"What?" Logan gulped. "I made sure we were out of that building in seconds!" But there it was, on the TV. It was a grainy video, taken from a few blocks away from the Excalibur as it burned. The cameraman was focused on the roaring flames as they billowed out of the top floor. But there, at the very bottom corner of the frame, a human-shaped figure passed by in a blur. The documentary rewound the footage, paused it, and then a red circle appeared over the figure. "Could this be the demon that Zeitmann was talking about?" the narrator asked rhetorically. "We may never know the truth..." "Holy shit, we're famous!" Rafe jumped up and down on the couch excitedly. "I'm just glad that the footage was so grainy," Logan sighed. "It looks about as credible as all the other paranormal videos out there." "So, one-hundred percent legit?" Rafe chuckled. "This John Zeitmann fellow seems to be causing problems," Oliver said with a frown. "Shall we dispose of him for you, Logan?" "What?" Loga

Logan left one hand focused on the uprights, and then he moved his other hand over to the cross beams. He lit the first beam up with a jade fire and lifted it into the air. Carefully, he moved the wooden pole over to its resting place. One end sat on the beam where Rafe stood, and the other rested on the middle upright. As the cross beam approached, the goblin jumped up and grabbed it with both of his tiny hands. He gently guided the wooden beam into the slot on the top of the upright and then violently brought his fist down to knock it into place. Rafe hopped onto the crossbeam with one foot in front of the other and raised his hands up into the air. "This is Rafe Masterson's first attempt at the quadruple front-flip, a move that could very easily net him the gold." The goblin's voice and expressions went stern as he imitated an announcer. "Will he pull it off?" Rafe let out a grunt and somersaulted forward on the wooden beam, using his hands and feet to keep his momentum going at

“I still can’t believe nobody has questioned all the insane amounts they’ve been putting on his cards for the last few weeks,” Logan said, shaking his head and stepping aside so the elves could enter.“That’s the beauty of being wealthy, Logan,” Beth clicked her tongue. “Unlimited credit card lines that the companies know you’ll be good for.”“A million dollars in his bank account doesn’t hurt, either,” Kelda added. “Beth’s been making the minimum payments so that nobody gets suspicious.”“Now, close your eyes, Logan,” Beth giggled. “I’ve got a surprise just for you.” “Oh no,” Rafe groaned from the top of the stairs, and Logan realized he’d been about to rejoin them even though his arm was still human-shaped. “Is it one of those ‘surprises’ that requires me to leave the room?”Logan shut his eyes and held his open palms out in front of him.Not a second later, the elve dropped a heavy item into his hands. It was about the size of a regular sheet of printer paper, bu

“After seeing what the girls’ outfits did to you and that pizza guy,” Rafe explained as he adjusted his bowtie, “I can just imagine how wet all the chicks are gonna get when they see the Rafester in his tux.” The two of them stood next to each other in front of the full-body mirror that was located in Quinn’s bedroom. The party was now a little under an hour away, and both of them were now putting the finishing touches on our “classy” attire “I’m really glad we were able to convince you to wear some clothes.” Logan chuckled as he tossed on his jet-black jacket. “Yeah, I’m not really one for fancy clothes and shit,” Rafe explained, “but once I saw the little Rafeler tux in the box Kelda brought home, I couldn’t pass it up. Maybe this sweet outfit will be the difference between squirting some baby batter into some hottie’s hot oven or going home dry.” “Maybe once you’ve mastered your transformation powers.” Logan shook his head and pushed the s

“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Logan tried to bring the conversation back to the here and now and nodded to the people entering the yard. “We’re starting to fill up.” As they continued to chat, dozens and dozens of people wandered into the party. It was hard to keep an accurate headcount, but there were at least five or six dozen people who passed through the sliding glass door as the night progressed. About thirty minutes into the celebration, the whole crowd went silent and then began to applaud. It looked like their guest of honor had finally arrived. Marvin Franklin looked just as sleazy here as he did on television. He wore a black tuxedo that matched his parted black hair, complete with a matching raven-colored bow tie and shoes. The man used so much product in his hair that it appeared greasier than their pizza from earlier. Franklin walked through the crowd, waving at his constituents as he made his way toward the dance floor. Every