OVERFALLS (The Merworld Water Wars, Book 2) (23 page)

Unfortunately, it was at that moment I shoved the cookie in my mouth. Chewing with his ticked off eyes on me wasn’t the most comfortable situation. He shook his head reprovingly.

Swallowing hard, I said, “Hey, we’re about to go out there and get our butts booed off. I think that warrants a cookie treat.”

“Come on, Jex, cut them some slack,” said Treeva, stroking his wing. “One cookie won’t hurt their conditioning.”

Just as she said ‘one cookie,’ a loud crunch drew our coach’s attention away from the sexy mer-princess, a.k.a. our buffer. Polly had another cookie protruding from her mouth.

With a completely straight face, she removed the cookie. “The demons made me do it.”

“That’s it. Come on, move along, go.” Jex ushered us away from Mom.

We waved goodbye, thanked her for the cookies, and followed Jex, whose feathers were ruffling over and over again. Once at the end of the loop-around, we found the entrance to our tunnel. Walking through the tunnel with its sea-themed walls and tiny lights, my heart started beating so hard, I actually felt lightheaded.

“Stop here,” said Jex, blocking us from going any farther. “They’ll announce the merfolk first, then us. Our bench is that pom-pom sofa to the right of the field; theirs is the gel bench to the left. We got the comfy seats.”

Peering around Jex’s extended arm, I saw two inventive seating arrangements. The Merpeople’s bubble-filled bench looked like it was made from a bar of purple and blue soap. Team Normals actually had an awesome sofa covered in colorful bundles of fluff. The stadium itself was larger than I thought, and the partial roof acted as an awning, covering nearly all of the stadium seats. Straight ahead, at the opposite end of the field, I could just make out team Merpeople’s tunnel; it was right next to a large band decked out in purple and gold uniforms. My vision might be playing tricks on me, but I swear the band members have angel wings.

“Like the band, Gully?” asked Jex before I could quiz him on their wings.

Bouncing on her heels, Gully squealed, “Did YOU get them here?”

“Pulled a few strings or, more accurately, feathers,” he replied.

“Are they angels?” I asked.

Jex smiled and bowed his head. “One hundred percent angel. They’re former band members who still energize their cul-de-sac in heaven with the sounds they helped make famous every fall.”

“They’re awesome…just awesome,” I said.

“Thank you, Jex!” Gully threw her arms around our coach and squeezed until a feather fell off. “And you even got them to play, despite Madame Helena!”

“When heaven loans its angels, there’s not much a stuffy bitch can do about it,” said Jex.

Speaking of the stuffy bitch, Madame Helena, dressed in a lace green gown with an extraordinarily long silver train, sauntered across a glossy, curvy stage set near the band. Doctor Tenly followed her, playfully kicking her train from side to side, much to the joy of the crowd. Even when disguised as our bedraggled Principal Jeepers, Doctor Tenly was clad in his usual kookiness, this time in the form of a silver satin suit.

“What the hell is he wearing?” asked Trey.

“Doctor T’s finest, I would assume,” I said, laughing, as he danced like a Broadway star across the stage during the band’s seriously awesome rendition of an upbeat Big Band classic.

“Treeva probably finds that sexy,” Jex grumbled.

“No question,” I said. “And so does the crowd. Listen to them! They love him!”

“He’s such a cool principal. I wish we could hang out with him more often,” said Gully.

“You already do,” said Polly, frustrated. “We all do. All the time.”

“But not when he looks like that,” Gully said wistfully.

“Absolutely mind-boggling,” said Polly. “She hurts the hair on my arms, I swear to you.”

I gave Polly a little squeeze. “She’s just in a happy world of her own most of the time, Polls. We could probably all take a note.” Polly just snarled and sighed.

Standing before a sea glass microphone, Madame Helena held her arms up to the crowd. “Welcome! Welcome, everyone! With a blow of the ceremonial conch, we will have the official start of the first ever opening ceremony for the Overfalls!” The crowd went absolutely wild, waving flags, cheering, and blowing smaller versions of the event conch.

Our principal stepped up to the front of the stage, held the conch to his lips, and blew. With bursts of fireworks shooting up from all angles of the stadium, the crowd’s enthusiasm was both deafening and contagious.

Madame Helena clapped her gloved hands. “Thank you Principal Jeepers! Now that we’re all ready to start the show, let’s meet our teams!”

