“Oh that’s cute.” Libby said lifting hers out, having no clue to the significance of the name.
“Right lollies everyone.” Pip said as they all pulled out a large rainbow spiral lolly which had a sticker on the front that said,
Not Toxic
But
Piptastic!
This was written under a green haired skull and crossed bones, only instead of the bones it was two crossed lollipops and the skull had two hearts for eyes. They were the cutest things and everyone said so as they got them out of the packets.
“Right, now a toast to my wonderful friend Toots, who came into my life and changed it forever and of course, for the better. Toots you are the strawberry cream on my French toast…to Toots, aka Kazzy!” Pip said and they all raised their glasses and drank, including me.
“Aww that was lovely, Pip.” I told her nudging her hip with mine.
“Mmm, this is delicious, Pipper,” my mum said sucking on her lolly and my sister followed suit. RJ and Hilary also commented on how delicious they were so much so I was tempted to try one myself.
“Just wait for it.” Pip said as I grabbed my own lolly out of my bag.
“Wait for…Pip what the Hell! Mum?! Libs!?” I shouted in a panic as one by one they all dropped like flies. Sophia ran forward catching RJ as she was about to fall towards the floor. I whipped my head round and shouted,
“You drugged them?!”
“Of course, how else did you think we were going to hightail it outta here?”
“But Pip, I drank the cocktail too!” This was when she gave me one of her famous ‘I’m a naughty little Imp’ looks and said,
“Oh it wasn’t in the drink.”
“No?” I frowned at her looking around at my mum, Libby, RJ and Hilary, all passed out in their seats.
“No, I lied…” I was about to ask her about what, when she told me herself proudly with a wink,
“…The Lollipops, they were toxic.”
Chapter 30
Devil’s Playground
Pip assured me over and over that they were fine and it was just a little something that sent them all into a peaceful sleep.
“And more importantly, they won’t know a thing about it when they wake up.” Sophia added after covering my mum with a hotel towel just to make her extra comfy.
“Right, time to get to work ladies, let’s get our freak on!”
“Uh…our what now?” I asked watching Pip suddenly whip off her t shirt to reveal a purple leather corset with a pea green skirt underneath. Then she kicked off her shoes and shimmed out of her cut-offs, showing it wasn’t tights she wore but purple and black striped stockings.
She then pulled ties down and created an extremely short skirt split in the middle, showing off her DC Joker briefs that looked more like a pair of men’s Y fronts. It was only when she added platform knee high purple boots, purple gloves and a pinstriped purple jacket that I got the costume. She was actually going as a female version of the Joker.
“You like?” Pip asked spinning round and finishing on a Joker style pose. I would say the only thing she was missing was the makeup but knowing Pip, this was coming next.
“Here.” Sophia said throwing a shopping bag Ari’s way.
“What’s this for?” she asked looking as confused as I was.
“Put it on sugar, we are going to a real party!” Pip said answering her. Ari grabbed the garment out of the bag and her eyes widened in horror.
“I can’t wear that!” she said making Pip giggle. She held up a burgundy velvet corset that had a tiny skirt attached made from the same pleated material. One, I should mention, that would make Ari’s behind look very curvaceous indeed. The pale pink bows that fastened at the front made me giggle and she shot me a stern glare, one I ignored.
“Trust me you do not want to walk into where we are going without it…not unless you want to stick out like a piece of human steak.” Sophia told her and she swallowed the large lump of fear.
“Is this true?” she asked me and I gave her a half smile telling her with just one look that yeah, they were kinda right.
“Fine!” she said on a huff taking the bag into the bedroom with her.
“Are you sure she will be okay with all this…this world, when it’s all still so new for her?” I asked them both.
“Well it’s one that she will need to get used to pretty damn quick considering where we are going tomorrow.” Sophia said, untying her dress to reveal a beautiful black and white Harlequin clown’s outfit underneath. It was more of the sexy variety and it looked as though corsets were the costume choice of the night because she too wore one.
It was black satin with two side panels that were black and white diamonds, which matched the stockings she was currently slipping over her bare legs. To this she added cute little black ballet slippers that had wicked looking metal spiked heels, reminding me that she knew how to add a goth element in her fashion when needed. Hell, they looked more like weapons!
“Aww that looks cute.” I told her when she tied a clown’s large neck ruffle made of sheer white material edged with black ribbon. She winked at me and held out her plain black lace tutu to curtsy.
“Oooh you working the clown look, girlfriend.” Pip told her taking a moment from drawing on her red Joker smile and I noticed she had removed the cute little bows over her eyes in a jiffy, now replacing them with a ‘I will kick your ass’ smoky affect.
“I can’t do this!” Ari said coming out of the room and Pip’s whistled sound effect was a perfect example of how sexy she looked.
“Wow.” I said.
“Oooh, hottie” Sophia said.
“Bitch you smokin’” Pip said. And we were all right, she looked damn hot.
