Chapter 5

The dining room at Musette's house was lit up with candles after the power outage. Musette watched over her tea kettle hanging over the fireplace. She removed the kettle, then walked over to the dining table, filling each of the cups. Senel's group stood around the table behind a chair. Since Musette was the Holy Sovereign of Rexalia, it was customary to wait until she was seated before taking a seat themselves. When Musette finished serving the tea, she sat down in her chair, and then the others took their seats as well.

Will raised his cup. "Happy Birthday, Musette."

The others raised their cups as well. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you, everyone," Musette said. "Ah yes, this is much nicer. Much more pleasant."

"How is this pleasant?" Norma asked. "We're stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm drinking tea by candlelight in the dark."

"It's not about the party," Will said. "Whether it's a large party or a cup of tea, all that matters is being with the people you care about."

"If you didn't want the big celebration, then who arranged for the assembly at the plaza?" Chloe asked.

"That was Curtis' idea," Musette said. "I told him it wasn't necessary, but he insisted."

"I'm sure everyone wanted to celebrate the birthday of the Holy Sovereign of Rexalia," Senel said.

"But at the same time, Curtis should have respected your wish," Chloe added.

The room fell silent as everyone was reminded of the storm by the rain pelting the windows, the flashes of lightning, and the thunder booming in the sky above.

"You know, this is kind of nice," Shirley said, attempting to break the silence. "It's a shame that Moses and Jay had to miss this."

"I'm sure they're all snuggled up together," Grune said.

"You got that right, G-Girl," Norma said.

"Why do you keep talking about them like that?" Senel asked.

"Come on! They fight like hell, but they really care about each other. Perfect chemistry doesn't get more apparent than that."

Senel sighed. As much as he hated, it, he found that he couldn't argue with it.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"Let's tell a scary story!" Norma suggested.

Chloe looked around. "I suppose this setting does provide the mood for it."

"Okay, I'll tell a scary story," Grune said.

Everyone raised an eye as Grune picked up a single candle and walked to the end of the table, where everyone could see her. The same question flew through everyone's minds; what kind of scary story was the clueless Grune going to tell?

Grune held the candle in front of her, dimly illuminating her face. "On a dark, dark night, there was a dark, dark town. In that dark town was a dark, dark farm. In that dark farm was a dark, dark room. In that dark room were some dark, dark stairs."

Norma grabbed onto Senel's arm, leaning against him. "I'm scared, Senny! It keeps getting darker and darker!"

Chloe and Shirley glared at her silently. Grune continued her story.

"And down those dark stairs was a dark, dark basement. In that dark basement was a dark, dark closet. And in that dark closet...was a man...in a hockey mask."

Norma gasped as she clung Senel even tighter.

Grune smiled and went on. "The man stepped out of the closet...oh, I think he wants something. Should I ask him what he wants?"

"No, no, don't!" Norma whined, trembling.

Grune was oblivious to her protests. "Dear Mr. Man-With-The-Hockey-Mask...what do you want from us?"

"Aaahhh!!" Norma screamed as another flash of lightning hit the sky with a roar of thunder.

"The man raised his hockey stick and replied, 'Why don't you come play hockey with me, sweetie.' The end."

Norma stopped trembling, but still held onto Senel. "G-Girl, that was lame!"

"Norma..." Chloe said in a low voice.

"Hmm?" Norma turned to see Chloe and Shirley glaring at her, the fire from the candles reflecting in their eyes. Norma slowly released Senel and straightened herself in her chair.

Grune quietly went back to her seat and sat down, taking a sip of her tea. Once again, the room fell into silence.

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Moses and Jay carefully emerged from the covers of Will's bed. The storm had calmed down a little, but it was still raining with a fair amount of thunder.

"Looks like it's calmin' down," Moses whispered.

Jay flinched as he felt Moses' wet pants. "Moses, you're all wet!"

"Oh yeah, we need a shower!"

They both climbed out of the bed.

"'We'?" Jay asked. "No, no...it's just you who needs the shower."

"Oh, we'll just see about that!" Moses wiped his hand on Jay's face, smearing the rainwater on him. "There, now we both need a shower. Come on!"

Moses took Jay by the wrist and pulled him downstairs into the living room. After they lit a few candles, Moses headed down the hall and stepped into the bathroom with Jay in tow.

"Hah hah, this is gonna be great!" Moses cackled.

Jay blushed. "There's no way I'm getting in the shower with you!"

"Just get in here!" Moses seized Jay by the jacket and yanked him into the bathroom, slamming the door.