Hiding Bodies
Camala and Masha just stared at the scene before them with looks of horror on their faces. In front of them were 6 dead bodies strewn around the vet office with blank looks on their faces. One of them was still holding onto the little paper cup that Camilla gave them, but the others had dropped them and their poisoned contents onto the ground.
“Wow. When Willow said it was fast acting, she wasn’t kidding.”
Camilla just shot Masha a look of panic at that.
“Masha! Why are you making jokes? I just handed out six cups of poison! I killed six people!”
“Hay, I was just trying to lighten the mood and deal with a traumatic situation with humor. I would also like to point out that we were being threatened at gunpoint to not provide medical aid to the gang that Luz works with! I think that’s justifiable homicide.”
Camilla just threw her arms into the air at that. “I didn’t want ANY HOMICIDE! Willow said this was just going to knock people out.”
Masha winced at that. “I was there when she gave that to you. She said that it would ‘take care of any trouble makers that came in.’ she never specified that it would only knock out instead of kill.”
Camilla just froze before collapsing into her chair. “Why would she give me poison to kill people instead of a knockout drug?”
Masha just collapsed next to her. “Maybe we can ask her?” They then blinked a few times before nodding. “Right, we need to ask her.”
Camilla blinked in confusion as Masha jumped up. “We must call the others and ask them to clean this up.
“What? Why? Can’t we just call the police?”
Masha just rolled their eyes. “Oh yeah. And when they do a simple autopsy to figure out what was in the drinks and find out it isn’t even from this planet, they investigate the finances and figure out what we are doing. Or just pay close attention to you and the others in the future and find out that they are aliens? The police are the last people we need.”
Camilla jumped up at that. “Fine. But we can’t get the kids involved. They probably don’t even know how to hide a body.”
Masha then froze in place. Their face was the only thing that conveyed the flashback playing in her mind to the meeting so long ago and yet so recent where she saw the darkness behind the face of Luz Noceda.
It was almost half a minute before she snapped out of it.
“Trust me. At least one of them knows how to hide a body. I’ll send them all a group text asking to help with moving something to keep this off the phone records.”
Camilla just nodded before taking a deep breath. “You do that. I’ll close up for the night. Good thing I was doing so anyway when they came in.”
Camilla then went to the front of the building and started to close all the blinds, turn off the lights, lock the door, and flip the signs to “closed.” She then went back to the room where the bodies were, with Masha struggling to carry one of them out.
“What are you doing?”
Masha looked up at her. “I told them to come to the back door, the one for deliveries? I was trying to bring the bodies there to make it a shorter trip.”
Camilla just blinked before moving over to help Masha support the body and went to the back door. Just as they arrived, the plant near it reached over and unlocked it for its mistress.
“Hello, Mrs. Noceda. Masha texted about needing help moving something?”
Camilla just stared at her for a few seconds before rounding on her in a mix of terror and rage and leaving Masha to support the body on their own.
As she did so, she pulled out a bottle from her pocket with a homemade label that said “for Jacob’s friends.”
“I ASKED FOR SOMETHING THAT WOULD KEEP ME SAFE! WHY DID YOU GIVE ME POISON INSTEAD OF A KNOCKOUT DRUG?”
Willow shrunk back in fear from Camila’s terrifying presence but quickly shifted to shock once her words registered in her mind. She then looked over at Masha and the body she was supporting.
“It killed him?”
Willow could only look in horror before turning to the bottle Camilla was shaking in her face and double-checking the amount within it.
“I don’t understand, it's just some spike-eye powder.”
“What’s that?”
Willow looked up at Masha. “A plan from the Isles. It is used as a fast-acting sleeping aid. I was able to turn some of your world's Ricinus plants into it recently.”
Masha paled at that. “Ricinus? Like the plant they get the highly deadly poison Ricin from?”
Willow did a double-take at that. “Wait, deadly poison? But Me and the others have been using it all week to help sleep and it has been working just fine for us.”
Her eyes then began to widen a little in shock. “I am so glad that Luz declined to use it.”
All three present had a moment of silence as they all pondered what would have happened if she had done it. Camilla was the first to wake up.
