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“He also took her to play out in the snow, crowbarred her out of her office to have lunch in the cafeteria, and punished her for being out in the dark by herself and not telling anyone where she was. And then he arranged a private sleigh ride to see the lights,” Sadie volunteered.
“You make it sound like such a big deal,” Nova muttered, looking down at Custard. “It’s not. He just needed something to do, and he felt bad that I didn’t go the Littles’ Wing this week. That’s all. He doesn’t really like me.”
“Oh please, that man looks at you like you’re a giant cheeseburger and he hasn’t eaten in three days,” Quinn said in a mischievous tone.
“He does not,” Nova demurred. “He’s just being nice because he feels sorry for me.”
“That is a bunch of horsey poo! It’s because he wants to smuggle you back to Alaska in his duffel bag!” Sadie teased.
“Ride off into dark winter on a moose with you!” Wren exclaimed.
“Toss you onto his Viking ship and row row row your boat!” Quinn said.
There was a cascade of giggles because no one was sillier than Littles on not enough sleep, and a truly wild amount of Pixi Stix.
Soon enough there was a knock on the playroom door and Master Derek poked his head in. “All right, everyone, it’s time for official lights out. Be good, please, because I wouldn’t want to have to end such a lovely sleepover with a bunch of rosy bottoms.”
“Mmm, yeah, that does sound… terrible,” Sadie said under her breath while sneaking a look at Nova, and they snickered.
“Sadie Marie,” Derek said in a warning tone.
“Yes, Daddy. Goodnight, Daddy.”
Chapter 28
“Mmm?”
Someone was shaking Nova awake, which felt very rude because she was all comfy and cozy and most importantly asleep. It’s not like it was morning, either, because the playroom was dark aside from a couple of nightlights. When Nova managed to blink the sleep from her eyes, of course it was Sadie who was leaning over her.
“S’everything okay?” Nova mumbled, because her brain was still waking up.
“Oh, everything’s fine. But it’s about to get a lot more fun!”
Sadie and Quinn and Britt giggled.
“Sadie came up with the funniest prank,” Quinn stage whispered.
Of course she had because that’s what Sadie did. And pulling a prank would be a great way to distract herself from her obsessive thoughts and recurring dreams about Linc.
“Come on, we have to get dressed! We have to hurry so we can get everything done before the sun comes up.”
Nice. It was prank-o’clock.
In the morning,the door to the playroom opened, and Master Derek walked in, silencing all the whispers with his ominous expression. The sudden lull in their chatter probably didn’t make him any less suspicious.
“Sadie, angel,” he drawled, looking no less dubious. “Why did I get a call from Lawson stating there’s a bunch of underwear hanging in the Engelmann Spruce by the heated pond?”
“Underwear? What underwear? I don’t know anything about any underwear,” Sadie said, batting her eyelashes at her Daddy. “Maybe Chief Berringer is playing a silly trick on you.”
There were snickers masquerading as coughs and Master Derek’s expression darkened.
“Sadie Marie, you know you’ll only get punished worse if you fib, and much worse if you blame someone else. So why don’t you just go ahead and fess up.”
Sadie looked up at him but pinched her lips between her teeth. Apparently, someone was angling for a spanking. Nova could understand that, they made her feel better too. Although if Master Derek was actually going to discipline Sadie, Nova herself would probably end up helping out with dishes. Boo.
Master Derek sighed, and Ryder walked into the playroom with two travel mugs, probably full of coffee, because they’d known how things were going to play out from the start. “If that’s the way you Littles want to play, we can play that way. Come on, girls. Coats, hats, mittens, and boots on. We’re going for a walk.”
It didn’t take them too long to get out to the tree by the heated pond. Actually it felt a lot quicker than it had last night, but maybe that was because it was the bright light of the morning and the sun was reflecting off the fresh blanket of snow. Not fresh enough to hide all of their tracks that led out to the tree, unfortunately.
