15. Nothing To Hide

A s the duck shuttle, which was actually a yellow trolley with a duck face on the front of it, pulled up to the giant cloudy dome, Turney couldn’t help but stare. This close, it was hard to see past it, due to its extensive size.

Looking to be made of frosted glass, the structured metal support brackets were laid out in mostly diamond-shaped latticework, but mixed into the black metal pattern was the outline of giant rubber ducks.

Past the frosted glass, he could just barely make out the shapes of slides and other structures rising up inside, but as the bottom half of the dome was so opaque, he couldn’t see anything beyond that.

Lit up on the front of the dome, above the many automatic doors, in giant, swirling blue letters was Duckvilla Water Park .

“WOW! IT’S SO COOL!” Octavius giggled, before cutely adding, “And round.”

Turney chuckled. “Very round.”

The shuttle bus pulled to a stop, and the driver set off a horn that sounded just like a duck quacking. “First stop, Duckvilla Water Park!” the man announced loudly.

Picking his backpack up from the floor, he followed the skipping, happy vampire off the bus, the girls behind him.

He couldn’t help but grin as he watched Octavius giggle and run off towards the entrance of the water park. Following along at a slower pace, he stayed back with Min-ji and Scarlett.

They caught up to Octavius, just as the man walked inside the dome.

He felt the temperature shift enough to know it was considerably warmer inside, not that it made a difference to him. The ticketing area was closed off, with a ceiling above, and up front was a massive, weaving, roped-off line that was full of people.

Workers in white pants and blue button downs, with the park name on the front, were standing there with megaphones shaped like duck beaks, directing people towards the many bubble-shaped ticketing booths in front of the entrance. The front half of the ticketing booths were see-through, with a horizontal rectangular opening, giving access to the counter.

Turney grinned as he watched his adorable menace skip off towards the line, giggling while swinging his small leather drawstring bag as he went. His smile turned into a frown when Octavius went to the left of the long weaving line, bypassing it completely.

“Octavius…” he started to say, but trailed off on realizing the man wasn’t skipping the line. He had actually entered the pre-check-in one, which appeared to be a straight shot to the front.

The vampire finally stopped beside a sign that said Wait here to be called . There…was, oddly, no one else in the line except them.

As he reached his boyfriend, Octavius beamed at him, and bounced a bit before saying, “Almost in!”

He smiled. “Excited and happy, are you?”

“Very!” The vampire giggled, his smile was more of a smirk than anything. The man also sounded very pleased with himself as he chimed, “Today is a good day!”

Turney’s own smile widened, despite the smugness he heard. Good day indeed, he thought with a snort.

Turney supposed, he couldn’t really deny that Octavius had something to be smug about. The nut had obviously plotted, and had successfully gotten his revenge on the panelist.

But now he knew that somewhere…in his boyfriend’s suitcase…was a stash of glitter. Because where there was one bottle…there had to be at least one or two more. There was no way that the jar the vampire had somehow managed to dump on that poor unsuspecting human was the last of it.

Though…having thought on it more, Octavius was probably right. Mathew was…likely a hater of Mallard Mysteries. Not that it justified the vampire glitter bombing the man.

It was also likely that…Octavius would use the fact that he emptied a bottle of glitter to try to buy more… His smile faltered as he barely held back a sigh. Turney wasn’t really sure why he bothered trying to stop him at this point…

No…he knew why. If he didn’t at least try, the vampire would devolve into a glitter hoarding fiend. The brat was basically only a few bulk purchases away from burying them all in glitter.

His problem was that Octavius could be an immovable force… Well, no, actually he was an unstoppable force. The problem was that the vampire moved too much .

Standing there, he found his eyes drawn to the sign in front of them. His head tilted as he stared. Odd…it looked a bit flimsy, like it was made from corrugated plastic.

Turney glanced over at the packed line next to them. The sign in front of the regular line said the same thing as theirs, yet…it was carved, and looked to be made of wood. Maybe the pre-check-in line was…a new addition?

“Not that I care…but why are we the only ones in this line?” Scarlett asked.

Octavius’ head tilted. “Hmm, maybe they?—”

“Uh, pre-check-in line, move to booth one.” One of the men who was directing waiting customers to the ticket booth, spoke almost hesitantly into his megaphone, interrupting whatever the vampire had meant to say.

“Yay!” Octavius clapped and practically sprinted towards the booth, using human speed, of course, and they once again followed behind.

Turney had to say…he was glad that holding back strength and speed came naturally, instead of being a practiced skill… Ugh, he couldn’t imagine the problems that would arise if it wasn’t. The things he would break… The people he may hurt. Like, imagine bumping into someone and sending them flying… Oof…no, thank you.

Well, it came naturally, as long as he wasn’t trying to fight anyone. That sort of overrode any natural disposition his body had to hold back.

“Group of four, under Evander,” Octavius said with a wide smile, as he pulled some papers from his drawstring bag and set them on the counter. “I have four vouchers!”

The woman behind the counter pushed up her glasses with a frown, before slowly beginning to type on her computer. After a moment she said, “Okay…everyone, place your right hand on the counter, please.”