“Ok, if you remember to only make small amounts of the stuff, keep it under lock and key, and destroy the rest of what you gave me, you can keep the spike-eye. For now, can you help us get rid of the bodies?”
Willow folded into herself a little and rubbed her arm. “Hide… a body? O-Okay, if you want my help.”
She then walked over and effortlessly threw it over her shoulder like it was a sack of flour and walked out the back door.
“I’ll chop and grind it up to fertilize my plants when I get back to the Shack, then.”
As soon as she walked out the back door and stepped onto a manhole cover, a large number of vines sprouted up and grabbed her before dragging both her and the corpse into the darkness below.
As both Camilla and Masha looked on with horror, both missed the boy rounded the corner, and walked towards them.
“Hi Mrs. Noceda. Hi future Mx. Noceda.”
Masha instantly turned as red as a tomato at that.
“Gus! Me and Vee aren’t anywhere near that level of commitment yet! Also, why do you think I would take her name?”
He shrugged. “Because it means that people in the know would know about your connection to a very powerful and dangerous crime network?”
At that, the little bit of levity that had managed to work its way into their mind fled to be replaced by concern and fear.
“Yeah, about that…”
Camilla was too traumatized at the moment to mince words.
“We need you to help us hide a body.”
Gus just raised his hands in protest. “No. I’m not helping you. I want nothing to do with this.”
Masha and Camilla just shrugged at that, with Masha pulling out her phone to see when the others would come and Camilla walking in to get the next body out to hand it to Willow when she came back.
“Why, is… hiding bodies considered cool in the Human Realm?”
Camilla’s face scrunched up at that, while Masha grew a large grin on her face. “Yes, it is! But only if you only talk about it with the criminal underworld.”
Gus then lit up like a light and pulled out Emmiline.
“Come on Girl, we have a body to carry and a crematorium to break into.”
Masha nodded before rushing back in with Gus by her side to meet Camilla halfway. They laid the body across the floating staff, with Gus stripping it and flying out the door before turning himself and the staff invisible.
“I can’t wait to finally have street creed!”
Camilla held her face in her hands at the corruption of the innocents she had just taken part in. Masha on the other hand was already heading back to bring forward body number three.
By the time Camilla pulled herself together enough to raise her head, she saw Hunter standing in front of her with Flapjack on his shoulder.
“Hello, Ma’am.”
“GASP! Don’t sneak up on people like that Hunter!”
He flinched back at that, leading to Flapjack nuzzling his face and Camilla calming down enough to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Sorry about that. It Has just been a stressful night so far. I hate to ask this but-“
Masha chose that moment to stumble to the door with a body across their shoulders. Hunter took one look at it before turning back to Camilla.
“Dispose of a body? Yeah, I can do that.”
Camilla just LOOKED at him, which he only acknowledged with a shrug. “I mean… it was like, the first thing I learned in the Emperor’s Coven.”
Flapjack shifted into staff form and Hunter slugged the body across it. “I’ll just fly it to that old graveyard and bury it there. How many more do you have?”
Camilla was still staring at him in shock, leaving Masha to answer. “3.”
He nodded. “OK, I think I can manage that. Probably best if I just get them one at a time. Do you think you can keep them under wraps for the next 30 minutes? I should be back by then.”
Both nodded, leading to Hunter flying into the woods at high speeds.
“Just when you think you figured out how messed up he is, something like this surprises you.”
Camilla could only nod before heading to the back. “You wait here, I’ll bring the next one up.”
Masha nodded and leaned on the doorframe while staring into the night. When Camilla walked forward a little later, Amity had just shown up.
“Hi Masha, what is going-“ She stopped when she noticed what Camilla was holding. She just signed before pulling out a notepad.
“Whose body is that? Who did the killing? Under what circumstances?”
As both people stared at her, Amity just shot them a bored look. “Sorry, I need to know if I should do it with enthusiasm or not.”
Camilla took a deep breath before replying in the most clinical voice she could say, with only a slight waver to her voice showing the underlying trauma.
“I killed him. He and his friends were threatening me and Masha to not provide any more aid to the gangs we had been serving. I slipped the drugs Willow gave me to them, and this is the result.”
