Tuesday morning, I checked my lockbox before breakfast and there was close to seventeen hundred dollars left there after Mom and Pandora took the club’s thirty percent. Last night was a very good night between my group sessions with Sukoha and Rhissa, but I knew that not all nights would be like that one. Even Rhissa said that it was such a good night for me because I was the new girl, and she had milked that for every penny she could with that guy we had the threesome with.

Still, I could probably expect to make at least a couple of hundred dollars a night if the club was doing good business, and more if I was giving extra services like last night. While the thick wad of cash in my hands was very pleasing and comforting though, I couldn’t help but think that it could end up being a problem if I kept getting paid this way. I would have to make regular deposits at the bank at this rate, and I was a little concerned that they might think something fishy was up if I was regularly making large deposits of cash.

I would rather avoid suspicion, and any unwanted attention that might come along with it. A girl with as many secrets as I had to keep needed to be careful to stay under the radar, and my looks made it difficult enough to avoid attention as it was. So, as we ate breakfast, I turned to Mom and Pandora to enquire, “Would it be possible to get some sort of direct deposit to my bank account set up? I mean, all that cash is nice, but it’s a bit much for carrying around money and I don’t want my bank getting suspicious because I deposit huge amounts of cash every other day.”

My query got a smile from Mom and Pandora and giggles from every entertainer at the club. It was Mom who answered though. “Of course, we can do that, Snowflake. Only the part-time dancers ever really decide to take cash. All the part-timers who get regular wages get direct deposit, as does everyone here. It’s just sort of a tradition for all of us entertainers to get our first night’s pay in cash.”

“Yeah, it makes the fact that you’re making a shit ton of money more real that way,” Krysti interjected with a foxlike grin. “We all heard what a good night you had last night, by the way. Congrats, you’re officially one of us now.”

That was met with each of the dancers, even Calliope who was still training, to raise a glass to toast to my new status. Stella looked toward Calliope and added, “And we’ll have you ready to join our ranks soon too, Calli.”

Pandora was smiling as she nodded and explained, “Tiffani and I make notes of what all of us entertainers make each night anyway, when we do the nightly counts, so the club gets its share. We have a logbook to keep track of it all, and every two weeks we just add everything up for each of us and enter it into the payroll program when we do the accounting to calculate and pay out the wages for all the other staff. We’ll add your account information tonight, if you’d like, Crystal. It really doesn’t make much difference to us to add your nightly stack of cash to all the others going into our morning bank deposit and it’s expected for a club like this to make large daily deposits of cash.”

With that decision and explanation made, we got back to what was important, eating breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day, after all. As for last night’s huge payday, that would be going into my purse so I could deposit a large portion of it into my account after school, and I would keep a bit of it for spending cash.

The next couple of days at school were quiet and passed mostly without incident, at least until Wednesday afternoon. Delilah and her friends were keeping to her part of the deal and leaving me and my friends alone, but I couldn’t be sure if that was because she feared Mallory’s threat to call her parents if she didn’t or feared me becoming directly involved in making her miserable again. Honestly, it was probably a little bit of both.

From what I could tell in Art class on Wednesday morning, Delilah was looking healthier and was likely over her cold or soon would be. She also hadn’t relaxed her guard in the slightest, even though I was pretty sure none of my friends had taken the opportunity to mess with her yet. That changed during lunch when she let out a pained yelp and jumped out of her seat in the cafeteria just after sitting down a couple of tables away from us with her minions.

From the smug look that Bella had on her face, I suspected that the Metal Mage had something to do with this as Delilah whirled to look at her seat. My suspicions were confirmed as the fiery redhead giggled and whispered, “I wonder how those thumbtacks could have gotten on her chair,” causing everyone at our table to start giggling and earning a furious glare from Delilah.

