Feral

by dooder's nin

When a radical curse is set off in Monster High that causes all monsters to be their worst selves or to act out the stories told by humans about them, only a few who remain themselves will be able to right things. But it all comes with a risk – especially since this curse applies to monsters and there happens to be a student not all monster and now the top of everyone's hunt list

Frankie and Holt were relaxing under one of the large trees outside of the school during lunch, enjoying each other's company. Frankie was sitting in his lap, resting her head on his chest and letting his heartbeat relax her as only he and Jackson seemed to be able to do. Everybody had seemed on edge today, probably just because one of the witches from Casta's troop had decided to briefly enroll in Monster High while they were going to be performing in the nearby states and working on creating a new album, much like Catty Noir seemed to have done when she sought refuge at Monster High. Neither of them had run into her in the hallways, not for the girls' lack of trying. Frankie snuggled up against her boyfriend, brushing a hand unconsciously across his side as she shifted. She felt him laugh as he squirmed a little.

"What are you doin'?" Holt asked her, scooting her closer to him. Frankie looked up at him smiling before giving him an answer. "I can't help but like to stay close to you. Listening to your heartbeat makes me feel so secure." She said, returning to placing her head on his chest to hear how his heartbeat quickened.

"I didn't know you were listenin' …but you were ticklin' me with all your movin' around." Holt said, chuckling at the look Frankie gave him. But then a sly smile made its way across her face, alerting Holt that she was up to something and that Holt's mischievous nature was rubbing off on her. "Ticklish are you? I thought only Jackson was ticklish here…"she said, starting to tickle the blue boy's side, "…and here…." She said, tickling another area of Holt's body as he giggled and pushed her off of him.

"Oh, is that how it's gonna be?" he smirked back at her, causing her eyes to go wide as she realized she had just issued a challenge to a Hyde. She squealed as Holt pinned her down with a growl and started to tickle her. She laughed as she squirmed to get away, earning the attention of their friends with their spectacle. "No…no…I give in….stop Holt." She laughed between breaths, but Holt was relentless in his playful assault. She continued to laugh until she tore the stiches on one of her hands as she flailed around to get away, her hand shooting off and climbing onto Holt's head of its own accord before it knocked his headphones off accidentally. In a flash, Holt's body arched as he transformed and Jackson collapsed back on top of her.

"Ugh…um…hi, Frankie?" he mumbled as he lifted himself off of her while she grabbed her hand to reattach it. Jackson readjusted his glasses as he sat back to allow Frankie room to get up off the grass. "Um…what's up?" he asked, looking around and spotting their friends scattered around the courtyard too, but all of them looked amused.

"Nothing much. I found out that Holt was ticklish and he retaliated." She explained, crawling back into her boyfriend's lap. Jackson just looked even more confused. "But Frankie, you knew I was ticklish. We share the same body…" he started to say, regretting it almost immediately as she launched herself into another attack on him. She kept it up for a few minutes as he refrained from pushing her off, despite the both of them knowing that he was in fact capable of doing that but more than happy to keep Frankie close. Easing up, she said, "Alright. I release you", giggling at their playing. Jackson smiled, pulling Frankie back into his chest. She sighed and resumed her reclining positon that she and Holt had been in, brushing her face against his sweater.

"So other than that, what were you two doing or talking about? I was only around for first period today since apparently Holt chose not to change back into me after swimming…" Jackson grumbled. "We were supposed to be balancing out our schedule more but he's not…oh, nevermind." Jackson said, catching himself from going off into another of what Cleo called his soliloquys about his dual nature. Frankie giggled. "Stop talking for a minute." She asked, leaning against him. Curious, Jackson nevertheless did as she asked, not having Holt's inability to keep quiet. They stayed that way for another couple of minutes before Jackson's curiosity got the better of him.

"Frankie, what are you doing?" he asked. Frankie kept her eyes closed as she snuggled. "You're talking makes it more difficult for me to hear your heartbeat. I like to listen to it. I told Holt that too, but he can't stay still or quiet for too long." She said, taking delight as Jackson wrapped his arms around her tighter. "But we're out here to avoid the mobs of people trying to get a glimpse of our newest celebrity student. We still have a few minutes of lunch left." She said. Jackson sighed, rubbing his head against the top of Frankie's head.

"Well then, should we sit here in silence then so you can continue to listen without any distractions?" he sarcastically asked, although with no maliciousness. "Honestly Frankie…this could be considered borderline obsessive you know, not that I mind being so close to you. He, he. I should make a recording or something for you – or have Holt do it for you." He playfully suggested. Frankie gave him a lighthearted smack but didn't move. Jackson sighed again and leaned his back against the tree they were sitting against.

"But Frankie, really, I need to head over to my locker and try to piece together any damage that Holt may have done." He said, trying to get her to move from her comfortable spot. Frankie groaned but stood up and offered her now reattached hand to help pull him up. They leisurely walked back into the school so that they could go to their lockers, Frankie filling him in on what had been going on.

"We only caught a glimpse of her, but she didn't seem all that happy. But she did have this enormous amulet with a pretty white stone in it that she was wearing as a brooch." Frankie said. "Holt was planning on setting up something in the auditorium after lunch for the assembly to officially welcome her…he promised he'd get me a chance to meet her." She said, looking down and awkwardly rubbing her foot on the floor as shifting her leg around, trying to get Jackson to pick up on what she was saying. The look he shot her let her know that he didn't appreciate the attempt at manipulating him to let Holt take control again after he just got back out. "Frankie…you said you wouldn't do that sort of thing to me…" he whined, shutting his locker.

"I know, I know." Frankie said, ashamed. "I don't mean to ever try and put one of you over the other. I just…" she trailed off, giving a defeated sigh. Jackson's look softened and he wrapped an arm around Frankie's shoulders. "Alright…I understand. But it's going to be all me tomorrow." He said, pointing a finger at her as her face brightened up. They both knew that what he said wasn't guaranteed, but she would try to avoid triggering his transformation if she could help.

"Oh thanks Jackson!" She said, hugging him in a tight embrace. Jackson laughed and returned it. "Tell me more about your day as we walk over, okay?" he asked, holding her hand as they made their way over to the auditorium so they could set up early. Frankie eagerly launched into everything that had happened, still detailing things as they entered the auditorium. It seemed like they weren't the only ones with the idea of getting a seat early on, as the majority of the close seats had already been taken.

"Aw, man…" Heath's voice rang out, causing the two to turn in his direction. "I thought Holt was supposed to…" he started to say before Jackson interrupted. "Nice to see you too Heath." He said, pursing his lips at his cousin in irritation. "But you can relax. I'm only going to be me for a little while longer. I was told about the plans Holt made." Jackson said, starting to walk up the stairs to the stage with Frankie following behind him. "Hey wait for me!" Heath shouted over to Jackson, wanting to get access behind the scenes. "Jackson, man, you know I didn't mean anything by that." He tried to get back into his cousin's good graces, smiling widely at him in the hopes of persuading Jackson to let him tag along. Jackson tried to give his cousin a stern and unamused look but found himself incapable of remaining irritated with him for too long, giving in and sighing as he motioned for Heath to follow. Frankie snickered as Heath sprinted into motion, nearly knocking into Jackson as he paused mid-stride while looking over the things that needed to be pulled out onto the stage. The three of them went farther back behind the curtain as they maneuvered things around, Heath continuing to annoy Jackson with repeated comments on how much easier things would be if Holt could help out.

Frankie shook her head as she watched them bickering until she noticed someone else had been moving around backstage. Slipping away, she snuck around in the hopes of being able to meet with their new celebrity. Sure, she was supposed to just be one of the several backup singers, but it would still be interesting to hear from her about all the performances and that kind of lifestyle. She saw the girl messing around with one of the mirrors in the back and she contemplated how to introduce herself without appearing overly eager to latch onto a celebrity. But as she was gathering up the courage, she noticed that the girl fiddled around with her brooch and let fall the gray scarf that had wrapped around her shoulders in a decorative fashion.

"Oh darn it." She said, and Frankie quietly gasped as she realized what had upset the girl. While the girl was a typical shade of green for a witch on her face and hands, her shoulders were a distinct pink shade she knew belonged to normies. "I gotta do it all over again." She said, picking up her bag and taking out what looked like a jar of green cream, scooping some out and massaging it into the areas that would be exposed if she didn't plan on putting the scarf back on. "Can't have them figuring things out too soon." She said to herself. Frankie remained standing there, not sure what to make of this situation. Part of her was just hoping that this was some normie girl who was impersonating a witch to feel like she could belong at Monster High, perhaps not having any luck in normie schools. But another part of her was screaming at her that something didn't seem right and that she was up to something which may not be particularly good. She decided to sneak away and try to talk to Jackson before he turned back into Holt to see if he could maybe talk to her. She got back to the boys in time to see Jackson transform into Holt, giving Heath a high-five over something.

"Holt! Holt!" Frankie said, grasping onto his jacket to catch his attention while trying to keep her voice low enough that the imposter wouldn't overhear them. Holt's eyes widened but he smiled at Frankie, leaning down to give her a kiss, but Frankie pushed him away.

"Not now. I need Jackson!" she said urgently, looking back over her shoulder to check to see if she had given herself away somehow. Turning back she tried not to feel too bad at the hurt look on Holt's face or the confused stance Heath had taken.

"Aw, Frankie-Fine, that's rough. What's he got that I can't…" he started to protest but she shushed him. Pulling him and Heath over to the side she whispered to the two of them. "Listen – I saw the new ghoul but she isn't a ghoul. She's a normie pretending to be a witch. I think she may be up to something bad and maybe Jackson can talk to her or something" she rushed out. Holt and Heath looked at each other before Heath responded first. "You sure? She's green Frankie…that's not one of the shades a normie can be without there being something wrong." He said, looking doubtful. Frankie huffed in frustration, looking to Holt. "You believe me, right Holt?" she said accusingly. Her boyfriend gave a nervous smile. "Uh…sure. I dunno Frankie. Maybe there's somethin' you might have missed?" he tried to suggest, wincing as Frankie immediately let her mouth fall open in disbelief. "You really think I might make something like this up? You of all people Holt?" she asked of him.

"Okay, okay." Heath said, attempting to fend off an impending argument for the sake of everyone present. Getting Holt all riled up usually led to something breaking and Frankie getting too frustrated often led to power outages and random electrical impulses flowing through any and all metal objects in the building to the painful awareness of the other students if frazzled enough. Once it seemed like an argument was temporarily abated, he continued. "How about you…" he said turning to address his cousin, "…let Jackson take a look right after the show." He said, turning back to then talk to Frankie. "And you let the assembly go on without any speeches since it really is about to start any second. You can confront her then and Jackson and I can come with you to all talk it out. You just need to be a little patient...Okay?" he said. This seemed to be an acceptable compromise for the two of them, although Frankie still looked like she wanted to check things out now.

But Heath was right about the assembly about to begin, as Headmistress Bloodgood had already been giving her standard introduction to the student body while they had been talking. Holt gave Frankie a small smile and took his place on the stage to the cheers of everyone present, Heath and Frankie lingering on the side of the stage out of sight. The imposter girl walked out onto the stage from the opposite side, smiling and waving to the crowd as she took out her microphone and Holt started mixing the music for her to begin her performance. Heath seemed to be enjoying the show, and Frankie let herself entertain the idea that she was just being paranoid. That was until she noticed that the girl, during a pause in her singing, had slipped out the white stone she'd had in her brooch out from the microphone as she put it on a stand.

"Heath, look, she's up to something." she nudged the fire elemental, trying to point out what she was seeing. Heath looked at where she was pointing but apparently not seeing the cause for Frankie's concern until the imposter witch started to rub it behind her back and began to sing some strange lyrics. They could see Gigi shoot out of her seat but at that point the girl had lifted the stone above her head and the stone turned black as what seemed like a sound wave rippled among everyone present.

"Ha ha! It worked!" the girl screamed out, wiping some of the cream off of her face as she ripped her wig off to reveal her blond hair. "Now you all will show your true selves, as the monsters that you are, and why you should be kept away!" she shouted out, taking delight as she watched her stolen spell slowly take effect as everyone was paralyzed, save a few people. Gigi started to run from her seat towards the back of the auditorium up to the stage. Paralyzed by the curse taking hold, Frankie could do nothing but stand and watch the imposter ran past her and out the back door, tossing the blackened stone into the gravel road as she raced away.

"Whoa…you were right Frankie…gah…sorry we didn't listen…"Heath said, still able to move around a little. Gigi shortly rushed past Frankie too, grabbing all the black stones she could find within throwing distance with the little magic she still retained since being severed from her lamp. She rushed back inside before the school's defenses were pulled up, the door slamming shut behind her so quickly that it almost caught the end of her pink and golden hair. She dropped them to the floor and starting to inspect the stones, holding them up to the light and mumbling things as she went along.

"Gigi what is this?" Heath said, shuffling over to her and shaking his head as though to clear himself from a fog. The genie looked up at the fire elemental from her search, looking frantic. "She used an old sorcerer's stone. I recognized it as soon as she uttered those enchantments – they're old but effective. It's…it's supposed to absorb all the tarnished thoughts and feelings of either those who were having the spell cast on them or if an inexperienced caster, the wielder. I have no idea how she could have gotten one or how she knew what to say – she must belong to one of those radical groups…ooh, this needs to be reversed quick." She explained as thoroughly as she could as quickly as she could. "It's like smoke though, after images, which is why djinn and those fortunate enough to have been near enough smoke at the time – like you when you flamed up and caught the edge of the curtain as she cast the spell - are immune. But it's going to turn everyone feral or worse." She said, going back to looking through the plethora of small stones.

"Worse?! How?!" Heath said, feeling himself succumbing to what Frankie looked like she had already been overtaken by.

"She must know of us only through horror stories and rumors – it's why she must have hated us so much to risk doing this. You're taking a little longer but you're gonna be just like the others and start to act out whatever she believed monsters behaved like." Gigi said. "I'm sorry. I have to go but I'll do what I can to fix this. I promise." She said, gathering up the stones into a nearby plastic bag and standing up, making to leave. With what control he had left, Heath reached out to grab a hold of her arm. She looked at him panicked. "Wait! Where are you going?" he asked. "Will this only affect monsters?" he asked, looking beseechingly at her for answers.

"Yes – only monsters. That's why she cast it here…but it can't tell you where I'm going. You won't be yourself soon and I need to hide to work this out. I'm so sorry." She said, ripping her arm free and bolting away to go do what she said and leaving Heath to return to the auditorium by himself.

The auditorium was chaos as the monsters in there started to either rush out into the school, or to rush at each other in their state. Fights could be seen scattered about the auditorium as Heath made his way back to the side of the stage. He didn't know where Frankie had gone to, assuming that she had shambled away as the normies characterized the Frankenstein monsters. But Holt looked like he hadn't moved at all, instead leaning forward onto his music mix table with a wicked grin on his face, appearing as though he was just watching the most enjoyable show he had ever seen. He shifted his gaze, spotting Heath still struggling to keep sane by the charred remains of the curtain Gigi had mentioned. Heath distantly thought about how lucky he was to have caught only one of the additional thin curtains that the last drama production had attached but had been separate from the rest of the drapes otherwise the chaos might have included a burning building. Holt stood up a little to lean backwards on the table, grinning at his cousin. "Would you look at the party?" He said, laughing as he made a dramatic gesture with his arm toward the audience. "And here I thought I'd be putting on a show…ha ha ha" he laughed maniacally in a way Heath had only heard when he was at his most angry.

"Oh, what possibilities there still could be, especially for someone like me…I think it's time for Holt to have a little fun." He said maddeningly to his cousin, kicking the leg of the table to cause it to crash to the floor. A few more kicks and he'd ripped the leg off, holding it in his hand with the portion of metal that had been attached all twisted and jagged from having been so forcefully removed. Holt created a small flame to bend it more easily, as Heath watched in dread as it took on more of rough sword appearance. "Jack the Ripper will have nothing on me…ha ha…Let's see if I can find a way to rid myself of that annoying normie for good!" he said before jumping off stage and pummeling a few monsters that got in his way as he ran out of the auditorium. Heath opened his mouth to call out to him but found he couldn't form any response, an agonizing pain slamming through his head as he finally fell victim to the curse and slipped away from the crowd to follow his cousin.

