Monsters Inc.

Howling Moon

Jasmine always knew that she was different. But, as if being a slightly wild teenager who loves scaring her foster sisters isn't bad enough, a chance encounter with a monster from their closet - which she falls through - reveals her true-self. Jasmine didn't realise why she liked stories about werewolves so much...but now she knows that she is one. How did she end up in the human world without her memories, though? Monsters Inc. AU CxM, SxOC, slight RxOC

Author's Notes:

Hi! A new fan fic! I'm sorry to all of my readers of Two Worlds - One Family but, yeah...I just saw Monsters University, and it was G.R.E.A.T. On a scale of one to ten, it was an eleven.

~Parental Warning~

This chapter contains:

. Low level coarse language

CHAPTER ONE

Bedtime Stories

Standing at the door of the house was a sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old girl, her hand poised in the knocking position, which she couldn't bring herself to carry out.

She was late - very late - and she knew that there would be consequences.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and, almost immediately, she was hit by Hurricane Mum.

"Jasmine Hollyhock Moon! Where have you been?!" Liana Moon yelled, right before she gasped, in an overdramatic way. "Just look at your uniform! You were climbing over walls again, weren't you?!"

Jasmine didn't answer, but she didn't have to. It was true, and they both knew it. Whenever Jasmine was late for something, she tended to take a short-cut. Unfortunately, her short-cuts always seemed to involve some sort of wall, river or bramble-bush.

Liana was not impressed. "Go to your room right now, and get changed! Your Father and I want to talk to you before we go."

"Okay." Jasmine replied, heading for the stairs that led to the other side of the house, but she stopped at the foot of said stairs, and called over her shoulder: "Where are you going?"

"Out!" Liana cried but, whether she was referring to her destination that night or as to where she wanted Jasmine to go right then, the later person knew not.

She decided not to push it and, instead, just took the stairs two at a time, crossing over the walkway with its glass windows, before reaching the door that led to 'their' side of the house.

'They' were Jasmine and her three younger sisters - Melinda, who was eight-going-on-nine, Calliope, who had just turned six, and Penelope, who was four-and-a-half. Their parents had finished building the second side of the house by themselves not long after Melinda had been born...which was when Jasmine had been the same age that Melinda was now, and had just started to talk back to them. It was the fact that she'd wanted her own bedroom that had been the turning-point, since she'd gotten the black paint out of her Dad's woodshed one day and painted over the pink wallpaper in her old room. Now, at sixteen, Jasmine was allowed to decorate her room the way she wanted to...as long as she paid for everything. Having a part-time job helped and, the fact that her parents seemed to try and avoid coming over to the second-house whenever they could, meant that she had the freedom to do whatever she wanted.

And, she did.

Stepping into her room now, she closed the door, smiling at her safe-haven, at the one place where she could just kick of her shoes and...

Jasmine froze, and stared around her room in horror. This...this was not her room! What was with all of this pink and...sparkly-ness...and...and...unicorns?!

"C...C...Calliope!" Jasmine could only scream, turning on her heel and dashing down the hallway, to the room with the bright pink sign on it that read: Princesses ONLY. Jasmine banged on the door. "Open this door, you little freak!"

"What's the magic wo-o-ord?" Calliope's annoying little voice rang out from behind the door, and Penelope's giggle soon followed.

"The magic word is 'let me in before I break down the door and break your nose'!" Jasmine threatened.

"You know, threatening her won't make her open the door." A calm voice said from behind Jasmine, who turned around, to see Melinda standing there. Eight-going-on-eighteen was more like it - the brunette pushed her glasses up, before adding: "And, the password is 'unicorns', obviously." She said, and her sisters opened up the door, to let her in.

"'The password is 'unicorns' obviously'." Jasmine mocked her oldest younger sister, and was rewarded with the door being slammed in her face. Groaning, Jasmine knocked again.

"What's the magic word?" Calliope called to her.

"'Unicorns'."

"Nope!" Both Calliope and Penelope dissolved into giggles.

"But, Melinda just said...!"

The door was opened just a fraction, and Jasmine could see one big green eye staring out at her - Calliope.

The little blonde-haired girl stuck her tongue out, and said: "The magic word changes every time somebody uses it, stupid."

Jasmine let out a growl, from deep in the back of her throat. "Okay, that's it!" She shouted, and Calliope screamed, as Jasmine tried to wrench the door open. "Let me in, you little troll!"

"Jasmine!"

"When I get in there, you're..."

