Chapter 2
The sun sent out one last blast of orange and red before climbing above the horizon. Pudding tossed her sword onto the sand before slowly walking to the water’s edge so that she could wash the creature’s ink off. Jinx started to follow her, but stopped quickly. Despite being drenched in ink from head to toe, Fidget noticed that Jinx was grinning. With a quick turn and an even quicker dash, Jinx closed the distance between himself and Nemesis, wrapping her up in a huge hug and saying, “Thanks darling, you saved us.” The top of her head barely reached Jinx’s shoulders.
The only response Nemesis could make while smothered so tight was a shriek similar to the one the creature had let out before leaving. When Jinx released her, she looked down at her dress slowly, and seeing the ink the hug had left behind, began to quiver violently. While clenching her fists as tight as her thin arms would allow, she said in a voice that was barely a whisper, “You’re going to pay for that, you fat freak.” She took a step back, waved her hand, shouted the word “Teleport”, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
When Nemesis had raised her hand, Jinx had instinctively flinched, thinking that she would make good on her threat then and there. He breathed a sigh of relief when she had simply decided to return home.
“What did she say to you?” asked Pudding and Fidget together, as Jinx approached the water and began washing off the ink.
“Oh, you know, she told me that she adores me. I think she wants to date me.”
“I’m pretty sure she wants to take you out Jinx, but I don’t think she means on a date.”
“We’ll see, Fidget, we’ll see. Hey, you know what? I think I’ll surprise her by showing up at the next launch appropriately dressed.” Jinx grinned mischievously at this admission and then said, mostly to himself, “I have the perfect outfit in mind.”
“Speaking of the next launch, when will that be, Pudding?” asked Fidget.
“I don’t know. I may have to make some adjustments to the second submarine. Do you guys still want to go? If we had been in the sub when that thing attacked … you could have been killed.”
“Of course we want to go!” said Jinx. Pudding turned to look at Fidget. He made his head nod a very slight yes, prompting Pudding to once more grab him in a hug. She had forgotten that she was soaking wet and still slightly drenched in ink, though that wasn’t what made poor Fidget so nervous. As it was, after a couple of seconds in the hug, Fidget jumped back, mumbled something incoherent, waved goodbye, and then vanished just like Nemesis had done.
“Sheesh,” said Jinx, “we hug people and they run away immediately. We’re a pair of winners, aren’t we?”
“No doubt about it,” replied Pudding as she embraced Jinx.
That hug now complete, Jinx put on a fake embarrassed face and then playfully said, “I … uh … I gotta get outta here.” He and Pudding laughed together, and then with a quick shout of farewell, Jinx was gone.
Unbeknownst to Pudding, Fidget returned almost immediately. He took up a vigil from behind a small sand dune in order to make sure that nothing bad happened to his friend. Fidget is known for excessive worrying in addition to nervousness.
Pudding turned to the west and watched a distant point of the coastline, roughly two miles away. It was a cloudless day, so she had to squint hard to see a small sapphire flame floating in the sky. This blue flame belonged to the Beckon Point Lighthouse, situated on the outer edge of Lumina, the principal pixie city in the region. Beckon Point is responsible for monitoring naval traffic, both pixie and human, and then informing pixie vessels of current dangers via the magical signal fire.
The fire from the lighthouse blinked on and off a few times. Next to the destroyed dock there was a single torch sticking out of the sand that had a bit of flammable material wrapped around the top. Seeing the signal from the lighthouse, Pudding quickly approached the torch on her end of the beach, and grabbing hold of it, she said, “Ignite.”
A similarly colored flame came to life and blinked in the same pattern. The lighthouse responded with a pattern of reds and yellows. Fidget, watching the lights and interpreting their meaning, said quietly to himself, “All clear. Good Luck.”
Pudding sighed loudly from her point at the beach and grabbing the torch again half heartedly whispered, “Red, Red, Blue, Blue.” The flame on the torch responded to her commands by issuing the colors.
Fidget watched her response and once again talking to himself, he said, “Test canceled.” He frowned sadly as he saw the lighthouse confirm the message, and then the dock’s flame died out as suddenly as it had appeared. Fidget watched Pudding retrieve her sword and then pace back and forth a few times, gazing out at the ocean. Finally coming to a stop, but still staring out at the ocean, she said, “Teleport.”
Fidget turned west immediately and looked toward the outline of the city. In a darkened building that he knew to be Pudding’s home, there was, for a moment, the briefest, tiniest flash of light in one of the windows. Knowing that his friend was home safe and sound, Fidget smiled, and concentrating hard, said in the same clear tone, “Teleport.”