Simone was running only a tad late. There was a reason for her being late. “I’m sorry… I was organizing the best way to show off what I do.” She was clearly showing Pearl up as she walked up to her teens and hugged them. “Now… If you will follow me.” The children and adults were all curious since there had been a large booth that was still covered up. Simone grabbed the sheet and pulled it off. There were about thirty children’s books, art, and other artisan hobbies displayed. “For most of my time I write books on various topics but I primarily write children’s books like this one.” She showed it off. “My books are sold in every continent and in most languages since I’m fluent in most.” The children were amazed at how gifted Simone was.

“I also co-own a guild for the arts. I run in that whenever they need me as my partner Ciara is in the building most of the time. My husband, Lewis,” she showed him off over in his stall, “and I often get bored so we have found a variety of different jobs to do. I am a hostess for a bar our dear friend Raile has and he is also the one responsible for printing my books and delivering them. Lewis acts as a bouncer. We do that on the weekends when the kids are asleep at night. During the week about three times Lewis and I perform on stage with music. Lewis plays the piano and I sing.”

Everyone had wide eyes. “What else can you do?!” Some of the children were speaking up. Simone wasn’t expecting how excited they were and she chuckled.

“We spend time with our children. We have a detailed schedule since as you know our family is quite large. We also have dance lessons here in Benin we do once a week. We consider it a date of course,” Simone loved showing her life off. “As for being a stay-at-home mother… It isn’t boring at all. It’s very fulfilling getting to spend every waking moment with my babies. As they have gotten older they haven’t needed us around as much so that’s why we’ve branched into other things.”

She was tapping her chin to think of what else they would do, “Lewis and I also do a paint night with our friends to unwind from the week. What else…” She could see the look in her children’s eyes. “What else my dear little ones?”

Pearl scoffed at the whole production. “You mean to tell me that he can play the piano?” She pointed over to Lewis, who was entertaining a different group of kids with his grapes.

“It’s not much, but it’s honest work,” Lewis said with a smile as he showed off the grape varieties that he had planted. “This one here has a great taste, see? Much sweeter than this one. Once the-” He looked up from what he was doing to see a very angry Alshaya marching towards him. “Yes dear?”

“Daddy, she’s insulting you. She says we’re lying about yours and Momma’s talents!” Alshaya puffed her cheeks out. “Prove her wrong.”

The man smirked, and stood up. “And how exactly would you like me to do that?”

“The school has a piano for music lessons,” Everett said in an off hand comment. “Might be of use.” Despite their many fights, Everett and Alshaya were close, and would do anything to help the other.

It took only a few minutes for Lewis and Simone to request the piano, and after a quick set up, Lewis’ fingers danced across the keys creating a complex, interwoven melody. Simone walked over and sat down next to her love, and started to sing along with his melody. At once, they were the center of attention, with all eyes on their booth.

“See, I told you,” Alshaya said with a satisfied, smug grin.

“Shut up,” Pearl replied. “I bet you won’t amount to anything anyway, you loos-”

She never finished. As per usual, Alshaya threw the first punch.

A Surprise for What’s Inside

Everyone was sitting down for the weekly family dinner. Everyone. From the smallest Terrowins to the oldest Terrowins. They were all at the table conversing with one another. Ezili was holding Lucas’s hand and she had a smile on her face. They had been married for a while. It had taken Lucas forever for Lewis to agree to allow him to marry her. It was a beautiful wedding out on the cliffs of the island. It overlooked the lake the island was in with the water spraying up. It was special to both of them. Xeik had been the one who had married them.

It was Ezili who finally called attention to herself and she stood up. “I have something I need to say.” Lucas looked nervous but Ezili was all smiles. “Lucas and I are expecting!”

The whole room got a happy buzz going on as Ezili sat down and got her congratulations. It had only been a matter of time for them. However, it was Lewis and Simone who were quiet. Simone was looking from Lewis to Lucas and back. She was calming moving her hands under the table.

It took Lewis a moment to register what was said. On one hand, he was happy for his daughter. On the other hand…well…

Lewis raised his hand to throw a dagger. Only there wasn’t one where it should have been. “That’s odd…” He reached for his spare. Missing. His second spare. Also missing. He cursed, and stood up. “Fine. Guess we’re going to do this the hard way.” Without waiting for anyone else to ask what was happening, he dove across the table in an impressive manner, and grabbed a cake knife mid-roll, doing an impressive spin as he threw the knife in a perfect arc to hit-

Nothing. Lucas was gone from his chair, and his presence wasn’t anywhere on the island. “Bastard…”

—

“AAAAAHHHH!” Lucas was screaming, shielding his face, only to find that he was floating in a brightly lit room. The sounds of waves crashing against the shore could be heard, and the air felt warm and tropical. “Am…am I dead?”

“No,” Xeik said as he dropped Lucas on the floor. “You’re still quite alive. Though you might need new pants,” he said as he walked over and helped the dead-man-walking up. “I had a feeling this might happen, so we have some…contingency plans in place.” He smirked and dusted off Lucas’ shoulder. “He’s slowing down though. You should have at least gotten a graze.”

Ezili knew this was going to happen. Lucas knew this was going to happen. Lewis was predictable and he was very, very overprotective of his daughters. Lewis barely showed any emotions except to Simone. But there was one thing he did know how to do.

