LIVING ROOM 12:45 a.m.
"Johnny, would you please make them stop?" Angel buried her face further into the pillow, muttering curses against their instructors.
"No, shelia. I think that if you three can have too much fun with little boys then it's only fair that you get instructions on proper technique; continued, mates." John placed another sheet of typing paper into the typewriter than scrolled it upward, beginning to work on his next novel. "Anything For a Price."
Remy cleared his throat then pointed to his 'magic chalk board' with a stick of dark blue chalk. Several bits of it were smudged across his face cand arms; other parts had been ground into a fine dust on his shirt.
"De next lessons come wit' de theory of biting during sex. Dat not be a turn on, petites, dat be creepy to any guy especially dis Cajun. Pay attention!" His ruler hit the floor, hard.
The move was lost on Natasha who was sleeping on one couch and Tara who was meditating on the other side of the room, listening to what sounded oddly like the soundtrack to The Sound of Music. Angel rolled over onto her back, staring at the ceiling.
"We already know this, Remy!"she sighed, irritably, staring up at the kalediscope colored ceiling. "Where'd Logan and Kitty Kat go?"
"Outside,"came Tara's response from the floor. The odd part thing whole thing was her back was facing them and her eyes were closed while she sat indian-style on the floor. "Last I heard they were swapping stories and smoking cigars."
John looked up, abruptly, pushing aside his newly prescriptioned glasses. "Stories? Ah, I remember stories from Australia with me mates...."
"Dat's enough. Lesson number t'ree...having sex with animals is a no. Dat be cruel and it be creepy at de same time,"Remy said, drawing what might have been a large sea lion on the chalk board. He then drew a few details such as flowers, grass, squirrels. "Dis be de sea lion, king of de dry land."
Angel cleared her throat. "Remy, hon, sea lions ain't dry land creatures...they're more water tolerant."
"SEA LION!" The shriek came from the front door. Kat stood there, staring with profound hatred at the chalk-drawn picture while her new cronies-Kellie and Derek hung around behind her, attempting and failing to look tough. All three looked like a bunch of nuts. "Argh...kill it, my fairy guardians. Kill it!"
She pointed to the sea lion with another shriek seconds before the two demons ,um, kids ran at it, screaming.
1:36
"You haven't seen the last of us!" Sabertooth's growl was barely heard over the sound of retreating car engines. Remy and Logan's car vanished from the driveway at the same moment when he disappeared into the woods.
John Allerdyce turned back to the children gathered before him. All looked much too bright-eyed and straight-faced to be the group of kids that had tormented his thoughts all night. He couldn't deal with this tonight.
"All of you, GO TO BED. And I mean stay there." He pointed toward the hall, putting on his stern face. He crossed both arms, glowering until the misbehaving adolescents slinked off to their rooms; all appeared ready to cry at any moment. "I MEAN TO STAY IN THERE UNTIL MORNING, MATES AND SHELIAS!"
"YES, JOHN!"
John coughed once then settled into his chair again, sliding in another sheet of paper. He scrolled it upward for a few moments then smiled, beginning to type.
Chapter Two: Price of a Soul
MORNING 8:30
Voice Overture: As of this moment the children have been sharing a house and chaperones for two months. They have had trials and tribulations beyond the normal along with facing the terror of the Summers people. Nothing could prepare them for this morning....house cleaning duties.
"You wanted to play and have a good time last night, mates? You thought a little hanky panky in the bedrooms would fix your problems, shelias?" John paced in front of the assembled line-up. He looked at each of them then returned to the counter, taking up a straw bucket filled with small, white, folded sheets of paper. "Guess what, mates? This is my ship now so you all just...fall in line to recieve your orders!"
"Do we really have to listen to him?"Ashley leaned over to ask the question to Tara and Angel who stood behind her. "I mean, what can he really do?"
Angel shrugged.
"A duet with Kat?"Tara suggested then shuddered with everyone else at the possibility. She placed her hand into the basket and withdrew a note, studying it. "Kitchen duty."
