Day 5: It's a Fair Day!
"So, what's the plan for the day?" Drake asked, slightly eager.
Sally noticed her husband's mood and couldn't help but smile. "Why, Drake, don't sound too excited now." She teased lovingly.
Drake offered his wife a cheeky grin and replied, "After I missed all the fun yesterday, can you blame me?"
Sally shook her head good-naturally and got a little closer to her husband. Drake saw this, lightly took his wife's hand, and squeezed it. The two looked into each other's eyes, and they looked like they were going to kiss.
Drake and Sally stopped when they heard a gagging noise, blushing ever-so-slightly. They looked down and saw it was Masha making the noise. The "knocked-down" human stopped when they saw their parents looking at them and offered them a toothy grin.
The two older Blacklight gave their child slight glares as Masha decided she was bored with picking on her parents. Drake and Sally watched as their child walked over and talked with Vee.
Drake sighed but smiled as he looked at Owl Mothers.
"I guess we're waiting on Alador?" the florist asked.
Lilith nodded, and this caused Darius to groan.
"For Titan's sake, I'm starting to think that hack was late to his own birth," the council muttered in disdain.
Suddenly, Amity was in front of Darius, glaring cutely at him. The abomination witch cocked an eyebrow as he had a feeling he knew what was coming next.
"No mess with Daddy!" Amity proclaimed and threw a kick.
Darius simply turned his shin into abomination goo, and Amity's feet got stuck in it. The "knocked-down" witch cutely pouted when she tried and failed to pull her leg free. Amity started a spell circle. Before she could finish it, her foot ejected from Darius's shin.
Amity stumbled slightly, but Darius reached out and lightly grabbed her by the shoulder. He helped her to remain stable until Amity regained her footing. Once her feet were firm on the ground, Amity pouted and glared at the ex-Coven head.
"Child, no matter your current age, you're ten years too soon to challenge me," Darius said bluntly, then gave her an encouraging smile. "You are, however, talented. Something you clearly didn't get from your father. In a few years, I will challenge you to tell your skills."
Amity just continued to pout, crossing her arms over her chest. With a faint blush on her cheeks, she looked away.
The scene was all too cute, and Lilith couldn't help but capture the moment with a picture. Amity heard the camera go off and looked at her mother, gasping as her blush worsened.
"Moommyy!" the "knocked-down" witch whined cutely, causing everyone to laugh, and Lilith took another picture.
The door to the Owl House suddenly opened, and Emira and Edric came running into the house. Alador wasn't far behind his children. Everyone noticed the inventor was a mess; it was like he just threw on whatever he could find. He hadn't combed his hair either.
"Whoa," Eda said, "What happened? You got in a fight with Wrath again?"
Alador gave the ex-wild witch a tired glare, then headed to the kitchen.
"I just got reacquainted with an old favorite of mine," the inventor replied tiredly. "You remember the one, Eda, about a healer traveling around helping people."
Alador didn't wait for his old classmate to answer; he disappeared into the kitchen to find something to help him wake up.
"Let's just get on with it," Darius said exasperatedly. "Ghoul Break will be over by the time he's ready."
Lilith sighed but couldn't help but agree somewhat with Darius. So, she looked at the assembled group and began the proceedings.
"As most of you know, there's a fair starting today. I figured this would be the best time to take the children."
Everyone in the "knocked-down" coven gasped at this news and began chanting.
"Faiw! Faiw! Faiw!"
The adults smiled as the kids began to dance around. Soon, the group got silly and danced in pairs; Luz grabbed Amity and (clumsily) reenacted their Grom dance. Hunter shyly got close to Willow and took her hand formally. Vee and Masha danced wildly, with the "knocked-down" human taking the lead. Boscha even walked up to Heather, took her hand, and danced with her. Ed and Emira began dancing, and seeing that Gus was the only one without a partner, let him join them.
The sight was too cute for words, so the adult watched the scene, and Lilith took more pictures. Soon, the group tired themselves out and fell into a hap, giggling their head off. The giggling was infectious, and the adults soon joined in as Lilith took one last picture.
That was the scene that Alador entered after fixing himself a cup of coffee.
"What did I miss?" He asked in confusion.
The others didn't reply to him; they just kept laughing away. Alador shrugged after a moment and took a seat on the couch. It wasn't long after Alador's return that the group settled, and one of the humans decided to inquire about something.
"So…Why is a fair being held?" Danna asked curiously. "We have a vacation like this in the human realm, but we rarely have fairs."
Immediately, every single witch in the room was looking at Luz. The human witch blinked and then looked behind her. She looked back at her family and friends and pointed to herself.
Amity rolled her eyes at her fiancee's obliviousness and went up to her. Without a care in the world, She kissed Luz on the lips. The human witch's eye widened for a second. She then joined in on the kiss.
The two soon separated, and Luz had on a dopey smile.
"Oh, Cwikey," Luz said.
The "knocked-down" human's face went red as everyone in the room got a good laugh out of her. Boscha was the only one not laughing. However, she did have a good-natured smile as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Dowk," the three-eyed witch said.