The Fire Mage sat down in a huff and snatched up her fork to start eating her salad, only it was now securely stuck to the spoon for her soup, and she couldn’t use either properly. Bella looked more pleased with herself by the minute as Delilah got up and stomped off to retrieve new utensils. I noticed that she carefully checked the seat of her chair before sitting this time and frowned at her now unstuck utensils sitting to the side of her tray before glaring in our direction again. Bella didn’t even bother trying to look innocent, she just looked right at the Fire Mage and grinned.

She wasn’t the only one grinning, or getting her licks in, because Trixie quickly got in on it too. No sooner had Bella started to innocently eat her meal and pointedly ignore both Delilah and her glares than the half-Fey started looking very intently at our frustrated enemy as she once again attempted to stab at her salad with a fork. Every time Delilah did so, the salad violently expelled itself from her fork before it could even reach her mouth, making a mess and frustrating Delilah even further.

That was a nice use of Wood magic, usually people just used it to make plants grow or to control living plants, but it could be used to manipulate vegetation in general as well, just like I would with Ice or Bella did with Metal. I was just watching and grinning alongside my sister and our girlfriends as I wondered who was going to pull something next, and what. It seemed like Delilah was thinking, or rather worrying about, the same thing since she gave her hot soup a wary glance before pushing her tray away from her and casting a look of disgust in our direction.

Even when opening her bottle of water, Delilah was being cautious now, pointing it carefully away from her as she removed the cap. Only once she seemed sure that the liquid inside wasn’t moving suspiciously did she take a very careful sip. The fluid erupted from the bottle as soon as it touched her lips, leaving her sputtering, coughing, and wet. Okay, that had to be either Nikki or Nova, but my money was on Nikki from the way that the Mermaid was grinning as Delilah shot up from her seat and stormed out of the cafeteria.

“Serves her right,” Clarice said as she watched her go. “She’s been making us miserable since we all started here in eighth grade, it’s about time me and Trixie started getting some payback. Is it just me or were her hands dirty?”

Rose, who was sitting as close to my sister as school rules would allow and holding hands with her under the table, laughed and said in a low, conspiratorial whisper, “Oh, that’s shoe polish. I slipped out of Math class to use the ladies’ room and, wouldn’t you know, it took me right by the bitch’s locker. I covered the back of her lock in the stuff and, believe me, it’s a pain in the ass to wash off.”

Jess grinned at her girlfriend and probably would have kissed her then and there if there hadn’t been teachers watching our table since Delilah left the cafeteria. “Nice, you’re so sexy when you’re devious. Mallory and I have plans for her in Home Economics tomorrow,” she said quietly.

“I’ll take my shot tomorrow too,” Clarice added casually but quietly enough not to be overheard by anyone who was not at our table.

“What do you all have planned?” I asked as I looked at the three of them suspiciously.

“Nuh-uh, remember that you didn’t want to know about any of this beforehand, Sis,” Jess chastised. “If you don’t know, you can honestly say that you weren’t involved in any of it and have kept to your side of the bargain.”

Her Efreeti cohort just grinned and said, “Just remember my payment for getting involved. You promised to share your half of the batch of fudge you and Crystal make tomorrow with me.”

We had Auto Shop for our final class of the day, and it was nice to get some work done on our project vehicles. It was the perfect end to a very good day at school, honestly. My friends still wouldn’t let me in on their plans until after they bore fruit though. It was leaving me anxious and eager, and I couldn’t wait to see what they pulled. If lunch earlier was any indication, things were looking to be very entertaining until lunch on Friday.

That night marked my third night working at the club, and I was starting to become a lot more at ease with my job, both on stage and in the bedroom. I was busy, but my life was starting to fall into a comfortable pattern. I was making good money too, even if I was only working part-time right now.

The next couple of days continued the pattern where I was busy but happy and my sister, girlfriend, and other friends at school were definitely picking up the slack on making Delilah’s school life as miserable as she had made ours. I didn’t get to see even half of the pranks they were pulling on her, but what I did see over those two days was wildly entertaining. All of it fell within the terms that the headmistress had set as well, nothing that would ‘damage’ school property or personal property.

