The Hex Series Part three
Quinn sat on the plush, purple couch staring out the large tinted windows. He had in one earbud, listening to The Misfits 'Dig Up Her Bones' with Michael Graves wailing about digging up her bones, Quinn was daydreaming about what a Misfits concert would be like with the two singers.
They were on hour three of the five hour trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Quinn looked around the bus, he saw Thorn nose deep into some murder mystery novel. Luna was taking a nap and Dusk was next to him eyes closed and bobbing her head up and down listening to her music.
Quinn was starting to regret not bringing any reading materiel for the tour, he flicked on the satellite TV and went to HBO. Quinn went straight to The Terminator and Quinn smiled gleefully as the machine tore through the police station. "You know you're not supposed to be watching that." Thorn said from the breakfast table. Quinn rolled his eyes at his sister and ignored what she was saying.
Right when they were just getting to the car chase, the TV went black. Quinn spun around to see that Thorn was holding the spare universal remote and mumbled how she was being unfair.
He turned the TV back on and went to Eartube searching for the Misfits in concert 1997 arguably one of the best live recorded shows Quinn's ever seen, Quinn wondered if any of his sisters had gotten some of their costume ideas from them. With the eye makeup and pale white skin, they totally looked like living skeletons.
Too bad that line up totally imploded, now the only original band member still playing in the Misfits is Jerry Only and Quinn saw some of his live shows. Jerry Only lacked the appeal of the first two singers.
The whole show lasted an hour which meant thankfully they were almost to LA, Quinn knew they were almost there because the traffic was starting to get thicker. The bus took the off ramp, and before they knew it they hit five o clock traffic. The bus went from a cool seventy five miles an hour to a snail's pace.
It took another hour before finally reaching Capitol Studios & recording. The bus driver steered the bus into a private underground parking structure and parked into an assigned spot, the door made a whoosh sound as it opened. The girls grabbed their things and headed out the door with Quinn in tow.
"Hello, ladies!" A man shouted greeting them in the parking structure. "I'm Jim Jones." The man said offering his hand in greeting.
The girls shook his hand. Jim noticed Quinn as he was standing a few feet behind Thorn. "And who might you be?" Jim asked.
Luna smiled and pushed him forward, "This is Quinn, our adorable little brother."
"So you're a Misfits fan huh?" Jim asked Quinn spotting his shirt. "Back in the day they actually recorded 'Walk Among Us' here." Quinn gave him a big goofy grin.
"Who's your favorite Misfit?" Jim quizzed him.
"Doyle." Quinn answered.
"Maybe later when your sisters are recording, I'll show you some original lyrics sheets that Glenn Danzig used, so long as your sisters are cool with that." Jim offered.
"Really?" Quinn said excitement in his voice. "Can I Thorn?" he asked his older sister.
"I haven't seen you this excited since I bought you that shirt, and I'm certainly not going to stop you. You have my permission to see those sheets." He hugged her.
"Come on, I'll show you girls where you'll be recording."
The girls followed him to the elevator and got in, the carpet while lavish looked old Dusk noted from her corner. "I read in the newspaper the other day that you guys were almost killed by your songwriter." Jim chatted away looking at Luna while doing so.
"Yeah, he nearly killed us." Luna replied
"That's rough." Jim said sorrow in his voice.
The elevator went ding as the doors opened on the tenth floor.
"I don't know if you ever heard of Johnny Rats, little man. But he recorded one song here before he OD'd on ironically the thirteenth floor, I would stay away from that floor it has some bad vibes on it." Jim cautioned.
"Anyway you girls will be in studio two." Jim said showing them where they'll record.
"And while you guys do that, I'll show Quinn here those sheets."
"Quinn we'll be done in an hour." Thorn called after him as he followed Jim back to the elevator, they went to the eleventh floor, many gold and platinum albums lined the wall monuments to various artists' success.
Jim went down to the end of the long hallway and turned left, "here you go sport." Jim said handing Quinn a stack of sheets they read. 'The corpses Hang Headless and Limp, Bodies With No Surprises. And the Blood Drains Down Like Devil's Rain.'
"Excuse me for a moment kid." Jim said as he answered his cell phone. Jim stepped out to the hallway. "Hold on." Quinn heard Jim say as he stepped back into the little room. "I got to take this, will you be able to get back to your sisters floor when you're done here?" Jim asked him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Quinn assured him. Jim eyed him for a moment. "Okay, I'm trusting you not to mess this room up." Jim replied leaving towards the elevator.
Quinn waited for the elevator to ding, before he headed to the elevator himself and waited for the doors to open. Quinn walked inside and pushed the thirteenth floor button.
The ride up was short, the elevators dinged opened and Quinn walked out onto the floor. Whereas the other floors were bright and warm, this was the total opposite cold and uninviting. Quinn noted the torn up and stained carpet, Quinn walked further into the floor, he put on some Misfits as he examined a room.
