Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Author: Zorlond
Title: Grand Ted
Part: Chapter 16
Summary: A 13-year-old boy named Ted has just moved to a new house, and
discovers a magical surprise in the basement.  Let the temptations begin.
Keywords: no sex

   Chapter 16 - Who's Got It?

   ----

   Kevin started, jerking back a couple inches from Ted's glare.  But then
he rallied, his mouth curling in a smirk.  It struck Ted that Kevin didn't
look at all surprised by his presence there.  He didn't really have time to
think about it further than that before Kevin answered him.  "Who?  The
dumb broad who dumped all this on me?" Kevin made a general gesture to the
party going on around them.  "Who cares?  I told her to take a hike." He
gave a brief chuckle.  "Far as I'm concerned, she can just walk right into
a bear out there."

   Ted scowled at Kevin's words.  How dare he talk about Chantelle like
that?  "Alright," he said, trying to keep his voice civil.  "Then where's
the lantern you took from my room?"

   Kevin's sneer faded to a look of confusion.  "The what?"

   "Lantern.  Big flashlight.  You know what I'm talking about."

   "Oh, that," Kevin made a vague gesture towards the house.  "Let Mitch
hold it.  Pretty sure he's inside somewhere.  Bitch can be his toy for a
while..."

   "Language, young man." The stern words came from behind Ted.  For a
moment there, he'd forgotten he'd brought Carol along.  She added her own
glare on Kevin.

   Kevin seemed unaffected.  "Lady, after the night I've had, you'd
understand." Looking back to Ted, he added, "You brought your mother? 
Seriously?"

   "I don't particularly care what kind of a night you've had," Carol
glared down at Kevin, switching fully into motherly lecture mode.  "There
is no call for that level of disrespect.  And did I hear you say you wanted
some poor girl to walk into a bear in the woods?  And I am very certain
they're serving alcohol inside and that I'm the only one over 21 here!"

   Kevin's lip curled into a snarl.  "Get off my back.  I never asked for
this party..!"

   Ted, quickly growing tired of Kevin's behavior, simply turned and walked
back towards the house.  He sensed his mom staying behind to lecture Kevin,
possibly not even noticing Ted walking away.  But Ted's thoughts were
focused on finding Chantelle.  Considering Kevin's words, she was probably
better off in Mitch's hands, but Ted still wanted to see her.  He wasn't
really sure what he was going to do about Mitch.  If Kevin was the one who
stole the lantern, and then just gave it to Mitch without telling him where
he got it...  Well, Ted would just have to find out.

   Pausing within the living room again, his eyes caught on to a familiar,
and very welcome sight, standing in the middle of the room, watching the
couples draped over the couch making out.  "Chantelle!" His call was heard,
and the familiar green face turned to him as he quickly pushed through the
crowd to throw his arms around her.  Chantelle gave a brief call of
surprise as his arms went around her midsection and pulled her into him. 
Or the other way around.  She was quite a bit taller than him, after all,
and his head ended up pressed against her generous bosom.  But he wasn't
focused on that.  Worried as he had been, Ted was more content that
Chantelle seemed okay.  Well, mostly okay.

   Chantelle smiled, "You're a welcome sight, Ted." Ted raised his head and
looked her over.  Now that he was close up and studying her, he realized
that she was transparent, and her voice echoed oddly, as if it were a long
way off.  And then there was how she was dressed.  The outfit looked like
it was straight out of a cheesy Arabian Nights rip-off, fluffy harem pants
and pointy shoes under a brief vest and ruffled halter top.  Her hair was
contained in some kind of scarf attached to a fez.  It looked really weird
seeing her dressed like that.

   "What are you wearing?" Ted asked, releasing her and stepping back to
take her in fully.

   Chantelle smirked ruefully, glancing down at herself.  "Not my idea,
believe me.  But Master insisted, so..." She shrugged.  "I think this is
from some old TV show.  Sure as hell isn't historically accurate..."

   "Whatever," Ted interrupted.  "I'm here to get you out of here..."

   "Oh Please do," Chantelle said.  "Master won't listen to a damn thing I
say!  It took him three failed tries for me to even explain to him that I
can't have sex with him!"

   "Master?"

   "He insisted I call him that," Chantelle made a disgusted sigh, crossing
her arms below her huge breasts, a move which Ted might have been more
interested in if the situation were different.  "Bunch of hokey antiquated
crap.  Who makes those kind of demands these days?"

   Ted set his mouth in a grim line.  He was definitely going to have to
deal with Mitch.  "Alright, just help me out here.  Tell me where your
lantern is, and I'll go get it..."

   "I'd gladly help you out," Chantelle said, "But I can't." After a
moment, she added, "I can't do anything that would betray Master.  It's
part of the whole contract, I just can't.  Sorry."

   Ted grunted, rubbing at his forehead.  "Alright, then can you tell me
where Mitch is?"

   "Um, sure...  He's in the kitchen." She unfolded one arm, pointing. 
"Through there, first door on your right.  B..."

   "Thanks," Ted turned quickly, focused on the door.  Over his shoulder,
he added, "I'll get you out of this, I promise." He pushed through the
door, a half-said word not fully heard coming from behind him as the door
shut itself.  Barely glancing at the older teens blatantly raiding the
liquor cabinet, he found Mitch stuck in the corner next to a potted plant,
looking rather lost.

   Mitch saw Ted at about the same time, his eyes widening with
realization. He raised his hands, one with a mostly-full plastic cup in it,
as if to ward off Ted's approach.  As Ted marched over regardless, Mitch
started talking, hurriedly.  "Look, Ted, I apologize.  I didn't know Kevin
was going to..."