Luz heard that, glared at Boscha, and stuck her tongue out. Boscha returned the gesture, causing the adults to laugh again.
Once everyone settled, someone answered the question Danna asked.
"To answer your question, Mrs. Hopkins," Darius said politely, "This week marks the beginning of the end of Belos's region. The council decided to hold this fair at the week's end as a well to celebrate it."
"Yup," Eda chirped, "And let's not drag our feet anymore. I want to be the first to sign up for-"
(SC)
"-The parent-child Burn Your Mouth Pie Eating contest?" Jacob read out loud, cocking an eyebrow.
The Owk Familia arrived at the fairgrounds a few minutes ago, and Eda immediately went to the contest's sign-up booth.
"Oh, yeah," Eda exclaimed smugly, "Teams of parents and their kids tried to eat as many flaming hot Fairy Pies before time ran out or they tipped out due to the heat. And with all the work I have been putting in, me and Luz are a shoo-in for the win. Right, Kiddo?"
Luz looked up at her witch mother and smiled big and bright as she nodded eagerly.
"Edalyn, I don't believe using a sense-numbing potion onto your tongue could be considered training," Lilith commented.
Eda took a moment to blow a raspberry at her sister and looked at the sign-up board. Eda's eyes suddenly snapped open, her jaw tightened, and her face twisted into a scowl as her hands began shaking in anger.
Lilith made a face as she watched her sister, curious what caused such a reaction. She got behind Eda and saw that Ericia had already signed herself and her daughter up for the pie-eating contest.
"It seems Ericia beat you this time, sister," The historian said mirthfully.
Eda grumbled as she gave her sister the evil eye before she wrote down her and Luz's names. She was about to slam the clipboard down when Lilith snatched it from her hands.
"What are you doing?" Eda asked accusatively.
Lilith smiled an all-to-innocent smile as she sighed herself and Amity up for the contest.
"Why, I thought it would be obvious…I'm entering the contest," Lilith said, waving the sign-up board for all to see. "Would anyone else like to sign up?"
When no one else wanted to enter the contest, Lilith returned the board to the table. She looked at her sister with a smile and then addressed the group.
"Since the contest isn't until this afternoon, why don't we enjoy ourselves?" the historian suggested.
The group agreed and then went about dividing themselves into smaller groups. While this was going on, Eda took Luz off to the side.
"Mommy Edy?" the human witch asked, curiously tilting her head.
Eda did a quick scan of the area, making sure no one was listening. Once she was sure no one was eavesdropping, she looked back at her kid.
"Okay, kiddo. Here's the plan: just eat a small lunch later, got it? That way, you will be nice and hungry later but not hungry enough that you will stuff yourself when we eat pies and blow yourself out early. Do you understand?"
Luz smiled brightly and nodded her head rapidly. Eda smiled proudly and gave her kid's hair a quick ruffle. She picked up Luz and went back to the others, smiling casually.
Lilith gave her sister a look but didn't say anything.
(SC)
"Why are we even here?" Adrian whined, head on a table. "I don't want to be near these freaks any longer."
The three rogue witches were hiding behind one of Adrian's cloaking spells as they tailed the Owl Familia. If someone would walk by them, they were just some student hanging out.
"Because," Terra snapped, "If we're to rule this Land, we need to get rid of the few you could oppose us! And they are all in one place, so we could easily take them down!"
The plant witch began to cackle in a near-insane manner. Adrian and Vitimir watched this, and the ex-illusion coven head leaned close to the potion maker.
"I think our dear Terra is finally losing it," Ardian whispered awkwardly, and Vitimir couldn't help but agree by nodding.
Terra realized what she was doing, calmed down, and took a moment to collect herself. She cleared her throat and looked at her fellow rogue witches condescendingly.
"I realized where you went wrong yesterday," she said condescendingly. "I shouldn't have listened to you two and split up. Now, come along, dearies, we got weeds to pluck."
Adrian made a face as Terra stood up and waited impatiently on the others. The ex-coven head just sighed irritatedly and stood up. Vitimir also stood up, and together, the two followed after Terra.
The trio of rogue witches soon came upon one of the visiting human families, and Adrian frowned as he looked at the family with disdain. The humans were at a small race track, talking about something he couldn't hear.
"Why are you we here?" Vitimir asked dully.
"Simple, dearie," Terra replied, her tone sickeningly sweet. "If we capture those weak humans, we can use these against the others. It's the perfect plan! OHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
Adrian and Vitimir watched as Terra slipped into insane laughter again. Thankfully, she caught herself and couch.
"I think I will agree with you for once," Vitmir whispered to Adrian. "Terra is finally slipping. I'm just surprised it took this long."
Adrian nodded, looked back at their so-called leader, and prayed this didn't end with them getting hurt like the other day.
(SC)
Drake looked over his shoulder and frowned. He turned around and scanned the area. Sally noticed her husband's behavior and frowned.
"Are we still being followed?" Sally asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
"...Yeah," Drake replied. "But I can't get fed on them."
