Author's note:
So now you can see the other reason for switching around the author's note so it wasn't at the end of last chapter: to add suspense lol.
I wanted to quickly note that the first scene is a flashback to Bridgit, Nia and Sam meeting Gus, which gives a bit of backstory as to how they influenced The Hex Girls' fame. This scene is supposed to be directly before the first concert at Jack's that we see in chapter 1 of this fanfic. And since it happens right away, I'll mention now that Nightmare is a reference to the band from "The Neon Phantom of the Roller Disco!", the fourth episode of The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show.
Months ago…
Gus was sitting in his office, just as he usually was at this hour. As he quickly did some paperwork for Nightmare, a band from Salem that he was managing, the record producer heard a knock at his door.
"Come in!" Gus invited.
The door swung open, revealing three young women: one with pink hair wearing all black clothing, another with black hair wearing a t-shirt with a skull on it, and finally a blonde. Gus noticed the blonde was wearing a Nightmare t-shirt, which he found quite charming. It was nice to see someone appreciate a band that he managed and was proud of.
"Hello! What can I do for you?" Gus inquired.
"Well, we've got some talent you're going to sign." the black-haired girl cryptically said.
"Well…that's not the way it works, I'm afraid." Gus chuckled, a hint of nervousness in his voice. "I'll certainly give them a listen, though, and see if I like them."
"Oh no, you're going to sign them whether you want to or not." the blonde growled.
"Excuse me?" Gus began getting a little defensive. Despite trying to maintain a confident demeanor, he still felt quite nervous. He had no idea who these girls were, and didn't understand why they were walking in like they owned the place.
"You heard her. You're going to sign this band." the black-haired girl snapped.
"And if I refuse?" Gus scoffed. Who did these ladies think they were, ordering him around like they owned the place?
"Well…you see, you don't want to do that." the pink-haired girl said. "Perhaps we should have started with an introduction. I'm Bridgit, this is Nia, and the blonde is Sam. We're witches."
"Witches?" Gus chuckled.
"Yes, witches. And we can make things very difficult for you if you refuse." Nia added.
"I'd like to see you try." Gus threatened. Witches didn't exist, as far as he was concerned, so there was little to fear. Perhaps this was some hazing ritual for a Salem State sorority, or some drunken college girls thinking they were being funny.
"Well, if you insist." Sam shrugged, as she pointed her right hand at him. All of a sudden, he felt a burning sensation on his back. The sensation continued to get stronger and stronger, causing him to reach back to feel where the pain was coming from. Once his hand approached the painful area, his hand felt a searing burn, similar to what one would feel from touching a hot oven. He immediately pulled his hand away.
"Yeah, you might not want to do that, given Sam just set you on fire." Nia cackled evilly.
At that same moment, Gus saw smoke in the air. It must be coming from his back, as the pain was getting even more excruciating by the second.
"Please! I'll do anything you want!" Gus sobbed, as the fire continued to burn his back.
With a snap of her fingers, the blonde brutalizer put the fire out.
"You made the right decision. We could do a lot worse to you if we wanted to. You seem like a smart fellow, so you don't want that, right?" Bridgit smirked cruelly.
"No! I don't!" Gus exclaimed, his back still radiating pain from being on fire.
"So here's what you're going to do then: you're going to schedule an appointment for a band named The Hex Girls tomorrow. When they come in, you're going to immediately love whatever they play, sign them, and become their manager." Bridgit said.
"We can't have them wondering how we're connected to you either, so we're going to need you to pretend to be Bridgit's father." Nia informed.
"What?" Gus exclaimed. It was clear these witches weren't just aimlessly wandering around torturing people for no reason; they had a very detailed plan. "This is so immoral! Why are you girls doing this?"
"Oh, you can let us worry about that." Nia smirked. "Your part in this is simple and easy. Since she's your daughter after all, Bridgit will be around here a lot more to help. You know, just to make sure you're following through with your promise."
"And if you're not, we have ways of figuring that stuff out. Like for example, you've been working on the Nightmare paperwork all day, and you've got to get it done by the end of the day. Right?" Bridgit had a sly smile on her face.
Gus's heart leaped. The girls hadn't even looked at his desk, and there's no way they could have known about the deadline for the paperwork unless…they could read his thoughts!
"So, are we agreed? You're going to pretend to be Bridgit's father, and manage The Hex Girls from now on." Bridgit recapped. "Just to remind you, if you don't agree, the other choice will result in us killing you."
What they were asking him to do was so immoral. Gus took talent and art very seriously. He had no idea if The Hex Girls were the next Backstreet Boys or if they sounded like a chaotic carnival catastrophe, and he didn't feel right about people building a career off of his lies. What choice did he have though? Either he could be complicit in three witches' master plan, or he would be tortured and killed in ways he couldn't even imagine.
