Chapter 31

"Heyyy!" Ace shouted from the distance. "Ona! Grim!"

"Are you two okay?!" Deuce cried. The two of them stopped before Grim and me and bent over, panting heavily.

"Ace and Deuce?!" Grim exclaimed.

"Sheesh, this place is HOT," said Ace. "Feels like summer over here!"

"What's wrong, guys?" I said, confused.

"Uh, I'M the one who should be asking that!" said Ace.

"Your text said, 'Trapped in Scarabia!'" said Deuce. "Then we couldn't get through to you..."

"Oh, the text..." I said. Whoops. I had forgotten all about that.

"Oh yeah," said Grim. "I guess I did tell you to contact them. I knew you guys wouldn't be much help, and here you are, showin' up after everything's already solved."

"What?!" Ace said. "Look! The mirror gate wasn't open, so we couldn't warp back with magic! We had to take public transportation all the way back to campus!"

"You... came all this way to help us?" I said. They did care.

"I'm kinda lost here," said Deuce. "You guys seem like you're having a good time. I'm not seeing any emergencies."

"Who's this?" Kalim said as he came up to us. "Friends of yours, Ona?"

"Heya, Crabby," said Floyd. "Are you here to hang out?"

"Crabby...?" said Deuce.

"Yeah, I'm in the Basketball Club with Floyd," said Ace. "Jamil's in the same club as us too, actually."

"Ooh!" Kalim said excitedly. "Well, then! Any friend of Jamil's is a friend of mine."

"Again, I am NOT your friend—" Jamil said before sighing. "You're not listening, are you?"

"Anyway, you came all the way here, so by all means, join in the festivities!"

"We have pizza and pasta over here," said Azul.

"What would you like to drink?" said Jade.

"Geh!" Ace exclaimed, and Deuce recoiled. "The Octavinelle boys!" I made a special note that they had not freaked out when they saw Floyd. Perhaps they were learning?

"What are you doing with them?" Deuce said in a low voice.

"You don't have a problem with us, do you?" said Jade, putting an arm around my shoulder.

Floyd mimicked his actions. "Yeah, is there a problem?"

Ace and Deuce widened their eyes and took a step back. "No problem at all!" they said.

I rolled my eyes. "Cut it out, you two. You're scaring them on purpose."

"We were in a whooole heap o' trouble while you guys were off schmoozing with your families, y'know," Grim said. "Sit down and I'll tell you all about the Great Grim's exploits!"

"What ARE you rambling about?" said Ace. He shook his head. "Oh well. I guess as long as you're okay..."

"Yeesh," said Deuce. "It's one false alarm after another with you guys."

I smiled at them. "Aw. You really were worried about us." I pulled away from the twins so I could embrace Deuce and Ace.

"H-Hey!" Ace said. "It was no big deal. There wasn't much to do at home other than play video games anyway."

"And it'd be a real jerk move to ignore you after we told you to message us if anything came up," said Deuce.

I backed away and smirked at them. "Right."

"You guys just gotta keep up that image, huh?" Grim said, shaking his head.

"It's alright. Actions speak louder than words."

"Okay, back to partying!" said Kalim. "Bring on the food and crank up the music! This is going to be the best holiday ever!"

"YEAAAH!" everyone cheered.

"I am surrounded by simpletons," Jamil muttered.

Ace and Deuce still looked confused, so Grim pulled them aside to tell them the story. Meanwhile, my gaze drifted to Kalim and Floyd, who had resumed dancing near each other. I smiled. They both looked so joyful that I had to take a photo. I raised the ghost camera to my face. While I could capture motion well enough, the movement of the boys made it hard to capture both of them in one shot.

"Trying to decide which one to shoot?" Jade said, suddenly beside me.

I lowered my camera and glanced at him. "No. I was trying to get of them. It's kind of difficult."