"Jasmine!" A hand grabbed the teenager by the shoulder, and wrenched her away from the door. Liana, upon hearing the screaming, had dared to brave the other side of the house, in order to prevent the neighbours from calling the police...or the child-protection services. Although Jasmine and Calliope yelling at each other was nothing new, Liana felt that the neighbours could only take so much. Pushing the teenager into her room, Liana crossed her arms, standing in the doorway and barring the way out. "What is the meaning of this? I thought that I told you to go and get changed, and then come and speak to your Father and I!"

"But, Mum!" Jasmine protested. She swept her arm out behind her. "Look at what that little bitch did to my room!"

"Don't you use that language when you're talking about your sister!" Liana snapped. She could feel a massive headache coming on, one that, unfortunately, would probably only be made worse by the Michael Bolton concert that she and her husband were going to. Still, the tickets had cost $150 a piece, and nothing - not even Jasmine and her temperamental teenager-ways - was going to stop them from going. Even though Jasmine's idea of a concert was not the easy-listening of Michael Bolton but, rather the head-banging music of the rockstars that she posted all over her bedroom walls (which were painted black, just like the ceiling).

"But, Mum," Jasmine tried again. "She's a little freak! She always comes into my room and takes my stuff, or redecorates, or...or...augh!" Jasmine groaned in frustration, and walked over to her bed (with it's fuzzy bedspread), which she flopped down onto, and buried her face in her pillow.

Liana lingered at the door, and said gently: "Well, maybe it's because she wants to be more like you..."

"Like me?" Jasmine peered up at her Mother from beneath a curtain of red hair - it was the kind of red that could put Ronald McDonald to shame. "No way, Mum." She returned her face to her pillow, and so her Mother didn't really hear it when she mumbled: "Even if she is a little freak, at least she doesn't have to deal with the same bullies as me." She got the gist of it, though.

Liana's gaze turned sympathetic, and she began to go around the room, collecting the Disney Princesses posters, sparkly star-wands, and crepe-paper chains. "Oh, honey, I'm sure that it's not that bad."

"Yes it is, Mum." Jasmine mumbled. "Everybody at school's either dead scared of me, or thinks that I'm the world's biggest freak!"

"Well, maybe if you stopped wearing all of those piercings and listening to that screamo music." Liana suggested, gesturing to the Linkin Park poster above Jasmine's desk.

Jasmine stared at her Mother with disbelieving yellow-green eyes. "Mum, you really think that's screamo music?" She reached for the remote-control for her CD Player. "This is screamo music." She pressed the play-button, expecting to hear the CD, Cradle Of Filth, that she'd left in there.

The music came on...

"Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight..."

One of Jasmine's very thick eyebrows twitched, and she met her Mother's gaze from across the room.

Liana tried to hide a smile, but it didn't work. "I'll leave you alone to get changed." She said, heading out the door with an armload of overly-cute-things, and stopping to grab the unicorn on the way out. "Come on over when you're finished..."

She smiled once she was out in the hallway, knowing how angry Jasmine must be right now, but also knowing that, as long as she left her sisters alone, then all was fine.

Better yet, the neighbours weren't going to complain about it, anymore.

"Never running from a real fight, she is the one named Sailor Moon!"

Liana stopped to return the objects in her arms to their owners, before heading back towards her own side of the house.

As she stepped over the glass-windowed walkway, she saw Jasmine's window open, and then something flat and silver came flying out, and disappeared into the night.

It looked like it might be time to buy Penelope a new Sailor Moon CD...

Jasmine slipped out of her ruffled uniform, thankful that it was Thursday, and that tomorrow, Friday, was Sports Day, which meant that she could wear her sports uniform to and from school. It also meant that all of the morning classes would be entierly devoted to sports, which was exactly as Jasmine liked. If only every day could be Sports Day.

The bad news was, that the afternoon classes were entierly devoted to maths.

Mental Abuse Against Homo-Sapiens.

Most Annoying Teacher Hell Sent.

Must Avoid This Horrible Session.

But, can't.

Shudder.

Still, Jasmine was trying to get her grades back up - they'd slipped way too far down the ladder and, if they kept on going, then she was going to flunk year eleven. And, if that happened, then those girls were never going to let her forget it.

So, if that meant that she had to face two entire hours of maths with Mrs. Wiffen, then so be it.

Leaving her white shirt (now more of a grey-patched shirt), red and yellow striped tie, short black pleated skirt and school socks on her bedroom floor (also known as Jasmine's Floordrobe), Jasmine happily slipped into something more comfortable - a black long-sleeved t-shirt, short red pleated skirt, black choker around her neck, and black leg-warmers.