"Yes, we're agreed." Gus somberly said.
"Good. Now, we've got a concert at Jack's to get to." Bridgit grinned evilly.
Present Day
Thorn felt so panicked about the events that had transpired that she didn't even really feel she could enjoy the concert. How was it even possible that their entire career could be based on three witches manipulating everything?
Perhaps the most frightening thing of all was that she couldn't tell Luna and Dusk about what had happened. The witches could read her thoughts - possibly - so even if she told them in private, Bridgit, Nia and Sam might know, and then she and Gus would likely be tortured or dead, possibly both.
She'd faced witches before, but this was different. Ben and Sarah couldn't read her thoughts or anticipate her every move, and besides, she wouldn't have even known how to defeat Ben or Sarah if not for one of the teens…she believed the orange sweatered one's name was Velma…encouraging her to read the right spell out of the book.
"Doing okay?" Luna patted Thorn on the back, as the seven of them began to leave the concert venue together. "You seemed a little off during the concert."
"Oh shit!" Thorn exclaimed, panicking. "Did I mess up and not notice it?"
"No, don't worry." Luna chuckled. "You just seemed a little less energized than normal is all. I don't think anyone in the crowd would have noticed."
"Oh…" Thorn felt a sigh of relief. She'd have to be more careful not to alert Dusk or Luna that anything was up. It was the worst feeling in the world, having to pretend you were okay when your friends were actually in serious danger from something you knew about, but couldn't tell them. "I'm just feeling really tired from all the driving."
"Well, we have a break tomorrow, girls. We'll drive to Indianapolis when everyone's up, but we can sleep in as late as we want. The show in Indianapolis isn't until the next day, so we can just explore or relax when we get there!" Gus exclaimed.
Thorn was surprised how calm Gus was remaining despite what had just happened. He totally just seemed like his normal self, just as he had all throughout the time Thorn knew him.
"Awesome! Where are we staying tonight?" Luna asked.
"We are staying at The Courtyard by Marriott Detroit, a very prestigious 21-floor hotel which has been open since 1985." Gus informed.
"Ooh, that sounds fancy!" Sam exclaimed.
Gus was still the walking travel brochure, which Thorn found endearing. She wished she could be as calm as him about this situation, but she supposed he'd had months to get used to playing the part. He had done so quite well, admittedly. Thorn really wished all the events of these past few months hadn't been staged, and she almost didn't want to come to terms with the fact that they were. These had been some of the best few months of their lives, and it was all a lie.
Thorn slept horribly in the hotel that night. When she wasn't tossing and turning, she was up trying to process through everything that had happened over the past few months. It wasn't helping that Thorn was feeling gross from being a little sweaty, probably a side effect of her worrying like crazy.
The black-haired Hex Girl tried to come up with rationales for how certain enjoyable things that had happened, like the Autumn Fest or recording their album and music video, weren't a part of Bridgit, Nia and Sam's trickery, but she feared that they probably were.
Most of all, Thorn worried about what the hell she was going to do now that she knew all this. Presumably, Bridgit, Nia and Sam weren't just making them famous for the fun of it. She remembered Sam had even made a comment that they were "so close." They almost positively had some reasoning behind it that was part of some grander plan. She just wished she knew what it was. Either way, Thorn knew she couldn't just sit here and let the three witches do whatever they had planned, but she didn't see much of a choice, especially given she didn't know why they were doing any of this. The witches could read her thoughts, at least to some extent, since they knew about the dream Thorn had despite her not telling anyone. If they could do that, what hope did she have? If she tried to come up with a plan to stop them herself, the witches would torture her and Gus. She felt like she could lay there for hours stuck in her head, trying to process through every interaction to see if she could gain some insight into why they were doing this, and if anything that had happened was the result of her own success, rather than whatever manipulation the witches had done to make the band famous.
Thorn knew she had probably only gotten two or three hours of sleep at the most last night, but she was tired of laying there. She felt so anxious about this situation that she couldn't sit still any longer. Looking at the clock, it was 7:04am, so breakfast would be available.
Maybe she'd just grab something to drink and then come back up to bed. She just needed to move. The Hex Girl quickly changed out of her pajamas and into her old "I Saw the Ghost of Oakhaven (And Lived)" t-shirt and some jeans, as to look at least presentable when she went downstairs in case she ran across anyone.
Luna was still sleeping comfortably next to her, cuddled up in a purple blanket she had brought along. Dusk looked cozy bundled up under the sheets as well, and was fast asleep. Thorn tried to creep out of the room as quietly as she could, so as not to wake them.
