While Dracula had been hesitant, Mavis on the contrary was simplymarvelingover so many humans being there at the hotel. She walked through the lobby, seeing folks talking to monsters and enjoying conversation. She smiled to herself as she spotted one human in particular, talking to a witch maid.
"Wait, so this place is 115 years old?" the excitable redhead asked.
The witch nodded. "Just about."
"And how long haveyoubeen working here?"
"Since the place opened."
"Whoa!" the redhead exclaimed. "Must be so much easier using magic spells and all to help you get the job done."
"Eh, we don't really use spells around here," the witch explained, "but Idohave my trusty magic broom to help."
She pulled it out, and it floated midair flashing with green sparkles.
The redhead gasped. "Wow,awesome!Can I take it for a spin?" he asked the witch eagerly.
"Jonathan, honey," a woman in glasses and blonde hair said who was standing close to him. "Why don't you let the nice lady do her job?"
"Ah, it's okay," the witch answered with a wave of her hand. She handed the broom to the redhead who giggled in excitement. But just as he was about to climb aboard and take off, Mavis came and stopped him.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute there," she said. "I know those brooms look like fun, but take it from me, if you're not experienced riding one, you could have a pretty rough fall."
The redhead looked over at her, his face flushing as he made eye contact with Mavis. Mavis blushed too, feeling that same glossy purple sparkle return to her eyes as they looked at each other.
"Hey," the redhead breathed.
"Hey," she answered back shyly.
"Why, hello there, young lady!" the voice of the woman and blonde broke through and addressed Mavis. "What's your name?"
"I'm Mavis Dracula," she said, extending a hand.
The blonde's eyes widened. "'Dracula'? Like, as in the vampire that runs this hotel?"
Mavis nodded. "Yep, that's him. Some know him as hotel manager. I know him as 'Dad.'"
"Oh, well that's nice!" the blonde responded. "He, uh… certainly runs a nice place here, too." She tried to sound convincing, but yelped as Bigfoot suddenly stomped his way through the lobby, shaking the ground as he walked. Mavis put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I know this place is different for you. Trust me, this change is as different for you as it is for me. I mean, I was told humans were horrible creatures that wanted to steal our clothes, bite our toes, and cut our heads open to put candy in them…"
"What?" the blonde seemed surprised. "Honey, we'dneverdo those sort of things."
"And we won't do whatever humans were told that monsters would do," Mavis assured.
The blonde let a genuine smile of relief shine through, then extended her hand. "Forgive me for not introducing myself yet. I'm Linda, and this is my son Johnny." She gestured to the redhead behind her, and Mavis turned to face him. She extended her hand to him. "Nice to meet you Johnny."
"Same to you, Mavis," he replied cheerily, shaking hands with her. Things were silent between them for a minute, before Linda spoke up. "Well, I think I'm going to head on over to the spa, Johnny. Your father, sister, and brothers just text me saying they're having a really relaxing time there! Why don't you two get acquainted and then we'll met up later, 'K?"
"Okay, Mom!" Johnny said, waving at her as she began to depart.
"It was lovely meeting you, Mavis!" she called out as she left.
"Same to you!" Mavis turned back to Johnny. "She seems really nice," she said.
Johnny laughed. "You should have seen her when Brett, Kent, Mellie and I got into trouble when we were little."
He laughed again and Mavis giggled too. "So… doyouhave any siblings, Mavis?"
Mavis shook her head. "Nah. It was just me and my dad here, and his friends whenever they came to visit.
"Oh," Johnny said. "Must be super cool to hang out in a hotel your whole life!" He searched her face for agreement, but she shook her head.
"Not always. I kind of did everything there was to do here during the first ten years that it opened. The other decades were just kind of… hanging out."
Decades?"Wait," Johnny said. "How oldareyou?"
"I just turned 118 yesterday," Mavis answered.
Johnny's jaw dropped. "Whaaaaat…?"
Mavis giggled. "Why, how old are you?"
"I'm only 21!" he gasped.
"Oh!" Mavis also said in surprise. "I thought you weremyage… but then again, Daddiduse to tell me that humans aged differently from vampires."
"How old is your dad?" Johnny asked.
"532."
