Disclaimer: Everything except the plot belongs to Disney. (Yes, it occurred to me I needed to update this for one minor reference.)

AN: Okay, this is the first PR heavy chapter. For those of you who feel yourselves getting lost/need a refresher/know nothing I have created a guide to everything you need to know (and some things you don't) for this story. You may or may not need it but I'm providing it just in case. It's on my LJ page and the link is in my profile under "Current Stories." For this chapter all you need to know is Mystic Force (though, again, you may be able to survive without it) but the Overdrive section would be useful for future chapters. Hopefully that's not too much reading for all of you.

AN2: Thanks to angellwings for the album suggestion.

Men and Monsters

Chapter 5

"All right," Ryan demanded, "spill."

Sharpay crossed her arms, ignoring Boi, who had come to greet her the moment she entered the house. "I found out what we are," she said tightly.

"What?" Ryan asked, confused.

"We're not just random demon kids left to our own devices. We have actual parents."

"Yeah, but they're probably --"

"Sorcerers," Sharpay interrupted. "They're sorcerers."

"What?" Ryan asked quietly, leaning against a small table and almost overturning the vase of flowers.

"Do you remember Calindor?" Sharpay asked, pacing.

"Yeah," Ryan said, nodding. "He turned on the Mystics and the Master rewarded him."

"See, that's the thing," Sharpay said. "I always thought the story was too easy. All he has to do is turn on his compatriots and he gets all these powers? It doesn't seem to make sense. I mean, I could understand if the Master gave him a place in his army and maybe a few perks, but nothing like the complete overhaul of power Calindor got. There had to be more to it … and there was." She stopped pacing. "He had a bit more incentive to switch sides than we thought."

"What more could there be? He wanted power, the Master had it."

"The final battle wasn't the first time Calindor betrayed the Mystics."

"That doesn't --"

"He and one of the Master's more powerful female servants had a tryst."

Ryan could feel his nails digging into the antique wood but he didn't care. If Sharpay was saying what he thought she was …

"They had a child. Or, two children, to be precise."

"Us," Ryan rasped.

Sharpay nodded. "For all the fornicating the evil guys do they don't exactly have a lot of kids. And our parents were powerful sorcerers, each on a different side of the war, more or less. Giving us to the Master's cause gave Calindor a bit more sway. That's how he got the power upgrade."

"So why wasn't anyone making sure we kept up the whole children of the corn thing? If you're right, we're supposed to be super evil, why were we allowed to leave?"

"Leanbow."

Ryan nodded slowly. Leanbow was the card the Master had never counted on being dealt. Transforming the leader of the Mystics into an agent of evil should have been a winning move.

"And," Sharpay added, "we weren't exactly living up to our potential. We were evil and all just … not super evil." She shrugged.

"We're powerful enough," Ryan said defensively, stepping away from the table. "But if you already knew all this, why were you looking for the Master on the internet?"

"Don't you get it?" Sharpay asked, her eyes shining excitedly. "Calindor may have died but our mother is still alive somewhere. The records I found say that she was imprisoned before the Great Battle. We could find her."

Ryan nodded slowly, going through the facts in his mind. It wasn't uncommon for evil parents to put their unborn children into hibernation. It protected them from the good forces in the universe and held off the birth, a powerful event in and of itself, until a more opportune time. That explained how they hatched so long after the Master's imprisonment, but it didn't tell him if their mother was any better than their father had been. He looked at his sister. She was really and truly happy about the idea of finding their mother, no matter that the woman was apparently evil to the core and probably going to be angry when she was freed and learned that the Master was gone for good.

"Shar," he started sadly.

"I've already started looking and I've got contacts all over the magical planes looking for her. You won't have to do a thing." She finally picked up Boi and smiled as he licked her face. "We're gonna find her, I just know it."

Ryan sighed, opting for the strategy that had served him best throughout his life. "Whatever makes you happy, Shar." He kissed her forehead and headed to his room.

#

"No," Kelsi said for what had to be the hundredth time.

"But --"

"No. I will not play fetch with the dragon."

Nick rolled his eyes and Madison giggled.

"You'll just have to do it yourself," Madison said, teasing.

"Now," Udonna said sternly, overhearing their conversation while she read from the Xenotome. "Before he gets cranky."

Nick rolled his eyes but did as he was told.

"So," Vida said, taking Nick's vacant seat and trapping Kelsi between her and Madison, "what's up on Planet Kelsi?"

Kelsi shrugged. "Well, we finally decided on the autumn musical. We're doing Faust, which was totally surprising. It doesn't sound like Sharpay at all."

"Wait," Madison said, "she's the pink one, right?"

Vida rolled her eyes. "A disgrace to the color, if you ask me."

"Oh, and there was some drama at school today."

"Now the fun starts."

Kelsi rolled her eyes. "Gabriella, who is literally the nicest girl you could ever meet, spent the night at Sharpay's. They are complete opposites and it horrified half the student body."

"There's nothing wrong with making new friends," Madison said. "I think it's a good thing."

"No way," Vida said. "From everything you've said about this girl, I doubt she's up to anything good."

From above them Udonna clucked disapprovingly. "You shouldn't influence your cousin like that, girls. She is more familiar with the situation than you are and ultimately her opinion is the one that matters, not yours."

"We know," Vida said with a devious smile. "That's why we always take opposing sides."

"Even if we agree," Madison added.

"Okay," Kelsi said, "but as much as I love your friends, I really want to see Toby."