As Thorn walked down to the elevator, she passed a man carrying a duffle bag and a backpack, as well as a blanket and pillow. She was terrified of running into Bridgit, Nia or Sam, so she tried to get into the elevator as quickly as she could. Because her mind was still racing with thoughts, she had another frightening one: if Dusk hadn't allowed Bridgit to go into their room, then how had Bridgit been able to get in without anyone giving her the key? She quickly vanquished this thought from her mind, telling herself that she had probably left the door partly open in carelessness or something. Thorn wasn't fully convinced this was the explanation, but it was far less terrifying than any alternatives she could think up.
Thorn got to the breakfast area downstairs, and saw an array of bagels, muffins, toast, danishes and cereal. She saw a pitcher of orange juice - her least favorite kind, admittedly - that was nearly empty. Thorn poured out the little bit remaining, which resulted in nearly a full glass, which she quickly drank. She was getting more creeped out by the moment with the fear of the witches popping up out of nowhere, so she wanted to get back up to the safety of her room as quickly as she could. Maybe her room wasn't actually safe though, if Bridgit had used her powers to bust into the room…ugh. Thorn couldn't shut her mind off. A million possibilities ran through her head of all the horrible things the witches could do to her. She tried to quench her anxiety by telling herself that they wouldn't do anything if Dusk and Luna were around, since they very clearly did not want the other two Hex Girls to know that they were witches. All Thorn had to do is just stick by Dusk and Luna at all times, and the witches wouldn't do anything to her.
Thorn scurried upstairs back to the safety of Luna and Dusk. She was feeling herself getting a little tired again from the constant worrying. Using her key, she quickly snuck back into the room and plopped her head down on the pillow. Maybe she'd just take a post-bed nap, as silly as that sounded. As soon as her head hit the pillow, Thorn was fast asleep.
Thorn woke up, feeling disoriented. The first thing she did was look at the clock, which read 9:54. She'd apparently slept longer than she'd thought she would! She was happy about that though, as she needed the sleep.
As she slowly woke up and adjusted to the surroundings of the dark hotel room, she flipped on the lights. Dusk and Luna weren't in the room, and were likely eating breakfast. Although the three-hour break from consciousness (otherwise known as worrying, since she felt like she was worrying every waking moment) was quite nice, Thorn wanted to get downstairs as quickly as she could. The last thing she needed was Bridgit coming into their room for another one of her rummaging sessions while Thorn was still there.
Thorn put her dark purple and white tennis shoes on. Just as she was about to head out the door, she heard a crinkle under her feet. Feeling confused, Thorn bent over to see what she had stepped on. It appeared to be some kind of note.
The black-haired Hex Girl picked up the piece of paper lying on the floor. Her eyes immediately gravitated towards the bottom to see who it was from. Her heart raced when she saw who had signed it: Gus.
Fearing that one of the witches might try to read her thoughts, Thorn ran straight for the bathroom. It was an embarrassing place to read the note, but maybe her being in the bathroom would prevent them from reading her thoughts, if they were trying to. Reading someone's thoughts when they were going to the bathroom isn't something they'd likely do…at least Thorn hoped.
Seeing that it was a pretty long note, Thorn sat down on the tile floor and began to read what Gus had written.
Thorn,
Let me start out by saying that I can not tell you how sorry I am. Whether it was in my control or not, I knowingly have been leading you girls on for the past three months. Even if it was due to being threatened, it was not right of me to do so, and I may never forgive myself.
Given what happened last night, I figured you might want to know a bit of backstory. I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I know. One day before I "discovered" you, Bridgit, Nia and Sam came into my office and tortured me, until I agreed to sign you as a band. This being said, I want you to know that I do think you have talent, and I genuinely did love your music. The sad thing is they wouldn't have even had to use torture to get me to sign you. You girls are genuinely talented, and I have really enjoyed my time with you. However, I'm afraid to tell you that your rise to fame was a matter of them manipulating the charts so your song would appear on them. They predicted the position your album would chart at each day when it was first released, and those are exactly the numbers it charted at. Sadly, this can only lead me to believe that your song's entire performance has been a result of Bridgit, Nia and Sam using their powers to manipulate the charts. In other words, that is to say, none of this fame you have seen is real. I wish I knew more, but that is all I know. I don't know what they have planned, but it can't be good.
While hearing you found out about Bridgit, Nia and Sam being witches last night was quite frightening for me, it also gave me some hope. When they first forced me to perpetuate this charade, the girls told me that they never wanted you to find out that they were witches. The fact that you found out tells me that they slipped up, meaning that they are perhaps less powerful than I thought.
I know there is great risk that comes with writing and giving you this note, but I felt I had to try. The only alternative is sitting here and waiting to find out what they have planned, which can't be anything good. We cannot go off on our own at any point, otherwise Bridgit, Nia and Sam will suspect we're planning something. I would like to propose something, however: we should attempt to meet at night, when everyone is sleeping. If you want to risk it, meet me twelve blocks north of our hotel in Indianapolis at exactly one minute before midnight tonight. We cannot sit here complacently and watch these fiends hurt Dusk and Luna.
