Starlet - Book 2 - Mate Games

18. Potato

Collin gives me an amazing wake-up the next day. Then we go over to the art shop. Collin goes to deal with his contracts and I sit at my little sculpting station. But I want to sculpt bigger stuff, so I go outside. There is no room. My s**t is everywhere and there is no space.

I check the other side of the building and there's no space between the building and path. I go back in and point at the door. Nobody is here that cares.

"What's wrong?"

The girl behind the counter is watching me. I don't like her.

"AAAAHHHHH!" I run up to Collins office.

"What's wrong, baby?"

Tre and Mason are sitting there with him.

"I WANT TO MAKE STUFF!" I jump up and down.

"Let's go tell Dipak." Tre stands up and makes a door. "We need to sit down with her anyway."

Collin picks me up and carries me.

I snuggle with him.

Dipak, Marcus, and the girls are in the office. Tre sits down. "She's about to have a melt down."

"NO." I hide my face in Collins shoulder.

He rubs my back and shakes his head. "What's wrong, baby? What are you trying to do?"

"I want to sculpt with clay."

"You can."

"There's no room left, Collin. You need to move what she has done." Thora rolls her eyes. "Have you seen your front yard lately?"

"I don't know where to put them."

"Well, you better come up with something."

Nadine smiles. "I want them. I want to put the ones of my boys at the castle. I have perfect spots picked out. But they're not going to buy them for 15 bars of gold each."

"I don't know what to do about her brother."

"Move them."

"Do you want me to move them to the spots I picked out?"

"Yes." I smile at her. "Bring me some clay."

"Of course."

"You are not sculpting in here, Star."

I give Dipak sad eyes and start sobbing.

"Do you need a nap?"

I face plant Collins chest and cry.

"What is wrong, baby? You have to talk."

"I want to sell them."

"You can sell them. They're amazing. But nobody has 15 bars of gold for a statue to put in their yard. Your brother is being unreasonable."

"Bring me my brother."

"Yes ma'am."

There's a loud thud and a bunch of clay is on the conference table.

I jump up and grab some.

I make a little elephant quickly and sit it at 1 end of the table. Then I separate the clay into bigger and bigger chunks.

Then I sit by the chunk beside the elephant and make a lion that's about twice the size.

Mikey comes in. "What do you need sis?"

"Prices."

I move down a seat and make a gnome.

"It depends on what it is."

"By size, Mikey."

"I don't know. Ask the art dealer."

I nod and start in on a fairly big angel.

"Art dealer, what do you think?"

"15g for the elephant size. It's a toy or a figurine for a table."

I fix the angels' wings and make them open more.

"30g for the lion. 50 for the gnome. 100 for the angel size. That could be outside or beside a fireplace."

I smile and move to the next batch. I start making a gargoyle.

"Do you have any ideas for the next mate game, Star?"

"Is the Switzerland resort open yet?" I make his ears.

"It will be by then. Why?"

"I could push them down the mountain."

Thora busts out laughing. "I'm going to like the next game."

"How many are still in?"

Dipak checks a paper. "Over 60 right now. Some may drop out, and they could still find their mates too. But we got rid of over half."

"Not bad." I fix his toes and move onto his wings.

"What about a scavanger hunt?"

Thora sits back. "Sword fighting tournament."

"Ball."

"We could keep it simple and do a picnic."

"Wine tasting. She loves wine." Collin winks at me.

I smile and Mikey loses it. He laughs so damn hard. "Do you remember mom and dad doing that? All the fancy ass people spitting everywhere?"

I laugh. "Yea, I told them about it before. That was something else."

Nadine smiles. "You could make them cook for you. See who is a good cook that way."

"We could go to Rome."

Dipak laughs. "She doesn't need someone to cook for her. She's going to steal a chef soon enough."

"Gargoyle size is 500g. If it's really intricate, it could go up to 1k. Next size would be 2 to 5k. Then 10 to 25k. 50k to 100k. I would start the prices for the big sculptures at 250k."

I smirk. "You 2 are quite far apart in your prices."

"I'm not wrong." Mikey crosses his arms. "But yea, maybe nobody can afford them at 15 bars of gold each. Some people are poor." He glares at everyone.

I try not to laugh and wink at Dipak.

He nods. "Yea well, we have an entire village to take care of. Not to mention the castle and the help. I wish we could afford to give her 150 bars of gold. But a lot of people have to eat this year. Hell, we have the mating ball next weekend. We had to pay a lot to put that on too."

"Fine. 500k each."

"You know what we could do." I move to the next pile of clay. "Well, how long is the next game? This 1 was only a few hours. I'm not even sure I met everyone. There were so many."

"As long as we want. I wouldn't go for longer than a weekend though. Most people can't be away longer than that."

"How about we do a formal event? A ball. But everything goes wrong. Have them seated wrong. Bad food. Servants ignore them and treat them poorly. Bad music. Everything goes wrong."

Nadine laughs. "Push them to their breaking point."

"Exactly. Those who don't crack and try to kill us, we drug and wake them up in Switzerland. Then I can shove them down the mountain. We could wake up on Saturday in Switzerland and leave on Sunday. I should be able to meet them that way."

"That's going to take a lot of rooms. You're looking at servants, advisors, us, the participants. Not only that, the meal plans. It's going to be pricey." Dipak gets a paper.

I start making a mermaid. "Servants can share rooms. 3 to a room I think. So, for us, advisors, and participants. Maybe 100 rooms? Do any of the resorts have that?"

