So you like my daughter, do you now? Yeah, we think she's something else.

Sylvia sat in her room and took a deep breath. This was what she’d been dreading all day. But there was no running from it any more.

Time to read the comments.

“Rip Holly. Someone had to go.”

“#HollyTeam in shambles rn”

“LMFAO #RoseGarden eating good!”

“That was close but the teams shook out how I expected.”

“Gina supremacy! #BackInBlack!”

“#GinaParty got their game going on”

“Fixed. Demand recount. Holly didn’t lose.”

“Dawn needed to be the only loli so she made the hard call, rip loli Holly.”

“So boring. Team Virgin and Team Gamer Girls stuck together huh. Need more drama and stakes. Split the teams up next time.”

“New girl so freaky lol.”

“Slime girl, they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel.”

“This is one of those ‘we’re floundering in the ratings so let’s get ****’ moves, guaranteed.”

“Sylvia gonna get fired lol”

“Rip best girl #SylviaSquad #SylviaNextAuditionee”

“I don’t know I like slime girl she’s cute.”

“^ Actual pedophile sighted”

“Nah Mimi gonna be really fun #SlimeTime”

“First Rose now an actual plant is something up with the producers”

“Poison Ivy Auditionee #3 confirmed”

“Slime girl in three-way with Dani and Carly #Twincest”

“Yay Mary’s new outfit made her 10 times sexier that body needs to be flaunted #GetMaryPreggers”

“Dawn kicked off Holly she should be kicked off next as punishment.”

“Holly kicked herself off”

“Yeah lol”

“Girl just wanted to be a pet”

“So will Dawn tho”

“Dakota is like a pet, but a feral housecat.”

“Dakota looks like she would kill my pet and eat it.”

“Rip Gina #TeamReckless gonna go down fast”

“#SpankGina”

“#ChainGina”

“#GinaParty going wild ever since they got their goth back.”

“GINA IS ALT GIRL NOT A GOTH YOU FAKE FAN”

“Mods ban”

“#GothGirlWhen”

“Big tiddy goth gf is a must for Harem Hotel”

“Give Mary a goth route turn her into gothy mommy milkies”

“Actual cringe”

“Kim needs to be the goth, that way she won’t be boring.”

“HEY! Kim is great, she’s a normal girl in a sea of weird. #KimClique”

“Is no one discussing the new transformations lol”

“What’s there to talk about? Transformations this time were mid.”

“Rip Dani she’s not gonna know what hit her.”

“Carly weird too, gonna have to step up to match slime girl lol.”

“Rip Carly def gets booted next.”

“Nah Dawn going down.”

“Whoever it is, bring Sylvia in for the replacement #SylviaNextAuditionee”

Sylvia frowned. She didn’t like the direction that the comment chain was going. But not as many people were upset about Holly’s elimination as she feared.

“Well, that’s something I guess,” she sighed in relief. “Now, I just need to get into the right head space for my meeting.”

She took a few deep breaths, and set a serious expression on her face.

When Nick woke up, the Master’s Suite was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t even in bed, and he was fully clothed.

Am I dreaming? He wondered, looking around the room he found himself in. It was dark and decorated in gothic fixtures, with low lighting like the entryway of a haunted house. Hanging in front of him were three portraits; two had their faces scratched out, but the third… the third displayed Sylvia in all her pompous arrogance.

A scowl crossed Nick’s face as he realized what was ahead for him.

“Sylvia?” He growled, looking around for the blonde monstrosity who called herself a host. “If this is a dream, it isn’t funny!”

“You’re right. This situation isn’t funny at all.” A gruff voice came from behind him, and he whirled around to see a giant armchair sitting in front of the elevator, which he belatedly realized was his only route of escape.

The figure sitting in the armchair had a cartoonishly-oversized newspaper spread out, concealing their face from view. Then they lowered the paper, and Nick nearly burst out laughing, his anger evaporating in a second.

Sylvia was wearing a cowboy hat and big bushy fake handlebar mustache over her scowl. She narrowed her eyes.

“Hello there, young man. So you’re the boy who’s been seeing my daughter, is that right?” She kept up her exaggeratedly deep voice. “What are your intentions with her?”

“Sylvia, what are you doing?” Nick asked, sighing in exasperation.

“I just want to know, did you have sex with my daughter?” Sylvia set down the newspaper and lifted up a giant double-barrel shotgun.