Sincerely,
Gus
Thorn felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest after she finished reading the note. Meeting Gus at midnight seemed like a big risk, and not one she was willing to take. She'd just found out that three of her biggest fans, who she trusted, were evil witches who could read minds, so she wasn't exactly eager to test out to what extent their powers reached. Her mind was swirling with so many different thoughts, but she tried to push them all from her head. She needed to get down to breakfast before anyone walked in on her, whether that be Dusk or Luna, or the witches. She also knew she couldn't let the witches get their hands on it, so she tore up the note into tiny shreds, and flushed it down the toilet. She feared it could perhaps be bad for the plumbing, but it would be far worse if Bridgit, Nia and Sam saw it and killed them as a result.
Reading the note from Gus did give her some hope, however. He was right, after all. Unstoppable beings don't make foolish mistakes like sneaking into people's rooms a few seconds after you think they're gone, only to have someone catch you. Bridgit had screwed up once, which means she - or any of them - could again.
Thorn saw her friends (and fiends) gathered around a small square table eating breakfast. Bridgit had an everything bagel with butter, Nia nibbled on a regular bagel with strawberry jam, whilst Gus and Luna had muffins, and Dusk and Sam had some cereal. Thorn switched it up a little bit this morning and had a danish, since there was no milk to go with her cereal.
"Good morning, Thorn!" Bridgit chirped, as if she hadn't just threatened to kill her the previous night. "How'd you sleep?"
"Oh, just okay. I was kind of restless last night." Thorn said, before realizing she didn't want to give off the vibe that anything was up. "All this traveling from hotel to hotel is kinda weird."
"You'll be far more comfortable in our next hotel." Gus said. For a minute, Thorn wondered if he was making a reference to the fact that she'd feel better after sneaking out and talking to him tonight, but she quickly pushed that thought from her mind. It turned out that wasn't the case. "We'll be staying in a luxurious Omni Severin Hotel, which has been open for over a hundred years. It will be the fanciest of our hotels yet."
"Oh my gosh, daddy! You always pick out the coolest places." Bridgit smiled, as she wrapped her arms tightly around her "father" and gave him a huge hug, pressing her face up against his chest.
Thorn shuddered a little bit. What probably looked like a cute family moment to everyone else was in reality a subtle way to make Gus feel as weird as possible. She wondered if Bridgit was doing it to be sadistic, or because she was trying to overcompensate now that Thorn found out. Thorn really hoped it was the latter, because that would validate Gus's theory that Bridgit wasn't as powerful as Thorn feared.
"So how far is it again to Indianapolis?" Nia inquired.
"Five hours, I think." Dusk responded, in between bites of her cereal.
"That's not too long!" Sam exclaimed.
It was weird to watch everyone interact like nothing had happened, particularly Nia and Sam. All the darkness of the events of the previous night may not have been in the air, but Thorn still felt more terrified than ever. She thought she was doing a pretty good job making sure it didn't show, though.
"What do we want to do when we get there?" Luna inquired.
"Sleep?" Thorn joked.
"You do what you want, but I'm not sleeping the day away. We've got a whole extra day in this city, so we've gotta live it up!" Dusk replied. "I wish we were doing a show, though. It's so fucking invigorating to rock out in front of thousands of people."
"That's not the word I would use, but okay." Luna responded.
"What word would you use?" Dusk inquired.
"Exhausting?" Luna teased in response, causing Dusk to roll her eyes.
"What's there even to do in Indianapolis?" Sam inquired.
"Well, there's an art museum, the Central Canal, a park, and a zoo, off the top of my head." Gus listed.
"An art museum could be fun." Luna offered.
"Yeah. I'd love to do something fun like that." Thorn spoke up. She admittedly just wanted to make sure there wasn't ever a time where she had to be alone, and would do anything to have structured activities out in public so that there wasn't any chance of an uncomfortable situation with the witches. "How about the museum, then the park? Maybe we could even do the zoo and Central Canal if we have time today or tomorrow."
"I believe the park is about ten minutes away from the art museum, so that should work." Gus informed.
"How do you remember all that information about everywhere we're traveling, Gus?" Dusk asked.
"Well, I've gone through these cities a few times, touring with other bands." Gus blushed, looking embarrassed that he remembered all these insignificant details. "My memory is excellent in remembering stuff like this."
"Don't be embarrassed! I think it's wicked cool you remember all that stuff." Nia complimented.
Thorn wondered how it felt for Gus to take a completely fake tour after all the real ones he'd taken. She also wondered if Nia was faking her compliment, though Thorn was pretty sure she was. What was most terrifying to Thorn was that all of them (including Gus) played their parts so well that it was almost as if Thorn finding out nothing was real the previous night hadn't even happened.