Amity blinked before walking over to hug her. The shock of the act caused Camilla to drop the body and embrace Amity with a bone-crushing hug.
“It’s ok Camilla. This wasn’t your fault; it is all on them for trying to kill you.”
After a few more seconds, she Amity let go of Camilla and pulled out Ghost to load the body over it.
“And don’t worry about corrupting me. Odalia had me deal with dead bodies as part of my chores since I was 8. I just need to get to that large mud puddle I saw in the forest earlier to de-flesh this and scatter the bones around. I should be back in about 15 minutes.”
With her flying off into the woods. Camilla once again collapsed into a nearby chair and stared into nothing while Masha walked over to join her.
“Just when you think you can’t hate Odalia more, you find out something else messed up about her parenting skills.”
Camilla could only nod in shock before Masha wrapped her in a hug, prompting her and them to cry into each other’s shoulders. With most of the bodies being taken care of, they felt safe enough to finally break down.
For the next 10 minutes, the two just sat there, hugging and crying together. That was the scene Luz and Vee walked into.
“Mami? Is everything ok?”
“Masha? What happened”
The two looked up and began to dry their eyes.
“Hi Vee, we were just having breakdowns over having killed people and needing to use your friends to hide the bodies.”
Masha then realized what she had just said just as everyone else in the room did.
While Camilla worriedly looked at the two girls in the doorframe and Luz was just pulling out her notebook, Vee was surprised enough to drop her human form and take on her Baskalisk form.
“A-A body? W-why would you-“
She then chuckled before shooting Masha a finger gun. “Wait a minute. Am I in one of those prank shows?”
She then looked around the room for anything different. “Where is the camera?”
Camilla cringed. “Vee, there are 2 bodies in the examination room. Here, let me show you.”
Vee just nodded. “Sure, let's go see the two ‘bodies’ in the examination room.”
The group walked down the hallway and into the examination room with two dead bodies lying on the chairs.
“Huh, they are taking this acting thing seriously, aren’t they?”
She then went up to poke one of them in the face, freezing after making contact.
“He’s dead.”
Vee then jumped backward fast enough that she slammed into the wall.
“They’re dead. We have dead bodies in the clinic!”
Masha bent down and wrapped Vee into a hug before whispering sweet nothings into her ear.
“Hush there Vee. It’s ok. It will all be ok.”
After making sure that Masha was taking care of her sister, Luz turned back to her mom and handed her a piece of paper.
“Here’s a list of 10 effective ways to dispose of a body. Which would you like to do?”
Camilla just stared at the piece of paper before looking up at Luz in shock.
“What? That was my science Fair project on the Isles. I got a B+ on it for slight inaccuracies that have since been corrected.”
Camilla just swapped from looking at the paper to Luz a few times before sighing and handing it back.
“I don’t want to ask this, but how many of these have you done yourself?”
Luz just shrugged. “This is only theoretical, the closest to real-life body disposal I have gotten is throwing a few dead animals and pellets into the boiling sea. For this situation, I would suggest using the recently discovered drug den I mentioned doing something about at dinner to frame them for murder.”
Luz just shrugged. “Two birds, one stone. Now, is anyone around here in a position to drive, or should I do it?”
Everyone shot her a look.
“Luz, you don’t have a license.”
She just shrugged. “Compared to this, is it that bad?”
Camilla could only sigh before pulling out her keys. “I can drive, let's just get the bodies into the car.”
The 4 then began to drag the bodies to the back door, where they were met by Willow, Hunter, Gus, and Amity who were talking amongst themselves.
“Hi, guys. Looks like we need to hide these two bodies. Want to help?”
They all just stared at her in shock before walking over and adding her and Vee to the conversation.
Camilla could only sigh as all her kids talked amongst themselves about how many bodes needed to be hidden.
“Masha, I now declare you old enough to drink. Want to get black-out drunk after we finish this?”
“Sounds great. Can I stay over also?”
“I’ll tell your parents that you got roped into helping calm Vee down after she had a relapse of her PTSD.”
The voices of the kids raised enough for them to hear them arguing about the best way to dispose of a body, with Vee backing away in discomfort and retreating to the safety of her mom and romantic partner.
“That isn’t even a lie at this point.”