"Yay, I get to work with Tara!" Kellie threw her arms around the frog-like teenager, causing to freeze up. "Oh, we'll have so much fun and get to be life long friends."
"Someone save me."
"Sorry, Tara, but I got bedroom duty. Ashley's got the job of cleaning up outside...with Russ." Angel smirked at the notation then quickly removed it at Ashley's glare.
"Can't I change tasks with someone, John? Please? I don't want to work with Russ...he stares at me all the time,"she whined, pouting. Strange since the scowl hadn't left her face for more than a few moments in their entire time here. "I'll be good. It's just...Russ scares me."
John chuckled. "Speak of the devil and he shows up. G'day, mate."
"Hello, John. Angel, Tara, Kellie...my beloved." Russ smiled for a moment before vanishing outside with a flapping black trash bag. The door slammed behind him, much too loudly.
"Nope. I think you'll be staying where you are...I don't really like the influence you have on my sweet little friend Angel, shelia.....what's so funny?" John stared at the hysterical bunch of teenagers in front of him. Ashley and Tara were leaning against the wall, laughing but the strange was Angel who laid on the floor, laughing."Did I say something funny?"
"Yeah, you put Angel and sweet in a sentence together." Tara coughed to clear her throat after their laughing fit. She spit out a mouthful of that green goo stuff of hers; it hit his shirt then slid down. "Oops."
"Seriously, even I know not to do that,"Angel pointed out, smirking now that she'd recovered. She stood up and wiped dirt off herself; she picked up a load of sheets from the table. "Time to go clean bedrooms. See you guys later. Bye, Johnny!"
Ashley watched her retreat then glanced at Tara. "Is it legal to be that happy about cleaning up bedrooms?"
"Not usually. Now, go outside and play with your lover."
"Why me?"she sighed but regretablly made her way outside, closing the door behind her. One last sound was heard before it slammed. "What the hell are you doing with a pink chicken?"
"Flamingo!"
BEDROOMS 10:45
"The creepy undead spider came crawling in our tent. Down came the shoe and the spider's legs were bent, up rose the spider and crawled out in the rain. Soon the creepy undead spider will crawl back in again." Kat threw the blanket off the bed, folding it up over the headboard and leaving the bottom part of the bed bear.
"Kat, do you NOT know how to make up a bed?"Angel asked, looking up from dusting off a bookcase and the mirror on top. She dropped the rag onto the dresser then walked over, taking the blankets from the headboard. "Take one side."
She stared at it a moment then picked it up, bunching it into a ball.
"The side, Kat, the side."
She took up one side, holding it for a moment then tossed it into the air. It bloomed out then fell onto the bed in parachute form; the blankets covered the entire bed for a moment then fell off. Kat stared a moment then burst into tears.
"It's not the end of the world, Kat. It's just making beds...why don't you try dusting and I'll make the bed?" Angel gave her a hopeful look, already begining to pick up the covers and place them on the bed, smoothing out wrinkles. "It would be easier."
"Yes, my friend, but if the Pixie Princesses jumps out what do I do?" Kat abandoned the covers then went to the dresser. She wiped her tears away with the dust rag before beginning to spray rather than mist the mirror with chemicals.
"Try to sell her Johnny's novel for a price."
"Who's Johnny?" She looked completely clueless.
"Pyro, Kat, Pryo. Pyro. Pyro." She flapped the covers a moment then tucked them under the mattress; she studied her handiwork then nodded. "Another satisfied customer and just to be sure it's right..."
Angel backed up a few steps then ran and jumped on the bed, bouncing on the balls of her feet for a moment. She stopped when her head smacked the ceiling.
"It's good...Kat, what are you doing...? Stop that...Kat!"
OUTSIDE 10:50
Voice Overture: An hour earlier Ashley has abandoned our fork-loving hero, Russ Collins. Russ at this very moment has become intent upon filling large, black plastic bags with leaves. The window curtain of an upstairs bedroom rustles...who could it be? {voice fades out}
"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!" Russ stared, longingly up toward the window yet again with the look of a lost puppy.
