The next morning, Kenny had woken up to find Brooke laying halfway on top of him. He was on his back with his right arm around her, and she was still asleep with her arms wrapped around him, head on his chest, and one leg between his two. His breath caught in his chest. How did they end up like this? It was a little exciting, but he would have enjoyed it a lot more if the need to use the bathroom hadn't suddenly hit him after his bladder realized that he was awake. Maybe he could hold it… He really didn't want to wake her up, especially with her clinging to him like this.

It was probably about another hour or so before Brooke woke up. She grunted and rubbed at her eyes, suddenly becoming aware of the position they were in. "Uh…good morning?"

"Mm. Morning," he squeaked out. "I, uh…I gotta go pee really bad."

"Well, why didn't you just go already?" She moved off of him.

He wasn't about to explain to her how much he had been enjoying her on top of him. He quickly jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to the bathroom down the hall.

"We still have an hour and a half before we have to go catch the bus," Brooke said when he returned. She laid back down and turned on her side to face the other way.

He went around and climbed back under the covers with her, laying in front of her and turning to face her. He was wide awake now, but she still looked pretty sleepy. She closed her eyes, and he watched her for a minute before edging closer to her. She opened her eyes again and smiled.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know," he replied. They were mere inches apart now. He held his breath as she moved closer too then raised her hand up to slowly stroke his face. He hummed, enjoying her touch and the slight erotic feeling it gave him, then closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh.

Why did he keep doing this? It was almost like he was torturing himself. Despite how desperately he wanted, there was no way they could actually be together. …Right? She was a real Princess AND the daughter of two powerful, super-important and worshiped beings. Her mother was basically a god…and he was, well, the things Cassidy said to him upset him only because he felt they were true. But then…if this was wrong, why did it not feel wrong? Each day, each second that passed, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to keep these thoughts and feelings to himself.

Getting up for school today was even more regrettable than usual. On the plus side, through-out pretty much the whole day, Brooke stuck very close by his side. Unfortunately, it wouldn't last like he wanted, since after school she had to leave with Lucy to go to yet another Council meeting. He had asked her if they usually held meetings so often, to which she told him that it was unusual but some things had come up that needed to be addressed. He wondered what those things were, but he didn't get the chance to ask before she had to go.

"Karen," Kenny said as he entered his house. His little sister was sitting on the old couch and watching TV. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know," she replied. "They left yesterday afternoon and I haven't seen them since."

He sighed. "Ugh, great." Probably passed out drunk somewhere around town. He needed one of them to sign something for school, and Mr. Mackey was no longer so easily fooled by forgery like before.

And so, Kenny (angrily) set out on his quest around town to find his parents after telling Karen to stay inside and not to open the door for strangers.

"Okay, bye," she called after him. She sighed after the door closed. "My brother's always so busy… I wish I had friends to play with when he's not around."

"We'll be your friends," a voice said from somewhere.

"Yeah! We'll play with you, too!" Another added.

She glanced around at the empty living room. "Hello? Who's there?"

"We are!" Two large, frightening skeleton creatures magically burst out from the floor. "Heeyyyy!"

"Heeeeeyyyyyyyy!"

She jumped and yelped a little with surprise, and accidentally dropped the TV remote. One of the weird monsters caught it in his jaws and lightly tossed it back to her.

"Oh! Thanks. So…who…and what are you guys?"

"I'm Lamar, and this is my brother Charles! We're banshees!"

"What's that?"

The brothers exchanged looks before Charles replied. "Monsters!"

Karen made a worried face. "Are you the monsters that live in my closet?"

"What?" Lamar tilted his head. "There are no monsters living in your closet!"

"There aren't?"

"No way!"

She sighed. "Phew. So, where do you live?"

"Not here!"

"Yeah!" Charles smiled. "We're just spy- I mean visiting! Eheh, we're – we're visiting."

"Who?"

"What?"

"Who are you visiting?"

