Harry was caught off guard when Rebecca and Sophie came home with a new friend. Not just that, a kid he had never seen around town before. Had he just moved in or could he be a de... No. That couldn't be the case. Every sense in the book would be ringing in Harry's head. Besides, the kid looked overwhelmed by the size of the mansion, which was small compared to the home of a demon that could be entrusted to go to the Overworld. Still, how did this kid avoid his vision for so long. 'Jasper' didn't seem to notice Harry's strange appearance was real until Harry said hello. Seeing Harry's mouth move as he talked, that was when he realized the look was real. He looked ready to wet himself, but took a deep breath, and offered his hand.
"Hi, as she said, I'm Jasper. It's, um, nice to meet you." This kid HAD to be new. No kid who knew about Harry's true nature, or even heard rumors would do something like that out of nervousness. Harry shook his hand and smiled. What was he worried about? "You're not too bad yourself either kid." Harry's carefree nature quickly returned. He chuckled to himself as he walked inside. "Come on in, lunch for three is already on the way, I think a fourth won't make a difference." The kids followed inside and Jasper seemed to ooh and aah at everything. 'The floor, carpet, the furniture, all of it seemed so revolutionary to him. Obviously it seemed he was just a normal kid from a normal family despite his formal clothes. Harry soon ignored him as he began the first movie. As he did, he thought about how weird it was for Rebecca to invite someone without telling him. Especially a new friend.
The movie was about a space villain, who was sent to a planet to conquer it. However, he ends up becoming a superhero and protecting the planet. Kit came into the room during the movie and once he caught onto the plot, he eyed Harry. Then, he leaped to get next to him by the end of the couch and whispered, "You planning to be a superhero now?" His face went hand and hand with his mocking tone. By the time that movie ended, the pizza arrived. There was Meat Lovers for Harry and Rebecca, Cheese for Sophie, and it turned out Jasper liked pepperoni. After many pizza slices and many movies, things had gotten dull. True, this was three hours later, but they had the intent to keep going until 7:00 o' clock. The entire time, Jasper had been eyeing Harry, and it made him quite... uncomfortable to say the least. True, the kid had never seen anything like Harry, but it felt weird having him seemingly stare.
Then, Harry had an idea to liven things up. "I know!" He shouted out of nowhere. "How about we go to Crazy Town? We can bowl, play Laser Tag, and all of that fun stuff!" Rebecca had been drowsy but that seemed to give her a volt of life. She shot up and demanded that they go N O W ! Sophie and Jasper both nodded. "I think my parents will be fine with that." They all grabbed their things and left. Harry was happy AND proud of himself. He had saved their fun and brought joy to the day once again. However, he could have sworn he heard something move as he closed the door.
Crazy Town was packed, but people quickly fell back when Harry showed up. Most parents knew better to get in the way of whatever he was up to. The place was completely orange, green, and blue. Really, it had no theme other then just being completely random.
They got the best bowling lane and prepared to play. Harry actually wore clothes for once, wearing what seemed to be a team shirt and pants, but he refused to put on shoes. Rebecca however got light up rainbow shoes that seemed impossible to ignore, and she convinced Jasper to wear a orange version that was a lot less bright. Sophie however was too busy trying to beat another girl in a dancing game to bowl. They kept tying so eventually they just did a no rules dance battle. It got crazy fast with kids shooting laser pointers to add effect. The group watched for a bit and laughed before they started bowling. As usual, Rebecca went first, managing to hit a spare. Then Harry went, managing 9 pins thanks to a split. Next was Jasper. He breathed a bit and then rolled a strike. Then the next round began. Rebecca hit 6 pins this time and blamed that someone had used lights to mess with her. Harry scolded her but then took up her argument when he went down with two gutter balls. Once again Jasper was up and astonishingly, he hit yet another strike. It was then Harry realized he had made a mistake.
Jasper was an incredible bowler, he would roll strike after strike after strike in some games. Eventually, Rebecca became slightly discouraged. Still, that was enough for Harry, and it may have had something to do with his bowling crown nearly being taken from him had he not stopped the game. Sophie ended up winning the dance battle and Rebecca and her squared off. It was friend against friend and it was a clutch victory, but Rebecca won with her signature floor spin jump, sealing the deal. Afterwords, they began moving to the arcade but not before picking up some ice cream. Harry noticed that Jasper was taking note of the people constantly moving out of their way. Perhaps he was starting catch onto why, which could've been a problem. Harry even glanced a look of pure fear as they went from place to place in the huge entertainment building. Still, Jasper didn't bring it up to Rebecca, who was none the wiser.
