Power.
She had it. Finally.
Years upon years of jealously toward her sister over. She got what she wanted. They both did.
But power didn't stop the loneliness. It crept upon her slowly yet more overbearing each day. And when she spent hours tucked in a corner crying, Whisp realized why she was created in the first place.
Then, like fate, the lamp trembled, and she was overjoyed to burst out and say, "Hello, Finder."
His bright red eyes had grown wide at the sight of her. His name was Kieran Valentine, and they would soon become the best of friends. Even when his wishes were completed, they kept in touch through their iCoffins.
Whisp would never be lonely again.
She was mid-conversation with her vampire friend when the next Finder came along. This time, it was Whisp's turn to be stunned. The ghoul was intimidatingly gorgeous. The genie didn't get a chance to greet her new master before the ghoul began spewing out wishes. Whisp had complied, knowing there was no chance she'd ever be friends with this ghoul. She was never more eager to get thirteen wishes over with.
Down to the last three, the Finder stunned Whisp with her next wishes. She didn't wish for shoes or clothes or other minuscule and vapid things. No. For her last few wishes, Nefera de Nile wanted more. When Whisp was led into a vast room filled with ancient Egyptian idols, charms, and amulets, she knew she was in for trouble.
And there was nothing she could do to get out of it.
I woke up with a start and abruptly sat up, thoughts flooding my mind along with an inexplicable, yet reminiscent pain. Why did I, Frankie Stein, have a dream about Whisp? It was so bizarre... Were those memories? I didn't understand why I was getting memories when I already knew who I was.
I held my hands to my face. Maybe Whisp was trying to tell me something. But how? No one had mentioned her. I'm sure Iris would've told me if they had a genie on their side, or even on the Queen's. So if Whisp wasn't around then... I dropped my head back in frustration. Was she communicating with me from... the grave?
Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but it was still a lot to take in. As if yesterday wasn't enough. As much as I wanted to push these thoughts aside, I couldn't—especially with a headache settling in. Alone in the now dark den, I reassessed the dream. Whisp was discovered by Nefera, so she likely used Whisp to create what we have today using wishes with charms, idols, and amulets. Genie magic could do a lot of things, but not without some extra power.
But if I remember anything from Cleo, it's that they come with curses. How did Whisp make sure Nefera wasn't cursed? Eternal slumber, amnesia—
"The body swap!" I exclaimed in the dark.
The Queen told me Cleo was in an eternal slumber and that I got hit with the amnesia curse. I'm in Cleo's body, Nefera is in mine, and Cleo is in... Nefera's. I gulped.
Cleo was trapped in Nefera's body and cursed into an eternal slumber.
The thought sent chills up my spine. Whisp must've used her genie powers to make Nefera swap bodies with us so we would be affected instead of her... I understand why Cleo was involved, her being Nefera's sister, but me? How did I get involved?
Oh, who am I kidding? I get involved in just about everything.
I remembered so much of my unlife, why didn't I remember what happened the moments before I got cursed and placed in Cleo's body? I brought my hands to the side of my aching head, clenching my hair in my fists—all of which didn't belong to me. The last thing I remembered was being at Monster High...
I dropped my hands, completely vexed. I didn't recall anything past that. I didn't want to think about this anymore. A wave of relief washed over me as my headache dissipated. I looked around, thankful yet anxious that I was alone in a room full of abandoned blankets. I slipped out of my blanket and walked out the front door.
A light shone on the opposite edge of the house, and I made my way towards it. The ghouls sat on the dirt around a bright lantern as if it was a campfire.
I approached the lantern, where the seven ghouls listened intently to an eighth figure. "I am going to miss home, but I feel like I should do something here first." I peered past the light and saw... Viperine Gorgon.
A smile spread across my face. I remembered her walking around school with Elissabat. Abbey, Lagoona, Venus, Rochelle, the werecat twins, and Iris were all seated by her.
"Hey, Cleo!" Lagoona called out to me from her spot on the ground. "Come sit with us, love." She and Venus scooted apart and I sat between them. I doubted the real Cleo would be okay with getting dirt on her dress. I was suddenly grateful to have amnesia as an excuse.
The night surrounded us at all sides, pitch black all except the small lantern before us, casting shadows for the ghouls, light radiating on their faces from the flame. Looking up, the moon gleamed dimly, dark clouds covering up most of the stars. The dirt beneath me was dry and soft, but drawn like someone had come across it often. The winter air pricked at my skin, but the lantern's light was enough to keep me warm.
Viperine's platinum hair was straighter than when I last saw her and her clothing style changed. I was sure she wasn't wearing pants the last time I saw her. Her top was frilly and appeared to be light pink, like something she wore before. Viperine continued about why she wanted to join the rebels, the snakes in her hair hissing softly every now and then. Her reasons made my heart swell; they were fairly noble.
While she talked, a thought occurred to me. I spoke up at the soonest silence. "Hey, ghouls." Each one of them turned to face me, and I felt a little uncomfortable at the sudden attention. I started timidly, "I hope you don't mind me asking but..." I glanced at the others and took a deep breath before I spoke again. "What happened to our parents?"
At that, the ghouls avoided my gaze, deathly silent.
"And the teachers?" I asked again. "Headmistress Bloodgood, Mr. Rotter, Mr. Hack..." I trailed off, fearing I stepped over the line.
Abbey was the one who broke the silence. "Do not know," she said quietly, avoiding my gaze as she spoke. I didn't know what to make of that, so I cast a hopeful glance at Lagoona for further explanation; she immediately spoke up.
"We really don't know," she said from beside me. "It could've been the Queen or some other phenomenon but," she sighed, "we really don't know." She gave me a sympathetic look, and I brought my knees to my chest.
