Foster's

Christina Blythe .4

Angelica shut the door behind her. Looked around at the house she had called home for the last five years and then walked into the living room.

"Hey guys, we're back!" she called. This was followed by a chirp from Babs.

Kevin's head poked out from the chimney, Chad came out from under the couch and Kyle appeared in the doorway that led to the kitchen. There was a sort of greeting from all of them, each taking turns to say hello to her.

They had all missed her of course, Babs, not Angelica. They had all pestered her about going to get their Boogie back.

At one point she found Chad flicking the clock's alarm bells to make the same sort of ringing noise that Babs made when she wanted attention.

Yeah, apparently Chad and Babs were besties.

Kyle very carefully pet Babs' head with a singular bony digit. Just three very soft taps to the very top of her head, as careful as he could be.

Chad offered her up an Oreo he had clearly been saving as it was covered in lint, when Angelica took it up to hand to Babs she found that it was damp, like Chad couldn't resist nibbling on it.

Kevin kept his distance, but that was mostly because, after attempting to eat her, Babs didn't quite trust him. He did say: "I kept your clock shiny and clean... and made sure it kept ticking right for you."

She chirruped a thank you at him before climbing down off of Angelica's shoulder and hopping over to the desk, where she could munch on her Oreo in peace by her clock.

Kyle was staring at her very carefully and that was because Angelica hadn't just gone to that mental institution to get Babs back. There was something else she had been looking for. She doubt he needed confirmation as to whether or not she got it, he could probably sense it near. No, he was clearly waiting to see if she would give it back to him.

She went into her pocket and pulled it out, the small little copper penny that had been the change compartment of her wallet this whole time, up until Christina took it.

Kyle's totem.

"To think this little thing started everything," she whispered.

"A Shadow Man Totem is notoriously small or common place. Something the Host wouldn't think to get rid of," Kevin intoned as if he were reading from a book.

Maybe that made sense, but this was a penny, Angelica could have lost it or used it in a transaction at any point in time.

Shadow... Monster... came out of the TV and Kevin shot Kyle a scowl.

"I was obviously speaking of the species in general and not you specifically."

"Right, boys, no arguing. What matters is we got everything back, just like I said we would," Angelica said, intervening before the two could start arguing. And definitely before that argument turned into a physical altercation.

It had been a stressful couple of months, worrying that Babs might forget about them, or would weaken and disappear being separated from her own totem for so long. It was why they spent so much time taking care of the clock, in the hopes of strengthening the link between them.

Kevin had also said that because she fed on insanity, being in that mental institution would keep her well fed. This meant that it was highly unlikely that she would fade away but they all still worried. Luckily, he had been right.

They had also been worried that the bond between her and Kyle might break seeing as the Totem wasn't in her possession for so long, but the roots of their bond had held strong through it all.

"Right... so... I've been thinking," she said. "And clearly... clearly we can't stay here. Y'all are a liability."

Her monsters all exchanged glances. They all seemed surprised by this revelation, probably because they were wondering if she was going to tell them to leave.

"I've though long and hard about this, and I think I have our solution," she said with a clap of her hands. "We're going to move."

All of her monsters let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Where are we going to move to?" Kevin asked sounding rather hopeful. "Germany?"

"No," Angelica said right away. "I want to stay in the States, but I think we should look for a house that will big enough for us. And probably any other monster we pick up."

You... think there... will... be more?

"You know what, yeah. I have a feeling since I've attracted all of you guys that I'm probably going to attract more. But I've mostly come to peace with it. I figure we'll deal with new additions to our family as we come across them," she said with a wave of her hand. "You guys put your feelers out, Kyle, start using the TV waves or something to find a house where... you know... if weird shit happens, no one will be surprised. Think you can do that?"

Kyle did nodded quickly to her and then blinked out of existence.

"Everyone else... start figuring out what you want to pack and what we can leave behind, cause we're gonna be traveling light."

The monsters all scattered away and she went for her phone.

She would eventually have to figure out what her price limit was, once she could figure out how much of a mortgage she could get. But at that moment, with that little penny tightly clenched in her hand, she was mostly concerned with how to always keep this penny safe and on her.

She needed to make sure no one ever tried to steal her Shadow Monster again.