Sally scanned the area and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. She looked back at her husband and saw he was still a little tense.
"Darius told us not to worry about them and just have fun," Sally said encouragingly, getting close to her husband and grabbing his hand.
The columnist gently grabbed Drake's cheek and turned his head. She gently ran a finger down her husband's neck, and Drake shuddered slightly.
"You know I hate it when you do that," the Florist said lovingly.
Sally gave her husband a cheeky grin and moved closer. Drake leaned down to kiss his wife but stopped when he heard a gagging noise. Drake and Sally looked to their right and saw Masha giving them a cute but sassy smile.
"You're lucky you're cute, kid," Drake said sourly, "Or I might just spank you."
Masha continued to smile and pointed behind them. Drake looked where his child was pointing and couldn't help but slightly blush when he saw that he and Sally were holding up the line.
He then scanned those in line, and his blush deepened when he saw the glares he was getting. With a nervous chuckle, he grabbed Masha and hurried to the operator.
"So," Drake asked awkwardly, "How does this work?"
The operator, a demon with scales on his cheeks, gave the human a dull look. He then looked down at the group of children and sighed.
"The rule is that children need to be accompanied by an adult while riding," he explained dully, "And you could only have one child per parent."
Drake frowned and looked down at the current children. He and Sally were watching Masha, Vee, Boscha, and Heather. That meant they couldn't do the race as they had no one to watch the kids who had to stay behind.
Like answering their prayers, Jacob came walking along. Beside the transformed human was Cat Oldstone. In the healer-in-training's arms was a demon child with a crescent-shaped head and wore a bowtie around her left horn.
"Jacob?" Drake asked curiously. "Wheren't you with your parents?"
The transformed human sighed and replied, "I was, but something happened. Thankfully, Cat was there to help me."
Drake looked at the witch with a kind smile. "Looks like we own you again, young lady," he said gratefully.
Cat returned the smile and replied, "Think nothing of it, Mister Blacklight."
Drake nodded and looked at his transformed nephew. Before he could talk to Jacob, the operator called out to the group.
"If you're not going on the ride, could you leave the line?"
Drake blinked and looked to his right. He nervously chuckled when he realized he was still holding up the line. So the Blacklights took their charges and moved out of the line.
Drake looked at the line and saw it wasn't too long.
"So," the florist said, looking at his nephew, "The kids really want to do this race thing. And since only one kid can ride with a parent at a time, could you watch a few of them while we take the others?"
"Sure," Jacob said in a rather casual manner, then then turned slightly bashfully. "And could you call me Jenny while we're here?
Drake and Sally couldn't help but gawk when Jacob-Jenny asked them this. The florist felt like pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
He shook his head after a moment and looked back at the line. It was still small, but more people were starting to show up.
"So this what I'm thinking," Drake said, looking at his group. "We take two kids at a time. Afterward, we then take the others on the ride. How does that sound?"
Masha, Vee, Boscha, and Heather nodded, eagerly smiling. Drake smiled at this, but then his expression turned serious.
"Okay, who's going first?" he asked.
Immediately, Masha's and Boscha's hands shot straight up. The "knocked-down" coven members looked at each other with a glare. Drake found the entire thing cute, but if they waited any longer, the line would get longer.
He looked back at the race track, and a thought came to him. "Be right back," he told everyone.
The group watched as he jogged over to the operator and asked him something. After a moment, the demon answered, and Drake nodded, saying his thanks before returning to the others.
"So, the guy told me the race is done in two ways. A competitive race and a causal drive around the track," Drake explained. "So, how about Masha and Boscha do the competitive race, and Vee and Heather can go next? Does that sound good?"
The current children looked at each other, Masha and Boscha glaring in their case, and they then looked back at Drake. They then nodded, and Drake smiled.
"Okay, then," the florist said, looking awkwardly at their niece/nephew. "You sure you can handle them…Jenny?"
"It's good, uncle," Jenny replied. "Go have fun."
Drake felt like pinching himself but decided against it. After all, they didn't want to wait much longer. So, with everything settled, Darke and Sally got back on the line.
(SC)
It took ten minutes, but Drake was seated in a red honey badger-like go-cart with his child on his lap. In front of them, the ride operator went over a few rules.
"-This is to all those racing for a win," he said, still sounding bored. "The outer track is for those looking for a nice quiet drive. If one of the racers entered that side, they would get a penalty."
Drake looked at the other track and saw only two carts on it. He couldn't help but smile a little when he saw an elderly female couple waiting to begin.
He looked forward and got himself ready for the race.
The operator drew a spell circle, and three orbs of light came from it. The operator stepped off the tracks and did another spell circle.
Everyone got ready as the first light flashed red. The second light turned red, and the racers started their machine beasts. The final light flashed green, and everyone took off speeding.
(G Corner)
And that, witches and demons, is why Eda wasn't affected by Tibble's little trick earlier in the week. And don't worry; you will see the race in the next chapter, and you may learn about Jacob/Jenny's sudden change of heart.