Chapter's FINALLY up!
Enjoy, and as always, please excuse any grammatical errors.
Disclaimer: I do not own My Babysitter's a Vampire.
Eden was reading the latest issue of her favorite comic book The Pink Phoenix lying comfortable in her bed. She had just reached the part where The Pink Phoenix, a superhero who was your average girly cheerleader by day and a vicious butt-kicker by night, was gathering the courage to confess to her crush who was secretly her arch nemesis—not that either of them knew that—when Betty burst into her bedroom, shouting, "Eden!"
"What happened?!" Eden yelped, shooting up into a sitting position. "What is it? A werewolf? Wizard? Witch? Vampire? Ghost?"
Betty raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you're way too paranoid."
"Then, what is it?"
"I'm just excited! Your parents are gone and we have the house to ourselves. Well, minus your brother." She grinned teasingly. "And your babysitter slash future boyfriend."
Eden rolled her eyes.
"Do you know what this means?"
Enthusiasm sparked inside her. "Video games?"
Betty scoffed. "Not just any video games." She showed Eden the video game she had in mind, holding up the case for her to see in all of its grandeur.
"Is that Knight's of Ninjutsu IV?!" Eden exclaimed, practically bouncing on her bed with eagerness.
"Collector's edition!" she squealed. "I had to wait five hours in line for this, and I had to pee the entire time!"
Eden jumped from her bed to snatch the case from Betty's hand. She inspected the epic cover art of a knight with a samurai sword, bouncing on her heels with anticipation. "Well, it will have been worth it when we start playing."
"And with your parents out, we can yell as much as we want!"
"We yell even when they're here," Eden contended.
"And every time, they yell at us to stop."
Shaking her head, Eden hurried over to her gaming station.
"Hey, are you going to do it tonight?" asked Betty.
"What do you mean? Play the game? Obviously!"
"No! Are you going to finally ask out Sam?"
Eden dropped the disc as she made to insert it.
Betty screamed. If the neighbors had heard, they might have suspected Eden had just murdered her. "Be careful!" She ran to pick it up from the ground. "You're going to get it scratched, and this is brand new! I put my kidneys at risk for this game!"
"Calm down," said Eden. She tripped over the leg of her chair, still flustered by the question. And ever more so by Betty's outburst.
"Uh, you tell me to calm down when someone drops your baby!"
Eden rolled her eyes. "Jeez, I'm sorry."
Betty placed the disc in herself. "Anyway, are you going to ask him?"
Eden groaned. "I don't know! What if he says no? It would make things so awkward! And why would he want to go out with me, anyway? I'm average, at best."
"Eden, don't you think you're being stereotypical playing yourself up as the pretty-but-doesn't-know-it kind of girl?"
"Betty, thanks for trying to make me feel better. But you and I both know that I am not the prettiest girl that goes to our school. Not by a long shot."
"So?" She dismissed that issue with a wave of her hand. "You have other great qualities. You kick supernatural butt every other day!"
"Sam's the one that does the butt-kicking," said Eden, slumping into her game chair.
"Sam would be lost without your brains and your visions." Grinning confidently as she situated her hands on her hips like the superheroes in Eden's comic books, Betty added, "And my magic, of course."
Eden decided now was the time to raise another problem that had been pricking at her mind ever since her crush on Sam had developed. "But he's a vampire. Is it remotely practical for humans to date vampires?"
"Technically, he's a fledgling. And he'll be human again once you figure out the cure."
Eden sighed. "I don't even know if that's possible."
"It has to be. Stop overthinking! Just ask him out!"
"I don't know, Betty." Eden swiveled in her chair, dishearteningly. "You never really give the best advice."
Offended, Betty argued, "I give great advice!"
"No, you don't," Eden simply said.
"Name one time my advice got you into trouble!"
As Eden opened her mouth to spew a torrent of stories, prepared to count them on her fingers one by one, Betty held up her hand.
"Never mind," she interrupted. "I'm good."
"Then, you see what I mean."
Betty huffed. "From now on, I'll give the best advice known to mankind. And wizardkind! And vampkind! And—"
"Alright! I get it! I get it! Let's just play the game."
As Betty grabbed game controllers for both her and Eden, she muttered, "I still think you should ask out Sam."
James examined the broken leg on his friend's doll with dismay.
He was sitting atop his bed with basketball-themed sheets lain over it. Sam settled himself beside the upset boy.
