Meanwhile, back in Forgotten Hollow, Johnny Zest has well and truly taken over the vampire mansion. Her thick, beautiful vines cradled the old, decrepit building in their gentle embrace. As the first earthling Mother had enlightened, he held notable sway over her lower subjects. Only Bella Goth (who had, in fact, found Mother first, but had not eaten of her fruit before now) rivaled him in authority in Mother’s army. And even infected, she was nonchalant enough to let him take the reins on most issues. Better still was the knowledge that his beloved daughter Jade was now enlightened by Mother as well. It pained him that she had been tricked by the vampires into becoming one of them. Or at least, it pained him before one and after four in the morning, when he joined Mother’s other subjects in wandering aimlessly about Forgotten Hollow. In those hours, nothing pained him at all.

Yes, working for Mother was wonderful. Johnny loved how straightforward everything was. He also loved how Mother laughed at his jokes. (At least, she made a gurgling sound that seemed to be her closest proximation of a laugh.) This meant that all the possessed vampires also had to laugh at his jokes or else risk Mother’s wrath. Or so he told them, at any rate.

But being in charge wasn’t without its challenges. For one, when Mother called on the phone (and yes, she could do that now), it was he who had to answer regardless of whether she was in a good mood or an ill one.

Today, she was in an ill mood.

Johnny perked up. He did indeed believe that would cheer Mother. It certainly cheered him. Mother had warned them there might be alien forces following her, and if located, they were to be dealt with most harshly. Johnny liked the idea immensely, but he also knew he never dealt well in harsh punishments. Ever since Jade was a child, she only had to pout mildly to change his mind on something. No, he needed someone with an iron will to deal with the situation. And he knew exactly who to send.

Meanwhile, back in an empty lot in Newcrest…

Sea Glass and Coral both whirled around to see a human woman with black hair wearing a red dress and a solemn expression. Both aliens were well-trained, elite forces of interstellar powerfulness, and for something to come upon them unawares was quite unprecedented.

Bella Goth did things like that a lot.

Kyle looked over the situation–their enemies stumbling towards them…even if they escaped, what would happen? If he were an evil alien, he would totally follow the non-evil people through the portal and attack them there. They needed a way to not be followed. He could think of one. It was just a whole lot of scary and a whole lot of not-fun.

Allie tried to protest, but Kyle switched to his dark form, enacting his plan with or without her permission.

Caleb watched tearfully as Kyle bent over, the alien plant’s infection spreading through him, corrupting his mind. He was not so sure he was the best to handle this situation. He’d always stayed by the sidelines and gone with the flow when things got difficult. This was very much not with the flow.

Allie also watched Kyle, but not tearfully, as she was determined to provide strong female representation, and she had decided this meant no crying when the narration was upon her.

The light from the portal engulfed them, a blast of cold air surrounded them, and they were flung forward through space to the alien world of Sixam.

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