"This dress is very similar to the one I wore earlier," Kim said, entering Evie’s bedroom in a long-sleeved black dress with an open leg. "I thought they would give me a uniform like yours, Evie!"
"There was no uniform for you, that's one of my dresses. You'll go incognito," said Evie, dressed in a black battlesuit with padding on its knees and elbows to provide protection and additional striking capabilities. The uniform had tall stiletto boots, a thigh holster on her left leg for her grapple gun and a holster on the right one for her Taser Gun.
"Plus, the fabric of the dress is bulletproof," said Blackfox with a snap of his fingers, in an outfit similar to Evie's, only the boots were wedges, "I must admit, the dress looks better with pumps than boots, Evie. Your sister has good taste."
"I had to wear these pumps because with another type of shoe, the dress dragged on the floor. Now I understand why. I'm glad your neighbour at least had shoes in my size, Evie.” Kimberly said, sticking her left leg through the opening of the dress.
It was nice to have good Yeti neighbours around, and it was a great idea to come to Evie's apartment too. Blackfox's was too minimalist, so the girls decided to take all the clothes and go straight to Evie's apartment on the third floor of the tower where the Yeti lived. And wow! This was actually a room! Not like Blackfox's almost empty bedroom, with a bed, black bedspread and four white walls. It seemed that he had never left behind the tradition of less is more during a desperate escape.
Kim didn't want to move with him to the Hunter Tower if she was being honest, the kitchen was just a stove and a microwave on a cupboard, and the dining room and living room? They were practically non-existent! A couch, a television, a table and a chair. What a waste!
Surely Kimberly could convince Zeth to let her move in with Evie, after all, what harm could she do living with someone who knew her since they were little?
"You should wear boots," Evie said, very serious while zipping up her battlesuit, "My boots are bulletproof, they might be a little big on you but..."
"Pumps is fine," Kim nodded, modelling the black shoe, "Although these have nowhere to store anything. I'll be careful not to break my heel if I jump."
"Fine! Just remember that dress is bulletproof, but the leg opening is a problem," Evie said, knowing well she couldn't convince the blonde to change her shoes. But that’s how Kim was though, putting fashion first, believing herself to be an unstoppable force of nature. "Small vulnerability to offer mobility, I learned that the hard way."
“I am too talented to lose a leg,” Kim joked and Evie grunted, "Hey! Kevin, I need you to help me with the sleeves and some minor details.”
"Got it. But hey! You look beautiful, Kimberly," Kevin said, sitting on the light blue quilted bed, clapping his hands, "Those pumps make your legs look longer."
"Were you looking at my leg?" Kim raised a seductive eyebrow, making Kevin blush.
"And you, Evie," Kevin continued, turning to her, who was standing in front of her closet, checking her uniform for the first time in the mirror, "You look really nice too. Coral-pink lipstick suits you."
"Thanks," said Evie, "I'm surprised you know the colour."
"Oh! It's just that I used to help mum put on her makeup to go to the hospital," Kevin laughed, "Mum's always been like that. Vain. You haven't seen her walk around here in Lyonfort? She always wears heels higher than my IQ!"
"Oh yeah! I’ve seen her every morning since she moved to the Spectral Tower," Evie laughed, nodding, "Your mum even brought Jade and me her famous transparent waffles to my training room once a week. She said it was her secret recipe."
"She hasn't even told me the recipe!" Kevin laughed, turning to see Kimberly, "I'm sure your friend here will love Mum's American breakfast. I'm dying for Kim to meet her!"
"Introduce your mother to a girl? Someone's in love," Blackfox whispered, and a stiletto flew through the air and almost hit him, "Hey! What the fuck, Kimberly?!"
"Don't get involved in my love life," Kim said, turning to look Kevin straight in the eyes, "But yeah, I'm curious... Do you like me, Kevin?"
There was an awkward silence.
"Oh. Sorry. He can't talk to girls that way. It's against the poly rules." Blackfox grunted.
"I think you're very pretty," Kevin smiled slightly.
"Kevin!"
"It's okay Blackfox, I think he means it in a friendly way," Evie replied, winking at Kevin. She looked into the mirror again, turning and looking at herself over her shoulder.
"But I'm not exactly sure what this 'friendly' thing entails." Blackfox rebutted.
"Well," Kimberly shrugged, grabbing some earrings from the dressing table, "I think he is too into Draco to want to cheat on him."
"Sure, take my earrings," Evie grumbled, crossing her arms.
"They're cheap and you have better taste anyway." Kim chuckled.
"Hey!" Evie frowned, "Frank gave them to me and they cost him more than everything I have in this apartment combined!"
