That set the brothers off again. Barrel nearly joined her on the floor, he was laughing so hard. Once he composed himself, Lock turned to Carver.

"Sure thing," he said. "In celebration of [i]you[/i] invoking Shock's wrath for once."

~~~

Over the next few days, the trio took turns gathering the forget-me-lots, with Shock helping Barrel study between practice sessions. By the time the next practice day came around, all three of them were in good moods as their plan clearly began to come together.

Shock helped Lock set up while they waited for the vampire twins to arrive. With her focus on the prank, and aside from Carver's slip-up from visiting the Finkelstein home, she was pleasant enough that Lock was confident there would be minimal issues with Carmilla. She even halfway decently greeted the vampires when they arrived. Barrel practiced a set properly for once while he waited, which said all it needed to.

Lock smiled when he saw the bats fly in. Hopefully, Lillith had a chat with her sister.