Cadenbury Town Does Halloween (Cadenbury Town #7)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

O nce Connie has finished her feed, we get up and have a walk around the area. There are lots of hills and different pathways.

We have fun running up and down them, jumping out at each other and generally regressing to children and enjoying ourselves.

After an hour or so we decide to leave, after all, crabbing still had to happen. We walk back to the train stop and queue for the train to take us back to the boat. We don’t have to wait long for it to arrive. We all get on except for Temp, Cassie and Sion.

“We’ll meet you there. We’re walking,” Cassie says.

“Walking or running so you can beat us?” Alfred asks with a laugh.

“We’ll give you a head start,” Temp says grinning.

“So kind,” Sal replies.

We hand our tickets to the driver and wave at Temp, Sion and Cassie as the train starts its journey.

Titus and Kean are in the carriage in front of us.

Titus turns around and grins. “We’re going to win.”

“How do you figure that?” I ask.

“I superglued their feet to the path for five minutes,” he tells us.

Adhan, Kean and I burst out laughing, even more when we hear outraged gasps. The four of us turn round and wave at them. The three of them are scowling at us.

Temp suddenly smiles and the land train engine sputters before coming to a halt.

The driver gets out, scratching his head and opens the front to look at the engine.

I turn round and look at Temp, who is laughing his head off.

I can’t believe he did something to the engine. I send my magic out and the engine comes back to life and everyone on the train cheers. The driver gets back in and we are on our way down the hill. I turn back and wave at Cassie, Sion and Temp.

They scowl again my way and cross their arms over their chest.

I turn back and snuggle into Adhan’s side. He drops a kiss on the side of my head and I sigh happily.

We reach the train stop at the same time as the brothers and Sion.

“So that was a draw then,” Tie says, smiling widely at them.

“Only cause you cheated,” Sion points out.

“And you didn’t?” Kean asks them.

“I have no idea what you mean,” Temp says, sticking his nose in the air and walking over to Ben.

“Don’t look at us,” Cassie says, walking off with Sion.

The boat is still at the drop-off point and we all embark. Titus makes Cassie sit on a middle seat well away from the edge of the boat, much to his disgust.

It doesn’t take us long to get back to the Quay. Adhan and I go to buy bait for our crab fishing adventure, while the others go into the shop to buy everything else we need.

I laugh as we meet up with them. It looks like they bought out the shop. They have a ton of buckets, nets, crab lines and deck chairs.

We walk along chatting and laughing as we find the ideal location. Well, when I say we, I mean the others as I have no idea where the best place would be.

Someone picks the perfect spot, chairs are set up and buckets and crab lines are handed out. The brothers tie the buckets to the lines and lower them into the water to fill the buckets up.

For some reason, I’m holding all the bags of bait. I hand them out as Adhan gets our line ready. I open the bag and offer it to Adhan.

He just grins at me. “This is your part, sweetheart.”

“What is?” I ask curiously.

“You get to put the bait on the hook,” he says, and quite loudly I might add.

The others all stop what they are doing and look my way, with various looks of amusement on their faces.

I look at the bait and then back to Adhan. “No.”

“Come on sweetheart, this is all part of the fun,” the love of my life says, grinning like a loon.

I lift the bag and give the bait a sniff. It stinks. I’m not putting my hand in there. “No,” I say again.

“Come on Ernie , you can do it,” Nix cackles out like he’s trying to channel Molly.

“You want me to put my hand into this smelly bag of bait, pull some out, and attach it to the hook? Have you gone completely mad?” I ask in horror.

“I can help you if you want,” Nora offers.

I smile at her. “I’ve got this, but thank you,” and with that, I use my magic to bait the hook.

“That’s cheating, sweetheart,” Adhan points out.

“I honestly can’t tell you how much I don’t actually care about that,” I reply. I mean seriously?

The others laugh and get back to baiting their lines. It looks like everyone has one except me and Emily. It’s as if our family knows us.

I sit down next to Emily, who is holding Connie, she hands me a baby wipe and I wipe my hands. Once done she hands Connie to me.

“Thanks,” I look at Connie. “Hello, princess. Look at your uncles all trying to outdo each other. Except for Uncle Cam who is helping your cousin. Can you believe that mean old Uncle Adhan wanted me to put my hand in a smelly bait bag?” I turn a smiling Connie around so she can see what’s happening.

“It would have been funny to see you do that,” Emily comments.

“For you maybe, not so much for me.”

“I’ve got one,” Sion practically shouts. “Someone grab a net.”

Cassie picks it up and leans over the railing putting the net under the crab line as Sion pulls it up. Everyone starts chanting Sion’s name. “Got it.”

A cheer goes up from pretty much all of us, except Emily and I cheer quietly.

“Yay, Sion,” Nora shouts running over and having a look.

Cassie squats down and turns the net upside down so the crab falls into the bucket. “First one to Sion.”

“Come on Cam, we need to get one now,” Nora says, going back to his side.

“Shall we get closer and watch?” I say to Connie standing up. I walk to Adhan's side and watch him.

“Someone grab a net, I think I have one,” Adhan calls out.

Now his name is chanted.

Being closest Alfred grabs the net and leans over ready to catch the crabs. “Dad you have about three on your line,” Alfred tells him, getting the net under them. “Got them.”

Everyone lets out another cheer, and Alfred and Adhan pick them out of the net and put them in the bucket.

Adhan stands up, suddenly shoving a crab under my nose.

I yelp and jump back, making sure to protect Connie. “Oh, you did not just do that to me!” I exclaim.

I jump again as Temp waves seaweed in my face.

“I hope you both get boils,” I tell them.

I watch as the smiles drop off both their faces, Temp runs back to Ben’s side hiding from me, as if that would save him.

“You wouldn’t?” Adhan says looking worried.

Alfred and Justice are laughing at him.

“I won’t if you promise not to do that again. But you still might be sleeping on the sofa tonight,” I tell him. “Connie and I are going for a walk.”

I walk around a stunned Adhan, smile at Al and Justice and, as I pass Temp I say, “You sir are a poop stain on the underpants of society,” and to the sounds of laughter, I take Connie for a walk along the promenade.