Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“Yeah, cause that’s what I want, for you to find my cousin so you can flirt with him.”
“So why tell me where he wouldn’t hide?”
“Maybe I’m lying,” he says, a wicked grin on his face.
Ignore him, I tell myself as I leave the second stage and head back the way I came. Maybe Simon is hiding in one of the buildings closer to where we started.
Pisces lets out a sigh. “He wouldn’t pick a good hiding place. He’d pick a funny one.”
I stop and look at him. “Why are you telling me this?”
He shrugs.
It’s not possible for my eyes to roll any harder.
He could still be lying, but at this point my approach to this game is likely moot. “Why don’t you lead, then?” I snap.
“Okay,” he says simply. He turns to the left, headed to the grassy picnic area where I made my deal with the wraith.
He comes to a stop in the middle of the grassy area and spins around slowly in a circle, scanning for Simon. He laughs. “Figures,” he mutters and heads off. I hurry after him, not able to match his long strides.
He pokes his head into the overly long high slide in the playground.
The festival hasn’t opened yet so the playground is pretty empty.
Pisces comes back up and looks over at me, an annoyed expression on his face.
He waves to the slide and I poke my head in to see.
Towards the bottom the slide straightens out a bit, enough for Simon to lounge there comfortably, hiding.
He sees me and smiles. “Bliss! Come on in!”
“You hid in a slide?” I ask, a bemused smile lifting the corners of my mouth.
“I figured it’d be funny to see how many people could hide in here before people start to see us.”
“Or until the slide breaks,” Pisces says with a soft chuckle. I glance at him and quickly avert my gaze.
“Well, guess we should get in. Watch your head, mate,” Pisces tells Simon, as he heads up to the top of the slide. I follow him.
Once I know Pisces is down the slide, hiding just above where Simon is, I ease myself into the slide, thankful I’m in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. This is ridiculous, I think to myself.
I slide down, the static of the plastic tube probably putting my hair into a state I don’t want to think about. But I gain a little too much momentum as the long slide drops suddenly and before I can stop myself I slide right in next to Pisces, instead of holding myself in place above him.
He wraps an arm around me before I can collide with Simon’s head. “Easy there, little succubus,” Pisces mutters, tucking me in next to him. “Don’t give our drum tech a concussion.”
I’d like to give you a concussion, I mutter internally and Pisces chuckles. As if he can hear my thoughts. I glare at him.
“Let me go.”
“You’ll take out Simon if I do.”
“Please don’t fall on me, either of you,” Simon says from below us.
“This was a very stupid idea,” I mutter.
They both laugh.
But it’s Pisces’ laugh that I can feel rumble in his chest. I start to slip and without meaning to I place my hand on his shoulder, helping to keep myself where I am.
Simultaneously he tightens his grip, causing my chest to press into his, and our faces to only be a few breaths apart. Through his shirt, I can feel—
My breath hitches. Are those nipple piercings?
His eyes travel up my face to my hair and I subconsciously run a hand over it, trying to smooth down the staticky frizz. I notice his sticking up a little bit too, and I can’t help but laugh.
He uses his free hand to smooth his hair down and runs it over mine as well, tucking a piece behind my ear. He swallows and looks down to Simon. “Any sign of anyone else?” he asks, thankfully giving me enough time to blow out a breath.
I take a deep inhale, which is a mistake because Pisces smells better than anything I’ve smelled before, including food. His scent is masculine and clean. There’s a breeze to it that reminds me of ocean air, but also a warmth to it that I can’t place.
I think he can tell that I’m smelling him. I can’t figure out what type of fae he is, even this close. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not a type of fae I haven’t met before, but it’s likely.
“Shh,” Simon responds, then in a low whisper, “I think I hear—”
“Boo!” Evan yells as he quickly scrambles up the slide from the bottom. I’m not sure how he manages to get his six-five frame into the space so quickly, but my heart jolts inside my chest. Pisces chuckles again, no doubt being able to hear and feel it.
“A slide? Really, Simon?” the brown-haired vamp from before says, sliding down enough so that he’s just above Pisces and I. He blocks out enough of the light from the top of the slide that I can’t see much anymore. Another guy gets into the slide after him—Shaun, I think.
“Honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t look here sooner. This is exactly the type of thing Simon would do,” Evan muses. “Hey, is that Bliss up there?”
“Hey, Evan,” I reply, not really able to see him anymore. I can just barely make out Pisces’ face, and that’s only because I’m still way too close to him.
