Actions

Work Header

Night of the Living Weh'd

Summary:

Camila is called in to work on short notice, leaving Vee to host a sleepover for her little cousin and his best friend. It's a good thing Masha is there to help when things take an unexpected turn.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Mom had to go to the clinic [ƎƎVEElution]
emergency chihuahua appendectomy [ƎƎVEElution]

[Funky Mashup] I don’t think that’s a thing

idk [ƎƎVEElution]
she’ll be gone for *hours* [ƎƎVEElution]

[Funky Mashup] oh really?

If only [ƎƎVEElution]
there was something [ƎƎVEElution]
we could do [ƎƎVEElution]

[Funky Mashup] say no more ;)
[Funky Mashup] Romero-thon, part two!

well… [ƎƎVEElution]

[Funky Mashup] Romero-thon?
[Funky Mashup] part two?

maybe once the kids are asleep [ƎƎVEElution]

[Funky Mashup] kids!
[Funky Mashup] kids?!?
[Funky Mashup] Vee Question-Mark Noceda
[Funky Mashup] what kids?!

~

Masha stepped out of the rainy haze blurring the world beyond the front door of the Noceda residence and looked down. “You have kids,” they said before they blinked at a sudden thought. They reached back to shut the door, then Masha pinned Vee with a smoldering half-lidded gaze, one hand still pressed against the doorknob. “I didn’t realize I was dating a single mom,” they purred with a coy smirk that sent a red tinge racing across Vee’s face.

To her credit, Vee managed to keep a straight face as she rolled her eyes with a “Yyyup!” popping the ‘p’ sound. The basilisk-in-human-form knelt down between her two little guests and the three smiled up at her visitor. She patted a tanned hand across a small stretch of bone that barely reached her chin and said, “This is my cousin, King Clawthorne. He is what we call a Titan.” The little gray-furred creature with a horned skull for a head waved a hesitant three-fingered hand—or, paw?—before the raspy-voiced girl continued, “And this is his buddy, the Collector. He’s a child from the stars,” Vee patted a boy with white hair and bright yellow skin on the shoulder, and he hugged a battered plush bunny to his chest before he whispered a timid hi. Vee smooshed her cheek against his, flicking her blue-fringed ear against his neck, and he pushed her away with a ticklish giggle.

To their credit, Masha barely skipped a beat. “Titan, eh?” A single finger-gun snapped in King’s direction.

“Yyyup!” The small dark-furred creature’s high-pitched voice made them smile, his tail slowly sweeping back and forth as he gave back two snaps of his own. He seemed a good-natured little guy, unlike most Titans in human myths. A teensy li’l fellow, too, also unlike most of the Greek Titans. 

Masha raised a single eyebrow, “Does the word mean something different in the Boiling Isles?”

“Uhh, no?” Vee offered.

Masha hummed a curious note and twirled their car keys on their finger before slipping them into the pocket of their leather jacket. A silver Zippo lighter appeared in their palm, idly flicked open and closed by a slender hand. Click clack. “Child of the stars?” They asked as their eyes slid over to the other boy, their other hand bent at the wrist to point a shiny black-painted fingernail in his direction. 

From the stars,” came his soft whisper. Click.

The human ran a hand through their black hair, patting away raindrops as they hummed another tuneless set of notes. Clack. They paced back and forth in front of the door as they tapped a fingertip against their lips, thinking, their black leather boots squeaking on the wet linoleum. Click-clack. Vee and the children watched them take two small steps, turn, take two more, turn, and— Masha looked at the boys, and asked, their eyes narrowed, “How old are you?” The Zippo rolled across their knuckles like a large silver coin before disappearing into a pocket.

“Nine and a half!” nearly drowned out the soft-spoken “I don’t know?” King patted a clawed paw against his friend’s arm and giggled, “He’s at least four hundred!”

Masha squinted for a moment as they inhaled a sharp, sudden breath. They dropped to a crouch, elbows propped on legging-clad knees as they studied the two unexpected guests behind steepled fingers, one perfectly-shaped eyebrow arched. Both children looked up at them with yellow and red eyes—a surprising similarity, considering one had what looked like a dragon’s skull for a head and the other had a blue patch of skin on his face that glittered with starlight. “Well, well, well,” Masha growled as a sly grin slowly spread across their face, revealing the small gap between their front teeth, “You two have got to be the cutest little cuties I have seen all day.”