Simone had been slowly taking his daggers away from him the entire time. She had forgotten about the cake knife though. “Damn, it…” Simone said under her breath. Her baby boy almost got knifed!

“Daddy!” Ezili let out. They knew. They knew this would happen but still, it was shocking to see the ex-assassin at work.

Simone put her hands up and one of Lewis’s daggers hit the floor. “He’s probably at Angela’s.” Simone let the cat out of the bag. There was only one or two people who would interfere with Lewis like this.

This couldn’t have been good for the baby.

“Oh I know damn well where he is,” Lewis said as he stood up, pulling out a dagger that Simone clearly missed. No one was quite sure where he hid it, or how. He opened a portal and immediately stepped through to see Xeik standing there waving.

“One more step, Lewis, and I’ll drop you. You know I can take you down with a single hit.”

“I dare you to t-” Lewis fell over immediately without taking a step.

When Simone and Ezili walked through behind him, Xeik shrugged. “I lied. I hit him the moment he came in.”

—

Lewis awoke in a dark room with a single light floating above his head. “I’m gonna kill the bastard,” he said under his breath as he struggled against his restraints.

“Who sent you?” a familiar voice rang out from the darkness. “Who do you work for!?” Xeik stepped into the light. “Always wanted to try that line. I never was one to interrogate someone.”

“Let me go.”

“No,” Xeik said as he knelt down to eye level. “Because if you kill Lucas, Ezili’s baby boy will be without a father.” He paused. “Wait…it might be a girl. But no…probably a boy. Not sure why though…” He seemed distracted at the concept of how or why he knew that. “Could be either…but not, definite-”

“Shut up and let me go so I can kill Lucas. Then I’ll just ask Angela to bring him back to life. Fair?”

“Not a chance,” Xeik replied. “Simone? You want to talk some sense into him?”

Simone had dipped out of the party to bail her husband out of whatever jail he was currently in. “It’ll be fine Ezili. Whatever Xeik is doing to Lewis… He’ll be fine. Lucas is fine.” She patted the girl’s shoulders and made her sit putting cake in front of her. “Just be happy and pregnant.”

Ezili nodded and picked up her fork. If they were with Angela and Xeik everything was fine.

Simone came in to Lewis yelling about being let go. She crossed her arms and tilted her head. “If you kill Lucas who is going to terrorize Llonan?” She was trying to sacrifice her future son-in-law to save her son. Llywellyn forgive her for that. “You know you wouldn’t get away with hurting Lucas. So settle on what we talked about.”

She whirled a finger, “Llonan bought Alshaya a ring you know. It’s very, very pretty. It matches the purple and pink of her eyes. He plans on talking to you about it as soon as he’s done shitting himself cause you dove after Lucas.” The look on Llonan’s face was priceless.

“You were holding out on me,” Lewis replied, the betrayal clear in his voice. “You consorted with the enemy…” She could feel the sadness oozing through their resonance. “I don’t know if I can keep going on this way…” He knew Llonan was the true enemy, but he felt as though the world were against him.

“You know, you’ll get to spoil the grandkid, right?” Xeik said as he turned the light in the room on. “That boy will never know a day of pain in his life. You’ll get all the fun and none of the work. It’s like raising a kid but only the easy parts.”

Lewis cocked his head to the side as he contemplated the meaning behind it all. “Spoil the kid?” He smirked. “Yeah. That’s the perfect revenge…” He started to cackle madly. “Hype the child up on caffeine and sugar, and then send him home to an unsuspecting Lucas…show him the meaning of pain and suffering.”

“I’m…not sure if this is better or worse,” Lucas said as he peeked his head in. “At least he’s not trying to kill me?”

“OI! BOY!” Lewis shot his head up, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Y-YES DAD?” Lucas jumped to attention.

“Do you like fishing…?”

That Girl is on Fire

Simone sat there buttering bread for breakfast. Rex and his family had stopped over so Simone was busying herself with all of the grandchildren. She was humming away as she got jam for those who wanted it. “There we go…”

Mone looked perfect with her tiny baby belly she had going. Everything was peaceful in the Terrowin house. Lewis had a few late nights where he was doing gods knows what to Llonan… but that was the price to pay for her baby boy Lucas being alright.

“You know Mom… I haven’t heard from Natayl in a while,” Rex spoke up and the children quieted down to hear the drama.

“Never heard of her,” Mone said calmly as she continued to dish out food to all the kids.

"Mommy can we have some bacon?" Damond and Remy scooted their plates forward and she gave them each two slices as she kissed them on the top of their heads.

Rex gave his mother a look, and nodded slowly. “Right…you see, I had been looking into her for awhile now. I really wanted to have a chat with her about her…behavior. Hazel and I have been talking about how it would be good to right some pasts wrongs, and I felt like given my previous…erm…’nature’, I should apologize. But you see…I’ve been digging in-”

Lewis popped around the corner and came in, drinking coffee. “Oh, Rex? Morning. Sorry, had a late night.” He yawned and sat down next to Simone.

“Dad, you remember Natayl, right?”

“Never heard of her,” Lewis replied as he reached over for some bacon. “Sit down, Rex. Stay awhile. It's good to see you.” He seemed oddly at ease.

Rex sat down, and Silva brought him some coffee. “Right. Well, turns out she went missing the night of the fire. Her and her whole family. I thought it was kind of odd, so I’ve been looking into it.”

“Shame,” Lewis said almost immediately.