Ashley looked down at him a moment then shook her head. "Stop rippin' off that dead, white poet guy, Russ! You just killed an already dead play,"she called before slamming the window shut. It came up again for a moment. "And you might want to recover your leaves."
He turned only to be greeted by leaves scattered all over the yard and spilling from his bag. No one else was in sight.
"Noooo, the aliens have struck again!"
KITCHEN 11:00
"Kellie, stop pouring soap in there! The dishes are already drowning...."
FARTHEST BEDROOM 11:00
Natasha turned over and buried her head in a pillow, muttering something about 'toads attacking'.
LIVING ROOM 12:30
Within the few hours of housework John had undergone a transformation. He paced the length of the room wearing what looked suspiciously like the twin to Kat's army uniform. He held a lighter in one hand, controlling it into little animals that walked across his hand before changing.
"After finishing the first few chapters of my novel I have decided to give an update on your cleaning duties, mates and shelias." He stopped walking, directly in front of Tara. "You, shelia, did a splendid job with the kitchen despite your less intelligence...mate." He returned to pacing. "The bedrooms? They're good, beautifully done if not a little 'wet'. Outside didn't improve much but who am I to expect perfection from the two stupidest members of my crew, mate?"
Ashley glowered at him. "I ain't stupid!" Her statement was proved a little less true when a fork clattered off of Russ' nose; four more laid across his nose, balancing by their bowls.
"I give up, mates and shelias. For the next twenty-four hours...LEAVE ME AND MY NOVEL ALONE." John picked up his typewriter and a giant stack of paper then stalker off. He was met in the hall by a barely awake Natasha Creed.
Natasha rubbed her eyes, stared at him a moment, then shook her head. "I'm not going to question, Joh, I'm really not."
"I give up!" The bedroom door slammed afterwhile leaving them all in silence. All eyes went to Natasha.
She barely blinked. "What..? What did I do? I haven't been up long enough to cause a problem..."
"Johnny, would you please make them stop?" Angel buried her face further into the pillow, muttering curses against their instructors.
"No, shelia. I think that if you three can have too much fun with little boys then it's only fair that you get instructions on proper technique; continued, mates." John placed another sheet of typing paper into the typewriter than scrolled it upward, beginning to work on his next novel. "Anything For a Price."
Remy cleared his throat then pointed to his 'magic chalk board' with a stick of dark blue chalk. Several bits of it were smudged across his face cand arms; other parts had been ground into a fine dust on his shirt.
"De next lessons come wit' de theory of biting during sex. Dat not be a turn on, petites, dat be creepy to any guy especially dis Cajun. Pay attention!" His ruler hit the floor, hard.
The move was lost on Natasha who was sleeping on one couch and Tara who was meditating on the other side of the room, listening to what sounded oddly like the soundtrack to The Sound of Music. Angel rolled over onto her back, staring at the ceiling.
"We already know this, Remy!"she sighed, irritably, staring up at the kalediscope colored ceiling. "Where'd Logan and Kitty Kat go?"
"Outside,"came Tara's response from the floor. The odd part thing whole thing was her back was facing them and her eyes were closed while she sat indian-style on the floor. "Last I heard they were swapping stories and smoking cigars."
John looked up, abruptly, pushing aside his newly prescriptioned glasses. "Stories? Ah, I remember stories from Australia with me mates...."
"Dat's enough. Lesson number t'ree...having sex with animals is a no. Dat be cruel and it be creepy at de same time,"Remy said, drawing what might have been a large sea lion on the chalk board. He then drew a few details such as flowers, grass, squirrels. "Dis be de sea lion, king of de dry land."
Angel cleared her throat. "Remy, hon, sea lions ain't dry land creatures...they're more water tolerant."
"SEA LION!" The shriek came from the front door. Kat stood there, staring with profound hatred at the chalk-drawn picture while her new cronies-Kellie and Derek hung around behind her, attempting and failing to look tough. All three looked like a bunch of nuts. "Argh...kill it, my fairy guardians. Kill it!"
