The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (12 page)

"Thanks," she beamed and splashed him
back. When Aaron didn’t commence the splash war, she turned to Ace
and asked, "Did Dohnatello talk to you?"

“
Sure did.” replied Ace
scooting closer to the water’s edge. “Thank you for hooking me up
by the way. He offered to fly us in a private jet.”

Aaron nodded, "Cool, guess you found
out they were supernatural too?"

Ace nodded, "Why didn't you ever tell
me?”

Aaron shrugged and swatted away a moth
drifting across the surface of the water. "Even the High Krome
gotta keep secrets. We can't just go blabbing. As far as I know,
most of the gang doesn’t even know we have supernaturals in the
High. Even if they did, you're still far more popular than they
would ever be."

Ace glanced around. He hadn't
registered it until Aaron mentioned, but throughout the entire
wedding, he seemed to have made eye contact with quite a number of
strangers. Even as he glanced around, there was a clique of girls
by the punch bowl that turned at his gaze. Even from the other end
of the rooftop, among the elegant tables, there sat a group of ten
year olds with their eyes locked in his direction.

"I'm starting to think that whole media
blitz is coming back." Ace confessed when he finished scanning the
scene.

Aaron shook his head, "Nope. The word
on the street is that you're the King. Yes, your little car chase
gave you some oomph in fame, but no one pays attention to the news.
But people talk, and after three months, the whole of Tarrillian
South Side knows you as the King."

"Last I checked no one even knew about
the Legend."

"They didn't, but because of you they
know." Aaron lowered his voice and edged a little closer to Ace.
"Look, I'm not sure how it worked. People might not believe their
eyes, but they'll believe what comes out of their friends mouths.
Now imagine one blitz of media grabbing the attention of one in a
million. Now that one is going to tell their friends. Then their
friend's, friends. It takes time. But if ever you want to get a
message across in the streets, start with the
underground."

"Sounds like high school gossip." DH
mentioned.

"But think about this." Aaron began,
"How did the Legend even start? No one posted a video on the
internet. No one blogged about it, no one put it on TV. Someone had
to tell people about it."

"But that takes time, doesn't it?" Ace
inquired, "There are many cities on every continent, and many gangs
in each city. You can't tell me that one person went around telling
everyone a story... And everybody just happened to
believe."

"Maybe their supernatural gift is the
power of jabber-jawing." DH offered. Rose snickered but her husband
caught sight of Aaron’s expression. "Or maybe not."

"But it happened, alright?" spoke
Aaron, turning back to Ace.

Again, this revelation sparked even
more questions. What had been going on with his race during the
twelve years of life he couldn't remember? Had the supernatural
always been out in the open? Or was it a secret? Who started this
rumor of a King and why?

His mind was spinning out of control
now and he took a deep breath. Every ounce of his being needed the
answers. He had to go to Heleow; he couldn't wait any
longer.

"You’re still dry," Lee mentioned when
she showed up with four large beach towels.

"Told you I would be." Ace
replied.

Aaron was the first one to climb out,
but instead of taking a towel, he helped Rose out of the water.
They dried off quickly and used the towels as shields against the
wind. DH ended up using Ace's spare towel since he was so
tall.

"Time to dance?" DH asked as he tied
the towel around his neck like a cape.

"Dinner first darling, then dance."
Said Rose then turned to the two most honored guests. "I hope you
prepared a speech that'll make me sob buckets of tears." she
remarked as they headed for the pavilion.

Ace shrugged, "I've never been the best
story teller, but I'll try."

"What about you, Lee?" she asked, "Am I
gunna cry? I've already cried a lot today."

The girls bounded ahead chit-chatting
as Ace and Aaron lingered behind. "How did you come across this
information?" Ace asked as they stepped into the pavilion. Half of
the guests had already grabbed their food from the buffet
line.

"I've met him," Aaron finally confessed
as they stepped across the empty dance floor. Now here was nothing
ahead but an elevated platform. Atop it sat a long rectangular
table draped with blue and gold cloth.

"Your joking." Ace stated a bit louder
than he intended, "You've met the- but you’ve told me you haven’t!
That’s why you always called me- How long have you
known?!"

"Two years."

"Two years?" gaped Ace, "Were you
supposed to keep it a secret?"

"I still am." the High Krome replied
then glanced around nervously. He made eyes with Dohnatello and
Avery at the High Krome table right in front of the dance floor.
"Spectacular,” he mumbled sarcastically, “now they’re going to
shoot me."

Dohnatello's hearing was superb enough
to give him slight nod.

Aaron stuck out his tongue. "He's going
to Heleow tomorrow anyway!" he called then turned to Ace, "But this
stuff is top notch secret. I know it must be killing you inside to
know but you'll be in Hawaii in no time."

They had made it to the platform and
Aaron clasped his hand on Ace's shoulder. "Besides you're at a
wedding. Live a little before your whole world gets blown." then he
disappeared to sit at the High Krome table.

The four clambered on to the platform
and Ace took his place on the other side of the groom before
watching the pavilion slowly fill with people. Some were already
drunk. Some were going back to the buffet line for thirds. Others,
mostly the offspring of gang members, just sat there kicking their
feet beneath the seats and staring off into space.

Lee kept an eye on the little ones
adoring their cuteness. A boy with ruffled hair handed a plate of
cake to his younger sister. Another group of children were playing
cowboys and Indians beneath the tables. She smiled at that, and
wondered what Rose and DH's children would be like. As Lee sat
there scanning, her eyes collided with a boy who sat across the
dance floor directly in front of her. He was a short fellow
probably around the age of twelve. His brown porcupine hair stood
straight up making him look an inch or two taller. He puckered his
blueberry cheesecake stained lips at Lee then gave her a
wink.

