AN: Wow! I am terrible! My only excuse for how late this is, is that Alvinia is so evil that her evil reaches through the screen and makes it difficult to write her character. Yeah, I'm gonna go with that. Enjoy.
Men and Monsters
Chapter 13
Kelsi tossed and turned in bed. Her brain wouldn't slow down enough for her to get any rest. Between Ryan throwing the audition and Gabriella dumping Troy, the next few days at East High were going to be torture.
Gabby wasn't anywhere near reconciling with Troy and she hadn't even been able to say why they'd broken up. At first, her reluctance had made Kelsi wonder if this was bigger than the usual Troy and Gabriella drama.
"You should tell him," Taylor had said, hugging Gabriella, "let it be his choice."
"No!" Gabby cried, pulling away. "I can't!" She shook her head violently, hugging herself. "He'd insist on staying with me, dealing with this together. It's just who he is."
"Or," Taylor said slowly after giving Gabby a moment to calm down, "are you afraid that he'll be totally selfish for once? That he'll leave you because of this?"
Gabby gave Taylor a look that clearly said she thought her friend had gone crazy.
"Because, if it was me," Taylor continued, "I'm not sure which would scare me more."
Gabby had left to restock on snacks a few minutes after that and Taylor had quickly assured Kelsi and Martha that it wasn't what they thought, but that it was Gabby's secret and they shouldn't pressure her.
On the way home Martha and Kelsi had brainstormed possible explanations and, barring some sort of strange science fiction explanation, they'd settled on Gabriella being sick.
Kelsi couldn't believe it. Frankly, she refused to. It seemed more likely that Gabriella had woken up one morning to find herself hating basketball with such passion that just seeing a jersey would make her throw up.
That was it, Kelsi thought hopefully. Her cousins were always telling her stories about how this or that monster had done something incredibly stupid, like draw mustaches on people with a magical pen, and they said that things like this happened to people in every single Ranger team's hometown. Granted, Albuquerque didn't have any Rangers, but there were sure to be some rogue monsters out there somewhere. Yeah, and Sharpay would probably come to school tomorrow in head to toe black.
She kicked the blanket off of her, trying to find a comfortable position. Just because Vida and Madison's lives were completely insane didn't mean that her life was. And if that meant accepting that Gabriella might be -- might be, she repeated forcefully -- sick, then she would just have to deal with that.
Which left her with the Ryan problem. When she'd gotten home her mom had berated her for not answering her phone. It turned out that it had run our of juice shortly after Vida's call and, among the many messages from her mom, she found one from Ryan.
"Listen," he'd said, "I know I was stupid this afternoon, and I promise I'll try to never let it happen again. I'm going to Darbus first thing in the morning and begging for a second chance. And if you want I'll come begging to you too, because you deserve it. I should have just told you what was going on and," he let out a harsh laugh, "I may have to, but for now I need you to understand that it's not just my problem, it's Sharpay's too. But I promise I'll try not to let it hurt my acting or my life or you ever again. Also, could you call off Troy, I'd rather not have my obituary read 'murdered by angsty basketball player.' Oh! And this is Ryan."
Kelsi couldn't help but smile at that and it had made her forget the Gabriella problem for a while. Then, of course, she'd started wondering about what Ryan and Sharpay's problem was.
How would this news affect the other Wildcats, especially considering Gabriella's unnamed problem?
Kelsi wrapped herself up in her blanked once more and turned to face the wall. If she didn't get to sleep soon, she was going to go crazy.
#
Alvinia walked the halls of the Evans' house. Sharpay had put her in a guest room for the night, assuring her that as long as she made the bed in the morning no one would ever know she was there. Not that she was worried. If anyone saw her she had more than enough power to deal with them.
The children were still trying to figure out what to do with her. There had been some discussion of taking the spell off the Evans, though that option had been quickly ruled out since undoing a spell of that magnitude would require altering the world once more. Alvinia had been taken aback by that. She had known the twins would be powerful, but hadn't thought they had enough training to tap into that power. She would have to take their unusual strength into consideration.
Though they had skirted around the subject of the Master, she had eventually been able to gather information regarding their father. Calindor had let his own hubris defeat him, not once but twice, and had ultimately fallen because of it. She could feel no pity for him, but knew the children expected different, so she carefully let them see just a hint of sadness when she heard the news. It was enough and they had quickly changed the subject.