---

Holt walked through the hallways of the school in a manner more akin to stalking prey than a leisurely stroll. His headphones were plastered to his head but he kept listening around to find himself something to do. He had thought of staying in the auditorium, but that would have just been too predictable and boring, and that just would do for a Hyde. He had come across a few people, finding a few that had something that he found he wanted. He had robbed a blue girl with purple hair of her pearls, ripping them off of her and giving her a smack to the face to send her on her way. He couldn't wait to find Frankie, thinking that he could tempt her with the pearls if she wasn't cooperative.

"Hey there hot-stuff." A silky voice drifted over to Holt, drawing his attention over to another girl who was leaning seductively against the wall, half in shadow as she motioned with her finger for him to come closer. Grinning like the mad-man he currently found himself to be, he took a few steps closer with the intent of making quick work of this girl. As he got closer he noticed that she must have been some kind of incubus, her hair having been pulled up onto her head.

"A ghoul like you shouldn't just linger in the shadows. You never know who you might meet…or what." He growled to her, brandishing his weapon. She smiled and slowly eased herself off the wall, taking out the pin that had been holding her hair up to let it fall down past her shoulders. "You seem like the kind of a guy a ghoul like me might want to meet." She said, running a hand up his chest slowly as she spoke. "The only kind who can handle my kind of…heat." She said, pulling him closer to her and into the shadows to plant a kiss onto his face. Holt returned it, pushing her up against the wall as she ran her hands down him and pulled his weapon out of his hands as carefully as she could. As soon as she was successful, she tightened her hold on Holt's shoulders to spin him around and slam him into the wall.

"Oh that's right…you're a succubus." Holt laughed at her, but she sneered at him, reaching out with her hand to grab a fistful of his shirt. "And I'm ever so hungry for a good meal." She said, her voice no longer carrying that soft tone to it as she pressed harder onto his chest, intending to consume what the horror stories of her kind have her eat. Her nails started to dig into Holt's skin as she tried to rip into his chest to pull out the desired organ for her to feast on, causing him to growl and burn her arms, flinging her off of him into the opposite wall. He hardly noticed that he was now missing a good portion of his black and white shirt as he picked her up to toss her back into the wall again, letting his fists fly until her blood from her broken nose and split lip got all over his knuckles. She slid to the floor whimpering and Holt retrieved his weapon, slowly walking back over to where she lay in a crumpled heap. Looking at his weapon he shook his head. "Nah…this would be too quick for a monster like you." He said, instead giving her a rough kick and leaving her behind, wiping her blood off onto his jeans. But as he was walking away, the bloodshed he had caused seemed to attract one of the vampire guys who tried to rush at him.

Holt laughed, getting a good swipe at the guy's chest before the guy turned into a bat and flew off to look for easier prey. But not before dive-bombing him a few times in his bat form to torment him. Holt let out a few growls that Heath must have heard as he too entered into this particular hallway, smirking at the sight of Holt swiping with his blade at the vampire bat. On the last dive-bomb before taking off for good, the bat knocked off Holt's headphones. Immediately Jackson was back in the hallway, still dressed in Holt's clothes and holding the blade as he looked around, his eyes falling on the unconscious succubus. Twirling around to try and make sense of things, he finally spotted Heath as his cousin walked over to him, clapping slowly. "Well, that was something." he said, stopping as Jackson rushed over to him.

"Heath! What is going on? What did…what did Holt do? There's blood all over my hands! Actual blood this time, not paint. How could he…I don't understand…Heath, please tell me he didn't kill anyone!" Jackson panicked, finally dropping the blade in his horror. "Where's Frankie? Did he do something to Frankie?" he begged his cousin to answer, not sure why Heath seemed to be so detached as he simply stroked his chin.

"Well, he didn't do anything to her yet." He said, wrapping an arm around his cousin to guide him down the hallway. "But Holt did do a number on her..."he whistled. "Hope he had a good time before he finished at least." He said, Jackson yanking Heath's arm off of him.

"Heath, how could you say that?! What's made you like this?" he asked, eyes wide and breathing heavily, looking as though on the verge of a full-blown panic attack as he hyperventilated. "Tell me!" he screamed at him when Heath continued to smirk at him. Heath slowly walked closer and closer to his cousin, forcing Jackson to have to walk backward.

"You want me to tell you something? I should have finished you off when I had the chance…" his cousin sneered at him. Jackson just shook his head in disbelief. "Fire can be such a tricky thing you know, but eventually will find a way to burn what's in its way. And you know what you are Jackson? A normie that's gotten too close to the flame." He said, suddenly springing himself onto his cousin, the two of them wrestling as Jackson tried to get out of Heath's grip. He succeeded in briefly escaping and running into one of the mad science labs, attempting to slam the door shut on his homicidal cousin but Heath was too quick and tackled him to the floor. Heath began to strangle him, his hair beginning to flame up with the effort as he growled. Jackson flailed around, knocking bottles from the lab desks onto the floor, one of which causing a huge amount of smoke to engulf their faces as it met with Heath's flame. Jackson went still as he noticed a change come over Heath and his grip loosened a little. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep the soot out of his eyes and waited with baited breath in the hope that Heath was coming back to his senses.

"Holy smokes! Jackson!" Heath shouted, Jackson letting out the breath he wasn't aware he was holding, coughing a little. Heath shot up off of Jackson, helping him back to his feet as they both coughed to get the remaining smoke out of their lungs. Heath rushed to shut the door, locking it and jamming the door underneath the doorknob with a chair.

"Heath…what was that all about?" Jackson asked, rubbing his sore throat. "I thought you were done trying to kill me…" he tried to joke with him, but Heath pulled his cousin into a hug. He held him tightly to him. "Aw, man. That was so close. I'm so sorry cuz'." He said. Jackson awkwardly returned the embrace, happy to lean on Heath for support. Heath guided him over to one of the chairs to let him set down, getting ready to explain what had happened and what Gigi had told him.

"So, wait." Jackson said holding up a hand. "Is everybody supposed to carry out their, well the normie version, of their histories?" he asked, Heath nodding. Jackson sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well that explains why I'm dressed like this." He said, picking at his clothes and making a face of disgust at them. "In the normie story, Henry and Edward don't change their outfits when they transform. But why is there a hole in my shirt?" he asked, looking back up to his cousin. Heath shrugged before remembering the succubus in the hallway.

"Oooh…" he grimaced. "Holt had a run-in with a hungry succubus. She must have tried to rip his heart out to eat it. Yuck!" Heath said, sticking his tongue out. Jackson's eyes widened and he stood up. "Yuck is all you have to say about that! Heath! Nearly every one of the monsters that attends here is supposed to either want to trick, maim, kill, or eat, or all of the above in regards to humans. I know you said the curse won't affect me when I'm me, and Holt definitely shouldn't be let out again, but if Gigi doesn't hurry, I'm a sitting duck in here." He exclaimed, throwing his hand around in the air as he spoke. Heath sighed and tried to brush aside Jackson's worries.

"Nah, not everyone…" he started, but Jackson's look stopped that train of thought. "Okay, well, at least you can try and wait it out or maybe we can take more of this stuff and spread it around the school." Heath said, picking up the bottle that had what snapped him out of his trance in it. "Besides, you're not actually living out your story anymore, right? Not in a locked room." Heath said, shrugging.

Jackson huffed in frustration. "Yes actually, I am. The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde dealt with my great-grandfather being found in a locked room." He said. Heath shrugged again, not seeing why that was such a problem. Jackson rolled his eyes, finding it not all that hard to believe that Heath wouldn't have bothered to brush up on the normie stories of monsters. Sighing again, he said. "Inside a locked room he'd barricaded…dead." He put more emphasis on his words this time to get his frustration across to Heath who looked like it had finally sunk in. "Uh oh" he said, sending him a sympathetic grimace. "Yeah…uh oh" Jackson repeated, sitting back down again.

"Okay, um…we'll figure something out." Heath tried to reassure his cousin, although he didn't particularly want to do anything other than stay put. "Maybe we can find our friends and they can…"

"And they can kill me" Jackson interjected to end Heath's suggestion. "If Deuce doesn't turn me into a permanent statue, Clawd or his sister will try to tear me apart. Draculaura won't be able to overcome her bloodthirsty appetite, Gil and Lagoona might try to drag me off into the pool if we head in that direction…who else? Oh, yes, Ghoulia and the hordes of zombie students will also try to eat my brain, Cleo will try to either suffocate or crush me, and quite honestly, I don't know how Frankie would prefer to kill me." He ranted, getting more and more worked up. Heath came over to sit next to him, letting him lean on him. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Jackson spoke again.

"We may not be safe here either. Like those pamphlets Frankie had passed out in one of the health classes said, some monsters just seem more attuned to seeking out and finding humans by picking up on their heartbeats…I've already had one try to…" he trailed off, letting Heath rub his shoulder comfortingly. "If we're found, you shouldn't stay." He mumbled.

"Hey! I'm not abandoning you!" Heath argued, quieting as they saw a few shadows pass by the frosted glass of the door. Jackson gave him a small smile, which Heath returned. "Last time we were trapped in the school, you saved me from certain death by poison so let me save you this time." He whispered. Jackson opened his mouth to reply when Sirena came floating in, immediately spotting the two of them.

"Oh. Hello." She greeted, drifting over to them. "You look like you've had some trouble." She said, her laugh slipping through at the end.

"Sirena…"Heath said threateningly, tightening his hold on his cousin. "What are you doing in here?" he asked. The mermaid ghost continued to float about twisting a little as she did. "I'm trying to find a way out – all the ghosts are. The barrier's up and completely covering the school so we can't just float out." She said slowly. "There are different kinds of ghosts you know – the echoes, the supernatural kind of past humans, and then the kind that come to Monster High who are from a different dimension. Normies often lumped us all together…but it makes it difficult for a curse like that to apply to all of us." She said, actually sounding like she was making more sense than she had ever done before.

"Wait…are you saying that you're not affected?" Jackson asked hopefully. Sirena shook her head. "Nope…but I feel like I'm in a bubble yet at the same time, can think clearer than before. It must be my mermaid half that's been affected." She said, twisting around again. Jackson found it amusing that for all other monsters, that fog would have the opposite affect and cause them to lose focus like it did for Heath. But apparently not for Sirena.

"Okay, well then can you tell us what's going on out there?" Heath asked her, not releasing his hold on his cousin just yet. Sirena floated back up toward the ceiling again before twisting a little with a swoosh of her tail. "Sirena, how bad is it out there among the students? Can you tell us about our friends?" Jackson tried to keep her attention.

"Well, just about all the exits are surrounded by the zombies. And there are an awful lot of fights between the werecats and the werewolves, but that's to be expected." She replied, tapping her chin as she thought over everything.

"Huh…I'd have thought the werewolves would be too busy fighting with the vampires." Heath said. Jackson shook his head. "No, it's like Gigi told you – they're acting like they're feral or according to old stories. Early normie stories about werewolves and vampires often had them working together almost like they were the same monster at times. It's only more recently that the whole werewolf versus vampire things came about…"Jackson explained. His cousin gave him an incredulous look that implied to Jackson that now wasn't the best time for history or literature lessons. "Ugh….I'm not trying to impress you with my knowledge, I'm trying to find some pattern for us to exploit to try and get out of here." He said, standing up to pace as he tried to think of anything. The last time they had all been trapped in school with the barrier up, they'd at least had each other to work through things. Sighing and sitting down in another chair across from Heath, he had become lost enough in thought that Sirena managed to completely surprise him as she floated up to him and sat in his lap. She snuggled up to him, placing her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Um…I like you too Sirena but what are you doing?" Jackson said, shooting a look at Heath for help. Despite their situation, Heath had a small smile of amusement on his face before realizing that she may be up to something.

"I think that's plenty of friendly…"Heath started to say before he was shushed by the mermaid ghost. "I'm curious to know what all the fuss is about." She said as a vague explanation, not moving from her impromptu perch on Jackson's lap.

"Again, what are you talking about?" Jackson said, not sure what to do with his arms at this point and keeping them out to the side.

"The monsters are out to attack each other or to find humans. Werewolves and vampires have very good senses of smell and hearing…they might be able to hear this." She said, tapping at Jackson's chest where he was missing a part of his shirt. "Oh, it got faster!" she said, pressing up against him more. "It's interesting, but I don't see why Frankie makes such a big deal…"she trailed off, still refusing to move.

"Frankie talks to you about our time together?" Jackson asked. Heath again looked like he couldn't follow what was going on. "Cuz'- other things going on at the moment." He said, snapping him back to reality. "I hate to say it, but she may have a solid point there."

Jackson nodded and gingerly pried Sirena away from him. "Sorry Sirena…maybe another time, or never….but I need to check on something." he said, concerned at the way that her eyes seemed to have changed. "I think there are supposed to be safety vests in every lab that are designed for potentially dangerous experiments to block…y'know, flying debris, harmful acids, or to act as insulators from large electrical charges. I've had to wear them a few times during class because I'm… me." He said, starting to look around for the cabinets that had the markings for safety material on its door.

"That's great and all but that's not gonna muffle the sound these other monsters are able to pick up on." Heath said, worried about what might happen.

"I know that. But it might provide a little more protection than a bare chest." Jackson turned to argue, his eyes going wide and catching Heath's attention. The fire elemental turned around to notice that there were several shadows outside their door, more stationary than the others that had passed.

"Oh, they found you." Sirena said to Jackson, pushing him to the floor behind one of the tables and Heath taking shelter behind another. Sirena lay on top of Jackson and peeked out from behind as did Heath, seeing the doorknob move as one of the monsters in the hall attempted to open the door. Moans were heard as the door was shaken once the monsters realized that it was locked. A few fists pounded on the door and Heath called a fireball to his hand just in case he needed to shoot one off. But it seemed like whatever monster students these were hadn't had the benefit of the enhanced senses Sirena had been talking about, and shortly moved on to another room. Their banging as they repeated their search was heard from their room as they waited for them to move along further, before they dared to move or say anything else.

Heath and Jackson sighed as the danger seemed to pass, slumping back against the legs of the lab table. "Oooh…Frankie's right about that." Sirena said, drawing attention to herself as she remained lying on Jackson, head to his chest again. "Ugh….Sirena!" Jackson whined as he took a minute to catch his breath before pushing her off of him. The boys stood up and dusted themselves off a little off only for the sake of habit rather than a real concern over appearances. Heath tip-toed to the door to peek out of the side of the window to see if there appeared to be any more shapes in the hall.

"Ugh…Sirena, stop." Jackson said as she ran a hand over his chest. "Is the coast clear?" Jackson asked his cousin as he tried to just ignore Sirena's weirder behavior. Heath remained where he was a moment longer before giving Jackson an affirmative response. Not hearing anything from Jackson, he looked back from his position as guard to see Jackson struggling with Sirena.

"Whoa! Hey!" Heath shouted, jumping up to race over to where his cousin was kneeling on the floor with Sirena's ghostly, now intangible hand, inside Jackson's chest. That strange look that they had both noticed on her face earlier was back, Jackson struggling to make any sound. Heath frantically tried to do something to stop her. He had experienced having one of the ghost students fly through him, Spectra having actually paused in her passing once to speak to him. It was an odd sensation for that brief moment, but he imagined it wasn't exactly the same ticklish feeling that Jackson was experiencing. He grabbed the rest of the stuff that had spilled onto the floor into his hands and got in her face before igniting it and blowing the smoke in her face. She immediately released Jackson like Heath had, sputtering to get the soot from her eyes.

"Oh my….I didn't think I'd fall to it too. I'm sorry Jackson." She said, appearing to be dazed. Heath rushed to his cousin as he collapsed onto the floor, holding his chest. "Jackson?" Sirena asked when the boy didn't try to get up.

