Author's note:
Hey all, when I first finished Hexed, I hadn't planned on writing a follow-up. However, as I let the story sit more, it quickly became my favorite fanfic I've ever written, and I decided I wanted to explore the girls' story further. This story is from Dusk's perspective instead of Thorn's, and takes place only a week after the events of the final chapter of Hexed. Since this is a direct continuation of Hexed, I strongly recommend checking that fic out before reading this one, as certain aspects of this story build directly off of Hexed's storyline.
This fanfic will be 12 chapters in all, and a new chapter will be published every Friday. I hope you enjoy the story!
If someone were to ask Dusk what she'd been doing for the past week, she wouldn't know how to explain it even if she tried. How exactly did a person explain that what they perceived to be their entire reality had been completely fake?
At least, she thought it was fake. She honestly wasn't even sure, which was the worst part of this whole ordeal. That being the worst part was definitely saying something, considering that three maniacal witches had manipulated the music charts with their magic to make Dusk's band famous.
Even though the witches were safely detained in another dimension, Dusk and her friends were left wondering whether or not any of the fame they'd experienced was real. Considering the huge fan following they'd gotten, not to mention traveling the country for sold-out tours, finding out none of it had actually happened was quite the mind-fuck.
Dusk's bandmates and best friends, Thorn and Luna, were more optimistic than her and seemed to think it was real. Dusk, on the other hand, was a bit more cynical. Regardless of whether the band believed it had happened or not, it was a definitive fact that nobody else remembered any of it, so what the fuck was the point of thinking what had happened was real if nobody else knew about it?
They'd been in Nashville when all hell had broken loose, and the witches had opened that portal that they in turn ended up being sucked into themselves. It was then that they had to face the terrifying reality that it was all fake, because the timeline of the witches' manipulation had been erased. The three bandmates and their manager, Gus, made the long trip back to their hometown of Oakhaven, when the hotel they were staying at had no record of the reservations they'd booked.
When the girls had returned home, one of the first things they'd done was ask the people they knew what they had thought the girls had been doing. The girls had been gone from Oakhaven for about a week for the tour, but given that had been erased from the fabric of their timeline, they had no idea where people thought they'd been. The hard part was that they couldn't exactly ask "what do you think I've been doing for the past week?" without sounding like they were loony, so they tried to dance around the question to see if anybody would tell them where they believed the girls had been. Thorn and Luna had reported it had been a bit harder to get it out of their parents, but Dusk had a relatively easy job getting it out of Jack. The first thing he'd asked her was how her week off writing music had been. It struck Dusk a bit odd at first, but apparently in this new timeline, everybody seemed to believe the girls were gone because they'd taken a week off to focus on something music-related. That technically wasn't wrong, since the reason for their absence was indeed related to their music career. Dusk supposed Sofia had been right when she said "I think you will find all things will become as they were intended" which was her last remark before disappearing back into the alternate reality. It was strange how the universe had righted itself.
The girls had been home for about a week now, and after a much-needed several days of rest and relaxation, they were back at it, trying to think of the next strategy to promote their album. After the almost constant dose of the new sights and limelight, they were back in their dingey old apartment. At least, it felt dingey to Dusk, given all of the prestigious hotels they'd been staying in the past week. Back to the boring white walls, the modest furniture, and the broken heat and water pipes that the landlord hadn't fixed for months.
The girls were just sitting down so that they could discuss how they wanted to move forward. Thorn donned gray sweatpants and a black "I saw the ghost of Oakhaven" and lived t-shirt, which Dusk knew to be one of Thorn's favorite t-shirts, given she wore it all the time. Luna wore a purple top and black shorts, whereas Dusk wore gray trousers and a plain black t-shirt.
Now, they needed to come up with a strategy to continue promoting their first album now that the first single was falling off the charts. Luna was just getting a glass of water from the sink before the girls sat down to discuss the matter.
"Hey, the faucet doesn't leak anymore!" Luna exclaimed happily. "The landlord finally fixed it."
"And it only took a complete timeline reset for it to happen." Dusk laughed.