The trip to Indianapolis felt oddly short, even though it was a five-hour drive. Perhaps Thorn was getting used to traveling such long distances, because the trip went incredibly fast. Just a few days ago, five hours in the car would have sounded like torture to her.
"Do we want to stop at the hotel to drop everything off first?" Nia inquired, as she turned left at a green stoplight.
"The museum closes at 4." Gus shared. "It's 3 now, so I don't think we'll have time."
"Where's the museum again?" Nia inquired.
Gus pulled out a map and quickly gazed at it. "Take another right turn onto North Michigan Avenue, and keep going straight. The museum should come up quickly after that."
"Okay." Nia took another right turn as she approached North Michigan Avenue.
"I've never been to an art museum before, since we don't have one in Oakhaven." Luna commented. "This will be cool!"
"Eh…seems pretty boring to me. I'd much rather be out in nature than look at some dusty old artworks." Sam sighed.
"Yeah…I kind of agree." Dusk said.
"Oh c'mon, you two, where's your sense of adventure and fun? It's cool to see into the chaos of people's minds through their art." Bridgit responded.
"I guess…I just don't see what's fun about staring at artwork after artwork for hours." Dusk shrugged.
"Okay, here we are: The Newfields Museum." Nia alerted.
The museum looked immaculate. There appeared to be four levels in the museum, and the walls were entirely made of glass windows. Four trees with their leaves a bright color of maroon surrounded the outside of the museum, along with a few more shrubbish looking trees to the side. A big banner was hanging across the outside of the building, which read "check out our Japanese Edo exhibit with 75 new scrolls!"
"Wow…this is actually beautiful." Dusk gasped, as they left their tour van and headed into the museum.
Once they had walked in, everyone began to split up and look at different pieces of art. Gus and Luna went to the left to look at the Japanese Edo exhibit, Dusk, Nia and Sam headed for an exhibit upstairs, and Bridgit and Thorn went to the right. Thorn admittedly was so enthralled at looking at an abstract painting featuring an orange, a cup of coffee, and a pencil that she hadn't even noticed that she and Bridgit were the only ones remaining together. She wished she would have seen where the others had gone, so she could have scurried over to them. She supposed that Bridgit wouldn't risk confronting her when the others could come back at any moment. She'd likely be a lot more cautious after her recent mistake which led to Thorn discovering her secret.
Thorn continued studying the abstract painting, trying to think about what could have been going through the artist's head when they painted it.
After a matter of moments, Thorn felt a tap on the shoulder. She spun around and saw it was her pink-haired associate.
"Hey." Bridgit said in a sweet voice. "I just wanted to check to make sure you're doing okay. You seem a little quiet today."
"Oh…no. I'm fine." Thorn said, a bit shocked. "How are you?"
"I'm fabulous!" Bridgit chirped. "You know, it's just one of those weeks where things are all working out for me."
Thorn shuddered. Bridgit sweetly checking on her and making cryptic remarks was honestly more terrifying than the aggressive confrontation she was expecting.
Thankfully, Bridgit hadn't bothered Thorn again at the museum. It didn't seem like she wanted to take the normal route of making things uncomfortable through anger. Rather, Bridgit seemed like she wanted to psychologically confuse the hell out of her so that Thorn didn't know what to think anymore.
"Wow, this looks beautiful." Luna gasped, as the van arrived at the park and everyone proceeded to get out.
"Almost as beautiful as the museum." Dusk added. "That was actually more fun than I thought it'd be."
"Well, I thought it was boring." Sam admitted. "I don't know how you can all just sit around and look at art forever."
"You just have to take a moment to appreciate the art, and talk about it." Nia responded. "Dusk and I had a fun time discussing what each artwork meant. Maybe you would have too, if you wouldn't have zoomed around the place like it was the Indy 500."
"Hey, can we go to the Indy 500? We're in Indianapolis after all." Sam argued.
"That only happens once a year, in May." Bridgit rolled her eyes. "Anyway, do you guys want to split up and take a walk? I was thinking maybe it'd be nice for Dusk, Luna and Thorn to spend some time together. They've hardly gotten a moment alone with each other since we left, other than in their hotel rooms when they were sleeping, I guess. Sam, Nia and I can walk a different direction."
"What about Gus?" Luna asked.
"Oh…well, he can go with you three, if that's okay." Bridgit responded.
Now Thorn was really confused. Why would Bridgit suggest she and Gus take a walk alone with Luna and Dusk? That seemed like the last thing Bridgit would want, since it would provide an opportunity to inform Dusk and Luna about Sam, Nia and Bridgit's true identities. Thorn still didn't know the extent of their mind control powers, but if they were able to read her mind at will to know about the dream, then they'd most certainly be trying to read her and Gus's minds while alone with Dusk and Luna. Clearly the torture strategy Bridgit was using was the power of confusing her helpless victims. Quite frankly, it was working.
