“You have another ball. I’m sure you can lose one too,” Wren shot back.
Avery placed both hands over his mouth, scandalized, and Black cackled like it was the best joke he’d ever heard. The rest of them were caught between stifling laughter and pretending they hadn’t heard.
“We need to pass through,” Hart said, ever the mediator. “It seems unavoidable if this is the method with which Heir breaks curses, Wren.”
Wren set his jaw and looked away, knowing Hart was right. “Fine.”
“Finally,” Heir grunted, and then there was the heavy sound of chopping wood.
Wren cringed and walked farther away, waiting for it to be done and not looking directly at it when they passed.
There were more obstacles of the same variety. Small things meant to deter or send people in the wrong direction. Heir dealt with them all the same way, his axe doing the talking and sweat building on his body.
The whole group was growing antsy, however. Every time they had to stop. Every time they had to circle back around to find the real trail with the seeds. Every swing of Heir’s axe and curse he spat out like this was annoying to him.
Wren could taste the tension in the air growing and could feel it in his own chest, scratching, gnawing.
“This is taking forever,” Ash complained off the back of another set of inventive curse words.
“Do you want to take over?” Heir snapped, veins bulging in his arms.
He was the wrong person to challenge, as Ash drew himself up and met the threat with a grin. “Maybe I do.”
Heir’s hand tightened around the axe handle and Ash cracked his knuckles.
“Okay, okay, calm down,” Black said. “We all know Ash would smoke this tree trunk. Literally. There’s no need for all this male posturing.”
“Uh, excuse me?” Saint said. “You wanna bet on that?”
“Why would we need to bet?” Midas signed, bored.
“Exactly,” Black said.
“What did he say?” Saint demanded, scowling. “Just because his face is a work of art doesn’t mean it can’t be defaced.”
Avery of all people hopped in front of Midas with one wobbly finger pointed out. “If you do, I’ll, I’ll…do something about it. When I work out what that is. Just you wait!”
Midas glanced down at him in surprise.
“Ooh scary,” Heir mocked. “I’m shaking in my boots over here.”
Avery flushed and Midas scowled, moving him aside gently and squaring up to Heir alongside Ash.
Trace came to flank Heir in answer, silently crossing his arms in a tense standoff.
Black squeezed himself between Midas’s and Ash’s hips and held up his glittery fists. “Bring it on, Thing Dumb and Thing Idiot.”
“H-hey,” Echo spoke up. “That’s mean.”
“Why did we bring a child along on this mission?” Trace asked, looking down his nose at Black. “Shouldn’t we have dropped him off at daycare?”
“My foot won’t feel so childlike when I shove it up your ass—”
“Can we fucking stop!?” Wren exploded. “Teddy is out there with a creepy psychopath and you’re all here arguing about who has the bigger dick. I should have gone alone. Taking you all was a mistake!”
“He’s our family too,” Saint said. “Just because you fucked him first doesn’t give you ownership over him.”
Wren strode over to him and shoved him in the chest.