“I…I…oh God forgive me.” She said giving up on fighting it and we all burst into giggles when Sophia said,
“Oh honey, where we’re going there’s nothing holy about it. Now come here and let me do your hair.” Ari did as she was told, walking funny in her tight outfit, obviously never wearing anything so revealing and body constricting before. She also had on a pair of white fishnet tights under the mini skirt and some frilly white hot pants. I didn’t want to tell her but you could just see her full cheeks peeking out of them when she walked. At least she had a little bolero to wear in the same style as the corset with big puffed out sleeves, giving the outfit more of a ‘circus act’ look.
“We also have this big pole for you to carry in case anyone gets too close.” Pip said throwing her a silver walking stick that had a glass globe on the top with a red skull embedded inside it. We all looked a little shocked when she caught it one handed and spun it round like a pro.
“Whoa, where did that come from?” I asked and she shrugged her shoulders before smirking, looking happy to have discovered this new talent.
“Sit.” Sophia said spinning one of the chairs round for her to park her bum on.
“What about her, she hasn’t been given a costume to wear.” Ari complained looking to me as Sophia started on her hair.
“Pip.” I was about to argue but Sophia saying Pip’s name this way stopped me.
“On it!” she said pulling out my own bag and I suddenly wanted to cry.
“Oh don’t look too worried Toots, you will look just as hot, you wait and see.”
“That looks like a few too many ruffles, Squeak.” I told her watching her as she wrestled with a lot of white organza and red ribbons.
“Never joke about ruffles,” she told me looking up from the big bag and then the dolly dress up began. First she started taking all the Hen do stuff off me which included unpinning the L plate from my back. Then the dress I was wearing got a makeover and when I say makeover, what I actually meant was it ended up getting completely redesigned.
She had put a large under bust corset on me that didn’t resemble a corset but more like a huge red and white striped sash. One that was tightened at the base of my spine by thick cord and then hidden by the biggest bow I
had seen on a dress. The ends hung down further than the dress itself and pretty soon even that changed. Pip told me to step into a massive underskirt that just looked like a giant white tutu with red ribbon edging like Sophia’s. The only difference was that hers was little and cute, mine however could have housed small children from a rainstorm. Actually it was a very similar shape to an umbrella.
I had been about to bless my lucky stars that it was at least less revealing than the others but then Pip tied the front of my skirt to the striped ribbons attached to the under corset. This lifted the front of my skirt up revealing my legs and like the rest of them I also had to wear stockings. These had long thick lines of red and white which gave my legs a wonderful shape and complimented the cute calf length boots tied with laces at the front and the back, giving them a Victorian style.
“At least I did my hair.” I said more to myself than anyone else and Pip laughed.
“I don’t think so. The little top hat will never go with that style, now pigtails are where it’s at!”
“Oh no…no way…I…” I stopped when I heard Ari clearing her throat and I looked over to see Sophia had tied her hair up in two twisted buns with a big curling feather fascinator off to one side.
“Okay, I will go with pigtails,” I said knowing it could be worse…much, much worse.
“Good choice.” Ari said sarcastically, making me laugh.
A short while later we were all ready to go and I think if Ari and I could have got away with it we would both have legged it back into the suite, barricading the door behind us. I had asked how long the ‘Humans’ would be out of action worried for my mum, but Pip assured me that they would wake none the wiser in about four hours. At least that would give us plenty of time to get in and out.
Now my only other worry was how we would get from A to B in these outfits.
“Plus aren’t we forgetting that Draven is down by the bar drinking with your brother?”
“What?! Oh God I can’t do this, I have to go back.” Ari said turning around abruptly.
“Chill, I had a text from Dom and forgot to tell you that they have moved on to another place.”
“You did?” I asked and Ari spoke at the same time,
“So Vincent won’t see me?”
“I did and no, he won’t see you,” she told us so we continued walking to the elevators.
“Where did they go?” I asked as we waited for the doors to open.
“Oh, just somewhere quiet,” she said casually.
“But what about other people seeing us?”
“That’s a good point.” I said siding with Ari and giving her a worry buddy in all this.
“Don’t worry, we have it covered.” Pip said throwing a gloved hand up in the air and in an instant she had thrown up some kind of spell that shielded us so others couldn’t see how we really looked. It was quite rare seeing what Pip could actually do and I still didn’t know half of it, but then again her powers weren’t as important to me as Pip was.
“Just like that?”
“Yep…I am just that good. Now let’s go,” she said as the doors opened letting us in. Just as we got down into the fancy lobby with its highly polished wood, gleaming marble pillars and elegant checkered floor, Pip pressed play on her phone and I wanted to laugh when ‘I feel like a woman’ started playing, as this seemed to be our theme tune.
Good old Shania Twain, it was certainly the confidence booster we needed and when I say we, I only meant me and Ari as Sophia and Pip walked like they owned the place. In fact, if this had been a movie then they would have played this scene in slow motion as the four of us strutted our stuff through this posh looking palace.
