Chapter 6

The fall carnival

"Cocoa, are you listening to me?" Mr. B. Nimble tugged the ear bud out. Dang.

"Uh, what?" I said. It was the last period of the day and I couldn't focus. Having him twice a day was exhausting. He had taken over my lessons because Grimm was gone.

"You're not getting this back until after school." He waited for me to give my MirrorPod to him. I did.

"Ouch." Dexter whispered to me. He had trouble with his story that we were suppose to write in our class so he came here.

"Yeah, now what am I suppose do? I'm done with my chapter and bored." I sighed.

"As I was saying, the fall carnival is tonight. There's no homework as I know you're too excited," Mr. B Nimble waited for the cheers to die down,"But I except you to finish at least 3 paragraphs in class." Now there were groans.

He went to his desk and decided to listen to my music. Finding a song he liked, he put the ear buds in his ears. Ugh, this wasn't fair. Class ended after I almost fell asleep. I let everyone leave, but Dexter waited.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up." I waved him off.

"Alright." He turned uncertainly and left.

I went up Mr. B. Nimble's desk. He turned the MirrorPod off and gave it back,"I expect you to pay attention, Sweetie. You have interesting artists on it. Are they from Earth?"

"I made Humphrey get the songs I wanted." I put it in my backpack.

"Glad you found our school tech-y. Smart kid though. Are you ready for the carnival?" He asked.

"Yep." I smiled. He kissed my head and someone knocked on the door. It was Mr. Badwolf.

"It's only me." He walked in.

"What are you doing here?" Mr. B. Nimble straighten to his full 6' something height.

"I thought I'd check in on you. Oh, try not to kiss Cocoa in public. I know she's your baby and all." He added the last part jokingly.

"I know that. Go do your homework before dinner, Sweetheart." Mr. B. Nimble said stiffly.

"Ok. See you later." I went, hoping my father was going to feel better at the carnival.

Mr. B. Nimble's POV

"Jack, I didn't mean it like that." BW soften his voice.

"Do you understand how hard it is for me to try not to give myself away?! I can't say anything without seeing if doesn't contradict us." I felt my hands flame. Great.

"I know exactly what it's like. I... have a daughter. It's hard on her. She can't do the things she wants. I just wish I could hug her and stuff in public." BW swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry. I'm really worried about Cocoa. She just told me some important things yesterday and it makes me sick. Why would he..." I clammed up.

"What?" The wolf man asked, thinking I'd answer.

"Can't." I stopped him.

"You can't blame me for asking." He said truthfully then he sniffed. I did too. Smoke.

"Get the extinguisher! My sleeves caught." I tried to slap the flames out. BW got it and sprayed me with the foam.

"Did I get it?" He asked.

"I'm not burning my clothes off if that's what you want." I saw my sleeves. They were charred to the jacket cuffs. Ugh, not again. I was also fireproof, in addition to my fire powers. My clothes weren't.

"That's what I want." He huffed.

"Let's say you were pissing me off." I said. He nodded. Then we went to get food. I told a janitor our story so my room would get cleaned.

Mr. B. Nimble's POV End

"So, what took you so long? I got swept away before I check." Dexter asked me.

"He wanted to chat." I said.

"He's pretty lax, but he wants you listen to him." He set his tray down next to Hunter's.

"Who?" Raven chewed her bread.

"Jack B. Nimble." Dex answered.

"Oh, yeah. How'd you ignore him? That's a talent I'd like because of a certain thief." Hunter didn't like Sparrow's constant guitar playing. None of us did.

"MirriorPod." I explained. I stabbed my lettuce and soaked in in dressing.

"Huh." Hunter grunted. Ashlynn soothed his grumbles.

"Are you going to the carnival?" Cedar asked. I seized at her voice. The cursed puppet girl. How much of a puppet was she?

"Yeah." I sniffed uncomfortably.

"With anyone or by yourself? You can hang out with us if you're not." Raven invited me.

"Ah, I got someone to show me around." I tilted my head up and left, hoping it gave me sassy independent-ish look my Asian eyes sometimes did.

"Ooo. Who's the guy?" Ashlynn perked up.

"His name is... Not telling you!" I watched as she deflated and pouted.

"Why not?" Cerise arched her eyebrow.

"I wanted to psych her out is all." I shrugged, thinking quickly on how I could make it work.

"So?" Dex urged.

"I'm going with, uh, Da- Mr. B. Nimble." I waited for anything to happen, wishing I was feinting most of my nervousness.

"Ok, we'll need a bit context." Raven said and the others nodded.

"Can Cedar like..." I trailed off as I saw it wasn't going to happen, "He's my friend now. I guess we bonded over stories. Anyway, he said he'd show me around."

"Oh, that's not bad." Hunter laughed. I made a face at him. It worked.

"Hey, Cocoa. Get changed into comfy clothes after dinner." Daddy whispered in my ear. I turned, but didn't see him.

"What?" Raven looked concerned.

