A panicked and very overworked front desk attendant greeted Carlos and Momo with a strained smile when they entered The Stullery. It was not the sort of hotel chosen as the first, second, or even the last choice.
It was the one to choose when there was no other choice.
The floors were clean, but the white walls had a yellow tinge to them, and the front desk attendant, with her bright yellow shirt with a white collar, and a name plate that read, AMANDA J. , was separated between them by a very thick bulletproof glass wall on the customer service front desk.
She pressed the button on her desk, and her voice crackled through the microphone that had not been fixed in years.
"Hi, how can I help you guys," Amanda said.
"We need a room, two queen-sized beds please," Momo said.
"Sorry, we only have one room with one bed left," Amanda replied.
She looked at Carlos, and then she looked at Momo, and then back again.
"Are you two here together?"
"Yes, I am uh, her father, " Carlos lied.
The lie was horrible. Carlos was barely old enough to be her father, he was much darker, their features were completely different. Yet again, someone thought that they had caught Carlos in the act of a crime.
"Sir, I'm calling the police," Amanda said calmly. "You should turn yourself in and make this easy."
"Why does everyone think I'm a pervert," Carlos whispered.
"You just have that look, " Momo snickered. "It must be the khakis."
Carlos glared at her, and then he panicked as Amanda picked up her corded desk telephone to call the authorities. Momo pushed her sunglasses up, revealing her glowing red eyes, and then they turned a soft grey, as she used her ability.
She pressed her face right up to the bulletproof glass, and Amanda looked at her, which was her first mistake. Like a magnet, her eyes were pulled towards hers, and something told her not to look into them, but Momo let out a hollow laugh because even if Amanda didn't look her in the eyes, she could still get what she wanted.
Momo strained, her arms rigid as she copied the same pose Amanda was in, her hand on the telephone, still in its receiver. Carlos made the mistake of looking at Momo as well, and suddenly, he was a fly stuck in honey. His arm outstretched, and his brain tried to fight it, terror overwhelming every cell in his body as his right hand made the same pose as well.
Amanda started to cry, her eyes still trying not to lock into Momo's but it was impossible now. Momo slowly turned her head, causing Amanda and Carlos to turn, and Amanda had no choice to look her in the eyes, and she was stuck.
"I'm not going to call the police," Carlos, Momo, and Amanda said.
"I'm going to give them a free room," Carlos, Momo and Amanda said.
"I'm going to forget this all ever happened," Carlos, Momo, and Amanda said.
They all blinked in unison and Amanda smiled, wondering what she was so worried about. Something was different, but it didn't matter, because everything is fine, nothing was wrong.
Carlos rubbed his face and was terrified, but he didn't know why. Some part of him felt violated, but nothing was wrong, everything was fine, as they stood in the tiny lobby with the complementary stale coffee and tourist magazines.
Carlos and Momo walked down the halls, with the red ugly carpet, laid down years ago to hide the stains of blood and various body fluids, the smell of smoke and various drugs in the air, even with all the faded NO SMOKING signs on all the walls.
With a shudder, Momo put in the hotel door key, turned the handle, and quickly wiped her hand on her dress. The inside of the room was the standard hotel brown desk, black office chair, too large television, and dresser, and a queen-sized bed with white sheets and pillows.
Carlos sat on the bed, and Momo grimaced.
"I wouldn't sit on that."
Carlos stood up.
Carlos placed the suitcase on the bed, unzipped it, but Momo held his arm and cautioned him.
"Don't look at me. Let me do this. Turn around."
Carlos lifted up his hand and quickly turned not wanting to see her change again but instead he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders , and he was now terrified of this little one hundred pound girl, so he stared at a small stain, source unknown on the wall as she unzipped the suitcase.
Momo stared at Gabriel, bright-eyed and awake.
"I'm going to behave and go back to normal," Momo and Gabriel said.
"I'm going to blend in."
"I'm going to help Father Alvarez find his cure."
Three days of walking with demons and this young girl might be the death of him, if not for the little stroke of luck that they were on the same team.
The pressure lessened, the thunderstorm over, and Carlos turned to look.
Momo methodically snapped Gabriel's bones back into place, a bored look on her face, like all the others, everything boring once alive for too long. She let out a little heh because there was something for once that wasn't so boring.
Gabriel had glared.
They all had the same vacant look in their eyes when she controlled them, but he was ferocious, and for once something was a little less boring. He glared in contempt as she fixed him up, patted him on his head, and stroked his face.
"That wasn't so bad, now was it, you little monster?"
"I hate you," he whispered.
"Feeling's mutual."
Gabriel pushed her hand off, threw the luggage on the ground, and for the first time in a very long one, he could say something that had nothing to do with food.
"Carlos, I don't want to be here, I just worry about you. Let's go home," he said.
"Then you can go home," Carlos replied.
With the magic words, Gabriel could leave. Gabriel could feel something change, but he didn't want to leave him there alone. He didn't trust Momo, and he didn't trust the old men in their creepy robes, in their disturbing castle underneath the ground.
"Carlos, you can't be alone with someone who can just control you like that," Gabriel shouted.
"You were perfectly fine with me when we all lived together in New Springfield," Momo replied. "What changed?"
"You're scary now. I don't know why, but, both of you seem so scary now," Gabriel whispered. "I didn't know you could do that before."
Momo still had Gabriel's blood under her fingernails, and Carlos still had some on his green polo shirt and khakis. They hadn't paid it much thought, they didn't notice the odd glances they had on the bus to Stull, the women clutching their purses and children closer to their bosoms.