"What am I going to do?" James aired to Sam. "I ask Abby if I can borrow her Disco Danny doll to play soldiers with, and I end up breaking him! She's going to hate me."
"She might be mad, but she won't hate you," Sam said, patting his back. He grabbed the doll from James. It dawned a blue button-down shirt with sparkly silver pants that reminded Sam of a disco ball. They were appropriate for its name. "Besides, we can probably fix it with some tape or something."
"What if we can't?"
"Then, you'll just have to tell her the truth. It was an accident and you're sorry. Maybe if you ask your parents, they'll agree to buy her a new one to make up for it."
James sulked. "This stinks. I should've never borrowed that stupid toy in the first place."
Sam chuckled. "Come on. It's not that bad."
"Yes, it is."
Before Sam could disagree, the familiar ringing of the Morgans' house phone sounded outside James's room.
"I'll be right back," said Sam, handing the doll back to James.
Shortly after his babysitter's exit, James heard his sister cry, "No!"
Curious, he ran to her room, the doll still in his grasp.
The door was agape, so being the nosy and annoying brother he was, he listened in to Eden and Betty's conversation. Eavesdropping was not only fun, but it was useful. It was how he had uncovered Eden's humongous crush on Sam. James had stockpiles of embarrassing secrets he was saving to wield against his sister.
"It's not fair!" he heard Betty whine. "Why'd you have to burn out the processor now?"
"It's not my fault!" Eden retorted. "Look, if I can jump these cables, I can get it working again."
James sneakily peeked into the open crack of the door.
Betty was skimming through her weird, old brown book. James wasn't sure if the book was what made Betty always smell like mothballs or if that was her natural scent. She turned a page and gasped. "Aha! We can use this minor reparation spell! It can fix anything! It says so right here!"
James grinned. A spell that could fix anything? Including a broken toy?
"Boom!" Eden shouted in victory, mimicking a mic-drop with her pliers. "We're back in business!"
James watched as Betty closed her book and laid it on Eden's nightstand. He waited until the two girls were too distracted by their game to notice him and quietly swiped Betty's book.
Sam pressed the "answer" button on the Morgans' house phone.
"Hello," he said, expecting to hear either Mr. or Mrs. Morgan's voice.
Instead, it was Eric on the other end. "Where are you?" he seethed, his aggravation clear even through the phone.
"Babysitting," Sam replied.
"You and I were supposed to go bowling. What happened to that?"
Sam winced. Between writing his report, studying for the upcoming geometry test, and controlling his craving for human blood, Sam had been too overloaded to worry about fraternizing these past days. Eric decided they needed a guys night to de-stress and hang out. Last week, they planned to meet at the bowling alley on Friday, but it had completely slipped Sam's mind.
When Sam failed to reply, Eric answered for him. "You forgot."
Sam could have denied it. There would have been no point, though. What was the alternative excuse? "Yeah," he admitted with a guilty sigh. "I'm really sorry, Eric."
"Whatever. I'm used to it."
"Don't be like that. I suck at bowling, so we know you would've won, anyway."
"True."
Sam chuckled, glad that his friend wasn't so angry that he couldn't joke. "If you want, we can hang out at Eden's."
"No, thanks. I'd rather not."
"Well, then I guess I'll talk to you later."
"Hey," said Eric, stopping Sam before he took the phone from his ear. "As long as you're there, are you going to ask out Eden?"
Sam leaned against the wall coolly. "What?" The word was void of emotion. Eric was given no audible reaction, and had Sam been standing in front of him, he would have witnessed no visible reaction either.
"You have super hearing, Sam. I know you heard me," he said. "Personally, I think you can do better."
"Eric—"
"Then again, you can take your time with Eden. Something tells me not many guys are after her."
Sam rolled his eyes, his free hand balling into a fist. He tapped it against the wall in annoyance.
"Honestly, I don't know why you like her. She's average at best."
"She's got a better personality than you," he shot back. Then, before Eric could object, he said, "Look, I've got to go."
"Fine."
Sam could practically hear Eric rolling his eyes. He hung up the phone and walked back to James's room, now agitated and on edge.
As he approached the door, Sam heard James uttering a jumble of mysterious, uncanny words followed by a bizarre whirring. A blue light flashed through the gap at the bottom of James's bedroom door. Weirded out, Sam rushed into the room.
