Page 102

I’d been right.

Whatever that powder was, it seemed to take a while to kick in, or maybe Gabe hadn’t managed to sprinkle it over all the balls, because at first, everything was normal. Carl had arrived, looking half-asleep, so people assembled themselves into pairs, then teamed up for doubles matches. I paired up with Kit, and our first match was against Crossbody and Vince. Soon, the big, echoing room was filled with the distinct hollow crack of balls being hit.

Then the sounds started to change.

The fae in the room noticed first, having the best hearing of all of us. Only slightly better than a werewolf’s, though. Across the court, I noticed Crossbody’s brows furrow and his nose wrinkle as he glanced around quickly, but he didn’t say anything.

Then a second or two later, I heard Larkin on the next court over laugh and ask Seb, “Did someone just fart?”

Seb chuckled, whacking the ball back over to Holt and Taylor. “I don’t know, sweetheart.”

Larkin burst out laughing and looked around, lowering his paddle. “Seriously, someone keeps farting. Like, non-stop. That’s hilarious.”

Soon, across all five courts in the room, the typical thwack of balls being hit had been replaced entirely by a continuous chorus of farting sounds, loud and rhythmic and varying in pitch.

I looked at Kit. They were biting their lip and looked like they were about to burst, their face ruddy from the effort of holding back laughter. Further down the room, Gabe was already on the floor crying with laughter, his paddle abandoned, while Biff stood over him with his hands on his hips and a wry look on his face.

“I can’t believe it worked,” Gabe gasped, sounding in pain from how hard he was laughing.

“Angel,” Biff chastised lightly, his tone a little stern and his expression a mix of exasperation and amused affection.

“Seriously, who keeps farting?” Mads called.

“It’s not a person!” Holt looked around wildly. “It’s the… it’s the fucking balls! The balls are farting! What the fuck?”

“Hey, why are all the balls making a farting noise when you hit them?” Heidi called from the end court.

Holt huffed in irritation, slamming his hands onto his hips. “For fuck’s—Vince!”

“This wasn’t me!” Vince was laughing so hard he struggled to get the words out. “Oh my god, I can’t breathe.”

“Is it really that funny?” Crossbody asked doubtfully.

“Yes!” Tears were streaming down Vince’s cheeks. “Especially because people are still playing. Oh god—”

He was right. Larkin and Seb had begun hitting the ball to each other. Seb looked amused, but he was clearly doing it for Larkin’s benefit, who cackled every time the ball hit a paddle and emitted a loud, curt fart.

“You’re all really lucky Hogbody isn’t here,” Holt said snippily, raising his voice to try and be heard over the constant fart noises. “He’d be calling you a bunch of children right now.”

“He calls us that anyway,” Dan yelled. He and Rafe were laughing, still gleefully playing against Biff and Gabe to keep up the stream of farts.

“Okay, you were right,” Rafe said to Dan with a grin. “This is fun.”

Chapter 36

Oh, Lucifer

Klaus

It was one of those days.

I’d had it all planned out, and it had started so well. It was my day off after working every night shift at the motel since last Thursday. I hadn’t slept yet, because I’d finished my Sunday night shift at seven this morning when my aunt arrived to take over, but I’d gone to David’s Diner for breakfast and the waitress there, a ghoul called Mindy, had given me a free slice of pie.

All good so far.

I’d gone home to shower and change, but decided not to sleep yet. I had a list of all the little jobs and chores and tasks I’d been putting off, and now that I’d moved into my new place, I wanted to tackle them for a fresh start. Besides, I knew Brian was at his team-building day today, so my plan had been to get my jobs done, go home and sleep, then wake up refreshed before exfoliating and moisturising my entire body so I was ready to be utterly ravished by him when he came over later.

Instead, I’d struggled to cool down after my shower, and the lack of sleep seemed to be making me uncoordinated. I slipped on the bathroom floor and almost cracked my head on the edge of the tub. I forgot that the pants I wanted to wear, my favourite pair made of super soft and flowy material, were in the laundry, so I had to put on jeans. When I went downstairs to make a cup of coffee, I ended up accidentally elbowing the creamer bottle as I turned to grab it and spilled creamer all over the counter.