"Oooohhh! Frank!" Kimberly wiggled her eyebrows and walked towards the bed, sitting next to Kevin, putting on the earrings, "Talk. Why haven't you told him you love him?"
"Because I don't know if it's real, or if I'm just being silly and imagining all these things happening between us."
"Evie. It's real." Kevin put a hand on Kim's shoulder and squeezed gently. She seemed surprised, but didn't say anything, "You've been acting strange since he and Jade had their first time."
"Because precisely, the two of them have a relationship. I no longer have a place in that duo." Evie replied, "That's why I'm not as comfortable around them as I used to be."
"You are so weird sometimes Evie." Kim muttered. Evie ignored her.
"Anyway. I hope Jade likes the uniform, she's never worn a battlesuit in her life. If I wore flat shoes, I would love to wear the combat boots that Zeth chose for her," Evie said, frowning while checking her rear over her shoulder again, "I think Zeth exaggerated a little with my butt. It looks too big."
"You have a sexy butt and don't change the subject!" Kimberly raised her voice, “You like Frank! You love him! Remember how you used to tell me that he was the perfect man? And now you're not even going to try and see where this could go!”
"I don't know, Kimberly. Maybe I don't care enough about him." Evie was getting sick of herself already, "I do like him, don't get me wrong, he's amazing and kind and handsome."
"Yeah, and he loves you," said Blackfox, matter-of-factly, "He talked about you a lot during the world tour, how much he missed you and stuff."
"That's true," Kevin snapped his fingers, "He always talks about you and Jade, and he admires you as much as he admires Finn, which is weird now that I think about it."
“Evie, he loves you,” Kim frowned, “And you love him.”
Evie knew it was true, that he loved her and that without him, she felt like she was missing another part of her, but not just a part of her body, not this time. He was part of her soul, of her as a whole, of her past and the reason for her present. He had given her a second chance, he had given her a family, he had given her happiness. There was no way she could live without him.
She sighed.
"If you know that Frank loves you, why don't you say yes? I think you should be direct and that's it! Why complicate things?" Kim asked and Evie didn't exactly know how to respond. Although for a second, she thought Kim and Everett might be the couple of the year if they ever dated. "Are you going to talk or not?"
"Can you imagine if our thing doesn't work out and I lose everything forever?" Evie raised an eyebrow, "I would lose my job, my stability, my family."
"Bullshit," Blackfox grunted and everyone gasped.
"Did Mr. Right just say a bad word?" Kim raised her eyebrows.
"Evie, I have never been discreet about my love for you," Blackfox said, and no one seemed surprised, "But my happiness comes from knowing that you are happy. If Frank makes you happy, just tell him you love him and that's it. Isn’t that what you wanted? You’ve already washed away the blood on your hands, now it's time to do the same with your heart."
Evie stared at him, trying to read him. Yeah, he was being sincere.
For a second, she couldn't believe that he actually cared, that he really loved her, that he really believed that she should just tell Frank how she felt and go date him right away.
"I know he cares about you Evie," Kevin said with his classic white smile, "Look, if you can't trust him your past, just trust him your heart. He will say yes."
"And that's why I don't want to give him hope," Evie whispered, "Maybe I'll just wait a few years until we're both ready."
"Will you ever be ready?" Blackfox asked with a growl, "If you don't move now, what happened to Draco and Alex will happen to you."
"Wait, what happened?" Kevin raised an eyebrow.
"Isn’t it obvious?" Kim rolled her eyes, "Draco got over Alex. I've been here less than a day and even I noticed it!"
"And it seems to me that Jade got over Zeth too," Blackfox nodded and Kim snapped her fingers.
"Me too," Kim rolled her eyes and grumbled something no one understood.
"What did you say?" Blackfox asked very annoyed, "Did you say something about Zeth?"
"Someone has a crush," Kimberly laughed.
"It's not a crush," Blackfox averted her curious gaze with a pout, crossing his arms, "I’m just... Impressed with the way he fought in the hotel restaurant. That's all."
"Because fighting is sexy, isn't it?" Evie chuckled. "Frank wrote me a whole song about that."
"No, Frank wrote what he thought you were," Kevin said and Evie looked at him incredulously. "He thought you were a killer in heels and he wrote that song about it."
"He didn't know you at all," Blackfox snorted loudly, shaking his head, "I don't think anyone really knows you, Evangeline."
"Exactly," Evie shrugged, and she checked her outfit again in the mirror, particularly her butt, "I don't let people in. People tend to die."
“God! You have one of the most coveted men of the moment at your feet and you continue playing cat and mouse," Kimberly rolled her eyes again.
"Evie, with all due respect," Kevin said and she looked at him through the mirror, "I think you should go to Frank. You should tell him what you feel, without masks.”