A guitar screeched out of nowhere and Quinn jumped two feet into the hair from the fright. "What the hell?" Quinn wondered aloud as he turned right and looked into another room. A microphone wailed from the black hallway. Quinn's eyes opened in fright. Quinn turned back the way he came the temperature dropped even further Quinn could see his breath, he rubbed his arms to get some warmth.
Quinn stopped dead in his tracks and opened his mouth in shock. There was a 20's something man in a black leather jacket with red spiked hair with a black shirt. He didn't look solid. He looked see through and gaseous, Quinn saw on his left arm his jacket sleeve was rolled up and a big needle stuck in his vein.
The man growled at Quinn and that was enough to snap him back to life and Quinn ran to the elevator, fear spreading through his body as his adrenaline kicked into overdrive the elevators opened and Quinn flew into the elevator as he mashed the close button and pushed the floor his sisters where on.
Quinn's heartbeat thundered inside his chest, Quinn flew out the elevator and ran straight into Dusk and knocking both to them over. Dusk recovered first and put herself back on her feet. Dusk held out a hand to help him up. "Where were you? We've been looking for you over two hours."
Quinn was confused, he'd been gone for only twenty minutes. But he looked at his watch anyway and it indeed was two hours ahead.
"I...I saw a ghost." Quinn whispered.
Dusk raised an eyebrow, "really?" she asked.
Quinn nodded.
Dusk sighed, "come on, we've got to tell the others."
Quinn followed Dusk back down the brightly lit hallways, they went through a set of double doors and through a red door marked employees only. Dusk pushed it open and held it for Quinn to grab.
The room, was big enough for a few tables and chairs, a couple of vending and pop machines lined against a wall, the room was thick with a fresh smell of coffee. Quinn noticed that Jim leaned against the counter sipping his coffee and Luna and Thorn were at a circular table picking at their salads. Thorn looked up when the door slammed against the wall and immediately smiled when she saw that it was Quinn, Thorn got up from her chair and gave Quinn a tight hug.
Luna gave him a big smile. "Where were you?"
"I went to the thirteenth floor and I saw a ghost." Quinn answered.
Jim nearly choked on his coffee when he heard that. Luna looked shocked and Thorn looked worried.
"Say what?" Dusk asked.
Quinn repeated what he said, "What are we going to do about it? Thorn?"
"Do?" Thorn replied. "We aren't going to do anything about it." Thorn answered.
"Why not?" Luna asked.
Thorn took in a breath, before replying. "Because other than frightening Quinn here, the ghost hasn't harmed or annoyed us."
"Well, what if it's an evil ghost, like RavenCroft was?" Dusk countered.
"You've had some experience in the ghost department?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, before we were famous, you ever heard of Ben RavenCroft?" Luna began
"The famous horror writer? I heard he disappeared without a trace never to be seen again."
"Yeah, well he just didn't disappear, he was sucked back into the book that imprisoned his ancestor from the puritan times. She was a witch, like a real life magic witch. Evil as Hell and just as powerful." Luna finished.
"Did he look like a witch? Quinn?" Thorn asked him.
"Don't you mean warlock?" Luna said.
Thorn rolled her eyes, "Whatever, did he?"
"No, he looked like some 80's punk rocker. I don't know who it was." Quinn replied
"What did he look like?" Jim said quietly from the counter.
"Um, he was in his early 20's a black shirt and leather jacket and red fire hair in spikes." Quinn started answering.
"Was his left arm sleeve rolled up with a needle in his arm?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know that?' Quinn said.
Jim sighed, his face went a shade lighter. "20 years ago, I was the one who found Johnny Rats OD'D on that couch up there. Your brother described him to the tee." Jim said finishing his story.
"Okay, story time is over, we still have to shoot the video." Thorn said, ending the discussion and heading back to studio two.
The studio props department changed the room from your standard recording workshop to a graveyard, from the little headstones to the fake grass and fake willow tree.
"Okay, ladies were all set on this end, whenever you're ready." Their sound guy said from the control booth.
The Hex Girls, had already done the instrumentals for Eternal Midnight now all they needed was their voices.
Thorn started, "When we walk into the graveyaaard, the moon is high so bright the clock strikes twice then they rise."
Two concrete lids slide to the side Dusk and Luna covered in makeup to the give those decayed faces. "They rise for the eternal midnight."
A piercing guitar screech stopped the song dead. When Johnny Rats appeared, he turned into red smoke and forced his way inside Dusk. Dusk's body twisted and contorted trying to fight off the foreign invader, and Dusk's eyes went from their usual green to an angry red.
And before anybody could stop her, she teleported away in puff of red smoke.
Thorn and Luna looked at each other in shock, the door to the studio slammed opened and Quinn rushed in. "I told you we needed to get rid of that ghost."
"Well, how do we get rid of it? Do you see a spell book laying around? An evil warlock to stop?" Thorn trailed off.
"Well, according to Google, all we have to do is burn his bones or burn something personal of his. Luna said reading the web page on her orange phone.
With all the commotion they didn't see that Jim had been in the room listening to their conversation.
"Johnny Rats was cremated." Jim began interrupting their conversation. "But he did have a favorite pick, he liked to use, it's in the vault you could burn that." Jim offered.
