“After what?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“It’s a surprise.”
“What kind of surprise? The kind where a ghoul jumps out at me from behind a bush or the kind where a seagull swoops down and steals my ice cream cone?”
“A less spooky surprise,” he clarified.
“Will I like it?” I asked hopefully and he frowned.
“I’m not sure,” he said, flexing his fingers against his knee. “Ya might, or ya might not. Either way, it’s happening.”
“Oh,” I breathed, chewing on my lip as I tried to figure out what it could be. A kitten in a boot? A whole bunch of evil guys for me to slice up? A new hat with spangles on it?
It drove me crazy as we headed off of the main strip while Niall took out his phone and started tapping on buttons, frowning in concentration as he filled out what looked like some kind of form. Maybe it was a waiver form for the skydive we were about to do. Yeah, I’d bet it was that. I’d always wanted to jump out of a plane with a parachute on my back, my life in the hands of a wiggly little cord that I needed to try and get hold of and pull in time before I went splat.
We eventually pulled up outside the most boring building I’d ever seen in all my life. And I’d just seen some of the most exciting buildings in the world, so it seemed extra dull.
“What is this?” I huffed as Niall got out of the car and pulled me after him.
He dragged me inside and towed me into a line inside what seemed to be some official government building. It was bor to the ing. And I couldn’t see a single fun thing in sight. There were a few couples ahead of us in the queue and one woman was wearing a flouncy white dress and a tiara.
I rounded on Niall, shoving him in the chest. “What is this? You’ve taken me through the heart of funsville only to divert me to boring town. Why would you do this to me, Hellfire, why?”
“We need to register for the fun before we can do the fun,” Niall explained and I relaxed, relieved at that.
“Ohhh, that makes sense,” I said. “Do they need to measure us before we get on the helicopter? Is that how they fit us for the parachute?”
I looked around for the stairway that must have led up to the roof. I spotted a door where a man in a uniform was standing and I gave him a wink. It was definitely that way. He must have been the pilot, ready to take us for our sky dive.
It wasn’t long before we reached the front of the line, mostly because Niall took my hand and towed me to the front of it, arching a brow at the couple who had been due to go next and smiling like a demon when the guy bowed his head and let us go in front of them. That was darn nice of him. We were ushered over to a woman behind a window who looked like a prune and an orange had given birth to her.
“I filled out the form online.” Niall pushed his phone under the slot to the woman and she checked it before tapping something on her computer. I got bored as Niall started talking to her about some stuff and I looked around and stared at the drunk couple who were making out at the booth next to ours while the attendant tried to get their attention.
Niall took my hand and I realised there was a form waiting for me as he a slid a pen between my fingers. “Sign here, love.”
I did so, making my signature into a big, fancy thing with frills and two big hearts instead of the Os. I drew a little man being stabbed in the chest too, but when I tried to add some blood, Niall pulled it away from me and slid it back under the slot to the woman.
She did a stampy thing and signed it herself then handed it back to Niall and he snatched it, dragging me away out of the building and back into the car.
“Wait – what about the sky dive?” I begged, looking back at the building forlornly.
“We can do one later, Spider,” Niall said, folding up the piece of paper and sliding it into his pocket.
He leaned forward, murmuring something to the driver and we took off down the road while I tapped my feet impatiently.
“Where’s the surprise, Hellfire?” I demanded. “Where is it?!”
Niall didn’t answer, his jaw flexing and making me grow impatient as I threw myself back in my seat with a growl.
“This is the most boring trip I’ve ever, ever been on,” I said, but Niall didn’t rise to my baiting.
We returned to the glittery part of the city again, sailing all the way along and I sat up straighter in my seat, hope bouncing through my chest as I spotted an enormous freaking castle ahead of us.
“Just drop us off here, fella,” Niall growled.
“We’re in the middle of the street, sir,” he said in surprise.
“I wanna take her in that way.” Niall pointed to an escalator that led up to a walkway which went right over our heads. “Now pull the fuck over.”
The man didn’t object again, getting over to the side of the wide road.
Niall got out of the car, towing me after him and I grinned widely as he broke into a run. We reached the escalator on the sidewalk, climbing it at speed and knocking people out of our way as we made it to the top where a bridge with glass windows led us towards the castle. But as we ran across it, my gaze turned to a huge hotel across the road with the Statue of Liberty standing at the front of it and an honest to shit red roller coaster winding around the high skyscrapers that made up the hotel.
“Holy tits, batman,” I breathed, but Niall didn’t let me stay staring at it, he dragged me off of the bridge onto another walkway and I stared up at the castle we were heading towards, the red and blue coned roofs on top of the towers sharpening to points above us.
The ground started moving beneath my feet and I squealed as I realised we were on a flat travelator that headed straight down into the belly of the castle.
“Niall,” I squeaked, looking to him with the widest smile on my face. “This place is amazing.”
He frowned, running his thumb over the corner of my mouth like he wanted to absorb my joy through his skin and I was pretty sure it worked because his own lips lifted at the corner.
“You’re gonna need a dress that’s fit for a castle then, eh love?”
I nodded excitedly at that idea as we made it into an enormous lobby where huge crests hung on the walls, suits of armour and the name Excalibur blazing on flags around the place.
Niall led the way on, glancing at some signs I didn’t care to look at as we hurried along, passing through an endless casino while I watched people crying out excitedly, or banging their fists on tables in frustration. Winners, losers, I wanted to snatch a stack of chips and find out which one I’d be. But Niall didn’t slow, turning me this way and that until we made it to a parade of stores. He led me inside one full of fancy dress clothes that could have passed for the real deal, and I bounded away from him towards a dark green maiden dress fit for a warrior queen. It had full skirts and a bodice which laced up at the back, lace detailing and was all the best kinds of beautiful.
I immediately started pulling my clothes off while the attendant gaped at us and Niall grabbed a fancy knight’s outfit beside it, pulling off his own clothes and tugging it over the chainmail and tight pants, making me bite my lip as I lost myself in my very own round table fantasy where I was his Gwendolyn and he stole me from the evil King Arnold. It was a bit snug on his huge frame, but he made it work and after he fastened up the back of my dress, I lurched away to pick up a plastic sword, swinging it left and right.