Night had already sunk its claws into New Salem by the time Jackson finally slipped through the front door of the small, slightly-too-quiet house he shared with his mom.
The place always smelled faintly of lemon cleaner and old books. It was the kind of smell that tried very hard to convince you everything was normal.
Jackson knew better.
He kicked off his shoes by the door and dragged a hand through his already messy hair, glasses sliding down his nose as he trudged toward the kitchen. The clock on the wall ticked with the dramatic intensity of a haunted metronome.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Every second felt louder than it should.
Jackson opened the fridge and stared blankly at the contents like the answers to all of life's problems might be hidden behind a carton of almond milk.
Nothing.
His stomach twisted anyway.
Holt was quiet tonight.
That should've been comforting.
Instead it felt like the eerie silence before a thunderstorm.
Jackson shut the fridge door with a soft thud and leaned against the counter, rubbing his temples.
"Okay," he muttered to himself. "Everything is fine. Totally fine. Just another normal—"
His phone buzzed.
Jackson flinched like it had tried to bite him.
He slowly pulled it out of his pocket.
Three notifications.
Two texts from Draculaura.
One link.
The link preview made his blood run cold.
**GHOSTLY GOSSIP — NEW ARTICLE POSTED**
Jackson stared at it.
Every instinct in his body screamed *don't open that.*
But curiosity is a stubborn little monster.
His thumb betrayed him.
The article loaded.
And at the top of the page, written in glittery purple letters that practically screamed drama:
**FORBIDDEN FLAMES: IS JACKSON JEKYLL'S "NORMIE" HEART BREAKING FOR THE DJ OF THE DARK?**
Jackson stopped breathing.
"Oh no," he whispered.
The article began beneath a stylized photo of Holt mid-DJ set, flames licking around his headphones like a stage effect straight out of the underworld.
And then Spectra's writing started.
---
*"Monster High students were shocked today when whispers of a chilling secret began to circulate the catacombs of campus."*
*"Sources claim that quiet normie Jackson Jekyll may be hiding something far more explosive than his painfully awkward social skills."*
*"Eyewitnesses report that DJ Hyde — Monster High's resident firestarter and king of the turntables — has been acting unusually tense whenever Jackson is nearby."*
Jackson's face burned.
"Oh come on..."
He scrolled.
That was a mistake.
Because Holt couldn't even be 'nearby' him!
---
*"Could it be jealousy?"*
*"Could it be rivalry?"*
*"Or could it be something far more tragic?"*
*"Some students have begun speculating that Jackson Jekyll's presence may be the reason DJ Hyde has seemed so… unstable lately."*
*"Is the DJ of the Dark secretly struggling with feelings he cannot control?"*
*"And is Jackson Jekyll — poor, oblivious normie that he is — the cause?"*
---
Jackson groaned and dropped his forehead onto the counter.
"Spectra… why…"
He kept scrolling.
Spectra had quotes.
Of course she had quotes.
---
*"Holt's been weird lately," one anonymous student said.*
*"He's either flirting with everyone or yelling at Heath. There's like… no in-between."*
---
Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose.
That was… honestly accurate.
Another quote.
---
*"Jackson's sweet," another student added.*
*"But every time Holt talks about him, it's like someone threw gasoline on a fire."*
---
Jackson froze.
His stomach dropped.
Spectra finished the article with one final dramatic flourish.
*"So what's really burning beneath the surface?"*
*"Is Jackson Jekyll unknowingly breaking the heart of Monster High's hottest DJ?"*
*"Or is there a darker truth hiding in the shadows?"*
*"One thing's certain, boils and ghouls."*
*"Where there's smoke… there's fire."*
---
Jackson slowly lowered his phone.
Silence filled the kitchen.
Then—
Inside his mind—
Holt nervously burst out laughing.
'OH MAN.'
Jackson groaned.
'DJ, this isn't funny.'
'Jackie-boy,* Holt cackled, clearly starting to lose it, *this is the dumbest thing I've seen all week.'
Jackson dragged both hands down his face.
'She's implying we're—'
'Yeah,' Holt saidfinally starting to calm down a little.
'Dating.'
Jackson looked like he might implode.
'That's ridiculous.'
'Yeah,' Holt said again mentally.
'Super ridiculous.'
There was a pause.
Jackson's fingers dug into the edge of the counter, knuckles whitening. "This is bad. This is *so* bad." His reflection in the darkened kitchen window looked back at him—pale, frazzled, glasses slightly askew—like a normie who'd accidentally wandered into a monster's existential crisis.