She was just checking her appearance in the full-length mirror on the back of her door (after getting rid of a stray Pound Puppies poster that her Mother had missed), when a ringing sound from her school-backpack reminded her of said Mother's request.

Choosing not to answer the phone, Jasmine instead headed down the hallway, making sure to kick her sisters' door on the way through for good measures.

She arrived in the kitchen on the other side of the house, to find that both of her parents were waiting for her at the kitchen table and, from the looks on their faces, whatever they wanted to talk about was serious.

Jasmine decided to try to beat them to it. "Look, Mum, Dad, I can explain. You see, before you tell me off for not studying for the test, I gotta say that I did study for it, but I studied the wrong things, and I..." She trailed off, when her Father held up his hand for silence.

"Jasmine Hollyhock Moon," Laurence Moon II said sternly, adjusting his glasses. "Your Mother and I did not come down in the last shower."

"That's the same tired old excuse that I used on my parents." Liana added.

Jasmine switched her gaze to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman, hoping for leniency from the seemingly more forgiving party. "You were failing half of your classes?"

"No," Liana replied. "But, I tried it anyway - in year three."

"Oh." Jasmine shifted uncomfortably.

"Sit down." Liana pointed to the chair at the opposite end of the table, and Jasmine sat - there was no sense in arguing with them.

Now she was facing both of her parents. "Am I in trouble?" She asked, in a small voice. "It was just one test..."

"One test?" Liana repeated. "Jasmine, you've failed three tests this year, and it's only second term - what are you going to do when it gets harder in second semester?"

"But, Mum, I..."

"Plus," Liana went on. "You get into fights with the other girls who are supposed to be your friends..."

"They're not my friends, Mum." Jasmine mumbled.

"And, you threw a chair at a teacher." Liana added.

"Because he threw it at me, first!" Jasmine protested. "I swear to God, he started it!"

Liana and Laurence exchanged a glance, and then Laurence turned back to his eldest daughter.

"Jasmine," the brown-haired, green-eyed man stated gravely, in what his daughters called his 'lawyer voice' - like his Father before him, Laurence Moon I, Laurence Moon II was a lawyer. "I have told you this before - school is not an option. Now, your Mother and I pay a lot of money for you to attend school."

"I know." Jasmine mumbled.

"You're lucky that we don't make you pay your own school fees, like we had to as teenagers." Liana added.

"I know!" Jasmine snapped, feeling frustrated. They hadn't even listened to her!

"If you continue to do this," Laurence said, in a very lawyer's voice. "Then we'll make you use the money that you earn at that shop to pay us back your school fees."

"You can't do that!" Jasmine cried.

"Yes, we can." Laurence stressed. "We are your parents, and as long as you live under our roof, then you will abide by our rules."

Jasmine sat very still in her chair, aware that her hands were clenched underneath the table, and that her nails were digging painfully into her palms.

Laurence's words rang in her silver-pierced ears: 'We are your parents...'

They're not...they're not...they're NOT... Jasmine squeezed her eyes shut, barely hearing her Mother's instructions for that night.

"There's dinner in the fridge, it's leftover casserole. Make sure that the girls have their bath, and bedtime is at nine, and no later. No watching the Horror Channel on Fox-Tel - we'll know. Oh, and Jasmine?"

"What?" Jasmine opened her eyes.

Liana kissed the red-head's forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too...Mum..." Jasmine watched her parents leave, feeling a strange and empty numbness in her chest as they did.

As soon as they were gone, she got up and, still feeling numb, dragged herself back to her room, where she knelt down beside her bed, and stared at the plush toy that sat in pride of place at the head of the bed.

Usually, Jasmine wasn't one for stuffed animals (especially not unicorns), but this one was special. It was brown on the right side, and a weird greenish colour on the left, with three eyes (two normal ones, and then one on its forehead) a black horn that led to black spikes down its back, a red heart on the left side of its chest that was softer than the rest of it, and had two tentacles instead of paws and six tentacles instead of feet - in other words, it was a freak, just like her. She hadn't told anybody, but she'd given it a name - Robo.

She'd had it for as long as she could remember, and nobody else was allowed to touch it.

After all, it was one of the only two links that she had to her past.

Burying her face in her arms now, Jasmine remembered...

Seven-year-old Jasmine crept down the hallway of the (back then) much smaller house than what it would one day be in the future. She clutched Robo in her arms, and wore a very long white nightie.