She pointed to the sea lion with another shriek seconds before the two demons ,um, kids ran at it, screaming.
1:36
"You haven't seen the last of us!" Sabertooth's growl was barely heard over the sound of retreating car engines. Remy and Logan's car vanished from the driveway at the same moment when he disappeared into the woods.
John Allerdyce turned back to the children gathered before him. All looked much too bright-eyed and straight-faced to be the group of kids that had tormented his thoughts all night. He couldn't deal with this tonight.
"All of you, GO TO BED. And I mean stay there." He pointed toward the hall, putting on his stern face. He crossed both arms, glowering until the misbehaving adolescents slinked off to their rooms; all appeared ready to cry at any moment. "I MEAN TO STAY IN THERE UNTIL MORNING, MATES AND SHELIAS!"
"YES, JOHN!"
John coughed once then settled into his chair again, sliding in another sheet of paper. He scrolled it upward for a few moments then smiled, beginning to type.
Chapter Two: Price of a Soul
MORNING 8:30
Voice Overture: As of this moment the children have been sharing a house and chaperones for two months. They have had trials and tribulations beyond the normal along with facing the terror of the Summers people. Nothing could prepare them for this morning....house cleaning duties.
"You wanted to play and have a good time last night, mates? You thought a little hanky panky in the bedrooms would fix your problems, shelias?" John paced in front of the assembled line-up. He looked at each of them then returned to the counter, taking up a straw bucket filled with small, white, folded sheets of paper. "Guess what, mates? This is my ship now so you all just...fall in line to recieve your orders!"
"Do we really have to listen to him?"Ashley leaned over to ask the question to Tara and Angel who stood behind her. "I mean, what can he really do?"
Angel shrugged.
"A duet with Kat?"Tara suggested then shuddered with everyone else at the possibility. She placed her hand into the basket and withdrew a note, studying it. "Kitchen duty."
"Yay, I get to work with Tara!" Kellie threw her arms around the frog-like teenager, causing to freeze up. "Oh, we'll have so much fun and get to be life long friends."
"Someone save me."
"Sorry, Tara, but I got bedroom duty. Ashley's got the job of cleaning up outside...with Russ." Angel smirked at the notation then quickly removed it at Ashley's glare.
"Can't I change tasks with someone, John? Please? I don't want to work with Russ...he stares at me all the time,"she whined, pouting. Strange since the scowl hadn't left her face for more than a few moments in their entire time here. "I'll be good. It's just...Russ scares me."
John chuckled. "Speak of the devil and he shows up. G'day, mate."
"Hello, John. Angel, Tara, Kellie...my beloved." Russ smiled for a moment before vanishing outside with a flapping black trash bag. The door slammed behind him, much too loudly.
"Nope. I think you'll be staying where you are...I don't really like the influence you have on my sweet little friend Angel, shelia.....what's so funny?" John stared at the hysterical bunch of teenagers in front of him. Ashley and Tara were leaning against the wall, laughing but the strange was Angel who laid on the floor, laughing."Did I say something funny?"
"Yeah, you put Angel and sweet in a sentence together." Tara coughed to clear her throat after their laughing fit. She spit out a mouthful of that green goo stuff of hers; it hit his shirt then slid down. "Oops."
"Seriously, even I know not to do that,"Angel pointed out, smirking now that she'd recovered. She stood up and wiped dirt off herself; she picked up a load of sheets from the table. "Time to go clean bedrooms. See you guys later. Bye, Johnny!"
Ashley watched her retreat then glanced at Tara. "Is it legal to be that happy about cleaning up bedrooms?"
"Not usually. Now, go outside and play with your lover."
"Why me?"she sighed but regretablly made her way outside, closing the door behind her. One last sound was heard before it slammed. "What the hell are you doing with a pink chicken?"
"Flamingo!"