"As I imagine it would be. If you must choose, it would be wise to pick Kalim. He and Floyd have many surface similarities, so I understand why would you be attracted to both of them. However, Kalim is more in line with your moral tastes and therefore a more suitable companion for you."

I wondered why he was making this suggestion. Did he truly believe it, or was it a test? "So, you think I should just ditch Floyd for Kalim?"

Jade's face gave nothing away as usual. "I would not put it so crassly, but it would be better for Floyd if you cut of contact sooner rather than later."

Ah, so that was it. He was looking after his brother. After everything, he still doubted that I was serious about being friends with him. "Well, that will never do. Sure, Kalim is great, but he's not Floyd. Kalim is enthusiastic but not unpredictable. He doesn't keep me guessing an entertaining way - recent events aside. He doesn't have the same protective instincts as Floyd. Sure, he may care, but he would probably try to talk to an attacker and get us both injured. Kalim appreciates the heat like I do but doesn't share my love of the sea.

"Kalim doesn't have the same emotional complexity. He doesn't try to understand me in the same way. I don't feel the same when I'm with him. Floyd is irreplaceable. And so is Kalim, I'm sure. He has his own set of strengths and weaknesses that I admit I do want to get to know. But he's not Floyd. That's why I want to be friends with both of them. I have room in my life for many people." I smiled at Jade. "Oh, one more thing. Kalim does not have a great brother I also love being around."

Jade returned my smile with one of his own. "Is that how it is? Then, by all means, don't let me stop you."

I returned my attention to my camera. Finally, I was able to get a shot of Floyd and Kalim dancing together. No soon had I done so then they ran over to me. "Hey, Little Shrimpy!" said Floyd. "Taking pictures?"

"That's right," I said. He was grinning, so it seemed like he didn't mind.

"Pictures?" said Kalim. "How cool! Hey, I can take a picture of you three if you want."

"That would be great, Sea Otter!" Floyd said happily. He moved to my other side and made Jade and me squish together with him.

"I suppose I don't mind," said Jade.

"Thanks, Kalim," I said, handing him the camera. I put my arms around the brothers and smiled. Kalim snapped the picture.

"That turned out great!" said Kalim.

"Let me take a picture of you and Shrimpy, Sea otter," said Floyd.

"Okay!" We spent the next several minutes taking photos of each other. It ended when Kalim called out, "Let's get a picture together, Jamil!"

"No," Jamil said flatly.

"Hey, I just remembered something," Grim said, walking over to us. "Jamil, you still have Ona's new phone!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jamil pulled out the phone and started for me.

"You got a new phone?" said Kalim. "I'll help you out by putting in my number and some other useful ones!" He snatched the phone from Jamil, ignoring his protests.

"Hey, I'll help too!" said Floyd. With that, the two of them walked off with my phone.

"Are you sure you should trust them?" Jade said, sounding amused.

I shrugged. "It'll be fine. Even if Kalim adds some random numbers, that doesn't obligate me to use them. And Floyd-" I paused. "Floyd will do something random, which will be a fun surprise."

Jade smirked. "That it will be."

At that moment, something else occurred to me. "Hey, guys! When you're done, do you want to go swimming?"

"Sure!" Kalim called back. "I'll take care of it!"

"Yeah, we'll have a blast!" agreed Floyd.

I grinned. "Yes, we will."

At long last, Grim and I returned to Ramshackle Dorm in the evening. "Phew..." said Grim. "We finally made it back to our own dorm."

"We've been out for a while, huh?" I said.

"Hey, you two!" said one of the ghosts as all three appeared before us outside the dorm.

"Heh. These ghosts are a sight for sore eyes."

"You've been gone for so long, I started to wonder if you were GONE gone, you know?" said a second ghost. "We worried ourselves half to death! Get it? Hee hee hee..."

"But hey, glad to see you're okay," said the third ghost.

"We took care of tending to the fire fairies in the cafeteria fireplace while you were out," said the first ghost.

"Myah?!" Grim cried. "Oh crud, I totally forgot about that!"