“Jex,” I said, “where’s Luxton Vipor? Think I see Anderson sitting down. Vipor is the only one missing.”

Jex cleared his throat, coughed, and shrugged. “Probably some Imperia meeting.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.

“Nothing, Lord, you’re a suspicious sort, aren’t you?”

“Wonder why,” I groaned.

“From the depths of our sea to the sands of land, everyone please welcome your team…the Merpeople!” shouted Madame Helena.

Waving to the roaring crowd, team Merpeople followed their coach across the sandy field.

“Are they wearing uniforms?” shouted Polly.

“Looks like it,” said Jex. “S.O.B.’s didn’t send me that memo.”

Their uniforms were comprised of grey pants, ultramarine-blue tops, and purple and grey jackets with golden fins embroidered on the left side. Truthfully, their uniforms looked really nice, and I was a bit embarrassed to walk out in front of everyone like a group of mismatching misfits.

“Their malfunctions made them outlaws; their behavior banished them. Away from the mainland they had to go, and here they landed. Team Normals, step forth and take your place,” said Madame Helena with zero enthusiasm.

“Bitch,” growled Meikle. “One day. One damn day.”

I took a deep breath as Jex led the way. Just as we had the night of the wish ceremony, we walked across the field arm in arm. The crowd didn’t boo, much to my surprise. Actually, they didn’t do much of anything. It was a sarcastic silence. Oh, well. Their silence only accentuated the claps and cheers from Mom, Mr. Gibbs, Maile, and Mrs. Waterberry. Waving at them, I thought I saw Maile wearing a strange pair of purple, pink, and teal glasses with long, glowing fiber optic strands sticking out of the sides.

Taking our seats, I glanced across the field to find Troy; his gentle eyes were already firmly set on me. He’ll never know how calm and safe he makes me feel…
unless he’s The Dealer
, whispered my inner jackass.

“Well, he’s not, so shut the eff up.” Oops. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Yeah,” said Jex. “You cracking up, or is it just part of your usual abnormal-ness?”

“It’s on par with her usual nuttiness,” offered Polly. For once, I’m glad her social ineptness kicked in when it did.

“What Polls said.” I really must try not to be so introspective and analytical, especially now that I’m actually conversing with my inner self aloud. Needing to remove the freaked look from Jex’s face, I quickly changed the subject. “I hope Maile can see.”

“Didn’t you know?” said Ophelia. “The doctor made her some glasses. She can see in daylight with them.”

“I thought I saw her sporting some! That’s amazing! Go Doc!” I said.

“Yeah, wait until you see them,” said Trey.

“Bad?” I said.

“Worse,” said Jex.

“Worse than worse,” added Meikle. “Oh, Christ, Ham-lena’s starting to talk again. I hate having to hear that bitch’s voice.”

“Let us also give a rousing welcome to visiting members of the royal families,” said Madame Helena, gesturing to a luxury suite at the very top of the stadium. “Princess Treeva Tombolo and Prince Kyle Zale!” Treeva and Kyle stood and bowed to the crowd, much to their delight. “Before we begin, team Normals, where are your uniforms?”

A Fairhair child rushed forward with a microphone for Jex. “If you please, we never received notice that uniforms were a necessity for today’s festivities.”

Madame Helena shifted her weight to one leg, curving her body like a snake. “How unfortunate. Please be certain to have your uniform sets by the first match. As you can see, your challengers look smashing! Try to mold your choices after theirs.”

“Yeah, thanks,” said Jex, grumbling as he sat down.

“Uniform sets? What’s that?” inquired Trey.

“Match-appropriate uniforms. I imagine each individual match will require different materials or designs,” replied Jex, muttering under his breath about Madame Helena. His opinions, as well as his words, were quite strong. Still, he wasn’t wrong.

Folding her hands, Madame Helena leaned into the microphone. “Team Merpeople, team Normals, ladies and gentleman, fans, and fanatics…please meet the theme of the Overfalls!”

Throwing her arms behind her, the sea churned and growled as six massive waterspouts burst from the sea. The crowd and I were clearly on the same page, given the volume of our gaps. Hey, I’m from Texas, I know tornadoes…and they make me want to wet myself. Combine six freaking F5’s with water, and I’m about to own my jeans in a really gross way. As the six waterspouts twisted their way closer to shore, they began merging and stretching, eventually forming one giant, rolling wave. It was taller than the stadium by at least a mile.

“Are they gonna, uh, let it, um, crash down on us?” I asked, gripping Jex’s feathers in my fist.

