When she woke up early the next morning, Melanie sat up and looked around. She didn't remember why at first until she had a moment to remember what had happened the night before.
But once the memories flooded back to her tired mind, Melanie muttered Sadie's name, hopped out of bed, and immediately got ready for the day as quickly as she could.
When she had prayed, Melanie checked her phone and was surprised to see that it was only 6 am.
Melanie then grabbed her black 505 merchandise jacket, pulled it on over her pink tank top and jean shorts, pulled on her socks and sneakers, grabbed her school satchel, grabbed her knapsack, and headed to the door.
Melanie opened her door and tried summoning her scythe, but nothing happened. In a panic, she tried again and again and again, but nothing happened.
Melanie suppressed a whimper in the silence and anxiously gripped the bottom of her jacket, feeling sick to her stomach.
Her scythe had been taken. It was her Papi's doing. It had to be.
Melanie stood there in the quiet, shaking in anger and fear, feeling helpless and almost violated. It took a prayer and a warm touch of love from her unfathomably good Heavenly Father to feel brave enough to shut the door behind her and take her first steps into that godless hallway of the dark manor belonging to the equally as unfathomable evil entity that wanted to consume her.
Those small steps were slow at first, but gradually, they became faster and faster and faster.
With a final deep breath, Melanie looked ahead with determination, summoned her long, black wings, and took off flying down the hallways and stairs to find 505.
Melanie finally landed outside the door to the kitchen. The house felt empty for the moment. And far too quiet.
Melanie set her bags outside the door and prepared to look around some more when she heard some noise coming from the kitchen.
A smile crept across her lips and her heart instantly felt lighter. It was 505. It had to be. He could show her where Sadie was.
Melanie allowed her wings to disappear and eagerly opened the door going into the kitchen.
Unfortunately, to her surprise, Flug was in there, still in his pajamas, preparing breakfast with the help of a lot of machines.
Upon seeing him, Melanie turned invisible, but Flug had already seen her out of the corner of his eye.
"I know you're there, Melanie," Flug said nonchalantly. "Good morning."
Melanie remained invisible for a moment.
Flug sighed and said, "There's really no point in trying to hide, Melanie. It won't do much. Neither will fighting. But since you're here, you can have breakfast with me and 505."
Melanie returned to her visible form and swore in French, "Putain de merde! What have you done with Sadie?! Tell me where she is or so help me, God…"
"At least you've got talking like a bad guy down," Flug interrupted nonchalantly with a shrug.
"Va te faire foutre!" screeched Melanie, not even trying to contain her anger. "Where is Sadie?!"
Very tired, Flug sighed in response before taking a sip of his coffee under his bag and replied, "Being upset won't do too much either, Melanie."
"WHO. GIVES. A. CRAP?!" Melanie shrieked, kicking the wall to emphasize every word. "You can't ask me to sit up here eating while you're starving and torturing Sadie in your laboratory! I need to see her now!"
Flug scoffed and said sarcastically, "Yes, that's nice. But did you just forget that you're not at home and you can't expect to get everything you want?"
Melanie growled angrily. Angry tears formed at the corner of her eyes, and she kicked the wall again.
"Black Hat said that he'd personally show you where she is," Flug said.
"What?" Melanie asked. "When?"
Flug stirred his coffee and turned around, leaning against the counter.
"Well, that depends," Flug said. "Do you want some breakfast first or do you wish to see him now?"
Melanie looked askance and thought for a moment. She'd need her strength to deal with her so-called granduncle, so it would probably be best to eat first. That was something she didn't want to do on an empty stomach. Besides, she could use the opportunity to gather food to smuggle to Sadie since she did not trust anyone in the manor besides 505 to feed her.
"I'll eat first," Melanie said, wandering around to find food. A big no no.
"Melanie, how many times do we have to tell you that you don't need to prepare your own food here?" asked Flug in exasperation. "Go get your bags and sit at the table with 505, please. I don't want you messing around with the machinery."
"I was just trying to make your life easier," Melanie argued in half-truth. "Do I have to?"
"You and making my life easier don't match up," said Flug. "Go sit with 505 please."
Melanie rolled her eyes dramatically, grabbed some fruit, and said, "Whatever, drama king. I guess I'll just sleep on the table."
"Wait a second, did you even bother to do your homework yesterday?" asked Flug annoyedly.
"I had homework?" Melanie asked.
"The worksheet I gave you?" asked Flug with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, between being medically experimented on and drugged and traumatized and shocked into submission, I thought you canceled that," Melanie said, crossing her arms annoyedly.