"Me too!" I said. "We're sorry."

"Hey, nobody wants to spend the holidays frozen over," said the second ghost.

"By the way, there's a bunch of food waiting for you here, courtesy of the headmage," said the third ghost.

"Mya-hah! Didja hear that?" said Grim. "We're getting our feast! C'mon, Ona, let's go check it out!"

I started to follow Grim and the ghosts inside, but I was stopped by a voice: "Ah, you're back."

I jumped in fright. "GAH! You scared me!"

"Khee hee hee. With a reaction like that, I could make a habit out of spooking you. I'm Lilia Vanrouge, vice housewarden of Diasomnia."

"Ah, I remember you now. What brings you by?"

"I came to deliver a holiday greeting card from a certain somebody." Lilia held a card out to me.

"Oh, thank you."

"He's a bit peeved that once again nobody invited him to any festivities this year... So. if you happen to hold any with your friends, it'd be nice if you extended him an invitation too. Anyway, that's all I came for. I bid you all a pleasant holiday."

I opened the card and quickly read it. "The sender's name is...M.D.?"

"Hey, Ona!" Grim called. "You better step on it, or I'm gonna eat the whole feast without you!"

"Ho ho ho!" said the third ghost. "Happy holidays!"

"I'm coming!" I said. I jogged all the way inside. Grim had already taken out the food, which was packaged nicely. "I've been thinking... We've got more than enough food for a feast and then some because we ate so many meals at Scarabia. I'm still full after the party today, so how about we save the feat for tomorrow, which is actually New Year's Eve?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," said Grim.

"And maybe we could invite over the Octavinelle boys..."

Grim's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And why should we do that? We deserve that food!"

"Come one, Grim, even you can't eat all of that. And we never could have taken down Jamil without them."

"We escaped just fine without them!"

"You know the Scarabian students would have come after us and forced us back there. Jamil wouldn't let us go so easily. We owe those guys."

"You just want to hang out with them."

I smiled. "Yeah, and it will be fun."

Grim crossed his arms, frowning. "Fine, but I get to eat first!"

"Myah... Mmm... I've got dibs on that turkey..." Grim grumbled in his sleep.

Meanwhile, I had trouble drifting off. Then a bright light forced my eyes opened. The mirror was glowing again? I got up and made my way to the mirror.

"Gyah!" Grim shouted, eyes still closed. "Watch the tail..." He resumed snoring.

I stopped in front of the mirror and noticed a big-eared shadow. "Is... someone there?" said a voice from the mirror. "Who are you?"

"Ona..." I said, extremely confused.

"It's got a strange and beautiful ring to it!"

"And who are you?"

"I'm Mickey. Mickey Mouse. Am I dreaming again? I've had this same dream three times already. There are always living cards and a dancing music box, too... But your voice gets clearer and clearer every time. Is it possible that you're not a dream?" He paused. "Where are you?"

"This is... Twisted Wonderland..." Our connection faded after that, and I had nothing to do but go back to bed.

Grim's loud yawn woke me up. "That was the best sleep I've had in ages," he said. "Hey, Ona. You stepped on my tail while I was sleepin' last night, didn't you? Watch where you're walkin' from now on, would ya?"

"So, Mickey wasn't just a dream after all..." I murmured, sitting up and looking at Grim.

"What're you gawkin' at me for? You are SO weird sometimes. Anyway, it's back to fire-tendin' duty for us today. We should drop by Scarabia for some grub afterwards!"

"Yeah, sure." I brightened at the thought of visiting Kalim, who had decided to stay on campus with Jamil after letting the rest of his students go home yesterday (along with Ace and Deuce). "Hey, maybe we can invite them over tonight."

Grim frowned. "You want to give away MORE of our food?"

"Come on, you don't want Kalim to be alone with Jamil for the holiday, do you?"

"That sounds like his problem to me."

"What if they bring over something to make up for the food they'll eat?"