They looked at each other again. They really weren't even supposed to be showing themselves or talking to this little human. "Eh," Lamar slowly turned back to her. "Ya know, visiting like…tourists!"

"Yeah! Tourists!"

"Anyways," Lamar continued. "We heard ya being all lonely and stuff."

"So, we came to play!" Charles finished.

"Really?" she smiled. "Okay! We can play with the toy racecar I found in the backyard."

"You mean the dump? Ow!"

Lamar had elbowed Charles in the ribs. "Great," Lamar smiled. "Let's see it, then!"

.

Darren was just leaving his house when he spotted Kenny walking past along the sidewalk. "Oh, hey Kenny. Where are you going?"

He stopped. "I don't know. I'm trying to find my lost drunk-ass parents. What are you doing?"

"Uhh, I was just going to go get some milk at the Dollar Store. Do you, like, need help with that?"

He shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like it's the first time this has happened. Normally, I don't bother looking for them, but I need one of them to sign my permission slip."

"Oh. Well, I mean, I can help you look." He walked over to join him. "Where do they usually end up?"

Kenny thought for a moment. "My mom usually ends up in the woods for some reason."

"That's not what I was expecting to hear," Darren said to himself. "Okay! Let's check around the woods, I guess."

.

"So, did I make you guys up?"

Charles and Lamar tilted their heads at the little girl. "Huh?" Lamar said."

"You're like, my imaginary friends or something, right? You appeared like magic right after I wished for friends."

"Uhh, yeaaaahh."

"Yeaaahhhhh. We're totally, definitely your, uh, imaginary friends. Yeah."

"Huh, I always thought you'd be puppies or fairies," Karen said. "Oh well. They say you can't always judge someone by the way they look. Can you do tricks? Or magic?"

"Oh, you BET we can do tricks," Lamar nodded.

"And magic!" Charles added gleefully. "We can fly, too!"

"Wow!" she gasped.

.

"We've been walking around in the woods for almost twenty minutes," Darren complained. "And I'm pretty sure we've just been going in a big circle."

"Nuh-uh!" Kenny argued. "That stump is new."

"No it's not! It's the same stupid stump we passed three times already! It's still wet from your pee break!"

"Oh, shit… Okay, so we're lost."

"UGH!" Darren froze suddenly as he saw something small and white dart out from behind a tree. It was tiny and close to the ground and looked like a small flame. "Ah! I'm seeing souls again!"

Kenny looked over at where he was pointing a few times but couldn't see anything. "What? FUCK!"

He fell back on his rear as a banshee suddenly leapt from the tree-top and pounced on something invisible just a mere few feet from him. Only after it had swallowed it did it become visible; a tiny white ball of fire bouncing excitedly around in the monster's ribcage along with several others just like it. The banshee lowered his head to peer at them with lazy purple eyes.

"Sorry," he said in a mellow voice. "They're not yet aware that they're dead, so they're still a little scared. Gotta sneak up on 'em, ya know?"

"What are they?" Darren asked.

"Rabbit kits. Baby bunnies. Whole burrow of 'em got gobbled up by a coyote earlier. I've still got one more to find."

"Hey," Kenny lifted himself from the ground. "You're that banshee that came to take the turkey's soul at my house."

"Name's Joey," he nodded. "Yeah, I collect animal souls. Most of 'em are white. You two kids are friends of the Princess, right?"

They nodded. "We're looking for Kenny's drunk lost parents," Darren told him. "We're also lost."

"Two kids lost in the woods, huh? Shoulda left a bread crumb trail…" His head slowly drifted to the side for a moment as if he was falling asleep with his eyes open before he corrected himself and looked back at them. "Yeah, I saw a lady a few minutes ago."

"Red hair?" Kenny asked. "With a dumb shirt that says 'I'm with stupid'?"

Joey nodded a few times as he thought it over. "Don't know what the shirt said, but yeah, she had red hair. Saw her hanging from a tree."

"WHAT?!"

