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Dolly

If there was one thing that Giulia Montgomery absolutely adored, it was being the recipient of anonymous gifts. Or any gifts, actually, there was no surprise required. Oh, she loved giving a good gift much more than actually receiving, of course; but the thought that someone loved her almost as much as she loved other people was a warming idea indeed, and she practically shivered with delight at the thought of it. It seemed to be fortune, then, that led her to being home sick from school due to a terrible toothache on the day of a mysterious package present. When the doorbell rang, and the mailman passed Cookie a package addressed to Giulia Montgomery, the little blonde could hardly even pretend to contain her excitement. Who would have sent Giulia a gift? Who knew how much she loved them? There was no name on it! What could be inside- it didn't seem to rattle when she oh-so-terribly-gently shifted the box back and forth, listening for any kind of tell-tale rattle. It couldn't have been sent because of her toothache, the mail didn't come that fast, which meant that someone had to have sent it before! Meaning that someone really did love her!

Aidan was asleep on the couch in the main family room, and Castor was curled up beside him. Cookie was in the kitchen now, having cut the tape on the package but done mo more towards opening it up, leaving the mail for Giulia to open. Oh, her brother was going to be jealous that she had gotten the package and no one else had gotten any mail. She couldn't wait to show it off- well. Once she opened it up and actually knew what was inside. She supposed it could be something terrible, like a skateboard, but she would still enjoy it if it let her tease her brother. He'd get it, of course. The shape was all wrong for a skateboard, though. It wasn't a long and flat box, it was more of a square box. The writing on the outside looked old, like the kind of writing you would see in a movie. And there was no sender information, so maybe- maybe someone had gotten her one of those little murdery-mystery packages from that one Company that she had seen online? She'd told Zora she wanted one! It would be ever such an interesting kind of game to play.

She opened the box carefully, tracing the cardboard with rainbow-painted fingers. Aidan slept on, peacefully unaware of his sister opening her prize. There wasn't another box, but there was bubblewrap- she did like bubblewrap! There was something good about popping each of the little bubbles. It was taped, but not the hard tape, like the outside box. She pulled the wrap out of the box, peering at the shape inside. A... toy? It looked like a little doll. Giulia loved dolls! Eagerly, she tugged at the tape, and it came off easily. Trembling fingers pulled aside the wrap, and blue eyes widened as she stared at a perfect doll- porcelain skin, ebony ringlets that fell down to the dolly's waist, pale blue eyes that looked like small chips of stone. The dress was an older style, and there were black patent-leather shoes like Giulia herself wore when she wanted to look fancy, and in every way the doll was delightful and perfect. Almost too perfect, and her little brows furrowed as she stroked tiny hands carefully over the doll. “You're beautiful,” she whispered to it. The light caught those perfectly-done eyes, and she swallowed, wondering why the doll looked almost... alive. It made her kind of uncomfortable, actually.

The doll was set carefully on the nightstand, and the little girl went about her business of trying to clean up the wrappings that it had come in. It was bad manners to leave it for the help, especially when she could easily clean it up and take it to the kitchen garbage can herself. She hummed, gathering the bubble wrap and setting it aside for later. The tape went into the box, and she scrambled to her feet, bending to lift the cardboard. When she rose again, she took another glance at where she had left the pretty dolly, facing towards her, so that the dolly would be able to see what a well-behaved little girl acted like. After all, who knew what kind of bad behavior the dolly had come pre-knowing, and Giulia encouraged all of her dollies to be on their best manners. It took her aback to see that the dolly wasn't looking at Giulia at all; the perfect little toy was, instead, staring at Giulia's brother on the couch. Aidan didn't look like he had moved, and that was just awful manners to move her toy without even bothering to ask. He was pretending to be asleep, though, so Giulia played along, narrowing her lips disapprovingly.

