"Aaaaaah... this is the life." I say happily, dipping my toes in the warm water with Lucinda and Kim.

"You have no idea how much I needed this vacation." Lucinda agrees.

"You said it." Kim says happily.

Lucinda laughs, and Kim looks at her, confused. "Huh?"

"It's just---I'm not really sure what you do, Kim." Lucinda says. "Do you work, or go to school, or...?"
"I'm...a yoga instructor." Kim says.

"I thought you worked at the mall." I say. "Garroth met you on his mall day."

"Well, I did, but I, um, didn't like that job much." Kim says. "So...Yoga!"

"What---really?" Lucinda asks excitedly.

"Yep! Or, I was, before we came on vacation..." Kim says. "I left the studio I was with."

"You did? Why?" Lucinda asks.

Kim gives an annoyed glance in both our directions. "Yes..."

"I mean, maybe I had something to do with that..." Ghost says.

"Really?" I ask, annoyed. "Come on, Ghost!"

"Ghost has been really annoying!" Kim complains.

"Mm-hm." Lucinda says. "Well, I suppose being possessed isn't fun at all."

"It doesn't seem like you two get along." I note.

"Oh, we try, but---" Kim starts.

"I don't like yoga!" Ghost snaps.

"I see." Lucinda says.

"Hey, Kim. Speaking of which. Do you realize you've been living with Ghost for more than a year now?" I ask.

"Yeah. So?"

"You don't think it's weird that we call Ghost, Ghost?" I prod.

"I mean.... Ghost is... a g---"

"I mean a name." I say. "What is Ghost's name?"

"OH!" Ghost says in surprise, and turns nervously away. "Ummmmmm..."

"Come to think about it, I don't even know that much about Ghost." Kim says.

"Ohh, HEY, how about we go swimming?" Ghost suggests. "Huh? YEAH! Let's do that." She jumps inside the pool, leaving Kim spluttering.

"Oh, Ghost, you are avoiding questions yet again." Kim accuses.

"Answering to people isn't my style." Ghost says stubbornly. Then she notices a pink ball floating behind her. "Huh?" She looks around to see she's completely surrounded by big pink balls.

"What?" Kim exclaims. "What is this?"

"It looks like the pool is full of balls." I observe.

"Wha---? How did this happen?" Kim asks.

"Werewolves maybe." Lucinda suggests.

"MMM!" Kim groans. "This is the fifth time this has happened! I wanna know who's been doing this! I wanna give them a piece of my mind!"

"Same." Lucinda says.

"But I doubt anyone's going to fess up to doing it." I butt in.

"UGH!" Kim says, annoyed. "I'm coming out." She tries to inch her way past the balls, but they bounce around her gleefully, trapping her in. "Huh? I---I can't get out!"

"Go around them!" Lucinda encourages.

Kim tries. "GAH!"

"Don't worry, you'll get it!" I say, holding back a snicker at her predicament. I hear footsteps behind me and turn to see my brothers coming towards us.

"Hey, Lucinda! Hi, baby sister!" Garroth says.

"Hey." Lucinda says.

"Hiya!" I greet.

"Zane and I are going out to a floating tiki bar!" Garroth says. "Do you wanna join us?"

"Yeah, sure!" Lucinda and I say together.

"Perfect!" Garroth cheers. He looks around, confused. "Uhhhh, where's Kim?"

"HELP! I'M DROWNING!"

"Uhhhhh..." Zane says. All of us turn to look at Kim, who's flailing in the water.

Kim looks at him. "ZANE?!" Ghost yells. She quickly dodges all the balls and appears next to Zane and Garroth back on the wood. "Hiiiii, Zaaaaane..." She giggles.

"Ohhh, yeah, I forgot..." Zane grumbles. I inch my way in between Ghost and Zane.

"PERFECT!" Garroth says, happily oblivious. "We're all here! Come on. Let's go!" He points and files off, following Zane. I notice Ghost gives Zane a weird stalk-y look before following him, so I stick to my big brother like glue until we get to the shoreline where the tiki bar is.

"Wow." Kim says. "I've never seen something like this before."

"I know, right?" Garroth says excitedly. "You have to swim to get to the tiki bar! There's lots of places here you have to swim to get to."

"HA! Sucks to be Aphmau, then." Zane says. I smack him. "Ow!"

"Come on. Let's go." Lucinda says, and dives into the water. We all follow her, me somewhat reluctantly.

"You okay, baby sister?" Garroth says, dropping back with me.

I shudder. "I'm fine. I just don't like swimming in real deep places since... y'know."