“What?! Isn’t the whole point of this show to get me to have sex with people!?” Nick exclaimed, backing up until he hit the wall.

“That’s my little girl you’re talking about, son.” Sylvia’s glare turned menacing.

“All we did was hand stuff! Why are you acting like more of a psycho than usual?” Nick demanded. He had calmed down enough by this point to realize there was no way Sylvia would actually shoot him.

“…Only hand stuff?”

“Yes.”

Sylvia lowered her gun and looked away, scowling. “Feh. Pussy.”

“Are you serious right now?!”

Sylvia ripped off the angry father disguise and hopped out of her seat, strolling over to Nick. “Come now my boy, what did you expect? I’m a doting mother who just wants what’s best for her little girl,” she said, pouting.

“Wait, seriously? You actually think of Mimi as your child, that wasn’t just a bit?” The thought that Sylvia could have maternal feelings, or feelings of any kind, was an unnerving thought that Nick didn’t know how to process. He stared at her suspiciously, trying to figure out what her game was.

“Of course she’s my child!” Sylvia pouted.

“Then why would you put her on this absurd show?! Trying to get me to sleep with her… what’s the matter with you?!” Nick couldn’t understand Sylvia at all right now. Usually she was fairly predictable (in the sense that she mainly just wanted him to have sex and suffer) but at the moment she was behaving like a different person.

“You just don’t understand a mother’s love,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “But what would I expect from a man?”

“Seriously?” Nick glared at her. She averted her eyes.

“…Okay, look, it’s not what you think,” Sylvia sighed, slumping her shoulder in defeat. She looked a lot more fragile somehow, and for a moment Nick wondered if he was actually getting a peak under the mask, at the woman on the other side.

“The reason I brought Mimi into your harem as your next Auditionee is because I truly believe that’s what’s best for her,” Sylvia explained.

Nick shook his head. “Why?”

“Because she doesn’t know anything about the outside world. She’s a full-grown adult, having reached maturity and moved onto the next stage of her life by absorbing the genetic material of a host, but that doesn’t make her ready for the world.” Sylvia’s expression turned cloudy. “From reaching maturity, a Mimic Jelly integrates itself in human culture, to learn and grow.”

“And drag back victims,” Nick pointed out. He hadn’t forgotten what Sylvia had initially explained about the plant.

Sylvia waved her hand dismissively. “Details. The point is, Mimi needs to learn about the world. She needs to learn from all of you. And most importantly, she needs to learn about love, and the happiness is brings.”

“And what does that have to do with this show?” Nick scowled. “Love? You’re honestly expecting her to learn about love from a sick show like this?”

“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?” Sylvia placed her hands on her hips. “Take a look at how things have been for you since you joined this show, Nick. You’ve flirted with Kim, you’ve reconnected with Dani. You had intimate moments with Carly and Gina, both of which led to sex, and forming a deeper connection with them! What about Mary? She’s fallen for you harder than she ever did when you were both in school! And don’t forget Dakota. That woman loves you more than anything! So don’t look at me and say that there’s no love to be found here; this island is drowning in it.”

What Sylvia said made an annoying amount of sense. But Nick couldn’t let that stand. He refused to accept that a sick show like this where girls were warped into sexual caricatures against their wishes could be a source of love.

“You still transform people!” He sputtered. “You turn them into something they’re not, no matter how much they protest!”

Sylvia ignored his objection. “Even Holly,” she continued, narrowing her eyes, “has shown her love for you. She loved you so much she was willing to become a sex **** if it meant being with you, Nick. Don’t you understand?”

“What I understand is that you’re warping the minds and bodies of women I know, and throwing them at me so I’ll have sex with them,” Nick scowled. “If this island was really about love, you wouldn’t need to do any of that, would you?”

“…It’s for the ratings,” Sylvia offered lamely. “To keep the audience satisfied.”

If she believed that, she did a poor job of showing it. Nick was surprised at how drained she looked for a moment there.

“Sylvia…? What’s up?” He asked. “Normally you’d be a lot more positive about all these transformations, so what’s going on?”

Could she actually be having a moment of conscience? Could the fact that her daughter was now involved in this be making her reconsider her position? It was certainly possible…

“Hmm? Oh, sorry, nothing, I was just imagining how much fun Holly must be having with her new transformation!” Sylvia perked up immediately. “After all, ratings on her exit from the show were pretty high! You can’t say you’re not excited!”

