AN: I am a terrible, horrible person. I am so sorry to everyone reading this story. I can't believe this chapter took so long.
Men and Monsters
Chapter 11
Wind whipped through the trees, making boughs shudder and sending flurries of leaves to the forest floor. It was an unseasonably cloudy day and this area was far from the usual hiking trails. As a result no one was there to see when the bright pink convertible appeared between the trees.
Zeke sat very still, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Two seconds ago he'd been in the sunny East High parking lot, now he was surrounded by trees. After blinking roughly one hundred times he slowly turned to face Sharpay, who was checking her appearance in the rear view mirror.
"You're not going to pass out, are you?" she asked, fluffing her hair. "I kind of need you conscious -- I think."
"Where are we?" he asked breathlessly.
She glanced at him then at the trees towering around them. "California," she said with a slight shrug. Content with her hair she glanced over her side of the car. "Can you open your door?" she asked.
Zeke turned to look and saw that the trees were too close around them for the doors to open. It was a miracle the car was able to fit there at all.
"How did we get here?" he asked.
Sharpay hopped up on the back of her seat and threw her legs over the door, sliding to the forest floor. "I brought us," she said. "I need to get something."
"How did you bring us here?" Zeke asked, forcing calm as he followed her example and climbed out.
"Magic," she said as if it should be obvious. She stepped into the trees and Zeke rushed to follow.
"What do you mean magic?" he asked, pushing aside low hanging branches.
"I'm not sure how else to explain it. It's magic, that's all there is to it."
He lunged forward and grabbed her elbow, spinning her around to face him. "What is going on?" he asked.
Her eyes went wide and for a split second Zeke got to see a side of Sharpay that even Ryan didn't get to see: fear.
"I'm from a place called the Underworld," she said tightly. "I have magical powers, Ryan has magical powers, my parents had magical powers -- my real parents, not the Evans. And there is something over there," she pointed through the trees with her free hand, "that I need. And I need you to help me get it."
Zeke sighed and let her go. "Why didn't you just say so?" He trudged past her in the direction she'd pointed. Of course he was going to help her. Magic or no magic, she was still Sharpay Evans.
A small voice in the back of his mind wondered if maybe she wasn't. Maybe all of her "good" behavior since Gabriella's arrival had been a sign that this wasn't the Sharpay he'd always known. He glanced back at her, hoping to look into her eyes and be somehow convinced that this was still her, only to see her stopped several yards back. Her stylish heel was caught in a tree root and she was trying to pull it out. Just as he decided he should go help her she straightened and pointed at the shoes. Sparks shot from her finger like some cheap CGI effect and wrapped around her feet and ankles. When the sparks dissipated she was wearing pink and white sneakers that somehow matched her outfit even better than the heels had. She looked up at him and he smiled, that was definitely his Sharpay. He waited for her to catch up and let her lead the way.
"Here it is," she said, throwing her arms wide when they reached a clearing.
"I don't see anything," Zeke said, looking at the circle of trees and leaf-strewn ground with a frown.
"Go in," she said, nodding and that voice was back, telling him he was being the biggest idiot in the history of the world. He shook it off and took a step forward only to end up sprawled on his stomach a moment later. He looked back over his shoulder to see that his foot had caught on the edge of something hidden beneath the leaves.
"What is it?" he asked, pushing leaves out of the way.
Sharpay waved a hand and the leaves went flying, revealing a wide circle of black obsidian tucked neatly into the forest floor. It stretched at least twenty feet wide and was dotted by strange carved symbols that made Zeke shudder just to look at them.
"Why do you need me?" he asked, climbing to his feet.
"Just go to the middle of the circle," Sharpay said quietly.
"Why can't you do it?"
"Now," she insisted.
"Why?"
"I can't! It has to be someone else, now please, just go!"
Zeke stumbled to the center of the circle, if only out of shock that Sharpay had just uttered the p-word. As his foot fell on the center-most symbol it lit up, as did all of the others. He had to close his eyes against the bright light and covered his ears when a scream erupted from the earth beneath him. The next thing he knew he was dangling in the air, his feet barely scraping the ground as a hand tightened around his throat. He looked down a pale arm into a woman's cold blue eyes. Her blonde hair whipped around her face in a wind that came from the ground beneath her feet. He was struck by the thought that she was beautiful before the hand tightened a fraction.
She stared up at him as if he were an interesting form of bug and opened her mouth to speak, only to be broadsided by a pink flash.
Zeke fell to the ground, clutching his throat as the woman turned, unharmed and unmoved, to face her attacker. Sparks still sizzled at her side but she ignored them.
"He's mine," Sharpay said and Zeke wondered how two words could fill his heart with joy and freeze his blood at the same time. "Mother," she added and the woman flinched.
The plucked a spark from Sharpay's quickly dissipating attack. She rubbed it between her fingers slowly.
"I must say," she said, glancing back at Zeke, "I am not impressed by your choice of companions. Though he may have other merits."
Zeke shook his head. Her voice a comforting lilt, giving the impression that she was always singing.
"He does," Sharpay said tensely and Zeke could see by the tightness of her jaw that this wasn't going at all how she'd thought it would.
