Chapter 97
Noah
Gods, he really was ours. I watched him from the tree line, arms crossed, pretending to be assessing fort integrity, but really, I was just trying not to let anyone see the stupid smile on my face. Elliot was crouched in the grass beside Macey, the two of them deep in a whisper–huddle like they were planning an international heist instead of building a fort. He pulled something from his pocket, the crystal, faintly glowing with his newly forming magic. I caught the shimmer of it even from here. This kid. We’d barely brought him through the portal and already he had half the pack rallying behind him and Macey swearing vengeance in his name. She used to cry when someone knocked over her fort. Now she was plotting full- scale retaliation. With him. Gods, I loved him already.
I wasn’t even sure when it happened. Maybe it was the moment I saw him gripping Envy’s hand like she was the sun and the only anchor he had. Or when he looked at me like I mattered. Like we mattered. Like we were safe. That kind of look sticks.
“He’s gonna wreck us,” Haiden muttered beside me, arms folded. “Look at that teamwork. They’ve got a battle plan. Schematics. Probably a war council.”
“They’re building battlements out of actual enchanted vines,” Levi said in disbelief. “What even is that crystal he’s using?”
Xavier just chuckled. “Envy’s raw magic. It’s got Macey taking notes. That’s terrifying.”
“Honestly?” I said, watching Elliot as he smiled, really smiled, that full kind with crinkled eyes and a laugh that sounded like something blooming after winter. “I hope he wrecks us.”
My brothers went quiet for a beat. I didn’t care. Let them see. Let them know. Because something inside me had already rearranged itself the moment Elliot took my hand back at the Veil and looked at me like I was more than just a warrior or a hellhound or a walking wall of loyalty. He looked at me like I was safe. Like I was home and gods help me, I wanted to be that for him.
“He’s family now,” I said quietly.
Xavier gave me a sideways glance. “Already making adoption papers?”
“Damn right,” I said.
Out
in the field, Elliot and Macey began layering illusions over their walls. Not just shields, trickery. Portals that looped back to the entrance. Decoys. Sound–based traps, Was that a laughing fog cloud?
“Oh gods,” Haiden whispered. “They’re evil geniuses.”
“They’re us,” Levi said with a hint of pride and he was right. After absolutely decimating the other kids‘ forts, because tradition is tradition, we circled back as a unit, lining up in front of the final stronghold. Elliot and Macey stood atop it like tiny warlords, their hands clasped dramatically as they stared us down. “We won’t go down easy,” Elliot called.
“Not without a tickle tax!” Macey added.
I grinned. Gods, I was so proud of this little nightmare prince already. He didn’t just build a fort. He built a kingdom.
Haiden
This was supposed to be a game. A light–hearted, run–‘em–down, knock–over–some–pillows, let–the–kids–feel–cool–for–five–minutes kind of game. But no.
We were under siege. By children.
“Alright,” Imuttered, crouched behind a hay bale with mud on my face and moss in my hair, “new rule: next time we let the tiny feral warlord design the game, we ask for a terrain walkthrough first.”
You mean before the illusion fog tricked you into crawling into a pit of tickle vines?” Levi snorted, belly–crawling next to me with actual glitter stuck to his left eyebrow.
That fog laughed at me.”
“It laughed at all of us,” Xavier said grimly. His shirt was half–melted from an enchanted bubble trap. “I saw my reflection wink before it exploded.”
1/3
Chapter 97
ই
“Are those bunnies still chasing Noah?” I asked, peeking over the edge of the barricade.
Sure enough, off in the distance, Noah was being herded by three enchanted dust bunnies the size of watermelons, all squeaking aggressively. One had a crown. I didn’t want to ask.
Levi ducked beside me, breathless. “They named it the Fluff Squad. We’re losing.”
“Losing?” I repeated, narrowing my eyes toward the so–called Royal Stronghold of MaceLot, which was still standing in the middle of the field like some kind of magical child–built citadel. “No, no. We don’t lose. We adapt.”
Xavier, ever the calm one, wiped a streak of mud off his cheek. “Plan?“.
“Overwhelm their defenses,” I said. “They’re relying on enchantments and illusions. Let’s push through with pure speed.”
“And when we hit another mirror maze?”
“We memorize the layout this time.”
“You mean like last time when you ran into yourself and screamed?”
“Okay,” I snapped. “First of all, that mirror was taunting me. Second, shut up. Third, on my count.”
We regrouped, four full–grown hellhounds looking like we’d been through actual war (and we have, this was worse), and took position behind the central barrier. Macey peeked her head over the castle wall and waved sweetly. Elliot stood beside her, arms crossed like a tiny king watching fools try to take his throne. Little punk looked proud.
“ONE,” I shouted.
“WE ARE SO GONNA DIE,” Levi yelled.
“TWO!”
“I REGRET EVERYTHING!” Xavier groaned.
“THREE!”
We charged. First trap? Glowing hopscotch stones that exploded with flower–scented smoke. Easy. We sprinted through. Second trap? A portal loop that kept sending us back to the same damn tree. Took us ten minutes to figure out it was the tree. Maddox headbutted it in frustration. Third? Sound–based distraction spells. Every time one of us spoke, our own voice echoed back but in baby talk.
“Haiden want a huggy–wuggy?” the air squeaked when I yelled. “No thank you, I want to burn everything down.”
By the time we reached the base of the fort, muddy, wheezing, slightly glittered and questioning all our life choices, we were hit with the final defense. A banner unfurled from the top of the castle:
“RULE #1: To Enter, You Must Answer the Riddle… or Dance.”
“What riddle?” I snapped.
“THIS ONE!” Elliot shouted from above, beaming. “What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and none after the Fluff Squad attacks?”
Noah, somehow recovered from his bunny ambush stumbled in beside us. “I think it’s us, guys. It’s us.”
Levi groaned. “Okay, dance it is.”
And
so, four elite warriors of the Underworld performed the most miserable, uncoordinated, embarrassing dance the realms have ever seen. Elliot and Macey judged us from the wall. They gave us a seven. Out of ten. Because “Xavier had potential,” apparently and then, finally, they lowered the pillow drawbridge and let us in, Inside? Tiny throne. Snack pile. Blanket–tunnel maze. A glowing sign that said;
PRINCE ELLIOT’S FORT OF DOOM & SNUGGLES.”
I looked around at the carnage. At my brothers, humiliated and breathless. At Macey giggling so hard she fell over. At Elliot, who was laughing. Really laughing and I grinned, mud and all. Totally worth it.
