Tonight, on a very special Monsterhearts…
Episode 1.2 - Dust
Starring:
Camilla, the Queen: Lead singer and guitarist for the up and coming band “TBD”, Camilla is a rising star at Westerberg High. Will she burn bright or fade away with the dawn? Only time will tell.
Kyle, the Werewolf: Brash and impulsive, Kyle struggles to keep his lycanthropic heritage a secret from all but his closest friends. Dare he confide in his girlfriend Emily, or will she be safer not knowing?
Annalee, the Witch: That quiet girl, brooding in the corner? She knows a secret or two. And strange things happen to those who cross her. Best to stay on her good side (if she has one).
Stark, the Fae: Charming to some, eerily disturbing to others… everyone has an opinion about Stark. Some say his absentee dad is in prison, others say he is an important politician buying the family’s silence with money. One thing is for sure: he will hold you to your word, or you will pay.
The next morning begins in homeroom again. Angela’s seat is still empty, and Annalee smiles mysteriously as Ursula enters the room with bandages over her ears and sits at her desk, pretending to not hear anyone’s inquiries. When pressed, she makes up an excuse to leave and does so, wincing when she gives her reason to the substitute. Curious as to Angela’s continued absence, Camilla asks the substitute if the office has mentioned her being sick or on vacation, but Mrs. Carter seems strangely vague and uncaring.
After some discussion, Stark decides to ask about Angela at the office. He is given the brush-off by the school secretary, who also appears to be nonplussed by Angela’s lack of attendance and becomes irritated when he tries to push the issue. Meanwhile, Kyle meets with Emily and asks her to meet him after track practice, as he has something important to tell her. Camilla continues working on the lyrics to a song intended to publicly humiliate Kevin, and is not at all surprised to discover that yet again her band member Scott has already begun composing music that seems to go with the lyrics as if he knew what she was writing all along.
After school, Stark sneaks into the school office with Camilla keeping watch at the door. He hacks the school records and discovers that Angela’s absences have not been noted at all. He then rushes to the Burial Grounds to meet with Chelsea, Kevin’s girlfriend, and begins to lay the groundwork for a plan of his own. Kyle meets with Emily after track, and reveals his wolf nature to her, leaving her shaken and terrified but willing to trust that he is still the same person.
Later that afternoon, Stark, Kyle, and Annalee meet with Camilla and her band mates at Angela’s house. While the band keeps watch on the street, the four check around the house for anything odd. Kyle notices that there are no animal sounds in Angela’s yard, but the rest of the neighborhood seems fine. Stark slips off into the bushes and communes with nature, discovering that for some reason nature itself seems to be rejecting the house and grounds. Kyle forces the back door, and they enter.
Inside, Camilla notices that although nothing appears out of place, there is a layer of dust across everything as if much time has passed since the house was last cleaned. Kyle and Annalee look in the bathrooms and bedrooms, and Annalee takes some hair from the hairbrushes they find. Camilla notes that the cat dish in the kitchen is half full and moldy, and that the cat is nowhere to be found. She and Stark decide to check out the basement.
Downstairs in the converted rec room, they discover Angela’s parents sitting on a couch in front of the television and are filled with dread. They have elated expressions on their faces, but are not breathing and are covered with the same layer of dust that covers everything else. Camilla attempts to call both the house phones and Angela’s cell phone, and hears it ringing upstairs. Kyle and Annalee come downstairs and take off in terror at the sight, and Camilla and Stark dash upstairs after them. Stark plans to call 911 while Camilla heads to Angela’s room. She finds Angela’s phone under her bed next to finger marks in the dust as if she were dragged out from under the bed. On the phone is a single photo taken in the daytime of the room from under the bed, with a dark indistinct shape filling one corner of the screen.
Camilla and her band go home to rehearse their fears away. Stark tries 911 several times, but nobody comes out to investigate. When he goes to the police station to file a report, the duty officer begins to lose interest as soon as he starts describing the place and what they have found, eventually tuning Stark out entirely. He finally gives up, and he and Camilla meet Kyle and Annalee at her house, where they are attempting to drink their terror away in her room. Annalee drunkenly attempts a scrying ritual to find Angela, and sees a vision in her mirror of Angela trapped in a dusty, cobwebbed room that appears to have been ravaged by fire. When she mentions this to the group, Camilla recalls the fire at Tomlinson High School across town. Kyle remembers the night that it burnt, as he witnessed Franklin Watts entering the school shortly before the fire began. The four of them resolve to skip school the next day and investigate the school, and Kyle decides he will also try to contact Franklin in the morning to see what he knows.
There are again troubled dreams and visions all around, with Camilla seeing herself singing in the darkness, Stark seeing himself entering the school with a backpack full of Angela’s textbooks, and Annalee seeing herself attempting to rescue Angela from something, brushing away enormous webs. Kyle again runs under the light of the moon, which appears in his eyes to be covered with a shadowy cloud.