Chapter 2
Jade
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
I almost made plans to go to the lake for the day of Pras’s leaving.
Only, I wouldn’t leave Eran and Vatten alone with their five newborns when all hell just might break loose on the farm.
Eran would never leave me in a situation like that.
Never. Still, we weren’t attending the party or the ceremony.
I was staying at home with my door locked and my baby safely inside the house.
A few days before I had Daryl Moonscale himself come out and check the magical security system.
Jondi was only starting to relax into life and enjoy himself on a daily basis and I wasn’t about to let a couple of dead dudes fuck that up.
“Eat the dead,” my lion yawned into my thoughts, his big wings stretched out inside his inner sanctum.
Oh, I would if I could. Instead, I spent the day doing all the legwork in case we had to lock down for a few days while considering if it would be better just to go down to the Burrow.
If Medwin hadn’t been down there in his nest, I might have suggested it to Vatten and Eran.
Their little ones all had their eyes open now.
The puppies hadn’t shifted at all but one of the kittens, Amanzio, had shifted into human baby form twice now.
He didn’t stay that way long once he realized the rest of his siblings weren’t following his lead.
While Eran and Vatten spent the last part of his pregnancy preparing the house for their kids, I set up an area in mine for them.
I didn’t know why at the time, but since I’m half dragon, I figured perhaps Vatten’s pregnancy might’ve set off some nesting instinct in me.
Not that I’d ever speak the words aloud to anyone, but I sort of always figured that eventually Eran and I would give up on trying to find our true-mates and settle for each other because it was better to turn a friend into a lover than to be alone.
“DAD!” Jondi called from his bedroom, followed by a splash of water.
Not that I ever had long to sit around and dwell on being single. Plus, I liked Vatten. He and Eran just sort of fit together.
“Jondi?” I called back, sprinting through the house.
“My rock bit the pool again,” he stood akimbo, frowning at the hard plastic kiddy pool currently leaking water all over his bedroom.
His little hands were fists against his hips.
I smiled, because I knew what he had tried to do again.
In one hand he hid a clam. In his other, was his newest favorite rock.
This one had little divots in its surface that made the rock appear to have two eyes and a tiny little smile.
“Were you trying to open a clam again?” I asked, trying my best not to smile. He was a good kid, but there was only so much water a tarp could stop from soaking into the carpet.
“Maybe,” he said, “but the rock bit the pool.”
“Hmmmm…. Didn’t we bring a cutting board in here for that?”
“Yeah…” he toed at the ground. “But it’s too big when I’m me.”
“You’re always you, kiddo,” I said, shoving one of the many towels we kept in his room into the crack in the tub as a temporary solution.
“I meant when I’m the real me,” he said.
Not so long ago, Jondi wouldn’t play in his room by himself.
He was a wildborn otter shifter who washed up on the shore and was passed around a few foster homes before he ended up with me.
I might not have been a water dwelling shifter, but I had worked as a lifeguard for a few summers and knew enough to fill in my knowledge gaps when I needed to.
“You’re always the real you,” I said again.
Dealing with a leaking pool really was the last thing we needed today. I thought about calling Vius or Claw to bring another one from storage, but they were working security for Pras’s whole thing today. Under normal circumstances, I’d have asked Eran, but…. Five babies. ‘Nuff said.
“We’ll have to do some draconic engineering,” I said, lifting the pool and tilting it so that the water all rushed to the uninjured side.
“DON’T EAT IT!” Jondi screamed and grabbed my leg, smacking me with the clam and his rock as his little hands wrapped around me. “I NEED IT!”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to fix it, but first we need to dump the water,” I said, stepping over him.
“I need that too!” he said, jumping from foot to foot and waving his rock in the air.
“We’ll refill it after I fix its boo-boo.”
“Why do they all keep breaking?” he sighed.
Eventually, I hoped he’d put that together. Rock plus plastic equals springing a leak.
Jondi followed me into the bathroom where I dumped out the water and dried the pool as best as I could. Then I grabbed a face mask from the bathroom cabinet and made him put it on.
“I don’t like it!” he stomped his feet.
This was a light day for him. He was handling this better than he would’ve when he first moved in with me. Add in all the tension in the air and the fact that Eran was bringing his whole family over in a few hours and he was having a really good day.
“Just while I breathe fire. You know the rules,” I said.
“But you’re the one breathing it, not me!” He said, sinking down into a squat.
I was just happy that he was keeping his mask on.
A second later, once I was certain that mask would stay in place, I blew the lightest little puff of fire at the injured section of the pool until the plastic melted in on itself.
Outside of my wings, I didn’t show many draconic traits, but I did have a fire in my belly.
Sometimes my mane caught fire too if I was irritated.
Fortunately, it took a lot to irritate me.
When I was satisfied with how melted together the pool was I dunked it under the faucet until it cooled.
“How did you do that? You made it go back together!” Jondi peered over the tub before climbing in. “Fill it up?”
“We will in a minute. We need to talk about when Uncle Eran comes over,” I said.
“No putting the babies in the pool. No putting the babies in the tub. Or in the potty! No putting the babies in the sink. No putting the babies anywhere. No feeding the babies fish or anything. Uncle Vatten is still tired and he’s going to stay in his real form and not be in person form.”
“And we’re all going to stay inside this time. We’re going to keep everything shut up tight,” I added. “We’re not going to answer the door for anyone.”
“What if it’s someone on fire?” he asked me.
“Why would someone be on fire?” I asked, arching a brow.
“Because they played with the stove or something,” Jondi shrugged.
“You let me or Uncle Eran handle that then,” I told him. “If someone comes to the door for any reason, you let us handle that.”
“What if it’s a bad dead man?” he asked.
“What’s the plan if it’s a bad dead man?” I asked him because we had talked through this a lot. I hated scaring him, but having a plan for a guy like Ferrick only seemed logical.
“I get into the basket with the babies as the real me,” he said and I let the semantics go for now.
“Uncle Vatten will lay on top of us and I stay there until you or Uncle Eran come get us. Or I can go with Grandpa Carmine or Uncle Vius or Claw. I don’t believe anyone else.
And I keep my eyes closed and try to keep the babies quiet. ”
“You got it. What happens if I pick up the basket but don’t say anything?” I asked him.
“I stay quiet because we might be going out in secret,” he said. “But the bad dead men are leaving, right?”
“That’s the plan, kiddo,” I ruffled his wet hair. “Are you ready to have your pool back?”
“Yeah. I just hope my rock doesn’t get mad and bite it again,” he sighed.
“You gotta use your cutting board, baby,” I smiled, knowing good and well that before Pras Lavender left that pool would spring another leak.