A hopeful smile spread across the Collector’s face as King did a little dance that ended with jazz hands, “I am an adorable little fella!” he squeaked, his tail wagging in excitement.

The dark-haired human giggled and held out a hand, “My name is Masha, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” they said with a faux-frown and a fake-serious tone of voice as the excitable skull-headed creature eagerly shook her fingers with both of his clawed paws. “I do have to say, despite only being cousins—” they glanced at Vee and grinned, “—the family resemblance is striking.” Vee stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry.

King laughed a nyeh–heh-heh! and scrambled up onto Vee’s shoulder, patting at her small mane of pale green and blue-fringed hair like he was trying to make a nest, “We don’t look alike because I was adopted!

“You don’t say,” Masha sounded smug as they rested their chin on their palm.

“I do say!”

Vee giggled and twitched as her cousin clambered down her body, circling her torso in the process, “Whoa-ho, stop, that tickles!” She grinned at Masha, a worried look in her black-and-yellow eyes, “I know we had something else planned for tonight, but Mom needed my help.” They both glanced over at the October calendar hanging on the corkboard beside the coat closet, at the red-circled Movie Night @ Masha’s filling the last Friday’s square.

“Mama Camila said we could have a sleepover,” the white-haired boy said softly, and King jumped in front of him, excited, “That’s right! And some hawk chocolate!”

The human shared a grin with the girl and mouthed, It’s okay, before they turned back to the children, “A sleepover, hmm?” The star-flecked child nodded. He looked like he was already dressed in his pajamas. “Have you ever had a sleepover before?” Masha asked, almost certain they knew the answer. 

“Yes!” King nodded as the Collector said, “No,” then King changed his mind to a “Maybe!” as he hopped with both little fists held up in the air.

Vee chuckled and ruffled the Collector’s hair, “Mom had it all planned out, but then Mrs. Jerk-and-cryer’s dog ate a dozen light bulbs or something.”

Masha snorted, “Jenkinsmeijer?”

Whatever,” Vee shivered, her pupils narrowing into cat-like slits for a moment as she hissed, “Odio ese perro.” Then she had the decency to look apologetic, “And, um, I didn’t know what normally happens, over here, at a sleepover, uhh, and I thought, um, you might, uh—”

“Join my dark army!” King roared as best he could with a helium-tuned voice, his paws clenched and eyes glowing slightly. The Collector giggled into the back of his plush bunny as he rotated off the floor, resting the top of his head on Vee’s shoulder. “François is my first in command!” King pointed at the upside-down bunny in the upside-down boy’s arms, “and Collector is my second.” Then he crossed his tiny arms across his gray-tufted chest, his eyes narrowed in contemplation, “I guess you two can duke it out for third place.”

Masha tapped sharpened black, yellow, and white painted nails across their cheek as they sent a sizzling look over the edge of their hand. “You seek… dark minions?” they asked, their smokey eyes lidded. Vee snapped her mouth shut and gulped.

King curled his paws into fists and wagged his whole body, “Yeah!

“I believe I will stay and join your army.” 

The basilisk heaved a sigh of relief as the children yelled hooray! King jumped up and grabbed his friend’s elbow, pulling the white-haired child back to the ground. “What first?” Vee whispered over their heads as they chattered back and forth. 

Masha stood and used the red marker beside the calendar, crossing out Movie Night @ Masha’s before scribbling Sleepover @ Vee’s in the small leftover space below. “Board games, pizza,” Masha counted off on their fingers as they turned, “a movie, hot chocolate,” then they waggled their thumb and their eyebrows, “then put them to bed in time for… Romero-thon.”

~

Connect Four was a hit until King ate too many of the red circles to be able to play, and Sorry! only kept their attention for half a game. Monopoly was Vee’s favorite, but she quickly shut and hid the box when she saw King staring hungrily at all the small houses and hotels. Mousetrap was already missing a few pieces, so that was quickly abandoned. Hungry Hungry Hippos became the main attraction until the pizza arrived—something about the mad scramble for food resonated with the shorter of the two boys, and the four played game after game. The Collector had been so excited when he finally won, he held up his hand, ready to snap his fingers, “I bet I can make this even better!

“Whoa there, whoa,” King said, grabbing his arm and pulling his hand down into both of his own, “He’s just kidding!” the little creature assured the worried basilisk, and Masha wrinkled their brow in confusion. King gave a nervous chuckle and patted his friend’s hand, “Remember,” his high-pitched voice dropped to a solemn quiet, “Mama Camila said no magic in the Human Realm.”