Vida and Madison exchanged a glance.

"That's my little audiofile," Vida said, hugging Kelsi around the shoulders.

"Hey, you're the ones who promised me an original cast recording of Oklahoma."

"Come on," Madison said, laughing.

"Bye, Udonna!" Kelsi called over her shoulder.

"Come back anytime," Udonna said serenely, but her brow furrowed the moment they were gone. The Xenotome, it seemed, was foretelling some dark event. She just hoped her rangers could handle it.

#

Chad hugged Taylor to his chest on the bleachers. The football team was playing an away game, which left the field empty for two teenagers in search of some privacy.

"So," he said, resting his chin on her shoulder, "what's up?"

She sighed. "Gabriella."

Chad bit back a groan. "I thought we were done with that. She's reaching out. Nothing weird there."

"She's spending tomorrow night at the Evans' place too. Doesn't that seem at all strange to you?" she asked, turning her shoulders as much as she could with his arms firmly locked around her waist.

"Gabby's always been nice. What's weird is that Sharpay is putting up with it."

"She's up to something," Taylor said firmly.

Chad chuckled and pulled her close once more. "Sharpay is always up to something. Anyway, it probably has to do with the new musical Darbus was talking about this morning. Is Gabriella even going out for it?"

Taylor shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't talked to her about it yet."

"Well, I think you should before you start freaking out. If she's not, then you only have to worry about Kelsi, and Small Person can totally handle Sharpay."

Taylor craned her neck to look back at him. "You know Kelsi's gonna get you back for that nickname one of these days."

"I know. But I'll have you to protect me."

Before she could make an argument for female solidarity he kissed her.

#

Ryan sat on the piano bench, attempting to keep his mind focused on Bach, but his traitorous eyes always ended up traveling to his book bag in the corner.

"Ducky?" his mother called from the door. "I thought that was you," she said with a smile and quietly closed the door behind her.

"Hi, Mom," he said. He feigned interest in the sheet music when Sharpay's words from the night before came back to him. Our fake mother.

She took a seat beside him on the bench and took over playing. "You know, I used to be the musical genius in this family."

He smiled at her teasing tone.

"But I am more than happy," she continued, "to relinquish my title to you and your sister. My little performers," she cooed.

"Mom," he half-whined.

She nudged his shoulder and started playing half of a duet. He quickly joined in, his mind going back to the first time he'd heard it.

He stepped cautiously into the music room, not wanting to stop the beautiful sounds that were emanating from within. Derby Evans sat near the window, her hands deftly moving over the large harp before her.

"Come in," she said, the song never breaking.

"I'm sorry," he said hurriedly, "I just wanted to -- wanted to reassure you, I guess," he finished lamely.

"It's all right," she said, setting the instrument away from her and standing up, arching her back. When she saw the way he looked at the harp she said, "Not many people play that particular instrument anymore."

"Why do you?" he asked before he could stop himself.

She smiled when he blushed at his own bluntness. "I wanted to," she said with a shrug. "It was something that set me apart from my peers. Now this," she added, walking to the piano in the corner, "is a much more common instrument." She took a seat and motioned with her head for him to join her. "I'm guessing you don't play."

"A little," he admitted. Her eyes widened and he explained, "There was this place under the Underworld. We weren't supposed to go there but sometimes we did. This old ship captain named Davey was down there. He taught me sometimes."

"Well then," she said and slapped her knees as she stood. She went to a filing cabinet in the corner and opened it. "I don't need reassuring, you know," she said quietly. "And even if I did, I'm supposed to be the mother here."

"But … it's a big change. And it's strange because we won't be …"

She closed the drawer more loudly than was strictly necessary. "Yes, you will. I don't care about the spells or the magic or the evil. As far as I'm concerned, I am your mother and nothing will change that. Now, this is one of my favorite songs, but it requires two sets of hands. Think you can handle it?"

He looked over the music and nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Good," she said and started playing.

"How is Sharpay doing?" she asked, pulling him out of his memory.

"What?"

She smiled sadly. "I know I should ask her myself, but I think that might make it worse. So, is this something you can tell me or is it protected by the twin confidentiality code?"

He shrugged. "She's just confused."

"College?" Derby guessed.

Ryan bit his lip and nodded. "Yeah. It's just a lot of stuff, you know?"

"I do. I remember those days."

They focused on the song then and Ryan was thankful for the chance to lose himself in the music, though his traitorous eyes had returned and made that a tad difficult. When they finished Derby stood.

"Thank you, sweetheart," she said, pushing his hat back so she could kiss his hair. She replaced it with a gentle squeeze and headed towards the door. "Oh, and, Ducky?" she called at the door. "Just call the girl already. I don't think I could handle you trying not to look at your cell phone all through dinner."

Ryan ducked his head. "Yes, ma'am," he said.

He trudged across the room and dug around in his bag for the phone. He waited patiently while Kelsi's rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kels," he said. "I -- um, Sharpay wanted me to call you," he babbled. He whirled to the musical instruments as if to ask them why he would say something so completely stupid.

"Why?" she asked, though she sounded distracted.

"Well … she -- was that a growl?"

"Um, yeah, there's this really big … dog following us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, it's me and -- Toby!" Kelsi cried. "Oh my gosh, I've missed you!"

"Hey, sweety," a male voice said.

"Listen," she said hurriedly, "Ryan, I've gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow."

"O--" she hung up, "kay." He stared at the phone for a moment. Who was Toby?

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