“This isawful! It tastes like I sucked off a peanut!” I shouted.
Chancey choked, and several people around me laughed. I heard Ava let out ahmphas Ez said, “All the Mitoh kids have a thing for peanut butter. It’s our mom’s fault.”
“Yeah, Daddy thinks it’s gross. He won’t touch it,” Ava added.
“That might be the only thing me and your dad ever agree on, because this is gross,” I complained. “Talk about someone nutting in your mouth.”
“The peanut jokes are a bit much,” Ez complained.
I heard Ava take a sip, and I said, “Mm… peanut jizz!”
“Shut the fuck up!” Ava shouted, and she smacked my shoulder.
“If you guys keep talking about sex, I’m walking out,” Ez threatened.
Ava bumped into me as she grabbed a grape from our plate and threw it at her brother. It bounced off of him and hit Alistair in the head.
Alistair gasped. “Food fight?”
“Woah, now,” Chancey said. “You might want to sit back down.”
“We can’t get into trouble today,” I agreed. “We have… practice.”
The Elves hadn’t had a chance to get together for weeks; not since the Warden blood tested me. I was certain the Warden was watching us even closer now, and it’d been hard to get us all together after the wedding. But we had to be willing to take risks. Today was one of them.
Ava had suggested we teach the Elves simultension first, so they could learn how to meld their powers with another supernatural. We needed to teach them the technique before we ran out of time and the Warden concocted another plan.
“Speaking of…” Eddie started. “We should get going soon. Everyone will be waiting for us.”
“We’ll go in batches,” I suggested. “Who’s on Hemlock duty today?”
We’d all been taking turns following Hemlock, hoping she would lead us to Professor Takahashi. So far, all our efforts had been a bust.
“Marcus and I can go,” Kallie offered. “You don’t need us anyway.”
Our friends left the table one by one, until Ava and I were alone. We finished our food, then headed to The Devil’s Playground together. When we arrived, the Elves were already there.
“It’s easy,” I heard Ivy say from the stage. “Just grab the pole right here… that’s it!”
I frowned. “What’s he up to now?”
Ava snickered. “He’s teaching Soleil and Andrea how to dance.”
I groaned. Those two girls had to be the most innocent Elves in this place. “He’s corrupting them.”
“Actually, they’re doing really great,” Ava praised.
“Like this?” one of the girls asked Ivy.
He clapped happily. “There you go!”
“Okay, okay!” I called. “Everyone off the stage. It’s time to get serious.”
“Boo!” Ivy called across the room.
I flipped him off, and he burst into laughter.
“Okay, ladies,” Ivy said. “You heard the man.”