"Does Mr. B. Nimble like to Skulk a lot?" I asked her.

"He can, but I've haven't seen him do it outside of class. No pun intended." She added.

We ate the rest of our dinners and we went to our dorms to get ready for the carnival. Comfy I can do, but it has to be warm too. I didn't want to huddle near Daddy all night. What did I have? didn't get to pack my own clothes. Grimm did it for me. I dug through one of my trunks. This one had some of my shorts and pants. I chose a light blue pair of jeans near the bottom and went to the other big one. It was shirts. He chose the expensive stuff. I never ever saw half this stuff before, but they were my size. I held up a pink sweater with silver buttons on it to my chest and looked in the mirror. I wasn't sure about it.

"I can help." Maddie popped like a literal bubble into my dorm. She was small at first then popped and grew big.

"OH, Jesus! That's scary." I dropped the sweater.

"Shh, I hear a shirt calling your name." She dove into the trunk, making a ripple and splash with the shirts. I looked in and moved some. They acted like normal for me. Maddie resurfaced a bit later, dripping water. How did she get wet?

"It was hiding in a lake. Silly thing. Try it on. I won't look." She put her gloved hands over her eyes. I took the shirt. It was like cotton. I tried it on. It felt ok. The shirt was long sleeved, had cream strips on sleeves, and was turquoise with shimmery threads in between the normal ones. The trunk bubbled and a necklace with a candle pendent was on top of the shirts.

"I didn't see that. I'm glad it found you." Maddie gave it to me. It was a ivory cinder in a gold candlestick with an amber flame. Then she walked out the door.

It was almost 7. I put the necklace on, grabbed my purse, and went to find Daddy.

Mr. B. Nimble's POV

2 minutes later

I looked for my navy hoodie, the nice one. It was deep in the drawer. Unzipping it, I threaded my arms through it and messed with the zipper's resting place. The upper part of my chest seemed like a good place. I chose my baseball cap with the simple white silhouette of a candle. My phone buzzed. I saw it was Cocoa. Her hext asked where I was. She was at the Castletria.

On my way. See u soon. I typed, shoving my wallet in my pocket and headed out the door.

Cocoa was easy to spot as she wasn't going toward the main door. She looked so grown up in the clothes she had on. I'm not ready for this. Go change back into your kitty t-shirt. I didn't say that aloud, but I wanted her to.

"Hi, Daddy." She hugged me. I hugged back and checked that no one heard her. It didn't seem so.

"I think we're ready now. Let's go." I took her hand and we went to the final door to get to the carnival. We were still far from the entrance when Hilda and Gus Crumb sped up to catch us.

"Grimm wants us to take pictures of you doing things with the Cocoa girl, but we don't like this. You are good man. Lets us eat sweets in class. Yes, will not photograph." I deciphered through her accent. Her cousin nodded. He chucked the camera into the garbage. Well, it was disposable. Then they went back to their lazy pace, falling behind us again.

"What was that?" Cocoa looked at me.

"Nothing, Honey." I reassured her.

"Okie-dokie." She smiled and let me lead her. When we final got outside, I took Cocoa to my carriage and we got driven to Book End Village. She messed around on her phone and I watched her until it got boring.

"So, when do you want to learn how to Skulk, kiddo?" I asked her.

"I dunno. Whenever you want." She didn't look up, but when she tried to plug her headphones back in, they were gone. I held them up.

"How-" She grabbed them back, aghast and mad.

"It's useful. Your first lesson is tomorrow. Hey, don't make that face at me," Cocoa stuck her tongue out. She wanted to stay mad, but I wouldn't let her, "Cocoa-bear... C'mon, I wasn't being mean." I fake pouted until she hugged me.

"Love you." She told me. I hadn't excepted her to say that so soon.

"Love you, too." I whispered back. The carriage stopped. We were here.

Mr. B. Nimble's POV End

The village was twinkling with Christmas lights hung on the shops. Booths were everywhere. I jumped out of the carriage as soon as it stopped. I haven't been anywhere fun in forever.

"Wait for me. I don't want you getting lost." Daddy got out and we had to get our stamps to get inside. I suggested we hop over the fence, but he didn't like it. He said we didn't use Skulking for evil. Then we got inside. Games, junk food, prizes! I started drooling at the scent of hot corn dogs.

"Where are we going?" I pulled Daddy through the crowd to get to my snack.

"Corn dogs." Harrison told him. I found the booth and made Daddy pay. I blew on and ate my corn dog as we went to a game booth. It was a dart game. I got a few darts and popped the one for the giant dragon and the others hit balloons for glass figurines. Just as I wanted. Daddy gave me his and told me to aim for the wagon balloon, a dinky pair of glasses, and a stuffed animal. I did and got them all. We got our prizes and left. I rode in the wagon with Mr. Dragon. I heard music coming from somewhere and we followed it. It was outside karaoke. Hunter and Ashlynn were doing a love song, of course. Maddie picked out Daddy and they took him up to the mic. I followed him to the front. They got Mr. Badwolf, too.

