Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
The little boy spun the water gun and aimed at Yunice next.
Then he froze.
He looked up into the looming shadow above him.
At some point, Yunice had stepped right in front of him. The kid flinched, then puffed up again and shouted, “I’m Silver Hills royalty! You lay one finger on me and you’re finished! I mean it-stand still or else…!”
Before he could finish, he was screeching and flailing, slapping at his face in panic.
Yunice had snatched the water gun from him and sprayed him full in the face.
The gun was small, and the makeup remover inside quickly ran out. Yunice glanced at the nearby fountain.
She reached out-no electric current.
She turned back to the boy, grabbed his collar, and prepared to dunk him into the water.
But the moment she lifted him-she stopped.
He was too heavy.
The little menace had a weight advantage and, sensing it, twisted around and tried to bite her waist.
Yunice instinctively prepared to let go, but the kid’s sharp teeth never made it to her skin. Instead, they snapped uselessly at air.
She looked over her shoulder-to see Wyatt.
One hand in his pocket, he’d effortlessly hoisted the chubby boy high over his head with the other. His expression was one of deep disgust and lazy annoyance.
Then, without so much as a second thought, he flung the kid into the water.
Sploosh.
The boy sank, only to pop up wildly.
He floated and flailed, his hands thrashing.
Yunice handed Freya a bottle of water and some wipes to clean her face, all the while eyeing the approaching sound of hurried footsteps.
She asked nervously, “Should we pull him out and say he fell in? You know-play the good Samaritan card…?”
Wyatt ignored the struggling child. Instead, he raised his hand and started wiping the egg out of Yunice’s hair.
What kind of psycho kid used raw egg for an ambush?
Yunice could read his mind. “At least it wasn’t acid or paint.”
Wyatt’s brow darkened. If it had been something worse, that child wouldn’t be floating right now-he’d be in pieces on the ground.
Freya’s eyes were red from the makeup remover. Her perfectly styled makeup had melted. Furious, she snapped, “Wyatt! Why the hell would you bring Yunice to a place like this? You know how many people hate your guts! She’s just collateral damage-I’m collateral damage!”
Yunice gave Freya an apologetic look and handed her more tissues.
While Yunice helped Freya clean her face, Wyatt continued working through the mess in Yunice’s hair.
All three of them were occupied in their own chaos when the footsteps arrived.
“Chad?! Chad?! Where are you, baby? Say something!”
From the fountain: blub blub blub…
As the silhouettes rushed over, Wyatt shrugged off his suit jacket and draped it over Yunice’s shoulders. Freya cursed silently-now she looked way worse!
But with Wyatt here, Yunice wouldn’t suffer. Freya made a split-second decision and bolted in the opposite direction, covering her face as she ran.
Seconds later, the boy’s family arrived. Someone spotted the chubby kid guzzling fountain water and screamed. They leapt into the water and dragged the waterlogged child out by his armpits.
He collapsed on the ground, bawling.
Each sob squeezed a spout of water out of his mouth like a bloated frog.
Three adults surrounded him, wailing and screaming in a chaotic mess.
Yunice nervously shifted behind Wyatt.
God knows, I didn’t do anything…
After some chest presses and finger-in-throat tactics, the kid coughed out a few more mouthfuls of water and let out a sharp wail.
The adults breathed a collective sigh of relief, nearly collapsing from relief.
Then, ten seconds later, one of the women snapped out of it. She turned and shouted at the only two people nearby, “Who pushed my son into the water?!”
Her eyes landed on Wyatt-then quickly shifted past him toward Yunice, likely sensing he was too intimidating to provoke directly.
“You! Sneaking around back there. Was it you? Did you push my son?!”
The woman lunged forward, trying to shove Wyatt aside to drag Yunice out.
Yunice ducked behind Wyatt, who stood in front of her like a wall, looking down at the woman with a cold, mountainous stillness.
The woman hesitated, intimidated. She turned and muttered something to a man and an elderly woman nearby.
The man – looking like the kid’s uncle – and the elderly woman – probably his grandmother – stepped forward and addressed Wyatt, trying to sound reasonable. “Sir, could you ask the lady behind you to come out? We need to ask why she tried to drown my nephew.”
Wyatt curved his lips into a dangerous, mocking smile. “So you’re certain it was her who pushed your nephew?”
The man replied, “There’s no surveillance in this area, and only you two were here. Her hair’s wet – it must’ve splashed up when she shoved him in.”
Wyatt said calmly, “Your nephew weighs a ton. You think my wife could lift him?”
The man, sensing Wyatt wouldn’t admit to anything, grew aggressive. “She’s wet, so it had to be her-“
Before he could finish, Wyatt kicked him straight into the fountain.
Splash.
“Now you’re wet too,” Wyatt said coolly.
The boy’s mother and grandmother screamed in panic. “You’re not even trying to reason with us!”
“Help! Someone’s trying to murder us!”
Wyatt stood there with his hands in his pockets, completely unfazed.
From behind him, Yunice called out, “It was your kid who sprayed me with makeup remover and threw a raw egg at me. The floor was slick from all that – he slipped and fell in on his own.”
She poked her head out from behind Wyatt. “And you still owe me for the dress.”
The grandmother snapped, rushing to defend her grandson. “You little girl, come out here! Don’t lie through your teeth. If you hadn’t provoked my grandson, would he have done anything? He must’ve been bullied first! If his brain’s damaged from choking, I’ll make sure you’re ruined!”
No matter how much they screamed and cursed, Yunice stayed hidden behind Wyatt. “Go ahead and call the police. His water gun only has his prints on it – they’ll know exactly who it belongs to.”