“Defection?” Jason and Jared both uttered at the same time.

“That’s ridiculous! What do they think Earth is, a prison planet?” Candi scoffed, arms akimbo.

Slate pursed his lips.

“Unfortunately, there have been quite a few cases of people trying to flee Earth for various reasons, so now they are keeping a tight reign on those who are traveling outside of Earth’s habitation zone.” Slate rubbed his head in frustration.

Jason sighed and whacked one last bang on the heel of Candi’s new shoe.

“Slate, can you please go out and deal with the Earth delegates? Under no circumstances are they allowed to have anything to do with our Tiny Dancer.”

Slate nodded and stood up.

“Thanks Baby Brother,” Jared grinned.

Slate scowled and moved towards the door. The servants gave a brief bow and followed him out.

Jason turned to Candi.

“I have a pair of dancers shoes for you so you can maneuver through those ballet moves without hurting your toes.”

He smiled and held out the shoes.

“Want to try them on and dance a bit to test them out?”

Candi’s eyes gleamed. She jumped up and ran to where Jason stood.

“Yes!” She cried with excitement.

Jason stood looking down at her from his 6’3″ height. His hands held up a white pair of shoes, with rows of topaz stones affixed to the vamp, far above her reach.

“What’s the magic word?”

“Yes, please!” Candi responded.

“Wrong magic word.” Jason waggled a finger at her. “It should be, ‘Yes, My Love.”

“Don’t listen to him!” Jared threw a stone button, hitting Jason in the forehead.

“What is wrong with you!” Jason frowned at his brother, rubbing his head.

“Hand her the shoes and let her try it out. We don’t have time for your nonsense, ‘My Love’!” He jeered.

Jason sniffed with feigned hurt and handed her the shoes.

“I only wanted to hear her say that one time, just for me.”

He turned back to her with a cheerful smile.

“Dance for me, Tiny Dancer.”

Candi grinned with excitement and pulled on the shoes. She jumped up and began dancing.

Going through battement and arabesque was fairly routine but when she tried to do a ciseaux, at the point where she kicked out her legs in an aerial split, her shoes flew from her feet and banged against the walls with a clatter.

“Ooops!” Candi’s face reddened. “Sorry!”

She ran to pick up her shoes as Jason and Jared covered their mouths with their hands and tried hard to hold in their laughter.

“Ahem,” Jared cleared his throat. “We will need to rethink the shoes part. You need the kind of laces that can keep her from kicking her shoes off when she dances.”

“Oh, you mean like those ballet pointe shoes?” Candi ran back to them.

Jason rubbed his chin.

“What do they look like? Can you describe pointe shoes to us?”

“I can draw them for you!” Candi announced with cheer.

Jason gave her some paper and a pen and she began sketching out the pointe shoes.

“It has to be like this, with this, and this.” As she drew, she muttered to the two of them.

“Oh I see. Yes. I can most definitely do something like that.”

“Do you have dancing wear that will match those shoes as well?”

Candi grinned. Her hands began sketching out the tried-and-true ballerina outfits.

“There’s this type, and this kind. And also something like this…”

“Oh, those are cute!” Jared murmured as he watched her draw out the dresses. He snapped his fingers and ran to one of the chests.

“What do you think about this?” He began pulling out tulle and various laces in different patterns.

“Ugh, I don’t have the right colors!”

Jason grinned and flicked a finger, changing the white color of the tulle to a sage green.

“How about that?”

Jared grimaced.

“No, no. More like this!” He waved a finger and the color changed to aquamarine.

It took several more changes between the twins before they finally settled on a sea foam greenish gray.

They were going over bodice designs with Candi when Slate returned.

Jared and Jason looked up. As soon as they saw Slate’s expression, their eyes grew cold.

“Don’t tell me. You couldn’t fight the decree.”

Slate strode in and threw his arms over his brothers’ shoulders.

“Tell me, brothers. What can I do when the decree is coming from our very own Dear Old Dad?”

“Since when,” Jared scoffed, “have YOU ever listened to Dear Old Dad?”

Slate laughed.

“Since never.”

“So why start now?” Jason cracked a grin.

Candi stared at the three men, bewildered by the scheming looks on their faces.

They began scratching their heads and rubbing their faces and squeezing their fists in thought.

Suddenly, one of them snapped his fingers.

SNAP!!!

The ephemeral dress mannequin that had been lazily floating at the center of the room turned solid looking and sank to the floor.

The mannequin stood on her own two legs and turned her head to look at them.

Candi gasped and nearly had a apoplectic fit. It was her; only not really her.

“Get her dressed and I’ll take her out to meet her Earth delegates.” Slate cackled with glee.

The twins chortled and chuffed with mirth as they dressed her in a basic bodysuit and led her over to Slate.

“Here you go, Baby Brother. Your new bride.” Jason guffawed as Slate grinned with mischief.

Jared began packing up their things.

“Meanwhile, we will take the real Tiny Dancer to our house and finish getting her ready for the event tomorrow. When you’re done taking care of the Earth delegates, come join us.”

“Yeah. We need you.” Jason grimaced. “Those Earth people are scary. We need a warrior protecting our Tiny Dancer at all times.”

Slate waved his hand.

“Take her out the window. Leave the things here and I will have the servants take it to your home.”

The twins nodded and turned to Candi.

“We have to leave now.” One said.

“Ready?” The other chimed in.

Candi nodded.

Before her eyes, the twins began changing into their demonic bat selves.

The masks formed over their visages, rendering them faceless. Their shoulders and backs bulked out, and dark leathery wings began sprouting behind them.

One of the demons scooped Candi up while the other opened the large window and hopped onto the sill. He turned back and held out his arms.

Candi was then redeposited into that demon’s arms.

With one quick jump, she and the first demon ascended into the sky, with the twin demon following quickly behind.