Well, there was the fudge incident, which definitely might have been pushing it a little bit. For Home Ec. on Thursday, our first class of the day, we were all making chocolate fudge and Delilah was definitely on her guard since she was partnered with Mallory still. She was keeping a very careful eye on their ingredients and everything they were doing.

Mallory told me later that she figured Delilah would be on guard because she knew her well enough to know that her weak spot was chocolate. Who could blame her, good chocolate is almost as good as ice cream or sex, and don’t get me started on ice cream with chocolate. Anyway, all it took was a moment of distraction for Mallory to make a small addition to the chocolate mixture that they were currently stirring and melting that wasn’t in the recipe.

My sister gladly provided that distraction by stealthily calling Mallory’s phone, which Mallory had changed the ringtone of to the one Delilah had on her phone. As Delilah scrambled to grab her purse (conveniently placed by Mallory’s) and the phone inside, Mallory added the special ingredient from her pocket and continued stirring. She was just in time too, as Delilah turned her attention back to her as she snatched up her purse and reached inside just as the ringtone stopped playing and Mallory’s muffled phone went quiet as my sister disconnected the call.

Of course, Mallory had to seem happy to take her share of the laxative-laden chocolate sweets if she didn’t want to give away the game. As long as we kept it labeled and no one ate more than a piece or two at a time though, and spaced out appropriately, they would be fine for consumption. Worst case scenario, we had sweets for anyone who was feeling irregular.

Poor Jess was having trouble acting normally as Delilah and Mallory taste-tested their hard work just before class ended, and she’s an actress. Mallory probably had it harder though since she had to convince Delilah that there was nothing wrong with their product. It was a sacrifice Mallory was willing to make since one piece wouldn’t hurt and it did taste very good. She told us afterward that hearing Delilah practically moaning in pleasure as she ate her first piece was well worth the trouble she and Jess had gone through to make it work.

The prank that Clarice played on Delilah during gym class next period was probably far less delicious. We played basketball, and Delilah and I were team captains again. Clarice was one of the first I chose because she’s fast, agile, and one hell of a jumper, and while the rest of the teams were being picked, Clarice switched Delilah’s bottle of fancy bottled water with an identical bottle that was filled with vinegar.

I laughed so hard I almost started crying at the look on her face as she spat the liquid all over the floor after sitting down to take a break and a long pull at the bottle mid-game. Of course, that meant that I was the prime suspect when Mrs. Shaw tried to find out who was responsible, but I was honestly able to say, even when asked directly, that while I might have found the result hilarious, I didn’t do it. I also clearly stated that I didn’t know who did it, nor did I have any knowledge that anyone had planned to do it.

She suspected Clarice or Melody since they were the only non-Fey of my group in the class and could lie easier when questioned than the rest of us, but neither would admit to it, even when they were both punished by having to run laps for the rest of the period. They both thought it was worth seeing Delilah spitting up vinegar and they both had enough stamina that running laps didn’t really bother them anyway. My girlfriend wasn’t entirely innocent anyway since she got her digs in after class by using one of my tricks and sucking all the heat out of her water halfway through Delilah’s shower. I couldn’t be blamed either since I wasn’t in the showers when it happened.

Even Alison contributed to the chaos with a prank when she went out to the parking lot during lunch to ‘get something she forgot in her car’ for her next class. She had parked her car so that Delilah’s was positioned between it and the security camera that it was within view of and sneakily poured red food coloring in the nozzles that sprayed wiper fluid onto the Cube’s windshield. When she tried to use her wipers to remove built-up snow and ice after school on Thursday, Delilah got an interesting, and somewhat disturbing, surprise.

When I wasn’t in school or working, which wasn’t very much over those two days, I tried to spend as much time as I could with my girlfriend, my sister, my daughter, and even my Salamander body-buddy when I could manage it. I was very proud of Cinder’s progress. My cute little Salamander was edging closer to the beginning of true communication every day, she could stay outside of my body for close to ten minutes now, and I thought that she was close to being able to summon her flames as well.