   "Whatever," Ted interrupted him.  "Guess I should have thought more
about trusting you guys." Ted gave Mitch a brief glance.  The lantern
clearly wasn't in his hands, and it seemed very unlikely to be in a pocket
or something.  Ted started looking around the immediate area for any sign
the lantern was there.

   "Okay, guess I deserved that a little, " Mitch muttered, putting both
hands on his drink.  "But I really don't like it when Kevin gets like
this." After a brief pause, he shrugged pointedly.  "But we're the
unpopular table.  We kinda have to put up with each other.  Nobody else
will."

   "Yeah, I can see why," Ted grumbled.  There was no sign of the lantern.
Not even a smudge of tell-tale dirt in sight.  "So..?" Ted glared at Mitch
again, crossing his arms pointedly.

   Mitch looked back, then quickly took a tiny sip of his drink before
speaking.  "I know Kevin can be a bit of a jerk at times.  That's how he
ended up at our lunch table.  But I really didn't think he'd start so
quickly with you.  He usually waits until we're at least a third of the way
done before..."

   "Wait," Ted held up a hand, interrupting Mitch again.  "What are you
talking about?"

   "The science fair project," Mitch blinked.  "We've worked with partners
before, but Kevin ends up bailing out early on, and whoever we're partnered
with ends up doing the vast majority of the work themselves.  Then we just
ride along during the fair itself for our grades.  Or..." Mitch shrugged.
"...at least that's how Kevin keeps planning it..."

   "This isn't about..." Ted paused.  "You were going to stick me with the
whole science fair project?" The sheer amount of work that had been planned
for it swam into the forefront of Ted's mind.

   "Last couple years the other kid told the teacher we stopped working
together, so we couldn't be graded on their work." Mitch continued, not
noticing Ted's abbreviated outburst.  "But Kevin just pulls his old project
out.  He did it in second grade, and he keeps pulling it out and entering
it into the science fair every year.  And every year he gets around a
C-plus for it.  The teachers never catch on." Mitch looked around briefly,
as if checking to see if he was going to be overhead, before telling Ted,
"Look, I usually end up working solo on my own project, but I really like
the ideas we had.  Could we just keep working on it together, you and me? I
promise I really will help with it.  Kevin can just dust off his old one
like always."

   Ted took a moment to shove all thoughts about the science fair project
aside.  Not important, he mentally shouted to himself.  Running a hand over
his face to finally clear his mind and get back on track, he told Mitch,
"That's not why I'm here, Mitch."

   "It isn't?" Mitch's normally bland face showed a hint of confusion of
his own.

   "No.  We'll talk about the science fair project later.  Right now, I'm
looking for something that was taken from my room.  A lantern.  You know, a
large flashlight.  It was..."

   "On your shelf behind a bunch of books," Mitch nodded.  "Kevin started
screwing around with your bookshelf, and he knocked a bunch of them down by
accident.  He pulled out this dirty old flashlight from behind them." His
brow furrowed as he recalled the event.  "Then he got really weird and said
we had to go.  He told me to say I was feeling sick so we could leave.  He
was really in a hurry to get out of your house for some reason.  But he
wouldn't tell me why.  He took the flashlight with him when his mom came to
pick us up."

   "I know," Ted told him.  "So where is it?"

   Mitch shrugged.  "Last I saw, Kevin had it.  He took it with him out
back, he seemed worried someone might take it.  Don't know why, he kept
saying he'd tell me later.  What's so important about that thing anyways?"

   Ted sighed, turning away quickly.  "I'll tell ya later.  I got to find
it."

   Heading back out of the kitchen, Ted glanced around.  Chantelle was
nowhere in sight now.  Ted mentally berated himself, now realizing she'd
been trying to tell him that Mitch didn't have the lantern.  He'd been too
stubborn to listen for two seconds.  Ted pushed the thought aside.  Deal
with it later.  Ted heard Mitch come through the kitchen door and follow
him as Ted headed out to the backyard again.

   "Oh hey, Ted, just in time!" Kevin waved, noticing their approach.  He
was standing by some lawn furniture, couple chairs and a table set on the
grass.  "Maybe you could help me out a little, here." Kevin smiled and
waved him over.  Nearby, looking uncomfortable and anxious, stood
Chantelle, nibbling her lip lightly.  Wary at her concern, Ted cautiously
walked over to Kevin.  Kevin continued talking and smiling, "Gotta say, I'm
really sorry about bailing on ya earlier.  Somethin' came up." He paused to
briefly look at Chantelle, his smile widening a bit.  "And, I gotta
confess, I did kinda take somethin' from your room without asking.  I'm
sorry.  Still pals?" Not really waiting for an answer, he made a dramatic
sweep of his arm.  "I was planning to give it right back to ya.  But I seem
to have run into a bit of a snag."

   Ted's gaze was brought to the table behind Kevin.  And the five
completely identical lanterns sitting on it.  "I asked some of the guys if
they'd do a quick favor and run down to the hardware store for me a half
hour ago.  And they did.  But while I was looking over what they bought for
me, I kinda slipped up and misplaced the thing I took.  I know it's here, I
just can't quite tell which it is..." All five lanterns looked exactly like
Chantelle's...

   *****

   This is a work of fiction, if that wasn't clear enough.  Nothing I write
about has ever or will ever occour in reality.  Any resemblence characters
may have to real people is entirely coincidental and unintentional.  And I
can not and will not condone real sexual activity involving minors.

   I do however, condone positive feedback, and encourage it.  :)

   If you feel like sending me some feedback, you can reach me at zorlond
AT yahoo DOT com.