The Collector gulped and nodded, “Sorry, I— I promise!”

~

“Pizza’s here!” Vee called out as she carried the food into the kitchen, sprouting an extra pair of arms to keep from dropping the four blue-and-white checkerboard boxes, her tail already looped around a two-liter bottle of Orange Crush. Masha herded the children in from the living room, brown eyes drinking in their girlfriend’s extra lines and curves and angles. King scampered on all fours with frantic little nyeh sounds before leaping into a chair, his sparkling friend floating along behind him, sniffing after the food like a Looney Tunes character. Vee set the boxes down before the children as she pulled paper plates off a stack in her upper pair of hands, “Remember your table… manners,” she reminded them a moment too late. 

The furry child tore his pizza box apart like it was Christmas morning. In contrast, the little starchild calmly opened his box and began to sample a piece after watching how the black-haired human ate their first slice. He blinked wide, surprised eyes and took a second larger bite. 

“Ew, gross,” King complained, “This is already dead!” He stabbed his Meat Lover’s with a claw and shuddered. 

Masha snorted into their palm as Vee groaned and facepalmed with three hands, “King, I– I told you, human food is—” 

King slapped another hand on the pizza, then looked at his claws with a Weh?! He cackled with laughter and held up his marinara-drenched paws, “Look!” he danced in his chair, tail wagging from side to side with joy, “It’s bleeding! It’s not dead yet!” Vee had just a moment to hold her hands out in warning before he tore into his food like a pack of piranha at a spring break beach party. 

Masha had known for a long time that the green-haired basilisk was from a place called the Demon Realm—which meant it probably fell closer to New Jersey, geographically speaking, than sleepy old Gravesfield, Connecticut—but they’d not had the pleasure of spending much time around any of its more… non-human residents. They couldn’t be happier.

~

Vee sighed as she twisted the hot water tap closed, then dipped her fingers in the barely-steaming bubble bath to check the temperature. “This should be good,” she said as she carefully lifted the pizza-sauce-drenched Titan from where he sat on the tile floor, easing him into the warm water. After a moment King let loose a long ahhhh of relaxation and began to float, his eyes going unfocused and in different directions as he melted into the soothing warmth. “Here’s a brush,” the basilisk said as she hooked the long-handled scrubber’s leather strap around his horn, “Shampoo is over here in the corner.” She pointed at the bottles on the edge of the tub. “Get yourself cleaned up while we get ready for the movie.” Thunder rumbled from the storm overhead, sending a rattle through the bottles standing in the medicine cabinet.

Fiiiine,” King grumbled.

“I told you not to make a mess,” the raspy-voiced girl reminded him, amusement putting a wry twist in her brow.

“And I told you, it was my killer insti—!!” The gray-furred creature thrashed his arms in the tub and dipped below the surface for a moment. He clawed his way back up, coughing and snarling in his high-pitched voice, “This is an outrage!

Vee dried her hands on a towel as she turned to the Collector, ignoring the furry tea kettle whistling in the hot water. “Do you need anything?” she asked the white-haired boy floating beside the bathtub, one of Camila’s large dinosaur picture books open in the air at his knees.

He grunted mm-mmm and shook his head before leaning back to float over the bathtub, the book spread open wide in his hands for the littlest Titan to see as well. “Look at these demons, King!” the Collector grinned, tapping his fingers across a wide full-color picture of an Ankylosaur, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” 

The basilisk ran her hands through her long mane as she slowly walked backward to the doorway. She glanced over at Masha, who leaned against the doorframe with one arm outstretched. Vee stepped close to her partner and laid her head against the dark-haired human’s shoulder, and the two watched the children chatter happily over the picture book. They shared a smile. Vee leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss the tanned human on the cheek, then led them out to the kitchen.

~

“Camila gave you her hot chocolate recipe? Lucky,” Masha grumbled with a good-natured grin. The black-haired human caught the hint of worry on the basilisk’s features and waved a slender hand, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. It’s just so good—” They pretended to sneak a peek at the three-by-five card in the green-and-blue-haired girl’s hand, and Vee twisted away, clutching the paper to her chest.

“Ah ah, now,” the basilisk chided with a teasing lilt, “this is a Noceda family recipe.”

