Sell you a Bridge chapter 306

June 17th 2016 Destiny Islands, 7:00 PM EDT

Getting  out of the shower, I groaned and stretched. "Ok, that was a good day. I  really needed that. I'm even more relaxed than I was after the Arcadia  Project. How about you girls?" I grinned over at my sorceress and our  goddess, slumped bonelessly on the bed. They'd showered first,  separately. We'd all decided that showering together would kind of  defeat the purpose. "Also, am I crazy, or is the sand here less annoying  somehow? I expected it to stick on me and be impossible to wash off  like most other sand, but this just seems...better."

Drea  smiled dreamily as she sifted her head toward me. "You aren't. Aside  from being absurdly fine, the sand here seems less abrasive. This place  is...magical. I almost don't want to leave, even though I know we have  to. I wonder if we can visit again? Once all this mess is over I'd like  to come back. Hell, I'd like to build a house here or something. This  would be an amazing place to live."

I plopped down on the  bed next to her, snuggling into her side across from Zatanna. "How about  you, Zee, Destiny Island's vacation house? Although I guess we can just  come back here. I doubt his resort is going to be too crowded for the  foreseeable future." I paused in unease. "Actually...what happens to the  staff when we leave? I just realized they would be trapped here?  That...isn't really ideal, even if this place is a paradise. Maybe we  should take them with us, or at least offer." It was a sobering thought,  but one we could deal with at the meeting. "Anyway, let's get dressed.  We're meeting everyone for dinner at the steakhouse."

Zee  groaned. "The house sounds nice, but I don't want to stand up. I'm so  relaxed. Can you guys just put me on a luggage cart and wheel me  downstairs? I'll let you throw a blanket over me so I'm covered, but  that's as clothed as I'll agree to be." Her eyes were closed and she had  a beatific smile on her lips as she lounged back against Drea. It was  hard not to smile at how happy she seemed. My sorceress was a genius,  but she could be simple sometimes. Food, magic to research, and sex, and  she was usually content.

Sadly, I had to make her get up.  "As good as you look naked baby, you need to get dressed I'm afraid. As  much fun as it is tormenting our daughter by being affectionate, I  think wheeling you downstairs naked and barely covered with a sheet is a  bit much. Not to mention your mother, your Uncle John, Artemis, plus  Wally and John the younger, both of whom I would be forced to drop into a  bottomless abyss if they saw you naked."

She pouted  lightly. "Ugh. Fine. This is your fault. Making dinner plans after a sex  marathon. You absolute fool." That startles a laugh out of me as she  levered herself out of bed, making sure to groan in effort and flop  around dramatically in a way I found much more arousing than I did  annoying. It took her a shockingly short amount of time to roll out of  bed and slip into some underwear and a nice summer dress. Having been  lying in bed fresh out of the shower her hair should have been a mess,  but it looked perfectly tousled. Clearly there was sex elf sorcery at  work.

By the time I stopped being distracted by my first  naked girlfriend, the other one was already dressed. I slipped into a  pair of shorts and a t-shirt and we were ready to go. I left the do not  disturb sign on my doorknob so one of the staff didn't find my void  grimoire and go insane or something. "Alright." I said happily. "Let's  head downstairs. I could use some hot meat. I'd understand if you two  get a salad or something. You've had plenty today."

Drea  snickered a bit, which surprised me, but Zee just covered her mouth with  her hands to make herself louder and chorused. "Boo! Come on, you're  better than that. Also if you're going to make incredibly juvenile sex  jokes that would make a third grader laugh, try to do it when our  daughter is in the room. At least then we could have seen her freak out  about it."

"Yes dear." I intoned blandly. I got a middle  finger for that. "Alright, enough stalling. Time for dinner." I scooped  them both up to a chorus of squeals and carried them down the hall.  "Jokes aside, I wonder what they have here. I don't have too much fine  control over big buys like this. It'll be interesting to see how high  quality the food is. Everything has been pretty nice so far. I DID pay  for a five star resort, so there's that."

Zee, who was  upside down so she could see down the hall, gasped happily. "Oh, shit. I  didn't even think about the other amenities. I should see if mom,  Artemis, and Rana want to get a massage with me. I bet this place has a  fantastic spa. Drea, you down for a spa weekend? We can let Morgan hang  out with the boys. I'm sure he, Wally, and John, can find some nonsense  to get up to while we have some girl time. We can even invite Suzie. Not  sure what she would say, but she's been through a lot with us, and it's  only polite."

I tapped the button on the wall with a flip  flop clad foot and waited for the elevator as Drea readily agreed to  the plan, and then set my girls down as the elevator dinged. I didn't  want anyone seeing up their dresses and I was sure the blood must be  rushing to their heads anyway. As the elevator arrived we all got in. "I  guess we could do that. Wally is pretty fast and John has a solid grasp  on magic. We can do a search party thing on the island to find the  keyhole for when it's time to go." I stuck my tongue at them. "Some of  us actually do work."