"What can we do to help?" Heath asked, practically in Jackson's face. He eased his cousin's hand away from his chest to see if there was any external damage done, but not too surprised to find that a ghost hadn't left a mark. He straightened Jackson out on the ground, briefly looking back at Sirena. "What did you do?" he asked. She looked like she had returned to her senses again, as much as she had been before, but about ready to cry. "I said I was sorry!" she said to Heath but he only shook his head.

"No, I mean…literally, what did you do? We need to fix him." He said. Sirena nodded and floated back over, trying not to feel hurt at the way Jackson seemed to flinch. "I…reached in and had my hand around…"she said, not needing to finish as Heath realized she was acting out some of the scarier ghost stories. He leaned down over Jackson to check on him, placing on ear on his chest. "I know you're gonna get sick of this, but I need to figure out what's wrong" he said before quieting so he could hear. Jackson nodded as he grimaced, Heath being as gentle as he could. He was no doctor, but having a normie for a cousin had made him aware of what to look for, at least for the most part. Heath could hear how much Jackson seemed to be struggling and in pain, his heartbeat sounding erratic and with extra sounds that he was sure weren't normal and probably would result in it stopping soon.

"Okay, okay….how do I fix you up Jackson?" Heath asked. "I think you can tell it's not working right, so what do I need to do for you?" he asked again, aware of how pathetic it was for the intended savior having to ask the victim to walk him through his saving. Jackson winced, nearly passing out before mumbling "I dunno…CPR" he said. Heath threw his hands up in the air. "That's for when you're actually dead man! I don't want to have to wait until then!" he said. "I don't know how to do it either!"

Jackson grabbed onto his cousin's hands once Heath retuned to trying to hold onto him "Nothing electrical in here to get…right rhythm…do it by hand." He said, folding Heath's hands into the proper position and placing them in the right spot on his chest. "Just…not too hard?" he said, giving a weak smile as he fought to remain awake. Heath looked terrified at the thought. "Oh, you're more trouble than you look. Constantly needing to keep everything working right and leaving it up to me…okay…well, here we go then. Sorry cuz'" He nervously said before beginning to do as Jackson asked. Sirena watched, hands over her mouth as Heath worked, pausing to take another listen and let Jackson take in a breath before starting again. After the second round of compressions, it seemed all was well and Heath sat back from his kneeling position. Jackson continued to lay on the floor, taking deep breaths and rubbing his chest. "Man…you so owe me…again! That was one of the scariest things I had to do." He said, hair igniting involuntarily.

"Scary for you?" Jackson asked incredulously to his cousin. Heath nodded and replied, "Absolutely. Last time I had to help you out when you were in rough shape, you were unconscious. Having you watch and look at me while I did that made it even worse."

"Well it wasn't all fun for me either…I really am gonna get killed in here." Jackson said, covering his face with his hands. "This is the third attempt on my life already!"

"Fourth….the vampire that knocked Holt's headphones off wasn't looking to play around either." Heath supplied, receiving a groan in response. Sirena tentatively floated over to Jackson, who uncovered his face to look at her. "I'm so, so sorry Jackson. I thought being a hybrid wouldn't make me this way. You'd have thought my mermaid half would be the one to attack, but everything is just all messed up!" she rushed out in her apology to Jackson.

"I know Sirena. I know." He said, patting her hand even though minutes ago it had been squeezing the life out of him from within. "Let's just hope that we can figure something out and that our friends will be alright too." he said, easing himself up to stand again. "Let's start by finding that vest. It wouldn't do much against another of those kinds of attacks but it'll make me feel better." He said, leaning against one of the tables while Heath searched the closets. Jackson sighed again, closing his eyes from the discomfort. He heard Sirena give out a little whine and tried to smile encouragingly at her, Heath returning with one of the vests to help Jackson put it on. "I may need to seriously rethink my school though…" Jackson attempted to joke, but Heath looked incredibly dismayed by that.

"C'mon cuz'. You know nobody means what they're doing. Please don't say that." He said. "You haven't been here that long." He argued, but Jackson waved off his concern. "Relax Heath. This is a conversation for once we get out too – if we can manage it." Jackson said.

"What about making some smoke bombs?" Sirena asked, picking up some of the items that had been left out on the teacher's table. Jackson and Heath looked at her dumbfounded. "That's a good idea Sirena! It'll be better than having nothing." Jackson said, earning a smile for his forced enthusiasm on her efforts. The three of them made several smoke bombs for the next fifteen minutes, producing plenty for them to carry around.

"It's a shame we can't just spread them around the school to blast everyone in the face back to normal." Sirena said, frowning. "Maybe Gigi would know of a way. We should go into that little room under the bell tower too and ask her." She said absentmindedly. Heath was unable to keep his mouth from dropping. "You knew the whole time where she was?! Why didn't you start with that information?" he asked her. She just shrugged, folding her hands onto her tail. "You didn't ask. I didn't think it was important." She defended herself, but Heath just rolled his eyes. Jackson laughed at his cousin. "Okay. Now we have a plan. We can make our way to Gigi and go from there." he said, pocketing his share of the smoke bombs.

"And once we're there?" Heath asked, folding his arms. Jackson shrugged. "Gigi must have made some progress. Obviously she couldn't have just smashed them but if it's a magical problem, maybe we can help with a magical – or scientific – cure." He said, holding up one of the smoke bombs. "But we won't know until we find her."

"Fine. But let's be quick – I'm not doing that to you again." Heath said, earning a look from Jackson. Sirena looked between the two of them before deciding to lead the way. "Okay. I'll keep a lookout up ahead for you guys." She said. Heath and Jackson both took a deep breath and Heath went to unblock the door.

"Wait!" Jackson cried out, stopping Heath's motion. Jackson scurried over to one of the open cabinets that had a reflective surface. Taking a hold of a piece of lab equipment, he smashed it into several pieces.

"What are you doing?" Heath asked his cousin, having already witnessed Holt's earlier demonstration of destructiveness and now wondering if Jackson really could be affected too. Jackson picked up one of the larger pieces carefully, wrapping it with a towel that had been laying the cabinet to keep from cutting himself and giving them away. He looked over to Heath and held it up. "In case we run into Deuce." He said, walking back over to Heath. His cousin nodded and Sirena poked her head back inside the room to tell them that the hallway was clear for now and that they should hurry. Bracing themselves, they flung the door open and followed Sirena, hoping to reach Gigi without any interruptions.

---

Heath and Jackson weren't sure they had ever tried to run through the school so fast, having to take detours several times when Sirena doubled back to warn them of students. A few times Jackson was sure that Heath wouldn't be able to keep him protected, especially when they inadvertently stumbled across a pack of werewolves that included their friends. They seemed to be growling over something that neither boy could see, but Heath had pressed himself up against Jackson back into the wall to try and avoid them detecting their scents or anything else. But whatever it was that had held their attention before seemed to have been swiped by Howleen in the melee, sprinting off with it in her mouth on all fours and spurring the others to howl and race after her.

Jackson and Heath had sagged in relief at that, slowly coming out of their hiding spot. "This is insane. If this is the only way normies saw us for all those years, no wonder there are so many still afraid of letting us hang around with them." Heath grouched, peeking around the corner with the mirror that Jackson had handed him. "I'm not so fond of taking the lead either" Heath said. Jackson just pushed Heath along further to have him keep walking.

"Yeah, well, you're not at the top of the menu." Jackson said. "Besides, it's not as though it's any better taking the rear." They turned around the corner to head up the last of the steps into the bell tower when they heard a low growl. The two of them paused as they looked around, unsure of why Sirena wouldn't have noticed this monster. Before either of them could do anything, Abbey lunged from her hidden position, shooting icy blasts at them. Jackson leaped back as Heath lurched himself to the side to avoid her attacks.

"Abbey, baby, c'mon. Don't you recognize the Heathster?" Heath said, picking himself up off the floor and igniting his hands to keep her freezing abilities from leaving him paralyzed to the spot. She growled at him again, making large swooping gestures with her arms as she tried to attack her boyfriend, talking to him in her foreign language that left him feeling even more helpless. "Abbey, we don't want to hurt each other." He tried again, grabbing a hold of her arms as she made to pin him to the wall. She growled at him again and Heath could sense that she was about to really put some pressure on him, forcing him to block with his heat at full force. Jackson rushed to get out a smoke bomb to help Heath and to avoid their encounter with Abbey drawing the attention of any other monsters. Lighting it up with a small flame from his own hand, thankful for even the limited use of his elemental heritage, he rolled it beneath the two of them on the floor. It burst within the next second and Abbey shook her head. As was typical of her, Abbey's hold on Heath didn't let up even as she swayed to get her bearings, Heath reaching out without his now flameless hands to help steady her.

"Whoa! Is nasty head rush!" Abbey complained, releasing her grip to hold her head with her hands now that she saw it was Heath helping her stand. "What is going on?" she asked, looking between her boyfriend and Jackson. She looked curiously at Jackson. "And why you wear that? Is Holt's outfit." She said. Heath rubbed her shoulders comfortingly as he tried to guide her in the direction they were headed. Jackson sighed, but heard something slunking in the halls behind them. Looking over his shoulder but unable to see anything other a few shifty shadows, he urged them to hurry up onto the roof so they could get to the bell tower.

"C'mon Abbey. We'll explain all that we know as we walk. We gotta hurry though." Heath said, also hearing the heavy footsteps. She nodded her head and let him guide her. A bellow was heard and Jackson immediately tensed up, recognizing his bully. "We need to run, now" he urged them, sprinting the last few feet toward the door to the roof, slamming it behind them tightly.

"What was his problem?" Abbey asked of Jackson, assuming Manny was up to his typical aggressive way with his favorite victim. "He does not normally do the hitting thing anymore with you, right?" she said, but Jackson didn't immediately respond as he and Heath continued to look around cautiously. "Heath. Do not ignore Abbey." The yeti said, pointing a finger at her boyfriend to get him to pay attention to her.

"I told you we'd explain. But we need to get to what Sirena said was a small room in the bell tower to talk to Gigi." Heath said. Jackson sighed. "Speaking of our friend, where did she go?" Jackson asked, not having seen their helper in some time. They both were a little frustrated with her lack of attention, especially since she could have announced Abbey's arrival to have prevented their skirmish. Heath shrugged but a voice cried out behind Jackson, making him jump and put a hand to his chest in surprise.

"Here I am…oh, sorry Jackson." Sirena said, flinching as Jackson huffed at her choice of entrance. "But I was trying to distract Manny from deciding to gore you to death Jackson." She said.

"Well…thanks for that." Jackson said, nodding to her. Sirena smiled back at him before noticing Abbey standing there looking like herself again. "Oh, hi Abbey!" Sirena waved, floating over to her. "Everybody's gone crazy from that fake witch's wacky performance and now they're out to get each other, but mostly Jackson." She said to the yeti.

"Thank you Sirena. Finally! Straight answer." Abbey said, the boys looking confused at the interaction between the two girls. Abbey did looked a little shocked at first, but it seemed that the very blunt answers that Abbey often required fit well with Sirena's inability to think too far beyond the present moment's circumstances. Sirena didn't even seem to realize that there could have been a gentler, more detailed explanation but it seemed that the boys could keep moving now. The three of them followed Sirena as she led them to where she had said she saw Gigi hiding, knocking on the door before phasing through it.

"At least she knocked" Heath said to Abbey, who chuckled. Jackson also smirked, but was relieved when the door opened and they could all cram inside. Gigi looked hard at work, with fewer stones spread around her than before as she narrowed down the possibilities. She looked up at the new arrivals, unsure of whether or not she could trust them yet.

"Hey Gigi. Thanks for abandoning me back there." Heath said, not pleased with her having run out on him. "But I kinda get why you did. Jackson managed to find a way to get me and Abbey – and Sirena – back to our old selves. But we were kinda hopin' you'd have something by now." He said, coming to sand next to the area with all the stones. He made to pick them up but Gigi smacked his hand away.

"Yeah…not appreciating the kind of attention I've been getting. But hey, Abbey hasn't trying to kill me so that's something" Jackson said, sitting on the floor against the wall. Abbey turned to look at Jackson after having chuckled at Heath's reprimanded look that Gigi had caused. "Why would I want to kill you? You joking, yes?" she asked, but Jackson gave a slow shake of his head.

Gigi sighed. "That fake witch's spell is making everyone…" she started to say but Abbey nodded her head along, interrupting with, "Crazy…yes, yes, Sirena tells me this earlier. But why?" she asked. Gigi took a deep breath to keep calm and try again, understanding that everyone was getting frustrated.

"Yes, crazy, but in a certain way. They're acting like they would have if they were wild, as well as how all the normie's have depicted their kind in all sorts of stories. This stone is an adder stone –a very small one that also seems to have some alchemical properties associated with it from tampering by that imposter…"she explained, receiving confused looks from all but Jackson.

"So…it transformed everyone like this, permanently?" he asked. "Is that why it turned black?" he said, rubbing his face in his frustration as he tried to understand.

"Not permanently. Not if I can figure out which one of these stones it is that contained her dark intentions. That's what caused the stone to turn black as part of the magic. I think there's something prolonging my detecting it though." Gigi said, scrunching up her face in frustration. Abbey gave her a sympathetic look. "Why are you not affected though? Boys wake me up with smoke to the face- still smelling soot by the way." She said, redirecting her attention to the cousins.

"Like I told Heath. This is all smoke magic. Genies are born of smokeless fire and so basically are smoke. That's why the wishes we grant don't always come out as clear as you might think." She explained, shrugging as she conversed with her friends.

"Well. Any idea how long this might take?" Jackson said, rubbing his throat a little and appearing to be having a harder time when swallowing.

"Not really Jackson. Sorry, but this isn't an exact science. You're just going to have to wait." She said, walking over to him. "What happened to you?" she asked, moving his hands away from his neck to take a look in case she could do something with her magic. He involuntarily flinched and shifted away. "Sorry" he apologized when she sent him a surprised look. "Last time I was told that somebody was immune, she tried to crush my heart – literally. Heath had to fix me up so we could get to you." He said, answering Abbey's question from earlier too. "This is Heath's handiwork…" he said, pointing to the red marks and slightly burned skin on his throat. "And the hole in Holt's clothes - since he was affected by this and our story doesn't involve wardrobe changes – is from one of the succubus girls who wanted to eat me." He explained, sighing in his exhaustion from everything. "So…I'm a little jumpy at the moment." He concluded.

"I bet" Abbey said. "See what happens when you become popular? Everybody be wanting piece of you" she attempted to joke with him, Heath laughing at her efforts and pulling her closer to him. Jackson also gave her a little smile. Gigi gave Jackson a sympathetic look and held up her hands in a gesture of peaceful intentions, moving very slowly to place the tips of her fingers on Jackson's skin.

"I'll give it a try to heal you, but it might take a second or two." She said, not wanting Jackson to start panicking if she didn't immediately pull away. Like she had warned him, it took a little while for her to be able to summon up a healing spell having spent so much already on trying to solve their puzzle. Jackson swallowed as she pulled her hands away, smiling. "That's a lot better. Thanks Gigi." He said, the genie nodding to him and standing back up to return to the stones.

"So. What do you think is prolonging the spell? Maybe if we work on undoing that portion we can move on and get everybody back to not wanting to kill anything that moves." Heath said, Sirena nodding from her perch above them in the rafters.

"Well, from what I can tell, some alchemists that included forms of incantations or other rituals as part of their work typically also created a homunculus as a side effect." Gigi said, pacing a little in what little available they had.

