Chapter Text
It could be hard to tell what a "bad day" would mean. Webby gave warnings, but they were usually pretty vague. Hannah spent many of those days passing the warnings along, despite not always knowing what they meant herself. She always found out eventually.
This time was different, though.
Starlight. Blue. Dancing dead. Warn the Catalyst.
These ones made sense. Hannah had seen the meteor hit, sitting out on the trailer steps with Lex last night. The flare of blue light, streaking towards the old Starlight Theatre. From space. In the middle of a musical. Something about these warnings clicked together very easily. The only one she didn't understand was-
"Catalyst?"
You know who he is, Hannah.
A blink. Right, that was the one. She'd seen the man in the suit and tie before, around town and at the coffee shop that made watery hot chocolate. Webby said he was good, he was trustworthy. Hannah always kept that in mind, in case something happened to Lex or Ethan and she needed someone to go to. She would find the man in the suit. The Catalyst.
"What do I do?"
Push my warnings to him, he is connected like you are, but less. He must escape before he is changed. You must, too.
Hannah nodded. She could get Lex to go, she was pretty confident. She'd do the hard thing first - warning the Catalyst. She'd never pushed omens through the Black and White before - she wasn't sure she knew how. But Webby was there, and Webby would help her.
The Catalyst.
Hannah shut her eyes, gripping her bedsheets. It was early, she'd been woken by Webby. He was likely still asleep. She let her mind travel into the blackness, her focus on his title. The Catalyst. His appearance. Tall, thin white man with brown hair, soft eyes. He looks kind. Maybe it would be easier if she knew his name. Webby didn't tell her.
Still, when she searched she could feel his presence in the Black and White. Like Lex's - not very strong, but certainly there. It had a light - a blue light. Lex's was burgundy. Hannah reached towards the light, pulsing like a sleeping man's heartbeat. Webby's warnings echoed in her head repetitively, as they often did, but as she approached the Catalyst's light the volume seemed to raise, like they were blaring in her head.
STARLIGHT. BLUE. DANCING DEAD. WARN THE CATALYST.
Hannah shook her head, trying not to get overwhelmed. The light engulfed her hand and she shivered. His energy was tense and anxious, though quiet. Hannah did her job.
"Starlight. Blue. Dancing dead. Catalyst."
That morning, Paul Matthews woke up feeling uneasy.
--
"Good day or bad day, Banana?"
"Bad day."
"I'm sorry." Lex paused in helping with her backpack to tuck a lock of hair behind Hannah's ear. "Hey, you wanna grab donuts before school? Will that help?"
Hannah shook her head. "Can't go."
"To school? Why not?"
"Starlight. Dancing dead."
"I don't know what that means, Han."
"Starlight." Hannah pressed.
Lex looked off towards downtown, where she and Hannah had watched the meteor crash the night before. A curious glance back at her stone-faced sister, and an indescribable feeling of dread filled her stomach. Like an instinct she wasn't aware of.
"Hannah, is this about the theatre? Is something wrong?"
Hannah nodded. "Have to leave town."
"Believe me, I'd love to, but we can't yet."
Hannah grabbed Lex by the jacket and tugged. Couldn't she see this was urgent?
"Have to leave."
Lex blinked. Her brows knit and for a second Hannah thought she'd gotten through to her. Then Lex glanced at the five-minutes-slow clock on the tiny counter and shook her head, standing upright.
"I know the meteor was scary, Banana. But they're taking care of it, okay? The theatre's not even near your school, it's fine." She grabbed her little sister's hand and started guiding her down the trailer steps. "We've gotta meet Ethan now, I've got work."
"No!"
Hannah's shout seemed to shake the trailer. Lex stumbled backwards, struggling to stay on her feet. Something hit the floor and broke.
Back in their mother's room, the girls heard a creak.
"Alexandra!"
"Shit," Lex grabbed Hannah's arm and pulled her along, rushing through the trailer park. "Shit, shit, shit!"
Hannah caught one glance back as their mom stood in the doorway, holding a bottle loose in her grasp. Mom didn't need to know what was happening. Mom was bad.
They met Ethan on the curb in his run-down car and while Hannah clutched her backpack with white knuckles, Lex stewed in the front seat. It was probably good that Hannah hadn't wanted donuts anyway.
"Looks like a flash mob," Ethan said suddenly, and Hannah's stomach dropped.
She glanced out the windows at the scatterings of people through the streets, performing a tightly choreographed acapella song number.
"La dee dah-dah, la dee dah-dah, la dee dah-dah day!"
"They're all over the place," Lex remarked, watching through her window, too. "Weird setup for a flash mob."
"I don't see any stereos. You think they've got earpieces in or somethin'?" Ethan asked.
"Probably."
Hannah whispered "Dancing dead," and Lex felt a chill rush through her bones.