"Well... I suppose that's fine. Now hurry up and get ready so we can go."

I smiled. "Alright."

Soon we were back at school, feeding wood to the fire. Then it was off to Scarabia. For a second, I worried that we would not be able to find Kalim and Jamil. We had barely stepped foot inside the lounge, however, when Kalim ran over to us with a huge grin on his face.

"Ona, Grim!" he said happily. "What brings you two here?"

"Whatever is making that delicious smell," said Grim.

"You came here for food?" Jamil said with obvious disapproval.

"I came here to see Kalim," I said. I made a step towards Kalim, and when he did not move away, I gave him a quick hug.

"Aw, it's nice to see you too," said Kalim. "You can stay for lunch if you want!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" said Grim.

Jamil sighed. "Fine."

"Also, I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a New Year's Eve get together this evening," I said. "Crowley gave us a bunch of food for a feast. I thought it would be better to enjoy it with friends."

"Make sure to bring something to contribute," said Grim.

"Ooo... I love parties!" Kalim said excitedly. "Will the Octavinelle boys be there?"

"I'm going to ask them," I said.

"No," Jamil said emphatically. "I have no desire to see them again."

"We weren't asking you," said Grim.

"Kalim can't go without me."

"That's on you," I said.

"I don't need you watch me," Kalim said. He smiled at me. "I would love to come!"

"What if the food is poisoned?" Jamil said.

I rolled my eyes. "It won't be. No one would even know Kalim was going to eat the food."

"I'll taste test everything first," Grim offered.

Jamil did not appear convinced. "We'll think about it."

"Just text me the details later when you figure everything out!" said Kalim. "I'll try to convince Jamil."

Our attention then turned to lunch. The food was delicious, as always. Then Grim and I walked back to Ramshackle. I decided it was time to call up my Octavinelle friends before I made other plans. I turned on my phone and ended up throwing it on the couch upon seeing the lock screen. It was a picture of Floyd with his intimidating face.

"What the heck?" I said. I had forgotten I loaned him my phone and that this was my first time turning it on. Shaking my head, I entered the pin code he told me about. Thankfully, it worked. I smiled at the home screen picture. It was Floyd again, but this time he had on a beautiful smile.

Then I entered my address book and found it infested with sea creatures. A joint effort of Kalim and Floyd, I supposed. I sighed. I did not know Floyd's nicknames for everyone, but it was not like I had any reason to text them. The phone was supposed to be for emergencies only... And since Crowley ignored me in my plight, I thought it fair to use my phone a little bit today. I scrolled through the list, looking for Floyd's name. He wouldn't give himself a nickname, would he? ...Apparently he would. I clicked on "Cool Moray" and started a conversation.

Ona: Floyd!

Cool Moray: Hey, Lil' Shrimpy. It's about time you texted! How did you know it was me?

Ona: My only other option was "Mushroom Eel," and you hate mushrooms.

Cool Moray: Haha true! So, what's shakin'?

Ona: What's with the weird pictures you put on my phone? Especially the lock screen one.

Cool Moray: You don't like them?! :(

Ona: I quite like the home screen one, actually...

Cool Moray: Yay! :D

Ona: But the lock screen one I could do without. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?

Cool Moray: No! Not you!

Ona: Then who?

Cool Moray: Anyone who might try to steal your phone or threaten you. Just show them your lock screen and they'll know I'm protecting ya!

My heart skipped a beat, and I reread the text to make sure I got it right. Then a slow smile spread across my face.

Ona: Now how am I supposed to change it?

Cool Moray: You're not. ;)

Ona: Ok then. I need to talk to Azul. Can you tell me the name he's under?

Cool Moray: That's for you to find out.

Ona: I thought as much. Later, Cool Moray.

Cool Moray: Bye, Shrimpy!

Smiling, I returned to my address book. I scrolled through the names, guessing on who represented who. Then I came across a name that was unmistakably Azul: Fish Boss. I immediately sent out a text.