Meowlody interjected, "It's like all the legendary monsters—"
"And the original," Purrsephone cut in beside her.
"And senior monsters just—"
"Vanished," the twins said in unison.
"It all happened before the city was built so," Venus said on my right, "it could be the Queen."
The others didn't say anything, Viperine looked down and Abbey practically radiated with unease.
Lagoona put her hand on my back. "Sorry, love." It got quiet again, and I felt guilty for causing so much tension.
"Well, now, what's this?"
We jumped at the new voice. A figure approached where we sat, the light illuminating her face. I couldn't stop another smile from forming.
"Operetta?" Lagoona said seated next to me. "I thought you weren't a joiner." Her tone was serious, but the smile on her face said otherwise.
Operetta shrugged. "Got curious."
Lagoona laughed. "It's like SKRM all over again." She got up and hugged Operetta, whose style hadn't changed, but she looked a little older. Two other figures came behind her: Honey Swamp and Johnny Spirit, both not looking much different than they did when I last saw them. Johnny especially, being a ghost.
"Honey!" Viperine leaped from the ground and rushed over to embrace the swamp monster. "I didn't know you were coming, too." The two pulled apart and the Gorgon led her to where she had sat at the campfire and the two began to talk excitedly to one another.
Operetta pulled back from her embrace with Lagoona. "Hope you don't mind but," she looked over at Johnny, "I brought a date." I almost squealed. It was good to see these two still in a relationship. Johnny glared at her while Operetta snickered. My excitement faded. Maybe they weren't together.
"Oh, of corpse not. That's fintastic! The more the merrier," Lagoona assured them.
"But not too much more," Purrsephone commented.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to crowd the den," Meowlody said beside her.
"We can fit about eight monsters in there if some sleep on the floor," Rochelle informed us.
"But what about boy?" Abbey pointed out. Everyone turned to look at Johnny, his glowing ghost body looking awkwardly pale.
Operetta burst out laughing. "As bad as ghost boy here claims to be," she teased, "he would never..." She took a breath to halt her laughter. "Johnny would never try to hurt anyone of y'all," she assured us, her face stony serious. Johnny seemed to relax at her words. I grinned. Couple or not, these two were great together.
Rochelle stood. "I suggest that Venus, Lagoona, Abbey, Cleo, and Iris sleep in the den." She looked over at the twins. "As will you two." The werecat sisters hissed under their breath but didn't object. "Our newest recruits can sleep upstairs."
The others nodded, and Lagoona led Operetta, Honey, and Johnny to the house, Viperine getting up to follow after them. "Viperine," Rochelle called; the Gorgon stopped in her tracks, "would you like to fill up the den or be upstairs?"
"I already have my things upstairs so upstairs, por favor," she told her. Rochelle nodded and Viperine followed after the others, Operetta and Honey noisily dragging their suitcases behind them.
"What about you, Rochelle?" Venus asked.
"I am keeping watch," she stated.
"But—"
"We are close to the city; I wouldn't want to risk our safety," Rochelle looked determined.
Venus looked down as if she was debating the ghoul's decision. Then she looked back up at Rochelle and nodded firmly.
Rochelle smiled softly. "I will sleep at the base, bien?"
Venus nodded.
"You must be hungry, huh, Cleo?" I turned my head to face Iris.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked.
"A couple hours longer than the others," she told me, "which was when we ate dinner."
I wasn't too hungry, but we skipped breakfast so I thought it best that I ate. I nodded and Iris got up and scurried out into the dimness toward the side of the house—probably the garage. She returned with another one of those cans I had earlier and a plastic fork. I graciously accepted it.
"You're probably not tired, though, are you?" she asked.
I swallowed a bite and giggled. "No. I just woke up." I knew that Cleo would say that with a glare or an eye roll like the question was unnecessary.
Frankie Stein's mannerisms being portrayed through Cleo de Nile... Will I ever get used to the thought? It was hard enough responding to her name, how much longer would I be stuck like this? My mouth grew dry with my next serving.
Was this my unlife now?
-.-.-.-
After staying up a few more hours into the night, we all got into our rooms for the night and I was once again snuggled beneath my blanket on the recliner. The den promptly filled will snoring and soft breathing, me being the only one left awake. In the den, that is.
I overheard the monsters in the room above us, Honey and Viperine chatting away while Johnny and Operetta sometimes seemed to be arguing one second and then laughing the next. Then all their voices would collide and there'd be squeals and laughter. I tried falling asleep but the noises around me didn't help.
At one point, they got a bit too loud and Rochelle marched into the house and scolded them. They got quiet instantly and I heard Rochelle say "Bonne nuit," which either meant "good night" or "speak again and you die"—I couldn't tell by her tone.
I exhaled deeply, closing my eyes. My mind racked with thoughts of the dream I had, and I didn't think I'd fall asleep, yet it hit me like a hard wave.
-.-.-.-
"Come on, Cleo!" a voice hissed.
"Yeah hurry up and eat, we're leaving."
I opened my eyes to see the werecat sisters glaring down at me. The front door of the house was open, and light threatened to stream through the windows' dark drapes. Morning already?
Meowlody sighed. "Finally, you're awake."
Purrsephone handed me an opened can and a fork, and I reached out of my blanket to grab them. "Eat this and we can go," she told me.
"Go where?" I asked groggily.
Meowlody sighed in frustration and Purrsephone smiled meekly, quietly apologizing for her sister's behavior. "The camp."
At that, I rapidly stuffed food in my mouth. The twins waited as I ate. The rebel camp?
This was going to be exciting.