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I widened my eyes in disbelief at her statement and immediately walked over to the door, hoping that Mandy would follow me, which of course she didn't.

Handle in hand, I turned back to her and found her totally caught in a trance and staring up at the sky.

I also followed her gaze, but apart from a few white clouds there was nothing exciting to see. At least for me and my sober mind. Who knew if she didn't see pink elephants.

"Senan," she suddenly whispered, and when our eyes met again, she suddenly looked terrified. "What if we're being watched?"

Okay...that was a really bad trip.

"We won't," I reassured her sympathetically, but before I could reach out and hug her, she was laughing heartily at herself again, which I thought was cute, but I didn't have time to talk to her now to enjoy being high. It seemed much more important to me to protect the mourners from falling.

I quickly grabbed her dainty hand and pulled her back inside the pub, where everything looked a little darker than it was outside in the sun, which was actually reassuring to me.

With a quick glance I realized to my relief that nothing had changed in here.

The picture was still where it was before. People were talking just like before and I breathed a sigh of relief until I spotted the basket on the counter and walked towards it with Mandy.

"Shit!" I cursed in horror when, of course, it was empty. On the one hand I was angry because it wouldn't be long before the mood here would change and secondly I couldn't even be high.

No! I had to clean the whole shit too... Was that some kind of punishment from Cathan from Hell?! Could be possible... He was probably laughing up his sleeve...

"Oh, you here too?" Chiara suddenly came to a standstill in front of us and I just stared silently into her slightly reddish eyes while she grinned at us in a friendly way.

Didn't she remember that she had come here with Mandy?!

"Yeah, really nice to see you!" Mandy suddenly said, just as surprised next to me, and when they finally hugged, I just put my hand on my forehead and was really afraid that they would get stuck on the drugs.

"Honey?" Mandy tore me out of my thoughts and pointed to the picture of Cathan in the other corner of the room, completely foggy. "Your father is here!"

Okay, what the heck did Keeva put together that herb??? Was she a fucking hallucination witch??? Was it possible that gypsies could fog you up like that?

"It's just a picture, Mandy. We really should-"

"May I ask for your attention!" I suddenly heard Odran's voice, who was standing at the front of the microphone and was about to tap it several times. I looked excitedly at all the business partners in their suits. Thought meanwhile that after this day we would surely never see her again and would go broke...

And then I also saw how Odran was holding the last fucking muffin in his hand.

"You stay right here!" I demanded from Mandy in a stern voice and placed her on one of the bar stools and then walked through the crowd to Odran, who just looked at me confused as I climbed onto the flat platform with him .

"Give me the muffin, brother," I almost begged, but it was Odran! What was I thinking, anyway, asking him to do something like that.

"Never," he laughed and bit into it provocatively, suddenly putting his arm around me and looking at the people who were all looking at us intently. "This is my dearest brother, Senan!", he let her know proudly and I just put on a crooked grin while I spotted Mandy behind the men, who climbed onto the counter together with Chiara.

"Fuck," I hissed and wanted to go to the two to protect them from injury, but Odran's grip tightened, so I just stood next to him and watched what was happening.

"He always likes to party and today we're going to rock the hut with him!!! What do you think of that?!" he screamed almost like a gladiator and after Mandy and Chiara cheered and settled down elegantly to the Irish music on the counter moved, to my horror the other men also started to perform their typical Irish dances, while many took off their jackets and seemed to be in quite a good mood. That was really freaking creepy considering why we were here.... I guess no one knew it but me.

"Exactly like that!", Odran said and suddenly stuffed the rest of his muffin into my mouth, which made me look at him with wide eyes and was just shocked.

"I'm in the mood for cheese. Such sheep's cheese would be so good now, Senan," he explained with a smile and then got off the podium to move through the crowd with a few dance moves, where he only stopped when he was at the table arrived with the schnapps.

"Who wants?!" he yelled, handing out the little glasses to everyone while I spat out the muffin, genuinely wondering if I always felt like this when I was high. Wasn't it rather quiet?

Looking at the people dancing and singing, it seemed more like someone had thrown a round of cocaine than weed.

"Schaaaaaaaatz!" Mandy called me through the crowd, swaying on the counter, which only made it clear to me that I really didn't want any children.

I was already completely overwhelmed and scared to death when suddenly a bright flame of fire appeared right in front of my face, triggered by Odran, who said he had to blow the high-proof schnapps through a lighter flame.

"Fucking shit," I muttered, clutching my heart as I ran out of options to call whoever knew drugs better than Pablo Escobar himself.

I grabbed my cell phone, dialed Jake's number, and walked over to Odran, phone to my ear, to take the lighter. Then I stood in front of the counter and helped down with one hand, first Mandy and then Chiara, who were cackling like chickens for no reason.

"Bro, what's up?"

"Jake! I need you in that shitty pub in Dublin right away. The one with the leprechaun on the door!"

"Why? Aren't you at a funeral?" he demanded and I turned around to watch Odran dance like he was underwater.

"I wish I was on one, but seriously, everyone's high here!"

"I'll be right there!"

Hung up...

Of course he was there immediately when it came to being high.

"Dance with me," I heard Mandy behind me and immediately afterwards I felt her hand on mine. I turned around to her, looked at her big blue eyes and even though it seemed totally absurd to dance here and now, I just did it.

I put my hands on her hips, rested my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes for a moment. It all seemed so unreal to me and I also had the feeling that the music would get louder and louder, but Mandy's closeness calmed me. I sucked in her sweet scent and then opened my eyes again to suddenly see an elderly lady winking at me and tugging at her dress.

"Disgusting," I whispered and Mandy pulled away from me and looked at me in horror. "Oh god, I didn't mean you!"

Before she could reply, my attention fell to my side, where an elderly gentleman was falling backwards through one of the tables to the side. There was a loud bang, but as soon as everything but the music quieted down, he burst out laughing, and everyone else with him. Even Mandy...

Just not me. I was fed up and saying three prayers when I saw Jake come in the door with Jule.

"Wow," came Jake, who was obviously not laughing and even Jule seemed absolutely amused by the situation.

"Please help me. I don't know what-"

"Tanzen!"

Mandy pulled my arm slightly and when I looked at her, she pouted, but I couldn't soften it.

"We need milk," Jake said and just ran behind the counter to look for a fridge.

"And fresh air!" Jule added and stepped back to the door to keep it open a little with a chair.

"And the best thing you can do is take the clear schnapps, throw the stuff away and pour in the water. They won't notice that," Jake explained and I looked at him in irritation.

"What makes you think they don't notice?"

"You never have either," he just laughed and I immediately gave him my middle finger, but then did what he suggested while Mandy clung to my back exhaustedly like a sack of potatoes.

Yes, I was quite sure that Cathan and was watching... because it was all his belated revenge...