5. Chapter 5: The Swimmer (1/2)

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uary 2017, prison pool, 12:32pm

dahlia had the worst luck with women.

that hag mia fey, her worthless twin-sister iris, her traitor half-sister valerie, the list went on. it's almost like they were all jealous of dahlia and went out of their way to make her life miserable. what did she ever do to them? all she wanted to do was steal a damn jewel, but no, they just had to ruin her plans.

and now her witch of a mother morgan fey was ignoring her letters. every message she had sent out since december had been met with silence. dahlia supposed she should have expected this; morgan only ever cared about was being the master of the kurain channeling technique, and since dahlia had no spiritual power, morgan had no use for her. it was rather ironic that the dl-6 incident, caused by manfred von karma, was what led morgan to abandon her twin daughters, and yet dahlia would always have more respect for manfred than she ever would for morgan. manfred had been executed not long after his talks with dahlia, and she would always greatly value the wisdom he passed onto her.

luckily, she still had one fellow inmate she could confide in. dee vasquez lay in the beach chair next to her, shades on, wine glass in hand, taking in the rays of the sun. it was surprisingly nice weather for late fe

uary; nice enough for the two to take a little siesta next to the outdoor pool. both were in their bathing suits, just in case they felt like taking a swim. frank sahwit, of course, stood a respectable two steps behind of course, um

ella in hand in case the sun became too hot for dahlia's sensitive skin.

'no luck in contacting your mother, i take it?' dee asked, gazing at the pool. there were a few attractive men showing off their swimming skills, and dee couldn't help but watch.

'unfortunately not. best case scenario, she died of old age. worst case, she's burning my letters without reading them. either way i'm losing my only hope at revenge.'

'there's no rush, dahlia. you're in total control here, so it's not like you'll be executed anytime soon. take a

eak for once. it's a beautiful day, enjoy it. look how hard the boys are working to impress us over there.'

dahlia looked at the men in the pool. they did appear to be stealing glances at her and dee, not that she could blame them. they were a stunning pair. she even caught redd white staring; dahlia smiled at him and showed off her freshly-sharpened nails. the blood ran from white's face at this gesture, and he quickly swam as far away from dahlia as he could.

'i suppose i could take one day to relax.' dahlia agreed, enjoying herself, 'pour us another glass of wine, frank.'

'certainly, ms. hawthorne.' frank went to obey the command, but a loud, booming voice distracted him.

'cannonball!'

an orange blur sped past the three of them and leapt into the water, creating a shockwave powerful enough to knock the other swimmers back. the splash was about to hit dahlia and dee, but fortunately frank reacted quick enough and opened the um

ella in from of them just in time.

'oh my, who might this be?' dee asked, clearly amused despite almost being drenched in pool water.

'i think i might have an idea.' dahlia responded, watching for the man to re-emerge.

seconds later, another splash burst from the pool as the man returned to the surface. the orange blur from before was apparently the man's tan. he was wearing

ight purple swimming trunks, and purple goggles to shield his eyes from the water. he ran his hands through his mess of white hair and took a long look around the area.

'now this is a pool!' damon gant proclaimed, his voice booming throughout the facility. he was a large man, making the other pool-goers look like children in comparison.

'would any of you fine gents like to race? i have a mean

eaststroke, you know.'

the other swimmers simply stared at him in awe. damon gant stared back without saying another word (for at least a minute as far as dahlia could tell) until the men were simply to intimidated to remain, and they left the pool one by one until only gant remained.

gant simply clapped his hands and laughed, 'oh well, it wouldn't be a close race anyway. ah, how about you ladies?'

he turned towards dee and dahlia, awaiting a response. the two looked at each other; dee with curiosity, dahlia with mild annoyance.

'sorry' said dee, 'but i'm not much of a swimmer, mister...?'

'call me damon gant.'

'good afternoon, mr. gant. i'm dee vasquez, and this is my friend, dahlia hawthorne.'