His eyes widened in shock. Standing beside James was a strange man with glittery pants, a blue shirt, and neatly swept back blond hair.
Light didn't seem to reflect in his eyes, making them look lifeless and eerie. He smiled at Sam, teeth so white he could have worked selling toothpaste.
"Look what I made," laughed James.
"Hi. I'm Disco Danny. Wanna play?"
The doll! Sam realized. This man was a life-size duplicate of that Disco David—or whatever the name was— doll!
For a moment, Sam wondered if he had actually been transported into a horror movie. If that was the case, he hoped being a fledgling would give him an advantage.
Eyes pinned on the creepy, doll-like man, Sam yelled, "Eden! You're gonna want to see this!"
The gang was crowded at the doorway of James's room, observing Disco Danny as he curiously examined the action figures, toys, and trinkets scattered messily atop James's dresser.
His face was perfectly symmetrical with no signs of a blemish, and his skin was so unnaturally smooth, it chilled Eden to her bones. Eden supposed smooth skin and zero acne should have been attractive features, but instead, they were plain creepy.
As Danny walked from James's dresser to his nightstand, Eden noticed his right leg was stiff and straight, giving him a limp.
"What do we do?" asked Betty to no one in particular.
Eden didn't have an answer, and as Sam wasn't providing a response, she presumed he was just as stumped.
Forgetting Betty's question, Eden grabbed James's arm. "James, can I talk to you for second?" She spoke casually to him, as if he hadn't actually brought an overrated, cliche toy to life. She glanced at the distracted doll before lowering her voice into a whisper. "How did this happen?"
"Well, I accidentally broke his leg, so I tried to use Betty's fix-it spell."
That explained his limp. Not to mention his newly found cognitive state.
Eden glared at Betty, but after a minute of thinking, she realized that it wasn't really her fault. They had all been careless— Betty, Sam, and her. Eden wasn't about to shoot menacing looks at her crush, though. Betty would have to endure the full brunt of her angry face until Eden could find a mirror. Then, she could opt for glaring at herself.
"Let's eat ice cream and go to a roller disco dance party!" the doll exclaimed, grinning hugely.
"Ice cream! I'm in!" said James.
Eden immediately interjected. "No! We need to turn him back into a doll."
Danny's wide smile plummeted in a severe frown, eyebrows knitted together in anger.
Eden grabbed her brother's arm protectively and pulled him back.
"No, I don't want to go back!" declared the doll. "It's so boring. I won't go back, and you can't make me."
"Okay," said Eden. "Just calm down."
Danny's big smile made its return. "Then, we can have that disco ice cream party, after all."
"But we don't have ice cream," she told the doll. When his bright expression began to slip again, Eden blurted, "We can make cupcakes, though!" She didn't know if this doll was capable of hurting them. He had been built for children, so maybe there was a gentle character to him. Then again, he had also been built not alive.
"Perfect! Let's go," he said, limping out of the room.
"Cool," said James. He turned to Eden. "Can we use the orange and black frosting Mom got for Halloween to make it look like basketballs."
"Uh. . .I guess."
With that, James excitedly passed the spell book he still had in his grasp to Eden before following the doll.
Eden shoved the book at Betty once he was gone. "Do something!"
"It's not that simple!"
"What do you mean? Your fix-it spell did this. Find one to undo it."
"But I think James used the wrong spell." Betty opened the spell book and flipped through the worn pages. "Or different words. And I can't reverse it until I figure it out."
"Then figure it out," said Eden. She knew it wasn't that easy, but it had to at least be possible. Otherwise, they were in deep water with no lifeguards, floaties, or boat in sight. "Sam and I are going to keep an eye on Danny. You stay here and find the spell."
As Eden and Sam started for the kitchen, she heard Betty whine, "Oh! So you guys get to eat cupcakes while I stay up here?! That's fair!"
Two hours later, the kitchen was a mess. There were sprinkles on the countertop, flour on the floor, stacks of dirty bowls in the sink, and spilled cupcake batter on James's shirt. James was biting into a chocolate cupcake with the frosting piped to look like a basketball as Disco Danny licked black icing from a spatula. It made Eden wonder if Danny even had a stomach.
Eden was helping herself to one of the cupcakes, too. She wasn't usually a stress-eater, but when surrounded by delicious, sweet treats, she turned into one quickly.