Alvinia paused and glanced up at a patch of wall lit by moonlight. A portrait hung there, as if whoever decorated the hall had planned on the moon's location. A man, tall and proud, stood close behind a woman in a chair. His hands rested on her shoulders and she had reached up to hold one lovingly. She was beautiful. Not because of her long blonde hair or flawless features, but because her eyes were alight with a joy seen only in those who loved and were loved in return. Alvinia's hands fisted and she pressed back the emotions she was feeling. This woman was nothing, a puppet the twins had found to fulfill their childish fantasies of a family. She would be easily tossed aside and even more easily forgotten.
A bit of magic was all it took to find Ryan's room. Alvinia entered carefully, using a spell to silence the door's hinges just to be safe. She didn't bother turning on the light, choosing instead to use magic to see in the dark. A smile curved her lips when she saw Ryan, sprawled on his bed. His blankets were tangled and barely covering him, while his limbs were flung out at odd angles, almost like a rag doll fallen on the floor. She turned her attention to the rest of the room. The setup was the same as Sharpay's had been, even the furniture was in the same places as if it had come with the room. But where Sharpay had overwhelmed her cream colored walls with every shade of pink imaginable, Ryan was more sedated. There was no color scheme to be seen, though the curtains and bedspread were a matching red.
She had already looked through Sharpay's room earlier, finding nothing more interesting than a plastic container of brownies hidden under the bed. They still held a trace of that human boy's essence and she had put them back in place quickly. Everything else was exactly what would be expected of a teenage girl -- useless trinkets, school books, vacuous magazines, and more clothes than one human could conceivably wear. At first glance Ryan's room seemed much the same, though his room bore fewer trophies than his sister's and they were not given the same honorific treatment hers were. His shelves were filled with books on history, music, theater …. She pulled a yearbook from the shelf and began flipping through its pages.
She needed to know more about the children. What had they done since leaving the Underworld? What sort of lives were they living? And, most importantly, where did their loyalties lie?
Ryan shifted in his sleep, pulling the blankets up and muttering, "Kelsi."
A quick glance at the yearbook's index and Alvinia found several images of the girl. She was a small, mousy thing, most often seen with her face half-hidden by a hat. She played piano and worked with the twins in the Drama Club. Her friends ranged from basketball players to the academic team and, Alvinia noted, so did Ryan's. They were often in the same pictures, along with Sharpay and occasionally the boy who had freed her. But one of the two of them alone, studying across the table from one another in the library, was what caught Alvinia's attention.
She had that look, the same one the woman in the portrait did. The girl's was more subdued, not nearly as strong, not nearly as bright, but it was there all the same.
Alvinia glanced back at Ryan, to make sure he was sleeping soundly, and disappeared in a flash of light.
#
"So," Vida said, kicking a stray bit of stone, "this is bad."
The Mystic Rangers stood at the edge of a wide clearing, none of them willing to enter. Leanbow was keeping a fire burning above them, casting harsh light on the broken seal and warming them in the cold night. It looked like a road, the asphalt splintered by a broken water main beneath.
"Very bad, I'm afraid," Udonna said, walking slowly around the seal's edge.
"What could do this?" Madison asked, reaching out to touch a large chunk of stone that had been forced upward.
"Don't," Daggeron warned and Madison stilled instantly. "If this held who I think it did, she'll have put a curse on the remains, just for the twisted joy of it."
"But who did it hold?" Xander pressed.
Chip nodded, standing on his toes to get a better look at the whole thing. "I thought all the Master's servants were with him behind the Gate."
"Most of them were," Udonna said, "but …" She trailed off and glanced at Clare sadly. "Niella knew there was a possibility that we would not be able to defeat the Master. Our forces were small and evil seemed to grow ever stronger."
"She planned on sealing the Gate," Clare guessed quietly, her voice tight with emotion, "she knew it would come to that."
Udonna nodded. "She practiced the spell on one of the Master's most powerful servants. This must have been where they fought."
"You don't know?" Vida asked.
Udonna shook her head. "She left us and came back days later saying it was done. And now it seems Alvinia is free."
"Alvinia?" Madison echoed.
"She was incredibly powerful," Daggeron said. "She'd devoted lifetimes to the study of evil."
"What do you mean by 'evil'?" Chip asked.
Leanbow sighed. "They say she once skinned a man alive and then reattached the skin before torturing him."
"Before?" Xander asked. "So that part wasn't torture?"
