become a full monster-hating human like the Van Hellsing people, and if you renounced on your humanity..."
"You'd be an actual monster on the inside." Nicolas sighed. "You'd lose all sense of sanity and kill whatever runs into you. You could even kill us whether we're your family or not."
Minerva pouted and leaned on her uncle Nicolas' stomach. "It's not fair."
"I'm sorry." Nicolas stroke her head. "I promise, Minerva. When you get older, you'll be a strong lady. Jack Frost won't get to you."
Cut to the present time, set six months after the events of HOTEL TRANSYLVANNIA 2
Friday, December 13th. The commuting train pulled into the train station of Bianca Hills. Minerva and Priscilla, now grown-up young ladies, stepped off the train and dragged their luggage to the platform.
"Ugh!" Priscilla stretched her spine. "Finals were murder!" Her eyes scowled under her glasses when she noticed her friend was trying her hardest to remain silent while holding back a giggle. "Don't you dare!"
"I didn't say anything," Minerva said with a shrug.
"Mentally, you were thinking 'I told you so!'" Priscilla remarked as they made their way to the parking lot.
"Well, I did warn you that law school would drain the blood vessels out of your eyeballs," Minerva said, "but hey, it's a free country."
"Speaking of country, I can't wait for the trip!" Priscilla pulled out a red pamphlet from her lime green winter coat. "Can you believe that the once monsters-only hotel is now open to humans, and with the ice spirits preparing for their long beauty sleep, you finally get to go to Transylvania and your uncle is letting you bring a few friends?"
"I know, right?" Just as Minerva said that, a black minivan slid on the cold street and towards the parking lot. Minerva sighed and sprung her fist open. A big pile of snow grew from the ground and stopped the minivan close enough so that the girls could see the license plate W82MOON. Minerva was the first to walk up and knock on the driver's window. It went down and revealed a green-skinned humanoid monster, massive pink hair tied in a messy bun, and ears the size of fancy soup dishes.
"Demi, you can't drive until you get a driver's license. Let Kendrick ride."
"Told you so," a now older Kendrick whistled at Demi. The latter grunted and got off the minivan so that she could switch seats with Kendrick. Demi was another good monster friend of Minerva: they were both hybrids, but while Minerva was only 50% monster, Demi was actually half-dryad, half Troll. Technically, she was a hybrid with 100% monstrosity.
"Your train got delayed?" Kendrick asked as he opened the trunk and put the girls' luggage in there while they went to sit down inside with Minerva's other monster friend. This friend was actually tragic. He used to be a boy she and Priscilla knew in high school named Michael who died when one of their classmates accidentally set the Home Economics classroom on fire. Minerva and Priscilla had been the first one to run as fast as they could when it happened (for obvious reasons), but one of the other students who escaped accidentally locked in Michael. By the time the fire department came, Michael was dead, and three days after his funeral, he was back to life as a living skeleton monster. Struck with amnesia, he was alone and Minerva welcomed him in her group of friends. Problem was, after Kendrick told a joke, Michael ended up believing he was the skeleton of Michael Jackson.
So yeah, that was the group that drove away from the train station in a minivan. Minerva, a half human and half snow spirit monster hybrid. Kendrick, an amarok that drove the minivan. Priscilla, a regular French-Bhutanese human studying to be a lawyer. Demi, a dryad-troll hybrid monster who only acted like an airhead when she didn't have her pop music playing headphones covering her ears. And a forever sixteen-year-old skeleton who thought he was Michael Jackson and dressed in his Thriller costume while whistling the song 'Bad'.
Yep. Here comes the party.
"You guys got your luggage ready for the trip?" Minerva asked.
"Min-min, the flight isn't until 6pm," Michael stopped whistling.
"So you didn't do your luggage," Kendrick translated flatly. "Demi and I already got our suitcases ready. We brought them at your house at dawn," he told Minerva.
"Good. Prissy and I still need to double-check the stuff we brought back from college before replacing them with the essentials." Minerva caused a snowflake to appear with a carved list on it. "Winter clothes, swim gear, toiletry..."
"Law books," Priscilla pointed out.
"You bring law books on vacation?" The amarok asked the human in confusion.
"What? You never know if we might run into judiciary issues when we're off."
"I do get issues with Judy Sierra," Demi shrugged. Her friends looked at her in exasperation. Minerva shook her head and went back to her list.