Zee just snorted. "You get hours  long acrobatic three way sex marathons or you get grunt work. You don't  get both. Feel free to make the other choice next time." She gave me a  sugary smile and I rolled my eyes, trying not to return it. "Anyway,  that would be so nice. Rana and mom haven't had much time to bond since  we've been so busy. This seems like a perfect chance for them to get  closer."

It did seem like a good idea. I hadn't hung out  with Wally much after New Genesis and the OZ, and he and Artemis were  pretty serious. Speaking of which, I saw them cuddled up together at the  outdoor table when we got down to dinner. Artemis looked as relaxed as  zee, in a similar summer dress with a flower behind one ear. When they  saw us she gave a lazy wave. "Hey guys, over here! We got a table."

I  neglected to point out that we were literally the only guests at this  resort, no reason to ruin her good mood, we just thumped down in the  seat at one end, the girls sitting beside me. Sindella, Tommy, Taylor,  John, and Suzie were already here, as was Jim, and Rana was on the other  side of Drea enjoying a large brightly colored drink with an umbrella  in it. She rolled her eyes when she saw us. "Oh look, they surfaced. Our  first family vacation and you three spend it locked in your rooms. At  least you're here now."

Zee gave her a sweet smile. "Oh,  honey. We weren't in our room. We were just relaxing out on the sand."  She smiled at an approaching water, flagging him over. "Hi, I'd like a  sex on the beach. You'd think I'd be sick of it by now, but I just can't  get enough." I bit back a snicker as Rana tried not to grimace (and  failed). She was getting better at not reacting, which was the best  possible defense against her mother's teasing. Zee only tormented her  because she found her embarrassment so funny.

Drea, smiled  reprovingly. "Alright Zee, that's the last one. You can tease her more  tomorrow, but we need to get some actual planning done at some point,  and it'll be hard to include her when she has her hands over her ears  and is shouting 'I'm not listening' at the top of her lungs." Zee opened  her mouth, but our goddess cut her off with a stern look. "And that  means no responding with some crude innuendo about me taking charge for a  change."

"Fine." My sorceress pouted. "Ruin my fun." She  thanked the returning waited for her drink, taking a sip and grimacing.  Zee wasn't a big fan of vodka. I shot her a smirk as she was forced to  live with the consequences of her lame bit, and she stuck out her tongue  at me. "Anyway, we should probably order. I'll have the mahi mahi." She  passed the small menu that had been next to her plate to the waiter as  the rest of us ordered. "So, did anyone actually find anything  productive out today?"

Rana rolled her eyes. "Yes. Me and  Uncle John went out poking around with Miss Suzie, and grandma. We  found...some weird stuff. Or rather. We found a lot of normal stuff that  shouldn't be there. Houses. Full of stuff that looks perfectly  preserved and that were obviously lived in by families. Like, pictures  of inhabitants and everything. It was kind of creepy, walking through  houses that should have people in them. They weren't even dusty, and all  the food in the refrigerators was still good...apparently." She glared  at Suzie.

"Ok, first thing, bite sized, don't call me Miss  Suzie. I'm not a steamboat captain." Said the tall blonde woman.  "Second of all, I was just gathering intel. Knowing that the food didn't  go bad is probably very useful for the magic types to be able to figure  out what's going on. I suspect knowing the people in that green house  had a fondness for lean roast beef is probably less valuable intel, but I  like to be thorough."

I ordered my own meal, a ribeye  (medium rare because while I might be a ghost devil abomination I wasn't  enough of a monster to order meat well done) and listened to the others  talk about what they had found. It hadn't been anything really eye  catching or anything that would lead us to the keyhole, but it sounded  like they'd had fun on their creepy little day out. Sort like a haunted  tour, nothing genuinely scary, but the ambiance had obviously been fun.

It  was nice to see Rana so excited, she was chattering happily about her  day and the things she'd seen, despite them being fairly mundane. I made  myself a promise I'd spend time with her and the girls, they might be  doing their girls day at the spa, but I should bond more with my  daughter. She clearly wanted to spend more time with her family and  enjoyed what time she did get.

As the steak was delivered  (side of mashed potatoes and a asparagus) I smiled around at my friends.  This was...surreal. In the middle of some insane abyssal realm we were  trying to escape from and we were having dinner on the beach. As weird  as it was though, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I guess Rana wasn't  the only one that loved spending time with family. My girls, my sister,  my mentor, my most recent teacher, and a bunch of other friends. If I  was a nicer guy, I'd almost want to thank Barbatos for this night...but I  wasn't. I was going to kick his ass still. Fun time though.