Star and Marco vs Evil Book 2

X

In Star's bedroom, the lid of an extremely large steamer trunk slowly raised. Once the lid had swung all the way open, Star, in her nightgown, stiffly climbed out, followed by Marco in his jam-jams.

"Well," Marco said, stretching, "that was an interesting Friendship Thursday activity. Let's never do that again."

"Agreed," Star replied, shrinking the trunk to its normal size.

After Star cast Radiant Shadow Transform to clothe them in their day-clothes, the pair sat together on the couch.

"Well," Marco began, "I guess we achieved a partial success; that's way better than it could have gone."

Star was struggling to see the positive in the outcome of their efforts for Monster equality and rights at the Conference of Nobles. "I just don't understand what's wrong with those beings," Star said, a touch of anger in her voice.

"That's politics, and you know that better than I do. We're trying to undo a thousand years of distrust and discrimination, and, frankly, the amount of change we did get was extraordinary."

"I know. But it's odd ... how can you outlaw discrimination yet not grant full citizenship? At least each kingdom was allowed to grant citizenship within its borders. It was no surprise the Spiderbites didn't approve it within theirs, but I was really surprised that the Jaggy Kingdom also didn't."

"There's more distrust from the Jaggys because of what the Monster Kingdom has been doing lately. Expecting them to rise above it was probably too much."

"But maybe there was something more I could have done. I can't help feeling like I failed ... again."

"Star, you have to stop selling yourself short. Hell, look at the Johansen Kingdom; they voted for full citizenship, despite their general distrust of Monsters, because they trust and respect you, their 'favorite niece,' as King Johansen said." Star blushed. "Well, we have to work with what we're given, and so the fight goes on. The Lucitor Kingdom still hasn't decided on citizenship within its borders, so we can continue the fight there in the short term. Speaking of things continuing ..."

Marco reached for Star, pulling her to him. They had just begun engaging in behavior that would scandalize Star's father if he caught them, when Marco's phone chimed with his mother's ringtone, indicating a text. He reluctantly grabbed his phone and read the text.

"Well, they're here," Marco informed Star. "The genetic testing results."

"Yayyyyy!" Star squealed.

"Mom said they're sitting on the kitchen table. Can you conjure me up a dimensional portal above the table so I can just reach through and grab them?"

"Sure." Star waved her hand, opening a small dimensional portal.

Marco reached into the portal. He grunted, feeling around, until he felt the small box containing the microSD with the results. "Got 'em," he said. He tried to pull his arm out of the portal, but he couldn't budge. "And I think something got meeeee..." Marco was pulled halfway into the portal.

"Marco!" Star yelled. She grabbed Marco around the waist and began pulling, taking care not to pull so hard she yanked his arm out of its socket. After a few tries, Marco flew out of the portal, the two falling heavily to the floor, the portal automatically closing. Star looked at Marco ... and saw half a dozen lipstick prints on his face.

Marco shook his head as he wiped off the prints with a sleeve of his hoodie, saying, sheepishly, "Moms; am I right?"

Star grinned. She stood, helping Marco off the floor. Marco retrieved his tablet from Star's desk, plugging the memory chip into the tablet's card slot. They then sat on the couch, Marco sitting back to look through the results, while Star sat next to Marco on her haunches, facing him, eager to hear what the scientists found.