The Stronghold 2: Immortals

Super Glitches Again

"Shaade!" Georgina shouted the second I re-materialised on the top floor. Rebecca and Sophie battled to hug me and Emmi hung back, arms folded with one eyebrow raised.

"You smell of books," she informed me. "You never pick up any books. What's going on?"

"Oh hell," Velena exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "No. NO."

"Nothing like that," I said with a laugh. "Calm down. All of you." I pried Rebecca's arms off me and gently pushed Sophie away. "Why is there a centaur in here?"

"He's my husband," Amalia said proudly. My eyes widened slightly but I held out my hand for the centaur to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you," I said. "The name's Shaade."

"I have heard many things about you, Shaade," the centaur said. "My name is Adam." The centaur was black bodied with white feet, a white tail swishing too and fro at his rear end. His human half was pale with floppy hair and a roundish face.

I fixed a smile onto my face and lowered my hand, turning to Georgina. "So, George, whaddup?"

"Pepper," she said through gritted teeth. 

"What's he done now?"

"Divorce papers." She threw a file at me and I caught it deftly. 

"I thought you wanted a divorce?" I said, flicking through and wincing as he listed reasons why they should not have a marriage counsellor. There was lots of swearing.

"I did," she whined. "But I wanted to be the one to give them to him! Not the other way around!"

"Does he have a divorce lawyer?" I asked, shutting the file with a snap and putting it on the desk above Caspar's head. 

"Yes, one of the best," Sophie chipped in. 

"We can't even beat him in that," Rebecca grumbled. 

"Yes we can," I declared. "Give me a minute." I shadow-walked downstairs and poked Brian on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Leave me alone," he mumbled, curling into an even tighter ball.

"I will carry you upstairs in your pyjamas if you don't wake up and listen to me," I threatened. Brian raised his head and sighed, reluctantly sitting up with his duvet like a cape.

"What now?"

"Do you happen to know any good divorce lawyers?" I asked.

"Yeah, a friend of mine is one," he replied. "Why? Do you have a secret husband you haven't told anyone about?"

My heart ached and I subconsciously reached up to touch the two wedding bands I wore around my neck on a cord. "It's for a friend," I said. 

"Pass me my phone," he said. I snatched it up off the table with shadows and placed it in Brian's hand. He scrolled through his contacts until he found the person he was looking for, saved under the contact name 'Sparkle Girl'. He called her and put it on speaker so that I could hear.

"Hello, Sanj?" he said once the phone was picked up.

"Bri Bri!" the lawyer, Sanj, said happily. "Long time no see!"

"You can't see me, I'm on the phone," Brian said, his neck flushing slightly from the 'Bri Bri'.

"Oh yeah. So, why did you call?"

"A friend of mine has a friend who needs a divorce lawyer," Brian stated. "Can you get to Pridian in... five minutes?"

"Make it seconds," Sanj replied, hanging up. An instant later there was a knock at the door and Brian waved for me to open it. I pulled the front door open cautiously and was greeted by a short woman in a suit with a sparkling briefcase covered in glitter.