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CHAPTER 19 - PLAY TIME!


OUTSIDE THE POOL ROOM


JR


Lindsay has given me a piggy back to here, but is yet to put me down. I swing my feet as I wait for them to say we can come in, nudging Gus’s shoulder every time. “JR, stop!” Gus whines. 


“Regained your strength, I see.” Alderman Lorelle smiles as she pokes her head out. “Are we all here?”   


“Yes, some are more happy about it than others.” Gus smirks at a sulking Michael and Lady Deborah. 


“Everyone enter.” Alderman Lorelle swings open the door. 


“Why are we in here?” Queen Jennifer asks as she peers into the pool. 


“This is an exercise about focus, trust, knowing and a bit of humour.” I squirm down from Lindsey's back and nod at a page, soon the pool is being filled with orbeez. “Now normally these would take some time to reach capacity, but if I could call upon the ‘powers that be’ to speed things along, that would be most kind.” 


“With pleasure.” Elder Aldermen Rodney and Angelina stand on either side of the pool.


“But first, everyone who is training has to get in!” I declare. “Opposite who we consider your sparring partners! 


“Excuse me, Jamie…” Michael cuts in. “...but for my mother and uncle, together with Lindsay’s parents and us, you should use theirs and our proper titles within our presence. To speak to us as mere commoners is disrespectful. I let it go before, but in the presence of the Aldermen I will not.”


I am about to clap back when something makes me turn to Justin. “Calm down, don’t let him get to you.” Justin tells me...in my head! I am so happy I could burst! “Don’t acknowledge the comment. Take a deep breath, then let Brian speak next. Cross your fingers if you can do that.” I do so. “Thank you.”


“You are looking much better, JR.” Brian calls. “And as Lindsay said, you must feed regularly. Now, ready to assign us?”


“Yes, thank you. So it will be…”


“Remember our lineage!” Michael calls out, earning a proud smile from his mother. 


JUSTIN


Ooh, what a...noxious bellend that toddler is!


“Perhaps, JR,  it would be best if I took over at this point. Let’s see if he continues to be a bully when faced with me?” Everyone turns to Michael, who says nothing. “Thought not. So we have the following pairings, get in as you are matched up. Gus and JR, Ben and Hunter, Mel and Brandon, David and Christopher, Michael and Drew, and Brian and me.” I suppress my chuckle at what JR has planned. “Everyone in the pool. Opposite ends!” 


“Uh, you have left out Lindsay!” Michael sneers. “And why is Nuner included in this?”


“Nope, she is the referee!” I retort. 


“And Hunter is included because we wish it.” Elder Statesman Rodney stares Michael down. “Glad that is no longer an issue for you.”


“Referee?” Lindsay frowns.


“Yes, you are to ensure there is no cheating, so stand in the middle of the pool!” I grin at JR once we all get into position. “Whenever you are ready!” I call out. I watch, as with their incantations, the orbeez begin to swell and what started off being around our ankles are within seconds around mid thigh on everyone. Their powers are awesome! “Tell them when, JR!” When it gets to waist level, she calls out for them to stop. “So tell us what you want us to do.” I order.


“Everyone's to be blindfolded.” JR explains. “Again, if you could oblige, please?” 


ALDERMAN LORELLE


“Oh, you are sublime!” I declare as I take a read of that little halfling. “Now this is temporary, Angelina, do it.”


“Wait!” Michael cries out. “The master lieutenants are purebloods, they can…”


“Be quiet!” Angelina rasps, her eyes aflame. “Or I will have your teeth pulled! Do you know how long they take to grow back, how long you would have to remain inside? You don’t, so I will tell you: six months. Gonna talk?” He shakes his head quickly. “Good.” She straightens her spine before muttering, there are gasps from everybody in the pool. “All yours, JR!”


“So those in the deep end need to find their ropes first. Alderman Lorelle will tell you the insignia, there is one at each end, obviously. Then you need to tell your partner what that insignia is, but not in so much detail that their opponents can guess what it is and steal it! Lindsay, this is where you come in. Once a rope has been claimed by saying ‘got it’ and telling their partner or an opponent to tie it; if, when you check it, they are tied to the wrong person but guessed the right insignia, then that couple is out of the game! But if they are right, the rest of the opponents have to stop them from getting out!”