Ona: Hello, Fish Boss!

Fish Boss: Who is this? What do you want from me?

Ona: Chill. It's Ona.

Fish Boss: Oh. I thought you were... Never mind. How did you get my number?

Ona: Floyd gave it to me, Fish Boss.

Fish Boss: Why are you calling me that?

Ona: Floyd put you in my phone under that name.

Fish Boss: That explains it. You know you don't have to humor him, right?

Ona: Oh, I know. I'm not doing anything of the sort, Fish Boss. :)

Fish Boss: If you don't have important business to discuss, I must request you find something else to do.

Ona: I do have something important to discuss. Wait, I'll just call you!

I immediately hit the call button before he could protest. It ran twice before he picked up. "Hello, Ona," he said.

"Hi, Fish Boss," I said cheerfully.

There was a long pause. "You have two seconds to convince me not to hang up."

"Do you and the twins want to come over for a New Year's feast tonight?"

There was a longer pause. "I appreciate the offer, but I would hate to be indebted to you."

Oh, right. He thought everything had a cost. "But you wouldn't be. You really helped out with Scarabia. If anything, this would be me paying you back."

"That was hardly for you. Floyd and Jade were the ones who saved you from harm, and I endangered you by bringing you back to Scarabia. That's hardly something you owe me for."

"That's not how I see it. I asked you to help Kalim, and you did. Don't you understand yet that helping my friends is helping me?"

"The answer is no, Ona."

I held in a sigh. "Fine. I'll just ask Floyd and Jade to come over, and they'll leave you all alone for New Year's Eve."

There was the longest silence yet. "What time should be arrive?"

I smiled. "How about six o'clock?"

"Very well. We will see you then. Goodbye, Ona." Then he hung up.

Having that settled, I proceeded to text Kalim - or, rather, "Sea Otter" - the details. He responded as enthusiastically as expected. I took that to mean I could expect both him and Jamil at the feast. Next, I worked on cleaning a table and chairs and setting up a dining area. Eventually, everything was as good as it could get.

The Octavinelle boys were the first to arrive, 15 minutes before schedule. "Good evening, Ona," Azul said politely. "Thank you for inviting us over."

"No problem, Fish Boss," I said. Azul appeared annoyed while Floyd and Jade cackled.

"Fish Boss?" Grim said. "Am I missing something?"

"Nothing important," said Azul. "Where are we eating?"

"Come on, I'll show you," I said. I had no sooner brought them to the room then there was another knock on the door.

"Expecting someone else?" said Jade.

"Yes, I invited Kalim," I said. "I didn't want him to be alone either."

"What a lovely idea."

"Just Kalim?" said Azul.

"Well, yeah," I said, heading to the door. I opened it to see a grinning Kalim and Jamil holding a pot. "Hey, guys! Thanks for coming!"

"Hi, Ona!" Kalim said brightly. "We brought soup!"

I smiled. "Thanks. Let's go eat!"

I led them to the dining room with the others. Despite some initial awkwardness, the dinner went rather well. There was plenty of food, and we all found interesting topics to talk about. Eventually, conversation turned to the weather outside the dorm.

"You've got a lot of snow out there," said Floyd. "I never saw the stuff until last year."

"This is the first I've seen it!" I said. "They don't have it on my island." I paused. "You wouldn't want to go play in it... would you?"

Floyd's face lit up. "Let's go!"

"I am quite interested as well," said Jade.

"I want to play in the snow!" Kalim said excitedly.

"No," Jamil said firmly. "You are not dressed for frolicking in the snow."

"It won't hurt him as long as he doesn't overdue it," said Azul.

"What about you, Grim?" I asked.

"Snow is just frozen rain," said Grim. "I don't want to get my fur well."

"Then do you mind grabbing the ghost camera?" Jamil sighed but did not stop us as well made our way outside. It was dark, but I could still see the perfect, white snow. "It's beautiful."