“Oh, is it now, Miss Noceda?” the human shot back over a shoulder as they reached for the olive oil in the cabinet.

“It is,” Vee stepped close to reach for the small pan hanging underneath the cabinet, and bumped Masha with her hip as she dropped her voice to a low, raspy growl, whispering in the other’s ear, “And if you want it, you know what to do.” The dark-haired human shivered, nearly fumbling the glass bottle in their hands, and the yellow-eyed girl pulled a wicked grin in delight.

“Well…” Masha raised an eyebrow, tilting their head back just so. Their dark-chocolate eyes glittered in the bright kitchen lighting below smoke-gray brushed eyelids. They set the olive oil on the counter and reached out a hand to run a gentle thumb across the pale-green-haired girl’s jaw, scratching under her ear with their painted nails. “Okay, then,” the human whispered as a blush broke out across the basilisk’s face, her blue-fringed ears fluttering as her skin darkened. Masha smirked, then turned away abruptly. Vee frowned and swatted them on the shoulder. “Despite your unwillingness to share, I shall be the bigger person tonight—” the taller human motioned to the tall pot sitting on the stove, “—and show you how to make Nana Kovalenko’s stove-top popcorn.”

“Really?” Vee set her chin on her palm as she leaned on the counter, absentmindedly running the hem of Masha’s black v-neck between her thumb and forefinger.

“Now,” Masha said, twisting the cap from the olive oil, “For this recipe you’ll need

 

Great Grandmama Kovalenko’s Stove-Top Olive Oil Popcorn (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Ingredients

- 1 Cup Popcorn Kernels
- 6 tbsp. Olive Oil
- Kosher Salt

Tasty Seasonings:

For a tangy & spicy flavour, add za’atar, Aleppo pepper, and lime zest.
For a savory sensation, add nutritional yeast for a cheesy-yet-vegan option.
For those who want something sweet, add cinnamon and a dash of brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.

2. Add the popcorn kernels, and cover the pot. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, occasionally shaking the pot.

3. Once the kernels have popped, turn off the heat and drizzle the popcorn with the remaining olive oil while stirring.

4. Season with salt (and optional flavorings) while stirring to thoroughly spread across all the popcorn.

5. Transfer to a serving bowl.

 

Bon Appétit!

 

Vee scrunched her eyebrows while Masha continued stirring the popcorn, occasionally sprinkling in more salt and cinnamon. She looked down at her simmering hot chocolate, stirring it slowly with a wooden spatula before she licked her lips and asked, “Why did you say it like that?”

“Say it like what?” Masha shot her a confused look.

“Nevermind.”

~

“Hmm… no. No. No. Do you guys—” Masha turned away from the television to glance back at the children lying on the floor, “—have talking animals on the Boiling Isles?” Lightning flickered behind the curtains pulled over the windows, an echoing growl filling the sky a moment later.

The Collector tossed a piece of popcorn in his mouth as King shook his head. “The beast-keepers can use a spell to communicate with them,” the gray-furred creature shrugged, “but they don’t talk-talk. Not like demons and witches do.” He gestured toward his head and his own unmoving jaw, “Not like we do, with our mouths.”

“Riiight,” Masha squinted their eyes, watching him for a moment, then shrugged, “Gotcha.” The human ran down the list of movies. What would be a good film to show two young-ish boys from a fantasy world where magic was real? Too many kids’ movies were entirely dependent on human cultural knowledge. Common fairy tales wouldn’t make sense to them, stories about magic or witches could come off as offensive, and anything science-fiction-adjacent might be completely off the table— honestly, what could they— Oh? Ah ha. “I think you both might like this one,” Masha grinned as they made their selection. 

“Treasure… Planet?” King read the title aloud as a question. “I like treasure! Wait, what’s a planet?

~

The credits rolled on the darkened room as the two boys lay on the floor in an awe-struck, drowsy-eyed haze. Empty popcorn bowls sat beside their heads on the carpet, while their long-since-cold mugs of hot chocolate were resting safely atop the coffee table. “That was sooo cooool,” King yawned. He smacked his lips and added, “I want… a flying board like that.” He blinked long and slow, his eyelids heavy with the late hour of the day.

“I bet Ami-Tía could… could make one,” the Collector tried his best to resist, but ended up yawning soon after. The steady patter of rain on the roof wrapped the inside of the house in a blanket of noise.

