The day I took over every regional branch my family ran in Meridian City, the whole city was deep in the Water Splash Festival. I'd barely walked out of the banquet before a crowd boxed me in and opened up with high-pressure water guns at point-blank range.
The one going hardest was Howard James—my fiancée's childhood sweetheart.
The water guns punched straight through my ceremonial coat in seconds. Embarrassing didn't begin to cover it.
I stepped forward and knocked the water gun out of Howard's hands. My voice was dead serious.
"There's a line. You just crossed it."
Before I could finish, Howard's expression crumpled into something wounded and pitiful.
"It's the Water Splash Festival—you're supposed to get soaked! Why do you always have to go after me like this..."
Judy Henson's face changed the moment she saw it.
She glanced over her shoulder.
A dozen high-pressure water guns swung toward me in unison and opened fire.
Every last stream was aimed below the belt.
The pressurized water soaked through my lower half in an instant, bringing a raw, burning sting.
The crowd around us kept growing.
My eyes were bloodshot. I screamed.
"Judy! You don't stop this right now, I'm calling the cops!"
"The cops?!"
Judy let out a cold laugh, grinning wider than before.
"Dustin, get it through your head! This is Meridian City, not Crown City! This is Henson territory! God himself could walk in here and he'd still have to bow and scrape!"
I forced a thin, cold smile, slowly reaching into my pocket for the encrypted phone. I dialed the only number stored inside.
"Send every industrial water-cannon truck in Meridian City to Starhaven Plaza. Immediately. And seal the area."
……
The moment the words left my mouth, the crowd erupted in deafening laughter.
Judy lunged forward, snatched the encrypted phone right out of my hand, and laughed even louder.
"Dustin, is your brain waterlogged?! You whip out some ancient phone and make a scary little call—who's that supposed to fool?!"
She held the screen up and turned it in a slow circle for the crowd.
"Hey, look at this! A four-digit phone number!"
"Tell me, has anyone here ever seen a four-digit phone number in their entire life?!"
Another wave of piercing laughter rose around us.
The amusement in Judy's eyes deepened. She seized my chin in her grip.
"Dustin, your Crown City act doesn't work here. Don't even try."
Howard stepped up and wrapped his arm around Judy, his eyes brimming with satisfaction.
"Right? Dustin, this is Judy's turf. That whole big-man routine you've got going back in Crown City—nobody's buying it here."
"Howard, don't waste your breath on someone like him."
Judy nestled into Howard's arms, pointed a finger at me, and her voice turned sharp.
"Apologize to Howard."
"Otherwise, you're not walking out of here comfortably today."
Dozens of men around us raised their high-pressure water guns and trained them on me in a single motion.
Their eyes went straight to the outline clinging to my soaked clothes, every face wearing the same mocking grin.
I scrambled for the scarf that had fallen to the ground, trying to cover myself.
Judy ripped it out of my hands.
She kicked hard at my knee. I went straight down, kneeling at Howard's feet.
"Are you deaf, Dustin?! I said apologize to Howard!"
Howard stepped forward and planted his foot on my hand, then ground down with his full weight.
His voice, though, stayed soft and hurt.
"Dustin, I really was just being nice, you know? It's the Water Splash Festival—getting soaked is the whole point. How can you not see that? I'm so upset right now... Judy hasn't gotten too mad yet, so you should really just hurry up and say sorry to me while you still can..."
The crowd kept swelling.
Fingers pointed at the soaked outline below my waist, voices picking me apart.
"What a freak. Must be some kind of exhibitionist!"