“Well, this sure is cozy in here,” Evan responds. I can somewhat make out him crawling up the slide a little bit more, getting into Simon’s space.
“Watch it, mate,” Simon says, trying to move up the slide a little bit, but he only hits his head on Pisces’ shoes. “Fuck,” he mutters, rubbing a hand over his head.
“No complaining, mate, you did this to yourself,” Pisces says.
Shaun shushes us. He crouches in the entrance of the tunnel. “I can hear more people,” he whispers.
We all fall quiet. And then a bark of laughter that I know is Tubbs comes from the bottom of the slide, and more laughter towards the top. “I can see Evan’s boots sticking out,” Tubbs says to someone who’s at the top of the slide. Taser pokes his head in at the top.
“Any more room down there?” he asks, laughing.
With Taser at the top, and Tubbs at the bottom, it takes only a few more minutes for everyone else to find Simon’s hiding place. The entire group breaks out laughing as one by one we ease ourselves out of the slide.
When Simon and Evan are clear, Pisces releases me without a word, even so much as going to give me a slight push, and I go sliding forward, almost falling to the ground. Tubbs sweeps me up and sets me on my feet.
Pisces emerges next, a smirk on his face, and he completely ignores me, going to stand with Evan.
What a fucking asshole.
Shaun and the other guy, who I assume is either a band member or a tech, come sliding down next. Both are too short to be Wrath.
Pisces and Evan are the only ones tall enough that I’ve seen so far, but it’s not either of them. Pisces, I thankfully ruled out yesterday, and Evan is clearly the bassist, Eerie. No one else in the group playing sardines seems to have the correct build to be Wrath. Maybe he just isn’t playing.
The group reconvenes at the stairs of the building we started at. I fall into standing next to Amelia and Reese, who are unfortunately on the topic of having sex in tight spaces, the slide having sparked their imaginations.
I’m super thankful when Simon stands up at the top step, giving a little whistle to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, time for round two! As per the rules, the one to find me first gets to hide next! So, Pisces, come on up!”
Evan cheers, giving a couple whoops of encouragement as Pisces heaves out a sigh and heads up the steps. Shaun measures out another dose of the invisibility potion and Pisces smirks at Evan, drinking it down without comment.
“Twenty minutes, Sces!” Simon calls to a now invisible Pisces.
I grab another drink with my band as we wait. Grim and some of the other Phantoms come over to chat again, and I fall into a nice conversation with Grim.
“You did really good in that last round.”
“I cheated,” I say with a smile.
Grim grins.
“That’s very, very naughty, Bliss,” Tubbs says, standing next to me. I elbow him in the stomach, and he groans, putting his hands up.
I notice Taser has stepped aside, gone over to chat with Evan and Simon.
“Bliss cheating?” Amelia asks, feigning shock. “She’s too much of a goody-two-shoes to do that.”
“I followed their guitar tech.”
“That isn’t necessarily against the rules,” Tubbs says.
I laugh. I guess not.
Amelia and the others keep talking, but Grim and I tune out of the conversation as we watch Pinkie head slowly over to where Taser is.
The Phantom’s lead guitarist plants his feet right in front of Taser and the rest of our group falls silent.
Taser looks at Pinkie, a snarl ripping from his throat.
Pinkie lowers his head. I have to strain to hear what he says over the other people in the crowd.
“Could we talk?” Pinkie’s voice is low, but I’m able to pick up those words.
I can’t hear Taser’s reply, but I don’t need to as I watch him immediately turn and leave. He heads away towards the townhouses, ripping off his wristband and throwing it in a trash can as he passes it.
I want to go after him, but I know he’ll want alone time. You’re defeating the purpose of storming off, he’d likely say. I can hear it so clearly.
The twenty minutes are now up anyways, and it’s time for the next round to start.
I definitely do not want to be the first one to find Pisces, so I’ve already decided once we’re allowed to start seeking, I’ll be sticking around here, giving everyone else a head start.
I linger on the steps, making it look like I’m thinking about which way to go, as I scan my surroundings. My head is starting to hurt a bit as the alcohol amplifies my waning power. I try not to focus on it, instead thinking about if I were Pisces—an arrogant prick—where would I hide?
Probably somewhere showy and hard to get to. Like in a tree or something.
I decide I might as well search the building behind me. It’s got a ton of places Pisces could hide in, and while I’m pretty sure he went far away from here, it’ll take me a while to search the whole building, so I might as well.