She slapped a hand over her mouth to
keep from laughing and leaned back in her seat to call for Ace. But
he too was calling for her with one of his fingers jammed in the
direction of the boy. They both stifled their laughter and when Lee
looked back, the boy had thrown on a pair of sunglasses and was
leaned back in what was meant to be a cool and relaxed
pose.

Lee giggled then blew a kiss at the
boy. At this sight, the boy was so excited he nearly fell out of
his seat. "When are we going to start the dance?" she asked leaning
toward Rose so that she could be heard over the growing voices of
the guests. "I know who I want to dance with."

"Ace?" guessed the bride.

Lee pointed across the dance
floor at the boy then gave the universal gesture for 'call me'.
Instead of falling out of his seat, the boy nodded cooly and
mouthed
any time baby
before sealing it with a blown kiss.

Rose threw her head back with violent
laughter then nudged her husband to tell him about the boy. When
she finished DH had wiped the smirk off his face and a hotel waiter
had come to take their order.

The food was exquisite, and Lee had
downed her entire plate of lemon chicken in no time. Since she was
the first one done, Rose had suggested she make her speech first.
Lee had never spoken in public before, but for some odd reason, she
wasn't scared at all.

A hotel worker handed Lee a microphone
and the whole crowd went silent. Lee cleared her throat and one of
the drunker men in the audience whistled. "Sing Lotus, sing!" he
exclaimed.

Lee flushed, "Well, I'm not Lotus
Stelter..." she turned and glanced at the newly-weds.

DH shrugged and Rose waived for her to
go on.

"Well I haven't even been
with these guys for a year, but it seems like I've known them for
an eternity." she began, not sure if she should be facing the
audience or facing her friends. From an awkward angle she
continued, "They have been two of the best friends I have ever met
in my entire life. When I'm with them, I feel like family. A couple
months after I met
Devon-Henry
," the crowd chuckled at
the groom's real name, "he took me to meet his grandmother. She was
the cutest little thing, and she made us some chocolate peanut
butter bars- anyway, she had DH introduce me but was disappointed
when she found out I wasn't his fiancé." again the crowd chuckled,
and Lee smiled, "She went on to ask him when she was going to see
great grandkids and his answer was: "W
hen I
meet the right woman
."

"Well, little did we know that at the
time, he already met the right woman. They just hadn't hooked up
yet. But I could see it coming. We had spent some time talking and
he had confessed to me once or twice that he had the biggest crush
on Rose. I don't blame him, I mean look at her. Isn't she just
gorgeous?"

The audience rang out in applause as
the bride shielded her eyes. DH kissed the top of her still wet
hair and whispered something into her ear to make her laugh. She
took her hand from her face and gestured for Lee to
continue.

"I saw the way DH stared at her when he
thought no one was looking. I noticed that he was constantly going
out of his way to do things for her. There was this one time when
she said she couldn't find the light and DH had to climb over
everyone and shove Ditto to the ground just so he could help her
out." Lee cleared her throat again. The mentioning of Ditto's name
felt odd on her tongue.

"But, um, anyway he's one of the best
guys I know and you're very lucky to be with him." she concluded.
"I wish you two the best and I love you both so much." When she
clapped her hands, the microphone made a soft thudding sound, but
the audience's congratulating drowned it out.

Lee stared at the microphone oddly then
looked back at Ace. He shrugged and climbed to his feet before
coming to the center of the stage. "Why are you such a good
speaker?" Ace asked as he took the microphone from her
hands.

"It's an orphan thing.” Lee laughed,
“Don't choke." she whispered back, taking her seat.

Ace ran his free hand through his hark
hair as he gazed at the multitude. The sight of so many eyes
staring up at him made him freeze. "I just forget everything I was
about to say." he confessed and the crowd laughed.

He sighed into his mic making a raspy
sound flood the speakers. "Well, Rose is one lucky girl, that's for
sure." Ace began, then pulled on his tight bow tie. "I've known her
for almost four years now, but I can still remember the impression
she set on me the first time that I met her. She was the sweetest
person I had met and always so full of life. To this day, I have
probably only seen her upset three times tops?" he guessed and
turned around for a conformation, but she just shook her head with
a guilty smile.

"Actually, DH had told me
several times that he had crushed on Rose. So I took it upon myself
to ask her how she felt about him. Here’s how it happened: As
nonchalantly as I could, I walked up to her and asked, "Would you
ever date DH?" and well, the answer was
no
.”

Members of the audience threw their
heads back with laughter and Ace felt his nervous heart beat
slower. From her seat Rose blushed again and DH leaned back, his
head shaking. He knew where Ace was going with this.

“
After that, DH couldn't
trust me with anything. He wouldn't even let me hold the TV remote.
Do you remember that?" he asked turning around.

Rose gaped, "So that’s
what
that
was
about?!"

DH hid his face behind his large hand
and nodded. Even though his skin was dark, Rose could see him
flush.

"I literally spent an hour chasing that
boy around the house trying to get the remote." Ace recalled
thoughtfully, "He ended up taking the remote to Garden Park and I
had to follow him. But he ended up tripping over the grass, rolling
down this hill, the remote fell out of his hand and went plop-
right into the pond! And then... Didn't we get ice cream after that
or something?"

DH nodded as the crowd once more
erupted with laughter.

"Wow, there's nothing more masculine
than two guys sharing a bowl of custard at an ice cream parlor."
Ace shook his head.

"It was a hot day!" DH cried
defensively, "Besides you were the one who wanted to
share."

"Because the small ones were this big,"
Ace pinched his thumb and forefinger together, "and the big ones
were huge. This was my happy medium. Besides, you were the one that
wanted sprinkles!"