"Starting from the drawing board after performing sold out shows around the country feels a bit weird. It feels like we're starting over…but we're also somehow in the middle of that process, because we already were famous, but now we weren't ever famous in the first place...if that makes any sense." Thorn commented with a chuckle, changing the subject back to the reason the girls were sitting down in the living room for a chat.
"I mean, artists technically do that all the time after they've fallen out of popularity, so I guess at least we're not entirely alone." Luna said with a light chuckle. "The only difference is we're not famous anymore because of witches."
"Lucky us." Dusk sarcastically replied.
"That's a great way to think of it." Thorn responded before slightly changing the subject. "How are you doing with things, Luna? I know you were thinking about whether you still wanted to be a part of the band."
"Finding out the last month of our lives didn't really happen has been pretty jarring for all of us." Luna said with a chuckle which had a light hint of anxiety in it. "I'm still processing everything, but as of right now, I'd like to stay in the band. I'll keep thinking about everything, though."
"I mean, we're not exactly starting from the drawing board." Dusk chimed in. "We're just trying to figure out what the second single is, now that "Hex Girl" has fallen off the charts. Which one of us doesn't think should be "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air," for some reason."
"Well, I personally think "Love's Curse" would be a better choice. The lyrics are more similar to "Hex Girl," and it's more catchy and repetitive. I think it would fit pretty well among the other songs on contemporary hit radio, if that's where we're aiming to promote the single again." Thorn argued.
"Umm…" Luna said, as she paused for a moment to fully formulate her response. "'I put a curse on you' does sound very similar to 'I'm gonna put a spell on you,' but…I would argue it's almost too similar. "Hex Girl" did pretty well, but if we're wanting something to make us successful, putting out a song that's super similar to the last single is just going to merit the same results…right? Although I guess we don't know if it peaking at #26 had anything to do with the witches."
Luna looked a bit unsure of herself, but Dusk quite honestly thought her thinking was incredibly sound. Releasing something with such similar lyrics to their first single would surely cement their status as unpopular.
"Luna's right. Artists who try to copy their first single over and over never end up getting any long-term success. If "Hex Girl" couldn't get above #26, then this sure as hell isn't going to. If anything, the similar lyrics are just gonna make people think we're trying to get famous by imitating our first single." Dusk rebuked.
"Hmm…that is a fair point." Thorn nodded, looking like she was still processing how to move forward now that her initial plan had been debunked. "How do we know that releasing something different isn't just going to lead to it flopping?"
Dusk didn't agree with Thorn's point, but she didn't exactly know how to disprove what she said either. "I mean, we really don't."
"I'd still argue that taking a risk is a better move than playing it safe and releasing something like our first single. Regardless of if the first single peaked early from supernatural manipulation, at least with something different, there's more of a chance it will become popular." Luna added.
Dusk was admittedly a little jealous of how eloquently she'd worded her idea. It sounded so much better than "we really don't." Dusk would never admit it, but sometimes she felt inferior to Luna, who was the most academically inclined of any of the girls, although Thorn was close behind. Dusk, on the other hand, had always struggled a bit with school. Academics were never her strong suit, and her parents - particularly her father - unfortunately reminded her of this regularly throughout her high school years.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Thorn nodded. "Given that, I'd say "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air" is probably our best bet. It seemed to always be a fan favorite at the concerts, and we even had that one girl say it was her favorite."
Dusk believed she was referring to Susan, who was a girl they'd met at a restaurant they'd stopped at, whom they'd given a free ticket to their concert when they'd realized she was a super fan but couldn't afford the concert.
"Thank god we've finally got this obvious decision settled." Dusk teased. "So, I guess we can just tell Gus next time we see him."
"Yeah, we've got that meeting with him at 2:00pm this afternoon to brainstorm our promotion strategies." Luna reminded. "We'll run it by him then to get his take."
Dusk's mind had been swirling ever since they'd returned to Oakhaven, so she had admittedly lost track of what day it was. She never would have thought they'd be doing those planning meetings in Gus's office so soon, after the massive tour they'd been on. What was even more unsettling was that when she thought about it, those meetings with Gus were not that far in the past. They'd only been happening for about a month or two before they'd left for tour, but it felt like Gus's meetings had been a part of their lives for so much longer than that. Dusk had really put all her eggs in one basket with this tour, and all it had done is let her down.
