The three girls celebrated their birthdays together. Aliya grew into a lovely, pink girl with golden curls and a sunny smile.
Cyllia remained a sensible, reasonable young lady who chose clothes out of practicality, not based on how pretty they were.
Kylara became a sweet, intelligent girl who was a wonderful combination of her parents.
They spent hours playing together in their little room, each pursuing their own interests. Kylara loved to play chess, Cyllia loved to invent, and Aliya just loved to play.
After dinner, the three girls met in Grace and Aliya's little room and quietly discussed the house's situation. As Cyllia put it, "I love my mom, but she's getting crazier every day."
"I don't think it's all that bad," Aliya chimed in. "I mean, Mama put her foot down and stopped cleaning up after everyone. She's always working, but she loves her job."
Kylara and Cyllia met eyes over the table. They were all best friends, but the green and blue girls were more realistic than their pink playmate. Even though Aliya had it worse than either of them, she was so caught up in her so-called perfect world that she barely noticed.
The very first day, Treasure had "accidentally" gotten rid of one of the beds in the kids' room, so that only Cyllia and Kylara could sleep there. Grace rolled her eyes at her sister's childishness, and ignored her.
Besides, she loved sharing a room with her daughter. Aliya waited up for her to come home, then they read stories every night, and played games, and Grace stayed up to play guitar for a little while as Aliya fell asleep.
She told herself quite firmly that she wouldn't sink to Treasure's level and her ridiculous attempts at undermining her, which ranged from putting dirt in the washing machine to running the All-In-One Bathroom early in the morning to wake them both up. Besides, she was certain that the pranks were slowing down.
Little did she know that Treasure wasn't even close to being done. The golden girl held strategy meetings with Blake and Jason, who were unwilling participants in the ongoing war. Grace's recent counterattack enraged her enough plan the next big step in her demise.
Treasure and Jason took the girls to the Summer Festival every day, since school was on summer vacation. The three children thought of themselves as sisters, even as Treasure did her best to very subtlety separate Aliya from the others.
But everything she did couldn't pull them apart, they who shared thoughts and actions, squealing
"Ewwww!" simultaneously whenever they saw adults kissing and laughing while watching their favorite cartoons.
As always, Cyllia was the only one keeping tabs on her mom--the other two trusted her to do so much. The watchful little girl began to relax, however, believing that Treasure really was rehabilitated. She just seemed so
normal and happy.
To anyone on the outside, the Moonstones were a perfectly normal and happy family.
Parents and children loved each other . . .
Even Mist, who was the most threatening member (as a criminal mastermind), softened at the sight of her daughter waiting for her to come home from work.
Grace reminded herself of this every day, and her patience and optimism held out--for a while. Then Treasure surrounded one side of the pool with a fence and put up a sign saying:
Animals Grace and Aliya Only.
"You need to stop this!" Grace snarled. "
Now.
I am the heir,
not you.
I have the final say,
I am the powerful one in this family,
I beat
you a long time ago! Get used to it!"
"
You beat
me?" Treasure mimicked. "Yeah, right! You may have become heir, but you don't have the guts to actually pull it off. You are nothing more than a weak, pathetic doormat who is so afraid of doing anything that she lets people walk all over her!"
Grace began to retort, but Treasure leaped forward and tackled her.
Grace pulled herself to her feet, only to find that she was staring into a mesmerizing, spinning disc . . .
"Grace Moonstone, I command you to--wait. First act like a chicken." Treasure giggled hysterically. "Okay, that's funny. Hehehehe."
"All right, stop it." She snapped her fingers, and Grace relaxed into her hypnotized stupor. Treasure glanced behind her, satisfied at the sight of the dresser. "Here's what you're
really going to do . . ."
That evening, the family sat around the living room watching TV. The only one absent was Grace, who was--somewhere. Everyone was enjoying the fun family time, with everyone but Treasure having spent the day at the festival and movies, when there came a sight. That is, perhaps, the only way to describe it: a sight. Blake and Jason gaped. Mist smirked. Aliya gasped. Kylara froze and stared. Cyllia gulped. And Treasure grinned.
"Kylara, Aliya, can I speak with you in the other room? Please?
Now?"
"Sure, you girls go have fun," Treasure said complacently. "Gracie, dear, would you mind doing the dishes? I'm afraid they're piling up."
(Note: This is the part where I'm going to start transferring attention from the third generation to the fourth, so never fear: the girls are going to start taking control.
Soon.)