He looked a little surprised by Kenny's reaction before realizing what he had said. "Oh! No, no, not like that! Like, she had climbed up the tree and passed out on one of the limbs. Yeah, folded over it like a towel kinda."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. Can you show us where?"

"Sure."

Joey led the two boys a little ways through the woods, finally stopping at a large oak tree where Kenny's mother was laying in a heap at the base.

"Oh," Joey said casually. "Looks like she fell."

Kenny shook her shoulder. "Mom… Mom! Damnit woman!" She wouldn't wake up and only mumbled incomprehensible slurred words in her sleep. Kenny sighed and lifted her as best he could and began dragging her across the ground.

"Are you bringing her home?" Darren watched curiously. "Do you need help?"

"It's not like this is the first time I've had to do this shit," he grunted.

Darren suddenly felt really bad. "Well…maybe Joey can help?" He glanced over at the banshee.

Joey was rummaging around in some nearby bushes until he threw his head up in a swallowing motion and a new ball of light appeared in his ribcage. "Hm?" he looked over his shoulder at them. "Sorry. I wasn't listening. Found that last bunny… You say something?"

"Uh, yeah. Could you maybe help us bring Kenny's mom home?"

"She's like a dead weight!" Kenny grunted as he stumbled under the woman's weight.

"Oh…" Joey's head slowly began to tilt before he suddenly straightened himself again. "Yeah, sure. But I gotta go after. Gotta get these bunnies ready for their afterlife, you know?"

"Uh, right," Darren said.

The banshee went over to them and slipped himself under the unconscious woman, lifting her off the ground and onto his back. He folded his web-less wings to hold her in place and started walking in the opposite direction.

"You were going the wrong way, anyway," he told Kenny.

The boy made a face. "Well, fuck."

As they walked alongside the monster, Kenny watched the little rabbit souls bouncing around energetically within Joey's ribcage. He knew from seeing Kyle touch Charles and Lamar that he could easily reach his hand through the bones if he wanted, but somehow the little balls of light did not seem able to escape. Then again, these banshees were nothing but bones, yet somehow, they could eat, drink, move, speak, and even feel. Maybe he should stop trying to question magic and interdimensional beings… Still, weirder things have happened.

Joey seemed to have noticed him staring and glanced over at the boy with his sleepy purple eyes. "You bringing curiosity, or what?"

"Huh?"

"You look like you've got some questions. I can lay down some answers to 'em if you want. Dig?"

"The fuck -? Uh…yes?"

"Cool, cool," Joey nodded. "What's eatin' ya?"

"Oh," he finally understood what he was saying. "Nothing. I was just watching the little bunny souls. Do you feel them moving around in there?"

"The bouncy cotton tails? Yeah, kind of tickles."

"You some kind of hippie?" Darren eyed the banshee.

"I don't know what that is."

"…Oh. Really?"

"For real. Anyways," he looked back at Kenny. "That the only question you got to pitch? Cause it's rare that I'm up to bat out answers. You get me?"

"I…think I do?"

"Cool, cool. You're saying one thing, but your white and bright soul is telling me otherwise. Well, mostly white… Got a tinge of indigo in there, too. Blue and purple mingling like two lovers locked together in – What was the question again?"

"Uhhhhhhh," Kenny was now lost again. "I didn't ask one yet."

"Oh. Well send me a pitch over this way before I gotta bounce back to the underworld. You got questions? I might have answers."

"Uh, no. No, I don't have any questions."

"I do," Darren said. "Are you on drugs?"

"Depends what you consider a drug," Joey replied. "Hey, you know, I remembered that you kids were buddy-buddy with the Princess, but it just hit me exactly who YOU are."

"Me?" Kenny tilted his head.

Joey nodded. "Yeah. You're that Cthulhu-cursed boy who's got the hots for the Princess."

He cringed so hard he almost hurt himself. "I – do NOT!"

"AGH!" Darren shouted suddenly and covered his eyes.