Whelp. So much for thinking Sylvia could behave like an actual human being for once. Nick wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“Well, fine. I’ll do my best to raise Mimi with care and love or whatever,” Nick sighed. “I’m not going to pick on her or anything. I’ll help teach her whatever I can. Is that good enough?” He really just wanted to go back to bed. Unless he was already in bed, and this was just a dream. Shit was really weird around these parts.

Sylvia considered that for a moment, and then nodded. Nick was stunned by how sweet the smile on her face was in that instant, it was like she was overflowing with gratitude.

“Thank you, Nick. That means a lot to me.”

“…You really do care about her, don’t you?” Nick asked incredulously. “You can actually care about other people.”

“Of course I care about her,” Sylvia mumbled. She looked hurt. “I found her the first day I visited the human world. I brought her back with me to take care of as my very own, you know? I watered her every day, petted her, gave her lots of snacks and read her bedtime stories full of erotic content, everything a good mother should do.”

“What was that last one?”

“Gave her a lot of snacks?”

“…Right…” Nick sighed.

“I’m so happy she’s finally gotten the chance to bloom,” Sylvia continued with a sigh, placing her hand over her heart. Her eyes were watering. “If my mother hadn’t let me keep her, well… I don’t even want to think about what might have become of her now. …Of course, I’m going to be a neutral host!” She quickly clarified. “Just because my daughter is competing that doesn’t mean she’s going to get any special favors or anything of the sort!”

“Yes, yes,” Nick nodded, just wanting to go. “That’s very- wait, what did you say?”

“I just said that Mimi won’t be getting any special favors from me,” Sylvia said, raising her eyebrow in confusion. “I know you doubt my integrity, Nick, but I wouldn’t-”

“No, before that! You said your mother let you keep her?!” Nick couldn’t believe his ears. “You… you have a mother?”

Sylvia blinked. “Yeah. Doesn’t everybody?”

“Well-!” Okay, he couldn’t really argue that point. But it made no sense. “But… you’re not even human! So how… I mean…”

“How rude!” Sylvia huffed. “I may have been created by magic's hand, but I’m every bit as human as you are, Nick! I have real feelings, a heart pumping blood, and a soul, just like you!”

“…Soul, huh?”

“Well, I mean, technically…” Sylvia wasn’t looking him in the eye. Big surprise.

“So you really have a mother?” Nick said, shaking his head incredulously.

“Well, I say mother, because she was the one who created me,” Sylvia explained. “I was brought into existence to serve as the host of this show. My mother is the one who created me for that purpose.”

“So what, is she, like, one of those producers you talked about?” Nick asked.

Sylvia shook her head. “I can’t say,” she replied. “We’re not allowed to discuss who is and who is not a producer; their identities are anonymous, and we can’t even speak their names. Or remember their faces. All I can tell you is that she was the former host of the Harem Hotel shows set on this island. When she retired, she passed the role of host onto me!”

“I should have known you were a nepotism baby,” Nick said, rolling his eyes.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I was created with ALL of my mother’s knowledge about how to run a good show!” Sylvia stomped her foot in frustration. “I’m super-duper qualified! I am!”

“Okay, sure, whatever. I guess that explains why you’re so childish sometimes. Tell me more about your mom, then,” Nick said. He was curious to know what sort of woman would create a monster like Sylvia. She was probably a monster ten times as bad.

Sylvia made a complex expression. “I, uh, I can’t,” she mumbled. “It’s not just the producers that hosts aren’t allowed to talk about… it’s also a no-no to discuss the specifics of a predecessor host with an active party on a show.”

Nick nodded. “Okay, yeah, I guess that makes sens-”

“But I can tell you she was amazing!” Sylvia gushed. “An absolute genius! You should have seen her, Nick, oh, she was the best! She came up with the most exciting and engaging challenges, and her transformations were among the most exciting combinations of erotic and sadistic! She was amazing! And then, well… she retired, and now here I am.”

Sylvia had kept up an excited smile throughout her praise of her predecessor/mother. But by the end, the smile had lost some of its stable foundation and started to crumble.

She quickly tried to revitalize it. “I’m living up to my mother’s reputation!” She proclaimed, placing her hand over her chest. She turned and looked fondly at the portrait in the center of the hall, even though the face of the woman depicted on it had been scratched out.

“…Um, okay, this is nice and all, but I really need to go back to bed,” Nick said, not sure at all what to make of Sylvia’s little confession about mommy dearest.

