28. The Calm Before the Storm

"Right down here." Jax leads us through the courtyard and all the way to the back of Royal Manor. There is such a pretty view up ahead.

"It is so cool that Royal Manor has a private beach." AG says as we walk down the stairs and into the sand.

The light breeze blows through my hair as the blue sky becomes more colorful. Purple butterflies flutter past us as the sun starts to come down.

There's a big square blanket that we spread out on the sand to sit on.

"Well, if nobody's gonna go first..." Kayla says, and hands Jax a navy blue gift bag with gold tissue paper.

"For real guys, you didn't have to get me anything. Your presence is your present, ya know?" Jax opens it and pulls out a gift certificate to Gnome Olia bakery.

"Thanks K!" Jax says.

"I really wasn't gonna get you anything, but decided that you've been nice enough to deserve it." Jocelyn hands Jax a box wrapped in (none other than) black wrapping paper.

"Splash paralysis potion." Jax says flatly, and then laughs. "Thanks?"

"You can splash it on your enemies to paralyze them for five minutes." Jocelyn says. "I invented it myself."

"And an invisibility. Pretty useful I guess." Jax says as he holds up a small bottle full of a glowing pink liquid. "Thanks Jocelyn!"

☆𖣔︎᯽-𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹-᯽𖣔︎☆

After Jax receives a few more gift certificates, some pirate gear (you can guess who gave him that), some gingerroot, and many cards, it's time for me to give him mine.

"Alrighty. Here you go." I hand him the gift box with Combing the Sea's gold logo on it.

"From Combing the Sea?? Wow." My friends "Oooooh!". Jax unties the gold ribbon to find the pocketwatch case.

"Wow-this is fancy!" Jax examines it.

"Ooh, a pocketwatch case!" Kayla says.

"Open it." I tell him.

Jax does what he's told.

"No... no way..." He says in surprise.

"What is it?" AG asks.

"One of two existing lightning pocketwatch attachments in the realm!" Jax is in shock. "Gilly-how'd you get this? You must've paid big money!"

"Aren't those worth like, twenty thousand bucks?" Jocelyn asks.

"Close." I say.

"Gilly, this is insane-thank you!!" Jax says. "Where did you get it??"

"Javier's Jewels and Exotic Treasures, believe it or not." I answer.

"Really? Wow! That's where I got Darlene's lamp!" Maxine says.

"I thought I'd never be going in that store again, but here I am." I say. "Don't think I ever will again, this time for real. It's all dust and junk in there." We laugh. "I was literally about to leave before I found that attachment."

The colors in the sky become brighter and more saturated. We turn to face the Enchantasia Sea.

"This is probably the prettiest sunset I've ever seen." Hayley says.

"Definitely." We agree.

☆𖣔︎᯽-𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹-᯽𖣔︎☆

"You guys wanna walk the beach and then back to the castle?" Maxine asks. Some of us stay, and some of us go.

"We'll meet you back inside." Jax says.

"I guess it's just you and me," Jax says. "And seriously, you couldn't have paid fifteen grand for that attachment. Did you?"

"Ok, if I'm being honest, it was free. I found a coin in the streets that let me get one item for free, once at Javier's."

"Oh wow. And you used it on me?"

"Well yeah, there wasn't anything I wanted." I say, and Jax laughs.

"This sunset is gorgeous." Jax says, but he's looking directly at me.

I pause. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because-" He pauses. "I'll just be honest. You look pretty, the way the orange sunlight shines on your face."

I put my face in my hands.

"I'm just being honest." Jax says, and I laugh slightly.

"Thank you for your honesty." I joke, and then pause. "Do you like me?"

"Maybe." Jax admits, running his hand through his wavy blonde hair. "Sure."

"Let's just say that the feeling is mutual." I say, staring out into the ocean. "The ocean looks so cool with the reflection of the sunset on it."

"Sure does. The Enchantasia sea looks like it goes on forever." Jax says, not daring to look at me.

"And a day." I add.

"Mhm." Jax pauses. "Well, we said we'd meet them back in the castle, so maybe we should go."

"Probably a good idea." I say, and start gathering up the gifts.

"Need help carrying anything?"

"Sure. You can just grab a few bags."

☆𖣔︎᯽-𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓹-᯽𖣔︎☆

"Today was so fun you guys!" Kayla says.

"See y'all tomorrow for more fun!" Maxine says, and we enter our room to get ready for bed.