Joey was still nodding. "Cool, cool. But that bright and white soul of yours just flashed as bright as the summer sun on a cloudless day." He tilted his head almost completely on its side. "You positive about being on the ice?"

"I don't know what that means!"

"Aw, I don't get why you won't just admit it already," Darren rubbed his eyes. "What's the worst that could happen? Besides, I'm pretty sure she-"

"Fuck you!"

"You see? That's the thing you do when you can't argue anymore. You love her. We all know you do."

"Shut up! I don't! Just because I think she's pretty, and really cool, and the best friend I've ever had doesn't mean I have a thing for her! Just because I get kind of turned on when she touches me doesn't mean anything!"

"Uh…"

"Just because I kind of liked the way it made me feel when she pinned me against the wall and threated me doesn't mean I have the hots for her!" He seemed to finally realize what he was saying and slapped his hands over his mouth.

Joey's head was tilted so far, he looked like something was weighing it down, and Darren just stared at Kenny.

"Dude," Darren said. "Really?"

"That ice is cracked and melting real fast," Joey jerked his head back straight. "You don't even have time to find a boat 'cause you already fell through."

"What are you even talking about!?" Kenny snapped.

He only shook his head side-to-side. "You're not picking up what I'm putting down, but it doesn't matter 'cause I'm picking up yours. Denial is a road to lies and stress. Once you accept yourself, your flaws, your thoughts, and your feelings you'll never be steered wrong again. Not even by yourself. You digging me? You got serious feelings there and you know it, but there's something stopping you from telling her, so you keep denying it to yourself and not just others. It might be rough like gravel and shells, but you gotta let yourself think about it. Think about it hard. Then, when you figure it out, let yourself know and accept the truth. Dig? Nah, you ain't gotta answer anybody else before you answer yourself. But answer yourself." He tilted his head again. "You…picking up what I'm putting down, yet?"

"I –" he relaxed a little and looked at the ground. "…Yeah. I got it."

"Cool, cool. Now, let's bounce on over to your pad and drop off the lady so I can get these cotton tail kits to the next life."

.

"No, no," Lamar said. "That hat is so last season! That's so winter; we're in spring now!"

Charles removed the little hat from the old stuffed bear. "But the seasons look the same here! Fine. What do you think, Karen?"

"I thought it was cute, but maybe this will work better?" She handed Charles a folded paper hat she had made with a newspaper.

The two banshees stared blankly at it for a moment before smiling brightly. "It's perfect!"

"Such style! Such grace!"

Karen giggled gleefully at their praise then gasped as the front door opened. "Oh! Kenny!" She ran over to meet him. "You're back!"

"Yeah. I found Mom." He tensed as Joey entered the house right in front of Karen, but the little girl didn't seem even remotely frightened or even confused.

She watched Joey deposit their mother on the couch. "Oh, you have an imaginary friend, too?"

"A what?" He noticed Charles and Lamar in the background. "What the- What are YOU guys doing here!?"

"Do you know them, Kenny?" Karen asked.

"Uhhh…"

"They showed up after you left when I wished for someone to play with. I always thought fairies would be smaller."

"Fairies?"

The banshee brothers shrugged. "We told her we were monsters," Lamar said.

"She told US that we're fairies!" Charles added.

"How did you get your fairy?" she asked Kenny, smiling at Darren as he entered. "Did you make a wish to find our parents, and then he appeared to help?"

"Uh, something like that…"

She went over to pat Joey's haunch, and he turned to look at her curiously. "What's your name? Are you here to play, too?"

"Name's Joey," he turned to face her and lowered his head for her to reach. She grabbed his face and pulled him closer so that she could nuzzle his forehead. "Nah, I can't stay and whack bushes with you guys. Not today at least. Very busy. Gotta get the cotton tails to their new pad then bounce on over to the other side of town to catch a deer."

She giggled. "You talk funny. Okay, maybe we can play some other time?"

