Wundrous Times: A Nevermoor Fanfiction

Summer Holidays Part 2

A few hours later, Morrigan was sitting in the Smoking Parlour, playing a lively game of chess with Jack whilst clouds of smoke poured from the walls in varying shades of pink, purple, and red (fruit salad smoke: to improve summer spirit and general well-being, according to the schedule on the door).

 On the other side of the room, standing dramatically on a love seat, was Frank, practising his grand welcome speech for the summer showdown party tomorrow evening. Dame Chanda, Kedgeree, and Martha had reluctantly agreed to act as his audience (Jupiter, meanwhile, had immediately left to tend to some unfortunate last-minute 'League business' and had sent his apologies to Frank). 

"Welcome, esteemed guests, to the Deucalion!" the vampire dwarf was booming, throwing his arms wide and taking a deep bow. "Besides having a much greater legal and ethical regard than the Hotel Aurianna, we -"

"Frank!" exclaimed Martha, scandalised, as Morrigan and Jack looked up from their game to exchange barely concealed grins.

"It's true!" he protested, twirling his cape in indignation, then continued. "We have our very own seaside beach tonight in the Deucalion lobby, complete with four sandy shores and five individual lagoons. May I remind you, ladies and gents, that the Aurianna only had THREE sandy shores and FOUR lagoons at their last beach party? And I have several activities planned for tonight that I'm sure you're all going to love..." His talk droned on, occasionally causing some guests around them to jump in their seats whenever it reached a crescendo in moments of highly passionate wheedling.

Jack rolled his visible eye at Morrigan, tapping his bishop on the board as he decided where to move it to. "Looks like a whole lot of self-promotion and insulting the Aurianna whenever he can. What else is new?"

Morrigan snorted, picking up her rook and moving it four spaces down the board. "Perhaps that's his tactic."

"Classic Frank. Oh, and speaking of which, he's set up a mattress-sliding race for tonight. You joining?"

"What? Yeah, of course, I'll go put my name down. Checkmate, by the way," added Morrigan, a cheeky grin sliding onto her face as she moved her queen diagonally and stood up, heading for the door.

"Hey - wait - that's so not checkmate. Morrigan, come back here!" yelled Jack, standing up as well, though a corner of his mouth had turned up in a smile.

Morrigan turned at the doorway to face him, humming a few notes of song absent-mindedly. "It is now," she replied, knocking over all of the chess pieces with a small whoosh of Wundrous energy.

***☂☂☂***

"WAHEY! Let's do this! Team Mog-Jack-Jupiter for the win!" shouted Jupiter a little too enthusiastically as he waved his arms around in the air in some kind of ridiculous octopus-like dance attempt. He grinned cheerily at Morrigan and Jack through his bright ginger beard, trying to get them to join in, but they strategically looked away at the last second. 

Frank had pulled together the mattress-sliding race wonderfully, and now dozens of single, double, and queen size mattresses were placed, precariously balanced, at the top of the Deucalion's thirteen-storey central staircase. The scene was only slightly impeded by the beach slowly growing below in preparation for the summer showdown party (Morrigan had already gotten an uncomfortable amount of sand between her toes climbing up). 

A number of excited guests stood around them, pyjama-clad and chattering happily, at the top of the staircase. Some were leaning against the balustrade, others (Jupiter included) were getting into a competitive state of agitation about the race.

"Stay in the centre of the mattress, yeah?" he said to Morrigan and Jack in a last-minute pep talk. "And make sure you hold onto the side, or each other. Trust me, you don't want to fall off on this one. Last time I did that, my whole body ached for - oh, it's starting!" 

Frank had indeed clambered up onto a table (with some difficulty, it seemed), and had blown a whistle to signal for quiet. "Onto your mattresses!" he shouted into the microphone. There was a piercing squeal of feedback, and several guests flinched. "Oops, sorry. I said, ONTO YOUR MATTRESSES."

Morrigan crawled onto their queen-size mattress with a couple of groans (her arm muscles were still aching from when she and Jack had lugged the mattress all the way from a sixth-floor suite). She situated herself between Jupiter and Jack, taking hold of Jupiter's shoulders through the fabric of his neon purple nightshirt. 

The countdown had already started. "...eight...seven...six..."

"READY?" Jupiter asked Jack and Morrigan, shouting to make himself heard over the noise of the crowd. They nodded, Jack giving his uncle a half-hearted thumbs-up.

"...one, and GOOOOO!" Frank boomed, and the race started, the room holding its breath as a sea of mattresses tipped slowly over the edge of the staircase. All Morrigan could hear for a few moments was the sound of her own adrenaline-pumped heartbeat, and then suddenly they were zooming at top speed down the marble staircase, faster and faster and fasterfasterfaster. Team 'Mog-Jack-Jupiter' had so much momentum they'd already left half the teams in their wake.

It was exhilarating and thrilling, yet terrifying at the same time, Morrigan thought, to be rattling at an impossibly fast speed down thirteen storeys of staircase with no idea what would happen when they landed at the bottom. Probably also rather stupid.

"Hold on, you two!" shouted Jupiter as they reached the first bend, rather unnecessarily. Morrigan already had Jupiter's shirt in a death grip, and was sure her shoulders would be bruised the next day from Jack's equally strong grasp. They rounded the corner smoothly, only losing a bit of speed, and started down the next stretch of staircase. 

"Woo-HOO!" Jupiter called out in a cry of delight (Morrigan was worried that he'd do his octopus dance again and get all three of them thrown from the mattress)."Team Mog-Jack-Jupiter is killing it!"

"Shush, Uncle Jove," said Jack, tightening his hold on Morrigan's shoulders as a safety precaution. "You're embarrassing us."

"All right, sorry. Let's carry on, shall we?" 

They zoomed around and around a particularly tight looping bend in the staircase (with an "Ayyy!" from Jupiter) before skidding several metres across the lobby floor and coming to a halt in the biggest lagoon with a huge sploosh.

Morrigan clambered off of the mattress, shaking drops of water out of her clothes (all three of them had been severely splashed), and reluctantly accepted a vigorous high-five from Jupiter. Jack just rolled his eyes, wringing moisture out of his shiny black hair.

Frank joined the growing crowd of sopping wet guests standing shivering - but excited - on the lobby floor. He was panting from having run all the way from the thirteenth floor (Fenestra had apparently chosen to take a nap inside the elevator). 

"And...the winner is..." Frank announced, his usual sense of theatre slightly dampened by breathlessness, "Team...'Mog-Jack-Jupiter'!" he read aloud from a piece of paper. "Let's hear it for Morrigan, Jack, and Jove!"

The pyjama-clad guests cheered and applauded the three of them as they made their way up the staircase, dripping saltwater the whole trip to the fourth floor.

"Night, Mog. Jack." Jupiter waved, winking at them as he made his way back down the stairs.

Morrigan raised her eyebrows at Jack. "Well, goodnight, then."

"Night," he said, smirking and stepping inside his room.

She trudged her way down the hall to Room 85 and dropped straight into bed, wet pyjamas and all, exhausted from the race but excited with anticipation for tomorrow's summer showdown.

It really was going to be the party of the Age.