"Let's see... I know! Let's check the Cocoa playlist. Yeah, this one." Maddie chose Counting Stars by OneRepublic. Placing the teachers in front of the screen, they started the song. Daddy sang the frist verse and Badwold joined in.

The crowd cheered. I clapped too. Mr. Badwolf's voice was deeper and hit the lower notes and Daddy's got the higher ones. I got pulled up. I could sing as well as the next guy, but there was so much food out there for me to eat and games.

"Let's try this one." Raven chose Make a Move by Icon for Hire. I took a breath as the song's first notes rang out. I breathed deeper as I finished the song. That was hard. We left with Mr. Badwolf. Or he came with us, either way it meant he was a third wheel. He watched my wagon as we went in shops and I got more stuffs. I got to chose what I got, not Grimm. I liked seeing my clothes before I decided if I took them or not. Wait, Daddy said he, Grimm, had a daughter... I'm wearing dead people's clothes.

"Cocoa, what's wrong?" Daddy asked.

"I think Grimm put some of his daughter's clothes in my trunk." I felt funny, not uncomfortable but not comfy either.

"Ok. Do you want to change?" He was ready to leave.

"I think I'm ok for now." I scratched at my front pants pocket. Daddy slowly nodded and we paid for my new clothes. We played more games, got more prizes, and ate lots of food. I liked the fried cookie dough.

Mr. Badwolf smiled and said while ruffling my hair, "You eat like Cerise."

"What?" Daddy asked him.

"She's got dough on her face. Where are the napkins?" They looked for them then Daddy wiped my face.

"How did you do this? It wasn't a huge piece." I shrugged. Daddy shook his head.

"Hey, it was fun hanging out with you, but I got some places I want to see so I'll see you later?" He nudged Daddy.

"Of course." Daddy told him. After that, I got sleepy, got in the wagon and rested my head on Mr. Dragon.

Mr. B. Nimble's POV

Cocoa fell asleep in the wagon. I pulled her to the carriage and we went back to the school. I took her tired body to her dorm and found that I couldn't get in. Her key. I checked her purse, nope. Not her pocket, please can it not? There's 4 pockets and 2 are on her butt. Do I wake her up or let her sleep?

"Uh, are you trying to get Cocoa inside?" Raven came up to us.

"Yeah. I can't find her key though." I told her.

"Ok. I'l use my magic to get her key. That way we won't disturb her." Her hands glowed a light purple and it levitated the key out of her front pocket. Then we got Cocoa inside and I found a place for her toys while Raven got her necklace off.

"Ngh! NO! Don't wanna." Cocoa thrashed and grabbed Raven's hair, pulling it. She tried to pry Cocoa off, but she wasn't having it. Pulling in wide movements, my daughter yanked the poor girl's hair every-which way.

"Ow, ow. Let go. Mr. B. Nimble, help me." Raven cried.

"We can't get out. She's having a nightmare." One of her characters told me.

"Cocoa, you're ok. Let go of Raven please. She hasn't hurt you. Shh." I sat on the bed next to her, holding her arms so she couldn't hit me. Although Raven was stuck bending over, it was better than being pulled around. Cocoa screamed in an animalistic wail. Poor baby.

"No attic!" She elbowed me in the gut, but I didn't let go. I got angry at Grimm. This wouldn't happen if he hadn't taken her. That bastard. He hurt my child. I felt tears of absolute rage run down my cheeks.

"Cocoa-bear, wake up." Soon, she did wake up and cried with me, letting go of Raven in the process.

"D-daddy, I had an awful dream. I don't wanna be here anymore. I wanna go home." She hugged me.

"I know, Sweetie. It's alright. Everything's fine." I tried to keep my voice steady. I held her for a while.

"Will you stay with me?" She asked.

"I can't, but Raven will. She's nice, " I turned to Raven,"Call me if she needs anything. If this gets out, you're dead." I trudged out. I had slightly veered away from the route to my dorm when I saw a painting of Grimm. My limbs caught first. I tore it down and stomped on his face, setting it on fire. I threw the flaming canvas down, over and over.

"Jack, stop! You've done enough." BW sprayed the burning painting out then me.

"She needs me and I can't be there for her." I almost lit up again.

"Ok, what happened?" He asked, walking me to my dorm now.

"Cocoa had a nightmare. She pulled Raven's hair and screamed in her sleep. Raven's staying with her tonight. I think it was about Grimm's abuse." I was sliding from the high quickly. I ached.

"Abuse? Are you going to report it?" BW's eyes widened.

"I will. Just not right now. I'm so drained." I unlocked the door and went inside. Re-locking the door, I got my whiskey from the hidden case and drank from the bottle. Dear lord, I missed this. Luckily, I don't teach class tomorrow. Cocoa won't mind if we start small. I felt better, numb enough to sleep. Placing the empty glass on my nightstand, I changed and went to bed.

Mr. B. Nimble's POV End

A/N: This wasn't what I thought it'd be at all.