Jason and Conor cracked up laughing and followed them down to the palace while Kayden and Woody put the horses away.
‘That name had better not stick, girl or I won’t be grateful at all that you saved us. He was a geek with glasses as I recall, bitch,’ Ethan whispered to her.
‘What name? I’m here only to serve the master, radar.’ She giggled and moved away from him, holding on to Jason.
‘Don’t hide behind me, princess. Man, he is so going to get you for that.’
Ethan came towards her and she playfully squealed and held on tight to Jason, making him laugh and protect her.
Ethan leaned real close this time. ‘Big bro is not always going to be around. You’re going down, girl,’ he said as he strode off in front of them, catching up with Conor.
‘He’s fun,’ Cassie whispered to Jason.
Jason just laughed and let her hang off him as they followed Conor and Ethan through the grounds. They strolled past the gardens, if you could call them that. Here she took time to take in her surroundings. In place of grass there were mirrored mosaic tiles that reflected the soft pastels of the trees. In the centre of the area, large crystal sculptures of the Three Sisters stood proudly. At the statues’ feet, crystal-shaped stars and moons formed their constellation as seen from above. On the other side of the path, glistening figurines of a mystical creature towered high above her, with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Running around the entire castle was a lake or maybe an illusion of one. As they moved closer it looked as if the water was actually made up of thousands of diamonds or quartz crystals, glittering in the moonlight.
The bridge leading to the entrance of the castle, also a mixture of the glass and crystal, was held together with what looked like gold pillars and ropes. The colourful little critters running around the grounds stood out against the softness and calmness of the setting. Further into the grounds there were trees and plants, nothing like the trees on earth. The trunks were pure white and the leaves were multicoloured pastel. The shrubs that surrounded them were the colours of the critters that ran around, and brightened up the surrounds beautifully. The light from the two full moons that circled the star above suddenly hit the grounds at different angles, causing the colours to reflect against the glass and crystal and sending an array of colours shooting around them. It was a truly spectacular sight.
Finally Cassie felt as if she belonged somewhere. Amongst all the freakishness in this new magical world she was not an outsider anymore. There were plenty of weirder things going on here than she could even dream up. Cassie was sure destiny had played a big hand in getting her this far and she was thrilled that it had led her to Kayden and all of this.
Woody and Kayden caught up to them. Jason released his hold on Cassie so she could be with her man and turned to tell Woody how she had stirred up their boy Ethan.
Kayden thought it was funny. ‘Little troublemaker. You know you’ve just made up a new game and he’ll make you play it out.’
Cassie shrugged. ‘I have an advantage.’
He grinned. ‘Spill.’
She giggled. ‘I’m sleeping with the boss.’
Woody nudged her. ‘Don’t think I won’t kidnap your arse, young lady, if you stir up my boys too much,’ he said in fun.
Laughter helped Cassie loosen up; being part of a team felt good. The men were entertaining and it was nice to have some fun for a change.
Kayden stopped walking and kissed her hands, holding them as if they might break.
‘Okay, you two.’ Woody broke up Kayden’s efforts to woo Cassie further.
‘Goddamn it, Woody, can’t you give me a minute?’
‘Did, and it’s up,’ he smirked, putting out his arm to Cassie. ‘It’s time to show our newest member how to party with the stars.’
She slipped one of her arms through his and the other through her man’s.
Woody patted her hand, brother-like. ‘Promise me if we lead you astray and get you into trouble that you won’t blow us up until we get home. There we’ll have somewhere to run and hide,’ he said and smirked.
Kayden scowled. ‘There will be no leading the new girl astray, Woody. Don’t even think about it or you know what’ll happen.’
‘Okay, boss, I give. Please no stuffing around with my horse on the way back. I can already feel a hangover of massive proportions and will need my horse to be steady,’ he said, putting his hands up and giving in.
As they walked through the castle, Cassie was enchanted by yet more mirrors and crystals that reflected light around the rooms. Golden moons, planets and star shapes were embossed in the blue tiles on the floor. The mystical-creature theme continued, carved into huge golden pillars that supported the roof as well as into the gold frames of all the furniture. Soft, plush, light-blue cushioning of all shapes, trimmed in gold, were placed on the dining chairs and used as scatter cushions on the lounge suites.