LINDSAY


“So, Lindsay, if you start the match.” Alderman Lorelle smiles. “In Latin.”


Just remember what she taught you…


“Can we get this going, these things are going places they really shouldn’t?!” Michael complains, but then smirks. “Although, if Drew wanted to retrieve them afterwards, that would be fine!!”


“Marcas ad tuos ire compararim paro!” I call out. For a few seconds, Michael doesn’t move, I huff in annoyance. Yes, I didn’t like being taught by children, but at least I tried to learn! “You can move now, Michael!”


After a few minutes of fishing around in the orbeez, the first person to pull out a rope is, surprisingly, Ben! “Now, Hunter, I need you to focus. It feels like an animal…” Hunter plunges under, and at first I don’t think he’s going to come up, but then he does and he has a rope. I wade over to him, but before I check on him as he is coughing slightly, I hear a triumphant whoop from David. 


“Chris, think of caestus artemque!” He calls out, and Christopher nods. 


“Justin!” Brian shouts. “gloine brandy!” Justin grins back.


“JR!” Gus bellows. “Your favourite candy!”


Brandon just gazes at Mel for a few seconds, having resurfaced. “Your favourite succulent!” I am surprised that she looks surprised. 


Drew then surfaces and feels the end of the rope. “They are gonna get broken by either me, them or him!”


“Now that everyone knows what they are looking for, the howlers tie them around your waists...the tuggers begin!” I holler.


For the next twenty minutes, people are crying with laughter as the combatants flounder in orbeez trying to find a rope to get to their partner or stop others from finding theirs..


“Got it! Tie it on!” Michael shouts. I have to admit to being disappointed myself! Once Drew does so, he yanks hard, but instead of Drew it is Ben that is pulled forward. Then something odd happens. I feel a rage coming, such intense rage, and it is directed at Michael.


“Stop!” I order, but he keeps pulling Ben towards him. “Michael, I said stop!” 


“But…”


“Feel your end. Does it feel like Drew described it?” I command.


“It feels like…” He strokes, then smiles. “...exactly as he described. A dagger!”


“You are incorrect. Go back to the beginning.” I order as I untie him, then turn him around, but he doesn’t move. “I said back to the beginning!” Slowly he starts to wade back. “Restart!” I declare, which means he gets caught in the crossfire of people trying to find their ropes! Twice, Mel manages to bump him so hard that he sinks. Hunter yanking up a rope, feeling it and the resultant throw of dismay hits him in the face!


“Got it, tie it!” Mel bellows. I check her insignia. “Well?” She demands.


“Pull!” I shout, then just about get out the way of a lunging Hunter.


“Mel, not a word. Nothing!” Brandon yells, then raises the rope, flicking her up in the air, before pulling her quickly down into his arms then they make their way to the side. 


Wow, is all I get out before the shit hits the fan!


“Ooof! This is Hunter! Do I feel like a…” Is all he gets out before he is shoved out of the way by Chris. 


“What’s this?!” Chris hollers.


“My left boob! How do you not know that?!” I screech before laughing. “Let go!”


“Sorry, Lindz, tryna find Mel!” He snickers before turning wildly about and smacking Michael on his ear.


“Ow!” Michael yelps, before being dunked back under by Gus.


“Mel’s...uh...something feels kinda squishy!” Gus declares, then gives a squeeze.


“No. My right boob!” I declare, quickly he snatches his hand away. 


“Whoever has their hand on my dick, kindly remove it!” Is barked out by David, and we all go still. I wait for the person to surface. Slowly, but surely, a mortified JR rises up. “Who is it?!”


“Shall remain nameless!” Alderman Lorelle decrees. “This is over now! Let everyone see!”


“I might not quite have thought this through.” JR calls out as she scurries to the side, Alderman Lorelle helps her out. “Thank you, Alderman. I want to leave so badly!”


“Now, my darling, don’t feel bad. Didn’t you hear the laughter? People enjoyed themselves. Now, everyone out, then everyone else can enjoy the pool!” Quickly, people start to shuck off their outer clothing and gather by the side of the pool, waiting for the combatants to get out.