"That's fine by us." Dusk said.
"Okay, we should plan to meet back here in about an hour." Bridgit offered.
"Sounds good. See you soon!" Thorn waved. She admittedly wondered if Gus would bring the secret up, but she figured he was smart enough not to do that. It was super clear to her that Bridgit was trying to set them up in some way, though she didn't quite know how.
"How are you doing, Gus?" Luna inquired.
"Me?" Gus asked, a bit surprised. "I'm doing great."
"I'm glad." Luna smiled. "I know the attention's all on us because we're the ones touring, but you've been so busy with setting stuff up that I wanted to make sure you were doing alright too."
"That's really sweet of you, Luna." Gus appreciated. "How have you been doing? You've seemed a little…on edge…this entire trip."
"Yeah." Luna sighed. "I guess it's just that…"
Luna paused for a moment. It was clear from her slightly scrunched facial expression that she was deep in thought, trying to ponder how to best answer Gus's question.
After a few moments of pause, she spoke again.
"I love the band. I love playing music and sharing it with everyone." Luna took another brief pause, clearly trying to be thoughtful about her words before speaking. "But I'm not sure if I like touring."
"Oh god, you're not quitting the band, are you?" Dusk harrumphed.
"No, no, no…nothing like that." Luna quickly backtracked. Thorn looked over at Gus for a moment, and saw he had a bit of a stern expression on his face immediately after Dusk made her comment. "I love this band and writing music with you guys. I wouldn't give that up for the world. It's just so overwhelming, and I'm not sure if I want that kind of life."
"Are you nuts?" Dusk shouted. "This is like everyone's dream! People shouting our names, coming up to us begging for our autographs, and treating us like we're super important? Touring is pretty much just basking in the fact that people love you."
Now Thorn had a stern expression on her face. She was enjoying traveling and touring, as well as meeting some of their fans, but everything Dusk had just said screamed narcissism. Enjoying sharing your music with people was one thing, but basing your whole self-worth on it like Dusk was doing was taking it too far. It felt like Dusk was getting lost in fame.
Luna's face wore an unhappy expression as well, however, hers looked more like discomfort. Thorn didn't blame her, quite frankly. Luna had opened up to her closest friends, only to be immediately shut down simply because she didn't feel the same way about touring as Dusk did.
"Luna, let me assure you right now, everything you're experiencing is normal." Gus comforted.
"It is?" Luna looked a little surprised. "You mean, like, I'll get used to it in a couple days?"
"Well…you might." Gus looked like he was trying to be cautious on how he chose his words. "And you might not. Either feeling is equally valid. Touring life isn't all about basking in fame and fortune. For some, it can be very stressful to put themselves out there like that, performing in front of thousands of people. Some people get past it, and some people don't. There's nothing wrong with the people that don't get past it; it just means it's not something they put a lot of value in. In fact, I'd argue it's healthy not to put too much value in what others think of you, because you're only eventually going to be let down. You can't base your worth on how others behave with you."
Thorn felt all her fear around the Bridgit issue embolden her to confront Dusk. It felt good to invest a little of her energy in another issue, rather than placing so much weight on an issue that felt all-consuming to Thorn at the moment.
"Dusk, there's nothing wrong with Luna not enjoying touring life. Just because you're enjoying it and she's not doesn't somehow make you better than her." Thorn challenged.
"I never said that!" Dusk snapped. "I was just surprised is all. Thousands of people are coming to listen to our music every night, so I guess I just thought that Luna would be a bit more excited about our newfound fame."
"Good." Thorn responded. "Everybody enjoys different things, and that's okay. Or maybe it's also just too overwhelming for Luna, and that's also perfectly normal. Some people handle it better than others, and it doesn't mean Luna's weak for getting overwhelmed."
"You don't need to lecture me, Thorn!" Dusk growled. "I got the point."
"Anyway, how are you enjoying the tour, Thorn?" Gus inquired. "We know Dusk loves it, and Luna's not sure, but we haven't really talked about if you've been liking it."
"I'm enjoying it for the most part." Thorn responded. "I guess I get kind of nervous being up on stage in front of all those people, and sometimes feel like I don't know how to be myself. I want to like it, though."
"I'm glad!" Gus smiled. "Just keep watching how you feel, and keep us updated. Like you said, there's no shame if tour life isn't for you. This month-long tour is a nice test for you all to see if you'd enjoy doing this kind of thing long-term. Many artists tour for months at a time, so this shorter tour is a nice experiment for you all."