"Homo-what?" Sirena asked, looking around at the others to be sure that it wasn't just here confused about that word. Gigi looked up to her. "A homunculus is a sort of miniature person – like a golum or voodoo doll but one that doesn't gain its own consciousness like Hoodude has. Its purpose was only to continue working on carrying out the curse of the person from which it was copied…it's more complicated and messy than should ever be attempted." She said, although Sirena still looked lost as she tried to follow. Gigi sighed but continued explaining to the others who might then be able to get their friend up to speed. "Most likely it's not a miniature anymore and while it's a copy, it's only a copy on the inside. It can take the appearance of another person or monster to hide, but it can't hide in its reflection." She said, tapping the compact mirror that she had laying out alongside the stones. "I've tried to trace it from here in the bell tower, but without knowing for sure which stone to use, I'm getting nowhere." She said, crossing her arms as she held herself. Sirena floated down to pat her on the back in the hopes of comforting her for all her efforts.

Gigi sent a grateful look to Sirena but it quickly was replaced by one of sorrow. "I'm so sorry guys – especially you Jackson. But I can't let you stay here." She said, standing up a little straighter to giver herself more of an air of authority.

"What? Why not?" Heath asked, just barely avoiding shouting at her. Abbey had to put her hand on his shoulder to keep him from setting his hair or hands on fire, considering that they were surrounded by some very flammable wood. "No Abbey, I need a real good explanation as to why we have to go back out there, risking our lives possibly. Especially for Jackson since it seems so many monsters have it out for normies." He said, the fury evident in his face.

"I know. Truly I do understand. But you must listen." Gigi tried to placate the angry elemental. "I have only so much power to keep myself hidden from those under the curse's power. I can't extend it to you and continue to reverse this. If you can find the homunculus and destroy it, then this will be over a lot sooner." She said, hoping to reason with the others.

"You have no better plan?" Abbey asked in her direct tone, also not thrilled about being kicked out of their only possible safe haven. Gigi just mournfully shook her head. "No. Now please…go!" she shouted, sending a burst of magic that seemed contradictory to her previous statement about conserving power, and launching the others back out into the bell tower. Heath, Abbey and Jackson landed in a crumpled heap on top of one another while Sirena floated out, the door slamming shut and disappearing behind her. "Well that was a bit rude!" the mermaid ghost said, crossing her arms over her chest. "But at least she said please."

"That makes it all better then." Heath said, pushing his cousin off of him and his girlfriend so that they could all stand up. Jackson grunted at the movement, but they all managed to reorient themselves as quietly as they could, although they could hear what sounded like the flapping of bat wings from up above.

"Uh oh. I need to get outta here fast!" Jackson said, taking the lead as they descended down the stairs and back out onto the roof. Once outside, they hesitated before opening the door back into the school. "Maybe we could just wait up here for Gigi to do her stuff." Jackson suggested, awkwardly rubbing his chest. "I'm not so sure about how effective this thing really will be if we're gonna be spending more time in there than we thought." He said, understandably anxious.

"What are you wearing?" Abbey asked, poking at his vest. Jackson explained as Heath walked up to the door to see if he could hear anything on the other side. Shrugging, Sirena floated through the door to see if anyone was around and let them know that the coast was clear for now.

"Okay then. Here we go." Heath said, lifting the heavy door bolt with Abbey's help for them to reenter the building. "Let's go hunting."

---

The four of them slowly progressed through the hallways, taking extra precautions to avoid the ones that looked darker than the others. "Why are the lights so low?" Sirena whispered to the others, sticking closer to the group. Jackson shrugged. "Probably because that fits with the horror stories. Can you think of any that take place in a well-lit, unlocked building?" he asked her, Sirena shaking her head no, "That was rhetorical Sirena, but thanks." He said, smiling a little at her familiar behavior.

"Okay, we will be needing to find more mirrors for us to look into if we are to find this double." Abbey said as they passed by one of the restrooms. "I will go get us some." She said, starting to walk inside. Heath grabbed her hand to stop her, unsure if she should go alone without knowing who might be in there. Abbey was able to sense his hesitation, putting her other hand on top of his. "Come with me then. Will be quicker." She suggested, enjoying the look of nervousness that crossed his face at the thought of entering the girls' bathroom.

"Just go Heath. Keeping the sexes separate is the last thing on these monsters minds right now." Jackson said, rolling his eyes. "Sirena and I will stand watch here. Not sure what we'll be able to do if someone does come along, but we can give you a warning." Jackson said.

"Are you sure you don't want to join in?" Heath asked, holding open the door to let Abbey walk in. "There's not a lot of room in here but…." He started to say but Jackson held up a hand.

"If someone does come along, I'd rather not get trapped in there. Plus, a bathroom is not a place I'd like to die in if it does come to that…" he said, Heath shrugging but finding amusement in Jackson's humor. He shut the door and Sirena and Jackson stood over to the side, out of the direct light.

"The sooner this is over the better." Sirena said, looking back and forth. "I can't imagine our friends will be feeling too good about how they acted when we wake them up." She said. Jackson nodded, taking a drink from the nearby water fountain. "Yeah. I know I'm probably going to have night-" he started to say before Sirena covered his mouth with her hand, eyes wide. Jackson grabbed her hand off his face, but was relieved to find she hadn't fallen back under. "Sirena! What was that for?" he shouted to her in a hushed tone, hearing the mirror smashing from within the restroom.

"Don't say what you were about to say. Not in the shadows! She'll find you that way." Sirena said, motioning with her hands. Jackson looked confused. "Who will find me?" he asked, confusion on his face. "I don't want to say her name or it might call her here… but it starts with T, then a w, then a y, then a…" she began but Jackson cut her off. "I got it Sirena. No calling the monster that comes and gets you when you sleep. Got it." Jackson said, sighing. Even if he managed to avoid running into the others, he still had to keep in mind that he could inadvertently bring them to him, such as calling a boogey monster with the temptation of feasting on nightmares or just saying the wrong thing at the wrong place and time. He didn't want to imagine what Twyla might actually do to him, preferring to just keep quiet.

"I wonder if anyone in the catacombs was affected?" Sirena absently thought aloud. Jackson looked at her curiously. "I'm not particularly keen on going down there to find out unless absolutely necessary. That place can be a death trap on a normal day." He said. "But now that you mention it, shouldn't Operetta…" he said, afraid of jinxing things. As though the phantom girl could pick up on his thoughts, he could hear her mix of organ music and rock start to drift up from where they were. It wasn't overly loud, but it definitely spooked some things that had been hiding out in the vents, unblocking the muffled beats.

"Oh no…not…no!"Jackson said, gripping his head with both hands as though to hold off his transformation. He began to breathe heavily, his transformation into Holt not in his typical manner in a burst of flame. Instead, it seemed as though his skin was crawling as things shifted around and turned blue, hair morphing into flame. "Agh…what is this? Is this…ugh….no, no…agh!" Jackson screamed in pain, staggering around away from the bathroom as Heath and Abbey came running out with their mirror shards.

"Oh no…"Heath breathed in horror, watching as Jackson seemed to slowly morph into Holt before them, a far more terrifying sight than their usual method of transformation. A quick flash of flame at the very end signaled to them that it was over, Holt arching his back as though emerging from water.

"Ooh, yeah!" Holt shouted, looking back from the ceiling to stare at those watching him. "Free! Ha ha ha ha! No more Jekyll, only Hyde!" he said in a long, drawn out manner with his hair ablaze and his eyes looking alight too in his crazed state.

"H-Hey cuz'." Heath said tentatively, walking over to him with timid steps. Holt smiled back at him as he adjusted his headphones back over his ears in time to keep himself out, as Operetta's performance seemed to have been prematurely cut off by some other monster, although her voice was heard echoing still. "You look like you could use some company, huh? How about you stick with us and we can…" Heath tried to say, reaching into his back pocket to look for a smoke bomb to toss over at him.

"We can start by you being honest with me, cuz'" Holt said menacingly at him, halting Heath's motion. "Nothing I can't stand more than someone pretending to be something they're not. Nothing but hypocrites that need to be dealt with – and I'd hate for my own family to slip down that slippery slope. I'd feel I'd have to do something about that…" he said, making his way back over to them and slipping out his knife he'd made. "I'd only be helping to readjust the balance of things. He he he…You get what I'm saying?" he ranted, not making sense to anyone. Abbey looked over to Heath as though trying to tell him not to do anything just yet, stealthily moving along the wall to stun him. Sirena had floated back up to the ceiling, floating back and forth in her nervousness.

"Of course Holt. I get it. You just want people to say what they mean. I can respect that, so if you could just put that down and talk with me, I'm sure we can come up with some plan on how to…" Heath tried again, but Holt laughed at him again, twirling his weapon around in his hand. "No…I don't care about other people. I just want them to know that there's nothing that can be said or done to stop me from letting myself take pleasure in my true nature –ha ha, 'be all that I can be', as the saying goes." He said, stopping his walk. "I think I might start with taking whatever you've been trying to get out of your pocket. You're a horrible liar Heath. Somebody ought to stop that habit of yours." He said, suddenly lunging at Heath before the elemental could brace himself from the attack. Holt knocked him to the floor, placing his foot on his cousin's chest and leaning all his weight on him as he brandished his blade near his face. Holt sneered at Heath's struggles, raising his weapon only for Abbey to finally spur into action and shoot ice blasts at him. Holt laughed as he swung them away as though hitting a baseball tossed at him. It was enough though for Heath to knock Holt off his feet and roll away, but not before Holt reached over to grab onto Heath's jacket and pull him back over to him, placing the blade up against Heath's throat as he maneuvered them back onto their feet.

"Ah ah!" he tauntingly said as he used his cousin as a hostage. "Don't want to hurt your flame now would you? Ha ha ha." He mocked, reaching into Heath's pocket to take out his share of the smoke bombs. "These must be awfully important. I'll keep them safe for you…"Holt whispered into Heath's ear as Heath struggled to keep the blade off of his skin. "Holt, you don't know what you're doing. Let me help you!" Heath grumbled out to him as Holt continued to hold him tight.

"That's so sweet of you cuz', but I'm capable of holdin' my own just fine, thanks." He said. "And speaking of Fine, I've got some plans to keep." Holt shoved his cousin into Abbey's waiting arms and bolted from the hallway, straight through Sirena who gasped and flinched as he ran. "That's your only warning to leave me be!" Holt shouted as over his shoulder as he turned down another hallway, his laugh bouncing back to them.

"Aw man...when did Jackson even pick up that weapon again?" Heath said, rubbing his throat as he found himself now in Jackson's position, some blood from the small cut on it smearing onto his fingers. "How can this get worse?" he grumbled, letting Abbey lead him back into the bathroom to clean him up. Abbey didn't answer, preferring to work quickly to stop the cut from bleeding and getting them any more setbacks. "Have found it better never to ask or will come to find out." Abbey said, tossing away the used paper towels. "But we will find your cousin. Besides, if he stays Holt, I don't think we have to be too concerned for him. Is scary monster that Hyde." She said, letting Heath pull her into a hug. Breaking apart and walking back out into the hallway, they looked around. "Where did Sirena go?" Heath asked, not seeing their friend.

"Don't know. Maybe she followed Holt?" Abbey suggested. "But we should be even more careful now that we not have any way to wake up other students." She said, drawing their attention back to what Holt had stolen before he took off.

Heath nodded and looked about to suggest that they head down the same hallway when Sirena came flying at them, carrying what looked like the vest Jackson had put on. "Holt took it off! I tried to get him to put it back on but he wouldn't listen. He just kept poking me with his blade and laughing when it didn't cut me. It's still weird to have that happen you know, but he seemed to find my discomfort amusing." She huffed, dropping the vest for Heath to catch. "He ran away again and I lost him. So I thought you might be able to get it on him if we find him again." She shrugged.

"Thanks Sirena. You know he doesn't mean what he's doing." Heath defended his cousin. Sirena shrugged and crossed her arms. "I know. He's no different than I was" she admitted. Abbey took the vest out of Heath's hands to inspect it.

"Then let's see if we can follow him. We can check out students with mirrors as we go and maybe we find this thing too." Abbey said, handing the vest back to Heath. She patted him on the back encouragingly and the three of them returned back to their intended mission.

---

Holt found himself getting frustrated with his lack of success in trying to find his girlfriend, only coming across a few monsters that seemed to get the message of not messing around with him. He could hear some growling and stepped on something. Looking down, he saw one of the skeleton student's lower arm and hand crawling along the floor, making Holt look around for the rest of him. "Oooh…that's what that growling is all about – little doggies like their bones. Ha ha." He said aloud, reaching down to pick up the arm. Holt whistled to get one of the werewolf's attention, tossing it and shouting "Fetch!" when one came into view. He laughed as the werewolf couldn't help but give in and chase the bone tossed its way even if he looked like he might also consider going after Holt.

Holt continued laughing as he watched the guy pounce on the arm and start to gnaw on it, drooling as he did. He was caught up in watching this that he almost didn't feel it when a hand subtly reached into the pocket with the pearls he had intended to give to Frankie. He grabbed onto the arm and shifted as he went to push this would-be pickpocket into the side of the lockers. But he found he couldn't see his attacker. "Now that just ain't fair, yo!" he said, not releasing his grip. "I won't know if I've made an impression on you unless you bleed." He threatened, twisting the wrist and causing Invisibilly give himself away as he asked Holt to stop. Holt's eyes widened as recognized the voice and he made to mock him again, but Invisibilly was faster and kneed Holt in the groin to get him to release him.

"Now that's just getting a little too carried away. All I was doing was what was necessary for me. I'd have thought you might have understood that." Invisibilly said as Holt released him, gasping to get over the pain. "It's gotten awfully difficult to turn visible again – can't get light to refract the right way…or so says my dad." Invisibilly said, kicking aside Holt's knife.

"Well that's a cryin' shame." Holt said, sending in the direction he thought Invisibilly was a mock sympathetic look while he straightened himself out. "But if you're looking for someone to relieve you of all those burdens, you've found the right guy." Holt said, brushing himself off.

"Ha ha. Burdens? No. But it's just too tempting to pick up a few stray things here and there to make my way with the other students who still find me…even like this." Invisibilly said, now on Holt's left side and giving him a punch in the back and laughing as Holt stumbled. Growling at being pushed around, Holt reached a hand into his pocket.

"Alright then…if you're lookin' to make some deals, I've got one for you." Holt said, assuming the look of what he assumed was a perfect gentleman, smoothing his flames down on his head. "Aw, for me?" Invisibilly taunted, closer to Holt's face than the blue boy had realized. Taking a step back he put a winning smile on his face. "I'm nothin' if not one for helpin' out others. Why else would I put together such a good time at those parties?" Holt said, reaching into his pocket. "In fact…" he said, walking a little distance from where he was sure Invisibilly was, bumping into him to make sure. "You can have the whole handful." He said, igniting his hand and tossing them behind him as the smoke began to billow all around Invisibilly. The invisible boy began to cough at the onslaught while Holt dived toward where his weapon had been tossed aside earlier, turning to look back at his adversary.

"Uh oh…."Holt said, brandishing his blade, "I can see you" he said in a sing-song voice. Although Invisibilly briefly turned visible again as his senses were righted, he had immediately turned invisible again upon seeing Holt in such a threatening manner. But being surrounded by the remnants of the smoke bomb essentially outlined his body for Holt to see. He turned and bolted down the hall, the last of the smoke billowing out into the air and not leaving enough behind for Holt to have been affected. Holt laughed menacingly as he gave chase, but shortly lost Invisibilly by the third hallway that they had run through. Holt didn't seem to mind too much though, having found that to have been just as fun as if he had been able to catch the invisible boy.

Looking around, he saw that he had run into an area that seemed to have become overgrown with weeds, one of which had been snaking its way onto his leg. Attempting to kick it off but not succeeding, he opted to just cut the vine. It withered upon being cut and spurted a red substance that looked very much like blood. It seemed that his action had woken up the rest of the vines, and Venus emerged from the center. "You dare to threaten me and my growth with your blade!" she threatened him.

