The Princess and the Bootlegger

Celine was restless in the two days leading up to the full moon. She sent word via Jinxie to Emile to tell him where she was going. She preferred using the bat to deliver messages rather than write anything down. The night before they were supposed to leave, Kade announced that he was going down to the hotel restaurant because her chronic pacing and packing and repacking was giving him a headache. Celine stuck her tongue out at the door after he left. But with some time to herself, she decided to stop fussing so much with her bags and try to relax. She changed into her nightdress and robe, then washed off her makeup and removed all the pins from her hair. She always had it up for her performances and had gotten into the habit of painstakingly styling it every morning.

She was running a brush through her hair and humming to herself, almost forgetting where she was. She yelped when the door banged open, dropping her brush and startling Jinxie from his nap. Celine turned in her seat to make a face at Kade.

“Can’t you knock?” she said irritably.

“It’s my room too, sugar.”

“Technically it’s my room, I’m just letting you share it,” she grumbled. She stood up to retrieve her brush, which had slid across the floor. Kade arched an eyebrow at her.

“Did you get all dressed up for me, princess? I never really pegged you as the frilly pink robe type.”

Celine rolled her eyes, pushing him out of the way so she could get her brush. She poked him in the gut with it as she walked to the bed.

“Did it ever occur to you that not being such a smartass around monsters all the time might be a good survival strategy?” she asked. “You know I could snap your arm off.”

“Maybe I like that about you,” he said, smirking. Celine threw a pillow at him.

“I hope you know I’m keeping this now.”

“You are not.”

“You threw it at me. If it was so important to you, you wouldn’t have done that. Besides, you have five pillows. You only gave me one.”

“I need my five pillows, you’re the one who keeps calling me a princess.”

“Sorry, Your Highness.”

“Give it back.” Celine launched off the bed and pushed him against the wall, though not hard enough to hurt him. “Don’t make me do this the hard way.”

“You said you could snap my arm off.” Kade raised his brows challengingly. Celine yanked the pillow out of his hands, holding it behind her.

“Don’t mess with a girl’s beauty sleep,” she said. “We take it very seriously.”

“So I can see.”

Celine realized how close they were standing and she stepped back slightly, hugging the pillow to her chest. She cleared her throat. “We should probably get some sleep. We start our goblin search tomorrow.”

She climbed into bed and turned off her lamp. After a moment she sat up in the dark, able to see Kade arranging himself on his loveseat. It was pitifully small. He looked kind of ridiculous laying on it.

“Kade?”

“Yes, sugar?”

She threw a pillow at him.



The cab ride was short and uneventful, but Celine felt a mounting excitement at the prospect of seeing the ocean and being at a carnival again. She didn’t get away from the city center very often these days. She literally leaped out of the cab before it had fully stopped, not even caring that Kade gave her a bewildered look.

“It’s this way,” she said, setting off toward the fairgrounds. They were a bit early for anything to have opened yet, but Celine trotted down to the beach. They had a view of the carnival from there, so they’d know when it was time to commence their search. In the meantime, Celine resisted the urge to skip through the sand like a little kid. Kade found a spot further from the water to sit, watching her as she kicked off her shoes and scooped up small seashells. She brushed the sand off and slipped them into her coat pocket.

When it was time to approach the carnival to begin searching for their mystery goblin, Celine brushed the sand off her feet and put her shoes back on. As they walked into the carnival she couldn’t help but smile and her feet instinctively wandered toward the big carousel with its cheerful music.

“No offense, Celine, but you’re acting kind of weird today,” Kade said.

“My mom used to bring me to carnivals any time one was close by,” Celine replied. She watched the horses spin around and she heard her voice get wistful. “It would always be the three of us, mom and I and Emile. I’d eat way too many treats and they’d let me ride the carousel as many times as I wanted and I always wanted to go on the ferris wheel even though when I was little I’d always get kind of scared once we were on it. Mom would hold me really tight so I’d feel safe. Emile would win me stuffed animals and carry me around on his shoulders.” The dreamy smile of reminiscence faded slightly. She cut a sideways glance at Kade. “I suppose this is all reinforcing your image of me as the spoiled princess, isn’t it?”

“What?”

A tent beyond the carousel caught her eye and she’d have to save the rest of her trip down memory lane for later. “Look, that tent over there with the magic act. The magician is a goblin. Maybe we should start with him.”