I was willing to bet no one would've seen this coming.

I don't necessarily mean where we arrived. The Vortex could send out portals to where we needed to be – not always where we wanted to be, however. And the place he'd dumped us was the front walk of McPherson, right where I'd had my first encounter with a cysnake. And believe me, I was not thrilled to be back there so soon after that.

I spotted the drag queen ten feet from where we'd come out, exiting the library after a long day of reading and virtue signaling to innocent children.

As Achmed had described him (him – I will refer to the performer as him), he wore a skimpy cream-colored dress with pink bows along the skirt and on the cuffs of what might've passed for sleeves, along with cream-colored boots that went up to his knees and gloves of the same color going up to his elbows, leaving his thighs and upper arms very much visible. (As if I didn't think his very existence was inappropriate.) He was dark-complexioned, with dark brown eyebrows, which only made the attire stick out even more. To top it all off, his pink afro wig made him look a bit like a dark drag version of Carrie Keehan.

Mom looked just about ready to faint at the sight of Creamer. "Allah help me," she moaned. "Is that –"

"– the guy who's trying to sucker your son? I'd say so." Knuckles' hands were lighting up again, more furiously this time. Neither of my parents seemed to notice this – although I had the suspicion Pop might be having second thoughts about hiring him. Such fiery fists were a whole homeowner's insurance risk in themselves.

"CREAMER!" I shouted. I felt better after going into the portal – like I'd been supercharged with a hundred kilowatts of electricity. I wanted to bash Creamer's face in. "Show me what you really are!"

I wanted to know whether it was a monster upsetting the locals – whether it was a monster preying on my brother. (At this point, I didn't even care that he was only related to me through Pop. He was still my brother.)

Creamer turned his head toward me.

"Imira Fadjir." His voice rang out in something too high for a man, but too low for a woman. The rhythm was smooth and flowing – but not in a melodic way like with Sonic's Sirensong. More like in a sickly-sweet way, like molasses. "How nice of you to come here with my boy."

"He's not your boy, you overgrown Barbie doll," Amos retorted. "Haven't you gotten too big for that phase?"

I have to hand it to Amos, he can trash-talk like a pro. He's never short on zingers. I'd seen the guy hold the attention of many a monster – and even destroy a few – by wearing down on its self-esteem.

Creamer, however, wasn't too impressed by Amos' comment. I could catch him letting out a hiss – sharp and metallic… just like the librarian's, moments before she went full Doc Ock serpent.

"I knew it," I muttered. "Another cysnake."

"What?" Mom asked. "What do you mean?"

I gave her the short description: "Snake fused with charging cords. The cords give out a crippling shock. Dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Creamer's mouth turned into something that was definitely more like a snake's – unmistakably long, with pointed, curved fangs. "Me? How could I be?"

"You know, you're a pretty good actor," Amos commented. "I wonder how you'd do on Broadway? I think you'd rock in Hairspray."

Creamer hissed again. "You dare insult my repertoire, you uncultured creature?"

Amos didn't even flinch at the insult. Of course, he'd probably been called worse things than that, but I was grateful he wasn't reacting. We did not need a repeat of the scorpio scuffle.

"You," Pop said, quivering with fury. "You messed with my son. I will not – will not – tolerate that. If you mess with anyone else –"

Creamer hissed and almost immediately began transforming for real. Pretty soon we were looking at a cream and pink variant of what Vinny Lee and I had faced at the library.

"Oh, this is just lovely," DJ muttered.

I sympathized with her. I'd already had my butt handed to me by one of those creeps. I didn't know how powerful Creamer was, but if he was anything like his sister…of course, if Creamer decided to attack us here, right now, we were doomed anyhow.

Amos glanced at DJ. "Please tell me you have a plan."

"I'm – I'm working on that."

"Fools!" Creamer hissed. "I will have you, and your little boy too!"

An even greater shock of rage hit me. This guy was threatening to have my brother. Of course, now that I knew it was a monster I was dealing with, that was moot. He'd probably eat all the kids up if he had the chance. I felt myself cocking fists in fury.

"What do you want?" Amos asked Creamer. "Besides the whole eating-little-kids shtick."

"I could have stopped you then," Creamer replied. "I could have had you in my coils, but that pathetic betrayer took you for his own. I could not harm the avatars, even though I would have liked to see them off the planet. The only thing left for me was your relatives, your family. Maybe then, with them gone, you could willingly come to me."

"So that's it, huh?" I heard a shink as Vinny Lee's claws unsheathed. She had built claws into her gloves for the purpose of self-defense, but they were quite effective as a threat. "Take our familias so we'd come into your sick embrace, and you swallow us alive? Sí, no lo creo."

"She's right," Sonic said. "I don't take orders from psychopaths like you. And they've taken measures to ensure you don't. The family unit is stronger than you realize."

"Or is it? Has Imira's father been helping her along? Has her stepmother? Her real mother essentially abandoned her. Threw her away. Why should she care for her family when they care so little for her?"

I remembered the words of the librarian: Honestly, do they care about you at all?

I felt as though I'd been shocked by a cysnake. (Not the one in front of me, of course. He was taking his sweet time and not even making a move.) The whole thing – stalking my brother, setting up story hours, attacking me at the library – all this was targeted at me. Achmed was merely an incentive to reach in, as they couldn't hurt me unless I let them. In an attempt to get me for themselves, the cysnake siblings were trying to manipulate my brother as bait. And then they were playing on my doubts of my family. So much for monsters not having strategy.

Once he had me, he could then lure in the other VLADJIs with similar exploitation of doubt. I couldn't let it play out like that. My other friends had enough past doubts as it was – especially Amos, who wasn't well liked by his people. And Vinny Lee, who was struggling with her gender identity.

This was what the Vortex was warning us about. This was another force trying to tear my family – and my friends – apart. But there were things Creamer didn't know – or didn't seem to care to know. He didn't know we'd reconciled in the Eye. He'd already underestimated Achmed's devotion to his big sister. And he was about to make the biggest mistake of his career as a monster – he was about to undermine the family I'd found for myself.

He only cared about what had happened way back in the past. He didn't care about the redemption I'd found.

"How sweet." Amos' voice quivered with fury. Please don't go Taz berserker, I prayed. "How totally touching that you care – even if it's only to eliminate us as a threat to you."

Pop eyed the cysnake with rage. "You threatened my family. All for my daughter?" He glanced at me. "We have rules about this."

I couldn't blame Pop for being upset. He'd found out I was a justice fighter and then discovered this. I don't know what the rules are for taking advantage of girls, but Muslims had a harder angle on that.

"Oh, forget it," Creamer hissed. "I'll finish you quickly – after I deal with her."

He charged at me – only to get thrown by a wall of fire.