Decade Records looked exactly as she'd remembered it: a modest brick office building with a neon sign that read the name of the record label. It was nothing fancy, but what Dusk remembered most about the place was the hope and possibility that it represented for the three girls.
Dusk felt like it should have felt routine to return to Gus's office, but instead, it felt incredibly jarring. The surroundings themselves were comforting and familiar, but the idea of meeting with Gus to basically start from the drawing board after achieving world fame was sombering, to say the least.
"Is it just me, or does it feel fucking weird to be back here?" Dusk inquired of her two friends, as she shut the passenger side door to the Soccer Mom Minivan.
"It's not just you." Thorn assured. "It definitely feels weird to be back here…but it also feels kinda oddly comforting."
"I was thinking the same." Luna interjected. "I kind of missed doing this while we were touring, so it's good to be back, even if the circumstances are weird."
Dusk wished she felt that same nostalgia Thorn and Luna were talking about. More so, Dusk felt coming back here without the success they'd previously attained was somehow a failure on their part. Dusk knew that was fucking ridiculous, as how the hell could they have predicted three witches altering the fabric of reality? Still, her mind remained in opposition to her ego, as she walked into Decade Records feeling a bit insecure.
Dusk looked up at the posters of famous artists on the wall. She'd remembered Thorn mentioning something to them about admiring the posters the first time she came in and wishing she could be famous like them, then feeling like she'd achieved her dream when their first album became popular.
Dusk had never taken a close look at the posters before, but looking at them now, she didn't care for them too much. She presumed it was her imagination, but it felt like the pictures were all looking down their noses at her. Bob Dylan wore a grin on his face that was almost superior. Bon Jovi's elated smirk was almost boastful in its radiance. She wondered how the hell anybody could be so happy when things had fallen apart so disastrously for her. Robert Smith at least had a friendly smile on his face, but in her cynical state, Dusk felt like his smile pitied her, almost as if it was saying "don't worry, someday you'll be as good as me!"
Dusk had to avert her gaze, realizing her frustration was getting the better of her. Any sane person knew that posters couldn't judge people. All of the judgements she'd projected onto these posters were actually just a reflection of what she thought of herself: a loser. This was not a new feeling for the blonde; she'd thought this of herself long before any of this had happened. The loss of the one thing that made her feel important only made these feelings rise more to the surface.
"Come on in, girls!" the familiar voice of the band's manager warmly invited, as the girls arrived at his door.
Dusk mentally shook herself out of the self-deprecating stupor she had gotten caught in yet again, and followed her two friends into Gus's office. Thorn and Luna took the two gray leather chairs, whilst Dusk sat in the red leather chair.
"How has your week been, girls?" Gus inquired.
"Refreshing." Luna said, before thinking about her word choice a tad more and backtracking. "Well, mostly refreshing. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that the entire reality we knew was fake."
"I'm not sure any of us ever truly will. I'm trying to think of this as being like a move." Thorn said, before Luna interjected.
"Between timelines?" Luna said with a chuckle.
"Well…I mean, like a big life change. Any major life shift takes a lot of mental adjustment, so I'm trying to think of it like that. For example, it was a pretty large change for us to all graduate from high school and turn to making music full-time." Thorn explained.
"Yeah. A pretty large change of $650 a month not including utilities, plus groceries and gas." Dusk snarkily interjected.
"I'm glad you're all adjusting to being back in Oakhaven well." Gus stated, before he saw the sullen look on Dusk's face and processed what she'd just said. "Well, most of you."
Dusk didn't want to say anything. She was feeling the type of moody in which she didn't want others to point out that she was not in a good mood, because talking about how down she was would only put her in a worse mood. She was also feeling the type of moody where she was jealous and bitter that her other two friends seemed to be handling this so much better than her.
"So, as strange as it is to say, I suppose we're going right back to the drawing board. Have you thought anything about what you want to do now?" Gus asked.
"We were talking about releasing "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air" as the second single." Thorn informed. "We were debating between that and "Love's Curse," but we decided on the former."
"I agree that's the best single choice, and I'm glad to hear you've finalized that. I could make arrangements for you to film a music video, if you'd like." Gus offered.