Finally! Eden thought as Betty entered the kitchen, spell book snugly tucked underneath her arm.
"Whoa!" her friend said with a glutinous smile. "You guys made a lot of cupcakes."
She seized a vanilla cupcake off the tray and dug into it. "Mmmm!" she hummed in satisfaction. "I tried turning a sandwich into a cupcake once, but instead it grew teeth and tried to bite my arm off."
Eden had no doubt that that had actually happened.
"Did you find anything?" she asked Betty, hopeful.
She sighed. "I have good news and bad news. Bad news: I couldn't find the spell."
Eden shoulders slumped in disappointment.
"Good news: I am on Level Two of Knight of Ninjitsu IV!"
"You've been up there for an hour!" Sam chided.
"It's a hard game!" she said in between a mouthful of cupcake.
Danny looked back at James. "Your clothes are all filthy. You can't go to a disco party like that. I know a thing or two about fashion." He gestured to his silver pants, which Eden felt only disproved his point. "I'll help you pick something else out."
"Um. . .sure, okay," said James. "I guess I should change."
"Let's go."
James shoved the rest of the cupcake into his mouth and began a casual saunter for his room.
Danny set down the spatula. As he moved past Eden and Sam, he suddenly leaned over and clutched his gut. He cried out in pain, his voice dipping into a weird, automatronic timbre.
"Are you okay?" asked Eden, reaching for his shoulder.
Before her fingers could even graze him, he snatched her hand in a harsh grip.
Eden sucked in a breath as the world became a picture of distorted fuzz and a gray hue blanketed her eyes. A ceramic bowl of assorted fruits—bananas, pears, and apples— came into focus. They appeared ripe and fresh. Then, rotting black and brown colors crawled over them. Her vision ended with the fruits shriveling into gross, deflated lumps of spoiled food.
"I feel fine," said Danny, smiling in that unnerving, doll-like way. In one swift motion, he righted himself from his hunched position. "Great, in fact. Thank you for asking."
After he released her arm, Eden realized how drained her body was of energy. She held her head as a sharp ache pierced it. Eden was just about ready to vomit that cupcake she had eaten. Her numb legs were fighting to carry her weight. It was not long before they gave in and began collapsing under her. She leaned on the counter to steady herself.
Betty and Sam were crying, "Whoa!" and "Hey!" As she faded in and out, she could not register who said what.
A hand grasped her shoulder while another, the bigger of the two, rested against her back.
"What happened?" asked Sam.
Eden waited a moment for the nausea to pass. When it didn't, she decided she would simply have to talk through it. "I had a vision," she said. "Danny needs life energy to stay in human form. He absorbs it through contact. If. . .if we. . ." Eden trailed off as she caught herself with the kitchen countertop, but by that time, Sam had had enough.
"Come on," he said, swallowing both of her shoulders with his strong, bronze hands as he guided her to her living room couch. "Take it easy. Looks like he drained you a little."
Eden happily sat on the soft cushions, massaging her temples in an attempt to relieve them of the pain. "Wait," began Eden. "Maybe if we keep him away from people, he'll turn back into a doll."
"Good idea!" said Betty.
Soon after, the doorbell rang.
Who could that be? Not Eden's parents. It was their house. They wouldn't have bothered to ring the doorbell.
Eden's energy had started to replenish, so feeling less faint, she moved from the couch to answer the door. Betty followed close behind her.
As it turned out, it was Rosy standing outside her house. "Hey, Guys!" she greeted cheerfully.
"Rosy, now's not the best time," said Eden.
Rosy stopped her as she went to shut the door. "Wait! You're not going to invite me in?"
"Sorry. Next time."
With that, Betty reach over to close the door in Rosy's confused, forlorn face.
Eden was too stressed and tired to undergo the hassle of explaining the situation to Rosy. She would explain eventually, and she would lead it with an apology, but not now. Now, was not a time for explanations. It was a time for reverting Disco Danny into his original doll form.
Sam, Eden, and Betty trekked upstairs to James's room where Disco Danny was holding up two shirts, looking back and forth between them indecisively.
In order for this to work, they needed to isolate Danny.
"Hey, Danny," said Eden. "I just found a pair of pants that are pretty. . ."
What was the word they used back in the disco days?
". . .groovy." Eden cringed at how stupid it sounded leaving her mouth. "I think they'd fit you. And they're perfect for a disco party. Want to see?"