"Where's the vault?" Luna asked.
"In the basement." Jim said.
"Let's go!" Thorn exclaimed.
The trio followed Jim to the elevator, Luna still wore the decayed makeup and Quinn had a hard time making eye contact with her, they followed Jim for a few minutes before they made it to the elevator, they called the elevator and went inside once it opened its doors. Jim pulled out a key shaped into a skeleton and put inside a black lock and turned it left. The elevator clicked and it went straight down.
They exited the elevator and down a long concrete hallway was the vault. Jim pushed a few numbers on the keypad and the vault clicked before opening with a whoosh.
They walked in and on one wall was lined entirely with electric guitars, another wall was lined with picks and leather jackets.
"The one you want is in the middle next to that 'Misfit' jacket." Jim said.
Thorn grabbed it and they hurried back to the elevator with the pick and called the elevator again and pushed the button for the thirteenth floor.
Just like when Quinn made it to the floor, the floor was pitch black and as cold as a meat locker. From Thorns' phone Thorn could see her breath and Luna shivered.
"Dusk, Dusk! Where are you?" Thorn shouted.
A growl came in reply. They continued down the hallway.
"Maybe we should call the professionals?" Quinn muttered.
"Who the ghostbusters? Face it little brother we are the professionals. Luna said. They came out to a circular room with a black leather couch smack dab in the middle.
"You didn't get rid of the couch?" Luna asked Jim
Jim shrugged. "It didn't seem right, besides the couch was still relativity in good shape."
"How are we supposed to get him to appear?" Luna asked aloud.
"We could always make him angry. That worked in the sequel." Quinn said shrugging his shoulders.
Luna looked at Jim, "you said Johnny Rats recorded something here. What was it?"
"Angry at the System." Jim answered.
"Hey! Johnny Rats Angry at the system sucked. Skulls was a much better song." Thorn yelled.
A low growl came from the darkness.
"Yeah, Angry at the System was a poor copy of Anarchy in the UK." Luna shouted.
"Shut the fuck up!" came out of the darkness. It was Dusk's voice!
"Blitzkrieg Bop, was lyrically better then Angry at the System." Quinn shrieked.
"I'll show you!" The voice yelled.
Dusk teleported to the couch, her face was a mess, her makeup ran down her face, one eye was bruised shut.
"What do you know about punk?" Dusk yelled at them.
"Not much." Thorn conceded. "But we know good music and yours is trash."
"That's it!" Dusk yelled and clenched her hand into a fist with every intention of hitting Thorn.
"Hurry, burn it!" Jim hollered.
Luna pulled the pick from her pocket and a lighter, she held the pick over the flame. The smell of burning plastic filled the room as the pick slowly melted into a pile of goo.
Dusk screamed in agony as Johnny Rats was violently pulled out of Dusk, Johnny Rats, breathed heavily holding a fist over his heart. "I just wanted to be relevant again." His voice filled with sorrow, before he blinked out of existence as the last of the pick melted.
"Are you okay, Dusk?" Quinn asked her as she looked unsteady on her feet.
"I think so." Dusk answered, her voice hoarse from the possession.
"Let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps." Luna said
They made it back to the elevator without incident. Once they were all back on twelfth floor, Dusk went the bathroom and washed her face. Dusk came back out looking slightly better.
"I'll get you some ice." Quinn offered as he ran back to the break-room.
A few minutes later, Quinn returned with a bag of ice. Dusk gave him a small smile as she held the bag of ice to her bruised eye.
After she iced her eyes for a few minutes, "come on guys we still have the music video to do." Dusk said.
"Are you sure? You don't want to rest for few minutes?" Thorn asked concern in her voice.
"This isn't my first black eye. And I'm fine really. So let's just do this."
"Okay, come on girls." Luna said as they went to the greenroom and reapplied their makeup and walked back to their room.
The studio techs, reset everything in the room and Luna and Dusk lowered themselves into the plastic coffins.
Thorn, got through the song without interruption this time.
"Okay, looks great, we'll edit and we'll send you the final cut before we drop it on Eartube and your official site." Jim said, from the control booth.
"So where you ladies, going to go next?" Jim asked when they were out at a bob Evan's.
Luna shrugged her shoulders before answering "it is LA, we'll probably take in the sights before we head back on the road to our next destination."
"Maybe we'll walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame." Dusk said.
"Their supposed to be some sort of Misfit Museum here that I promised Quinn we could go see, after we were done with our video." Thorn told Jim.
"That's wonderful." Jim said
After they were done, their limo brought them back to their hotel. They got into the elevator and went to their separate rooms.
"Hey Quinn, come here for a sec." Dusk called from her doorway.
"What?" Quinn asked her when he got to her.
Dusk wrapped him a in a tight hug. "Thanks for coming back for me." Dusk whispered in his ear.
"Your family, Dusk." Quinn said simply, Quinn returned her hug and went back his and Thorn's room. Luna waved as she went to her room.
To be Continued.