AN: You're probably all wondering why you're getting a new chapter a scant five days after the last one. Well, Catt made an amazing new video for the story and after watching it at least a dozen times I was inspired to write this. (Okay, technically I was inspired after watching it the first time, but it's so awesome that I couldn't help but watch it over and over and over ....) You can find the link to the video in my profile.

Men and Monsters

Chapter 12

Ryan materialized in the foyer, smiling at his good luck. With Andrew and Mack on his side he didn't have to worry about Kelsi's cousins. And Mack was right, if he trusted himself around Kelsi it didn't matter what the others thought. He hadn't done anything especially evil since coming to Albuquerque -- helping in Sharpay's schemes for stardom didn't count -- and he couldn't quite imagine himself taking sides in the battle between good and evil. Anyway, the Master was dead, there was little chance of him being asked to join the fight anytime soon.

He took the stairs two at a time, hurrying to apologize to his mother for missing dinner. He would have to be at school early tomorrow if he wanted to make amends with Ms. Darbus too. She would forgive him -- probably. At the very least she'd still let him work on the show, even if he wasn't in it. That might actually be better, come to think of it. If he didn't have to perform he'd be able to spend more time behind-the-scenes with Kelsi. He'd be able to make up for being such a flake lately.

A peal of laughter echoed down the hall and Ryan frowned. That didn't sound like his mom or Sharpay. Could one of the Wildcats be staying over again? But none of them sounded so … musical. He hurried past his own bedroom door and listened for a moment outside Sharpay's. The muffled voices stopped abruptly and a voice he'd never heard called, "You may as well come in, boy. I know you're there." The door fell open and Ryan froze. Sharpay was sitting on her bed and beside her was …

"Mother," Ryan breathed. He would never be able to say just how he knew who she was, he only knew that she couldn't be anyone else.

"Ryan," she said and he felt his heart expand. He knew now where he and Sharpay had gotten their talent for music, her every word sounded like a song. She was wearing a full-length black dress that reminded him of the fashions Leelee had always preferred, though he noted that half of her blonde locks were held back with a pink clip that was too old-fashioned to be Sharpay's. In her lap was Boi, enjoying a thorough scratching, but she held out her free hand to him, beckoning him to join them. He stepped eagerly into the room, vaguely noting his sister's shining face out of the corner of his eye. He'd never seen Sharpay so happy. When she'd told him she was looking for their mother he'd never actually thought that she would find her so quickly.

"Wait," he said, pausing halfway across the room. Sharpay's smile fell and her eyes narrowed, but his mother's expression shifted only slightly to one of polite confusion. "How are you here? I thought you would be sealed away." He looked to Sharpay, catching the small cracks in her façade that told him she was hiding something.

"I got a call this afternoon from one of my contacts telling me where she was. I called you but you didn't pick up, so I went on my own."

Their mother turned her questioning gaze to Sharpay then, but Ryan didn't notice, he was too busy checking his phone. Sure enough, there was the reminder that he'd missed a call and received a voice mail, as well as a text from Troy. That was sure to be fun.

"It must have rung while I was teleporting," he muttered.

"Where were you teleporting to, exactly?" Sharpay asked sweetly.

"Blue Bay Harbor," he lied quickly. "I needed to clear my head and you know those ninjas couldn't sense a demon if it landed on their doorstep."

"Why did you need to clear your head?" his mother asked.

"I -- I threw the audition for the school musical this afternoon."

"Whatever for?" she asked, her voice rising slightly with concern.

Ryan bit back a smile. He'd worried that their mother would be heartless and cruel, like the monster she served, but she seemed to truly care. "I was being stupid," he said, "letting other people tell me I was something I'm not."

"Please tell me that means you'll beg Darbus to give you a second try," Sharpay said. "I don't think I could stand to have Seth playing the lead."

Ryan shifted awkwardly, staring at the space between him and his mother. "What -- what's your name?" he asked.

She smiled. "Alvinia. It's very nice to meet you, Ryan."

Sharpay was motioning to him in a way that clearly said she wanted him to hug their mother, but Ryan couldn't quite do it yet. "I have to go tell Mo- Mrs. Evans something." He rushed out of the room, leaving the two women to stare after him.

"He's just nervous," Sharpay said, reaching over to pat Boi fondly.

"He has every right to be," Alvinia said, shifting on the bed so that she could face Sharpay more easily. "What about you? Why didn't you want your brother to know about the boy?"

Sharpay shrugged, not meeting Alvinia's eyes. "What Ryan doesn't know won't hurt him. And anyway, he wouldn't approve."

"Of the boy or of involving him?"

"Ryan likes Zeke," Sharpay said with a small smile, "thinks he's good for me, if not my waistline. But he wouldn't like me bringing Zeke, even if I did need him to break the seal." She shrugged. "He'd get over it but --"

"You don't want him to be angry with you when I've just arrived."

"Exactly," Sharpay said, bouncing slightly on the bed. Her mother understood and she savored that thought. Her mother understood.

#

Ryan ran his hands through his hair, heedless of his fedora falling to the floor. He leaned against the wall, trying to breathe steadily. To his left, at the end of the hall, was Mrs. Evans, the woman who had taken them in knowing they were spawns of evil, the woman who loved him like a son because that was all she knew him as. And down the hall to his right was his mother, his real mother.