She could hear voices coming from the kitchen, and so crept in that direction, making sure to keep as quiet as a mouse. She was good at that - it was one of her specialities.

Stopping just outside of the kitchen, Jasmine cautiously peered around the door, withdrawing immediately when her Mother turned around from the stove.

"Honey," Liana said, rather disapprovingly and, for one terrifying moment, Jasmine thought that she had been discovered. But, a moment later, to her relief, this proved to be false. "Please don't smoke in the kitchen anymore."

"I'm sorry, Liana." Laurence replied, from where he was sitting at the table with a cigarette and the paper. "I keep forgetting - I still can't quite believe it."

"Yes, neither can I." Liana said excitedly. "It's such a miracle." She turned back to the stove.

"Especially after what the doctor told us last time." Laurence replied, not noticing the little red-head that peered around the doorway again.

"Don't." Liana said, and Jasmine quickly moved back into the shadows again. "Don't even mention that other time. This won't be like that time."

"I understand." Laurence said, but Jasmine didn't, and she wanted to find out more!

Curious, the little girl slipped into the kitchen when Laurence picked up his newspaper again, and dived under the table, just in time.

Liana turned away from the stove again, and began to untie her apron. Sitting down, unknowingly just a few feet away from where Jasmine now sat crouched, hugging Robo to her chest, Liana said: "I just don't know what to tell Jasmine. She's only seven-years-old, Laurence."

"I know." Laurence replied, reaching for the ashtray. "but, she'll understand. We'll tell her that being a big sister is one of the most exciting things in the world..."

Jasmine's eyes widened. A big sister? What did that mean?

"That's not what I mean." Liana interrupted her husband. "Laurence...what if she finds out about...you know...?"

"Why would she?" Laurence asked her. "Who would tell her? All of my relatives have promised not to, and so has your Mother..."

"Yes, but what if she figures it out by herself?" Liana asked. "Jasmine's always been smart...ever since we found her in the construction of the second side of the house."

Jasmine froze. They'd found her? But...what did that mean? did parents usually find their kids in construction sites?

"I mean," Liana went on. "It's obvious that she's nothing like us, although she's a little bit like me when I was younger, but nobody expects their kids to act like their adult-selves. What if the new baby is nothing like her, and she picks up on it? Or, worse, what if somebody says something to her? She'll find out that she's not our real daughter!"

"Ssh, ssh, Liana..." Laurence said soothingly. "You're going to wake her up. Look, we'll just say nothing, and see what happens. If she finds out then, well, she finds out." Laurence shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"She could rebel against us, and make the baby's life miserable?" Liana suggested.

"Let's try and think positively, Liana."

"I'll try."

"Hmm..." Jasmine mumbled, taking a deep breath in. She had never told Liana and Laurence what she had overheard. If they wanted to keep on fooling themselves and everybody else, and pretending that she was their kid, then let them. Jasmine would still call them Mum and Dad, and she would still live in their house but, from that moment on, she had tried to distance herself from them as much as possible.

Perhaps...that hadn't been such a good idea.

Opening her eyes, Jasmine reached under her top, and pulled out a silver necklace. Back then, when she'd been little, it had been too big for her to wear. The story was that her parents had had it made for her, but Jasmine knew better. Whoever had given her silver necklace with the M on it (the M with the eye-shape in the middle of it) and her name, Jasmine, on the back of it, must have been her real parents...but, if they'd loved her, then why had they given her away?

Did anybody even want her, the world's worst freak, and not-so-model student?

Something made of paper then tapped Jasmine on the arm, and she looked down. "Huh?"

Penelope, with her mop of light blonde hair and her big, bright blue eyes, smiled cheerfully Jasmine. "Lookie." She said, pointing to the piece of paper.

"What's this?" Jasmine took the piece of paper, and looked at it. "No, really, what is it?"

Penelope's face fell, slightly. "You not tell?" She asked, disappointed.

"You're holding it upside-down, you know." Came Melinda's voice from the doorway, where she was standing next to her other sister. Calliope looked stubbornly and pointedly at the floor, her arms crossed.

"Well, I knew that." Jasmine replied, turning the piece of paper over. Now that she was looking at it right-side-up, she could sort of make out what it was. "Okay, let's see then...is...is that me?" She asked, pointing to the smaller of the two crayon-drawn figures. Penelope nodded, happily now. "Why do I have devil horns?"

"Because you're a demon." Calliope muttered, and Melinda nudged her.

"Quiet. This is your fault, you know." Melinda hissed.