"You're darn right, missy." Holt shouted back, not allowing her the satisfaction of having him cower from her. Although in this state, he felt as though there was no battle he couldn't survive and so shifted into a fighting stance. "Nothing tries to hold Holt Hyde back!" he said to her, earning a growl from Venus as she called upon her vines to attack. Several made their way to Holt and he began to hack away at them with his blade, making quick work of the ones that got too close and getting sprayed with that red fluid. He panted as the vines caused him to exert himself more than he had been ready for, Venus coming closer to him. "Phew…what do you feed these things?" he asked mockingly.

"They take in all sorts of nutrients. With the poor environment here, they've had to improvise." She said smiling and stroking some of the growth. "They only take a little from passing students. Nothing more than a little drink and you decided to hurt them!" she said, releasing more vines that wrapped themselves around Holt's feet and began to drag him toward the center of the mass. "So now, I'll let them take as much as they want. You should feel honored that they would approve of such a meal." Venus said, letting the vines lift her up as though creating a hammock for her to recline in.

"Nah! I'd be much too tough and hot for them to handle." Holt said, letting his flame loose. The vines started to writhe as they faced the flames, but the heat only seemed to make them grow more. Venus laughed. "By all means, keep warming them up. Such tropical plants just love having a nice warm drink of…." She began to say, but Holt cut her off as he grabbed a hold of his blade again as he struggled and stabbed it into the vines holding his ankles. Instead of immediately letting go, it tightened to the point that something snapped in Holt's ankle before it let go, Holt letting out a feral scream as it mangled his ankle. Holt scrambled backward as the vines retreated as his flames finally ignited rather than just warming the plants. Venus screeched as she attempted to soothe the vines and simultaneously attack Holt. Sitting upright, Holt struck Venus once across the face with his fist before getting upright and scrambling away, favoring his injured ankle. He shuffled out of that hallway, grunting with each step as pain shot thought his leg.

As he stumbled up to a wall to lean against for a moment, he noticed Hoodude bumbling around. The voodoo doll seemed to be even more uncoordinated with his limbs, bouncing off of one of the lockers as he walked into it. Apparently he was supposed to act like a goofy doll, unable to do more than wander around. Seeing Holt, he flailed his arm and his head dropped to the side in a greeting. "Hi Holt." Hoodude said, lacking the maliciousness that so many others had in their voice due to the curse. Instead he just seemed distant. "I can't seem to keep myself on track – no real feeling in these limbs. Not supposed to be doing anything for anybody right now either…he he" he said.

Holt grinned, forcing himself to stand up straighter so as to not alert the doll to anything, although Hoodude didn't seem to be very observant of anything at the moment. "Hey Hoodude. You think you could help me out? I lost something back there and you're just the guy to help me out." He said.

"Oh? What did you lose?" Hoodude asked, finding Holt's story to be entirely reasonable. Shuffling over to stand next to him he paused as he took in Holt's appearance, his shirt torn in several places as was his jacked and sprayed all over his chest, neck, and face was the blood from the vines. But before the doll could say anything about that, Holt grabbed him by his jacket and fell on top of him.

"My temper!" He growled in answer to Hoodude's question, pulling out the mirror shard Jackson had shoved into his jacket pocket. Using it as a knife, he slashed several times all over Hoodude, tearing the stitches and pulling fluff out to spray it everywhere. Hoodude didn't feel any pain, just as he had said, but he was helpless as Holt took his frustrations out on him, laughing in a horrific manner that seemed to echo down the hall.

---

"So do you have any of those things left Heath?" Sirena asked Heath after they recounted all that had happened with Holt. She was still on edge about his tormenting her, but it would seem that he was getting even with them for their attacks on Jackson. Heath reached inside his pocket and pulled out three smoke bombs. Seeing that was all that was left for them to defend themselves with, the three of them gave a heavy sigh. "Well, is better than nothing." Abbey said, trying to keep Heath from panicking like he typically did when situations were too wild for him.

It had seemed like ages ago when Holt left, but they felt that they couldn't be too far behind. Sirena acted as lookout again, alerting the others when more students were nearby so that Heath and Abbey could approach cautiously with the mirrors in hand to continue their search for the homunculus. So far everyone seemed to be themselves, for the most part anyway. They were repeated the process again when Heath stopped in his tracks, causing Abbey to ask him what was wrong.

"Do you guys smell that?" he asked, turning around to face his girlfriend and Sirena directly. His eyes widened. "That's smoke – a lot of smoke. Holt must have set off his smoke bombs or lit something on fire, or both. He's gotta be nearby." Heath said. Sirena also picked up on Heath's plan but Abbey held up her hands in a sign of caution. "Then he must also be with somebody else. He like to cause destruction I think, but why use smoke bombs then?" she said, persuading the others to not rush off right away. "Who knows what's he's done." She finished. But Heath shook his head, breaking away from the girls. "Well I've got to look for him. He's not wearing this thing." Heath said holding up the vest and walking backwards to face the girls. "There's got to be something I can do if we just keep on…oomf!" he said, falling to the floor as something ran into him. Invisibilly became visible, lying on the floor next to Heath, trying to scramble back to his feet.

"Invisibilly! Wait, wait, wait." Heath said, holding onto Invisibilly's shirt as he went invisible again. "We need to talk to you man. It's okay." Heath said. "I'll prove it to you. I'm gonna let you go, just tell us what happened to you." Heath said, releasing his hold on the invisible boy.

"But Heath. He won't stay. He thinks were as crazy as the others are." Sirena said, looking confused again. "He might have been out of his mind too…but now he's gone so we can't ask." She said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"No. No, I stayed." Invisibilly said, turning visible behind Abbey. "Just finding a safe spot to stand if you're as mad as Holt is right now." He said as Abbey whipped around to face him.

"Now is not time for the joking around." She said, smacking him on the shoulder lightly. Invisiblly flinched but realized she was only irritated by being startled. "What you mean about Holt?" she asked as he rubbed his shoulder that had some snow on it from her outburst.

"I…well…I don't know what made me do those stupid things like stealing stuff, but I reached into Holt's pocket to try and grab what was in there while he was distracted by a werewolf." Invisibilly said. Heath's eyes widened as he heard this. "And just how was he distracted by a werewolf?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Relax. He was messing around with it – the guy wasn't anywhere near him and too focused on the bone from one of the skeleton students that Holt I guess dismembered." Invisibilly said, not having seen where Holt had gotten the bone. The others all had grimaces on their faces at that idea, but Invisibilly continued on with his story. "Anyway. He caught me and messed up my wrist in the process." He said, showing how red his right wrist was. "I deserved it but we struggled for a little before he tricked me and tossed a bunch of smoke bombs at me. I dunno how, but that made me come to my senses and I could turn visible again." He said.

"Wait. You were stuck being invisible?" Heath asked, confused. Invisibilly was known for having trouble staying visible now and then, having to focus to remain completely visible, but they hadn't heard of him not being able to make at least some part of him visible. Invisibilly nodded, shuddering at that experience. "Yes and it was not as fun as you might think. But then I saw Holt holding that knife and looking like he was ready to hack me to bits. I turned invisible, but the smoke must have given me away and Holt said he could see me in probably the creepiest way I have ever heard – I bolted and he followed me. He almost caught me a couple of times too and I've been running ever since" he said, getting agitated as he spoke. "But everybody's so messed up right now!" he said.

"Yeah, we're trying to help Gigi fix that problem." Heath said. "You can stick with us if you'd like. We could use the extra help."

"No way guys. Look, I'm all for fixing this but no way am I going anywhere near your cousin again today." Invisibilly said, shaking his head as he walked away. "You asked me to tell you what happened and I did. I'm going to go now. See you around!" he said, turning invisible.

"Wait! Invisibilly!" Abbey yelled to him, but he either had sprinted away or was keeping to his refusal to stick around. She growled a little at his lack of involvement, but Heath pulled her back in the direction that Invisibilly had come from. She gave up on trying to spot him and followed the other two down the next couple of hallways, passing the charred remains of what looked like one of Venus' pet plants.

"Holy smokes! Holt was definitely through here." Heath said as Sirena and Abbey gasped. Heath looked around, spotting the weapon his cousin had been carrying imbedded in one of the thicker vines. Pointing it out to the girls, they tried to see if there was any indication of Holt was still in the vines or where he might have gone.

"Come on. We should keep moving." Abbey said, pulling on Heath's sleeve after he had retrieved the blade from the vines. "I think he went this way." She said.

"How can you tell?" Sirena asked, floating back over from where she had been inspecting the vines that had spread onto the ceiling. She didn't doubt the yeti's abilities, but her curious nature had her questioning everything and it seemed as though that was the best method for what was going on throughout the school. Abbey just pointed at the floor where Heath and Sirena could see blood trailing along the floor.

"That's a lot of blood on the floor." Sirena said, observing how it seemed like something had dragged on the floor. "I hope we can get to him soon." She said, Heath taking off down the hallway. Shortly they were met with the sight of Hoodude splayed out on the floor, missing an arm and a leg, the stiches on his neck torn loose with fluff sticking out from there and various spots on his abdomen.

"Oh Hoodude!" Heath said, rushing over to see if their friend was okay. He had been guilty of making things difficult for him a few times with comments about not being a real monster, but he never meant them to the point of not caring. Hoodude blinked his button eyes and raised his still attached arm a little. The girls gathered his missing limbs and brought them over to the guys, helping to pull together the threads with the needle that was stuck in Hoodude's shoulder. Once everything was back together, Hoodude was finally able to speak after his neck was closed up again.

"Your cousin has some real anger issues" he said to Heath. "And I thought having Torelai and the other werecats tossing me around was bad."

"Where did he go Hoodude? Why'd he do this? Um, never mind the last question." Heath said, helping Hoodude back to his feet. The voodoo doll just gave a half-hazard shrug as he flopped around.

"I'm not sure. He wasn't moving too fast. I just got too close and he was mad." Hoodude said, his voice sounding faint as he continued to be under the curse's influence. "He was all bloody." He said, starting to shamble off without saying goodbye. As temped as the others were to have Hoodude stay with them, Sirena with an outstretched hand to keep him there, but they could tell that he wasn't going to be able to help out. "Oh dear, he's more absentminded than me." She mumbled, watching him walk into the wall again before turning to bounce down the stairs.

"Yes. But have another problem." Abbey said, getting Sirena's attention back on working on their search. Sirena looked questioningly at her. Abbey sighed and held her head as she tried to deal with their friend. "Why was Holt bloody? He is either hurt or has hurt someone else." Abbey supplied for her friend, Heath running his hands through his hair.

"Oh man! I know I tell people that there's nothing I can't handle, that I got this, but what am I supposed to do now?" Heath panicked, pacing back and forth. Abbey sighed, wondering when Heath would have a meltdown. She was impressed with his ability to keep his attention, less prone to wandering off like Sirena often did, but it seemed that she would have to put more effort into taking charge. "Hey! You listen to Abbey – both of you. We keep working together and we be finding way out in no time." She said, giving Heath and Sirena a stern look.

"You can handle this Heath. And you don't have to do it alone." Abbey said in a softer tone, reaching up to cup his face with her hands and give him a short but sweet kiss to calm him down. Heath took a deep breath, appearing to be more at ease now with the pep-talk from his girlfriend. Sirena let out a quiet 'aww' as she watched them, coming to wrap them in a group hug after they broke away from their kiss. Heath looked uncomfortable but Abbey giggled, breaking up the three of them and motioning the others to keep walking. Sirena went back to playing lookout, Heath and Abbey lagging a few paces behind her in case she needed to give warning. But before they could get back into any sort of rhythm, Sirena gasped and turned intangible as Clawd and Clawdeen ran through her.

"Heath! Abbey!" Clawdeen said, springing herself onto Abbey who had braced herself for the worst. Heath also remained guarded but curious as to the fact that the werewolf siblings had chosen to talk with them rather than growl or snarl at them.

"Hey man! It's good to see you two as yourselves…I think" Clawd said, eyeing Heath and Abbey carefully. Sirena floated back over to them, looking flustered. "Me too. But you ran through me so fast I'm not surprised you didn't notice." She said, crossing her arms and looking away.

"How are you two okay?" Heath asked. "Jackson and I saw you two just as wild as the others in your, um, pack, so what happened?" he asked again before his eyes widened and he gasped. "Is everybody back to normal?" he asked hopefully. But he was disappointed when Clawd and Clawdeen shook their heads.

"We were fighting over something we'd found in the hallway over who got to take it back to the others. We messed around with them and must have set something off 'cuz the next thing we knew…." Clawd started to explain, his sister interrupting to finish, "…poof. Smoke was everywhere in our faces and we could think like ourselves again." Clawd and Clawdeen looked to Heath and Abbey in the hopes of answers. Abbey nodded and began to explain things to Clawdeen as they walked down the hall some more, but Heath was more concerned with asking Clawd if he had seen Holt anywhere.

"No. We woke up and tried to just find anyone else that wasn't crazy." Clawd said, trying to also listen in on the girls conversation. "I'm sure he can take care of himself though – especially if he's as crazy as everybody else seems to be." He said. Sirena floated back over to them and subtly tried to indicate to Heath to pull out his mirror. But her movements got the attention of Clawd who looked at her curiosly, Sirena stopping her gestures to smile at him. "What are you doing Sirena?" he asked with practiced patience that came from dealing with Heath.

"Nothing." Sirena denied, Heath taking the chance to pull out his mirror and check on his reflection. He sighed in relief, answering Sirena's question. "He's himself Sirena." He said, then looking at Clawdeen's reflection to see her unamused expression. "It's for finding a way out of here, honest." He said, spurring Abbey to finish her explanation quickly to fend off any bickering that might cause unwanted attention. Clawd rolled his eyes but let it go, walking alongside Heath until both he and his sister paused to sniff the air.

"You get something?" Heath asked, anxious for both a yes while also a no answer. A couple more sniffs and Clawd walked over to where some benches built into the wall had been placed. They were lower for some of the smaller students, leaving only a small gap underneath. Reaching down, he grabbed onto something and started to tug on it. Grunts were heard as whoever was under there resisted, but Clawd was stronger. "Come on man, it's just us." He said, giving one final tug with the help of his sister and pulling Jackson out from underneath.

"Whoa!" Heath said, rushing over to his cousin's side. "What happened?! Holy smokes!" he exclaimed, eyeing the tears in his clothes and blood sprayed all over him. Jackson looked exhausted as he sat on the bench trying to calm himself down.

"I don't know what Holt did – memory gaps Heath. But whatever he got himself into left one heck of a mess. And I can't walk now either. Not fun when trying to run from weretigers." Jackson said, lifting up his injured ankle to pull back the pant leg and show his friends his swollen ankle.

"Oooh, that looks like it hurts." Sirena said, wincing at the look of his ankle. Jackson rolled his eyes, choosing to refrain from making any comments that he might later regret. Instead he nodded and continued to talk. "I would have tried to text you but my phone is dead. I'm guessing that's the only reason Holt isn't out still…you wouldn't happen to know what he did, do you?" he asked, sounding like he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear about it if the amount of blood on him was any indication.

"You did some pruning. And you scared Invisibilly pretty good…and Hoodude probably won't be hanging around with you anytime soon…but no deaths that we know of" Heath answered, Jackson moaning and dropping his head into his hands.

"Here. Be putting this on now." Abbey said, holding out his vest to him. Jackson took it and started to put it on before placing it next to him and starting to take off his torn jacket and t-shirt.

"Dude, what's with the stripping?" Clawdeen said, holding up her hands and looking away. Sirena also blushed and looked away but Abbey didn't seem phased. Jackson continued to take off his shirt before putting the vest on.

"There's blood all over my clothes. I'm putting the vest on underneath so the shirt doesn't stick to me and get even grosser if that's possible." He said. "It's bad enough I'm stuck in Holt's clothes, I might as well do something to try and get a little more comfortable. He finished explaining, shrugging on his jacket after he put his shirt back on.

"Okay. Now that you're done, think we can look for our friends now?" Clawd said. "Maybe we can help out Draculaura and get to the others."

Jackson shook his head, looking around in his pocket but coming up empty handed. "Holt must have used up the rest of the smoke bombs somehow so there's no way to wake them up." Jackson said, leaning back against the wall.