Hannah kept her gaze locked out the window, scanning the crowds. In the middle of the sidewalk, surrounded by a mob of singers, he was there. Hannah pressed against the dusty car window and squinted to get a better look. A woman in a Greenpeace apron was singing directly at him - they didn't seem to be targeting anyone else on the street. He was red in the face, wide-eyed, afraid. No one else unaffected on the streets was so uneasy, but he was smart. He knew this was wrong.
For a moment he seemed to look right at Hannah. She felt him in that moment. His soul tethered to the Black and White cried out for help.
Escape.
Hannah shut her eyes and repeated.
The message echoed in Paul Matthews's head along with the dozens of other thoughts and fears overwhelming him as the song came to an end. Though nearly paralyzed by shock, he did his best.
--
When they pulled up in front of the junior high, Hannah refused to get out of the car.
"C'mon, Banana Split, you gotta go to school." Ethan said, tapping on the wheel.
Hannah frowned. "You guys don't."
"That's different."
"Different how?"
"Uh-"
Lex rolled her eyes. "She's stalling, babe." She turned over the back of the seat to face Hannah. "You're gonna make me late for work, Han. Out of the car, c'mon."
Get out of town.
"Can't."
"I don't have time for this! I'll fucking walk you in if I have to…" Lex muttered to herself, climbing out of the passenger's seat and circling to open Hannah's door, undoing the seatbelt. "You want me to walk you in?"
Hannah's throat tightened, her breath catching. "Lexi-!"
"We'll talk about this later, okay?"
"Lexi!"
"What-!" Lex was cut off by an eighth grade boy barrelling into her head-on. "Hey! Watch it, kid!"
When Lex stumbled, the boy caught his footing in a graceful pirouette, grinning at the trio with uncannily bright eyes and teeth stained with blue. Hannah scurried back, further into the car as other kids and teachers started to gather, including classmates and teachers of Hannah's. Lex glanced around uneasily. She was used to feeling eyes on her like this, but she hadn't done anything this time. There was no scene.
"I'm just dropping off my sister," she muttered to herself.
"Lexi, have to go," Hannah insisted right as the first boy grabbed her sister's arm.
Lex yanked away. "Jeez, you little shit, shouldn't you be in class?"
As she backed up another kid, a seventh grader, swept her legs out from under her. Lex hit the ground with a thud and the small crowd gathered closer, surrounding the car and advancing on Lex. Before she could get back on her feet, the junior high music teacher grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up, blue dripping from his too-wide smile. A death rattle rang in Hannah's ears and she screamed, hiding her face in her knees so she wouldn't have to watch. As the teacher cupped Lex's jaw, holding her mouth open, an ominous hum buzzed from the crowd. Lex thrashed.
That was when Ethan flung the driver's side door open and jumped out, elbowing through the crowd.
"Get your fucking hands off her!" He yelled, and knocked the teacher clean off his feet with a solid right hook.
"Ethan!" Lex choked out as he pulled her up. "What the fuck was that?!"
There was no chance to even attempt an answer. The hum grew louder, like a drone. When Ethan glanced back the teacher was on his feet again, nose crooked, blue blood pouring down his face.
Blue.
"What the f-"
He'd grabbed Ethan in a chokehold. Ethan grasped at the guy's arms, trying to pry himself free as his windpipe closed off. Panic filled his eyes. Lex tried to advance.
"Go!" Ethan yelled.
"What?!"
"Go, g-get Hannah out of here!" His eyes rolled back, his face turning purple.
"What about-"
"Lex!"
She stepped back, glancing around. All blue eyes were on her, and the dread from earlier was back. She looked at Hannah in the backseat, her eyes wide, her small form shaking.
With his last seconds of consciousness, Ethan waved her off with his hand.
Blinking back the hot sting pricking her eyes, Lex flung the back door shut and jumped into the car, cranking the key and speeding away too fast to bother with her seatbelt.
"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck!" She shrieked.
Hannah fumbled with her own seatbelt as Lex hit a hard turn. "Lexi! Seatbelt!"
Lex groaned, not about to be scolded on safety by her kid sister. The car screeched to a momentary halt and Lex strapped in before hitting the gas again. The whiplash knocked Hannah's head into the back of the headrest and she yelped.
"You okay?" Lex called.
"Uh-huh!" Hannah rubbed her forehead.
CATALYST!
"Aagh!"
"Hannah?"
When Hannah opened her eyes, her vision was black. A set of eight ginormous purple eyes stared down at her.
"W-will he be okay?"
Ethan will return.
A chill ran through her body. "Bad?"
Blue.
Hannah's hands locked together. Her fingers fidgeted. She looked down. "Oh."
A long, spindly arachnid limb reached through the darkness, tilting Hannah's chin up. Webby brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, before pressing her touch to the center of Hannah's forehead.