"Well, it couldn't hurt." Thorn shrugged.
"Sure. Why not?" Luna added.
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Dusk nodded.
"When's the soonest we can record it?" Thorn inquired.
"Looks like the studio is booked tomorrow, but we could get you in on Monday afternoon." Gus said.
"That's right after our shifts." Luna pointed out. "That'd be perfect!"
"Also, it's up to you, but do you remember how I mentioned my friend at ZPOP out in Ohio?" Gus inquired. "I could drop him a line as well, and see if we could schedule a televised interview about the making of your music video."
Now Dusk was excited. A trip to Ohio? She was already missing the traveling from their tour, so going to another state sounded like just what she needed to break out of her rut.
"That sounds wicked!" Dusk exclaimed.
"Yeah, I think it's a great way to spread the word about our new single." Luna agreed.
"It'd also help make sure people didn't forget about us too quickly after "Hex Girl." Being on TV would position us as still being relevant, so yeah, I'd say we should go for it." Thorn added.
"Excellent. I'll put in the phone call to my associate tomorrow, and check if he's open to having you do an interview on their morning show. If he is, I'll try to see if we can get a mileage request to have the station cover the gas to get there. I think this is the beginning of something huge for you girls!" Gus smiled.
Dusk didn't want to get her hopes up too much quite yet, but she felt quite elated that they'd already come up with a game plan to put themselves out there so quickly again. Surely following up their first single with a music video and a television interview so promptly would show the world that The Hex Girls were a dedicated, passionate band worth following…at least, she hoped it would.
Although they hadn't worked on planning the next album over the past few days, the girls had still gone to each of their second jobs to put in their shifts. They had originally gotten these jobs to help them pay for a car repair, but they'd stuck around after they had realized how much of help they were to Thorn and Luna's fathers and Jack. Dusk would never admit it, but a part of her still felt jealous that Thorn and Luna were able to work with their fathers, while Dusk felt like her father wouldn't give her a job even if she was on the verge of losing the apartment. Dusk tried to shove the emotional pain from the strained relationship with her father down, while she focused on the current task at hand: serving the orders she'd just received.
"Alright, Thorn had the turkey sandwich, Luna had the tuna, and I had the burger with fries." Dusk said aloud, as she carefully placed all three entrees down on the booth at their accustomed front of the restaurant.
Prior to the tour, it'd become a routine for the girls to gather at Jack's around 12:15 after finishing with their shifts. However, Dusk's shift often went until 12:30 or even 12:45, to give Jack extra help with the lunch rush. Thankfully, today, the girls' order was the last one, so Dusk was able to sit down and enjoy a meal with her friends.
"How was your shift?" Luna inquired.
"Decent. It was pretty quiet today, thankfully, which is unusual for a Friday." Dusk remarked. "Anyway, what do we want to do for this music video? If we're filming Monday, we've gotta get this planned fast."
"Luna and I were actually just talking about it while you were serving that other table." Thorn replied, as Dusk sat down. She took off the pink apron she wore over her waitress uniform, both of which she hated. She didn't enjoy dressing overly girly, so wearing a pink apron over a pink waitress uniform was pretty much the equivalent of torture for her.
"We were thinking of asking Gus if we could film it somewhere out in nature." Luna added. "Something that would complement the environmental lyrics of the song."
"Oh!" Thorn exclaimed, as her green eyes lit up as she brainstormed an idea. "What about that old walking trail in the woods, near the park? There's lots of trees and bushes in there."
"That's a wicked idea!" Dusk agreed, getting an idea of her own. "Maybe we could have it start similarly to "Hex Girl" where we start the video with some old, out-of-touch dude who hates the environment. Then, after he says some anti-environment stuff, we start singing the song."
"I like that." Luna nodded. "Almost like our song would be an angry response to his comments."
"Yeah, I think that's an awesome concept for the music video. Our first single was pretty generic, but this would really cement the eco-goth image we've all talked about wanting for the band." Thorn nodded.
At that moment, Dusk noticed her boss, Jack, coming over to see the girls. He donned a white button-up shirt and gray dress pants.
"Hey, girls! What are you working on today?" Jack jovially inquired.