There was another moment of stunned silence from Johnny before he spoke up again. "Yeah, I'mdefinitelyagreeing with the fact that humans age different from vampires." He chuckled and then looked out toward the corridors of the hotel with a pensive look. "Mavis?"
"Yes?"
He twiddled with his thumbs. "I know you said you've done everything here at the hotel but, you know, I'm kind of brand new here, and I was kind of hoping that you would - "
She put a finger to his lips to stop him, and he blushed at the contact. She giggled. "Don't worry, I know you want to see the hotel. I do this all the time for new guests. Come on, and I'll show you." She waved a hand for him to follow.
"But be warned…" she said, "there's quite a lot to do!"
Mavis was right. There was so much to behold that Johnny almost felt like he couldn't keep up!
They toured around to the spa, where Mavis was able to meet his shy sister Mellie, his two older twin brothers Brett and Kent, and his serious father Mike, all relaxing as a couple of gremlins worked on massaging their backs. They went over and explored the maze-like dungeons where some of the hotel's larger guests like the dragons and hydra like to hang out. They went over to the library, where Mavis showed Johnny many monster-related books, with facts and trivia about different creatures that Johnny would have never thought about before. Then, they went over to the lounge. He sat at the bar with Mavis, eager to see what they had.
"Ooh, hey! Do you guys have any monster-y margaritas here?" he asked her.
Mavis raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment, and then nodded her head. "Oh, yes. Margarita is here." She waved a Spirit over from behind the bar counter and showed it to Johnny. "She's the bartender tonight!" Mavis explained.
"Oh, no, that's not what I meant," Johnny said with a laugh. "But it's nice to meet you!" He waved to the Spirit who floated away to tend to another monster.
"You guys don't served mixed drinks here?" he asked.
Mavis shook her head. "Dad's very old-fashioned. How it comes is how it is. Why, do humans like to do that?"
Johnny nodded. "All the time! And trust me when I say, they're awesome. Your dad should try it sometime!"
Mavis agreed with a smile, and then she and Johnny looked onto the lounge's stage where some monsters were singing karaoke. Most of the songs being sang though were a bit old-fashioned - opera or arias, which some of the guests politely listened too, but were not fully invested in. Johnny knew just how to fix the problem. When it was his turn to come onstage, he took the microphone and began to belt out a made-up rock n' roll tune.
"This one goes out to Mavis, the birthday queen turning 118!" He took a guitar and began to jam out on it as he sang out.
"Vampire girl with the fangy fangs,
Hair real cute with the bangy bangs
Little princess gonna be a queen
Legal bat lady turning 118!"
Monsters and humans that were there turned their attention to Johnny, and were whooping with glee at his little show. He encouraged them further.
"Come on, now, say it with me!118!"
"118!"the audience responded as one.
"Say118!"
"118!"
"Yeah!" he shouted with glee. "Stage dive!" Johnny leapt from the stage and landed with a loudthumpon the floor. He lifted his head up, a little dazed, but happy. "Awesome!"
Mavis helped him up, beaming from ear to ear. "Oh, Johnny, that was so great! I'm literally blown away right now."
"If you thoughtthatwas good, you should be my improv back home in Santa Cruz!" Johnny said, holding up a hand for a high-five, which she gladly gave him.
Mavis was still reeling from the excitement as she went into the changing room to switch into a bathing suit and meet Johnny at the pool area.
A buffet was set up outside, with all sorts of monster delicacies such as moose-nose omelets, mouse gelatin, cockroach paste, and wormcakes. Mavis sat down next to Johnny, excitedly holding up her bagel. "Johnny, youhaveto try this - it's a bagel with scream cheese!"
She held it out to him, and he gasped as the sentient cheese on top began to yell at him. "Uh… no, that's okay. I think I might be scream cheese intolerant."
"You don't have to be scared of the cheese," Mavis said with a giggle. "It won'tactuallybite."
Johnny looked at it again. "Well… if you say so!" He leaned forward and took a bite of it, muffling the scream cheese's yell as he chewed it and swallowed. "Mmm!" he hummed. "It actually tastes really good!"
"Told ya," Mavis replied, crossing her arms. She split the bagel in half, eating one half for herself and giving the other half to Johnny. She grinned when she glanced over at the pool and saw her uncle Murray waving at her.