With less of Carlos's blood in his system, the world seemed so much scarier. The hotel room was drab already, but Gabriel was accustomed to a world catered to his mind, pacified on some kind of drug, and now it was all so scary because he had to face it alone, without the friendly little voices in his head telling him it would be okay.
Carlos and Momo were hurt, Carlos more so because they had spent so much time together, and he thought that they had a relationship together. He didn't know what kind, at times he thought he was Gabriel's parent instead of friend or mentor, but he didn't think he was bad.
Gabriel reluctantly got off the bed, and now his brain wasn't clouded.
"Stay away from me," he whispered.
"It's okay Father," Momo groaned. "He'll be fine. He'll complain, but Gabriel will behave for about three days and-"
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Gabriel shouted.
Loud bangs came from the wall behind the television telling them to shut the fuck up.
"You broke my bones and put me in a bag, then you forced me to listen to you using your ability. You're both monsters. "
"It's only temporary," she replied.
No one said anything.
The reptiles all stood still because there was nothing left to say. Gabriel waited for Carlos to say something, anything, to tell Momo what she did was wrong, or to scold him for the 5,000th time, but instead, he mumbled something about going for a walk and left.
With just the two of them in the room, Gabriel got up from the bed, watching Momo as he walked back to the chair next to the indoor A/C unit. She scoffed, and rolled her eyes, and pulled her sunglasses back down, used to the reaction from others who saw her power.
"It's not as strong as you think it is, relax," she told him.
"How can I trust a demon, " he shouted.
"What's up with this demon stuff, you're acting so different," Momo replied.
"No. No, I'm not. My mind is fine. I'm well. You're the one who isn't."
She crossed her arms, and scoffed again, pointing her finger at him, amazed that a brazen child was trying to tell her what to do.
The nerve.
"All I did was make you normal and-"
Momo paused. She looked around the room as if there was some kind of answer hidden in the walls. Loud music played by a popular singer, and a party began upstairs, as she found the answer.
" This is how you normally are? Like this!?"
"Gio was right about all of you," Gabriel said. "Without you all, in my head, I can see how you fucked me up, and now I know I don't want to be like this anymore."
Momo's head buzzed as all her siblings chimed in, disappointed, disgusted, saddened, angry, and they all started talking amongst themselves about what to do with the problem that was Gabriel Gutenberg.
It was a very quick decision.
"Don't worry. We don't want you anymore," Momo huffed.
Gabriel leaned back into his chair until he couldn't push himself any further back, and he was irrationally angry that they were denying him, even though he denied them.
"You're a threat to Father's life. I came here because I was worried about him."
She took a step closer to him, and Gabriel tensed up, and looked at the ground, then squeezing his eyes shut so she wouldn't try and control him again.
"He goes through the trouble of getting a cure, not just for you, or him, but for each and every one of us that was turned without a choice, and you call him a monster. "
She cried, and little soft hiccups came out of her mouth, and Gabriel softened, as he made her cry, and now he was the worst one in the room.
"You think you're the only one who didn't want to be turned? You're a spoiled child," she whispered.
Her small chest heaved and somehow it was easier for her to cry as the sunglasses shielded her eyes, but the bloody tears were still garish.
Gabriel was confused why he was feeling guilty, that the woman who had hurt him was now crying, and he mumbled a quick apology.
"I don't care," she sobbed.
Gabriel gave her an awkward glance and she started to calm down, embarrassed that she had started to cry. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled, while Gabriel got her a tissue box from the desk and quickly handed it to her.
"I'm sorry I did that," Momo mumbled.
Gabriel nodded.
"It doesn't matter anyway, because it can only work once."
" What!?"
Momo smiled and sniffled, nodded, and explained that yes, all abilities have their limits.
"I mean, I could do it again, but it would be more suggestive instead of all-powerful. It can't work very well on the same person more than once," she said.
Gabriel was relieved that she wouldn't force him to do anything else during their stay. She took two long strides towards him, lifted up her sunglasses, and looked him right in his eyes, again making him feel uncomfortable.
With a blood-streaked face, she said a very solemn fortune.
"I can't stop you from trying to drink him dry, because it will work less and less every time. Become human again, and this all goes away. If not, you'll kill him, or you'll kill yourself."
"I can't, I can't become human in three days," Gabriel replied.
"I know. But in three days we can plan what to do. In 9 months it will be a year, and you'll be, well, normal . Whatever that means for you. "
Gabriel stepped back, and bumped into the television, his personal space invaded.
"After a year all of you newborns start returning to your normal before personalities, for whatever reason," Momo continued. "No idea why you would want to return to this."
She gestured at him, and Gabriel glared at her coldly, his sympathy lost.
"I'll be fine. I can handle this. I don't need your help," he said.
"I'm helping Father Alvarez, not you," Momo replied coolly. "He's too sweet to kill you if you try to kill him first because he loves you, but don't worry. I'll take care of it for him if you don't succeed."
She took another step towards him, and Gabriel clutched the ridges of the dresser that laid underneath the television. Momo licked her lips and looked him up and down like a snack and her siblings cheered her on, choosing Carlos over Gabriel, the ungrateful, spoiled brat.
The door opened and Carlos walked in.
He felt like he had walked in on something very personal.
He closed the door, called himself ridiculous under his breath, and then opened the door again to see Gabriel and Momo smiling, pretending to get along. Carlos could smell lies in the air as they told him they were just discussing how best to help him out.
He smelled more lies as Momo said that she was positive that everything was fine, and nothing was wrong.