I nodded and smiled at him, glad for expert guidance in a situation where I was at a complete loss as to what to do .
"We will also join you," Corwin spoke up, "as well as Simon."
"Yay!!!" Simon giggled like a little girl and bounced around on his seat, looking less like a fifteen-year-old boy and more like a ten-year-old.
"What about Tarzan?" I had not seen him in awhile and I was starting to get worried.
"He is…busy at the moment, but he will be joining us once we are under way." Connor responded.
"When can we leave?" I asked.
"If you want to go for a day trip, we can certainly go now. If you, however, want to do a longer excursion, I will need the rest of today to prepare for the journey." Dr. Montblanc responded.
"Once we leave Solaro City and enter the forested hills, we will be cut off from civilization and will have to rely on what we have with us."
"Then I would like to leave tomorrow, if at all possible," I smiled with anticipation.
"That can be arranged," he returned my smile of excitement.
"For today, please make any purchases you might need at the hotel shops or at the Boardwalk shops. Simply bill everything to your room and that will be all you need to do."
"I can't do that," I shook my head.
"All the shops around here belong to our family anyway, child." Sir Montblanc chuckled.
His eyes twinkled. "You aren't taking anything away from anybody. And after eighteen years of not having the opportunity to do so, you must allow us to spoil you just a little."
Midday found us browsing the shops.
Lured by the promise of unlimited funds for purchases, Simon dragged me all over the place, buying up strange things which made no sense to me but which he assured would be important for our trip.
We also replenished our clothing and shoes, and restocked toiletries for the trip, having been warned that we may be in the woods for quite some time.
I wanted to pay, but the shop keepers, alerted by my sudden change in status, refused any payment from me.
They even went so far as to call me Lady Montblanc, which bothered me to no end because it did not sound like my name in the least.
By early evening, we swam in the ocean and then afterwards, I lazed around on the chaise lounges by the hotel that had been set out for the hotel guests.
Meanwhile, Corwin and Connor rented a couple of surfboards and proceeded to show the locals how mages actually surf.
It was very similar to their air surfing methods, with the added fun of being able to splash around should they feel the need to dive under the water.
Needless to say, they were a big hit.
With their skill level and their extremely good looks and charms, they developed a fairly large following of mostly teenage girls in scanty bikinis who followed them around, treating them like teenage idols.
I simply closed my eyes to the whole sordid affair and took a nap. They were either my guys or they were not. I was not going to be a drag on their chances at possible future female company.
"Sorry, so sorry!" I heard them call out to the girls as they plopped down beside me. "We're taken."
"By whom?" One of the girls giggled.
I opened my eyes and saw a beauty with copper blonde hair and large blue eyes. She had a cute red lipsticked mouth which at the moment was in the shape of an O in surprise as she saw that the twins both pointed to me.
She stared at me, taking in my basic black swimsuit and my ratty salt-dried hair.
"Oh for Christ's sakes, for a moment there, I though you were serious." And she started laughing with her group of friends.
I sighed.
The scene was so familiar.
It was so old that it was tiresome; all the pretty girls hanging together and ganging up on the less fortunate sister.
And there was nothing more unfortunate than a handicapped mage.
I took my sunglasses off and stared at her.
The twins smiled and one of them replied, "Why would you think we're joking?"
"Her?" the girl was incredulous.
"Here is your order, Lady Montblanc." a voice called out from behind me.
I turned to see the speaker and a pinkish frozen drink was shoved into my hand. It was the beachside waiter who had returned with my frozen pink lemonade.
"Thank you!" I said as I took the drink from his hand.
Beside me, the girls started ogling and gasping with surprise.
"Not at all, My Lady. Will there be anything else you need?" the waiter stood at attention with care and circumspect.
I sipped at the blended cold drink and then looked at the twins. "Want one? It's good," I promised as I sucked on the straw in a suggestive manner.
They stared at me for a moment, then sent the waiter away with a tip.
Unable to contain himself, Corwin leaned over and kissed me fully on the mouth.
"Hmm. Should have asked for another pink lemonade. Tastes good."
"Really?" Connor asked, and took his turn at kissing me. "Wow. You're right. She does taste good."
I bit my lip trying not to laugh at the sputtering girl who finally took the hint and ran off.
"That was a bit harsh, don't you think? And using me to get rid of the unwanted girls…you hurt my feelings."
"Is that what you think we were doing?" Corwin turned a twinkling eye at me.
"Yes. I do believe she thinks we're using her to ditch the fan girls." Connor laughed.
"Maybe we aren't doing a good enough job to convince her otherwise." Corwin ruminated.
"Maybe so," Connor responded.
"I think it's about time we take a little ride away from the crowd, what do you think, Connor?" Corwin asked his brother but never taking his eyes off me.
"I do think you're right, Corey," he responded and they got up, pulling me along with them.
"Wait, where are we going? I'm not done with my lemonade yet!" I protested, but everything I said fell on deaf ears.
They pulled me over to the side of the hotel and pulled their hoverboards out of their pockets.
The black slivers had been with them the entire trip, but there had been little opportunities to windsurf.
With a little wave of their fingers, the hoverboards grew to their original size and merged together into one large board. It floated on the gentle undulating ocean breeze.
The twins hopped on with ease and levitated me up so I could join them.
And we shot up into that bright blue sky.