Jurdan in the Mortal World

Scary-Go-Round

(A/N: hi. Do you like my play on words so far? Good. Cuz I don't have any more for you at the moment...anyway. Please vote (says the person who has no idea what voting does xD), comment, etc. and thank you. Our school just shut down because of coronavirus (like legit every other place in the world rn) so i might be doing this more than usual, but I have other things I write too, so maybe not. Anyway. Thank you for reading. Also if any of you are writing on Wattpad, please let meh know and I will read it ahaha)

               "What is that thing??" Cardan asks, furrowing his brows at all the "animals" on the merry-go-round. "Even the Fae aren't so cruel as to stab an animal through it's spine while it is still alive." I stifle my urge to laugh.

               "It's not like that, Cardan. It's plastic."

              He frowns. "So wasteful."

               I fight the urge to laugh. "Uh...says the king who spent months reveling and drinking and getting waste."

              Cardan opens his mouth to protest, but Oak stops our banter by pointing at the merry-go-round. "Jude! Jude! Can we ride? Vivi says she can glamour them into giving us a free ride!"

             I groan. "Heather is not going to like that, and in good reason. No glamouring mortals was our first ground rule when we came here."

            Cardan pipes up. "Well, no PDA was our second rule, and lookee!-that didn't turn out so well. It's already been broken, like fifteen times."

            Oh my god. Cardan saying 'like' makes him sound so much like a teenage girl.

           "Still. This is a serious rule. Vivi! No glamouring!" I yell over the swarm of mortals. Some of them look at me with a raised eyebrow or a mouthed 'what?' but most of them ignore me. Huh. I guess they get a lot of Fae-raised mortals that had their current dad murder their former parents here. Because I am totally not a minority.

               Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vivi give a suggestive gesture to me, then roll her eyes. "Fine," she calls back. I motion for her to come over here, then get in the winding line of people already in line, with little kids chattering their mouths off and tugging on their parents' hands, begging for their attention. I used to be like that.

                "Look," Cardan says, gesturing over my shoulder, "the ride closes down in a few minutes and then resumes again at 3."

              "Well, we're just going to have to be lucky, I guess," I say, shrugging my shoulders.

                "Good thing I ate my Lucky Charms today, right, Jude?" Oak asks, tugging on my pinky. I smile. "Right."

               "-I can't even believe you had such an irresponsible thought. What if Jude had decided it'd be okay? Would you have done it then?" Heather is lecturing Vivi as they find their way over to us. Vivi finds my eyes in the crowd and mouths 'help me'. I smirk and give her a 'no way'. She deserves it, honestly, after what she thought would be okay. 

               Ever since the drowned mortal girl, every mention of a glamoured human gives me shivers down my spine. And not in a good way. (A/N: mentioned that for us dirty-minded people) 

             The line slowly chugs forward, people getting on and off to the annoying yet cheery carnival music going on. Oak gets impatient and starts whining about 'Judeee, I want Vivi to glamour themmm' and 'I'm so hot and hungryyy'. 

            I chide him gently. "We had lunch an hour ago. We can get pretzels after this or something." Honestly, I haven't cared for the merry-go-round since the first time I entered Faerie. But Cardan should get the experience of sitting on a hot, sticky back of a plastic sculpted animal while the annoying music carves its way into your mind. He really should. He deserves the experience.

            When we get to the front-ish of the line, the woman in charge calls out, "Last chance to ride before 3 PM! We are taking a break!" And since I am oh-so-lucky, Vivi flounces ahead with Heather and Oak, leaving me and Cardan. Which wouldn't be a problem, if there wasn't one seat left. And the tickets prepaid. The whole world is setting me up. (A/N: No my cute baby Jude only I am)

             Vivi smirks. "You're not going to waste one dollar and fifty cents of mine! Stop being a baby and get on with Cardan!" She laughs, and I roll my eyes. 

             Cardan pulls me up onto a purple horse, putting me in the front and curling up behind me. "Isn't this cozy?" he breathes.

              I raise my eyebrow and twist to look at him. "First of all, no PDA. Second of all, do you really need to sit this close to me?"

             Cardan sighs. "We're sitting on a dead plastic horse made for one. Yes, I do need to sit this close, or else I will give myself a -what do you call it-wedgie sitting on the dear dead horses' rump."

              I look at him. "Careful there," I say, deadpan, "you almost made me laugh."

             "I know." He says, tucking his chin onto my shoulder. "Because I have a great sense of humor. Don't you remember?"

                The merry-go-round starts. "Jude! The animal. It's alive again!" Cardan shrieks, holding on to me tightly. People stare. I roll my eyes and fight the urge to flip them off. People are weird in the mortal world. Surely some are weirder than this? Or not?

                 "Shh. Don't cry, my little baby," I croon mockingly. He looks at me, his pupils blown wide. He's actually scared. He whimpers, and pulls me closer to him. Fine. I'm sick of all the attention. It's reminding me of when I fell out of the rafters in the ballroom because I slipped in my own blood. So I am going to let him use me as a comfort animal. Sigh.

                  "Give me a kiss." Cardan sounds like he's about to cry.

                   "No."

                   "Please. I'm scared. We're moving UP AND DOWN FOR THE HIGH KINGS' SAKE!" Everyone is watching.

                   "Okay. Stop freaking out." I turn to fulfill his wish with a little peck on his forehead when I spot a little smirk on his mouth. 

                     "I'm not freaked out. I'm right next to you!" He says, seemingly innocent. I fight the urge to punch him and remind myself that after this minor vacation, it's back to stress and war and royalty.

                    "I'll let it go. This time." I warn, looking straight ahead again and trying so hard to endure that damning carnival music.