Marx awoke and groggily touched his forehead. He found no trace of the thirteen eyes other than a slight tingling sensation, but when he felt the sides of his head the horns were still there. He could swear they had grown while he had slept and it made him feel sick.

He stood up, feeling horrible, and walked over to the mirror with tiny steps. He stood in front of it, horrified, staring at his horns from every angle, until Hazelmere surprised him by landing on his shoulder.

"Hey Hazel," Marx murmured, relieved that she was there. "How did you get in here?" Hazelmere made a purring noise in her throat and touched her tiny pink nose to his in greeting. Marx smiled a tiny smile and petted her behind her ears. She licked his hand, then started licking his horns.

A knock on the door made Marx jump and Hazelmere squeaked in protest. Tom poked his head in and wheezed, "Master Marx, you are to attend breakfast. You have ten minutes to prepare." Tom paused for a moment, chattering his jaw a bit. "...Is it true that you were trying to escape?" Marx blinked in surprise. "I'm not going, and yes, I was. I don't care if I don't remember it up there, I don't care if they'll hate me, I just know it has to be better than down here, don't you think?"

Tom chattered his jaw again out of nervousness and excitement. "You are very brave, Master Marx, and there are some down here who feel the same as you." He closed the door before Marx could respond. "Wait- What do you mean? Tom? TOM!" He pounded on the door but there was no response. Marx leaned against the door, breathing heavily, and hoped he had heard him right, hoping that Tom was as truthful as he said he was.

Hazelmere clung to the front of his shirt and chirped at him until she caught his attention. He looked down at her to see that she had opened her ruby eyes wide and they were glowing. "H-Hazelmere?" Marx stuttered. He couldn't look away from her eyes, no matter how hard he tried. It was like there was a force holding him in place. "What are you doing?"

Hazelmere let out one loud chirp and Marx felt a strange tingling, buzzing feeling as eleven more eyes opened upon his forehead. "Hazelmere, what did you do?" He gasped. In the mirror he could see all thirteen eyes glowing, and his normal eyes glowed too and were solid green and solid blue. He started to panic.

"I just made it so we can talk, is all." She chirped. "I'm sorry if I scared you." Marx's jaw dropped in disbelief. "No way," He gasped. "You're talking," He murmured. Hazelmere nodded. "We can only talk when all of your eyes are open, because that's when you're the most perceptive to the magic around you. I'm fairly sure it might also have to do with the fact that you're most like the Creature, who speaks all languages, when your eyes are open but I'm not sure."

Marx just stared at her. "How-?" He spluttered. "How did you do that?!" Hazelmere crawled up his shirt until she was on his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. "Everything down here is magical, but some choose to hide it. We bats, despite our small size, are some of the most magical, if you don't count you and the Creature of course. We just don't show it much, is all." Hazelmere chirruped. Marx took a deep breath and calmed himself down a little.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner, then?" He asked. Hazelmere climbed on top of his head and sat in his hair. "I had to wait for you to open your eyes. I know it feels wrong to you, but it's a good thing. Trust me. You'll have more control and the Creature will have a harder time controlling you. Not only that, but we can talk now." She started licking his hair while he was still taking it all in. "How do you know this?" He murmured.

"I know more than I should. Most monsters don't think twice about a little pink bat listening in on their conversation from the ceiling above." She made a little chirruping noise that couldn't be anything but a laugh and jumped off of his head. "Your ten minutes is just about up, by the way. You might want to get ready." She flew up and clung to the ceiling, putting her head under her wings. "In the meantime, I'm going to sleep. You can close your eyes now."

Marx slowly changed into the clothes that had miraculously appeared while he had been sleeping and put the old ones on the floor. He focused on closing the extra eyes, surprised when it was easier than he expected. Not even three seconds later, he was transported to the dining hall where he ate his breakfast in silence. He had totally forgotten about himself telling Tom that he wasn't going to breakfast.