"Oh thank gosh we're only gone for a month." Luna exclaimed. "I don't know if I could handle a tour that long. I'm enjoying traveling, but a new city every night is a little rushed for my taste. I can't imagine doing this for months."
Thorn was really glad they had this conversation. Dusk had obviously made her feelings very clear from the beginning, but it was nice to better understand how Luna had been feeling. She also really enjoyed the bonding time with her best friends. As much as Thorn hated herself for thinking it, she almost wanted to just forget about what she learned last night with Bridgit and pretend this was all really happening. It felt much less terrifying than accepting reality.
It had been an enjoyable time with Luna, Dusk and Gus this afternoon. After the walk in the park, the two groups had met up for a late dinner at a restaurant named Iaria's. They'd talked about going to the Central Canal, but they wanted to enjoy it during the daytime rather than at night. Ultimately, Gus had suggested that they return to their hotel and get to bed early so they could be up earlier tomorrow and enjoy going to the canal and zoo. However, Thorn knew why Gus had actually recommended going to bed early…so that everyone would be sure to fall asleep early, and Thorn and Gus could sneak out without being noticed by Dusk and Luna, and especially Bridgit, Nia and Sam.
There wasn't really a way to set an alarm without Dusk and Luna waking up too, leading them to likely ask what Thorn was doing awake in the middle of the night. She wanted to come up with some elaborate plan to ensure she'd be up at midnight to meet Gus, but she really couldn't think of anything. She was sure to drink several glasses of water at dinner, plus one right before bed. She also kept trying to internalize that she was not going to bed, she was just taking a short nap before she had something important to do. Sometimes, Thorn found if she was really anticipating something the next morning, her body would naturally wake up a few hours before she needed to. It was always annoying to the black-haired goth when that happened, but perhaps just this once, she could use it to her advantage. She just hoped either her over-anticipating circadian rhythm or the urge to answer nature's call would wake her up at the correct time.
Sure enough, it was both…kind of. Her sleepy eyes glanced at the clock to see it was 11:18…42 minutes before she needed to be up. She laid in bed for a while, and then eventually felt like she had to use the bathroom at 11:34. As quietly as she could, Thorn slipped on her coat and snuck out of the room, careful not to make a sound.
Given the situation Thorn was in, she was quite surprised that she wasn't more antsy or feeling like every step was leading her into danger. Quite frankly, she was trying not to think about it all that much. The black-haired Hex Girl shuffled through the halls and scurried towards the door. She felt a frigid chill in the air as she walked outside, but nonetheless, she kept moving. She didn't stop much to look at any of the sights. Everything was dark, and she was already a little worried about meeting Gus out here in the middle of the night, so she just wanted to focus on the task at hand rather than putting the focus on the surroundings. She did, however, count each block as she went by, and glanced down each of them. Most of them seemed like normal streets to Thorn - there were what looked to be businesses, which were barely illuminated enough by street lamps for Thorn to be able to make out what they were. One block was an alley, however, and Thorn was incredibly grateful Gus hadn't asked her to meet down there. There looked to be a plaza around one block as well.
She did, however, wonder why Gus chose the twelfth block away from their hotel. Was there some significance to it, or did he just want to pick some random far-away block so that Bridgit and the others wouldn't find them? She would soon find out, as this was block #11.
Thorn shuffled to the next block and saw something she didn't quite expect: a library. The street leading up to it appeared to have a broken street lamp, which was flickering on and off from time to time. It unintentionally added to the creepiness of what was already a very terrifying journey for Thorn. She couldn't ever remember a time being out alone in the dark, walking the streets in the middle of the night. What was even more frightening to her is that she didn't see Gus anywhere. She didn't want to call for him and alert anyone she was there, so she cautiously walked around a bit to see if she could locate him. She eventually headed over towards the library's front doors. The library was closed, of course, but she wondered if Gus might be hiding somewhere to make sure no one saw him.
"Psst." someone whispered from the shadows. "Sally?"
"Yes?" Thorn shuttered. It was odd for someone to call her by that name at all, so hearing that name on a dark street in the middle of the night was the epitome of fear for her.
She gasped when she saw someone come out of the shadows following her response. She quickly calmed down when she realized it was Gus.
"Sorry to be cryptic." Gus apologized. "Thank you for being so brave and meeting with me. Perhaps it's selfish of me, but I'm really happy I'm not the only one that knows anymore."
"Yeah…I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows either. That must have been scary." Thorn sympathized.
"It was." Gus admitted.
"Could you believe that Bridgit had us split up with Dusk and Luna this afternoon?" Thorn cried in disbelief. "I think she was testing us."
"Shh. Thorn, I'm sorry to do this to you, but we don't have time to process all the aspects of every interaction that's happened." Gus's voice became firm. "Every minute we're out here, we're putting ourselves in danger of one of those three catching us. We need to do this as quickly as possible."