He tossed the shirts aside. "Groovy? Sure, let's go."
While Eden hooked Danny with the bait and reeled him out of the room, Sam would tell James it was time for bed. Eden knew her brother would whine, but since he was a good kid and he really liked Sam, he would listen to him.
"Right in here," said Eden to the doll, leading Danny to her room and waving him to step inside. Once the eagle was in the nest, she yanked the door shut. Betty was ready with James's jump rope, helping Eden tie one end around the knob of her bedroom door and the other around the knob of the hall closet. Their wasn't a lock on the outside of Eden's door, so this was the best they could do.
Danny jiggled the knob, but he was trapped.
"Hey, let me out! You're ruining the party!" Eden and Betty heard him shouting as he banged on the door.
"What about the window?" asked Betty.
"We're on the second floor. It's not like he can fly."
"Yeah, that's true."
"Come on, we have to clean up before my parents get home."
"Wait!" cried Betty, excitedly. "I have the perfect spell!"
Eden sighed. "Please, no." With a live doll caged in her room, she was not in the mood for whatever else Betty's spells would lead to. Chances were, it would only cause more mayhem. Eden imagined worms in their refrigerator or killer vegetables attacking them with toothpick swords.
"I've been practicing," said Betty, running down the stairs to the kitchen. "Trust me."
Oh, Eden could trust Betty. She could trust her to demolish her house, to blow up the chairs, to turn their table into a frog. . .What she had trouble trusting her to do was cast a successful spell.
Betty raised her hands and stretched out her fingers over the messy counter. "Ready?"
"Ready for what?" asked Sam, stepping into the room.
Eden turned to him. "Is James asleep?"
"Out like a light."
Betty, impatient and restless, called back their attention. "Come on, guys! Are you ready for this?"
"Sure, Betty," said Eden, her indifference basically a white flag of surrender. She hoped there was enough soap in the house to clean up whatever inevitable mess Betty would unleash. Was soap even effective on magical residue?
"Okay." Betty mumbled. She hopped a little on her heels and flapped her elbows slightly, as though she were a runner shaking off her nerves before a big race. "Pulmentum. . .coram me ius. . .ipsum."
Betty was confident at the start of the spell, but as she neared the end, she seemed to hesitate between certain words. After uttering the final phrase, Betty lifted her hands. A light flashed in the center of her palms. Suddenly, the dirty dishes were clattering over to the sink. Eden and Sam watched in astonishment as a bottle of dish soap autonomously squirted a glob of its contents onto a sponge. Where the faucet had begun freely running steaming water, the dishes stood showering while the sponge washed them squeaky clean. A towel flew from the drawer to dry off the bowls and plates. Then, the cabinets opened to allow the dishes to save themselves. A rag wiped flour and cupcake batter from the counter with no assistance from Sam, Eden, or Betty. In a matter of seconds, the kitchen was spotless.
"Like I said, I've been practicing." Betty crossed her arms, proudly jutting her chin up sky high. "Feel free to clap and cheer."
Eden expressed her stupefaction with a simple, quiet, "Wow."
She walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled the handle to look at the dishes inside. They must not have stacked themselves well because plates came hurtling at her almost like an ambush. One plate hit her head. Another landed on her toe. Several more shattered at her feet.
Eden toppled backwards and fell to the kitchen floor.
"Are you okay?" asked Betty and Sam. Their voices were detached as one overlapped the other.
Eden rolled over to right herself, careful not to cut her arms on the sharp remnants of broken plates. "Oh, yeah," she answered, sarcasm lining her words. "Great."
Before she realized, there was a friend at each of her sides, helping her up.
Betty felt compelled to chime in, "For the record, that was not my fault," while she picked a tiny white shard out from Eden's hair.
"You need to be more careful," Sam scolded. "It's bad enough that I have to deal with this stupid blood craving in the first place. If you cut yourself, it would've just made it worse."
"Sorry," said Eden, genuine in her apology. What Sam said was true. If he lost control, he would have never been able to forgive himself. And it would've been Eden's fault. Well, more so Betty's. But still.
Then, they heard the front door open.
"Hello!" her dad called.
Her mom yelled, "We're home!"
Eden looked at the mess on the floor. Her parents would not be happy about this. They would pretend like it wasn't important. "It was just an accident," they would say. They would pay Sam, bid him a goodnight, then once he was out the door, there would be an explosion of fury and disbelief. Unless. . . her parents never saw it. If Eden kept them away from the kitchen, she could manage that.