"It's my fault that she's a demon?"

"It's your fault that she's so upset!"

Jasmine pretended not to hear this.

Penelope shook her head, and pointed at the paper. "No howns! Eas!" She proclaimed.

"Huh?" Jasmine looked at Melinda for help.

The brunette sighed. "She drew you as a dog-girl with dog-ears, because she heard you call Calliope a...you-know-what, and so we had to tell her that it was a female dog." Melinda shrugged.

"Oh." Jasmine tugged at her neck-choker. Mum's gonna kill me... She continued to examine the picture. "Okay, so, then, if that's me, then who's that? Callie?" She guessed, pointing at the big blue thing.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Calliope stuck her tongue out. "That's Penelope's monster."

"Penelope's monster, huh?" Jasmine looked up at her sisters. "And, does this monster have a name?"

"No." Calliope shook her head. "We were hoping that you could tell us...since you...you know, work at a scary shop and everything..."

"Uh-huh." Jasmine nodded, and examined the picture, her mind working over-time. "Oh, right...you know, I think that I do know this monster..."

"Here we go." Calliope rolled her eyes.

"Wa is it?" Penelope wanted to know.

"His name is Bluetooth. He's a monster that comes out of the closet...and eats your stuffed animals!" Jasmine growled playfully, and pounced on Penelope.

The little blonde shrieked, but giggled at the same time, as Jasmine tickled her.

"Would Bluetooth eat Robo, too?" Melinda wanted to know, crossing her arms, and looking smug.

Jasmine stopped, and gave Melinda the most blank and terrifying glare imaginable. "No."

Melinda's blue eyes, exactly the same as Liana's and Penelope's, widened behind her glasses (she'd inherited her short-vision from her Father). "Okay." She said, in a small voice.

Calliope glanced at Melinda, and then said: "Jasmine, can we have pizza for dinner?"

Melinda looked startled. "But, Mum said..."

"Well, duh." Calliope rolled her eyes. "We'll just tell her that we didn't eat that much! Come on Lindy, I want pizza!"

"Well..." Melinda paused.

"I'll do all of your chores for a week!"

Jasmine had to grin. Sometimes, her sisters weren't so bad. "Alright...let's get pizza for dinner!"

"Yay!"

The pizza arrived, about ten minutes into one of Jasmine's favourite movies. It starred a girl that nobody had ever heard of, and featured some of the best CGI zombies in the world of movies. She'd seen it before, though, so she didn't mind (much) when she had to go and get the door.

She practically threw the cash at the pizza delivery guy, before slamming the door shut, and hurrying back into the living room with the pizza, just in time to see one of her favourite scenes.

"No," Melinda was whispering, her eyes wide behind her glasses, as Penelope huddled into a pillow, and Calliope looked thrilled. "No, don't go in there..."

The door creaked open and, of course, the army of zombies jumped out at the skimpily-dressed girl.

Melinda and Calliope screamed and, even though she hadn't been watching the movie past the opening credits, Penelope screamed, too.

As Jasmine came in with the pizzas, Melinda said: "M-maybe we should watch s-something else? At least while we're eating?"

"Noooo, it was just getting to the best part!" Calliope complained, pointing to the screen, where the zombies were eating the girl's puppy dog.

"Oh, now that is just disgusting." Jasmine shook her head. That was the only part of the movie that she didn't like. "Callie, how can you call that the best part?"

"Because it reminds me of you." Calliope replied, and Jasmine took the opportunity to cuff the blonde's ear on the way around.

Ignoring Calliope's howl of pain, Jasmine set the pizza's down on the coffee-table.

"Can we please change the station?" Melinda begged and, when both Calliope and Jasmine looked at her, she added: "Do you want Penelope to throw up all over the place?"

Jasmine and Calliope exchanged a glance. "Agreed." They said in unison, and Calliope picked up the remote and began flicking through stations, as her sisters opened up the pizza boxes.

It soon occurred to Jasmine, however, that Calliope was channel-surfing. She flicked from station-to-station, and it went something like this:

Click!

A lady on the Arabic News said: "Though no one official is prepared to comment, religious groups are calling it Judgement Day. There's..."

Click!

A presenter on MTV was interviewing a band, and saying: "Panic At The Disco, and in the..."

Click!

Icehouse was singing: "Great Southern Land..."

Click!

The Channel Ten news-lady said: "As an increasing number of reports of..."

Click!

The Goofy Movie was playing, as Max yelled: "Big Foot..."

Click!

