Dead Men Smiling

8.1

In fear of you forgetting me, I made sure you'd hate me.

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Dolan let out a sigh as he recalled what he saw the previous night. He agreed with Mira on how he chose to thank him for giving him the strength to kill Jess. If he hadn't used magic to trap Mira, Jess would have been alive long enough for him to have had an idea on what to do to heal the Demon of magic.

"Brooding is definitely not a good look on you." Maximus snorted. Dolan looked at the Siren and didn't comment at what his friend had said.

"Are you ok?" Maximus asked after a moment of silence washed over them.

Dolan was tempted to shake his head and tell him that he was fine but at the pointed look he received, he simply let out another sigh. The Siren smiled at Dolan as he put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. I want to show you something in your garden."

"But I know every nook and cranny of the garden."

He was proven wrong.

He stared at the pond in awe, asking himself how he didn't recognise it when it was right next to the raspberry bush he had charmed to produce blue raspberries. He resisted the urge to pull his lower lip between his teeth and settled for watching Maximus swim before realizing that his friend had disappeared.

Maximus grinned in the water and slowly swam towards Dolan. He surfaced slightly and frowned at the lack of the younger. He got out of the water and looked around. "Where is he?"

"Right here." Dolan's voice sounded before he materialised in front of Maximus and promptly pushed him into the water. He quickly surfaced and pushed him wet hair out of his face as he glared at the laughing white haired male.

"You're a brat," he said with a laugh. "You planned to pull me in, didn't you?" Dolan chuckled.

"Just help me out."

Dolan stared at him suspiciously before holding out a hand. Maximus took it and attempted to pull Dolan into the water, frowning when the younger simply staggered before pulling him out of the water.

He rolled his eyes as Dolan cast a spell to dry his clothes. "How come I was unable to pull you in? you always fell for this trick." "I'm a lot stronger than I was then, Maxi."

"Of course you are."

Once they were a few feet away from the pond, Maximus broke into a run, screaming a familiar sentence at the top of his lungs. "Dolly's it! Dolly's it!"

The gold eyes glimmered. "I'll get you."

Leilani was walking with Jez, Malum and Reign when Maximus knocked her over. He smiled sheepishly and pulled her to her feet while explaining how Dolan was it. The older smiled at the memories the statement brought before dismissing the animals and taking to her heels, closely followed behind by Maximus.

Rowan was stretching after meditating when an upside-down Leilani appeared before him. He frowned. "What, pray tell, are you doing?"

She giggled. "Dolan's it."

"It's about to be one of you two."

Leilani smiled as she disappeared into the trees leaving Rowan with the white haired male. He grinned and mockingly bowed before running, vaguely aware that Dolan was close behind.

Sora rolled his eyes as he watched Leilani run by, take off her shoe and threw it Rowan's legs knocking him over. He glared at her as he stood and handed her the shoe. "What was that about?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm the only one without added advantages so I'm allowed to use all resources to my advantage."

"With that strength of yours, might as well let anyone use all advantages." Sora chimed in as he walked towards the pair. "You two do realise that Maximus and Dolan are nowhere in sight?"

Leilani grew worried and asked of their whereabouts to which Sora shrugged as he announced that he was going to have an early dinner when he bumped into Dolan and fell on his backside. The younger covered his moth to hide their snickers. "Sora's it."

As soon as that sentence left his mouth, the three around him ran into separate directions. He sighed as he stood, realizing that the game had changed from tag to hide and seek. Whoever he finds first will make the game change.

Leilani meant red light, green light; Rowan meant Simon says, Maximus meant riddles and Dolan, tag.

Before he could think too much about it, Maximus was in front of him, breathing heavily. He feigned concern. "Why do you look like you ran a marathon?" "Dolly's it."

"Really?" Sora rose a brow. "I was certain that Maxi's it!"

He yelled the last part out and ran away before Maximus could ask one of his impossible riddles.

The dark haired Siren cursed under his breath before looking for someone to ask a riddle.

He found Leilani staring intently at a paw print that belonged to an animal of the dog family.

"Do you suppose that it belongs to Reign?" She asked aloud when he approached her. He glanced at the print and shook his head. "No. it would've had an H as a way of us knowing."

She nodded before looking at him over her shoulder. "What's on your mind?"

"I want to ask you something."

"I'm not avoiding Dolly."

He rose a brow. A guilty sow is always pregnant. "That wasn't the question. I just wanted to ask what's high, goes down and makes it hard to breathe?"

"I'll be it if I fail to answer, won't I?" She sighed.

He nodded.

"The usual three tries?" "As always."

"A tree?" "No."

"A hill?"

Maximus snorted.

She sighed. "That riddle makes no sense. I'll pass. Red light."

He froze mid shout, locking eyes with Leilani's dark brown eyes. He kept himself still as she walked around him, looking for any sign of him moving.

She huffed. "You're still. Even the tail. I'll go freeze Rowan then."

When he was certain that she was out of vicinity and wouldn't return, he unfroze and turned his attention to the setting sun. he frowned. "Something's about to happen. I better tell dolly and Wynter."