"Mavis!" the mummy called. "You better get in, quick! We're about to start a game of monsterball!"
Mavis clasped her hands eagerly. "Monsterball! Oh! Okay, give me just a minute, uncle Murray!" She stood up and grabbed Johnny by the hand. "Come on! You don't want to miss this, it's going to be great! Monsterball is a game that hasnevergotten old here."
"That's cool," Johnny said as he descended down the steps with Mavis and into the water. "But… what exactlyismonsterball?"
"I'll explain," Mavis assured. "Murray?"
The mummy tossed her the ball and she raised it up. "All you have to do is serve the ball back and forth over the net, making sure it doesn't hit the water on your side. The team that gets the most points will win!"
She handed him the white ball, and he cocked his head.
"Huh. Doesn't sound much different from volleyball!"
Mavis chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I guess. Only it'smonsterball."
At that moment, the sentient ball turned around in Johnny's hands revealing a wide pair of eyes that stared back at him. Johnny was so surprised that he screamed.
"AHHHHH!"
"AHHHHH!" the frightened ball screamed back.
Mavis laughed. "All right, enough with the talk, let's play!" She swiped the ball from Johnny's hands, levitated high in the air from the pool, and served it down hard towards the other side of the net.
It looked as though it was about to land on the other side of the water, but Mr. Fly - the half-insect half-man monster - blocked it. Murray spiked it back with a strong serve of the ball. Eunice saw the ball coming towards her and shrieked. "Ah, no! Not the hair! Don't wet thehair!" Despite her flailing arms, she was able to get it to bounce back over to the other side. It came sailing towards Johnny at a fast pace, and the redhead yelped as he ducked below the surface to avoid the strong impact that was bound to happen. The ball was about to hit the water, but Mavis saved it with a well-placed spike. The ball went sailing back toward Eunice whose eyes went wide again. "No, no, no!" But it was too late. The water from the ball landing splashed all over her, and her hair became soaked, clinging to her like a dark curtain. Mavis's team cheered. "We scored a point, Johnny!" she exclaimed to him.
"Sweet!" he replied. "I'll try to score a point next time."
The game continued, Murray spiking the ball back to the other side. Blobby, the gelatin monster, hit it just in time, the ball bouncing off his Jell-O body and back into the air. As it came down, Johnny jumped up and slammed his hand against it, nearly twisting his wrist as he did so. His efforts were rewarded as he heard it splash into the water on the other side.
Murray clapped in glee. "All right, my man Johnny making the score!"
"Yeah! Great job!" Mavis agreed, slapping him on the back.
The ball continued to be passed back and forth, more rounds being played. The side with Mr. Fly, Eunice, and Blobby were able to catch up and gained two points to tie with Mavis's team after Murray missed a spike that was too high for his reach, and Johnny missed another after he and Mavis tried to go for it at the same time. Both teams were now tied at two points each.
Johnny did a series of stretches to prepare himself for the round that would break the tie. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated, Mavis copying his movements, as the ball was spiked back to their side. The angle that it came down at nearly made them miss the rebound, but Murray had them covered, almost falling back into the water as he stretched his hand bandages out back and caught the ball. It was thrown back to the other side, where Mr. Fly spiked it. The ball flew high into the air, yelping, and then falling back down with a scream - right towards Johnny!
But this time, he was prepared. He swung out and slammed it so hard it caught fire on the way down. Eunice had been prepared to rebound, but the sudden sight of the flames quickly made her change her mind. "AHHHH! FIRE!" She too, like her husband, couldn't stand the sight of it. She backed up out of the way, letting the ball splash into the water. Mavis's side of the pool erupted in cheers once more.
"Yeah! Nowthat'swhat I'm talking about!" Murray shouted. "Wewon"
"You're darn right we did!" Johnny yelled back in happiness, pumping his fist in triumph. His adrenaline made him grab Mavis in a hug.
"You were amazing!" she said, laughing.
"Not as amazing as you!" he laughed, spinning her around.
She peered at him, and felt her heart swell. "Hey, Johnny? Can I show you something?"
He shrugged. "Sure!"
She smiled and nodded. "Great! Let me just go change out of this and I'll meet you, say… out back in the garden?"
Johnny gave her a thumbs up. "Sounds good to me!"