Even though they couldn’t see us looking like four sexy clowns, we still managed to turn heads, I looked at Ari and seeing her bright red cheeks, smiled to myself. One thought went through my mind and that was if she thought that this was bad then just wait until she got into the Devil’s Ring, then she would know what blushing really felt like.
We all got into the back of a black cab, called for us by the bellboy, who Pip winked at being her usual flirty self. We all crammed in the back and Sophia told the driver to take us to the ‘Cheshire Cheese’ which was one of the oldest and most well know pubs in London. Of course I knew it well…all too well in fact and all I could hope for was that Ari didn’t faint in shock when we walked through its doors.
Getting there only took minutes as it wasn’t far from the Savoy hotel. Last time I went I remembered thinking that I could have just walked, but in these heels that would be a big fat ‘no’.
“Is there another way in?” I asked while still in the cab assuming we wouldn’t be going the way I knew, not with the pub still being open.
“There are many but we want to stay inconspicuous,” Sophia said and Pip added,
“Spy like.”
“Won’t there still be people inside?” Ari asked as we had pulled up by the alley way that led to the small old pub.
“Blind bats they will be.” Pip said like Yoda and Ari looked confused.
“It’s a movie.” I told her by way of explaining.
“Back way in?” Sophia asked looking to Pip and she gave her a wicked grin before holding out a fist to her saying,
“Back way in.” Then they bumped fists and walked past the front entrance both with a natural sexy strut.
“Another movie?”
“No, no, that’s just them,” I stopped to tell her and then grabbed her hand, gave it what I hoped was a comforting squeeze and asked,
“You ready for this?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Me either, so let’s go.” I said giving her a wink before following the other two.
“So how do we get in?” I asked as we all seemed to be stood around staring at the floor.
“It’s six across, pull three times.” Sophia told Pip and she smacked her head as if it should have been obvious.
“Of course, I don’t know why I get those two mixed up, six across pull three times not the other way around,” she muttered to herself as she walked over towards the line of black iron railings.
“I would move back if I were you.” Sophia warned and I pulled Ari back with me just in time as Pip twisted the sixth spike releasing the joining metal so that it became a lever she pulled down three times.
“Let me guess, 666 number of the Beast?” Ari asked me on a whisper.
“I wouldn’t talk about that.”
“Why not?” she asked and I looked back over my shoulder at Pip and told her,
“Because it’s her husband.” I would have laughed at the look of disbelief she gave me but right at that moment the large concrete slabs started vibrating beneath our feet.
“Watch your step,” Sophia warned and in the end I dragged Ari over to stand behind Sophia and Pip, thinking it safer this way. We watched in awe as the slab of concrete flipped up and over so it was stood on its end. Then the next one followed and the next one after that until eventually all six slabs were standing in a line like dominos. Then they all moved back one by one creating a large enough passage below, with elaborate stone steps leading down in a spiral.
“After you.” Sophia said holding her hand out to Pip,
“Why thank you, don’t mind if I doodle,” she replied skipping down the first lot of steps until she disappeared. I looked around and gasped when I saw people coming out of the Cheshire Cheese.
“Don’t worry they can’t see anything…you coming?” Sophia told us with a smirk and Ari and I took deep breaths and followed them down…although Ari’s deep breaths were taken a lot shakier than mine, no doubt due to her nerves. I knew how she felt, as I was also slightly nervous and I had done this once before so knew what to expect. Ari, on the other hand, hadn’t faced anything like it and this was a whole different world from the one she knew.
Thankfully as Pip had been going along she had only needed to touch the wall to get the iron torches to light and the flickering of fire gave the
place a less creepy vibe. Pip tapped on her phone a few times and the music started.
“You have to be joking.” I muttered and Ari asked me what was funny. I looked back up just in time to see the entrance closing in on us now that we were all through, thus sealing our fate.
“This song is called ‘Deeper Underground’.”
“Ah, makes sense,” she said trying for a sarcastic tone only she failed due to her anxiety.
“ECHOOO echo…echo….” Pip’s voice carried through the tunnel of rock and Sophia shook her head in front of me.
“Every time,” she said to herself.
It didn’t take us long before reaching the bottom and by the end of it I was almost ready to buy a Stairmaster just in case I ever needed to come down here again. To be honest I half blamed the shoes as walking in heels wasn’t exactly my forte at the best of times, so with the addition of stairs it was never going to be a good recipe for healthy happy feet.
I remember the first time I came here expecting to hear the sounds of men fighting and crowds cheering them on and had been shocked to walk into the musical chimes of fairground music. Although it wasn’t exactly your typical happy sounds reminding you of yesteryears. No, it was more of an eerie horror movie soundtrack which didn’t really help matters getting Ari inside.
“I think I will just wait for you guys right here or better still back up there.”
“Oh no you don’t, look we’ve got you all this way, trust me you will be fine.” I said holding on to her shoulders to stop her from running off up the stairs and no doubt breaking her neck in those heels.
Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) Page 33