“What was the point of this?!” Lady Deborah snarls. “Michael has been used as a whipping boy and punching bag, Queen Jennifer, poor Lindsay has been molested, and…why didn’t you say Michael, David?!”


“Say Michael about what?” David helps Chris out, then Gus.


“About hands on your junk?! Surely you should know what your boyfriend’s hand feels like?!”


“Exactly! I do know! Which is why I said ‘whoever’!” David carps back before he helps a slightly weighted Michael out. “Why are you so heavy, Mi...what the hell?!” He gasps, and once more the room is rendered silent as we take in Michael’s full majesty!


Seems he wasn’t joking about them getting everywhere. He reminds me of Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, his outfit is so stuffed! I know how I looked, but Michael had dressed as a back-to-the-future-and-past Robin of Sherwood Forest, so he had them in the crevices! He also has them in his mouth, which explains the almost-silence, but he looks like a deranged chipmunk! Hunter comes up with a bucket, and points ‘in there’, but Michael, being Michael, turns to empty his mouth into the pool! I grab the bucket and manage to get it under Michael’s head so he doesn’t achieve his aim, which is to ruin the fun for everyone else!


Like everyone else, I am repulsed by the amount he brings up, but he finally stops. “I could’ve choked to death!” He rasps. 


“No vampire in the history of vampires - pure or half - has been killed by choking!” I snap.


“Lady Deborah!” Alderman Lorelle calls out. “Please assist your son! Put them in the...I think it might be best if you go outside and do it, we wouldn’t want that bucket being accidentally kicked over, now would we?”


“Perhaps Elder Statesman Rodney could help?!” Lord Victor calls out. “You know, the waving thing…” Before they can object, Lady Deborah, the bucket, and Michael are gone.


“It is all yours!” Elder Statesman Rodney shouts, and my ears ring with the whoops and hollers of the coven staff as they leap in. 


I am about to join them, but stop. “Wait! Wait a second! The master lieutenants, where are they?!” 


“Up here.” Justin laughs as they float down. 


“But you weren’t allowed to read each other, that was one of the rules.” I look at JR, then my jaw drops. “Focus, trust, and knowing…” I think a bit. “...to focus on your partner, not their voice, on them. We...we can see shadows, can’t we? Forms, we can see. As halflings, I prefer that to halfbloods, we can’t read, but once we are, oh, what’s the word? Att...no not that, not bonded either, oh! Connected! That’s it. You have been connected!” I sit down. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I am a bit jealous. You are so lucky. I am not connected with anyone…”


“Thanks.” JR grumps as she sits next to me. “There I was thinking we were becoming a big and little sister combo.” 


“Oh, I would like that! So much!” I beam at her. 


“Great! Now come on, let’s play!” JR grabs my hand, and together we jump back into the pool.


“Hey!” Gus hollers as we surface. “Want a little brother?!”


“Jump!” I order, holding out my arms, and when he lands in them I feel the happiest I have ever felt in years.


TURRET OF MERCURY TOWER - TEN MINUTES LATER


JUSTIN


“Nicely done.” Brian murmurs. 


“Thanks! I could see she was gonna lose it with him, so…”


“Is she your first after me?”


“First what?” I ponder, then realise. “Yeah, she is! Jared doesn’t like me to do Ben, so I don’t. Can I tell Lindsay about us like that, or would the outside voice be better?”


“Outside is definitely better.” Brian peers over the side. “What was he thinking when he put that on?” I join him and almost bite through my tongue and lip as Lady Deborah and Michael pull the orbeez out. They’ve filled the bucket from his boots alone. 


“Did you see it, the lines?” I ask quietly. “They tried to hide them, but I saw, did you?”


“Yeah.” He wraps his arms around me. “How do you feel about it?” I close my eyes. When I open them seconds later, we are cocooned, but instead of grey, it is dark as night and quiet. The only thing we can hear is each other. “Are you sure? I mean, I want to but not...”

 

“Not a pure bliss. But yeah I am sure.” 

Chapter End Notes:

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