Judge Judy was saying: "And company, committing..."

A male sports commentator, commentating on the AFL, said: "Serious attacks on..."

Click!

The presenter on a show called Teen Mom said: "Teenaged girls, who are literally being..."

Click!

David Attenborough, commenting on some leopards eating a gazelle, said: "Eaten alive..."

Melinda dived for the remote. "Give me that!" She growled, through gritted teeth.

"Never!" Calliope declared, and the two girls wrestled for the remote, which began to flick through the stations faster than Ham the Piggy-Bank flicked through the stations during Toy Story Two.

Jasmine and Penelope ignored this, and instead savored in the scent of the pizza, which they happily reached for.

Jasmine had just lifted a slice of the gooey and stringy meat-covered pizza up to her mouth, when the phone rang.

Jasmine glanced at Penelope over the pizza.

Penelope glanced back at her. The child was faster than the teenager - she already had the pizza in her mouth...

"Penelope, sweetie...please go and answer the phone like you've been shown..." Jasmine begged. The smell of the pizza was making her dizzy, it was so good.

"Mwmfph?" Penelope had taken the world's biggest bite.

Jasmine sighed and, seeing as how her two older-younger sisters were still rolling around on the floor, fighting for possession of the remote, she set down her own slice of pizza, and headed towards the kitchen.

When she walked past Calliope and Melinda, the two girls stopped fighting, and looked at each other.

"Do you think she wants that slice that she had?" Melinda wondered. In answer, Penelope picked up the slice, and ate it in nearly one go. "Oh dear..."

In the kitchen, Jasmine hung up the phone, feeling elated. Her boss at the costume shop had just asked her to work an extra shift on Sunday - with double the pay, of course. With this in mind, she was on her way back to the living room, when a thought crossed her mind.

"Oh no!" She narrowed her eyes. "I bet somebody ate my slice of pizza!"

She raced back in, to discover that it was true.

"She did it!" Calliope declared, pointing at a startled-looking Penelope. "She did it! She's the one you want!"

Penelope glanced wide-eyed at Calliope, before glancing at Melinda, and then back at Calliope (Melinda was too enthralled watching Animal Planet to pay attention), and saying: "You snijed me."

"That's snitched," Calliope said scathing, casually reaching for a lemonade. "And, I'd start running, if I were you."

Penelope took one look at the wild beast in the doorway, and took heed.

As Jasmine chased a screaming Penelope around, the phone rang, and Melinda answered it.

"Yes, Mrs. Phelps." She said, speaking to their elderly neighbour. "No, we're fine, we've just..." She leaned out of the kitchen, and watched Jasmine chase Penelope around and around the living room. "Got a spider problem."

"It must be a very big spider, Melinda." Mrs. Phelps sounded worried.

"Yeah..."

Needless to say, it took Jasmine two hours to get her sisters bathed, settled down, and then ready for bed, and then getting them to go to bed was the problem...

"Read us a sto-ry..." Penelope whinged.

"Ye-ah..." Melinda added, joining in with the whining, as she climbed into the bottom bunk of her and Calliope's bunk-bed.

"Don't whine, Glasses." Jasmine sighed, handing Melinda her glasses case.

"Sor-ry..."

Rolling her eyes, Jasmine easily lifted Calliope up and into her top-bunk, before going over to the single bed with the grate on it, and tucking Penelope in.

The little blonde drew the covers up to her chin, and smiled a toothy smile. She said: "Wead us a story, Jazz!"

"Uh...no." Jasmine replied, shaking her head.

Penelope's face fell. "Why no-ot?"

"Hey, what did I tell you about whining?" Jasmine reminded her.

"You told Melinda, not Penelope." Calliope replied, fluffing up her pillows.

"Yeah, well, now I'm telling all of you," Jasmine warned them. "No whinging, no wailing, no wussing, no whimpering and no whining." She spoke sternly.

"Can we wish?" Penelope asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" Jasmine shrugged.

"Okay!" Penelope hurried out of bed, to kneel beside it, and clasped her hands, as if in prayer. "Deaw God. Pwease let Jazz wead us a story!"

Jasmine groaned, and face-palmed.

"Well, you did say that she could make a wish." Melinda pointed out, putting her glasses in their case, as Calliope brushed out her blonde hair.

Jasmine sighed. "So I did." She picked up Penelope, and sat with her on her bed. "Okay, then. This is the story of the Wolfasaurus."

"Wha a 'Wosore'?" Penelope asked.