"Hardly excuses," Flug replied matter-of-factly with a headshake. "Whether you're a hero or a villain, you're gonna be blasted and blown-up daily with your regular work, but you still gotta get things done. So, you gotta learn to roll with the punches."
Melanie hated to admit that he had a point, so she rolled her eyes, retrieved her bags from the hallway, and sat down at the table.
Flug sighed as he turned back to cooking and muttered to himself, "Like dealing with a 5-year-old."
About five minutes later, Melanie turned around and flew her homework to Flug as a paper plane.
"There, it is!" Melanie called out from the table. "I'm going to sleep."
"Whatever you say," Flug said, catching the paper plane with an eye roll. "I can hardly wait to grade this."
Flug waited until the girl was gone to open the paper plane. He read over the answers, and to his surprise, the answers looked mostly right. At the very least, it was something he could grade.
"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Flug said with a contented sigh as he folded up the document and placed it in his pocket to grade later.
A few minutes later, Flug walked over with his, Melanie's, and 505's breakfast.
"Well, here you are, you two," Flug said. "Breakfast is ready!"
505 gestured for Flug to be quiet and pointed to Melanie. True to her word, she was sleeping in her chair leaning over on the table with her head on top of her folded arms.
Flug put the food down and gently shook Melanie's shoulder.
"Come on, Melanie," Flug said. "Wake up!"
Melanie quickly opened her eyes, looked around, smelled the food, and said, "Hey there! Is breakfast ready?"
"Yep, it's ready," Flug said, taking his seat on the other side of the table. "Eat up and maybe we can get to figuring things out with your friend."
Melanie nodded gratefully, pulled her plate close to her, picked up her knife and her fork, and asked, "What did you think of my homework?"
"I must admit it, I'm shocked," Flug said pleased. "I didn't think you'd actually do it correctly."
"You're welcome," Melanie said, taking a bite of fried egg. "It didn't take as long as I thought it would. It wasn't that hard either."
"Yes, well, for once, I'm impressed by your stubborn resilience and diligence in the face of adversity," Flug said, cutting up his food in front of him. "Hero or villain, that's not an easy feat."
"Wow, an actual compliment," Melanie said, trying to conceal her smile. "Thanks."
Melanie couldn't see it, but Flug was trying to conceal a smile too.
Everyone ate their breakfast quietly for the next few minutes until Flug got a ping on his watch.
"Gotta go," Flug said, quickly swallowing the rest of his breakfast and drinking the rest of his coffee. "I need to get dressed and assist Black Hat. 505, you're in charge until I get back."
505 nodded.
"When will you be back?" asked Melanie.
"Just in time for 505 to get to his chores, of course," Flug said dodging her meaning, quickly making his way to the dining room exit. "His new duty of babysitting you shouldn't interfere with them."
"What is Black Hat making you do?" Melanie asked directly.
Flug gave Melanie a pointed look and replied, "You'll see soon."
Then without another word, Flug left the room.
"That wasn't sketchy at all," Melanie said sarcastically.
505 groaned sadly and pat her back.
"505, you know I don't blame you for any of this," said Melanie said. "But tell me. Is Sadie okay? Is she in a safe place right now?"
505 nodded his head vigorously to reassure Melanie.
"Oh, thank God," Melanie said with a sigh of relief. "Hey? After breakfast, do you think you could help me gather some food for Sadie? This is important. I don't trust anyone else to help me with this. Do you think you could do it?"
505 nodded enthusiastically in response. He was more than happy to help.
Melanie and 505 finished their breakfasts quickly and began looking around the kitchen. Once they were there, Melanie pointed out some things Sadie liked and helped 505 put the food into bags and the drinks into portable cups she could eat and drink out of. If the two of them were going to be trapped there, Melanie was going to do everything in her power to make the stay a bit more comfortable.
Soon enough, the pair had gathered enough food and put the food into Melanie's schoolbag.
Satisfied with their work, Melanie looked over at 505 and said, "That should be enough. Thank you so much, 505. I owe you big time."
505 gave Melanie a side hug and smiled.
Just then, Flug opened the kitchen door.
"Am I missing something?" Flug asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really," Melanie lied.
"Okay," Flug said with a shrug. "Are you ready to see Black Hat?"
Melanie took a deep breath, nodded her head, and said, "Yes."
Flug cocked his head, gesturing for her to follow as he turned around and walked out of the kitchen.
Once he was out of earshot, Melanie handed her schoolbag to 505 and said, "Please take this to Sadie for me, 505. I'll see you later."
505 nodded and waved as Melanie left the kitchen to follow Flug.