"So you're the expert on the normie versions of monster's stories. What might they be up to?" Heath said, sitting next to his cousin. Jackson sighed again and closed his eyes as he thought about Heath's question.

"Ummm…Draculaura's probably doing the same thing as the other vampires so I should stay away from her at all costs. She might try and get to you though Clawd if she's following her father's story so don't be surprised if she bites you." He said, opening his eyes to face Clawd. The werewolf looked like Jackson had gone crazy. "And why would she do that?" he asked. Jackson shrugged. "Because that's what vampires do – they drink blood, and even she will be looking to do that right now – and in the story, Count Dracula was relentless in his pursuit of getting his girl. Whether or not it was because he loved her is up for debate." Jackson said.

"Remember guys, I'm talking about the normie versions." He said, shifting a little in his seat. "Okay…Gil and Lagoona are most likely at the pool – keeping away from each other – and looking to drag anybody that gets too close into the water and drown them. Deuce is likely hiding out somewhere and amassing a collection of statues. Find the statues and find Deuce – that one's self-explanatory…Sirena said the zombies are all by the exits still and I don't think Holt's run into any of them or else they'd be shuffling in hordes after me." Jackson continued. "And Cleo…huh. Her father's story might be the one that had something to do with finding his long-lost love and her reincarnation and making her into a mummy to resurrect her as his bride…like how Dr. Frankenstein is supposed to build a companion for his creation." Jackson said before sighing.

"But I don't know where Cleo might be, nor Frankie. I'm not sure what story of the Frankenstein's she's supposed to be carrying out. I think she's just wandering around in a state only slightly more aware than a little girl, probably only able to give out grunts and short phrases." Jackson finished, looking to his friends to take over from there and leaning on Heath.

"So then what are gonna do to look for this homunculus?" Clawdeen asked, saying the last word slowly to get it out right.

"We look in mirror shards." Abbey answered, holding up her piece to show the others. "Have a few others too in case I drop. Here." She said, passing out smaller pieces to Clawdeen and Clawd.

"We could always split up." Jackson mumbled into Heath's shoulder as he leaned against him. But Heath shook him off to make his displeasure over that idea known with a single look. But Clawd cut off any argument. "He has a point. Trust me when I say that I'd rather not split up but if we can cover more ground that way, then maybe we should." Clawd said. "I can go with my sister to the first floor while you check the rest of the second and in…twenty minutes, we can meet back here." He suggested.

"I can go with you too I suppose." A disembodied voice said, Invisibilly showing himself. "I may not want to hang around with you right now" he said to Jackson who gave a frown in response, "but this beats having to run around from everybody else, including my girlfriend." He said, shrugging.

"Then let's get going. The sooner we can figure this out, the better." Sirena said, appearing to bounce as she floated in her anxiousness. Heath eased Jackson up and let him lean on him so they could walk, Abbey coming to stand on the other side of Jackson. "Why is it you are always getting hurt?" the yeti asked Jackson, earning a laugh from Heath and a perturbed expression from Jackson. She giggled and let the rhetorical question drop as the group split up. Heath handed one of the remaining smoke bombs to Clawd for some sort of protection, keeping the remaining two. Clawdeen shot a glance over her shoulder as she and her brother descended the staircase, hoping that they could end this without any more injuries.

---

Clawd and Clawdeen made their way downstairs warily, not entirely sure what they should be expecting form the other students. Occasionally they would growl and snarl at each other to attempt to fit in with the other feral students that had been watching them at what they perceived as the abnormal behavior.

"We aren't getting anywhere with this plan." Clawdeen griped as they went down another hallway. "Nobody's reflection is different from what we can see." She said, looking into her mirror shard again as though hoping what they were looking for might suddenly show up. Clawd fiddled around with the smoke bomb Heath had given him, earning a genuine growl of irritation from his sister. "You're gonna drop it or set it off Clawd." She warned, but her brother just shrugged and pocketed it for the sake of pleasing his sister. Walking a little longer and peeking around a wall like the others had suggested, they could see that it looked like there were a bunch of students just standing around in the hallway.

"Uh oh." Clawd whispered. "It doesn't look like we can go down this way." He said, but his sister continued to look into her mirror to watch the students. Shaking her shoulder to get her attention, she pulled away from her spying position to talk with her brother.

"I think we found Deuce." She said. "None of those students are moving – at all. Even the zombies shift around a little as they stand. You saw that yourself as we passed the main entrance…" she explained, shuddering at the sight that they had made, even if they weren't interested in snacking on werewolves. Clawd took another look before stepping out into the hallway to approach the nearest student, finding that this girl had indeed been turned to stone. Clawdeen walked over to him and put a finger to her lips to keep him quiet. Thinking quickly, she turned him and herself around so that they were walking backwards to look in the mirror as they went. By catching a glimpse of him this way, they hoped to avoid getting turned to stone too.

"What's in this hallway? Any place he might like to hide out in?" Clawd asked his sister. She briefly looked around and realized that this was the hall with classrooms for Home Ick classes. It figured, since the hall was warmer than the rest. "Deuce must be in one of the Home Ick rooms and has turned on the ovens to heat things up to make it more comfortable for him." She said to him as they cautiously walked through the hallway. The two had learned how much gorgons preferred hotter climates the first time Clawd had gone over and came back looking like he'd spend the evening in the pool rather than in Deuce's basement. But that little detail about their friend, plus the garden of statues out in the hall, clued them in that Deuce had to be in one of those classrooms.

"Okay. Then we'll go slow and try to see if he's still him. But this double creature isn't supposed to be able to actually take on the characteristics of anybody other than the witch-girl, right?" Clawd asked, not having had things explained to him in detail like Abbey had done for Clawdeen. His sister nodded as they kept walking. "So then should we try to wake him up or leave him alone once we find out he's not this thing?" she asked, unsure of what they were really planning on doing. Clawd opened his mouth to answer but paused as he adjusted how he was holding his mirror shard, shooting a look over at his sister who did the same. They could clearly see Deuce moving around in one of the classrooms, glasses off, but definitely him inside. They started to back away slowly from the room, periodically checking to make sure that Deuce hadn't picked up on them. While checking her shard as they neared the exit of the hallway, Clawdeen bumped into one of the statues. Expecting for it to possibly wobble and alert Deuce, she made to right it but the statue moved and grabbed onto her arms.

"Trespasser!" Rochelle said, struggling with Clawdeen to get her to leave what she had apparently decided was her hall to guard. Clawd tried to come to his sister's aid, but trying to hit the gargoyle would have been the same as punching an unmovable stone. He considered using the smoke bomb but Deuce entered into the hallway as the two girls struggled, Clawdeen clearly the one being quickly overpowered by the strength and overprotective nature of gargoyles. Clawd breathed heavily as he panicked at the situation, unsure of whether or not to wake up Rochelle or Deuce.

"She's already made of…stone…Clawd." Clawdeen managed to shout to her brother, hoping he would understand what she was getting at. Luckily, he picked up on her train of thought that if he woke Deuce up to turn Rochelle to stone, she wouldn't be any different. He made his decision, looking into the mirror shard to see Deuce looking agitated, his snaked twisting and hissing menacingly as Deuce weaved around his collection of statues to get to them. Clawd ran the fuse over the wall to try and get it to ignite like the last one did, attempting to create enough sparks to do so. Clawdeen started to make gasping sounds as Rochelle's hands moved toward her throat to strangle her and Clawd worked quicker. Deuce was practically on top of them now, and Clawd made a split-second decision. Seeing that the fuse had caught, he shut his eyes and grabbed onto Deuce's jacket to fling them both over to where the girls were fighting, dropping the smoke bomb to the floor beneath them. He held his breath as he hoped his plan would work – that there would be enough smoke to wake them both up.

"Sacrebleu! Oh Clawdeen!" Rochelle's voice was heard, but Clawd kept his eyes closed as his sister coughed. He released his hold on Deuce to pull his sister to him, mumbling for her to keep her eyes closed. She continued to cough but her head nodding beneath his chin let him know that she heard him.

"Deuce!" They hear Rochelle exclaim, feeling her move past them to either protect the two of them from Deuce or to help him back up. Clawd shifted his hold on his sister, trying to cover her with more of himself and move them toward the wall so they could stand up.

"Dudes!" they heard Deuce say, sounding more confused than ever. "What did I do? What's going on?" their friend asked, causing both werewolves to let out a sigh of relief although they still kept their eyes closed.

"We'll explain after you put your glasses back on." Clawd said, comfortingly rubbing his sister's shoulders. "Rochelle? Can you help us up?" he asked, turning his head in the direction he thought she might have gone.

"Oui. Of course." The gargoyle said, moving to help get her friends back on her feet. "I am so sorry Clawdeen. I don't know what came over me to attack you like that!" she said, her accent heavy. As soon as they were upright, Rochelle hesitant to assist Clawdeen anymore for fear of having the werewolf brush her off, Deuce let them know that he had found his glasses and it was safe to open their eyes again.

"Dude…really. It's okay." Deuce said, sighing as the brother and sister continued to keep their eyes closed in their caution. "Please trust me." He said, sounding glum at having his friends uneasy around him. His mother had often told him about how that sort of thing could happen as it did for her over the years, but he had hoped that Monster High would be able to remedy that sort of thing for him. His sad mood must have been more obvious than the tough persona he usually had, and Clawd slowly cracked open his eyes. He sighed as he saw that Deuce had his glasses on and tried to convince Clawdeen to do the same.

"Come on sis, it's okay. They're back to being themselves again." He said, but Clawdeen shook her head and buried herself in her brother's chest. While certainly tough on her own, having a friend attack her had rattled her more than she cared to admit. "Really Clawdeen. I'm not lying to you." Clawd said again, rubbing her back. Clawdeen sighed and tentatively peeked out to see Deuce standing there with his glasses on and a small, sheepish smile. Rochelle was also closer than she had thought and she involuntarily flinched in surprise.

"Oh. I understand…I do" Rochelle said, sounding disheartened at Clawdeen's reaction. "I will keep my distance. Don't worry." She said, backing a few steps away.

"No…you just startled me. I didn't expect you to be so close. It's okay Rochelle." Clawdeen said, pulling out of her brother's hold to walk over to the gargoyle. She gave her a small smile before giving her a small hug to let Rochelle know that everything was okay between them. Rochelle returned it gently, smiling at her friend's forgiving nature toward her.

"Okay dude. Explain please" Deuce said to Clawd. The werewolf sighed but his sister stepped in to provide all the details as they walked out of the hallway, Deuce apologizing as they went to the various stoned students.

"So once we find this, whatever it is, then Gigi can get us all back to normal?" Deuce asked hopefully. Looking around at the messes that had been created, he felt that the barrier was actually worthwhile this time. If any monster had gotten outside while under this curse, relations between the normies and monsters might have been set back severely, despite Frankie's hard work at reconciling differences locally that one Halloween.

Clawd and Clawdeen nodded, tensing as Manny ran past them, luckily not stopping his stampeding to pay attention to them. Deuce and Clawd had pressed themselves to the wall as did Clawdeen and Rochelle, the gargoyle using herself as a shield for her friend. Once Manny was well away from them, they continued on their way back to their friends.

"Oh man!" Clawd said, looking at his watch. "We're going to be late meeting up with the others." He said, indicating for them all to pick up the pace a little more while they continued to keep checking on any students that they passed.

"So who else exactly is still sane?" Rochelle asked curiously. Clawdeen told her how they had woken up and found Heath, Abbey, Sirena and Jackson. "And Invisibilly was supposed to also be here with us but it seemed like he bailed again." She huffed.

"No I didn't" his voice said, making everyone jump as he turned visible. "But we got split up and I found Deuce and…" he started to say, starting to turn invisible again as he spoke.

"No dude…I'm pretty sure you didn't" Deuce said, looking at him as though Invisibilly was out of his mind. Invisibilly rolled his eyes. "Exactly…so if there are two of you…" he trailed off to let the others catch on to what he was saying.

Clawdeen gasped, her eyes widening as she realized what he said. "You found the double! It's disguising itself as Deuce!" she said. "Wow. That actually was very clever for that witch – no one wants to look at him." She said.

"Hey!" Deuce said, offended by what she said. Clawdeen huffed and crossed her arms. "You know what I mean. If the others are convinced you're going to turn them to stone if they look at you, then nobody's gonna want to risk checking out anything they think is odd about you." She said, Deuce and Clawd nodding along as they comprehended what she said.

"So then, now that we know who it is, then we can take care of it and get out of here." Rochelle said happily. "We must tell the others quickly."

The five of them began to head back to where they said they were going to meet their friends, deciding to take the route with the main staircase to try and return quicker to keep their friends from worrying. Clawd turned to talk with Invisibilly. "You saw him on this floor, right?" he asked. "You didn't happen to see any of our friends did you."

Invisibilly nodded as he thought back on what he'd been able to spy on. "That thing was definitely still on this floor, but it may have been heading upstairs…I stopped following it to go find you. And I saw Cleo building some sort of shrine out of the lockers at the top of the main staircase…so maybe we should take another way up. Who knows what ancient spells she's got going on…" he said, shuddering at the thought.

"Well we have to get to the others as soon as possible to let them know. Especially for Jackson." Clawd said, getting Deuce's and Rochelle's attention.

"What's up with Jackson?" Deuce asked, worried about what his friend may have gotten up to if he was under this curse to, particularly with his other half being loose. Clawd sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Holt did a lot of damage to both other students and to himself. Jackson's dealing with that and being hunted by pretty much every other kind of monster when he's his more normie self." Clawd said, Deuce and Rochelle not having much to say to that.

"Then let's hope that they didn't have as much excitement as we did." Clawdeen said, following her brother and Deuce to continue on their way to their friends.

---

"Holy smokes!" Heath yelled, diving out of the way of the venom that was flung at him from one of the menehune students that had gotten busy crafting all sorts of lethal devices. They had come across a bunch of them and had thought they may be more of those tiki monsters that the girls had come across on their Scaribbean vacation, hoping that they would be able to quietly move past them as they moved around. But when Sirena's curiosity got the better of her and they were spotted, they quickly realized that these monsters were not pleased to have others spot them while they were tinkering.

"Jackson where are you?" Sirena shouted out, looking around for their friend, Abbey freezing as many of the menehune as she possibly could while avoiding getting hit and keeping up a cover for her boyfriend. Sirena floated around above them, taking things out of their hands and tossing them aside before they could trigger them or toss them at the others. Once Abbey had successfully frozen all of them, Heath got back up and calmed his flame which he had tried to keep from hitting the other students with as he knew that Abbey's freezing wouldn't do as much damage as his fire would leave behind. "Jackson!" Heath called out, looking around.

"I told him to run this way and I cover him." Abbey said, pointing in the direction of the main staircase. "He can't have gotten too far on only one foot." She said, hoping that nothing else had caught up with him. The three of them raced down the hallway to catch up with Jackson who was leaning up against the wall. He made frantic gestures to keep them quiet and pointing over to the end of the hall. Cleo had set up an elaborate Egyptian shrine, with idols and amulets placed everywhere, kneeling and bowing before it. It seemed she had also taken the supply of bandages that she usually kept well stocked in her locker and wrapped more of herself up in them, chanting as she continued to bow.

"You three okay?" Jackson whispered, receiving nods from his friends. "Great. Then let's get out of here before she sees us. Her eyes are glowing and I don't want to find out what she's capable of right now." He said, grabbing onto Heath to limp back out of the hall. But they made enough noise against the lockers as one of the locks banged against the metal. Cleo whipped around and started to walk towards them, not very fast but able to block all of Abbey's attempts to just freeze her to the spot as she lumbered toward them without pause in her stride. Heath tried at this point just dragging Jackson away with Sirena's help, concerned for his girlfriend but knowing that if he flamed up then Cleo's bandages would burn her up in a matter of minutes. As Abbey tried to distract Cleo, able to match her in strength, another body smacked into Heath and caused him and Sirena to drop Jackson onto the floor.