'Bad?' Holt's voice slithered through his mind, dripping with amusement. 'This is fucking *spectral*, Jackie-boy. Spectra literally handed us drama wrapped in a bow. We should send her a thank-you card—preferably one that bursts into flames on her head when opened.'
Jackson yanked his headphones out of his pocket, fumbling to stuff them back in as if they could mute Holt's glee. "She thinks we're—*ugh*—*involved*. Romantically. Which is—"
'Disgusting, since were kind of brothers?'
"Exactly!" Jackson hissed, then froze when his voice cracked. The kitchen light flickered—either from bad wiring or Holt's barely-contained laughter buzzing through his skull. He gripped the edge of the counter harder. "This isn't just embarrassing, it's dangerous. If anyone *actually* starts investigating—"
'Relax, Jackie,' Holt drawled. His mental voice curled like smoke, lazy and amused. 'Nobody's gonna dig deeper than Spectra's stupid conspiracies, I mean who do we know that actually believes those for more then five seconds right?'
-----
As it turned out, that last time was now.
Jackson had gotten up earlier for school after Holt had finally managed to convince him that Spectra's article would blow over by lunchtime—or at the very least, be buried under fresher gossip. But the second he stepped through Monster High's towering doors, he knew Holt had been catastrophically, spectacularly wrong.
Ghouls froze mid-conversation when he walked past. Gorgons nudged each other behind clawed hands. Even the normally indifferent zombies let out low, intrigued moans as he shuffled by.
Jackson adjusted his glasses, shoulders hunching further.
'Oh, this is *bad*,' Holt mused from the back of his mind, sounding far too delighted for someone who wasn't currently being dissected by the entire student body. 'Jackie-boy, I think we might've just become the school's new cryptid, and not in a good way.'
Jackson ducked his head, willing himself to dissolve into the nearest shadow. The whispers followed him like a swarm of restless spirits, punctuated by the occasional too-loud giggle from a harpy or the guttural groan of a zombie leaning into their friend.
Someone—maybe Heath—had already scrawled *HOLT LOVES JACKSON* across the boys' bathroom mirror.
Because why not at this point right?
'That's it, I'm going to kill her,' Holt announced internally as Jackson continued to stare at the graffiti on the bathroom mirror. His reflection wavered slightly in the scratched surface, glasses smudged from nervous sweat. 'Not Spectra—though, bonus—but whoever thought vandalism was the way to win my heart.'
Jackson exhaled sharply through his nose, fingers tightening around the strap of his backpack. "How are we going to het out of this one, what if we have to tell everyone our secret now?"
'NO! We've worked too hard to make everyone think we we're normal-ish,' Holt snapped internally. Jackson's reflection flickered in the mirror—just for a second—the edges of his glasses glowing faintly orange before settling back to normal. 'We'll just...ugh, change things up or something. Tell them we're cousins.'
Jackson pressed his palms against the cool bathroom sink, "That won't work because then Heath will ask why he didn't know about his *other* cousin." His reflection flickered again—Holt's smirk flashing beneath his own panicked expression—before stabilizing. The graffiti mocked him in neon pink spray paint, still dripping slightly like fresh blood. Somewhere down the hall, a zombie groaned appreciatively.
'He didn't know about either of us until we moved here, we could say we just found out,' Holt suggested, his mental voice dripping with sarcasm. Jackson's reflection flickered again—his right eyebrow piercing flashing gold for half a second—before settling.
"I know your being sarcastic, but that idea's stupid enough to where it might actually work somehow. I mean, we do look the exact same besides the hair and—" Jackson's reflection flickered violently, Holt's voice cutting through with a sharp laugh.
'Oh, so *now* you're taking my advice?' The mirror rippled like water.
Which was surprising given the whole fire elemental thing...
"Well do you have another idea on how we get out of this without all of Monster High figuring out we're—" Jackson's whisper cut off as the bathroom door creaked open. His reflection flickered violently—Holt's smirk flashed in the glass like a predator scenting weakness—before settling just as Gil lumbered in, dripping lagoon water everywhere.
'God damn it why does someone always walk in on us?'
"Whoa, Jackie! Didn't expect to catch you talking to yourself in here," Gil grinned, his gills flapping with amusement.
A droplet hit Jackson's shoe.
"Yeah I don't usually do this..."
An obvious lie.
"...But what with Spectra Vondergeist now making everyone think Holt has a thing for me and Clawdeen—" Jackson hissed under his breath, gripping the sink as his reflection flickered again. This time, Holt's gold eyebrow piercing stayed visible a second too long. Gil's gills flared in confusion, water splattering the tiles.
"Oh Jackie, I didn't know you had a piercing, looks good on you man!"
'OH FUCK!'