Chapter 76

76 Chapter Seventy Six

Sandra and Jason came out of the booth and looked around for the others while waiting for their pictures to be printed. The children at the booth presented them with their pictures and charged them accordingly. The pictures were as goofy as they could get through few they hid for there was no way they were going to let the others see them like that. “You know, we could just go on the tour ourselves,” Jason proposed.

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Sandra replied, looking at the pictures more clearly, “Your eyes were closed in this one.”

“That was the most logical thing to do at that point,” he said, chuckling. The picture was of Sandra giving him one hell of a peck on his cheek. His smile was the epitome of goofy as he received the very enticing gesture.

“So what should we do... wait or leave?”

“I know Caden could have left. That much I could tell from the vibes he was giving off earlier, but Katie and Cole will be back soon. The tour will be much easier in pairs. I know Cole wants that as well,” he said.

“I’m not sure Katie is bothered about either conclusion. She’ll be fine with either outcome,” Sandra knew Katie was trying to get comfortable with Cole considering after today, everything was going to be different. However, she wasn’t so sure about leaving those two alone, “It would be nice for those two to bond. Let’s get out of here.”

Minutes later, a phone call from Cole reached Jason and he asked that they split up and take the tour in pairs. Cole was quick in accepting the new developments and even hung up the phone before Jason had a chance to say his goodbyes. “That was quick. Is he really that eager to spend time with that hunter?”

“What’s wrong if he does want to spend time with her?”

“Well, she’s not his mate and from what I hear, he’s about to meet her soon. This could be dangerous,” he reasoned.

.....

“Well, I wouldn’t mind it much. I’ve heard werewolves find females that aren’t their mates quite repulsive,” Sandra said.

“Yes, that is true. Which makes it quite difficult when someone can’t tell where a female lies between the two categories?” he said, sighing. He had just described his current situation. Although from what he was seeing with his friend, he was starting to see that the two of them were in the same situation. Cole just didn’t want to admit it, but he was also in the same situation with the hunter.

“How can something like that happen?” Sandra asked.

“Well, it can happen if the person in question is their mate and not yet of age although the moon goddess rarely does that. She lets the connection through so that the two might stay in touch until the partner comes of age and their wolf matures. On the other hand, it’s not advised for one to dwell on these suspicions as this is only a rumour and not proven by the moon goddess herself,” he said.

“That’s one widespread rumour,” she said.

“Yeah, that’s true. It creates a lot of uncertainty,” he replied, shaking his head to take the topic off his mind, “Enough of that... Let’s talk tour... Where to next, mademoiselle?”

“Oh, well, if you’d follow me, my good man,” she replied, taking him further away from the school. Sandra took Jason through what must have been the most tiring tour of his life. Wasting no time to gape at anything, he barely got any time to think to purchase anything for her. Sandra hadn’t thought of anything of the sort and was only trying to get him to her favourite activity at the festival. She’d saved it for last, but also barely lacked the patience to wait for it.

As a result, Jason went through a crash course of the entire festival. The people of Brigadia were warm and welcoming. There wasn’t a hint of hostility in the entire place. Finally, they found themselves at a booth by the roadside labelled, Paintball, tickets. A whole section of the forest had been designated for the sport and additional obstacles and hiding spots were added to complete the scene. “So this is what has had you excited this entire time?”

“Yeah, I always want to have a good game each year. Normally, Katie and I try out archery first before coming here. I’m sure Cole is getting his ass handed to him in that sport as we speak,” she chuckled.

“Well, my boy won’t go down so easily and neither will I in this game of paintball,” he said proudly puffing out his chest.

“You too, Sandra. What is going on here? Fancy a game of paintball,” a familiar voice came from behind her.

Sandra turned to see Samantha walking up to her with three junior hunters flanking her. She walked up to the booth and signed their names in the books, paying for their entry as well. “I’m not so confident as I was earlier...” she mumbled.

“Come on, you can’t chicken out on me so fast,” she said, you’re missing two players though.

“I can get her one more, but the fourth is up to her or one of the players on the other team can sit this one out,” the bulky man said, adjusting his baseball cap.

“You would join in the game, Henry. I haven’t seen you in that field in quite a while,” Samantha joked.

“Haha very funny... No, I wouldn’t be the one who’d be joining you. I asked the Agency for assistance and they gave me troublemaker to work with. I want him to stretch his bones before I get him working again,” Henry said.

