Jane nommed the Rat-Wolf. Chase, who was curious as to what Jane was doing, approached. Jane turned to face him, the hairy rat tail still sticking out of her mouth. She slurped the tail like a noodle and swallowed the entire Rat-Wolf whole.

“Uhhhh…what are you doing, Jane?” Chase asked. “Are you hallucinating again?”

“No,” Jane said and belched loudly.

The Rat-Wolf was rather big. Jane’s stomach was distended. Frantically, the Rat-Wolf attempted to escape, but there was no way out. Chase stared at Jane, confused.

“I thought you were against eating people?” Chase asked.

“That was a rat, not a human. There’s a difference,” Jane said.

“Rat-Wolf, actually!” the Rat-Wolf yelled.

***

After scrubbing the bottom of the pool in the heat for an hour, a sudden horrible realization struck. Cleaning the pool would take a LONG time. The algae growth in the pool could only be destroyed with algaecide, which would take some time to penetrate through THAT much algae. Chase sat down on the edge of the pool near one of the slides.

“I don’t know, guys. This is a lot more work than I anticipated,” Chase said. “And it’s way too hot to be doing this much work.”

Chase’s stomach began growling again. He sighed and stared up at the clouds for a moment. The clouds couldn’t blot out enough of the sun to provide relief. The edge of the pool was VERY hot, like sitting on fire, almost.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“So now what? Don’t tell me my effort was pointless!” Madeline yelled.

“Not pointless. We could use the pool later. I thought up a new idea,” Chase said.

“Would could you possibly be planning now?!” Madeline asked.

“Ah yes… This will work… I’ll make sure of it…” Chase said with a chuckle.

“I think he’s going insane…” Thomas whispered to Madeline.

“Thomas says he thinks you’re going insane,” Madeline said with a smug grin.

“No, no… Not insane. I just had an idea! This pool would take another few hours to clean, but we don’t have to clean the beach!” Chase announced.

“We’re going to the beach?” the others all asked in unison.

Chase Richmond whipped out his cellphone. The force of the motion caused the cellphone to go flying. Thomas jumped and caught the cellphone before it could hit the ground. Then, he casually returned it to Chase’s hand.

“Thanks…” Chase said. “I guess there is one thing you are good for. HAH HAH!”

“Hey!” Thomas said.

“I’m just messing with you,” Chase said.

Chase perused the internet a bit. Finding a nearby beach, he decided to call the beach house. The others returned to the mansion briefly to cool down a bit. Chase paced, talking on the phone. After the call ended, he waltzed back into the mansion, leaving a trail of sweat everywhere he went.

“So! I have reserved the beach for us! Nobody else will be there. That means we can become lions if we so wish to,” Chase said.

“Oh, okay,” Jane said.

“They accepted the reservation? Hmmm,” Madeline said. “Did you bribe them with a lot of money?”

“Yep. Don’t worry, I have plenty of cash,” Chase said. “And Thomas is bringing in a decent chunk each month.”

“Right, right,” Thomas said.

“When does the reservation start?” Jane asked.

“Soon. Everyone should be cleared out by the time we arrive,” Chase said.

“And if they aren’t?” Jane asked.

“We’ll eat them,” Chase said with a shrug.

“No. We will not be eating anyone! We will politely ask them to leave,” Jane said.

“Ahhhh, you were testing me…and I failed…again…” Chase said. “Anyhow, let’s go!”