What was he supposed to say to Mrs. Evans now? "Sorry I missed dinner. Oh, and did you know my real mother's in Sharpay's room right now? Just thought you should know."

He shook his head. This was insane. Not that he wasn't happy to have Alvinia here but …

His phone rang, saving him from finishing the thought. He pulled his cell from his pocket and let out a half-sigh when he saw the name.

"What's up, Chad?" he asked, kicking at the carpet beneath his feet.

"You blew an audition?" Chad demanded.

Ryan winced. "I'll deal with it, okay?"

"Good, because we both know Ms. D's gonna give me detention for something and I do not want to spend my afternoons listening to Seth's lame monologue-ing."

Ryan chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"That's basically what Sharpay said when I told her I'd talk to Ms. D."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before Chad growled, "You never mention this to anyone ever again, got it, Evans?"

"Got it, Danforth. Was there anything else? I've kind of got a whole new crisis that needs dealing with right now."

"Gabriella broke up with Troy."

Ryan turned slowly and let his head fall forward against the wall with a thump. He could guess why she'd done it and what Chad's request was going to be. At this rate all of East High would know what they were by Halloween, which was actually kind of fitting.

"I'll see if I can get Shar to talk to her."

"She's not gonna change her mind," Chad said. "I've already talked to Taylor and she says there is zero chance of Gabby going back on this decision. Unless …" He let it hang.

Ryan sighed. Troy would have to be told. He would have to know what Gabriella had become and then make the decision of whether or not she was still worth fighting for. Gabriella's self-sacrificing streak was too thick for her to even think of putting Troy through this herself.

"I'll think about it," Ryan said. "That's all I can promise right now."

"Okay, I just wanted to let you know. Oh, and Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"Taylor says Kelsi's royally pissed about this audition thing. You should probably fix that before news leaks to the rest of the team. Or before Troy finds his phone. Apparently he told Small Person that he'd talk to you."

"Great. I'll call Kelsi soon, I promise."

"Good. See you tomorrow, man."

Ryan hung up and stared at the phone in his hand for a moment, wondering if he should get it over with and call her now or wait a while, hopefully until after the girls had dispersed. Of course, waiting meant he'd have to fill up that time talking to one of his mothers.

"Who's Kelsi?"

Ryan jumped and whirled. "Alv-- Mother," he gasped.

She smiled. "It's all right, I know it must be hard for you to think of me that way. So who is this Kelsi?"

"A friend."

"Just a friend?"

"Yes," Ryan said, putting all the emphasis into the one word that he could.

Alvinia's smile widened and her eyes sparkled. "I see."

"What are you doing out here?"

She nodded past him and he turned to see the bathroom door a few paces down the hall. "Ah, sorry."

"Did you speak to … Mrs. Evans?"

"No, and I don't think I will. She's probably busy."

Alvinia nodded once and moved past him. He'd barely taken a step back towards Sharpay's room when she called softly, "Ryan?"

He turned to her and she reached up to gently touch his cheek. "You are more handsome than I had ever imagined."

He blushed and ducked his head, missing his fedora suddenly. She lifted his chin and leaned in. He turned his head obligingly, thinking that she, like Mrs. Evans, would want to kiss him on the cheek. Instead she whispered in his ear.

"Never be ashamed of what you are."

Her tone was cold as ice and made his breath catch in his throat. He remained frozen until the bathroom door had closed behind her.

#

The phone on the nightstand buzzed and Zeke glanced at it, lifting it just high enough to see the name. Sharpay. He hadn't expected to hear from her so soon. He let the phone fall back beside his dark lamp and joined his hand with its twin beneath his head. The ceiling of his room, while not the most interesting of things in the world, was comforting. In the ten years his family had lived in this house it had remained unchanged. Unlike his entire worldview, which was quickly being adjusted to accommodate this new information.

Sharpay was a demon from the depths of the Underworld. She was not an Evans. She was, in fact, the daughter of that ice bitch who had held Zeke up by his throat.

He gulped, remembering that moment. He hadn't had time to think about death, which was probably the only thing that stopped him from having an all-out freak out right there in the woods. But now that he was alone he knew. If Sharpay hadn't saved him, that woman would have killed him, no doubt about it.

Sharpay had been cavalier about the whole thing, telling him it was all just a misunderstanding, he'd be cranky too if he'd been locked beneath the earth for over two decades. And then she'd sent him home, promising more of an explanation later and giving him her best puppy dog look when she said she just wanted time alone with her mother. Her mother who had been staring at him over Sharpay's shoulder, her eyes cold and calculating like he was a pawn on a chess board. He'd wanted to take Sharpay with him, tell her they needed to get away from whoever that woman was.

But Sharpay had told him who she was. Her mother. And if Sharpay's mother was that evil, what did that say about Sharpay?

He shook his head. This was the same old dilemma, the same one he'd been having for years. Just because Sharpay acted like a spoiled princess didn't mean she was one. He knew that. He'd seen her grow, been with her in private moments when she let her cold veneer fall away. She was a good person underneath it all. That didn't change just because her mother was evil.

The phone buzzed again. He reached for it. Sharpay. He stared at it. What if she was in trouble? What if her mother had done something horrible? The buzzing stopped mid-ring. He sat up, gripping the phone so hard he worried it might crack and debating what to do. It buzzed again. A text this time.

"Sorry."

He stared at the single word for several breaths. When it blurred, the light refracted through a drop of water on the screen, it took him a moment to realize why.

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