"Awwwww, it's not your fault you almost drowned in a fifteen-feet pool when you were five because the stupid lifeguards didn't know where the kiddie pool was and accidentally sent you to your death that Zane barely saved you from, lucky he was there because he'd been training there with his---" he takes a deep breath, "---swimming instructor."

I laugh. "You need to breathe more when you monologue."

"Maybe. But, you actually know how to swim now!" Garroth says happily, tugging me towards the water. I laugh again and paddle with him to the tiki place, hoisting myself up on the little ledge we have the option of standing on so we don't paddle for hours and hours.

"Ohh!" Ghost says. "It's beautiful! I could just simply die here! Again." She adds nastily as I open my mouth gleefully. Disappointed, I close my mouth.

"Yeah, let's order some food and drinks!" Garroth says. We all order drinks and weird seafood, (Garroth making me order chocolate milk because he says I'm not old enough to try any grown-up drinks---even though he just ordered apple juice. He also makes Zane get coconut milk.)

"Awww, that was awesome!" Garroth says once he's full.

"Yeah." Zane agrees. "I'm gonna need a doggie bag." I catch his eye and mime SHUT UP SHUT UP. "Uhhh---FOR ME! For later." He adds quickly. I give him a thumbs up.

"Did someone say doggie bag?" Somebody says hopefully behind us. We all turn to see a gang of werewolves---Daniel, Blaze, Rylan, Dottie, and Maria---sitting near us. "You told me they were out of doggie bags, Blaze." Daniel says, sounding hurt.

"I said you couldn't have my doggie bag." Blaze says, exasperated. "You already ate yours!"

"That's because Rylan ate mine!" Daniel says, pointing to Rylan.

"Because Dottie ate mine!" Rylan says.

"Well---Maria ate mine!" Dottie protests.

"It was de-licious." Maria says reminiscently, not sounding sorry at all. Just like from High School. We swim over.

"Oh hey, it's you guys again." Lucinda says.

"Oh yeah, you guys are Aphmau's friends!" Blaze says. "Good to see you again!"

"What have you guys been up to?" Garroth asks.

"Ahh, ya know, doin' things and stuff." Blaze says, waving his hand lazily.

"Sunbathing!" Dottie says.

"Relaxing." Maria chimes in.

"EATING!" Rylan says happily, then he pouts when Dottie sends him a weird look.

"And playing fetch." Daniel says, holding out a familiar pink ball. He throws a bunch at Kim, who gasps.

"Those balls---" Ghost says furiously. "Those are yours?"

"Yep. They're all our balls." Daniel says.

"How DARE you!" Ghost yells. "You know that pool is filled with them? I was drowning in everything left in the pool!"

"Stop it!" Kim commands. "You can't be mean to people like this!"

The werewolves watch her, looking interested and confused. "Yo, I don't like how you're speaking to Daniel." Blaze says, sounding a bit angry. "So can you like, not?"

"Yeah, that was rude." Maria says.

"Sorry about Kim, she's...not good with words." I say apologetically. "But while it was rude of her---"

"Sorr-y." Ghost says, not sounding sorry at all.

"---It's not fair that you guys leave your balls in the pool." I finish as though Ghost didn't say anything. "It makes swimming hard---"

"---and we have to clean it up." Lucinda says.

"I'm sorry..." Daniel says sadly.

"It's all right." Garroth assures him.

"Hmmm... maybe that's because you guys are so bad at catch." Maria says reasonably.

"Hey!" I sputter.

"Wha?" Garroth gasps.

"I mean, it's understandable, we are faster than you guys at fetch and stuff." Blaze says, sounding just as annoyingly reasonable.

"That sounds like a challenge." Lucinda says.

Daniel gasps. "OH! You guys wanna play volleyball?"

"I'm down." Garroth says.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Zane says.

"I'm in!" Kim pipes up, still surrounded by balls.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" I swear giddily, making everyone give me strange looks.

Lucinda clears her throat. "All right, we're for it. But, to make it more interesting... losers have to clean up the pool back at the main house." She says.

"Deal!" Blaze laughs. "You guys are so goin' down. Next to Aaron, I'm the strongest!"

"OH YEAH?" Kim challenges. "WELL WE HAVE GARROTH AND VIOLET, AND THEY'RE STRONG TOO!"

"Awwwww." I coo, clasping my hands under my chin.

"Shucks." Garroth says, blushing. Then he stops. "It's true."

"Then bring it on." Lucinda says happily.

"Oh yeah!" Blaze cheers, jumping into the water and swimming for the shore. We all follow him, with the rest of the werewolves on our tails. 

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Did you guys see I re-did the covers for all of the Aphmau stuff? I quite like Emerald Secret's cover, and wait till you see When Angels Fall!!!