"We're working on brainstorming ideas for our second music video." Thorn informed.
"That's wonderful!" Jack exclaimed. "Which song is it for?"
"Earth, Wind, Fire and Air." Dusk answered.
"Oh, that one was always one of my favorites! What a great choice for your second single!" Jack smiled. "I'm glad you girls are releasing another video. You seem a lot happier today, Dusk! If ya don't mind me saying so, you've seemed a little down lately."
Dusk immediately felt embarrassed, but only because what Jack was saying was true. She had been feeling quite down and depressed lately, but she didn't really want to be vulnerable and admit that to anybody.
"No, I'm fine." Dusk rebuked, with a hint of coldness present in her voice. "Just a little tired is all. We've been working really hard on the music video and planning the rollout of our second single."
"Oh, well then I better let you girls get back to it!" Jack exclaimed, as he headed back towards the kitchen.
Once Jack was out of earshot, Thorn and Luna glanced at Dusk, wearing befuddled looks on their faces.
"We just started talking about the music video today. How could you be tired?" Thorn said with a chuckle. The laugh was not mean, and Dusk could tell it was merely an attempt to be playful with her friend. However, Dusk was already annoyed by Jack pointing out that she'd been down, so she wasn't in any kind of mood for joking.
"Oh, shut up. Did you want me to tell him that I'd actually been feeling down because we were famous in an alternate reality, but now we're not?" Dusk snapped.
"Not exactly, but Jack does have a point. It's been a super weird adjustment for Luna and I too, but you have seemed pretty depressed lately, in a different way than Luna and I seem to be." Thorn pointed out. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I guess. It just sucks we're not famous anymore. It feels like everything we've done up to this point was for nothing." Dusk sighed.
"I get that, but I mean, we did release a whole album and our song got up to #26 on the charts." Thorn mentioned. "Even if we didn't become one of the hottest bands in the world, it's still a pretty great accomplishment. Not everybody could do what we did."
Dusk was getting defensive now. "How does any of that matter if nobody knows who we are?"
"Oh Dusk." Luna let out a sigh. "Being famous was cool and all that, but the music should always be the most important thing. That superficial fame junk is the whole reason I was considering leaving the band in the first place!"
"It should always be about making music that means something to us, rather than just doing it to chase fame." Thorn added. "I hope you feel the same way."
Dusk admittedly did not, even though she could see where Thorn was coming from. She wished that they could just make music that they loved, but as her dad always told her, doing something you love doesn't mean anything unless you can pay the bills. Sure, it was working out fine for them now with the part-time jobs, but Dusk didn't want to still be a waitress five years down the road. She wanted to do something with her life that would make her successful and happy, just as a big eff-you to her stupid father who always said she'd never make anything of herself following her passion, because it was only a so-called "hobby."
She didn't feel she had the energy to explain that to Thorn right now though, so she uncharacteristically replied "Yeah, I do. You're right."
It was in a robotic, defeated voice, so she had no idea if it was believable, but it seemed to shut Thorn up which she was glad about. She wished she were privileged enough to live in a utopian world like Thorn and Luna did, where they didn't have to worry about making their parents proud of them and had the freedom to explore a career and then choose something else. With Dusk's parents, it already felt like they counted her out before she had even made an attempt at becoming famous writing songs. Dusk wanted to prove their ignorant asses wrong.
Dusk carefully parked the Soccer Mom Minivan in their usual spot, next to a pine tree planted on a small grassy area opposite the record label. She had felt a bit rejuvenated after the weekend, given she had gotten to relax without any obligations. The girls hurried inside Decade Records to Gus's office, eager to begin filming.
"I can't wait to hear what Gus thinks of our music video idea!" Thorn exclaimed, as she knocked on his office door.
"Come in!" the girls' manager instructed. Gus was usually pretty jovial, but his tone today sounded even more elated than usual.
"Hey Gus!" Thorn greeted.
"Girls, I've got incredibly exciting news for you, as well as an idea to bounce off of you." Gus informed. "I made the call to my friend at ZPOP in Ohio. He wants to have you on the morning news show on Wednesday for an interview and to announce your next single. Not only that, but he also asked if you'd be willing to do a live performance!"