"Oomf! What…" Heath said as he wrestled the other student off of him. "Draculaura! Aw man…" he said, attempting to keep her from attacking him further, taking out the weapon Holt had made to act as a barrier between Draculaura and his neck as he held the blunt end. Sirena helped Jackson up to get him at least away from their homicidal friends so she could get back to them. With Jackson upright, she left to help get Draculaura off of Heath who was now rolling on the ground as she snapped her jaws at him. Jackson shuffled away, but it wasn't quick enough as Abbey went sailing into Heath, Draculaura and Sirena with a hard shove from Cleo. Losing his footing and slipping back onto the floor, he tried to get to the staircase to get behind Cleo, but the mummy picked him up, her bandages seemingly having a mind of their own as they started to wrap around Jackson as she held him tightly. Her strength was crushing him and the bandages were getting tighter over his mouth and nose.

Jackson heard Heath shouting to him, and Jackson tried to get a little flame going to try and startle her into dropping him. A small flame from his hand caught on one of her bandages, releasing their hold over his mouth and allowing him to breathe again. Cleo groaned and tossed the burning mass of wrappings to the side as she dropped Jackson. Coughing as he crawled away, he could hear another monster's moan coming from the stairs. Turning he saw Frankie at the top step only a few feet away from him, swatting at the fire in fear and anger. "Agh…fire bad!" she growled spotting Jackson and shambling over to him before he could do anything to get away. She lifted him up with both hands fisted onto his jacket, growling at him as though he had tried to attack her. "Not friend." She said in a halting speech pattern before tossing him back towards the stairs. He bounced down the first section of stairs, lying in a heap on the divided area before the next flight of stairs.

Trying to catch his breath from the pain radiating from his ankle and the plethora of bruises forming on him, he scrambled to maneuver himself to fend off any more attacks, especially as the zombies by the doorway seemed way too close for comfort for him now, he braced himself and shut his eyes as he caught a glimpse of Deuce coming up the stairs. Waiting a moment, he chanced a look into his mirror shard as he sensed the gorgon passing him and heading up the stairs, momentarily delaying Frankie's advance on him. But when he looked in the mirror, he saw a normie girl with blond hair walking up the stairs and past Frankie. "Heath that's the double!" he shouted, hoping to get his cousin's attention.

The elemental boy shoved his way past his attacker, which was now Cleo since Jackson was no longer an option for her. He grabbed at the knife and tried to head back over to the stairs, but was stopped as Sirena was pushed into him, dropping the knife that slid through the slits in the railing and fell to the first floor. Instead, he opted to blast fireballs at the fake Deuce, causing the double to stumble back on the stairs and bounce down again much like Jackson had done. The large flames that passed by angered Frankie again to the point of overcoming her hesitance and surging forward, pushing the fake Deuce over the stair's railing and turning her attention back to Jackson. Jackson noticed this and scrambled to get back onto his feet even if he couldn't do much at that point anyway. Bracing himself by holding onto the railing, he tried to reason with her.

"Frankie. Please, just listen to me. I am your friend. We're all friends." He said softly, holding a hand up to motion for her to stop. "Frankie…please." He said, encouraged when she paused in her stalking of him. He swallowed, looking past her to see Heath struggling with Cleo and Sirena and Abbey attempting to keep Draculaura at bay as she seemed to want to go down the stairs now too. He had no doubt as to why she might have shifted her focus either, the look in her eyes as she looked at him calling for blood.

"Frankie. Trust me, okay. I am your friend…I love you Frankie." He said, hoping that the look on her face as she tried to think through what she was being told would lead to her becoming herself again. "L-love?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Jackson smiled, hopping a little closer to her. "Yes Frankie. I do. And you've told me that you love me too. So just calm down, okay? It'll be okay." He said, reaching out for her hand.

Draculaura chose that moment to let out a loud snarl as she succeeded in throwing off Abbey and Sirena, leaping to attack Jackson. But Clawd and the others ran into the main entrance area down below, calling out to their friends and getting the vampire's attention away from Jackson. Draculaura gave a creepy smile as she drew herself into a more elegant-looking position to lean over the railing. "Clawd, my love. Come to me and we can have all this together…" she said, her eyes appearing to become more purple as she spoke to him. Clawd seemed to become entranced and began to walk toward her as Frankie began to moan again from being pushed and startled by Draculaura as the vampire slowly walked down the stairs to get to her boyfriend.

The fake Deuce was beginning to right itself, its movements still stiff and disjointed as it put itself back together again. Frankie grabbed onto the nearest thing to take out her fear and anger on, which turned out to be Jackson, her electrical charges sparking from all over it seemed and not just her bolts. Jackson gave out a cry as she electrocuted him, her face twisted in a menacing look that looked so out of place on her. Heath and Abbey shoved Cleo back into her makeshift shrine, shutting the locker door on her, the banging from her fists loudly resounding amid the fight.

"No Clawd!" Clawdeen shouted, at first attempting to hold her brother back by his jacket but after getting dragged by his strength, she switched over to biting his ear. He gave a yelp and Draculaura growled as she frowned at her foiled plan. Rochelle looked around as the zombies became more agitated, pulling on Deuce's sleeve to get his attention so he could petrify the ones that had started to get too close while she fought off the ones he missed.

"Jackson!" Sirena shouted, attempting to get Frankie to stop what was doing damage to them both. Out of breath, Heath and Abbey ran over to the staircase to see Frankie repeatedly shoving Jackson against the railing while shooting him jolts from her bolts. Looking at his other friends, he spotted that the fake Deuce was getting away while his actual friend was dealing with the zombie hordes.

"Invisibilly! Invisibilly are you still here man? Grab that knife and kill that thing!" he shouted out, pointing to where he saw the fallen knife and hoping that their friend hadn't left them. He and Abbey made to go assist Jackson but the locker door that had been holding Cleo captive was blown aside by her strength, bashing into Abbey and knocking her out. Heath pulled her out from underneath the metal piece and checked his girlfriend to make sure she was just unconscious before flaming up his hand and tossing fireballs near enough to Cleo to keep her from getting too close. "Come on Invisibilly!" Heath shouted again, watching as the railing's stone collapsed as Frankie resorted to trying to bash his cousin with her powerful fists. They both went over the edge, but Heath could see them suspended in a web most likely made by Wydowna. Frankie struggled to get out of it as their spider monster friend emerged from her spot on the ceiling that they hadn't seen her hiding in as they fought. Her fangs were dripping as she spied potential meals stuck in her web. But what most concerned Heath, still trying to get his girlfriend to wake up, was that Jackson had stopped moving as they fell.

He made a few panicked noises as he shot a few more fireballs toward Cleo, not knowing what else he could do. He tried to spot the knife on the floor again, instead unable to find it over by where Clawd, Clawdeen and Draculaura were having their own battle. Clawd had slumped against the wall in a hypnotized stupor while Clawdeen was wrestling with her best friend. Trying to spot where it might have fallen he noticed the fake Deuce had stopped walking and was just standing in the center of the room. Confused, he kept his attention on the scene below to see the homunculus shift into a normie girl before collapsing onto the floor with the knife in its chest, slowly dissolving into smoke. A huge smile lit up Heath's face as Invisibilly turned visible again, standing over the remains. "Way to go Invisibilly!" Heath shouted, pumping a fist into the air as his friend gave him a weak smile.

But it didn't seem that the curse was lifted immediately as Cleo had advanced on him while he was distracted and had gotten a good grip on him, pulling him away from Abbey. He struggled with her for what felt like to him like eternity before the haze that had seemed to cover the school suddenly lifted and Cleo stopped trying to break his neck. She blinked at him in confusion before immediately letting go and dropping him onto the floor. "Oh my Ra! Heath I'm so sorry!" she said, covering her mouth with her hands and noticing the extra bandages that she began to rip off. Heath coughed a couple of times before racing over to check on Abbey who was groaning as she came back into consciousness. Cleo turned to see another of her friends having trouble and came to help Heath with making Abbey more comfortable. "Hey there baby. You're gonna be okay." Heath said softly to her, giving her a smile as she tried to get back on her feet. "I know…Abbey tough ghoul." She said, earning a laugh from Heath as Cleo looked at her friends with guilt.

Heath gasped. "Jackson! I forgot about him!" he said, rushing over to see him and Frankie still in Wydowna's web, although the spider monster was looking for more helpful now that she was back to normal, assisted by Sirena. She was helping Frankie out of the cocoon that she had managed to get wrapped around her lower legs while Jackson continued to hang limply in the web, his head forward and bangs covering his face. He was no longer in Holt's clothes, back to wearing his yellow shirt with the sweater vest. Heath raced down the stairs as far as he could to get closer to the two of them. The others were also reconciling with each other, Draculaura coming out of the hug she had been giving to Clawdeen to jump into Clawd's arms as the werewolf was rubbing a hand to his face to get over his girlfriend's mind control affects.

The zombies also looked more confused than normal as they slowly moved away from the mob that they had formed to head in different directions, Ghoulia walking over to Clawdeen and Draculaura. Rochelle and Deuce were also apologizing to the zombies that they had either turned to stone or pummeled in the fight. Cleo helped Abbey down the stairs, letting her go once she spotted Deuce and latched herself onto him as she started to cry. Invisibilly seemed to find his situation awkward and attempted to just disappear, but Abbey put a hand onto his shoulder. "You save the day. Thank you. Scarah will be very impressed – she was in library when we last check." She said, giving him an opportunity to sneak away and to go find comfort in his girlfriend.

"Jackson?" Frankie asked, still hanging in the web as Wydowna worked to get them down safely by building a couple of other webs for them to fall into like stairs. She reached a hand out to gently shake him, but didn't get a response. She turned to Heath with a grief-stricken look, not able to get closer to him until Wydonwna was done and so couldn't check on him. "Heath I don't think he's okay" she said, tearing up. "What happened to us?" she asked of the elemental.

"You were right Frankie. We should've just listened to you." Heath said regretfully. "That imposter put us under a spell that made us all act as she thought monsters were supposed to act and Gigi had us help her put us back together again." He said as concisely as possible. Frankie still looked like she wanted to ask more questions but Abbey's obvious need for assistance was evident to them both and Heath rushed down to help his dizzy girlfriend. Frankie wanted to ask Sirena for information too, but her concern over the friend she could help won over and she asked her to check on Abbey too. Sirena nodded and shot a look at Jackson. "He put up with a lot today…I'm sure he'll pull through" she said as she floated away, leaving Frankie with her unconscious boyfriend.

"Okay. That should do it. But let me untangle you so you fall the right way." Wydowna said. Frankie snapped her attention back onto their spider friend. "Wait…before you do. Can you check on Jackson? I can't reach." She said. Wydowna nodded and swung over to him, tilting his head up.

"What am I looking for?" she asked, brushing aside his bangs. "Oh, he's all covered in blood." She said, grimacing as some of it got on her hands. But she angled him back so that Frankie could get a better look at him, appearing as though just peacefully sleeping. "Come on Wydowna, you know what I'm asking you to look for." Frankie said, biting her bottom lip in her worry. The spider monster nodded and gently placed her head against Jackson's chest. Her look was enough to get Frankie to start bawling openly, not caring to listen to what Wydowna had told her and breaking the threads that held her in her attempts to get closer to her boyfriend. Amid the chaos of the other students coming to their senses, their friends were able to pick up on Frankie's struggles.

"Frankie stop!" Wydowna shouted, grabbing her arms with several of her own to keep her still. "There's nothing you can do for him now…he wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." She said, trying to reason with the crying girl. Heath got closer and called up to them to see what was going on. "Ladies, he's not…he's not…" he tried to ask but Frankie started sobbing louder in answer to his question. "No…no, he can't be. Get him down!" he shouted to them.

"I'm sorry Heath but I couldn't pick up on any life signs." Wydowna said, returning to her task of freeing her friends from her web, Frankie and Jackson gently falling onto the sequence of webs to roll onto the floor. Frankie immediately shot over to Jackson, aggressively shaking him. "Come on Jackson, wake up! Please wake up!" she sobbed into his chest. "Please…" she whined again, only pulling away when Cleo dragged her aside. "No!" she struggled, but the mummy's hold was firm.

"We can do something to revive him?" Rochelle asked. "Or has it been too long?" she trailed off, but it seemed like she could answer her own question.

"Yes! Yes! I can bring him back! My father knows how to do that – I can bring him back!" she said in her hysterics. Everyone's attention was on her as she struggled to be let go and to get to the basement for what she might need that a low groan was almost missed if not for Clawd and Clawdeen's sensitive hearing. "Back where?" Jackson asked, trying to bring his hand up to his face but not succeeding in more than picking it up off the floor before dropping it back to the floor.

"Jackson!" Heath shouted, causing his cousin to finally open his eyes and look around. "Hey Heath…either we fixed things….or we're both dead." He said in his confusion. Heath laughed and attempted to answer. "Not dead. But you gave it your best effort man. You've gotta be…" he started to say but Frankie flung herself onto her boyfriend, finding the situation eerily reminiscent of that time that involved sleeping potions to fake a death. "Oh Jackson! I thought I'd killed you!" she sobbed on top of him, Heath trying to pry her off of his cousin so he could sit up. Frankie sniffled as she let go and allowed her boyfriend to be helped up and brought over to one of the benches by the wall. The barrier was down now and several students were making their way outside, not bothering to stick around to hear the entire announcement that Headmistress Bloodgood and Gigi were giving to explain what had happened. Waiting for the crowd to pass them by, Jackson leaned his head against Frankie's head as she sat next to him. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder to hug him, finding herself more sympathetic to Heath's predicament from their trip to one of those mysterious triangles. She had thought that Heath must have been especially sensitive to strange occurrences that monsters could fall prey to, but this curse showed her that any one of Jackson's friends could potentially damage him.

"Come on, let's get you to the nurse's office or somethin'" Clawd suggested, attempting to ease Jackson up. He grimaced and couldn't stop the hiss of pain that escaped him from the movement. "No. I just want to wait outside and go home." He said. "My dad can help fix me up or take me to the hospital from there…I just want to get out of here." He said, the others totally understanding why he might feel that way. They helped him sit outside on the lawn up against the tree that Frankie and he had been snuggling under earlier. "You guys don't have to stay with me. Frankie will look out for me, right? Heath?" he asked. Frankie nodded but Heath rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Abbey got a pretty good knock to the head from Cleo. Deuce and I were gonna help her to the nurses' office before she passes out again." He explained, Jackson nodding in understanding. "You should really be there too with your ankle the way it is…but I'll be back soon, I promise." He said, waving as he walked back inside to help his girlfriend, Cleo seen from the doorway doing her best to act like she wasn't feeling as ashamedly guilty as she was. Jackson pulled out his phone to see that it had been fully recharged. "Looks like you solved my dead phone problem." He said to Frankie as she sat beside him while he sent a text to his mother to come pick him up. Frankie nodded but remained silent.

"Come here." Jackson said, gingerly spreading his legs out to provide her room to lean up against him. "It'll make us both feel better." He said, convincing her to sit in front of him. They sat there awkwardly, as she was afraid to touch him again. Jackson sighed and simply closed his eyes as he leaned against the tree, leaving it up to her to decide when she was comfortable enough with herself to cuddle with him again for comfort. He had nearly fallen back asleep again when he felt her lean against his chest, aware of her assuming the same position as before to listen to his heartbeat. She lay that way for only a few moments, shifting a few times before pulling away and slapping Jackson on the face.

"Ow!" He cried out, eyes flying open as he brought a hand to his red cheek. "What did I do to deserve that?!" he cried out, moaning at how sore his whole body felt. Frankie was staring at him with wide eyes. She looked startled and about ready to cry again, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times. She then gently pulled Jackson back up into the position he had been in before she had slapped him, and pressed a hand to his chest, eyes widening. She pressed a little harder but stopped when Jackson winced. "Jackson…." she said worriedly. "Don't close your eyes and don't move." She said, placing her head back on his chest over his heart. Drawing back again, her eyes were wide. "Did Draculaura bite you, or some other monster, or was there some magic attack used on you or was there…." she began to ramble, periodically returning to pressing her head against his chest as she searched him for any other outward marks of injury that she hadn't seen.