They all did as instructed, and the human stamped each of their hands, one after another. The ink used was shiny and purple, and the stamp itself was of the park mascot—the top hat wearing rubber duck. Turney had to appreciate them staying on theme, and…that their mascot was cute.

“With your vouchers, you are entitled to free waterproof phone cases with credit card and/or cash storage. Would you all like them?”

“Yes, please!” Octavius chimed.

Turney just said, “Sure.”

Min-ji and Scarlett, who had their phones already in cases hanging from their necks, both shook their heads no.

The woman nodded and slid two phone cases onto the counter, before saying, “Enjoy your stay.”

The cases had two waterproof sealed pockets. The front one was larger and clear, with a cute yellow ducky design along the outside, while the second pocket was yellow, and about half the size of the first. They were the exact same cases that the two women had.

“Thank you!” the vampire hummed happily as he took his.

Turney took the other one, and they headed into the park. Walking at the same time as they slid their phones into the cases, Octavius looked as if he added his credit card to the second pocket. Turney found it slightly awkward to slip his phone inside, due to it being a folding one.

Just beyond the ticket booths, they found four yellow buildings that were marked as changing rooms; two to the left, two to the right. Two appeared to be gender neutral, while one was men only, and the other was women only. There were ducks carved into the stone path towards each.

“Change and meet back in five,” Octavius chimed.

Scarlett and Min-ji nodded, and headed off towards the women’s changing room to the left.

“Come on, Turney!” his boyfriend cried impatiently.

Turney yelped as the vampire started yanking him in the other direction, towards the male changing rooms.

“Okay, okay,” he laughed, batting the man’s hand away. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

The inside of the changing rooms looked pretty much like you'd expect with showers and benches. Except for the fact that it was huge, and the tiling was duck themed, and the spouts, from what he could see, were all duck heads.

He stopped when Octavius did, the vampire pointing way too enthusiastically towards two open lockers. It appeared that unused lockers were left open, with the key inside on a stretchy telephone wire-type wristband. Seemed…a great way to lose keys, in his mind…

Glancing around, while Octavius started to hum and undress, Turney relaxed a bit on realizing they were the only ones currently in this section.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled out the pink swim trunks that he’d brought with him, and quickly stripped down. Tugging them on, he hesitated then, eyeing the black T-shirt he’d packed. Slowly, Turney pulled it out.

Instead of putting it on, he continued to stare at it. The longer he stared, the more he felt the scars on his body begin to itch, and the more he imagined eyes on him. Swimming…really didn’t let you hide much.

Even if he put the shirt on, it would only hide the jagged scar on his chest, the claw marks on his stomach, and the ones on his back. The bite on the right side of his neck always showed, and half of the time, so did the bite on his right wrist, and the claw mark on his left. The ankle bite…well, it was just one more…now, wasn’t it?

At least the scars…were nicely healed now, looking to be many, many years old. Old wounds, but still noticeable.

Scarlett had informed him recently that this was likely as light as they would get. Turney didn’t…hate them as much as he had at first…but he still didn’t like them. He’d come a long way from feeling like a freak at least…but…

Turney flinched when he felt a touch on his shoulder, looking wide eyed at Octavius. The vampire gave him a gentle smile as their eyes met. “If it will make you feel more comfortable…wear it.”

His hands clenched around the T-shirt, and he took a deep breath, slowly putting it back into his backpack. “It’s fine. I don’t need to wear it. There is no point anyway.”

Swallowing thickly, he grabbed the key out of the open locker in front of him. Slipping the band onto his wrist, he shoved his backpack inside, closing and locking it afterwards.

Octavius grabbed his right hand, giving it a squeeze. The vampire lifted it up and kissed the mark on his wrist. “You’re right, there's no point at all. Because you have nothing to hide. Nothing that needs to be hidden.”

Turney smiled and kissed him on the lips. “Love you.”

“Love you too. Now…” Octavius giggled, “COME ON!”

Turney chuckled as the vampire tugged him out of the changing room. The girls were already waiting for them, by what looked like a map of the water park.

Octavius was instantly bouncing around the tall board as he looked at it.

Chuckling, Turney took a step back, to avoid getting knocked by the overly excited vampire. He flinched on noticing that Scarlett was staring. Then again, she wasn’t the only one… He felt their eyes…the other people’s…as they passed. But he didn’t care…

Turney had to not care. It wasn’t like the scars would ever go away. And unless he wanted to never go out in public shirtless, or really, in short sleeves or anything that didn’t have a collar…he had no choice except to get over it.

Scarlett eyed him quietly for a few moments longer before nodding and awkwardly patting his shoulder, as if to say she approved.

He sent her a hesitant smile. “What should we do first?”

While Turney had checked out the map of the adventure park, he hadn’t actually looked at the water one.

“Why not the wave pool?” Scarlett suggested, before pointing at Octavius and saying with a drawl, “That way, ‘this one’ can move and not get bored…for a brief moment in time, that is.”

Turney snorted.

“No! No, no, no wave pool!” Octavius huffed, finally standing still. The man pointed towards the sky and proclaimed, “To The Lazy Bumper Duck River!”

“The…Lazy…Bumper Duck River?” he slowly asked with a frown.