“Don't look at him, Victoria.” the name sprang to mind easily for her little doll, with its old-fashioned curls, and the old-fashioned clothes, and the strange sort of ideal that was in everything about her. “He's a bad little Aidan.” Hopefully he would hear it too. “I'm going to put this in the garbage, okay? I'll be back in a few moments, and then we can go for a walk.” she set down the box, turning the doll to face the television instead of her brother. “I think that there is a fun show coming on in a few minutes.” she hummed, pressing a kiss to the dolly's head, and bent her box, leaving the room. For a moment, she thought she could hear mocking, twinkling laughter. But then she heard Aidan give a long, deep snore, so... huh. Maybe she was just imagining things? It wouldn't be the first time, and it probably wouldn't be the last time either. She liked to imagine things! It was almost as fun as reading a book, but not as fun as dancing. Then again, there were a lot of things...

She left the room, making her way across the foyer on tiny feet. “Cookie, I opened my present!” the kitchen was large and warm, and there was something good-smelling in the air, and she made her way across the floor to pull open the pantry door, setting the cardboard box next to the trash can. The tape went into the trash, of course, balled up and flopping to the bottom of the bag inside the recently-emptied can. She turned around, skipping her way back out, shutting the door carefully and quietly behind her- little ladies did not slam doors, after all! That would be another thing she would have to make sure that Victoria got to know very quickly. Best behavior, after all! “Do you know anyone who might have sent me a package, Cookie? I can't think of anyone at all!” she skipped back across the floor, hopping up on a stool to peer at the cook's list. “Oh, this week's Family Night dessert has to be pumpkin! It's that time of the year, and I think Yvaine likes Pumpkin Spice.” if she didn't, Giulia certainly would pretend to, just to make sure that cookie didn't think that all of her hard work had been a terrible waste.

She skipped happily across the floor, her humming echoing through the foyer. The pain in her tooth was coming back, but she wouldn't be able to have any more pain killer for at least probably another hour. She entered the family room, intending to grab Victoria and take her- only to see Victoria staring at her, not at the TV where she had been left. The chill that crawled up Giulia's spine was slow, and she felt her tummy clench. Aidan was being extra bad, and she didn't appreciate it, because now it was just.... creepy. Dollies shouldn't be shifted when their mothers weren't looking. Should she say something to her brother? Probably not- he let out another little huff of air, and on his chest, Castor yawned and shifted to make himself more comfortable. Perhaps that was it? If Aidan was up moving her dolly, Castor would have been more awake than he was, bu the toyger seemed quite happy. Maybe... it was Castor moving her?

What a wicked kitty. “You're going to have a fun time here, Victoria,” she informed the dolly as she lifted it into her slender arms, “I have lots of other dollies, and all of them will be so very happy to meet you. We'll introduce you to Cookie later, and you can meet the rest of the family today. For now, I'm going to take you upstairs and you can meet the Bears, and possibly Morgan, if she is feeling up to company.” Jaw aching, she still mustered a smile for the unblinking doll, who seemed more interested in her than the house they walked through. “Do you like tea parties? You look the sort. I'll have to see about getting you a lovely little hat. Maybe a spare dress, just in case you need something less formal.” Just in case. If she decided to keep her. If Victoria could actually manage to stay still...

Seeing Herself

The last week had been very much… drama tick? Quite the thing, she’d had someone else tell her, and 7 year old Giulia Montgomery was not quite sure how it made her feel. In the last 7 days, she had been scratched, she had been bitten, she had been made sick with fever. She had met with some old friends, and suffered through extra hurty teeth, she had been attacked by spiders, and been attacked by Ugly Laverne, and she had met more senshi. She had followed invisible creatures through the dark and been real scared. Even more, the little blonde had seen people with bright orange skin, heard about monsters living in the water from the rain and being like...black lagoon monsters? But what was prob’ly most important was that she had also begun to understand that sometimes the adults in her life were not just being mean when they told her that she could not do a thing, or hid something from her; sometimes, they just wanted to keep her nice and safe. And sometimes, it was not safe to go out alone at night, even with Boop, no matter how much she wanted to, because there was more in the dark than Jada knew.