“Naah, she’d say… it… wasn’t safe,” the gray-furred Titan scratched at his belly as he yawned again, “I’ll ask Uncle Alador.”

“Okay, but… planets aren’t… really like that,” his yellow-skinned friend replied in a soft, sleepy voice.

King grumbled a soft, “That’s stupid,” as his eyes drifted shut for a moment. The white-haired boy giggled and muttered a quiet you’re stupid as he rolled over onto his side, snuggling François under his chin. King laughed once before he started to snore.

Masha and Vee watched from where they sat on the couch, the basilisk leaning forward to peer down at the snoring children. She glanced back at her partner and gave a hesitant smile, “So… now what?” she asked. Masha put their hands on the couch and made to stand up, when Vee grabbed their wrist, “Wait,” she hissed, “Let’s… let’s give them a minute.” The dark-haired human shrugged and nodded, then leaned back and put their arm over their girlfriend’s shoulders. King started to make little nyeh, nyeh-nyeh! sounds while he kicked his legs, scampering in his sleep. Masha clapped a hand over their mouth to muffle their squee of delight. Once he fell still and silent once more, Vee nodded and whispered, “Okay. What should we do?

The dark-haired human blinked their large, luminous eyes. “Watch a scary movie,” Masha pointed toward the television.

With them,” Vee rolled her eyes as she motioned toward the children.

The Demon Realm’s scary, right?” the black-haired human shrugged, “They could watch.”

No— you—” Vee huffed and crossed her arms. “Do you really want Camila to come home to that?

You’re right, that would be irresponsible,” Masha pursed their lips and nodded, “We should take them up to your room.” They leaned close to the whisper into the basilisk’s blue-fringed ear, “So we can have some time alone.

Vee shivered when Masha’s breath ghosted across her skin, and she pushed them away with both hands on their face, “You’d rather Camila walk in on that?!” 

Masha laughed quietly as they stood up, pulling Vee upright along with them, “Of course not. Which one do you want to carry?

~

The black-haired human slowly walked up the staircase, their hands hovering near their ears. The third step from the top had been repaired years earlier by Luz and her friends—damaged in some magical mishap or other—but the thick L-shaped piece of plastic that capped the edge of the stairstep always caught Masha by surprise. They hissed and paused to adjust their footing after they pressed their heel down on the painfully uneven surface, and wobbled under the unusual weight on their head. “Keep going, he’s fine,” Vee whispered from two steps down, and Masha flashed a pained grin and a quick thumbs-up over their shoulder before tip-toeing up to the second-floor landing. King snored from where he had curled atop their head, having scrambled up and out of their arms as soon as he’d been lifted from the living room carpet. Vee carefully picked her way up the last two steps with the glittering starchild nestled in her arms. She nodded toward her bedroom door, and Masha carefully bent at the knees to turn the doorknob. 

The Noceda twins occupied the upstairs back corner bedroom of their mother’s bungalow, but more often than not Luz would be found spending nights in the Boiling Isles. The bedroom had started to take on more of Vee’s personality in the last few years: baseball pennants and game tickets littered the bulletin board Camila had hung on the wall beside the closet; horror movie posters crowded the wall closest to the door, leaving room for Luz’s anime and Azura wall-hangings by the backyard-facing window; and a waist-high metal garbage can stood just to the right of the doorway with their baseball bats and hockey sticks. Masha carefully turned sideways to keep the little Titans’ horns from catching on the doorframe and pushed into the room to hold the door for Vee. The green-and-blue-haired basilisk placed a gentle kiss on their cheek when she walked past. Masha made a mwah! sound in her direction.

They set the boys on the bottom bunk, tucking a loose blanket up to their chins. King hardly noticed his change of location, but the Collector started to open his eyes and mumble a question. Vee knelt beside the bed and patted his hand. The little boy blinked his languid, scarlet eyes as he smiled up at her. “You two get some sleep,” the basilisk used a gentle voice, “We’ll be right downstairs if you need anything, just call for us if you need us.” 

There had been a fear lurking in the back of his drowsy gaze that faded at her words. He gave her a sleepy nod and yawned a feather-light, “okay, Tía Vee.” Flickers of lightning crawled across the sky, and Masha pulled the curtains shut to block out the storm.

