Nadine Book 6

18. Water

-BANG-

Tye falls off the chair backwards.

I stare at the magician standing in the middle of the conference table. I forgot his name. It starts with an E, I think. Oh well.

He hops off the table.

"Welcome to Blayze castle."

"Thank you young one. I was doing more research on the mate lines. I have been made aware that the other Nadine only has 4 marking spots total. You have 7. I am trying to figure out why it is different now."

"Yea, we have no idea either."

"I am testing a few theories. They may go away if they are not used after so long. Another theory is that the marking spots will show up on you as the mates get closer."

"Well then, why would I have started out with 4? I only had 1 mate at the beginning."

Tye smiles. "I was already in your life when the first marking spot test was done. And so was Johen. Marcus was the only 1 you hadn't met then."

My eyebrows shoot up and magician jumps around. "Was she tested fully for marking spots then?"

"No. She wasn't checked fully. The final 3 marking spots were found not that long ago. They couldn't figure out how she had 5 mates and only 4 spots. That's when we figured out 7."

The magician gives him a dirty look. "That's entirely unhelpful then. Either theory could still be right. They go away after not being used, or they show up as the mates do."

One of the advisors looks at him. "She could have been born with 7 of them, correct?"

"That is another theory, yes. I'm going to try and figure out which of these is correct. If you get anymore marking places, let me know immediately."

-BANG-

"Which do you think it is?"

"I think I was born with them."

Tye nods. "The first search wasn't done right. I think they've been there all along."

Johen looks at the king. "The magicians agree, they're not going to go away if they're not used. They do seem to disagree about how many mates she will end up with. Some say the spots will fill up. Others say she will end up with 1 less than the spots. They seem to be divided at 6 or 7. But are convinced the spots will not go away."

Tye stretches. "It doesn't matter anyway. We're already at 5. If it ends here, we're fine. If she gets another 1, that's ok too. As long as he's not a d**k. Dipak will rip him apart if he is."

"I wonder if it's Elek."

Both boys scream, "NO." at me.

Tye rubs his eyes. "Do not even think that. It's not Elek. Leave him alone."

The king puts his eyebrows up. "Ex boyfriend?"

"Not really. Only friends who sometimes kiss."

Johen crosses his arms. "You already had 4 of them. Why were you kissing other guys anyway?"

"They said I had 4 mates. No one told me it was Marcus. Elek was the only other man showing me any attention. I thought it was him. Marcus saw me as a little girl. If anyone had told me Marcus was my 4th mate, I wouldn't have been paying attention to Elek. But No. You decided to keep that hidden. I blame you. And now, it seems everyone is saying at least 6. Who do you think I can go to and get attention from right now?"

Tye jumps up. "WOMAN."

I shake my head. "I shouldn't have said that last part."

The king smiles. "No, you really shouldn't have."

Tye stands there trying to get the red out of his eyes.

Johen sits back. "Do you go to him often?"

"Never, that sounded a lot worse than I meant it to. We haven't kissed since before I knew Marcus was my mate. There is nothing going on between me and Elek."

"But you think there could be again?"

"Elek's not going to say no to a kiss. You've met him."

Nikolas nods. "He does seem to be 1 that likes all the girls too. Probably why it's so easy for him to show you attention. He's use to showing attention to girls."

I smile. "That must be why Tre is so awkward around girls. He never gave any of them attention. I like him."

Johen laughs. "At least she likes 1 of us."

Tye rubs his eyes. "It's not that Tre never gave them attention. It's that other girls never existed to Tre. They are like an alien species to him. He has no idea how to act around females. The rest of us have interacted with girls because they exist on this planet. Tre somehow managed to avoid them his entire life."

"SHOVE IT JACKASS." Thora and Coral come in.

"We were bored too, and your mates can be real assholes. Keep trying to tell us to do stuff."

"What are we talking about?"

"Tre. I like him."

Nikolas smiles. "So tell us about space. Anything fun to see out there in 10,000 years?"

Me, Tye, and Johen yell, "META."

"What's meta?"

We start yell explaining at the exact same time. We get louder and louder. Eventually, Johen gets up and goes to the other side of the table. Me and Tye climb on the conference table and race each other to them. We get to their side of the table and sit on our knees between Johen and Victor. We keep yelling and scooting closer.