“Seeing as they need us for the games and the fans for the cheers and money, I’d say not,” said Jex, not the least bit fazed. “Plus, they love themselves too much to die.”

“Right. It can go away now, though,” I mumbled, looking over at Troy, who was trying to tell me to calm down.

Screams filled the stadium as the massive wave approached with its light sprays of water. Just as it was about to crash down, the wall of water stretched and hovered over the entire stadium.

Looking up at the watery ceiling, I whispered, “Insane.”

“If they get my hair wet, hell hath no fury,” said Polly. Only Polly would think about her hair as a monster wave threatened to crush our bodies into dust. Of course, then we had Gully, who was giggling and bouncing like a child on Christmas morning.

“Wait, do you see that?” asked Trey.

“Women! In the wave!” I shouted, pointing at several of them.

From inside the wave, hundreds of bluish-skinned women with long, cream-colored, tentacle-like hair, shiny, scaly skin, webbed hands, and yellow eyes emerged holding crystal globes.

“Welcome the undines, elementals of water!” bellowed Madame Helena.

The undines tossed their globes at the ground all around us with such force that they exploded like bombs. Once they had thrown all of the globes, the creatures smiled, baring their needle-sharp teeth, and retreated back into the wave, which swiftly drew back and settled into a calm, undisturbed sea.

Everyone applauded, whistled, and celebrated their performance, until someone screamed, “LOOK AT THE GROUND!”

Patches of sand shook and shifted. Then, in a series of loud blasts, palm trees sprouted from the ground, growing as tall as the highest part of the stadium. Massive red, pink, and orange petals popped out of the sides of the trees; connecting with one another, the petals created a bed of exotic flowers that circled the field.

“Butterflies!” cried Gully, pointing at thousands of butterflies as they surfaced from the centers of the flowers.

“Get. Them. Off. Me. Now!” Polly had her chin tucked to her chest, her arms between her knees, and her ankles crossed.

“Polly, what’s wrong?” asked Ophelia.

“It’s her demon halves,” said Meikle.

“Butterflies are intrinsically good, so they make the demon bits very anxious,” I clarified.

“I’m going to barf petals any second,” said Polly, holding a finger to her mouth, lurching a little.

“Barf petals?” asked Jex.

“At Christmas, it’s holly,” I said. “You get used to it.”

While we were busy with Polly, the trees produced vines, swinging monkeys, and toucans. The whole field looked like a jungle.

“They forgot just one thing,” I said.

“What’s that?” asked Trey.

“Tarzan,” I said, smirking. “It’s all about the loincloth.”

“Or skimpy leaf,” said Ophelia.

“You might be a clean freak, but you definitely have a dirty mind,” said Meikle. “Definite plus.”

An Amazonian woman with brown dreadlocks swept across the stage in a dress made of mud, leaves, flowers, and bark; twelve tiny, but sturdy gnomes waddled along behind her.

“Oh, they are so cute! I want one,” said Gully, squealing.

“No, trust me, you don’t,” said Jex. “And if they hear you call them cute, you may lose a finger.”

Madame Helena shook the woman’s hand. When she tried to greet the gnomes, they snarled and stomped. “Ah, well, please meet Galeena, goddess of the gnomes, elementals of our earth!” Once again, everyone showed their adoration and appreciation for our visitors.

Galeena and her gnomes smiled serenely before disappearing within a thick fog rolling in off the sea. The fog obscured everything around us; I couldn’t even see Jex, who was sitting right next to me. Soon, the fog dissipated, taking the jungle with it, leaving behind a wispy haze, which swiftly grew into enormous, dark, thundering clouds. Shooting lightning to the left and right of the teams, the storm clouds suddenly lightened. In an instant, a swarm of nearly invisible, fairy-like creatures with large, sparkling eyes sprang from the clouds and sprinkled a blue shimmering powder over everyone in the stadium.

“You have wings, Marina!” yelped Gully.

“So do you!” I said, looking over my shoulder at a pair of dainty blue wings. Everyone in the stadium now sported pretty blue wings.

“I don’t want wings,” groaned Meikle.

“Don’t complain. I’d love to have wings, but my demon pieces are completely against them. They’re literally gagging inside me. I may puke bug wings,” said Polly, putting her head between her knees.

Jex shook his head. “The more I learn about this team, the scarier this event becomes for me.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, greet the sylph, elementals of air!”