MONSTER HOUSE: MY MONSTROUSITY FAMILY

The family van wasn't really a van anymore. It had once been a dusty silver minivan bought off Craigslist by Tyrraline under the name "Ms. Mothra Jones," but over time it had… Adjusted. It now resembled a shimmering metal chameleon stretched over bones, its interior re-arranged weekly depending on which sibling had last 'improved' it.

This morning, it smelled like cinnamon, sea salt, and ozone, which meant Loona had brushed her hair and Dravyn had wiped his boots in the same space again.

"Everyone. Quiet your aura. Lock your forms," Aunt Tyrraline said, snapping a gloved finger. Her words didn't echo. They commanded.

One by one, the siblings shimmered into more "human" illusions. Loona's scales faded to freckles, Korrin's ears rounded, Rava's glow dimmed. Even Wy reluctantly brushed down his tail, tucking it into a hoodie like a coil of defiance.

Elian didn't need to change. At least, not visibly. That was part of the problem.

"Why does mine always make me look like a substitute gym teacher?" Dravyn asked, glaring at his reflection in the rearview mirror. "This isn't a disguise. This is a curse."

"You tried to base it on a shampoo commercial," Korrin muttered. "You reap what you flex."

Loona spun her water bottle like a baton, spilling saltwater along the edge of the seat.

"Loona!" Elian warned.

"What? It's enchanted. The spill cleans itself!"

Sure enough, the water lifted like a ribbon and slithered back into the bottle, burbling with satisfaction.

"Gross," Wy said. "Your water bottle has more personality than Lucy."

"She has Double," Willow said telepathically, floating beside Elian in the back without having actually opened the van door. "That's more than a personality."

~

"Everybody out," Tyrraline snapped once they reached the drop-off zone. "Blend. School mode. Smile. Murder no one unless absolutely necessary."

Elian slid out and adjusted his backpack. His was the only real one. Everyone else's bags were either illusion-generated, summoned out of pockets of folded dimension, or stolen from alternate timelines. Mux once brought a satchel that bit a teacher.

"Remember," Tyrraline added, eyeing Elian especially, "no names louder than a whisper. And no dream-talking during math."

He nodded. "Yes, Aunt Tyrraline."

The school was a strange place when you came from a kingdom of beasts. Everything was… Small. Repetitive. No one shifted shape during gym. No one tried to hex the principal. The most dangerous creatures were gym teachers with whistles and unchecked authority.

"See you at lunch," Korrin said, peeling off toward the humanities wing with Varn trailing behind him like a shadow with better posture.

Elian headed toward his locker. Behind him, Rava hummed a note just under breath, and Thing appeared flickering between lockers, following her like a broken hologram.

"Tell her to stop following me like that," one girl muttered to Elian as she passed. "It's creepy."

"She's not with me," he said, though it was a lie. Everything about him lately felt like a lie.

As he turned the final corner toward his locker, he nearly walked into someone.

A girl.

She wasn't in any of his classes. Pale hair, black hoodie, boots that looked a hundred years old. She wore one silver earring shaped like a fang.

"Elian," she said softly.

He blinked. "Uh… Yeah?"

"I saw you in my sleep," she said. "In the cocoon. And in the city of teeth."

He stared at her. "What?"

"You don't know yet, do you?" she asked. Her voice was calm. Not threatening. More like an echo of something he hadn't remembered yet. "You're not supposed to be real."

"Who are you?"

But she was already walking away, vanishing into the crowd.

On his locker door, written in condensation, was a phrase.

FORGOTTEN ONE.