"I was wrong," Vida said, "this is so beyond bad."
"Guys!" Nick called, running up. Xander and Chip stopped him before he could touch the seal.
"What is it, Nick?" Udonna asked.
"There are tire tracks back there."
Xander shrugged. "It could be from some kids messing around out here, riding bikes in the woods like idiots."
Nick shook his head. "They're car tracks and they didn't drive anywhere, there's no room. It's like someone set down a car in the middle of the trees and picked it back up again."
"Great," Chip muttered, "the Master's most evil servant has a car."
"Spread out," Leanbow said, "someone had to have released her and I doubt she cared enough about them to keep them around."
"Shouldn't we be looking for her?" Madison asked.
"Don't worry," he said darkly, "she'll find us."
#
Alvinia was sitting on the bed, flipping through a notebook of half-written songs when Kelsi came upstairs with a glass of warm milk. When the light flipped on they spent a frozen moment staring at one another before Kelsi remembered herself and opened her mouth to scream.
"Oh no," Alvinia said, lifting her hand as if pushing Kelsi's chin up. Obediently, Kelsi's mouth snapped shut. "We'll have none of that."
Kelsi gripped the glass of milk so hard she thought it might break. Beyond that she could blink and breathe and swallow, but any other movement was impossible and even that little was stunted. It felt exactly like Madison said turning to stone had, only Madison had been lucky enough to black out.
"Kelsi!" her father called sleepily from his room down the hall. "If you're going to stay up late composing, at least close your door!"
Alvinia lazily motioned towards the door and it closed. Kelsi closed her eyes, trying to fight back panic. She tried to work her mouth, to say something bold that might throw the woman off her game. It was what she thought Vida would do.
"You can talk," Alvinia sighed, "if you promise not to scream." She looked at her, not bothering to tilt her head up even an inch. Kelsi wasn't sure how to answer but after a moment the woman waved a hand and every muscle in her body relaxed at once. She stumbled and had to grab onto the desk by the door for support. The glass fell to the floor, the milk pouring out over the carpet. Kelsi took deep, gulping breaths now that her chest was free to expand to its limit. She wished, however fleetingly, that she was wearing something else instead of a faded spaghetti-strap shirt and sweatpants with the knees torn away. Or, at the very least, that she could be wearing shoes.
"They'll beat you," she bit out, hoping that whatever ancestor Vida had gotten her spunk from had spared a bit for her too. "Whatever you're planning, whatever edge you think you'll get by hurting this family, it won't help you."
Alvinia watched Kelsi carefully, waiting until she'd composed herself enough to stand on her own before asking, "Why not?"
"Because," Kelsi said as if it were obvious, "Good always triumphs over Evil. And the Power Rangers always beat the bad guys."
Alvinia's eyes glowed slightly and her nails dug into the notebook's plastic cover.
"My cousins will never let you win," Kelsi added quietly.
The light in her eyes faded and Alvinia smiled, looking at the notebook once more. "I can see why he likes you," she said conversationally as she fingered a page of music without lyrics, mentally reciting the tune.
"Who?" Kelsi asked.
"My son. Ryan," Alvinia added, not quite able to keep from looking up to see the girl's reaction.
Kelsi's knees went weak but she was too shocked to grab for the desk this time and could only lean back against the door, the frame digging into her back.
Alvinia set the notebook aside and crossed the room, avoiding the spilled milk carefully. She tucked a strand of Kelsi's hair behind her ear and met her shell-shocked gaze.
"I suppose I should have expected it," she sighed. "His father was good, if only barely, before we met. The star-crossed infatuation runs in the family. And at least you have the potential for power, unlike that boy Sharpay seems preoccupied with."
She took Kelsi's hand and led her gently to the bed.
"Now," she said, sitting down herself and smoothing out her skirt, "we have several hours yet before we have to go and I would appreciate it if you spent them telling me all about this charming family of yours and how they defeated my Master."
Kelsi's eyes snapped back into focus and she swallowed. "And where are we going that we can't go now?" Ah, she thought with some small bit of relief, there was Vida's spunk.
Alvinia laughed and it sounded so light and joyful that for a moment Kelsi forgot to be afraid. "My dear girl, only madmen visit the Queen of the Vampires in the dead of night and expect to escape with all their blood -- though daylight doesn't give you much of an advantage either. Now start at the beginning," she said sweetly, "I demand to know everything."