My fourth night at the club was a quiet and fairly slow one, I only gave extra services to one patron that night and I got to show off my pole dancing skills a bit more, which I was happy about. Mom told me that Wednesdays and Thursdays were usually fairly quiet though and I could expect to be a lot busier on Friday and Saturday, when I was working until closing instead of getting off (no pun intended) at eleven o’clock. Still, I was enjoying my job and was feeling pretty good about my life between that and being out of Delilah’s crosshairs for the week.

Friday morning, there were a few more small and annoying pranks played on Delilah that the others told me about when we had Auto Shop second period. Even Carmen had managed to get in on the action, but most of their pranks that morning were small things that were more distracting and annoying for Delilah than really disruptive. Though I had to admit the worms that Carmen and Nova put in her locker were entertaining. I had heard her scream from the other end of the main hall. Where did they even get their hands on worms in the middle of winter?

As entertaining as my friends were making these couple of days for me (and miserable for Delilah), I was a little disappointed that my deal with my school nemesis prevented me from joining in the fun. By Friday at lunch, when our deal was officially finished, Delilah was looking particularly paranoid as I strode over to her table and tried not to smile as she followed my every step with wide eyes. “Delilah, our deal is now concluded. Should you wish to strike any other bargains in the future please let me know and we can discuss the terms.”

Delilah gave me a conflicted look, like she wasn’t sure whether to feel anger, fear, or trepidation as she as much demanded as asked, “So, it’s over then? You and your friends will stop messing with me now?”

“What my friends do is up to them, I am not their keeper,” I replied with a shrug. “I still owe you the long price though, unless you want to extend our bargain or make a new one.”

For a moment, it looked like she was going to take me up on that, but it was written all over her face the instant that she mentally dug her heels in and cast that brief moment of sense aside. There was so much anger and hate there, directed at me, and I knew that this did not bode well for the future. I had made a fool of her, she already hated me before that, and she would never even admit to herself that she might have deserved what she got after the way that she had treated all of us.

She wasn’t going to learn from this, she was going to double down. Every prank played on her, and even my offer of another deal was only so much kindling to stoke the flames of her fury. Things were going to escalate from here until people got burned. Delilah was a Fire Mage after all, and she embodied the element of Fire more than anyone I had ever met.

She was willing to burn everything and everyone around her to get her way, prone to unthinking fury, and wanted nothing more than to burn the target of that fury until nothing remained but ashes. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be in the literal sense, but I wouldn’t put it past her with how angry she looked. I should have known better, how could I expect her to learn from her mistakes when she thought the world revolved around her and she could do no wrong?

I didn’t wait for her reply; I didn’t need to. Her decision was already made, and I couldn’t help but think that I was partially to blame for that by allowing this to go on. No, she was a big girl; she started this, she made her own decisions, and right now she was choosing not to learn her lesson.

So, I guessed that we were back to how things were before, with her willing to do whatever it took to make me suffer and me unwilling to give an inch. I couldn’t afford to give an inch, because if I did, she wouldn’t just take a mile, she would destroy that mile to get to me and everything and everyone I held dear. Unstoppable fiery force, meet the immovable icy object.

I returned to my table, where my friends waited, and sighed as I quietly told them, “She hasn’t learned a damn thing. Everyone needs to be careful from now on, I didn’t like the look I saw in her eyes. She’s going to up the ante in a big way. Nobody walks through the halls alone, if possible. Stick to the buddy system and watch each other’s backs.”

“Well, shit,” Mallory grumbled as she looked toward Delilah’s table and her former friend glaring back at us balefully. “Yeah, I recognize that look, girls. It’s her ‘I’m going to do something insanely stupid and everyone around me is gonna burn’ look. It seems like shit is about to get real.”