"What are you talking about? No, Frankie. Nothing like that happened, but you are hurting me with all this twisting around after having gotten fried." He said, grabbing her hands to stop her movements. "Just tell me what's wrong." He said, his blue eyes looking directly into her heterochromatic ones.

"Jackson…you can't be you anymore…" she said, tearing up again. "Something's happened, just like that girl wanted and if I can't figure it out then you could become like those feral monsters we sometimes hear about that had no thoughts or feelings or…" she started to ramble.

"Are you talking about Holt? Trust me when I say that there are plenty of students who will attest to the fact that he's definitely still here…you don't want to talk to him just yet, do you?" he asked, feeling a little hurt.

"No Jackson!" she yelled at him, getting more agitated by the minute as he struggled to figure out why. "I want to know the reason why when I place my head on your chest I can't hear your heart beating anymore. I can't feel it under my hand. You're chest doesn't feel right." She said to him, prodding his chest. Jackson's eyes widened before he burst out laughing. This seemed to only upset her further. "Oh no! You're changing already. Stop, stop!" she cried, hugging herself to his middle and beginning to cry again.

"No, no Frankie. It's okay." He said but she shook her head against him. "No. it'll never be okay again!" she said in a pathetic tone. Jackson stopped laughing and sighed, reaching his arms around her to pull her upright again. "Frankie. This has a very simple explanation. But you've gotta calm down before you get your polarities all messed up." He said, gently stroking her face. She nodded and pulled away, drying her tears.

"When Heath and I learned that pretty much everybody in the building had it out to get me, I thought I might need some sort of protection. Especially after Sirena used her ghost powers to reach into my chest and give me a heart attack." He said, flinching as he realized he could have left that part out.

"So she's turned you into some ghost-like monster? She killed you?!" Frankie screeched, looking ready to bolt after the mermaid ghost and end her unlife. Jackson shook his head and got her to focus back on him. "No, Frankie…she was just one of several attempts on my life today. But what I was trying to explain to you was that I decided to grab one of the safety vests from the lab Heath and I were hiding in. I'm wearing the vest right now. I'd put it under Holt's clothes when he got covered with the blood from Venus' plant monster that tried to kill him. It must be under my clothes too and that's why you can't hear my heartbeat when you listen for it. I promise you it's there." he said, guiding her hands up to his neck so she could feel his pulse.

"The vest must have insulated me enough to keep you from actually finishing me off. I'm telling you, Frankie, I'm still my dual-natured self." He said, letting go and not all that surprised when her hands remained resting against his pulse. He laughed at her antics. "Just don't press too hard to reassure yourself – I've had enough near strangulations for today." He said, causing her to abruptly move her hands away. Jackson leaned back again, closing his eyes in his exhaustion. "Please don't close your eyes Jackson." Frankie's small voice asked of him. Jackson sighed but did as she asked, despite everything feeling like it would be so much better if he just fell asleep for a while. Frankie snuggled up against him again, still looking disturbed by the fact that the thick vest was blocking her ability to hear and confirm for herself that he was alive.

"Here come the others." Frankie said, getting up to check on Abbey too. The girls sat beside each other as they reconciled with each other again, leaving Heath and Deuce to sit on either side of Jackson. "How're you doin' dude?" Deuce asked. Jackson gave a short laugh before gesturing to his elbow. "I think… this doesn't hurt." He said in his typical sarcastic humor, Heath and Deuce letting out a few laughs.

"Hey, can I ask a favor?" Jackson said to Deuce who shrugged. Taking that as a yes, he continued. "I need to test out something." he said, grabbing one of Deuce's hands and placing it over his heart. "Dude, what are you doing?" Deuce asked, but Jackson held Deuce's hand to his chest. Looking curiously at his best friend, he asked the gorgon, "So…do you feel anything?" Deuce still looked confused, most likely wondering if Jackson's brain had received one too many jolts from Frankie. "No dude, what am I supposed to…oh!" Deuce said before comprehending what his friend was asking. He pressed much harder on his friend's chest. "Ow! Deuce!" Jackson complained, trying to swat his friend's hand off of him, Heath also appearing concerned. "What happened to you? You're still moving and talking but there's nothing beating in there dude" Deuce asked, looking over his friend. "What are you turning into?"

Jackson tried to sigh but the pressure on his chest made it difficult. He tugged on Heath's sleeve to get him to push Deuce off of him. Jackson took a deep breath once Deuce let him, thankful that the girls were too wrapped up in their own conversation to have seen that. "Seriously? You too? Frankie thought the same thing." He said, rubbing at his chest. "Heath can explain." He said, shifting his position to get more comfortable.

"Um…" Heath said. "I was pretty sure no heartbeat equaled dead. And we didn't do anything to jumpstart it, so…" he said, eyeing his cousin warily. Jackson rolled his eyes as his cousin's attention span made itself known.

"I'm wearing that lab vest Heath" Jackson said, giving his cousin a pointed look. Heath paused for a moment before he looked like he'd reached a revelation. "Oh yeah! I'd forgotten about that." He said, Jackson responding with "No kidding".

"Then if you knew, why scare me like that? Not cool dude!" Deuce said, gently shoving him to not actually hurt him. Jackson laughed a little. "It wasn't a prank – okay, maybe it was amusing – but I wanted to know if that really was the case or if Frankie was just overly sensitive or something. Ugh, last thing I need is to pass out in the car on the way home to get woken up by my mother performing CPR on me for the second time today." He grouched, wincing as pain shot through his leg again.

"When did that happen?!" Deuce asked, overwhelmed at how much he'd apparently missed. Heath held up a hand. "That one I can answer. I gave him CPR after Sirena attacked him. He's all good now." Heath said, pausing as he looked over his cousin. "Well, mostly." He said, Jackson rolling his eyes before seeing his mother's car rolling up along the curb. Deuce and Heath let Jackson use them as crutches as his mother opened the passenger door and he got inside. "Bye Frankie!" he shouted over to her, waving as he left to rest up at home and brace himself for the tirade sure to await from both halves of his father.

---

Headmistress Bloodgood managed to get things cleaned up in time for the students to return to school the next day, although it wouldn't be held against any students if they chose to not attend so soon. Most of the student body returned, but several students were skipping that day, including Jackson, Cleo, Clawd and Clawdeen. Draculaura only attended, as she told her friends, in order to provide Clawdeen with details of what was going on with the rest of their friends. The school also still held the marks from the crazy antics as cracked walls, burn marks and strange stains on the floors remained as evidence of what had happened. Headmistress Bloodgood was also still working with the proper authorities to try and track down who the girl really was and in identifying which group with which she may have been affiliated.

But two days later, Frankie was getting concerned when she hadn't heard from her boyfriend much more than some short phone calls. He hadn't come back to school and she was starting to worry along with Heath that Jackson may actually be considering not returning to Monster High. By the third day without Jackson, she had managed to convince the others that they all should visit him at his house after school. But it seemed such an intervention wasn't necessary as Jackson showed up a few hours later, walking in on crutches and a cast on his foot. Walking over to their teacher he handed over a note and slowly took his seat, hopping on his good leg a couple of times as he adjusted himself and his crutches. Frankie gave him a small smile from her seat as Heath patted his cousin on the back once he sat down.

The rest of the day seemed to be much lighter in mood among the friends after Jackson had returned, all of them deciding to eat outside again so they could remain in their large group. Jackson sat at one of the tables, his leg propped up on another chair as they ate and talked, Frankie near his side. Gil and Lagoona were relating their own stories of what they had been up to under the curse when Lagoona's gesturing knocked over one of their friends' drinks. Frankie scrambled with the others to clean up the mess before it drenched their books, lifting up Jackson's and her folders. As she was doing that, a pamphlet fell out and onto the table. Picking it up, she read in disbelief what it was.

"Jackson…what is this?" she asked, the tone in her voice signaling to the others that something was up. Jackson looked over and tried to grab the paper out of her hand. "It's nothing Frankie. Can I have it back?" he asked as she held it away from him. Heath grabbed it and walked away from the table to read it. "That's not fair to do that to an invalid" Jackson protested, trying to stand up with his crutches quickly.

"Jackson. This looks like an orientation pamphlet for another school." his cousin said, hair flaming in his anxiousness. "You said you wouldn't do that." He whined, handing it back to Jackson before he hurt himself.

"It's not a big deal. I'm leaving at the ending of the week to attend…" he started to explain, but the girls' collective gasp cut him off, as did the questioning sounds the guys made. Jackson sighed as he realized that he would have to be patient in trying to get a word in as the girls started talking at once. He motioned with his hands, trying to get them to stop talking so loudly, but Spectra floated over anyway.

"Ooh! What is all the commotion about over here?" she asked, Jackson turning to her. "Nothing!" he emphasized but she spotted the pamphlet that the boys were looking at. "Are you leaving Monster High?" she asked, pulling out her phone. Jackson waved his hands again to get her attention away from her phone before she spread it around the whole school. "No. I'm just…this is nothing Spectra. Everything's fine and boring. Please just let me talk to my friends." He pleaded with her. Spectra shrugged but floated away, Jackson convinced that she was still hiding around to listen in.

"You can't leave Jackson." Frankie begged him, her eyes widened and shining with unshed tears. "This isn't your way of…of suggesting we separate, is it?" she asked, beginning to cry now even though she was in front of all their friends. "I can be a better girlfriend. I didn't mean to do that to you. Please don't go. It's so far away…" she ranted, Jackson speechless at her suggestion before giving her a smile and small laugh.

"Frankie. That's ridiculous. I'm just going at the end of the week to check it out with my father." Jackson began to explain but Frankie shook her head. She didn't seem convinced that Jackson wasn't upset with her or the others from their actions, getting up and sprinting away as Jackson called out to her.

"Dude, are you really transferring out?" Deuce asked. Jackson sighed but tried to explain as quickly as he could. "No. I keep telling you that. I'm going to check it out at the end of the week with my dad because it's his old school and they're having a reunion. Family is invited and so he's actually deciding to go this time. I was only carrying that around because it was the only reading material I had when I spent the night in the hospital." He said, standing and grabbing his crutches.

"I didn't know you were in the hospital." Heath said, wondering how he hadn't heard of that from his parents. "I know. I asked my parents not to bother you with it since Abbey needed some medical attention too. And Frankie didn't know because she would feel guilty. Where'd you think I got the cast?" Jackson asked, adjusting his crutches. "Now I gotta try and catch up with her. This ought to be difficult. Usually it's me assuming she's moved on." He said, limping along at a pace even Ghoulia could beat.

"Why don't you just head back inside to get to last period? We'll go find Frankie and explain things to her." Draculaura suggested as the bell rang. Jackson looked ready to protest, but the guys shuffled him back inside. "She'll visit you after school." Clawdeen shouted over to them as they walked away.

As expected, Jackson didn't see Frankie again during school and returned home with a ride from Deuce rather than taking the bus and having to deal with Manny's jibes. He was happy at the suggestion made by Deuce that he keep him company for a while since Jackson's parents weren't supposed to be home soon. "Man, I'm starving" Jackson said, limping into the kitchen. "You want something too Deuce?" he asked, attempting to balance what he was pulling out of the fridge and pantry to make himself a snack. "Dude, go sit down before you hurt yourself. I can make you something. You know I don't mind." Deuce said, grabbing the things from out of Jackson's hands and shoving him aside playfully. "Frankie's coming over too so imagine what she'd say if I'd let you bust yourself up so more." He teased, getting to work as Jackson shuffled into the living room to sit on the couch.

"Ha ha" he sarcastically laughed. "I'm not the one that did this– that was Holt and Venus." Jackson said, plopping himself down and pulling his backpack closer to him to get his homework done. Deuce laughed at him from the kitchen.

"Yeah. She apologize for that yet?" he asked. Jackson shook his head. "Not exactly. I tried to apologize on behalf of Holt for doing whatever she thought warranted an attack, but she wouldn't accept it from me, saying something about completely ruining her innocent plants. The fact that she's aware of what her 'innocent plants' were going to do even when not cursed - and is still upset about Holt defending himself - I find to be disturbing." He said, earning another chuckle from Deuce as he brought over the snack he'd made for Jackson.

"What's this? I didn't pull any of this stuff out of the fridge, did I?" Jackson asked as he picked up Deuce's masterpiece and inspected it. Deuce rolled his eyes. "Just trust me dude. I know what's poison and what isn't by now, including your distaste for spicy foods." The gorgon said, picking up the remote to turn the television on. Jackson shrugged and bit into what Deuce had made, finishing it up in a few bites. "Thanks Deuce. You know I don't question what you make. I was just curious what you used. The pain pills I've got make me a little forgetful. I panicked earlier when I thought Holt might have taken over when I'd brought the wrong notebooks to class." He said, getting to work on his homework.

"You let him out yet?" Deuce asked, curious to know how the rambunctious side of him that was incapable of being still would respond to a broken ankle. Jackson laughed a little before answering. "Yeah, he's been out and about. That's why there's a thicker cast to keep him from busting it up more. This way if he does manage to stop by, he doesn't do anything too stupid without at least alerting somebody nearby." Jackson said, rubbing his face with his hand and yawning.

"But what about you guys? I haven't talked to Heath about Abbey, but she seemed okay at school." Jackson said, yawning again. Deuce nodded, getting up as a knock was heard at the door. He opened it and Frankie stood on the doorstep with Heath, Cleo, Abbey and Sirena.

"Whoa! There's no party here. I don't think – Holt didn't set something up without leaving me a note, did he?" Jackson asked, sitting up straighter as his living room filled up with surprise guests. "I thought just you were stopping by to talk?" he asked of Frankie, gently moving his leg off the couch to make room for everybody. But Frankie stopped him from doing that. "Don't make yourself uncomfortable for us Jackson." Sirena said, lying on the floor next to the couch on her stomach, fin up in the air. Cleo squeezed herself next to Deuce on his chair, hanging on him as Heath and Abbey took the remaining seats available by the smaller two-person sized couch. Despite what Sirena said, Jackson shifted a little so that Frankie could have a seat.

"Did the girls tell you what I told them?" Jackson asked, Frankie giving a short nod. "I know it always seems like one of the three of us is making things rocky at times, but we can work it out." Jackson said, holding onto one of Frankie's hands. "I'd have preferred to have talked to you more privately, but these guys know that I really am trying to make things work for you Frankie."

"I know Jackson. I just…I just worry all the time – about everything it seems." Frankie said. "But I want you to know that I really am sorry for what happened. Please don't even think of going away." She said, leaning in to give him a hug. "I don't plan on it Frankie. I'm tougher than I look." He said, smiling at her.

"Not true. Abbey sees you as breakable and foot is…hey!" she said to her boyfriend who had elbowed her in the side. "I am helping to correct him. Not good if he doesn't know his limitations." She said, crossing her arms and leaning back into the seat as Heath wrapped an arm around her.

Jackson sighed and stood up. "Switch sides with me." He said to Frankie, who shifted around as he asked. Jackson sat back down and propped his foot up on the coffee table instead of the couch, allowing Frankie to recline on him as they watched the television. She smiled and snuggled into him, mindful not to hit his leg to avoid knocking it off the table. The others could tell why he had done that, but remained silent as Frankie and Jackson got comfortable, aside from the comments from Sirena now and then.

Frankie giggled at their friend's lighthearted tone before quieting again and listening to the steady heartbeat of her boyfriend. A few minutes in, she noticed a change and saw that he had fallen asleep watching the show. Deuce also looked to be disinterested in the show, but distracted enough by Cleo to stay awake while Heath and Abbey didn't look like they had been paying too much attention to it either. She smiled again, comforted by the sound and the reassurances that while they were aware of each other's darker potential, they could be better monsters if they chose to keep their minds open to listen and look out for each other.