Lilly stared at the bracelet on Cloud's wrist, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Uncle Cloud, why don't you take it off and give it back to me…"
Cloud was confused. "Why?"
Lilly said, " Uhhh… it's not good.
Cloud thought that she meant the black bracelet didn't look good, and chuckled. "It's alright. Black bracelets generally look pretty good on guys. It doesn't matter if it looks good, as long as it's of use."
Lilly looked even more uncomfortable.
Well… it was indeed useful. Extremely useful, even.
Blake stared at Lilly's expression, understanding something at last.
He could not even see ghosts and could only sense them, but Cloud could.
From how he had acted at Sean's house, he could indeed see them.
Blake had been right there too, and there was no way Cloud could see ghosts when he couldn't.
Thus, the only explanation that made sense was that Cloud was wearing something that helped him see ghosts.
There was only one truth, then...
Blake lowered his gaze, zeroing in on the black bracelet on Cloud's wrist.
He hadn't known that such a good thing existed.
How dare his little darling not give such a treasure to him?
It was his now, then!
Blake grabbed Cloud by the wrist, and the black bracelet was on Blake the next second.
Daylight robbery?
"Give it back!" Cloud grabbed at it.
Blake smiled lazily. "Trust me, you don't want it."
Cloud scoffed.
What did he mean that he wouldn't want it!
Blake probably had a whole truck of gifts from Lilly…
Blake already had the bracelet on his wrist, and there was no way Cloud was going to be able to get it from him. No one could take anything from Blake's hands.
"You're a thief!" Cloud fumed.
Lilly said, "Uncle Cloud, I'll make you another one!"
Cloud shook his head at once. "That's alright."
His brother had said before that Lilly's protection bracelet took a great deal of her energy to make. She had even fallen unconscious making them before.
And so, Cloud turned to look at Blake with his hand outstretched. "Give it back!"
Blake said, "No, I won't."
Cloud turned to look at Bettany at once. "Mom, he took my bracelet!"
Bettany was speechless.
How childish!
How old were they to be snitching on each other like this?
"Lilly, let's keep eating. Pay them no mind." Bettany put another few chicken feet on Lilly's plate.
The chicken feet were stewed long enough to be soft to the bite. Lilly had already had a whole plate of them.
Bettany saw that she liked them, and kept refilling her plate. When Lilly couldn't eat anymore, she handed her a glass of hand pressed juice.
Finally seeing that Lilly was truly full and would explode if she ate anymore, Bettany nodded at the leftover food. "You're finishing all of this. Don't let it go to waste."
Blake and Cloud, in the middle of their 'fight' was speechless.
After breakfast.
Lilly waited until Bettany was not around to say to Cloud, "Uncle Cloud, you really shouldn't take the bracelet back. It's supposed to help you see ghosts…"
Cloud was speechless.What?
Lilly chewed on her yogurt straw. "If you couldn't see ghosts, you wouldn't have been able to talk to Auntie Harem and the rest. That's why I gave you this bracelet…"
Cloud was speechless.
"..."
God, this kid.
What the hell was this bracelet?
He had taken so much care of it, making sure that it was on his hand every night before he went to bed.
He guarded it with his life, treating it as a protection amulet.
Only for it to be that kind of amulet!
Blake asked teasingly, "Still want it?"
He had caught the ghost by pure instinct, and suddenly wanted to see what it looked like now.
Just to try out the bracelet, of course.
Lilly yanked the rebel ghost out.
The rebel ghost came out cussing at once. "I'm fifty pounds of skin and bones, and fifty-five pounds of pure rebellion! You can't make me cave in!"
Lilly asked curiously, "Why would you have five more pounds of rebellion?"
The rebel ghost scoffed. "That's just how rebellious I am!"
Lilly did not know what to say all of a sudden. That was, after all, a pretty smooth line.
"Hey, brother Rebel Ghost! What's your name, where are you from and how'd you die?"
The weakling spirit had somehow come out of the spirit jar at some point, and was leaning to the side.
The sound of Lilly calling the rebel ghost her 'brother' made the weakling spirit's expression darken, and he glowered at the rebel ghost.
"His name's Hank Channing, he's thirteen years old. Male, from Novak City in Brookvide. He died getting hit by a car," the weakling spirit said.
Lilly hummed in confusion. "How'd you know that?"
The weakling spirit smiled gently. "Kill with kindness. I asked him."
The rebel ghost smirked coldly.
Kill with kindness?
Those answers were beaten out of him…
But it would be too embarrassing to admit, and so he did not mention it.
The rebel ghost turned his face to the side haughtily. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I won't give in to you so easily!"
Lilly said, " Oh…
She turned to look at Blake. "What should I do, Dad?"
Blake cracked his knuckles. "It's common for children to not listen to others. You just have to beat them into it."
The rebel ghost was speechless.
Lilly nodded, taking out her purple sledgehammer at once.
"Brother Rebel Ghost, just let me beat you up a little. Just a little!"
The rebel ghost was speechless.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Anyone Dares Bully you, Call Uncles!