Then Tye tries to block me with his leg. I push him and climb over it. Then he tries to put his hand on my mouth, so he can be louder.

I bite Tye's hand, so I can talk again. Then I tell them about the horror zone.

"THAT SIDE OF THE TABLE." Marcus is pointing to the other end of the table.

Dipak and Kane are laughing.

Dipak takes my seat. The rest of us go and sit around him.

King Blayze sits up. "I didn't get any of that."

"META always works the kids up. They get excited. But we wanted to check on them. Glad we did. That would have went on for a while."

Marcus nods. "And it would have gotten more violent as well. Eventually, Nadine would have stabbed Tye."

"Well, he put his hand over my mouth."

"I'm sorry babydoll. I was trying to tell them about the rides."

"No." Dipak puts his hand up. "You are not going to talk about it. Talk about something else."

Marcus winks. "They do pretty good at the conferences. Until something excites 1 or more of them. Then it's a matter of getting control and winding them back down."

"My boys were like that too."

Tye smiles. "How old are you 3?"

"562"

"505"

"458"

"All older than me."

Johen laughs. "I'm 19."

Dipak stands up. "We're going back to inventory."

Marcus kisses my head. "We'll see you soon angel."

"All of your mates have magic?"

"Yes."

Thora jumps up. "ME TOO. AND KANE. I make fire and water. Nadine's a nature mage."

Tye smiles. "I do divination and healing. I think we all have battle magic."

"What's a nature magician?"

Coral pulls me up. "Let's go to Tye's island and show them the inn. You can do some nature stuff. I need a break and want to see the water."

"I like that idea."

Tye stands up. "I want to see how the bar is doing. We can get some lunch there."

"Is it on you? I didn't bring money."

"Yea, that's fine. I'll have them give us lunch."

We get to Tye's island and Coral jumps up and down. "WATER. I MISSED YOU."

Thora sprays her with water. "You could have told me that."

Then the 3 of us leave our heels in the sand and run to the water. We jump up and down in queen dresses in the waves.

Tye yells, "YOU 3 ARE NOT DRESSED RIGHT. COME ON AND EAT."

We grab our shoes and sit in the outdoor bar area. They bring us some food with the pineapple in it.

"I totally missed the island food."

"I love this food too."

"This is amazing."

We sit and eat while we watch the water and talk.

"Alright woman. I planted a few trees that way. Go show them what a nature mage can do."

I make the trees grow big and tall. Then they grow pineapples and 1 drops. I pick it up and hand it to Nikolas. "But that's not all. Come here." I pull him into the trees. Then I find 1 I like and use the magic to tie him up. "I've actually killed people with trees before. I won't do that to you though."

"I appreciate that."

Thora runs off. "I wonder if I can do anything with the ocean? You can control the trees."

"Wait. Over here, babydoll. I planted another type of tree too. I want to test it out. It's coconuts."

I run over and grow 2 of his coconut trees until they make fruit.

Then we go to the ocean again.

Thora lifts her hand and makes a 10-foot tall wall of water. There is a lot of water. Tye has his back to us. "See if you can make it soak Tye."

Tye turns around and throws up a barrier. It hits the barrier and crashes down.

"You have to be faster than that to get me."

Coral yells, "WHATEVER TYE. SHE ALMOST HAD YOU."

"ALMOST DOESN'T COUNT."

Coral turns into a dragon and goes after him, blowing fire.

"OH SHIT." He jumps into a dragon and takes off over the ocean. Coral chases him. Thora puts up a huge wall of water to stop him, and he goes over it. Coral crashes into it and falls into the water.

Coral comes out of the water after a minute. "YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SOAK ME."

"YOU SHOULD DODGE BETTER."

"Let's go. I need a shower now. I'm salty."

Thora stretches. "We should show them the ship. Coral can shower there."

"Yea, that's fine. We can show them the command area and rooms and stuff. You're blinking babydoll."

I connect Dipak's feather. "Hi love."

"Hi sweetheart. Where are you?"

"Tye's island. We're going to the ship now. Coral needs a shower. Thora attacked her with the ocean."

"We'll meet you there. Have you eaten yet?"

"Yea, Tye fed us lunch. It was good. Had pineapple in it."

"Good. We'll see you in about 5 minutes."