The green-and-blue-haired basilisk leaned forward to give the boy a gentle kiss on the forehead. She patted his cheek, faint constellations shining across her fingers as she whispered, “Dulces sueños, chiquito.” She curled her fingers around his palm and gently pressed her thumb against his knuckles as he squeezed her hand. She leaned further over the bed to place a similarly soft smooch on the ridge of bone beside King’s closed eye, whispering, “Primito,” then Vee carefully crept out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

~

Masha led the way down the stairs chanting, “Romero-thon! Romero-thon!” in a near-whisper, fists raised in the air.

Vee giggled as she tip-toed after them, hissing behind a finger raised to her lips. “shhh, they just fell asleep!”

The black-haired human half turned to send a wink and a grin over their shoulder at Vee until their toes caught on that tricky third step from the top. Their brown eyes flashed wide and frightened as they tripped. They hadn’t fallen more than a few inches before they jerked to a stop; Vee’s left arm stretched out to loop around their waist, letting Masha set a shaky hand on the railing as they got their feet planted on the next step. Vee swiftly moved to their side to place a hand on their jawline, her legs bending like they were made of jelly, like something from a cartoon. Masha blinked hard and breathed harder, their pulse pounding like a drum. Vee’s eyes danced across their face as Masha licked their lips and swallowed. “Thanks,” they pushed out in a hoarse whisper.

“Of course,” Vee assured them, running her thumb across their cheekbone. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m— I’m fine,” Masha nodded, clearing their throat before summoning the smolder, “I knew you’d catch me when I fell for you.”

Vee rolled her eyes and started down the stairs, “I won’t do it again.”

~

“Romero-thon part one” had largely been Masha watching Vee watch Night of the Living Dead for the very first time. The black-clad, black-haired human had a taste for the grim and the macabre and by this point in their life had seen the 1968 classic more times than they could remember. The pair had watched a number of scary thrillers before then, but in Masha’s opinion, nothing quite set the tone for the month of October like watching Night at night. They had commemorated the occasion by buying a large poster for Vee to hang on her wall, next to posters of her other favorite thrillers. 

Tonight, they planned to watch the ‘78 sequel, Dawn of the Dead, and Mother Nature had gifted them a dark and stormy evening. 

They settled down to watch, popcorn in hand, Vee laying in Masha’s lap, her green and blue mane draped across her companion’s shoulder. The four heroes, the survivors, set about securing the home they had found in the fortress-like shopping mall. One of them—Roger—grew sloppy. Just as he was bitten for the second time, they heard a door slam from the upstairs landing. 

Masha paused the film and craned their neck to look up at the bedroom doors hidden in the darkened hallway. “What was that?” they wondered aloud.

Vee hummed a worried sound. “Maybe one of the boys came out and saw that?” She leaned back to meet the human’s brown eyes as she patted their leg, “I’ll go check on them.”

“Okay,” they replied, pressing a kiss between her eyes, “I’ll wait here for you.”

~

Vee walked up the staircase, listening for sounds from the boys. Perhaps she hadn’t pulled the door all the way closed? The landing creaked under her weight, and she heard a burst of whispers and hissing from her room. Thunder rattled the house after she took another step, and Vee paused to glance out the hallway window. Rain poured down the glass in sheets, leaving a fierce drumming sound to fill the upper floor of the house. The basilisk put her hand on the doorknob and pushed it open with a creeaak. Lightning broke the sky above the house as she peeked into the room, casting her face and features in a flickering cascade of blinding light and shadow as thunder rattled the bungalow.

It was just bad luck, really. She hadn’t meant to scare the boys, but they screamed from where they were huddled together under the blanket in the middle of the floor. And who could have imagined what the frightened yell of a young Titan and the wail of a starchild could do? Certainly not Vee Noceda. 

“What was that?” Masha called from the living room below as the air in the house shimmered.

Vee clapped her hands over her ears as the force of their mingled cry washed over the doorway, and the large Night of the Living Dead poster just beside the light switch. The basilisk reached out to turn on the lights, still squinting in pain, rubbing at her head as she tried to pick out where the boys had hidden— ah. That lump under the blanket. “Boys, what happened?” she asked as she took a step forward. 

A hand clutched at her wrist and pulled. She turned on her heel and yelped in surprise, slapping at the rotting, gray-skinned hand in alarm. 

Zombies had begun to climb out of the poster, sniffing the air and snarling in their salivating hunger. A dozen pairs of whitened, glassy eyes turned toward Vee.

Notes:

Surprise fan-art from BeastKeepingCovenHead!

I am blown away, thank you for such an awesome gift!