"Do you think I wear a mask?" Evie raised an eyebrow and Kevin nodded. Oh! He was good at reading people, huh?
“I think your mask is what doesn't allow you to love him.” Kevin said it as a statement, not a question, "But who are you behind it? Who is Evangeline Prescott?"
"Evangeline Prescott does not exist, it is an alias, fake name," Evie said, but he actually made her think about the ‘mask’ issue.
Maybe Kevin was right. Maybe that was the root of the problem. He was a wise boy, maybe as wise as Zeth or Everett, Kim was the living proof of that, he made her change, he turned the enemy into a friend.
Kevin could see the root of problems and solve them, and that's what Evie always wanted: The reason why she couldn't love Frank.
Now she had the answer, and all she had to do was to get rid of her mask and walk towards him, with her feelings and her truth and her love out in the open.
And that's when it finally hit her, and she knew for sure that she was meant to be with Frank.
They had more in common than she wanted to accept, starting with her physical appearance, so...
It was time to show him who she really was.
"You know? I now see why Zeth chose you, Kevs," Evie said and sat down on the bed next to him, looking straight at him, "He chose you because you understand the world better than most guys."
Kevin didn't reply and he kept staring at her, waiting patiently for her to speak.
"Are you finally going to tell him what you feel?" Kim seemed very surprised when Evie nodded, "Wow! You have talent with stubborn women, Visbal."
"I love Frank and it hasn't been easy to keep myself away from him," Evie admitted, stood up and then walked towards her small cosmetics box, opening it slowly, taking out a case for coloured lenses. "It's time to take off all my masks, starting with my physique. It's time for him to meet the real monster, and not the hunter."
"Don't call yourself a monster," Kevin frowned but Kim patted him on the shoulder and nodded, smiling, "Wait... Evie... Are you a monster?"
"I'm like all Hunters, a monster turned monster slayer." Evie nodded, opening the contact lens case.
"We all are, I am a Felina." said Kimberly, checking her nails, "Why do you think it's easy for me to seduce men? Pheromones are something special, baby!"
"And I'm a descendant of a Lesser House of Lightning Strike, that's why they kidnapped me as a child." Evie said, slowly removing her contact lenses. Kevin looked at Blackfox, pointing his finger at him questioningly, but in he shook his head.
"I'm not a human, but I'm not a monster in the traditional sense," Blackfox replied, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, "I'm a descendant of a horrible family, rulers of a horrible place in Zagarrta, you don't want the details."
"And her mother was quite the anti-celebrity," Kimberly laughed, turning to look at Evie, "What are you doing?"
"I think Kevin's right," Evie closed the contact lens case and looked down, her black hair covering her face, "I think the only thing stopping me from being with Frank is my mask. Jade even told me that I could join the poly relationship and..." then she turned around. Kevin gasped. "I think it's time for Frank to meet the real me."
"Evie! Your eyes!" Kevin covered his mouth, "They are beautiful!"
"Thanks," she smiled sincerely, "I have had heterochromatic eyes since forever, and it's the first time I've shown them to anyone."
"Wow! That's amazing! You look more like Frank than I thought!" Kevin was mesmerized. Her right eye was blue and the left one was green. Who would have known?!
"And my hair? It's actually white," Evie said, taking a strand in her fingers, "I've dyed it since I was a little girl, a Hunter shouldn't gather the attention, you know?"
"Now I understand why you told Laska not to mess with your hair," Kevin laughed. "Oh! You're full of surprises, Evie!"
"I never thought I'd wear these clothes again," Evie said, walking over to the closet, opening it slowly and searching for something while humming 'Femme Fatale' with a smile. "Where is it? Where? Where... Here!" She grabbed a hook and soon placed the clothes on the bed next to Kevin: A black and white jacket with electric blue lighting-bolts printed on the sleeves and an electric blue collared blouse.
"Are you going to change your clothes?" Kevin asked as Evie looked for something in her closet.
"I want to be the Evie I was when I met Frank," she replied, pulling something else out of the closet, "Only with him could I be myself, and I want to go back to that moment." She put on the bed a black and blue chess skirt. "I swore to never wear these clothes again. They were the clothes I wore the day I put the bomb in Frank's backpack," Evie bent down and pulled out an old shoe box from under the bed. When she opened it, she took out mid-thigh, electric blue stiletto boots, and smiled nostalgically. "It's time to give these clothes a new memory."
"Do you want me to tell Frank to come over?" Kevin took his phone out, but she shook her head with a smile.
"Tell him to meet me at the Broken Tower in ten minutes.” Evie took the clothes and walked to the door, "If Jade gets here, give her her uniform and tell her I accepted the offer to join the poly relationship."