He nodded after she released his head. "Cool, cool. Yeah. Some other time and I'll pop on over to hang. See you on the flip side, tiny human." He suddenly dove downward and vanished in the floor.

"That guy's totally a hippie," Darren said.

"Who? Joey?" Lamar asked. "Ha! Yeah, he's really mellow, but a cool guy."

Charles nodded in agreement. "He's actually Cassidy's big brother."

"Seriously?!" Darren jumped. "That crazy jerk is related to HIM?!"

Charles nodded again. "Yup! But don't worry," he added to Kenny. "He doesn't hold any grievances about you getting his sister put in the wall."

"That wasn't MY fault!"

"Are you going to play with us now, Kenny?" Karen asked.

"Er, n-no. But later! I have to go find Dad now so he can sign something for school. I PROMISE that I'll play with you when I get back."

"Well…okay." She turned back to Charles and Lamar. "You guys will stay with me until then, right?"

"Sure!"

"You betcha!

.

"Are you sure he's in there?" Darren asked.

Kenny shrugged. "He wasn't at any of his other favorite hang-outs. If he's not here, then I have no idea where he could be."

The two boys had set out to find Kenny's father, but had no luck in locating him yet. The last place Kenny suggested was The Peppermint Hippo, the town's strip club.

"They won't let us in there, though," Darren told him. "Ever since that Rogers kid got in to sneak pictures of the strippers, they actually started watching who was allowed in."

"Damn, you're right… But I just need him to sign this stupid paper."

"Can't you wait until he goes home?"

"But it's due tomorrow! I don't even know if that idiot will go home after he leaves here. Whenever that'll be…"

"Fair point. Okay, how about this –" He took a deep breath. "PIXIE!"

A few moments passed before the little yellow and green creature appeared before them in a puff of sparks and papers. He frantically snatched the papers from the air and poofed them back to wherever it was he had come from.

"Oh dear! Er, y-yes!" He straightened himself up. "How can I help you?"

"Were you busy?"

"No, no! It's fine!"

"You didn't have to come if you were busy."

"Really, it's fine! I needed a break from all that paperwork anyway… So! What did you boys need?"

Darren took the permission slip from Kenny and handed it to the pygmy dragon. "Can you go in this building and find Kenny's dad? He needs to sign this paper. Don't worry," he said after seeing Pixie's worried expression. "The people inside are too drunk, high, or stupid to remember you after they see you."

Pixie took the paper from him. "All right."

"Do you know which one his dad is?"

"Yes, I remember." He disappeared.

Pixie poofed inside of the main room of the building. He was a bit surprised by the loud music playing. There were a lot of men from the town sitting around watching scantily-dressed, or not dressed, women preforming what Pixie thought might have been considered dancing…in some worlds. He climbed up onto the back of a nearby chair to get a better look around at the faces and spotted Kenny's father in the other corner. The man was looking very drunk.

"Pardon me, sir." Pixie climbed up onto the table where he was sitting.

"Huh? Whazzit? What the hell are you?"

"Hello, sir. Er, forgive my pestering, but –" he placed the paper on the table with a pen he had spawned. "Could you sign this, please?"

He leaned forward and squinted at it. "What is it?"

Pixie quickly examined the paper. "It appears to be a permission slip for a school fieldtrip. Your son wanted me to bring it to you to sign."

"Kenny?" he hiccupped. "Oh okay." He grabbed the pen; Pixie had to take it from him and place it back in his hand right-side up. "There. Permission – granted! Whoa!" The pen disappeared in his hand.

Pixie picked up the paper and made a face at the sloppy signature. "Eh, thank you."

"Here you are," Pixie said as he appeared back outside and held the paper out to Kenny.

He happily accepted the paper. "Sweet, thanks! Hey, do you want to come play with me and my sister? Charles and Lamar are there, too."

"Well, I suppose I could spare a few hours." He smiled. "Why not?"

"Cool. What about you, Darren?"

He shrugged. "Eh, I got nothing better to do."

To be continued…