“Take the elevator,” Sylvia said, waving her cane behind her and pushing the chair aside. “It should take you back to the Master’s Suite.”

Nick didn’t have to be told twice. He turned and headed for the elevator, but the doors didn’t open when he got there.

“Sylvia-”

“One last thing.”

Sylvia turned to him, and her eyes looked moist.

Ahh, fuck it. Nick hated Sylvia. He really did. But he hated seeing women cry, too. Even if they were terrible women he despised.

“Yeah, what is it?” He asked, expecting to regret what he was about to hear.

“Did your mother ever tell you she was proud of you?” Sylvia asked quietly.

“My… mother?” Nick had been caught so off-guard by the question he didn’t know how to answer for a second. “You mean Amelia?”

Sylvia nodded. “You told me that one of your biggest fears was looking back at your life in your old age and thinking you were a failure, do you remember that?”

Nick winced. That had been one of their first sessions together. When Nick thought Sylvia was just a therapist, and not a demonic hell witch bent on twisting people into misshapen constructs of her sick imagination.

“…I know, but that’s-”

“You’re like that because of your mom, isn’t that right?” Sylvia asked. “Because she’s such an amazing woman, with all her money and her influence, and you, you’re just… well, you published a book, but…”

She shrugged.

“Hurtful,” Nick scowled, narrowing his eyes. But he couldn’t deny what she was saying. Growing up with a beautiful and successful stepmother like Amelia hadn’t been good on his self-esteem. It didn’t help that they weren’t related by blood, either.

“…You’re not wrong, though,” he admitted. “Amelia was amazing… I worked so hard to earn her approval, trying to do everything I could to make her proud of me. Part of it was because she was so rich and gorgeous, but there was also… well, you know what happened to my real mom.”

Nick’s birth mother had passed away when he was little. “I don’t remember anything about her,” he said, shaking his head. He felt like a trembling child again. “My dad threw away all her pictures, did I ever tell you that?”

“You did,” Sylvia said, nodding solemnly. “He got rid of everything that would have reminded him of her, he was too hurt.”

“Exactly!” Nick exploded. “Do you know what that’s like?! Not being able to remember your own mother? And then to have your dad… have him suddenly remarry someone barely out of high school, when you’re just a kid yourself, it’s… it’s too much!”

He loved Amelia, he really did. But as great as she was, it would have been nice to have at least one memory of his real mom.

And suddenly, Sylvia was there, with her hand on his shoulder in a gesture that almost felt comforting.

“That must have been hard, having to grow up in a situation like that,” she said quietly. “Not only losing your real mom, but to have a woman of such high standing as your stepmother, having to live up to her expectations. I know I-”

“But that’s just it,” Nick said, shaking himself free of her grasp. He’d shown weakness to Sylvia, and that made him feel sick to his stomach. “Amelia never put any of those expectations on me. That was all my own doing. I was the one who thought I had something to live up to. I could have just stopped and been myself any time.”

Sylvia flinched when she heard that. Nick pressed on, refusing to let his stepmother be slandered by her. “My stepmother was a wonderful mom. She took care of me when I was sick, she would always listen to me when I needed advice, and she even cooked! She had tons of money, she grew up in castle, and yet every morning she would still be in the kitchen, singing to me as she made breakfast!”

Sylvia stared at him in stunned silence. Then she scrunched up her face in a quizzical expression.

“Amelia Campbell sang to you while she cooked? You're sure about that?”

Nick blinked. “Yeah, she did. All the time when I was little. Why?”

“It’s just… you told me before, that your stepmother was a terrible singer. You said that was one of the things your father loved most about her, that she was absolutely flawless in every way, except for her awful singing voice.”

Yeah, that was the case. His stepmother had always been a crappy singer. She always refused to sing in front of other people. So why…?

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Nick protested. “She used to sing to me, I know it. I remember it clearly!”

He could see it even now, just by closing his eyes. He gazed upon his mother’s back as she stood over a pot, singing the words to a somber song he’d never learned.

“Are you sure?” Sylvia asked quietly.

“I… but if that wasn’t Amelia… then…”

Whose face was that? Smiling at him as she stirred, lifting him up to get a closer look as she ran her fingers through his hair and sang softly in his ear?

Nick’s eyes started to water.

“…Mom…?”

“I guess you have a memory of her after all,” Sylvia said quietly. She wanted to give the poor boy a comforting hug, but refrained. That wasn’t her role.