“No problem, sign him up...” Sandra asked.

“Hey, Shaemus, get over here and greet your new teammates for the next round,” he shouted. The hunters gasped at the name that was uttered. Shaemus came from the back of the booth dressed in a white messy apron. The boy had bags under his eyes indicating a lack of sleep and he looked to have lost weight.

“I’m going in. I didn’t know that I’d... the chance to play,” he slowed his excitement when he spotted Sandra.

“What is he doing out of detention?” Sandra asked coldly.

“Oh, him, the Director said something about having to do a number of chores to atone for the trouble that he caused. However, I was not told of whatever trouble it was that he caused. I was just happy to receive the assistance. He’s worked hard and diligently for me ever since. He makes it to his shifts after classes and still manages to get his training in. I can tell that he’s a good boy,” Shaemus couldn’t meet Sandra’s gaze.

“Well then, might we want to play this game then?” Samantha interrupted the brief awkward moment. Sandra was sure she must have heard about what the boy had done and was surprised when the female brushed off the matter lightly. Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard Katie talk about the issue either and now she was getting suspicious about it.

“Yes, indeed, let’s...”

“May I cut in?” a voice spot behind them.

They turned to see a man dressed in a tuxedo and wearing a mask. Samantha and the man stared each other down for a while before she spoke. “Might I know the name of the man that shall taste defeat at my hand?”

“The name’s Lawson, dear Samantha,” the man chuckled bowing in front of the hunter.

The female hunter immediately picked up on the clandestine manner of the man addressing them and decided to avoid exposing him, for she knew exactly who they were looking at, “I see you’ve grown. Well, today we shall test that, now won’t we?”

“Yes, we shall. Sandra, it’s been long,” he said, turning to the girl. Jason felt attacked by the man’s familiarity with the people before him. He could tell that this man probably had a history with them. If he was to place his age, he would be in his mid-twenties. His tuxedo did nothing to hide his built body and even made him look much more majestic compared to him.

“I don’t think we’ve met. I’d know... are you going to play dressed like that? It would be a shame to get such a nice outfit stained,” Sandra spoke while still taking in the person before her. The name Lawson tried to ring a bell, but everything she tried to pull up from her memory had something to do with Katie and in the end, she was unable to pinpoint where she’d heard the name.

“I have a change of clothes ready for me. I came prepared for the experience,” he said.

“Aren’t we going to wear camouflage suits?” Jason asked Katie. Everyone present looked at him, finally acknowledging his presence after the young man in the tux had stolen it.

“Someone hasn’t had the standard Brigadia paintball match before,” Lawson spoke up.

“And you have?” Sandra asked.

“Yes, I have. It might have been a long time ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday,” he mused, his eyes glazing over as he zipped back into the past.

“Jason, I’ll go through the rules for you then,” she said, leading him through a gate that closed off the interior of the site that had been set aside for paintball. There was something different about this paintball site. For one, there were monitors strapped to trees in random places. The displays were scoreboards for the blue and red teams.

“I don’t understand why scoreboards are needed,” he said.

“Well, I’m afraid you are in for a treat. This paintball game runs on a timer. There are two teams of four. In each team, there is someone that is designated the leader. When the leader is head five times, the team loses, but unless that happens, there is no need for the game to stop. A hit scored on the leader is immediately awarded thirty points while hits on the other players are awarded two points,” she said.

“I think I see where this is going,” he whined.

“Probably, we start at different bases and hunters and not allowed to use their Prometheus gifts to attack anyone,” she said.

“Wait, that only means agility Prometheus gifts are allowed and the strength gifts can be used to remodel the site,” he whined again.

“You catch on quite fast. I’m impressed. It was always unfair for me to team up with Katie, so she would be asked to pick a gift and give up the other during the game,” Sandra informed.

“Is he caught up yet?” Shaemus asked as he walked in with the others behind him, holding two extra weapons for Sandra and Jason.

“Yes, he is...” she announced.

“Everyone to their base... the match starts in five minutes. You have three minutes to pick out your team leaders and declare them on the tablet in your bases,” Henry said over the megaphone.

“We are the red team,” Lawson said, his mask already on his head for protection and his gun safely secured, ready for action. Sandra led them to the base where they were to come up with a strategy to beat the hunter that they were going to face. This was going to be an interesting match... ‘If only Katie was here...’ Sandra mentally groaned.