BEDROOMS 10:45
"The creepy undead spider came crawling in our tent. Down came the shoe and the spider's legs were bent, up rose the spider and crawled out in the rain. Soon the creepy undead spider will crawl back in again." Kat threw the blanket off the bed, folding it up over the headboard and leaving the bottom part of the bed bear.
"Kat, do you NOT know how to make up a bed?"Angel asked, looking up from dusting off a bookcase and the mirror on top. She dropped the rag onto the dresser then walked over, taking the blankets from the headboard. "Take one side."
She stared at it a moment then picked it up, bunching it into a ball.
"The side, Kat, the side."
She took up one side, holding it for a moment then tossed it into the air. It bloomed out then fell onto the bed in parachute form; the blankets covered the entire bed for a moment then fell off. Kat stared a moment then burst into tears.
"It's not the end of the world, Kat. It's just making beds...why don't you try dusting and I'll make the bed?" Angel gave her a hopeful look, already begining to pick up the covers and place them on the bed, smoothing out wrinkles. "It would be easier."
"Yes, my friend, but if the Pixie Princesses jumps out what do I do?" Kat abandoned the covers then went to the dresser. She wiped her tears away with the dust rag before beginning to spray rather than mist the mirror with chemicals.
"Try to sell her Johnny's novel for a price."
"Who's Johnny?" She looked completely clueless.
"Pyro, Kat, Pryo. Pyro. Pyro." She flapped the covers a moment then tucked them under the mattress; she studied her handiwork then nodded. "Another satisfied customer and just to be sure it's right..."
Angel backed up a few steps then ran and jumped on the bed, bouncing on the balls of her feet for a moment. She stopped when her head smacked the ceiling.
"It's good...Kat, what are you doing...? Stop that...Kat!"
OUTSIDE 10:50
Voice Overture: An hour earlier Ashley has abandoned our fork-loving hero, Russ Collins. Russ at this very moment has become intent upon filling large, black plastic bags with leaves. The window curtain of an upstairs bedroom rustles...who could it be? {voice fades out}
"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!" Russ stared, longingly up toward the window yet again with the look of a lost puppy.
Ashley looked down at him a moment then shook her head. "Stop rippin' off that dead, white poet guy, Russ! You just killed an already dead play,"she called before slamming the window shut. It came up again for a moment. "And you might want to recover your leaves."
He turned only to be greeted by leaves scattered all over the yard and spilling from his bag. No one else was in sight.
"Noooo, the aliens have struck again!"
KITCHEN 11:00
"Kellie, stop pouring soap in there! The dishes are already drowning...."
FARTHEST BEDROOM 11:00
Natasha turned over and buried her head in a pillow, muttering something about 'toads attacking'.
LIVING ROOM 12:30
Within the few hours of housework John had undergone a transformation. He paced the length of the room wearing what looked suspiciously like the twin to Kat's army uniform. He held a lighter in one hand, controlling it into little animals that walked across his hand before changing.
"After finishing the first few chapters of my novel I have decided to give an update on your cleaning duties, mates and shelias." He stopped walking, directly in front of Tara. "You, shelia, did a splendid job with the kitchen despite your less intelligence...mate." He returned to pacing. "The bedrooms? They're good, beautifully done if not a little 'wet'. Outside didn't improve much but who am I to expect perfection from the two stupidest members of my crew, mate?"
Ashley glowered at him. "I ain't stupid!" Her statement was proved a little less true when a fork clattered off of Russ' nose; four more laid across his nose, balancing by their bowls.
"I give up, mates and shelias. For the next twenty-four hours...LEAVE ME AND MY NOVEL ALONE." John picked up his typewriter and a giant stack of paper then stalker off. He was met in the hall by a barely awake Natasha Creed.
Natasha rubbed her eyes, stared at him a moment, then shook her head. "I'm not going to question, Joh, I'm really not."
"I give up!" The bedroom door slammed afterwhile leaving them all in silence. All eyes went to Natasha.
She barely blinked. "What..? What did I do? I haven't been up long enough to cause a problem..."