Chapter 33
Chapter thirty-three
Isla
‘So Hilda has a boyfriend?’ Fauna asks with a big smile on her face.
I nod, feeling my cheeks pinch at how much I’ve been smiling today. Liam’s surprise had been Hilda and her new mans wee nest, the two working tirelessly to become a family.
‘He’s a little strange, but he is infatuated with her.’
‘She’s right,’ Liam chimes in from beneath me.
He somehow manoeuvred me onto his lap at some point and strategically managed to distract me enough not to care. Despite being around so many people.
‘They suit each other perfectly. He’s cheeky and she’s still the boss.’ I continue.
‘Sounds like someone I know,’ I hear Luna mumble rather loudly under her breath.
‘What was that?’ I ask as Fauna stifles a laugh.
From the rumble of Liam's chest against my back, I assume that he’s joined Fauna in the amusement.
No, it’s not lost on me the similarities I have with a pigeon. It’s not something I ever imagined myself admitting but I also I didn’t think the world would end and I’d end up moving into a football stadium ruled by masked men either but here I am.
I look around at my friends and family surrounding me and a flush of warmth blooms in my chest. Never in the past seven years did I think I would find another home. Somewhere I would feel safe enough to start letting my stony walls down, but here I am at home.
The only people still missing are the other half of my group.
The motions of the little intruder inside my belly steal my concentration, and the little terror wedges his foot in between my ribs.
A gasp leaves my lips as I clutch my side and Liam instantly holds me.
‘Now what did I tell you about kicking your mam?’ He jokingly lectures my stomach.
Liam’s been having quite the conversations with our son recently, and it’s been adorable watching them.
At first, I’d felt him rubbing soft circles across my bump, then it quickly moved on to him being wholly entertained by his hand being target practice.
Anywhere Liam put his palm a wee foot would appear not long after.
Something that has now graduated into the wee guy doing what only feels like full-blown acrobatics in there.
‘He’s going to be a good fighter. I call dibs on training him.’ Fauna raises her hand and Ruaridh quickly pulls it down.
He shakes his head, sighing dramatically. ‘I am the best. And that means that I will be the first one to train him.’
Liam scoffs but doesn’t correct him. I don’t doubt that the wee guy will have an abundance of people eager to help train him — myself included. And the warmth in my chest grows even more as I embrace the support of those around me.
Loud hooting comes from the tunnel that football players used to walk through to enter the football pitch and I straighten. So do the others, and I’m sure I see Fauna reach for her axe right as Liz notches an arrow.
A scream echoes out of the tunnel, and just as both Ruaridh straightens to his full height and Liam moves to shield me, an all too familiar squealing six-year-old comes running out.
Collectively we relax.
Maybe for other, slightly saner people, the sight of a child dressed in a princess dress and a serial killer mask would make them a tad worried.
They’d possibly even go as far as being concerned but for Elsa this is nothing out of the ordinary.
In fact, she nearly gave half of us a heart attack the other week when she decided to cover herself in fake blood and run around the stadium.
And of course she had to do it squealing her little head off.
The girl doesn’t have an indoor voice. In fact, when I think about it, I don’t think I’ve even heard her attempt one. But I can’t fault her for it. She knows who she wants to be and all of us respect it, even if it means we'll probably be deaf by forty.
Not taking her mask off, Elsa promptly stops a few feet from the tunnel's entrance.
Curious at her slightly more unusual activities, we all watch intently, waiting for the grand reveal. And true to her build up the reveal is pretty spectacular.
Ever so slowly, four figures approach the tunnel entrance.
Amelia, Eloise, Clover and Isabella are here. They are out of their room and here!
Fauna and I jump up, running over to them. We don’t stop until we're all in one big group hug. They laugh as we squeeze them, fussing about how good they look and how much fun we're about to have.
‘Alright, alright.’ Amelia laughs. ‘Who are you and what have you done with resting bitch face, Isla?’
Fauna tips her head back, howling with laughter and my cheeks begin to burn.
‘Leave her alone.’ Luna slings her arm across my shoulder, guiding me back to where the others are sitting. Not before looking over her shoulder and saying, ‘Took you long enough.’
‘You know how hard it is to say no to her,’ Eloise glares at where Elsa is dancing around.
‘She’s six.’
‘She’s an evil genius, that’s what.’
‘She’s fucking brilliant.’ Luna laughs.
We reach the others and their conversation dies the second we arrive.
Well, this is awkward.
The other members of the Skulls — the ones not out scouting or on watch — halt everything they were doing to… are they looking at their fucking feet?
‘What the fuck is going on?’ Luna gapes at them.
A few look up, their expressions sheepish as they nervously scan the girls behind me.
Are they… shy?
‘Aw na. You can’t turn into them.’ Luna points at the silent group of women we practically dragged out here. ‘They are the shy ones. You,’ she points at the group of tatted men. ‘Can’t be fucking silent too. We can’t have two socially awkward groups mingling!’
Liam snorts and I stifle a matching giggle.
Luna throws her head back, groaning like this situation physically pains her. Then she stomps away from us.
I feel the colour drain from my face as panic begins to set in. The familiar feel of an icy chill sets in as my mind begins to race.
She can’t fucking leave me here with these lot. I’ve only just started speaking to people myself.
‘Where are you going?’ I shout after her.
‘To get a shit load of booze!’