Brittany was trying to help her stand.
“I just want to lie here,” Mandy said.
“Adam, you missed Truth or Dare!” Kiley said.
“Gandalf, sire! Truth or Dare,” Larks said.
“Go back to the abyss! Fall into nothingness that awaits you and your master!” Adam responded.
They all laughed.
Mandy sat up and brushed back her hair, feeling some sticks and oak leaves tangled in it.
“What have we here?” Adam knelt down next to her.
“I don’t know what we have. Don’t knock me with your staff.” Mandy said.
TJ lifted his beer in a toast: ”Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said. “The moon is full. This night calls for wizardry!”
Larks and Steve played along, yelling, “Hail Ye Gandalf!”
Adam stood and raised his staff.
Mandy looked up at Adam. His staff. His cloak. How perfect with the full moon. He was entirely ridiculous but also magical.
“Help me get up!” Did she say that or only think that?
Adam knelt beside her.
“You can only help yourself,” he whispered.
“I can’t.”
“Open your eyes,” he said.
HVWP COMMONPLACE 17
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