"A Wolfasarus." Jasmine corrected her. "It's a wolf crossed with a dinosaur."

"Dinosaurs are extinct." Melinda said, importantly.

"Ah, but this is a Wolfasaurus." Jasmine reminded her. "It was a reptilian-wolf that preyed on innocent wolves. It had eyes like the fires of Hell, razor sharp fangs and claws, and scales as well as fur. It moved as silent as a shadow..."

"You know, shadows aren't particularly silent." Melinda spoke up.

To prove her wrong, Penelope jumped out of bed again, and ran to the closet. "I'm a shadow..." She said, in what she hoped was a scary way, and tried to move stealthily into the closet.

"I can still see you."

"Aww..."

Once Penelope was back in her bed, Jasmine continued with her story, about a heroic wolf (named Jasper) that ended up saving his pack...and then disappearing, without a trace. Jasper was searching for his cub, which had been taken from him, but he was always there to help save the other wolves from the horrors of Hell...

"But, they say," Jasmine finished up. "That if anything ever happens to that cub, then Jasper will become a Wolfasaurus himself, and wreak vengeance on the world."

"Is it really all twue?" Penelope's eyes were wide.

"Of course not." Melinda rolled her eyes, but Jasmine noticed that she was cleaning her glasses for the eight time, which is what she did when she was nervous. "Well, it's good legend, and a really good story."

Penelope nodded, but Jasmine saw, with some satisfaction, just how scared she looked.

Perhaps Calliope noticed it, too, because she suddenly smirked, and added: "And, they say, that on some nights, you can see the ghost of the Wolfasaurus, wondering around, looking for people to devour!" She growled, and Penelope shrieked.

"Okay, okay, that's enough." Jasmine said, getting up, and tucking Penelope into her bed. Also in the bed were two teddies, a rabbit, two kangaroos, a leopard (not one of the gazelle-eating ones - this one had a friendly face on him),Twilight Sparkle, three dollies (one was a Barbie, but she was bald, because Calliope had decided that she had Leukemia), a green giraffe (won at a fair, by Jasmine, whom had felt really sorry for him), then there was Buzz, Woody, the Alien and, of course, eight unicorns (one for every colour of the rainbow, plus a pink one) and, finally, a hamster (named after Penelope herself, and from some weird anime with singing and dancing 'Ham-Hams'). Jasmine didn't know how Penelope found room for herself in there. She herself would have found it rather stifling. "Okay, well...goodnight..."

"Goodnight." Calliope and Melinda said in unison.

"Goodnight Jazz." Penelope said. "Goodnight Linda. Goodnight Callie. Goodnight Twiwight Spakel. Goodnight Penelope. Goodnight Cacer-Bawbie. Goodnight Woody. Goodnight Buzz..."

Jasmine felt her fuzzy eyebrow twitch, as she closed the door, and something fluttered to the floor by her feet. "Huh?" She picked it up - it was Penelope's drawing of her and 'Bluetooth'. Jasmine rolled her eyes, and took the picture back to her room, leaving it on the desk, as she shut her own bedroom door, and then switched on her CD Player.

Why was she always stuck playing the baby-sitter? When did she ever get to go out?

She didn't, but that was the point...she didn't have any friends...she didn't have anywhere to go (except for work), and she didn't have anybody to go out with, so...

"So, I'm cursed to stay here, babysitting the three brats." Jasmine sighed, closing her eyes slightly, and mouthing along to the lyrics of Black Metal.

"Wild is so right, metal tonight, faster than over the top..."

As the song came to a close, Jasmine got up off of her bed, realising that she did, indeed, need to do her maths homework, if she was going to survive Mrs. Wiffen's wrath (not to mention her parents'). The algebra...or, as some people called it, 'algae-bra'.

Just as she was about to sit down and subject herself to a few solid hours of horror, Jasmine heard a scream that did not come from Dani Filth. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she got up, and hurried out of her room, down the hall, and to her sisters' room.

She opened the door, saying: "Okay, you three, now, really..." She trailed off, when she saw that all three of them were huddled in one corner of the room, and staring fearfully at the closed wardrobe door. "What is it?" Jasmine raised an eyebrow, and stood, silhouetted in the doorway, with her hand on her hip.

"There's...a...you're...a...monster!" Calliope tried to say.

"Excuse me?!"

Melinda tried. "Th-th-there was really a m-m-monster!"

"Uh-huh." Jasmine nodded. "A monster. You're not even wearing your glasses, Lindy."

"There really was!" Melinda protested. She pointed. "It-it was in the w-w-wardrobe!"

