A Perfect World

Chapter 26

“1!” I shout, the first into the air, taking a perch in a dark corner on top of the inn, watching the others fight for the little pieces of satin silk, adorned with intricate metal charms and small gems. Within a minute more than half of the competitors are missing at least one ribbon, about a third missing 2 of their precious flags. The first one to lose all of them is Meg, with her bright green feathers. A minute or so after, Ty follows, his bright blue wings a minority in the group. Different tactics arise, ranging from circling to diversions, and from faking attacks to faking injuries, most losing their effectiveness within 5 or 10 minutes. A faked injury by Cherry loses Emma two of her ribbons, leaving her with one on her left ankle, completely visible since her jeans are rolled up. She’s extremely cautious after that, but her competitivity gets in the way a bit. Temmy, Matt, and Claire circle Jake for a while taking all of his ribbons through diversions within 2 minutes, once they start actually attacking instead of faking.

I perch on the inn for about a half hour, watching as Claire, Chay, and Emma lose all of their ribbons, then debate joining in, since I’m now the only one with all of my ribbons, but decide against it. Not long after, Emma loses her last ribbon to Jack, the first K/O of his rampage that knocks Emory out as well. Jaydia and I are the only one of the blue team left for a few minutes after that, then she gets knocked out of the round by Cherry, who takes Temmy soon after.

Someone lands behind me, and I almost jump off the roof before I see that it’s Dan, holding his finger to his lips and taking a seat against another low wall opposite me, watching the game. He still has three ribbons and sports a nice dark bruise on the left side of his jaw. Matt takes Cherry and Jack’s last ribbons before Dan and I come out of hiding, those who had lost all their ribbons visibly astonished that they had forgotten about the pair of us. I still have all 4 of mine, giving me, possibly, the biggest advantage, but an equally terrible disadvantage, since I’m the biggest target now. Neither of them are half bad at the game, so I don’t count on experience to help me win this game. Dan and I make a silent alliance against my brother, circling around him as he tries to attack us, each acting as a diversion to the other.

Matt dashes through the air toward my left arm, losing his right ankle ribbon to Dan. Obviously not learning from his lesson, he reaches for Dan’s right arm, losing his last ribbon, his left ankle, to me, giving me a high five as he flies by.

For a second, neither of us moves, watching the other for any potential weaknesses. It’s now completely dark, the only thing we can really see of each other or the spectators being our neon-feathered wings. We circle around each other, the light from the inn occasionally brightening our faces. Finally, I reach for Dan’s right arm, missing by a half inch, and losing my right ankle ribbon. I react quickly, twisting around his back and claiming his left ankle ribbon before hovering just out of range in front of him. The game has already been going for an hour and a half, and we’re the only ones left, making for a tense standoff, at least, from my point of view it is.

Dan reaches for my right shoulder, claiming it, but losing his right arm and ankle, leaving me with two ribbons, and him with zero.

“Good game, Dan,” I say, tucking the ribbons in my pocket and high fiving him, the others coming down lower to congregate with us.

“You guys were awesome!” Meg cries out, hugging me tightly.

“Thanks, Meg! You did great too!” I reply, pulling her hair over her face and laughing.

We land on the grass near the inn, all of my friends’ wings vanishing except for mine, Claire, Emory, and the Fates’, which were summoned under a different, more powerful, spell.

For a while we talk about the game, commenting on each others’ performance and the skills we had in-game. Chay, Meg, Emma, and Jaydia had a size and agility advantage, often getting them out of sticky situations. Cherry, Chay, Temmy, Emory, Claire, and I had various degrees of experience, which gave us advantages in the beginning, but they got lost within the first hour or so. Jack, Jake, Emory, and Emma had athletes’ advantages since they all played sports, so they had good endurance, speed, and balance overall. Dan gained a similar advantage to me, by waiting until only 2 competitors were left to strike, and Ty was able to stay out of the way pretty well to watch other tactics.

Finally, we got cold, and the adrenaline of the competition wore off, so we thanked the Fates for everything, and booked two rooms at the inn, one for me, Claire, Emma, Emory, Jaydia, and Meg, and the other for Dan, Jack, Matt, Jake, and Ty. We get ready for bed, all of our belonging already there, thanks to either magic, or a road trip, and talk about what had happened while we were separated. At least, my room did. The other room, which was right next to us and connected by a set of doors that opened to another set, which could be opened from the other room, was loud and chaotic, the sounds of people shouting almost constant. Once we finally finish talking and settle into beds, Meg and Jaydia in one, Emory and Emma in the other, and Claire and I on the couches, the noise had died down enough that it wasn’t a distraction, not that it would have mattered if it was. We’re all beat, and fall asleep almost as soon as the lights go out and our heads hit the pillows.