I was floating above Loo-nah's head, shocked and disbelieving, while watching queen Loo-mi-nah stand up. She came closer and gave me a gentle smile.
- Nice to meet you, Witch Solitaire. - she said as she kept stepping towards me with elegance and grace.
- Egh... Ugh...H-hello, Your Highness...? - I replied, absolutely embarrassed.
- I'll be honest with you - I've heard everything you just said. I knew you were not an ordinary toy at the very first moment I saw you. I've decided to stay awake and wait for you to come out.
- Mom, what were you going to do to Solitaire? - asked Loo-nah with worry.
Queen of planet Formika let a brief, abashed giggle out of her throat.
- Well... Initially I thought that Solitaire was up to no good. But after that sweet, motivating speech you've been given by her, my daughter, I'm certain there is good in her.
I took a look at princess Loo-nah and she looked back at me.
'' Fuck! What am I gonna do?'' - I thought.
- Solitaire... - queen Loo-mi-nah continued.
- Huh?
- Tell me something. Was Dib really the one who freed me from Irken captivity?
- Uhmm... yeah? But... I helped him.
- I see. Why don't you tell me the whole story?
I hesitated for a while. Queen Loo-mi-nah encouraged me with her '' I insist''. I was left with no other choice than to tell the truth. As I was done speaking, the queen asked me another question:
- Is there anyone else in this mansion who does not know about you?
- Just Pad Vaak.
- I'd fill him in too, if I were you.
- But... I... I don't want to scare him... or anything.
- Don't worry. I'm sure he's gonna be ok.
- Alright then. I'll do it. Bot not today. It's very late and I advice you two to go to sleep now.
- I agree with you. - admitted queen Loo-mi-nah. She yawned and got back to bed.
- Goodnight, Loo-nah. Goodnight, Solitaire. - she mumbled after turning her face to the wall.
- Goodnight, mommy. - answered Loo-nah dreamingly.
- Goodnight. Sleep tight. - I said before I left.
-Dammit! - I cursed angrily. - My perfect plan is collapsing! I can't let it fail! I just can't! Dib HAS to become a hero!
I was back in the attic, walking from one side to another, back and forth, back and forth. This time as my human self. Grief,seemingly worried, watched me, standing in one place.
- And now I am forced to expose myself to Pad Vaak as well. Damn! Maybe I should have just used my powers to modify their memories and make them forget me. But I won't. I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna mess with their minds. I've sworn to myself, I from now on only do whatever I want and never do anything against my will again. Oh fuck! WHY!? What did I do wrong!? Where did I make a mistake!?
- Calm down, Solitaire...
- How am I supposed to calm down!? First Dib, then Onigiri, now queen Loo-minah... FUCK! At this rate everyone, every creature in the universe will know me as the Toy Witch. Urgh! Nevermind. I'm letting my familiars out. While their watching over the house, I'll do the brainstorm thingy.
Two hours later Grief was fed to his fill and asleep. I was sitting in the middle of the floor and thinking intensively of how to save my plan from getting ruined completely and irreversibly. At one moment something appeared in my mind. A very important question that didn't come to me earlier for some reason.
'' HOW did queen Loo-mi-nah recognize me as a magical being when I was doing my best to imitate an ordinary stuffed animal?''
I said to myself: - I guess I'll need to ask her tommorow''.
I took three bottles of beer out of my magic repository. I used my keychain opener to fold down one of bottle caps and took one solid swallow of my favourite drink. I needed it to cool down and find a solution to my problem. I drank one beer after another. Empty bottles were lying down on the floor, surrounding me. I looked at sleeping-like-a-baby Grief with my slightly boozed up eyes. I smiled and mumbled: - He's pretty cute for such a gigantic beast. I wouldn't mind if we became friends. Maybe even best friends. He likes toys and I like toys too. Damn, we're like birds of a feather.
My happy face suddenly turned into a sad one. In the past, when I was young and naive, I used to believe I could find and join a group of people I had something in common with. But no. I tried with different groups - vegetarians, otaku, bronies, even asexuals. Results have always been the same - failure. After not finding a single soulmate among the ''Aces'', I gave up on searching. I have focused on completely on me and my little treasures. I caught myself crying at the moment I recalled those unpleasant memories. That was not worth it, so I quickly swept my tears and thought about my beautiful and precious toys. I stood up slowly and made a decision to go out for an hour or two. I wanted to enlist some new ''recruits'' to my army. No. I don't mean killing anyone or anything. This time is about robbing stores. I couldn't help but grin just by thinking of dozens of toys I could add to my collection. That's right - no rules, no boundaries, only cravings. I broke into a toy store as big as a typical Toys R Us was before those have been closed permanently. ( R.I.P. Toys R Us ;-;) I've stolen one of each sort of toy available in that store and left as soon as I could. That took me less than half an hour. Not bad at all, huh? As for the security system - I simply deactivated it all before entering the store. No alarms, no security camera recordings, nothing at all. Not a single clue to identify me as a toy thief. Besides, I highly doubted if any of those bird-brained humans would notice any difference. '' Before the next time they do inventory, just to find out about humongous lacks in their goods, I'll be already finished with my conspiracy against the Irken Empire'' - I thought, grinning in a malicious way. Oops! Almost forgot - from the moment I teleported myself to rob the store til my return to the mansion I was in my teddy bear form. I came back to the attic. Grief was still sleeping deeply, covered with a big, soft blanket I gave him earlier. He was squeezing a king-size My Little Pony G3 plushie. I got bored waiting for the morning to come. I've read few chapters of ''Sailor Moon'', listened to few of my favourite songs ( with headphones, of course) and drank two more beers. I barely drank the last drops from second bottle when I was given a vision from one of my toys. I saw some kind of camp. There were several strange- looking figures gathering around the source of bright, greenish light.
'' Huh? Hold up! Those silhouettes... Is that true? Or is it just an illusion created by my blocked mind?'' - I struggled with my thoughts. My bee plushie came closer, staying unnoticed. That enabled me to see the strangers much better. Now I had no doubts: they were aliens. But not just any aliens. They were... THE RESISTY!