"Let's check it out!" Floyd said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the snow. We fell on our backs, laughing. It felt very cold but oddly satisfying.

"This is great!" Kalim said, sitting beside us. "What are you supposed to do with it?"

"You can do lots of things with it," I said. I turned around in the snow, discreetly making something. "You can build snowmen, make snow angels, or..." I threw a snowball at Kalim. It hit him squarely in the face, and Floyd burst out laughing.

"Kalim!" Jamil cried in horror.

"Relax," Azul said. "He's fine. Ona would not really hurt him."

Kalim began laughing himself. "That was a good one, Ona! That's a snowball, right?"

"Yeah!" said Floyd. "I've seen people throwing 'em at each other."

"That's called a snowball fight," I said. "I've always wanted to try it. They make it look so fun on TV!"

"Let's have one now! It can be you and me against Kalim and..." Floyd looked over the bystanders who had not set foot in the snow. "...Jade."

"Yeah, how about it, Jade?" said Kalim.

"Alright," said Jade. He walked into the snow and crouched near Kalim. "We should probably strategize. Azul, can you time us for five minutes? When time is up, we can start the war."

"Very well," said Azul.

"Come on!" said Floyd. He grabbed my arm and dragged me away.

"Okay, so what's our strategy?" I said

"You need to go after Jade. I'll take Sea Otter."

"Okay... But then won't Jade go after me?"

Floyd grinned. "That's the fun part! Don't worry. Jade won't let loose if it's me going after him. He needs to feel comfortable around someone else first. That's why you've got to do it."

"Let loose? Are you sure Jade can do that?"

"Positive!"

"Well, alright. But I'm going to need you to do something for me..." I quickly explained my plan. Then we began making snowballs. As I gathered snow in my hands, I quickly found myself wishing I had gloves. Oh well. I would get some for next time.

"Time is up!" Azul announced when I had five snowballs.

"We're coming for you!" Kalim shouted before proceeding to throw snowballs in our direction.

"Run!" said Floyd.

I gathered my snowballs and darted out of the way. I went straight for Jade, but he stood there, doing nothing. When I threw a snowball at him, he deftly dodged it. "You will have to do better than that," he said. I tried the rest of my snowballs with the same result. Jade smirked. "Is that the best you can do?"

My eyes widened. "See ya!" I turned and ran, only to feel a snowball hit my back. "Hey!"

"Ha ha! You better look out!" said Kalim.

I ran to Floyd and hid behind him. "Having trouble, Little Shrimpy?" he said with a grin.

"A little bit," I said. I bent down to make another snowball. This time, I aimed at Kalim. Floyd ran towards Jade while Kalim's attention was on me. I always kept one snowball on hand while I waited for the right moment. Then I found it.

I led Kalim over to the twins and then hid behind a tree. Fortunately, Kalim thought nothing of it. Then, slowly, I crept up behind Jade. Then I made my move. I threw my snowball at the back of his head. He spun around, a rare look of surprise on his face. Before he could react further, I ran into him, pushing him onto his back. However over him, I quickly scooped up snow and started piling it on top of him.

"Kalim, help!" said Jade, but Kalim was laughing along with Floyd.

"I think I win," I said, smirking triumphantly.

"Are you sure?" Jade rose from the ground, pushing me off of him and shaking the snow onto me. I laughed as I wiped it off. Then he laughed as well.

"Hey, you're actually laughing!"

"You've seen me laugh before."

"Not like that. You're having fun."

"And what made you think I couldn't?" There was a playful amusement in his eyes that made me smile. Finally, his guard was down, and he was having fun. I wanted to see more of it.

"Hey, guys, get together," said Grim. He had wandered over to us with the ghost camera.

"Okay!" said Kalim. He sat beside me and put his arm around me while Jade and Floyd knelt behind me, each placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Perfect." Grim snapped a picture. Later, I printed the photo and placed it in my room next to the picture of Grim, Ace, Deuce, and me. This had been a great day, and I wanted to remember it forever.