When the group entered the arcade, it was bright purple and silver. Inside were all sorts of games like Shoot Out, Wild Dream Racing, and even the infamous Boo Loose game, which was MUCH scarier then it sounded. The mood shifted though once when they were playing a hoop shooting game called "Hopping Hooper." It was a game where you would switch between shooting hoops and controlling the character Jimpy Jumper, but I was really hard. None the less, Jasper got the high score and everyone cheered as the bonus boss went down. No one had ever beaten the game, let alone got a high score.
"Nice job." Harry said with a smile. He attempted to pat Jasper on the back but he immediately moved as if dodging a knife, glancing at Harry coldly. Everyone was quiet for a second before Jasper broke the silence. "Sorry, I'm not used to people congratulating me." Everyone began cheering again to encourage Jasper, but Harry saw Jasper's face when he moved. He was petrified, not startled. Harry kept this to himself however. He didn't want Rebecca to even slightly know about this. Harry had worked hard to make Rebecca's strange life seem normal, and he wasn't going to jeopardize that now. So for now, he played it cool, but if that kid said anything, there would be problems.
The group continued to play game after game, eventually getting to Laser Tag. Rebecca and Sophie were on one team, Harry and Jasper were on the other. The arena was dark, unlike the area they had just walked out of. Withing seconds of the huge "Go!" shots were being fired. Beams were blasting from players and traps all alike. Jasper was really good at laser tag as well, taking out lots of people and barely getting hit. Harry however, was better. He had taken an entire team on his own, half of which were probably afraid he would kill them if they put up a fight, the others thinking the opposite. Still, he had done it while taking only one hit. Then, from above, blasters from the yellow team, Rebecca's team, went off aimed square for them. Harry managed to find a barrier and Jasper followed him. That was when once again, the mood shifted.
"What are you?" That was all Jasper asked. Harry looked at him and continued his act in case somehow Rebecca could hear them. "Why, I'm just your friendly neighborhood Harry." He said with a false smile. Jasper looked dead serious and he still believed that Harry wasn't what he seemed. Harry sighed and then broke character. "Listen to me." He whispered. "I know you've taken notice to how people treat me, and I know you've taken notice to how people treat her." He said, pointing to the tower Rebecca had managed to get to the top of. "I'm not here to hurt her, and if things keep going the way they are, I won't need to hurt anyone else either, so if you're having second thoughts on being her friend, you'd better start having a third." Harry hadn't noticed, but Jasper was doing something no one else ever did. He looked him in the eyes while he was threatening him, and didn't waver. Then, Jasper began to leave from behind the barrier, took aim, and fired, managing to get someone out before tucking back behind safety.
"I've been threatened a lot. This isn't the first time someone's threatened my life, as bad as it sounds." Jasper said in a new serious tone. "I don't get the sense you're THAT bad, so I'll keep this talk, this secret between us." He fired again and once again hit someone before once again retreating. He sighed and the dark tone left him for that of a kid again. "I finally have friends. I'm not gonna leave the chance because they have a pretty strange friend of their own." Then, Jasper smiled. "How long do you think until we get em all out?" Harry was actually shocked by this and smiled too. He too leaned from the barrier and hit someone and then Jasper got them out. "Not too long." He said, and they retreated back until they could strike again. He was having fun again, and he suddenly began to like Jasper. It was a mystery to him why though. He began cheering him on and watching his back as they moved towards victory.
In the end, Harry and Jasper won it for their team and even got a new game that had yet to come out as the prize. Unlike what Harry would usually do, he let Jasper have it, and the console for it since he lacked one. Jasper was blown away by the generosity. Harry was a bit startled by how much he had grown to like the kid, and he had finally put his finger on why. It was because he was like Rebecca, and Rebecca was like Harry. She was determined, she wouldn't back down, and she stared the worst people in the face, like Harry. Jasper was like that too. The entire walk home, they actually talked and made jokes. Turns out also like Rebecca, Jasper could take a good pun.
They still had a few minutes until Jasper had to go home so they decided to start watching a movie they had yet to see, and continue later. While Harry was looking for the movie though, he heard a thud from under the staircase. It was coming from behind the door. Kit was on the staircase so he heard it to, leaping down next to Harry, nearly falling on his head. Quietly, Harry opened the door and shut it. What he saw inside horrified him. His workplace was destroyed, his box was open, and the doll he had kept now had a total of 9 eyes, and a crescent smile on it's face. It's eyes following Harry in it's strange gaze. Then, it uttered two words as it violently glowed red.
"We've arrived."