Dusk felt a sense of elation surge through her body. If they wanted not only an interview, but a live performance as well, the station must be confident that the band was enough of an up-and-comer to justify giving them such a prime slot to perform their album. Nobodies didn't make announcements for their next single on television. If they could get other networks to want to interview them, maybe this would be just the thing they needed to become popular again. Dusk realized she was perhaps getting a bit prematurely carried away, but she felt her excitement was quite justified.
"Woah, that's incredible!" Dusk immediately exclaimed.
"We should definitely do this!" Luna chimed in.
"I'm with you both. Tell them yes!" Thorn agreed.
"Excellent! I'm so glad you girls like the idea. That would mean we'd be traveling up to Ohio tomorrow morning. It's an eleven hour drive, so we'd need almost a whole day for driving each way, and we'd have to stay in a hotel on Tuesday night. Are you okay with that?" Gus questioned.
"For sure!" Luna enthusiastically answered.
"Yeah, it'll be kinda like a much shorter version of what we were doing on tour!" Thorn commented.
"Heck yeah!" Dusk exclaimed. "Just as long as the label's paying for it."
"Yes, the label will be paying for this." Gus confirmed. "I also wanted to bounce an idea off of you groovy goths. I know we had planned to film the video today, but what do you think about filming it on Wednesday in Ohio? It'd be of no extra cost to us."
"That would be incredible." Dusk's eyes lit up. Casually filming a music video in another state felt like something only big-time artists did, so she was quite excited about this idea.
"Yeah! We were just planning to do it in a park, but we could probably find an even nicer one there." Thorn remarked.
"What city are we going to?" Luna inquired.
"The city of Crystal Cove, OH." Gus smiled. "It's a small, quaint little town with kind of a spooky history. There are lots of legends in the town of ghost sightings and supernatural activity. However, I believe it's just a tourist gimmick, but it fits the image of the band perfectly."
"Hopefully there's no repeat of our recent little otherworldly adventure." Thorn chuckled, with a hint of nervousness in her voice. Dusk didn't feel particularly nervous, as towns came up with gimmicky crap like this all the time to attract visitors. Besides, she didn't believe in any of that superstitious nonsense, so she didn't see any reason to worry just because of their recent experience with the witches trying to bring back people from another dimension.
"I shall make the call and get all the preparations in place for our trip. I'll plan to pick you girls up at your apartment at 6:00am sharp tomorrow morning. That will get us there by 5:00pm." Gus informed.
"Thanks so much for being so amazing, Gus. We never would have thought you would have found anything this incredible for us this quick." Luna smiled.
"Well, I think very highly of you girls. You're among one of the most talented bands I've ever worked with, so I want to do everything I can to give you all the opportunities an amazing group like you deserves!" Gus smiled. "Hopefully this trip is the beginning of amazing things for you girls."
"Man, I can't believe it. I just know this is gonna make us famous again." Dusk said in awe.
"Just don't let it go to your head this time." Luna teased.
Luna's words admittedly made Dusk feel a little bad, but she felt she'd learned her lesson from last time. She knew there was a clear separation of fame and friendship, and friendship needed to be prioritized over fame. She was stupid and selfish for even thinking about making that comment that their friendship might be affected if Luna left the band.
Dusk considered not saying anything in response to Luna's remark because it made her feel bad, but she realized that might further worry her friends that she still hadn't fully let go of the fame-crazed mentality. She needed to speak up and make it clear she was done with prioritizing fame over friendship, even if she strongly desired fame again.
"I won't. Trust me, I've learned my lesson." Dusk promised. "I treated you all terribly and I'm so sorry for that. I've realized now that friendship comes first, always."
"Well, good." Thorn smiled. "Thank you so much for everything, Gus. We'll see you in the morning!"
"I'll be there, bright and early!" Gus exclaimed, as the girls got up from the leather chairs and began heading out the door.
Dusk completely shared in Gus's hopes for the band. In her opinion, publicity like this was just what the band needed to gain popularity again. She knew if things stayed as they were right now, the girls would fade into obscurity if they didn't prove to the world that the Hex Girls were here to stay. As far as Dusk was concerned, that was exactly what they were going to do.