"Yes, but you're looking at booking an entire resort for a weekend. Not even sure that many rooms would be available anywhere." He motions at a brain.

"The only resort with that availability is Switzerland."

Marcus nods. "It's not taking reservations yet."

"But you're sure it'll be ready?"

"Yea. It should be open in a month."

Mikey sits up fast. "How about the castle books the entire Switzerland resort for Friday and Saturday nights. The castle pays, and you get the statues. She'll have her event, and you'll get your sculptures."

I smile at him. "You're so smart. We won't even have to deal with money that way."

Collin smirks. "Do not forget the advanced meal plans and spa passes though. It has to be advanced because she is going to use the chef 3 times a day."

I nod. "I really am."

Nadine gets out a paper. "We'll have to throw in some vouchers as well. Cold weather gear, swimsuits, skis or snowboards."

Thora nods. "I think they each need a couple of massage vouchers as well."

She smiles. "Maybe like 4 or 5 each. The ball is going to be stressful, you know?"

"Of course. Teen club will be boring for you though."

"Luke will be there. He'll bring Mario and Collin. Mikey would go. They'll have fire snacks with me."

"Luke's going?"

"Well, we can't leave him here alone."

"That's true."

Marcus nods. "And she's not going to be Evie the entire time. She'll need breaks. They'll be fine."

Thora sits back. "So, we still have to figure out how to drug 3 kings."

I crack up laughing. "Good luck with that. I'm going to Switzerland. I need to find a potato." I wipe my hands off on my dress.

Mikey jumps up. "YES. THE ONES WITH THAT CHEESE. LET'S GO."

"Exactly, and the green things on top."

"What the hell was that called?"

"No idea."

"We'll figure it out."

I nod and make a door.

"No. Sit down."

We plop down and cross our arms.

"Twins. I see it now." Thora points at us. They start laughing.

"Please tell me you did the Switzerland menu, sis."

"I gave him a menu. I don't know if he used it."

"I did."

"Were the potatoes on it?"

"No. I don't know what it's called."

"Well, let's go figure it out."

"Ok."

We stand up.

"No."

We plop down.

"We're stuck here."

He nods. "Prisoners."

"Must escape."

"At all cost."

Dipak rubs his eyes. "You are not prisoners. You are teenagers and can't go roaming Switzerland alone."

Mikey jumps up. "WE CAN ALL GO. HE NEEDS THOSE DAMN POTATO'S."

"Prince Romeo to see the table."

"ASSHOLE." Mikey glares at the elevator.

"Send him in."

Thora sits up. "He's the favorite to win the games."

"I'll murder him now."

"When can we get that potato?" I work on the mermaid some more.

"We'll go get it sometime next week. We're very busy this week. The mating ball is starting on Thursday. Mike sit down. I don't have time for a war this week."

"Fine. War and potato hunting next week."

Tre cracks up laughing. "I'll schedule it in."

"Good afternoon Prince Romeo. What can we do for you?"

"Good afternoon." He smiles. "You're very good at this."

"Thank you."

"What do you want?" Mikey slams his hand on the table.

"IF YOU SMASH MY ELEPHANT, I WILL SMASH YOUR HEAD."

"Sorry. He's fine."

Romeo nods. "Nice boobs."

"I'M KILLING HIM."

"I'm sculpting her boobs, Mikey."

"Oh. Those are nice."

Tre looks over. "Are they bouncy enough for Collin?"

I laugh so hard, I have to wipe my eyes off. "You boys are something else."

Romeo nods. "I met Queen Thora once, in one of her disguises. I can not think of her name."

I drop a bunch of clay and turn to him. "Lindsay. I forgot that."

He smirks.

Dipak scratches his head. "What?"

"His dragon can see through the disguises. He knows who people are."

"Well, there's a twist. What do we do now?" Nadine glances around.

"I can kill him."

"No war this week Mike."

"Next week then."

"I won't tell. I just want to know what the hell is going on. Will you go to a ball with me? It's not this weekend. It's next weekend."

I dive under the table and crawl to Marcus.

Marcus picks me up. "We're going to go with no."

He sits down. "Tell me something."

Mikey glares at him. "She was tortured. ... By a prince."

Thora nods. "Scared to death of princes. She seems to be fine around you. But other princes being at the ball would be too much for her."

"It takes her a long time to get used to people."

"She was fine last night."

"She was Evie last night. She's a hell of an actress."

"What did he do to you?"

I look at the brain. "Show them."

A model of me shows up in the center of the floor. I can nearly see my bones. I was so small. She only has underwear on. It's easy to see that every inch of me had marks. The scars on my face I hated the worst. I remember hiding them. I pull some hair in front of my face.

"That's enough. Shut if off." Dipak pulls my hair into a ponytail.

Marcus stands up with me. "Summon Omar to the medical area."

"Yes sir."

I open my eyes, and I'm in the hospital bed again. Collin's in the chair. "Did I?..."

"No. It seemed like you passed out. It was too much for you to see yourself like that. They put you in here to sleep. Do you feel better now?"

"I think so. Where's Mikey?"

"He went fishing. He needed to cool off."

"Are you ok?"

He kisses my fingers. "Seeing you like that was different. Made me want to kill everyone. Then kiss every inch of your skin. Make you feel better."

"That sounds nice."

He picks me up. "Let's eat dinner and relax tonight."

"Ok." I snuggle him and he carries me home.