“And the word is still weird,” Cassius murmured as he painstakingly used the incredibly tiny blade to saw between the holes he’d poked into his pumpkin. He was nearly done, and he couldn’t have been happier with the results thus far.
“I still say you could’ve asked Chand to turn it blackafterjudging,” Baxter insisted.
Alaric gave a careless shrug. “You will have to simply deal with me not adhering to behaviors you believe should be in the contest. Altering the pumpkin afterward with magic is within the bounds of the rules, and you made no remark when Ducarius opted to add it to his. Albie has the same daggers on his sides; could it not be inferred that he too is trying to persuade a judge?”
“We don’t even have a set of rules for the contest,” Baxter argued.
“How is this my fault?” Alaric asked. “If you wished to have clear, written rules, then you should’ve made that known before we started.”
“You cannot fault Alaric’s logic,” Ducarius stated.
“He’s just bitter because his jack-o-lantern is hideous,” Benton remarked with a snicker.
“Please. Brynn’s is the most hideous thing on the planet, and no design is going to help that.”
Brynnius stood up with a grin as he set down his tools. When he unveiled his dragon, people in the room, including Cassius, were astonished by how well it came out. Somehow, he’d turned an ugly duckling into a glorious swan.
Baxter hung his head. “Next year, I’m using a kit.”
“Perhaps you need more practice with your daggers,” Alaric pointed out. “Duc did an excellent job without a kit.”
“He did a dagger. We could all do that with a blindfold on. There’s no shape we’re more familiar with,” Baxter said. Then he held up a finger. “I take that back. I would argue that I know Ben’s d—”
Benton’s hand was covering Baxter’s mouth before he could finish his sentence. “They get the idea.”
Only Cassius was left at the island when Grymington carried over his depiction of the headless horseman that had turned out remarkably well. It took several more minutes of tweaking as Cassius tuned out the chatting of his family and gave his carving the same level of focus and attention normally reserved for training.
“Done,” Cassius announced as he smoothed a paper towel across the white flesh of his squash to make sure there was no stray goop on it.
“Wow, that’s fantastic,” Chander told him once he got a look at the elf.
“Did you choose an expert design? That has so much detail,” Arvandus enthused.
“I saw no point in playing it safe with a beginner one.”
“Time for the judging to commence. Everyone step away, so Venerable Knight Arvandus and Skeleton Lord Albrecht can perform their duties,” Alaric ordered. Cassius obeyed his ruler and did his best to weave between his family to get a second look at each pumpkin. Apart from Baxter’s unintentional nightmare, the Darays had acquitted themselves quite well.
“Victor, you need to bring yours,” Arvandus said.
“No, I didn’t carve anything. Just used some markers, glue, and glitter.”
“The glue stinks,” Cassius pointed out.
“Then open a damn window,” Chander demanded.
Cassius wandered over to slide open a few of the enormous glass panels in their great room. The sun had nearly set, and the desert air was cooling as the minutes ticked by. Although Cassius was impervious to extremes in temperature and therefore immune to the ridiculously hot summer months of Las Vegas, he mourned the days when the windows couldn’t be open for at least part of the day or evening. He breathed in deep of the fresh outdoors, and Arvandus clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.
“Apple and I are ready to announce our winners. We’re going to give them to you in reverse, but don’t grab your prize until we’re done. First place should get to select theirs, followed by everyone else.”
“Third prize goes to Grymmie for his headless horseman,” Albrecht said. Cassius clapped loudly for the Lich Reaper, who thanked the judges profusely.
“We want you to know, none of these decisions were easy. You guys did great, and choosing between first and second was nearly a matter of drawn daggers, but we managed to agree that the next prize goes to Brynn for his beautiful dragon.”
“And finally, our first-place winner, whose biggest prize will be bragging rights, is Cass for his incredible elf,” Albrecht stated.
Cassius grinned and gave his thanks to the judges. He picked an apple at random, not really caring which one he got since they all looked delicious. Although he’d used a kit that was nearly foolproof, he was still proud that he’d followed the rules to the letter. Without that strict adherence, his elf might not have won.
“Guess your attempt at sucking up didn’t work,” Baxter told Alaric.