"Betty, can you clean this up?" she whispered to her urgently. "I'll stall my parents."
Betty accepted the job. "Okay."
"And no magic."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine."
Sam went with Eden to meet her parents. They were wearing their matching blue and gray bowling shirts that they had both paired with casual jeans.
"Oh, hey, Eden," her mom yawned, exhausted from a long night spent knocking down pins.
Her dad was already filing through the dollars in his wallet, counting the amount he owed Sam. "How'd babysitting go?"
"Great," said Sam. "We made cupcakes."
"Oh."
A hungry gleam lit in their eyes.
Her parents started for the kitchen, but Eden and Sam stepped in their path.
"Aren't you guys tired?" asked Eden.
"Well, yeah, but I'd like a cupcake," said her mom.
"Yeah," her dad agreed. "I've been trying to watch my blood sugar, but one cupcake won't hurt."
Sam came to Eden's rescue with a believable excuse. "I promised James you would both give him a goodnight kiss as soon as you got home."
That seemed to work on them.
"Oh, okay."
"Sure."
Eden's mom waited at the bottom of the staircase for her husband to hand Sam his pay for the night.
"Here you go'" he said.
Sam thanked him.
Her parents began a trek towards James's room. Once they had climbed most of the way up the stairs, Eden turned to Sam. "Thanks for the help."
"No problem."
Their eyes locked, and for five long seconds, they stared at each other without speaking a word. Eventually, Eden grew too shy to drag this moment on, and she dropped her gaze, chuckling awkwardly even though neither one of them had said or done anything funny.
Maybe Eden should listen to Betty's advice and finally ask Sam on a date. Betty was right. She had confronted vampires, weredogs, witches. . .then again, she had only won those battles because of Sam. What was one little question, though? In the worst case scenario, Sam would reject her, and she'd just have to live with it.
She could do this.
Danny sat on the bed with a pout, resigning himself to having been locked in.
"Hey, Eden!" he heard a muffled voice yell. A tapping sound followed it.
Disco Danny slowly turned his head towards the window concealed by a boring, dull set of beige curtains.
The voice spoke up again. "Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me? Did I bite you, and I just don't remember?"
Danny walked to the window, struggling with his broken leg, and slid the curtains open.
Rosy's eyes widened. "Wow!" she said unconsciously.
She had never seen this boy before. He wasn't a classmate, and she didn't think he lived in the neighborhood. Maybe he was a relative of Eden's who was visiting. Rosy noted his blond hair, flawless skin, and chiseled jaw. His chest, muscular and burly, was slightly exposed where the top of his shirt was unbuttoned.
"Hi," she smiled nervously.
"Hi," he replied with a charming smile of his own that left Rosy giddy. Though, it soon fell from his handsome face. He blew out a frustrating breath.
"What's wrong?" Rosy asked.
He answered, "I'm so bored."
Rosy jumped on this golden opportunity. "I can keep you company!"
"Okay, come in."
As Rosy crawled in through the window, a guilt struck her like a stake to the heart—except not as painful and deadly. Was she betraying her crush on Eric? Rosy did like Eric, but he had already made it clear that he didn't feel even remotely the same. So why not try for this new boy instead of waiting around for something that would never be? Was she expected to pine after Eric while he chased all of the hot girls in school and completely ignored her?
"I'm Disco Danny. What's your name?"
Disco Danny, Rosy repeated in her head. Must be a nickname. That, or just a really weird first name.
"I'm Rosy. Or Rose. Whichever you like better," she swooned. "So. . .why are you here all alone."
He sighed. "No one wants to play with me."
"I know the feeling," said Rosy, recalling how Eden and Betty shut the door in her face.
"But you're so pretty. And sweet. People must be constantly swarming around you."
"Really?" Rosy giggled, flattered. Then, something dawned on her, and she stopped. "Hey, aren't you wondering how I was able to fly just now?"
He titled his head in a pondering gesture. "I did think it was strange."
"Well. . ." Should Rosy tell him? He seemed so nice and understanding. "I don't want to put you off or anything, but. . ." She paused. "I'm not exactly human."
He smiled, which was a reaction Rosy wasn't expecting. "That's fine."
"It is?"
