"All right, I suppose we're all here now." (William)
"Xavier isn't coming with us?" (Ajax)
"Apparently he made up with Bianca after she apologised to William." (Divina)
"Head count: Yoko, Divina, Will, Ajax and Eugene." (Enid)
"Here" x 4
"I'm on this side." (Eugene)
Eugene replied from behind the four, dressed in a large blue quilted jacket, looking somewhat uncomfortable surrounded by girls.
"The car should be here in a few minutes." (William)
William glanced at his watch, just as a car pulled up in front of them, a 5-seater Volkswagen Caddy with a large boot.
"Are you William?" (Tony)
"You're Tony" (William)
"That's right, my Uncle Kelvin asked me to take your place. A few days ago, he came back from the farmers' market a bit drunk and twisted his ankle. He has to rest for a couple of days." (Tony)
"Will he be okay?" (Enid)
"That old man is tough as an oak and just as thick, hahaha." (Tony)
(I hope it wasn't my fault.) (William)
"Come on, get in. We're going to the Harvest Festival." (Tony)
"Wait a minute, there are six of us plus the driver. We need two more seats." (Yoko)
"I have the solution."
Enid smiled excitedly before taking William's hand and going behind a nearby tree.
"Why me? We can leave Divina in Nevermore, ouch, that hurts."
"Only you can do it." Enid pinched William's cheek after hearing his words, even though she knew it was a joke.
"Fine." William was just joking; he didn't mind changing shape to sit on Enid's lap. After giving her a deep kiss, taking advantage of the fact that they were alone and covered by darkness, William changed shape.
A few seconds later, Enid came out carrying a large, furry black cat, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"Okay, everyone has their seatbelt on. Wait a minute, what about William?" (Tony)
"Don't worry about him, he's comfortable. He should have sent you a message." (Enid)
(Is that William?) (Divina) *Whisper*
(It definitely is. Do you want to take advantage and grope him?) (Yoko) *Whisper*
(I don't know, will he mind, Enid?) (Divina) *Whisper*
(She's happy now, she'll let it slide!) (Yoko) *Whisper*
Tony quickly checked his mobile phone and sure enough, there was a message from William saying to go without him, he would meet them at the festival and they would return together.
"Right, off to the Harvest Festival."
Fifteen minutes later, the car arrived at the Harvest Festival on a large plot of land near the forest. The grassy area was teeming with people, Normies and Outcasts alike, families, children, parents, and many vendors with their food stalls.
The dazzling coloured lights came from the large fairground rides, and long strings of lights decorated the main path from a row of wooden posts that simulated pillars, creating an illuminated corridor right in the centre.
"All right, kids, hold out your hands." (William)
"Why?" (Divina)
"We're the same age." (Yoko)
"Here!!!" (Enid)
Enid was the only one who listened to William without complaining first. Teenagers value their independence highly, so it's strange for someone to call you a child when you're the same age.
William handed out some banknotes to each outstretched hand and the girls' faces lit up. They had lost money during William's birthday party, but this was much more.
Yoko and Divina didn't know how to react, but Enid accepted it happily. She knew William had no ulterior motives; he was simply generous with his close friends.
"Don't just stand there! Let's see how much there is this year!" (Enid)
Enid took Divina and Yoko by the hand and dragged them to the stalls, but not before kissing William on the cheek.
"Are you sure?" (Ajax)
"One of the advantages of being an adult is having money because you have to work, and it turns out I already work... and this is compensation for you having to ride in the boot." (William)
Being the sixth member in a five-seater car plus the driver, there was no other place for him, so William spent the whole journey lying comfortably on Enid's lap. If it weren't for the others, he would have wanted to burrow completely into her soft, cream-coloured lap.
"You work for your family. Isn't it too hard, I mean pressure and stuff?"
"A little bit. It's like an unspoken obligation for the men of the Stone family to continue this long tradition of making runic objects. The lessons started when I was very young."
William glanced at Ajax before answering his question.
"You can give it back if you don't like the idea." (William)
"I'll take it. We have to follow the girls; they're already walking away." (Ajax)
Ajax ran quickly after the girls before losing sight of them in the crowd.
"That's how carefree teenagers should be." (William)
William smiled. When he was younger and had a different name, he wished he had enough money to eat and ride any game he wanted, but that wasn't exactly possible. Just because your family has money doesn't mean you have it, and his previous family wasn't exactly the type to say, "Go have fun with your friends, I'll pick you up later." They didn't even remember his birthday.
"Here's your share, Eugene, and don't stray too far from me. Stay right in front of me or by my side." (William)
"Me too?" (Eugene)
"Why not? Come on, they're leaving us behind." (William)
Eugene was the youngest of the group, at 14 years old, a year younger than William and the rest. Judging by his behaviour, it was easy to see that he would get into trouble with some bully if left alone.
"This is a scam" (Divina)
"Uwa is fixing it, look at this thing, it's not balanced" (Yoko)
"Come on, young ladies, don't slander my business. It's clean and fair for everyone" (?)