"Priscilla's law books, presents for my cousins, the emergency-boredom kit... The rest, we should be good!" Minerva snapped her fingers and the snowflake list dissolved into air, causing some of the others to shiver.
Kendrick pulled in front of Minerva's uncles house and dropped her and Priscilla off. He promised to come back in time to go to the airport as soon as he and Demi helped Michael back. Since Priscilla's parents were travelling to Asia for business during the last two years, the human lawyer wannabe stayed at her hybrid best friend's home.
Minerva didn't even have to pull out her key. The door sprung open and Nicolas held his arm out. "My little snowflake is back from college!"
"I missed you too!" Minerva jumped to hug her beloved uncle. He helped the girls bring in their luggage.
"So how's law school going for you, Priscilla?" Nicolas kindly asked Priscilla.
"Eh. Mindy told me so," she shrugged. "But I'm really looking forward to the vacation. Thank you for letting me come with you to Transylvania."
"You, Minerva, and your other monster friends are going to love Hotel Transylvania now that it's open to both monsters and humans." He sighed happily.
"Uncle Nicolas, did you already do our luggage?" Minerva pointed at six suitcases that were packed and stacked by the staircase.
"Yes, I thought you girls would like some peace after those exhausting finals and before our long flight to Europe."
"You're the best, Mr. Fjordson. How about I make us all some iced tea?" Priscilla suggested.
"You know us so well."
Priscilla headed to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the two relatives sat down on the couch and admired a canvas hanging on top of the fireplace. It was a collage portrait that Minerva made when she was younger. It was a perfect duplicate of the portrait of her parents her uncle had in his office, only the glitter, paint, and papers she had used shined with the light of the sun coming from the window.
"Your parents would be so proud," Nicolas said. He stroke his niece's hair; Minerva had her mother's striking light blue hair with curls growing at the tips, only hers was cut an inch or two past the shoulders. The feminine features and snow spirit monster powers were passed on, only Minerva had grown more prodigious in low levels. As for the father, Peter, he had passed on his gray eyes and the human compassion he had towards all beings.
"I still wish they were here," Minerva smiled sadly at the picture. For a moment, she played with her fingers and snow appeared to create small moving depictions of Luna and Peter.
"You might not have there, but the fact that you are here means they can rest in peace," Nicolas said as Minerva's brief sadness caused the mini people to disappear and cause another brief chill in the living room. "Your birthday is next week and you'll finally be free from the threat of Jack Frost."
"Until I'm 70," Minerva pointed out. Nicolas briefly glared at her. "Sorry."
"I'm just as excited as you are about performing in front of the other monsters with the rest of the family in Transylvania and to finally show off your talents," he said as he held her in the hands, "but please promise that you're going to hold back any desire to do big magic. The ice spirits and Jack Frost might be busy preparing for their hibernation, but a powerful mass of snow magic could alert them of something suspicious."
"I thought you threw them off by making sure they didn't pick up my half-human scent," Minerva frowned. Her uncle glared at her again. "OK, OK. I promise I won't use any powerful snow magic."
"Just for a week," Nicolas said reassuringly. "Once sunset has passed on the winter solstice, you'll get to release as much magic as you want!" He turned into a gust of snowflakes and dragged his niece into a playful dance that made her laugh. "You'll get to do perform with the rest of your family every year, and if we're lucky enough, you'll find your zing and I'll get grandnephews or grandnieces!"
"Again with the stories of zing," Priscilla rolled her eyes as she came in from the kitchen carrying a tray bearing three glasses of iced tea. Nicolas turned back into flesh to take a glass while Priscilla continued speaking and put the tray on the coffee table. "You know, scientists have never actually managed to confirm the existence of the 'love at first sight' theories."
Nicolas scoffed. "Pff! Human science!" He held up his hand at the portrait. "You think Minerva's parents married and had her because of human science? Nope! All monsters get the chance to find their zing, the one person they'll spend eternity with for the rest of their lives. It can also happen to humans if they zing with monsters. That's what happened with my sister Luna. She was Minerva's age when she traveled to the United States to study art and ran into Peter. When they looked at one another and saw a purple glow in their eyes..."
"Eh." Priscilla drank her iced tea. "Still don't believe it."
Minerva sighed with a smile and shook her head in amused exasperation when her uncle and her human best friend began going into one of their science vs monstrosity opinions. She drank her iced tea and wondered how this vacation would turn out.