"Uh-huh. In the wardrobe." Jasmine sighed, and walked over to said wardrobe (which had a bright pink door with a white handle on it). She flung the door open with a gusto, and all three of her younger sisters flinched. "There, you see? No monster."

"B-b-but you said that m-monsters really exist!" Calliope reminded her. She was still shaking.

Jasmine sighed, again. Did I say that? "Okay, you know what, you're right but, he can only scare you once a night so, guess what? You're safe!" She closed the wardrobe door, and walked back towards the door to the room...only to be pounced on by all three of her sisters.

"Don't go!" They begged her.

"Okay..." Jasmine worked hard to control her frustration. These little brats... "How about this? I'm gonna go and get my homework, and bring it in here. then, I'll watch the wardrobe for you until Mum and Dad come home, okay?"

"Since when do you do homework?" Melinda asked her.

"Since I don't wanna wind up broke." Jasmine muttered.

"Jazz..." Penelope whimpered. "It was Bwootoof."

"Bluetooth..." Jasmine muttered. Right... "Okay, so, back into bed, and I'll be in in a minute, okay?"

"Pwomise?" Penelope looked up at her, with tear-filled blue eyes.

"Promise."

"Cwoss youw heart?"

"Cross my heart." Jasmine sighed, as she headed out the door.

"And hope to die?" Melinda called after her.

"Yes, Lindy." Jasmine called.

"Stick a needle in your eye?" Calliope added.

"Not likely." Jasmine muttered, as she collected her homework from her room and, thinking better, grabbed her I-Pod and Robo, as well.

When she got back to her sisters' room, she found that all three of them were in bed, and possibly asleep. She was tempted to go back to her own room but, with yet another sigh, she parked herself in a pink plastic kid-sized chair with a yellow and white sunflower on it, and put her I-Pod in her ears.

Turning it up, so that David Draiman's voice filled her mind, Jasmine opened up her algebra book, and glared at it. Why should she have to find X? Why X? Why not a J, or an M? And, why was it hidden, anyway?

Sighing, Jasmine glanced up, and caught sight of Penelope, sleeping soundly, and clutching her stuffed animals protectively.

Jasmine watched her for a moment, before nodding to herself.

Even though she knew that she wasn't blood-related to them in anyway, nobody got to scare her kid sisters, but her.

She glared at the pink closet door, with the white handle. Just try it, Bluetooth...I'm ready for you...

The pink door with the white handle was clamped by the metal piece, which picked it up and carried it up to the conveyer, where it joined a row of doors, which were being carried away.

"Okay, good job tonight, monsters, let's call it a wrap!" An orange monster wearing a safety helmet yelled.

"Hey, great scaring tonight, Waxford."

"Looking good out there, George - no accidents, at least!"

"Looks like we got more screams than we did last night!"

"And we all know who to thank for that!"

Listening to all of this, the purple lizard-like monster gritted his sharp, pointy teeth, and had to resist the urge to scream.

"All keys for the doors on Scare Floor F are to be returned immediately." Jerry was saying, as the purple lizard known as Randall Boggs turned around, to see everybody congratulating the Top Scarer...him...

James P. Sullivan. With his large blue and furry body, he was beyond scary out there on the Scare Floor (even with the pink polka-dots).

Randall gritted his teeth again, as the green beach-ball with one eye, also known as Mike Wazowski, chided all of the onlookers away from his best friend, like he (Mike) was some kind of big-shot and everything. Randall's hatred for the two ran deep...very, VERY deep...it had stemmed ever since the embarrassment of their fraternity beating his during college...

But, Randall was just biding his time because soon, very soon, it would be his time to shine beyond anything that James P. Sullivan could throw out. He would never lose to him again.

Ever.

"Hey," James P. Sullivan - or, Sulley, as he was known as to his friends - waved to Randall. "Good job today, Randall."

"Hmph." Randall turned away from Sulley, not appreciating the obvious patronizing coming from his rival.

"Just ignore him, Sulley, he's just jealous." Mike advised, as he led Sulley away. "Come on, now, I want to see if Ceilia's ready...hey, do you want to come with us tonight?"

"On your date?" Sulley said, as he and Mike left the Scare-Floor, to hand in their Door Card and Scream Canisters. "Uh, no thanks..."

"Well, suit yourself - we're going out for sushi!" Their voices faded away.

Randall was left standing in the middle of the Scare Floor, staring at nothing.

"I won't lose to you, Sullivan..." Randall muttered. "Ever..."