The Witch Chronicles (In Bloom Book 2.5)

A Royal Gathering Part 4

Without a moment to lose, Frederick and I began our speed walk to the pool. On the way, I remained on the lookout for any other teams following us or some sign of the glass slipped being hidden elsewhere.

Even though I was focused on winning this game as quickly as possible, Frederick was more interested in making conversation, "So, what's your favorite color?"

I ignored him and continued walking. He then stopped dead in his tracks, yanking me along with him.

"What?"

"I wanted to know what your favorite color is," he pouted. "It's quite rude to not answer."

"Why does it matter what my favorite color is?"

He batted his eyelashes, "Pretty please with a cherry on top, milady?"

I deeply exhaled in annoyance, "My favorite color's purple. Happy now?"

Frederick stood for a moment, thinking, "What about your favorite food?"

"The souls of men, now let's go!" I dragged him along back on course. Of course, his train of questions never ended.

He seemed all too eager to talk about himself, though I tuned out the majority of his monologue.

At last, we came to our search site.

Lounge chairs, perfect for bathing under the sun, were arranged around the crystal-clear pool. Numerous palm trees were planted to provide the ideal amount of shade. There was even a smoothie café beside the jacuzzies. I spotted several volleyball courts in an area filled with sand and a tall ladder someone would climb to ride one of the three massive water slides.

I could already envision the incredible parties that would be hosted here.

Some members of the fencing team were seated at the lifeguard stations in each corner of the area. But the best part was no opponents seemed to be around.

Frederick and I began to look in between and underneath the lounge seats. Sure enough, at the bottom of the pool, was the glass slipper.

Why someone would wear such a pair of shoes, I had no idea. It did not sound too comfortable or practical.

Though, it was aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Had I not known the shoe was made of glass, I would have easily confused it for diamond or any other clear gem. The simplicity of the shoe's overall design made it truly elegant.

"Can we slow down a little?" Fredrick gasped. "It took me a while to style my hair and I don't want to ruin it."

"We need to find a way to get the slipper out."

"Why not use rope?"

I looked around, "Where, genius?"

I saw Rielle and Azul quickly approaching the pool from the opposite end. Looking again at the water, a lightbulb went off in my head. I began to manipulate the stream of the water in order for the glass slipper to come towards me.

"Cassandra, wait! We can't use magic," Fredrick reminded me.

"No, the rules say we can't use magical attacks. There's nothing that says we can't retrieve the slipper with magic."

Though, it seemed Azul and Rielle had a similar idea. With the two of them working together, their magic began to counteract mine.

Instead of helping, Frederick only observed me do all the work with a stupid dreamy expression plastered on his face.

No matter. I could overwhelm them some other way.

Finding it pointless to struggle in this tug of war, I change tactics. I began to drain all of the water out of the pool. I took advantage of Rielle and Azul debating over a new strategy. While the water level kept lowering, one of my vines slithered along the walls of the pool to snatch the glass slipper and bring it to me.

Once the shoe was in my hand, the handcuffs on our wrists disappeared and the water level of the pool returned to normal.

"Congratulations you two!" Lucas came flying down on his broom. "I saw the whole thing. I think you even beat Rielle's record. That was the fastest time I've seen someone find the shoe."

"Lucas wasn't kidding," Rielle said, coming closer to me. "Thank you for a fun game, Cassie."

Azul made no further comments. Instead, he headed back towards the direction that he came.

"Yes! We did it, Cas!" Frederick aimed to give me a high-five.

Instead of doing the same, I grabbed him the wrist and yanked him down, "You did absolutely nothing, Mr. Afraid-to-Ruin-Your-Over-Gelled-Hair. As the student council president, you're supposed to be running a school, yet you spent the entirety of the game running your mouth." My volume lowered and I warned, "Call me 'Cas' one more time and I'll show you exactly why wizards were afraid of witches."

I turned myself to walk away from him, but his fingers grasped my wrist, "Cas, I want-"

Before he could say another word, I shoved him into the pool. I threw the glass slipper back in the water, much further than where it was before.

"It's one thing to call me Cas. Never grab me like that again."

Rielle jumped in the pool after Frederick. Lucas covered his mouth with his hand to prevent his laughter from escaping. Having reached my limit of interactions from Royal Sword Academy, I slipped away from the scene. I did not care whether I got lost or bumped into someone else. I wanted to be as far away from Frederick Charmant as possible.

Walking between the lounge chairs, I heard someone comment, "Nice move, witch."

"You've been here this whole time?!" I approached the Savanclaw dorm leader, who was lounging underneath the shade of one of the palm trees. There was even a smoothie on the table beside him.

"Nah, just for about an hour, but I was starting to get bored." He sat up and pulled out a deck of cards from the table's drawer, "If you don't need to hurry back to your boyfriend, what'dya say to a game of Speed? It's been a while since we played."

I took off my uniform jacket and sat on the lounge chair beside his. "One game."

"What's up with you?" he began to cut the deck and shuffle the cards.

"It's just so annoying," I rolled up my sleeves. "Can you help me understand why guys just don't take "no" for an answer?"

"Cause those guys are accustomed to getting everything they want. Who was it?"

"First, one dunderhead with a hospital urine hat and now a guy who thinks he's all charms."

At least with Rollo, I knew his intentions. With Frederick, I had known the man for half a day and I still could not figure out what made his gears tick. And I hated how much my mind would not let the matter go. I wanted to know what he was up to.

First, there was his friendly welcoming act at the beginning of the conference. Then, he personally addressed me with a wink, barely acknowledging Jaqueline and Isabela. And now in the game, his get to know me questions never ceased. On top of it all, it was his suggestion as to where the glass slipper would be. Lo and behold, there it was. It was too easy.

And I was supposed to have the first dance with this man at the ball tonight. He had to have planned out this victory and the partner selection which was supposed to be random. Maybe he even made up the rule that team members could not be swapped.

Leona began to arrange the cards on the table before dealing them between him and I, "If you get into a fight, I got you covered."

"What?"

"Why're you so surprised? I know you're not the type of person to pick fights for no reason and it takes a lot to piss you off. We all know that Malleus has your back no matter what, he's got the doe eyes for you. I never would've imagined him being so territorial. Anyways, if a guy can't get a one syllable word through their thick skull, make sure the one punch you throw is one he never forgets."

Hearing his words, it brought a small smile to my face, "Thanks, Leona."

He offered, "Want a smoothie? I got mango an' passion fruit. Seems right up your alley and actually tastes pretty good."

"No, I need this conference to be over...and a coffee."