Djinn Trap ONC 2023

Water Fight

Hephaestus and Irene heard the roar of "Get out!" moments before they saw Grace run out the house.

Hephe shook his head and muttered, "Leave her be." before he went upstairs to see Bunin struggling to close his own tome.

"You need help?"

"Fix this damn thing."

"So she did try burning it." Hephaestus fingered the corner of the cover, wiping away the soot.

"The next time Zeus does this shit, I'm letting everyone of his debtors know where to find him."

"Noted." The God paused to pull a thin webbing of leather from the ether and applied it to the burn until it absorbed into the cover. "How close to killing her were you?"

"The torc prevented me from crushing her throat outright. I wound up begging her to simply try me instead of doing something so dumb again, so I stayed within your plan."

" But you meant it."

The Djinn refused to answer that one, unwillingly showing that he was invested in this child.

" Ah, now we have a proper test, Bunin! " Hephaestus clasped the Djinn's shoulder, showing his approval—and sealing his fate on making two more mistakes with his great granddaughter, in the same visit.

~~~

By the time her tears had dried up, there was a racket on the other side of the fence. Adrian poked his head over it. "You want to come over and have a water balloon fight?"

He said it so simply, like he hadn't heard her bawling her eyes out. She shook her head, not wanting to show her face to anyone who would pry. Although he hadn't asked her before, she was willing to lose this opportunity to get to know him better. It would feel...strange...after feeling something for the monster she feared most.

It almost felt like she was cheating on her crush—which weirded her out all over again.

Besides, school would start back up in a few days, and Adrian would be assigned to her. There wouldn't be many chances to be alone after that.

The boy decided to climb the wall and come sit on the grass cross-legged in front of her. "I don't understand half of what's going on in your family right now, to get you this upset."

"It's not my family..." Well, she didn't know that, and suspected too much that scared her further. After all, her family was vast, spanning well over 3000 years. Even those closest to her had some really primitive ideas of what nurturing should look like.

But worse, how could she ask this guy about having sex with a Djinn, just to get that monster off her back? Even if he didn't like her, he was her temple guard. Sooner or later these two were going to clash, if she couldn't figure out something to get rid of the Djinn.

Suddenly, a water balloon fight sounded much better than opening up to someone who was just trying to be polite. "Who... exactly...is going to be playing?"

"My brothers, a couple younger kids from the neighborhood."

"June?" The latest son of Dionysus. He had a horrible time trying to pass on powers to his kids. Most those children found various ways to overcompensate. June filled his void with messing with girls because it wasn't his dick that troubled him.

"Yeah, him too."

"Well, if you can keep him off me, I'll play."

After all, what was an awkward handsy cousin in comparison to a monster in your bedroom? Although she had to admit that June had less compassion. If she had enraged him like she did the Djinn?

He'd have done far more than grab her by the throat. That's why he was another one that was difficult to talk about.

~~~

The game was pretty simple, 3 groups of 8, working in pairs to soak the opposition into submission.

Surprisingly Grant (Adrian's older brother) had set the teams fairly evenly, making sure weaker and younger kids were paired with an older, stronger teen, to prevent ganging up on people. This was the first time Grace had seen him be fair-minded. She was more used to him having not-so-private arguments with girlfriends, looking for all the world like he was trying to not turn them over his knees and spank them. Just seeing him that enraged always left Grace a bit scared for any girl who was close to him. She couldn't be close to him.

She was paired with Adrian—no surprise, there. June started to object, but Grant shoved Valarie on his team—someone who liked the idiot's attention.

Within minutes of the game starting, Grace forgot to worry about the Djinn, having to talk to people, whether people were using her, to just be a kid for another day. Adrian did such a good job of fending off June that he found anyone else to attack besides the new working pair.

That dynamic didn't matter much, as neither boy was focused enough to beat Grant's tactics. Just watching him in-game reminded Grace that temple guard used to be an army position, and that tacticians were in high demand. If their people were at war, a young demigod would be better served by such a man.

Grace wasn't omnipotent, especially when it came to herself: Adrian caught a glimpse of the sparks that came off the Torc in that moment, so he decided to pull her aside. "What did you just do?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You were sparking the Torc, so it was likely a power manifesting. What was it?"

Grace shook her head, "I just noticed that Grant is a natural at organizing games and noticing everyone's weaknesses. It is a rare enough skill to be halfway decent at—he's well beyond that level. I don't think the family will let him loose, but he's wasted as a temple guard...aww, man, they're off track again."

""I'll mention it to mom, see what she thinks." Adrian gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "Now, run before we get hit."

Grace dodged out of the awning they were under with her guard covering her back, as she went in to gather more balloons. Valarie was camping. Adrian caught her in the face with one of his remaining two, causing her to drop hers, which gave Grace enough time to grab a few more of her own. There was a long shot—one she swore she'd miss, but she had to try it. June and Grant were nearly toe-to-toe, arguing over something stupid. Grant would move if June was hit first, so her first launch was in hopes of hitting him, and as soon as she recovered from the swing, she tossed another into the air right behind it.

She made both, Torc sparking the whole time.

That spurred the two guys into getting back into the game, which went on for another good hour before everyone was drenched enough to call it quits.