Yet even with all of the trouble that she had been getting into lately, the little blonde lived in hope that she would be able to continue living her life beyond the night time and all the bad drama feelings. She wanted to keep making friends at school, and wanted to keep being able to go and play at her friend's’ house once they and their parents had been thoroughly searched for any past badness. But the situation was extra odd right now, and so she didn’t expect that she would have too terribly much freedom as Giulia for a while. She had read almost all the books in the library, the gardens were practically off limits because of the giant spiders, it was too cold to go swimming, she was too small to use the gym, Cookie had nothing to teach her, her homework was all done, the zoo was pretty much in the same condition as the gardens, her ballet classes were at night, she didn't want to check out the candy store again, Aidan was at a birthday party for a friend playing laser tag… The list actually went on and on, and all the bad seemed to be piling up.

It was a long shot, but finally she had no choice except to see if she could go out. The library, she decided; there was a reading nook shaped like a castle, and costumes were allowed if she wanted, and there were lots of places for the grown ups to sit and read while she enjoyed herself. Giulia was actually quite surprised when she was allowed to go! She had almost thought that mama would want to keep her closer to home, since the older woman had been all huggy and clingy and stuff. Look, Giulia loved her family more than she could say, but constant huggles? It was a bit much! Even for her! So when Jada agreed that the library was a good idea, and made plans for Amelie and the Suit Men to escort her and Aidan, Giulia darted out happily into the morning. Freedom was a lovely thing. Being able to stretch her legs and not be cooped up in marble halls was an even better thing, and one day, she would show off the true glory.

Today she was dressed in one of her favorite green outfits, fluffy and covered in short, brightly colored bow-tied ribbons, with a little bit of lace trimming the edges. Her blonde hair was messily done up in a french braid, and there was a little bit of a pink tint on her lips, because she wanted to feel like a grown up. And ahhhh! The outside felt so nice, she could hardly stand it. They had driven to the city house and were walking to the library from there, because walking was healthier than always being chauffeured.. Now, Giulia spun happily, inhaling the cool, fresh, crisp morning air. The breeze floated her skirt as she spun, and she couldn’t stop her bubbling joy. Freedom! Sunshine! Smiling faces, everywhere she looked! People were saying good morning in response when she spoke to them.

Once they got to the library, she raced her wayto the child’s castle, scowling into the silence to see if any of the names were recognized. And when she was ready to leave, a nice old man actually let her skip him in line with her little selection of books. On happy little feet the short blonde girl bounced along, her bright blue eyes considering the selection of books she had picked out to read. Some books were about little girls who rode horses and stuff, and babysat, and threw sleepovers and had fun with their groups of best friends.Other books were about lonely heroes, and in honor of Halloween, some had ooze on the cover. She had them tucked into a bag, but carried one, Esperanza Rising, close to her chest as she made her way out of the library and into the crowd.

She had just bumped into someone else, and smiled, apologizing up to the handsome blonde man with his blue eyes and charming, white-toothed smile. When her eyes caught on someone else moving past, and her breath caught. A green dress, lace and ribbons fluttering in the breeze. A french braid. Rosebud pink lips. A bag full of books. And tucked to her chest, a copy of Esperanza Rising. And then bright blue eyes turned to meet Giulia’s and that sweet little mouth curved in a smile that sent shudders pouring down her spine. No- something wasn’t right here. There wasn’t a mirror anywhere nearby, but that was a perfect replica of a- Where did she go?! Giulia paused, freezing, ignoring the suit man bumping into her,Amelie’s hand on her shoulder. The other Giulia had just vanished. Like the spiders. Was that the spider’s wicked plot? To replace Giulia with a spider? She would not be dinner! She would not be defeated.

Her nod to go home was small, and the feeling of dismay in her bones...lingered.