Ditching the Demons

Why You Should Never Judge a Party by Its Flier

Why You Should Never Judge a Party by Its Flier

The explosion, as it turned out, was nothing more than an overly extravagant method of distributing mass amounts of glitter over all of the party goers. As the sparkling essence settled down upon the crowd, Sam suddenly grabbed Myra's wrist and growled down at her.

"Don't you dare eat any" he said through clenched teeth.

Myra tore her arm out of his grasp. "What the bleep have you been smoking? I don't eat glitter from unknown sources!" she seethed. "But since you're so against it, I may just have to give it a taste."

"No. This is Muchán pixy dust. One taste of it and you will be on—what can only be best described as—a massive sugar high for the next 15 hours."

Myra stared at the sparkling substance on her hand.

Wow, that's some potent pixy dust.

Sam stepped closer. "And just to make sure it doesn't enter your system in any other way..." He began furiously wiping the dust off of her shoulders, head, and arms.

"Hey—ouch—not so hard!" Myra squealed while trying to push him away. But that only encouraged him to intensify his efforts, which made her squirm even more. "Watch the hands, perv—and stop smirking!"

"Aww," Lilla cooed. "Look at that, Meris, they're flirting."

The 'flirting' couple immediately turned to her and glared their hardest. Meanwhile, a disembodied male voice had begun to make an announcement.

"...and here, honored residents of Waterhouse, is the main girl of the night, your hostess...Tarsi!"

A poof of silver smoke once again came from the center of the courtyard, revealed a petite girl with short pink hair, bright blue eyes, golden fox ears, and a bushy golden foxtail.

"Helloooooo everybody!" Tarsi waved to the crowds. "I know y'all were expecting to see Silversin as your hostess, but unfortunately she feels a bit unwell this evening."

Concerned gasps and murmurs spread across the crowd, but Tarsi quickly subdued them all with her hand motions. "Now don't be too worried folks, she's not suffering and I'm sure her discomfort will end soon, especially if she knows y'all are having a good time. That's why she asked me to substitute as hostess for her this evening. 'Cause everyone knows, Tarsi loves to have fun. So c'mon y'all, let's get this party started!" She immediately immersed herself in the quickly exciting crowd.

"Come on Meris," Lilla said while attaching herself to his arm once more. "Let's go watch the kabuki play." She dragged him off before he could complain.

"Well..." Myra paused to prepare her wording. "Tarsi certainly is interesting."

"I think 'idiot' would be a better word to describe her," Sam said.

"Oh, do you know her?" she asked him.

"No." Sam said bluntly as he walked away.

"Okay, Dru?" she turned to face the spirit demon. "Tarsi looks like a fox demon. Do you know her?"

"I'm sorry darling, but I do not." He looked over to where Tarsi was starting an egg juggling tournament. "And I don't think she's a fox demon either."

"Well, what else could she be?" Myra inquired.

"I don't know, and it bothers me," he said solemnly. "But a stroll by the lake will probably make me feel better," he said with a lopsided grin.

Myra rolled her eyes "Only if you don't get too familiar. I know you like me, but right now I only think of you as a friend, okay?"

"Well, at least that's a start. And I promise, until you are ready, this is as familiar as I will get," he said while gently taking her hand in his.