"The humans I've met are mean, anyway. You're much nicer than them."
She started giggling again. Was this what it felt like to be flirted with? "Thanks. Wow. You're so understanding. I thought you'd be all freaked out."
"How can I be anything but excited talking to a girl like you?"
Rosy blushed furiously. The shade of her cheeks were as red as her name would imply. "Why don't we leave here, and have fun on our own?!"
Danny grinned at her in reply.
"Let's go!" Rosy ducked back under the window, and flew off in her excitement.
Danny wasn't sure how he was supposed to follow her, but he walked toward the opening anyhow.
A painful surge suddenly shot through his body.
"Ow!" Danny groaned in pain, bending over to wrap his arms around his stomach as his breaths grew labored.
He heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Eden and Betty?
Rather than those girls, two people he did not recognize entered the room. One was a man, the other a woman.
Eden's parents had noticed the jump rope tied around the doorknobs and, thinking it was strange, decided to check things out. Unfortunately for them, a crazy doll that thrived on human energy was waiting inside.
"Oh," said the woman, looking confused. "Hello. Are you a friend of Eden?"
Danny grinned evilly. He limped to them, grabbed their arms, and extracted their life-force. Energy poured into him, and soon, the pain had disappeared completely.
He might have thanked the two people for their perfect timing, but they had turned into still dolls. They lay side by side on the bed, flesh and blood now simple plastic.
"Hey," said Rosy. She was at the window again, having conveniently missed the spectacle. "I just realized you probably can't fly, so. . . you want a lift?"
He smiled and nodded.
Eden took a deep breath. She didn't let herself to think about it. Otherwise, she would chicken out for sure. "Can I ask you something?"
At the same time, Sam said, "I have something to ask you."
"You can go first."
"No, it's fine. You first."
"Okay. Well. . ." Would you like to go on a date? Ideally, that was what Eden would have told him. Instead, all that came out of her mouth was, "Um. . .I. . .well. . ."
Eden knew she couldn't go on like this. She was embarrassing herself already. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, racing with the speed of a vampire in hot pursuit of their prey. She ordered her words to form an actual sentence, one that suggested maybe Sam and her walk around the park together, but it was like the wire connecting her brain and tongue had snapped.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't ask out Sam. Eden didn't have the guts. And she couldn't risk losing his friendship.
Sam was still staring at her, waiting for her question. On the spot, she made something up, "I was just going to ask you if you wanted to take a cupcake home with you."
Was she imagining things or did Sam's smile falter a bit?
"No thanks," he told her.
"Okay. What was it you wanted to say?"
Maybe Sam wanted to ask her out!
His eyes seemed to skim and scan her, as if her body language was written in a code he couldn't quite decipher. "It can wait."
"Why? You can tell me."
"No, it's fine. I should go."
Eden nodded, concealing her disappointment behind a mask of impassiveness. "Okay."
"I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow."
With that, Sam left.
Eden immediately heard clucking and bocking. She turned around, not surprised to see Betty doing her imitation of a chicken.
"Real mature," Eden commented.
Betty paused her mocking for the moment. "What do you think he wanted to ask you?"
"Maybe it was why you're so bad at magic."
She scoffed. "Bad? Come on. I almost nailed that spell."
Eden decided to give Betty her due credit. "Yeah. Okay, I admit it. That was pretty cool. You know, up until the part where you broke my mom's plates."
"I didn't break them. They fell."
"Let's just go check to see if Danny turned back into a doll yet."
As Eden and Betty closed in on Eden's room, they saw that the jump rope lying uselessly on the ground. The girls exchanged looks of panic.
Their heads were flooding with the same thoughts. Had her parents untied it? Did that mean Danny had escaped? Or that Eden's parents saw him?
They ran to the door. Betty reached it first. They stumbled into the room, and Danny was gone! Vanished! No trace of him aside from the open window. The wind blew through and shuffled her curtains. Its creepy, low whistle only multiplied her anxieties.
"Is it too much to hope that he ran out of juice climbing out the window and maybe fell into the compost?"
Eden caught sight of two little somethings on her bed that could answer Betty's question. They were dolls. One resembled a man with short, dark brown hair. The other had feminine features, and its blonde hair was pulled up into a high pony tail. Both were dressed in the bowling shirts and jeans.
Danny had turned her parents into dolls!
Whooo! It sure took a long time for me to post. Sorry about that.