Twisted Wonderland Book 3: The Merchant from the Depths

Chapter 18: Playing Cheap

Seeing there is no way to avoid it, Brie and the others know that they'll have to fight the Leech Brothers so they can get to the museum.

Deuce waves his magepen and calls out, "Come forth, ice! HYAH!" and fires his magic.

For some reason, Deuce ends up missing and the magic bounces off of Floyd.

"Might wanna try upping the ante there, bud," Floyd says.

Annoyed, Ace says, "Hey, Deadeye Deuce, here's an idea: try actually HITTING with one of those shots! Hyah!" and uses his mage magic to try to attack.

But the attacks aren't working either and misses.

Jade chuckles, "Heh heh heh. Come, now. Put in some effort.

"I don't see you doing any better over there!" Deuce says, angrily.

Ace says in shock, "No way. How could I miss like that..."

Jack steps forward, "Tch. Step aside. I'll handle this! RAGH!"

And launches his attack, but Jack's magic misses too.

Jack is shocked, "What?! My spell swerved before hitting them! I see what's goin' on..."

"You're right. It's like the magic is avoiding them or something," Briar says.

Floyd smiles and says, "At least Little Shrimpy and Sea Urchin know how to pay attention."

"I shouldn't be surprised that a land beast has a keen eye," Jade says.

Then Floyd says, "Since I'm a nice guy, I'll do you a solid and explain why none of your spells are hitting us. I've got this signature spell, Bind the Heart, see? It's a handy little number that interferes with your magic to ensure it fails! Ain't that just neato?"

"That ain't "neato" at all! It's cheatin', is what it is!" Grim angrily says.

Jade sighs and says, "Floyd, do you really have to spell out your entire signature spell gimmick to them?"

"What's the big deal? Knowing isn't gonna help 'em any," Floyd replies.

Fair enough. At least your magic is in good form today. If only you could be more consistent about it. When you're not in the mood, it never works at all. That's rather hard to plan around, you know," Jade says.

Then Floyd looks at Briar and the others and says, "Better run, kiddos! If I catch you, my tailfin's gonna wring you out like a dirty dishrag! Now, who should I squeeze first...?"

Some of them actually flinch in reply.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling from this," Tanzanite says, worried.

"And I don't think Floyd is just asking for a hug," Jasper says.

"This is nothin' more than a game to them. If we don't get outta here, they're gonna hang us out to dry!" Jack says.

"I have to agree. We need to come up with a new plan. For now, let's swim," Briar says.

And with that, the group begins to swim away.

Floyd laughs, "Aha ha! Come back as many times as you want. It won't make a lick of difference! With those sorry legs of yours, you'll never out swim mermen."

"We'll be waiting for your next visit," Jade says.

Grim growls in anger, "Rgh, this stinks! I'll remember this, okay?!"

Sometime later, everyone flies out of the Mirror of Darkness and lands on the ground. Luckily the potion has wear off and is able to breathe the air again. Sereia also changes back to her original state, wearing her clothes and her tail changes back to her two feet.

Deuce heavily breathes, "You guys okay?"

"I think so..." Ace says.

"I was afraid Floyd was going to chase us again," Tanzanite says.

"Yeah. I do not want to deal with that creep again," Jasper says.

Then Trinket plops herself on Jasper's head.

"I wasn't expecting them to actually be mermen..." Jack says.

"Neither did I," Briar says.

"It was almost a feedin' frenzy there—with us as the chum! Swimmin' that fast ain't fair!" Grim says.

"Well, yeah. Merfolk are literally in their element underwater," Ace says.

"But we gotta get that photo fast, or they're gonna confiscate Ramshackle Dorm..." Grim says.

"And Briar will end up taking your place, and will never get her medallion back," Sereia says.

"We need to rework our plan here," Deuce says.

"Yeah. We need to come up with a new plan to deal with those two," Briar says.

"Yeah. Cater likes to say he's got his finger on the pulse of the community, so why don't we get some input from him?" Ace says.

Then Jack says, "It'd also be a good idea to go back to Savanaclaw and see what Ruggie and the others have to share."

"Good idea," Briar says.