"Sorry." Thorn apologized.
"Don't apologize. It's okay. Now, I wanted to meet you because I think we need to come up with a plan. I've been trying to do so myself for the past several months, but haven't been able to. Makes it a bit harder when someone can read your thoughts whenever they want." Gus lightly chuckled. "However, now that you know, I think we can figure out a way to get out of this situation alive."
Thorn shuddered a bit. Trying to defeat them seemed absolutely terrifying to her. She couldn't think of a way to possibly do it if they could read her every thought. What if they were reading her thoughts right now when she was talking to Gus, and knew her plan?
"How are we going to do that, though?" Thorn defensively remarked. "There's no way to defeat them if they know our every move."
"That's what I had thought, but you catching Bridgit in your room gave me a bit of hope that they're not as clever as I thought. If they could anticipate our every move, Bridgit would have anticipated that, but she didn't." Gus reasoned.
"It was a simple slip. There's no way to defeat them." Thorn gave up. "She just was so caught up in digging through Dusk's stuff that she forgot to pay attention, but she won't make that mistake again."
"We don't know that." Gus pointed out.
The situation felt hopeless to Thorn. There didn't feel like any solution that could get around the witches being able to read their thoughts. It felt so much easier to just go along with the charade. She wouldn't be worried constantly if things were just like they were before. She'd get to live out her dream of sharing her music with everyone, touring the country, and just enjoying life.
"Maybe this is crazy, but what if we just pretended none of this happened?" Thorn asked. "We don't know Bridgit, Nia and Sam are witches. We can just keep touring, and not worry about something we're not going to be able to stop. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they won't do anything."
Gus started to chuckle. "I hardly think the solution to this is just letting the witches do whatever they want to us."
"I'm serious, Gus." Thorn said. "There's no way to stop them, so why not just pretend things are like they were before? We won't have to be constantly worried for our lives, and we'll be a lot happier. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss."
"Thorn, I can understand why you'd be panicked about this, especially since you just found out last night. I am too. However, we cannot just sit and be complacent. I don't want to be killed, I don't want you to be killed, and I don't want Luna and Dusk to be killed either."
"There's no way to stop this, though. Why try?" Thorn sighed, her remarks getting more emotional as she continued to speak.
"We have no option but to stop this!" Gus's voice got increasingly firm. "We don't know what they're planning, but it's sure as hell not world peace or universal health care! These are evil witches that torture people. We know whatever they've got in store isn't good, and they've already threatened to kill the two of us."
Thorn was getting more worked up by the minute. Every muscle in her body felt like it tensed up with fear, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Thorn, but we have to do something, and detaching from reality and pretending this never happened isn't it." Gus sternly said, with hints of sadness and sympathy sprinkled in his voice.
Thorn started breathing heavily. She didn't feel like she could deal with this anymore, and all she wanted to do was retreat into her fantasy of everything being real again. Escape was difficult, which made escapism appealing.
"No!" Thorn shrieked. "None of this has to be fake if I don't want to be. I…I can make it real again. I refuse to believe that Bridgit, Nia and Sam are witches. The only thing I believe is that things are the way they seem to be, and that's the way they've always been. I won't let you convince me otherwise!"
Author's note:
So it goes without saying the fanfic has taken quite the dark turn in the past few chapters. I hope you all are still enjoying it regardless.
As per usual, I did quite a lot of research on all the various locations the girls visited in this chapter. The Courtyard by Marriott in Detroit is a real-life hotel that opened in 1985 and has 21 floors, as Gus said. It was just very briefly mentioned, but Iaria's is a real Italian restaurant in Indianapolis that is one of the oldest restaurants in Indianapolis that first opened in 1933. The Newfields Museum is a real museum in Indianapolis, as is the state park and Central Canal. The building description was based on the real-life appearance of the museum, and the Japanese Edo exhibit with 75 new scrolls was a real exhibit that had just come to the museum in 2000. The Omni Severin Hotel is also a real hotel. The street directions when Nia is trying to find the museum are also accurate, as is Thorn finding the library 12 blocks away from their hotel. I actually was going to have Thorn meet Gus 11 blocks away at first, but apparently the real-life street directions would have put Thorn in the middle of a war memorial. That wasn't quite the direction I was thinking of taking this fanfic lol.
I'm admittedly not sure how to end these author's notes now that I can't say favorites and follows anymore haha. I guess I haven't mentioned it, but I'm publishing these chapters on both FFN and AO3 now, and the two sites use different terminology. FFN uses "favorites" and "follows," whereas AO3 uses "kudos" and "bookmarks," and thus I've tried to avoid using those words. I guess both sites use "reviews" though, so I'll just end by saying I love reading all your reviews, and I'd love it if you left one if you're enjoying this fic and haven't already.