Forget It

Chapter 11: Casino Time!

Jill tumbled out of bed as usual, throwing her clothes on in record time. She ran outside, watering can swinging dangerously from her arm.

The teen dumped water onto her plants, then grabbed an ore from her shelves inside. She dashed to the mines, but no one was there yet.

Jill tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Carter to appear. When he did, she thrust the ore at him and ran back outside.

"Casino, casino," she muttered. Her face lit up as soon as she remembered where the Sprite Tree was located. She ran there as well, then fell against the door when she realized it was locked.

"You are kidding me…" Jill rolled her eyes and assumed a more comfortable position against the door. She almost dozed off when she heard a click at promptly 10 AM.

"Yes!" The teen jumped up and threw open the door. "I'm ready for some gambling!"

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Jill leaned over the poker table to collect her winnings for the hand. "How many medals does that make? About nine thousand?"

Hops looked at her sourly. "Yes. It's almost closing time. You really ought to leave."

The teen grinned. She knew that she had annoyed him by playing for so long. "All right, but I want some prizes, first."

"Roller's right over there. Now stop bugging me."

Jill flounced over to the counter where Roller was sitting. "I'd like to exchange my medals for prizes, please."

"Here." The sprite pulled out a case of items with a price listing next to them.

"I'd like… That bracelet with the hearts and that other bracelet. Oh, and that necklace!"

"That would be 8,000 medals, Jill. The Love Bangle, the Truth Bangle, and the Teleport Stone."

Jill flinched as she counted out the medals, but smiled as she picked up her prizes. "Thanks. What do you mean by teleport stone, though?"

"It teleports you places. The love bangle shows you how much someone likes you, and the truth bangle shows you how healthy you are at the moment, but only in numerical values. The first number is supposed to be higher and the second number is supposed to be low."

"Awesome!" Jill clipped the Teleport Stone around her neck and went outside. She fingered it gently, trying to figure out what she needed to do.

A small map appeared floating in the air. The brunette squealed, then took a closer look at it. It looked exactly like Forget-Me-Not Valley, right down to the season. Instinctively, she placed the tip of the purple gem on the map and almost fell over when she was teleported to Turtle Pond.

Getting her bearings, she put the Truth Bangle on her wrist. Digital numbers blinked at her, showing that she had 84 for the first number, and 2 for the second number. She shrugged, remembering Roller's parting instructions.

Now for the final test. Jill took the Truth Bangle off and replaced it with the Love Bangle. It blinked a couple of times, then showed two 0's. Intrigued, she pointed it at Cody, who was wandering outside his mobile home.

The zero on top gave way to four dashes and the zero on the bottom showed a 24 instead. Jill pointed the bracelet at Gustafa, and the four dashes vanished, replaced by 400. The 24 remained the same.

"I think I get it now," Jill mumbled. Gustafa was looking for a wife, but Cody wasn't. Could it be that the numbers on top showed how much he was in love with her? 400 was quite a bit for someone who never talked to her.

Awed by her new toys, the brunette teleported home and went to bed.