Blue circled the edges of Hannah's vision. Her chest tightened, the blackness seeping away until she was seeing through his eyes. A coffee shop - the one with the watery hot chocolate. He was standing at the counter.
Hannah's mouth moved on its own.
"Hello? HELLO? PLEASE GOD, I JUST WANT A BLACK COFFEE!"
She clapped her hands over her mouth - that wasn't her voice.
Hannah was shaking. She could feel his fear. She could feel his heart sink when the barista slid from the back singing, his relief when she wasn't one of them. Her stance faltered as he moved, pulling the barista around the counter.
My voice is not loud enough. Help me speak for him.
The pressure on Hannah's forehead grew sharper and she winced. Still trembling, wracked with the Catalyst's anxieties and the weight of Webby's visions, Hannah shut her eyes and let the omens pass through her.
"I feel like there's something… sinister, infecting Hatchetfield. And I know this is gonna sound crazy, and not very scary, but it is scary! If you think about the implications. Promise me you'll think about the implications!"
The nervous disbelief in the barista's eyes reminded Hannah of Lex. She squinted, wondering if the woman also had a tie to the Black and White she wasn't aware of. The ring of soft jade that pulsed on the edge of Hannah's vision for a half second served as her only answer.
"Okay, okay, I promise." The woman said.
"Okay. I think the world is becoming… a musical. "
Hannah didn't get to see how the rest of the scene played out. The pressure on her skull released and the vision dissolved, leaving her in blackness under Webby's bright eyes again.
"Will they-?"
You have done all you can.
"But-"
Hannah felt herself pushed from the darkness, blinking against the daylight shining into Ethan's dusty car. She rubbed her eyes, squinting towards the driver's seat.
"Lexi?"
"Oh, thank god," Lex sighed, relieved. "You okay back there? You went like, catatonic or something, I was about to stop and check on you."
"I'm fine," Hannah nodded. She looked out the window - they were on a bridge. "Leaving town?"
"Yep. I was worried they'd have raised the bridge by now, but I guess I sped fast enough. No one even pulled me over."
Hannah shuddered. "Cops are part of it."
"Always are," Lex said. "Fuck the cops."
The girls managed a quiet laugh. Hannah leaned back, hugging her backpack, and rested her head against the window, watching the waters dividing Hatchetfield from the rest of Michigan pass by. She tried not to think about Ethan.
--
Lex checked them into a cheap motel as far into Clivesdale as they could get. They didn't have much to get by with, but Lex was convinced whatever was going on in Hatchetfield would blow over before she ran completely dry. All Hannah knew was that there were two possible options, and the favorable one was the least likely. She chose not to say anything as Lex sat on one of the beds, taking stock. Clearly distracting herself just like Hannah was. Hannah dug into her backpack for her tangle bracelet and focused on playing with that.
Aside from ordering cheap takeout and a few check-ins every now and then, the girls were silent for hours.
"What do you think's going on back there?" Lex asked suddenly, when the sun had gone down.
"Invasion." Hannah said quietly.
"What, like aliens?"
"Mhm."
Lex's momentary silence spoke volumes. Hannah could feel the chill in her bones. "Aliens aren't real."
"Yes they are."
Lex swallowed. "They killed Ethan."
"Not killed."
The air seemed to seize.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Dead, but not dead."
Lex's fingers tightened on the bedsheets beside her. "Hannah, that's not funny. Now isn't fucking riddle time." She took a shaky breath, consciously dialing back her temper for Hannah's sake. It wasn't her fault, after all. "Ethan's… Well, we didn't see him die, but he probably did. He's… he's gone."
Hannah opened her mouth for a moment and closed it again, biting back the omen from Webby that wanted to pass through. It stayed on the tip of her tongue, threatening to escape if she spoke, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to pass that on. She just looked up at Lex, who was staring at the floor, quietly scrubbing tears from her eyes.
Lex met her gaze, face breaking into a teary smile as a harsh sob escaped her throat.
"I don't w- want him to be gone," she breathed.
Hannah got to her feet and climbed onto the bed, leaning her head against Lex's arm. "Me neither."
Lex pressed her cheek to the top of Hannah's head, sniffling. After a moment she nudged the small of Hannah's back, not moving further until she saw Hannah nod yes. She wrapped her little sister in a grateful, comforting embrace squeezing her tight. Hannah pressed her face into Lex's shirt and inhaled the familiar fabric, hugging her back. Lex kissed the top of her head.
"It's fine, we'll be fine," Lex mumbled, desperately fighting back the tears in her voice. "I'll keep you safe like I always do, okay Hannah? We'll be fine."
Hannah nodded despite the contrary tightness in her chest. Despite the warning rattle in her ears. Despite the messages piling in her throat that desperately wanted to pass.
Because back on the island, the Catalyst's escape chopper had crashed.