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“Turn there, end of the road, keep to the right.”
My stomach squirmed as we pulled up. The little road was already lined with cars, and the driveway up to the house was packed. When Mum-Mum declared a Lemon Cake Bake Off, you knew the whole family found a reason to be there.
“Pleaseremember to behave,” I pleaded with Akoni.
“Yes, yes, I heard you.”
I already heard the shrieking and screaming of all the cousins, splashing water, a few barking dogs, and the smell of meat on the grill.
Akoni took it all in. “This is—”
“North Carolina,” Auryn said.
“Oh boy,” I said. “Oh boy oh boy oh boy.”
“Come on, time to parade your harem.” Keon grinned, took me by the wrist, and hauled me towards the front door.
“Can we see your room?” Akoni tried to squeeze around me into the foyer. “Where is it? Is it up there? It is sosquarein here!”
They dragged me into the foyer. Akoni gawked at the unfamiliar architecture while Keon dragged me (and Auryn wrangled Akoni) towards the sounds of the party down the hallways into the massive kitchen which was laden with food and drinks, and beyond that, a very large number of people out in the sunlight.
“By the Nine Dead Gods, they do multiply like rabbits!” Akoni blurted out.
Auryn snatched him by the ear. “Do. Not.”
Keon grinned. “Party’s this way.”
“But there are so many of them,” Akoni said to Auryn.
I stepped out onto the patio first. All my aunts, uncles, my grandparents, a billion cousins, nieces, nephews...
Time to act like nothing was weird. My dad was at the grill waving some tongs around and gesturing at my Uncle Bill, while both wore floppy fishing hats. “Hey, Dad!”
I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug like the last time I’d seen him we hadn’t had a huge fight.
I released him before he could push me away and kept my smile bright.
Akoni had picked up a bendy straw and was flicking it. Auryn was hissing at him to put it down. Keon grinned.
Bill and Dad looked at each other.
“Guess plus-one is plus-three?” Bill disapproved.
“Uh… you didn’t mention…” I asked Dad. I prayed my other uncles showed up quickly. Bill was a bit of a stick in the mud.
“Well…” Dad admitted, although he didn’t sound apologetic. “We didn’t think you were serious.”
Awkward level: increasing. “Of course we were serious. I even convinced my boss to let us borrow the private jet.”
Dad and Bill looked awkward. I hid a smirk. That’s right:fully functional adult.
Functional Chaos dragon, not so much.
“What’s with the hair?” Uncle Bill asked.
“Lost a bet,” Keon said.
“Can wenotcomment on how many bets I’ve lost?” I said to him.