"One more time!" (Enid)
Enid, Yoko, and Divina were standing right in front of a stall called The Loose Wolf, a game where you shoot pellets at two strips of small metal figures that ran from left to right at full speed. The flat metal figures depicted a pack of ferocious wolves with bloodstained mouths chasing sheep running on two legs. It was a cartoonish design.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
"Aaaargh, just a little more to the right." (Enid)
"Hahaha, you're worse at this than I am." (Divina)
Enid's shots hit some of the figures, but most of them narrowly missed. William and Eugene arrived just in time to see Enid pay again for more shots.
"What are the rules?" (William)
Yoko handed her pellet rifle to William, the fat man with a refined moustache, who looked like he had stepped out of the film Pinocchio, with his red and white striped clothes and top hat hiding his white hair, a perfect carnival character.
"Handsome young man, five dollars for five shots. Hit only the wolf among this sea of sheep, and if you hit eight targets with eight shots, you win the grand prize."
The clothesline spoke in a loud voice that attracted more people to watch. With a dramatic gesture, he pulled back the red curtain above him to reveal a huge stuffed polar bear as the grand prize, easily half the size of Enid.
"OOOOOHHH"
The crowd exclaimed in surprise, the children begged their parents to win it for them, and the girlfriends looked at their boyfriends with excitement, wanting exactly the same thing.
"What's the catch?"
William tested the sight of the air rifle and the inside of the barrel. It was operated by a lever at the bottom, like the rifles of the Old West.
"Smart boy, the first five shots will be at normal speed and the remaining three at 'lightning' speed."
The shopkeeper, Austin Clay, activated a small switch behind him and the rows of metal figures doubled their speed of movement, now the images were blurry if you didn't pay attention.
(I've been waiting all night to do this, now there's finally a big crowd) (Austin)
"I'm sorry son, that's impossible." (Father)
"Who knows how many attempts it would take me." (Boyfriend)
"I don't know, it looks so difficult." (Boyfriend)
"Play fast, I want to try too." (Girl)
"I saw that guy in the neighbouring county. They say a lot of people tried but no one succeeded. I'm sure the game is rigged." (Elderly man)
The crowd began to make noise, some took out their phones and started recording.
"All right, I'm ready." (William)
"Remember, only the wolf counts, the sheep don't count, but if you hit one, it's okay, you can keep playing." (Austin)
Austin stepped aside, William stood up straight and rested the fairground rifle on his forearm. He was wearing his sunglasses; he didn't want everyone to see his eyes with their vertical pupils.
"3.2...1, Go!!!" (Austin)
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Tink*
Four of William's shots missed, and only the last one hit the wolf. That metal figurine was smaller than the sheep ones, which made it difficult to hit accurately.
"Ten more shots." (William)
"All right, you shot a wolf, so here's your consolation prize." (Austin)
(That's it, young man, try to impress the girls and lose a lot of money!!!) (Austin)
William showed no disappointment, he simply put the small plastic keyring aside.
*Chuck*
After inserting five more pellets, William pulled the rifle's lever, took a deep breath and fired.
*Tink* *Tink* *Tink* *Tink* *Tink*
"Gulp..." (Austin)
The clothesline swallowed hard and his hands began to sweat after seeing five perfect shots in a row. Each wolf figure fell backwards, while the rest of the sheep figures continued to move from left to right without stopping.
Austin hadn't won enough all night to pay for the jackpot, let alone get another replacement. Without his jackpot, his customers would dwindle.
"Just three more, then you can speed it up whenever you want." (William)
"That's what I expected from the next captain of the archery team. You can do it, Will!" (Divina)
"I'm 100% sure Josh couldn't do this." (Ajax)
(A misaligned sight, a dirty barrel, and low compressed air power aren't a big deal if you get used to them.) (William)
*Chuck*
"Hey, young man, I'll give you £50 if you miss the last three shots. I need to put bread on the table." (Austin) *Whisper*
William raised an eyebrow doubtfully.
"Look, this is Betty, she's pregnant with my first child, please" (Austin) *Whisper*
Austin made the most pitiful face he could at William as he took his wallet out of his pocket and showed him a photo of a beautiful woman with brown hair.
"If you're married, where's your ring?" (Austin)
"I have it here on my ring finger...?" (Austin)
(Shit... I took it off because it was bothering my finger.) (Austin)
Austin quickly checked his pocket. There was his ring, which he had bought for two quid in some shop. Like the photo, it was fake, cut out of a shoe magazine. He used both when he needed to make someone feel sorry for him, which happened quite often.
"Enough, people expect to play fair. Put it in second gear." (William)
(Tsk, damn brat, they are so difficult to deceive nowadays.) (Austin)
Austin gritted his teeth and activated the first damper. The speed of the figures increased noticeably.
William didn't care about the salesman's resentful look. He easily aimed without relying on the air rifle's sights and, with three shots in a row, knocked down three metal figures.
*Tink* *Tink* *Tink*