"Where is your brother?"
Zeke's eyes widened and from the way Sharpay stilled he realized she must be thinking the same thing he was. If Ryan was anywhere, he was probably with Kelsi.
#
Martha's phone buzzed and Kelsi reached for it, leaving her friend free to drive. The two had met up outside the school, left a message on Taylor's phone that they were picking up all the necessary supplies and would meet her at Gabriella's as soon as legally possible. They'd just zoomed out of the Wal-Mart parking lot at a speed that Kelsi was sure would horrify even her cousins.
"Martha's phone," Kelsi said pleasantly, wincing as they rushed through an intersection just before the light turned red. "I'm sorry, could you say that again, Taylor? It sounded like you said there wasn't going to be a war council."
"What?" Martha cried.
"Dog!" Kelsi yelled.
Martha swerved and, completely unconcerned for the poor mutt's safety, demanded, "How can there not be a war council? Troy and Gabriella broke up! We always have a war council when those two break up!"
"Watch the road!" Kelsi snapped. To Taylor she said, "What Martha said."
Taylor sighed. "Gabby's just not up to it."
"Um, isn't that kind of the point? And anyway, this isn't just for Gabby. Tell her I need this too."
"What?" Martha and Taylor said at the same time.
"Ryan threw his audition this afternoon. I could use some cheering up myself."
Kelsi could hear Taylor and Gabriella talking in hushed tones as she waited not-so-patiently for Taylor's response. When their discussion escalated into an argument that Kelsi couldn't quite make out her own phone went off. She sighed and picked it up. Seeing it was Vida's number she winced. She had never thought she'd see the day when she'd be holding a phone to each ear.
"What's up, V?" she asked.
"Wow, what crawled up your shorts?" Vida asked.
"I'm having a really bad day, okay? So what's the problem?"
"I'm just calling to tell you we may not be available for a few days. There's been some kind of magical disturbance up north and apparently we're the only really magical rangers around so we have to deal with it."
"Okay," Kelsi said, "try not to die. I'm really not looking forward to sorting through that chaos you call a CD collection."
"Hey! I have a system!"
"Whatever you say. Give Maddie my love."
"Will do."
"What's going on?" Martha asked when Kelsi tossed her phone on the dashboard.
"My cousins are going on some crazy trip, they just wanted to tell me they'd be out of touch for a while."
Kelsi winced at the half-truth and focused back on Taylor and Gabby. She tried not to worry about Vida and Madison. After all, the last time a ranger died was in the nineties. It was last decade, last century. Nothing to worry about. Right.
"Okay," Taylor said, shocking her out of her depressing train of thought, "Gabby says come on over, but her mom says no staying the night."
"Sounds good," Kelsi said. "We'll be there in ten." She snapped the phone shut and smiled at Martha. "We're on."
"Thank goodness. And I don't appreciate lying."
"What?" Kelsi asked, her eyes going wide.
"We'll be there in five," Martha said with a wicked grin, and sped around a young businessman in a hotrod.
#
Ryan bit his lip and Mack's shoulders shook as Andrew Hartford entered the dining room.
"I do not appreciate that, Spencer," Andrew said, pulling off his soaking wet shirt and taking the towel Spencer held out. "You could have seriously damaged the Red morpher."
Spencer stopped just short of rolling his eyes. "With all due respect, sir, you were late for dinner and the fire suppression system in the lab includes a force field that simultaneously protects all electronics from water damage and contains any electrical fires. I know, I designed it myself."
Andrew narrowed his eyes and threw his towel at Spencer, but plopped down in his seat. Neither boy missed the smirk that graced Andrew's face as the water soaking his pants seeped into the seat cushion.
"Ryan," Andrew said suddenly, "did I know you were coming over?"
"No, sir," Ryan said, ducking his head.
Andrew took a sip of water and looked questioningly at his son.
"Ryan's a demon-spawn," Mack said pleasantly and burst out laughing when Andrew covered his nose, trying to keep water from flying out of it.
"What?" Andrew demanded, leaping up.
"It's quite all right, sir," Spencer said, walking into the room with a fresh shirt and a tray of salads. "Young master Evans explained everything. He's perfectly harmless. Well, as harmless as any non-evil child of darkness can be, sir."
"Right," Andrew said slowly, settling back into his seat and absently buttoning his new shirt while Spencer doled out the plates. "Why should I believe this?" Andrew asked Ryan.
"I do," Mack said with a shrug.
Andrew kept his eyes on Ryan. "And how do I know you haven't hypnotized them while I've been in the lab?"
Ryan shrugged uncomfortably. "If I was going to do any -- mischief here, I'd probably want to stop you from building the new series Red morpher. And if I was going to do that … I'd have done it by now."
Andrew nodded. "I suppose so. Someone pass the rolls."
Ryan exchanged a smile with Mack and handed the basket of rolls to Andrew.
"So," Mack asked, "how is the project going? Spencer says you haven't been electrocuted yet today, that must be a good sign."
Andrew chuckled and filled them in on the morphin grid's temperamental nature.
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