The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (28 page)

Ace grabbed the door for her instead
and held it wide enough for them to slip through. As they headed
into mid-morning Honolulu, he couldn’t help but to hurt along with
her. She was so incinerated that even as he strolled beside her,
Ace could feel the heat through the sleeves of her thin
jacket.

As they walked down the practically
empty sidewalk, Lee could feel the sun burning the top of her head.
The skin there too had been toasted and she reached to put her hood
on. Ace caught her movement and tossed on the hood for
her.

“
Thank you.” She
said.

Ace frowned. How could she be thankful
when he was the reason she was burnt so badly? “I’m so sorry, Lee.”
He finally confessed as they stepped around a native pushing a
fruit stand.

Lee glanced up at him. Her
lips were so red it gave the appearance of wearing lipstick.
“Normally after someone says
thank
you
, the polite response is
your welcome
.” She
remarked with a grin.

“
No, Lee you know what I
mean.” He wanted to snatch up her hand and land several apologetic
kisses upon her. The only thing holding him back was knowing that
touching her caused more pain than curing.

“
It’s fine Ace.” She
assured. “I’m just happy I didn’t wear shorts.”

They walked in silence for a moment
toward the intersection. A line of tour busses whizzed past and Ace
got a fair share of gasoline smoke in his mouth. He hardly tasted
it though, or acknowledged the calm, slightly humid breeze. He
couldn’t even enjoy the contrast over the city’s low skyline of the
lush green mountains against the pale blue sky. All he could think
about was Lee.

“
Do you think maybe today we
could hit up Heleow?” she asked, “We’ve got to start somewhere
haven’t we?”

“
I don’t know Lee,” he began
scratching the back of his head. “If that’s what you want and only
if you’re up for it.”

“
I am. We came here for you
remember?” She piped. They continued to stroll until they came to a
stop at the corner. “Oh, Ace, I’m fine. It’s just a sunburn.” She
said noting the slight frown that seemed to be permanently stained
upon his face.

Lee hadn’t meant to be so loud, yet she
managed to grab the attention of all the pedestrians waiting at the
crosswalk. As she scooted closer to Ace, she could still feel their
eyes glued to her; probably because they were familiar with someone
in the past that had dressed similarly... Lee pushed the sunglasses
up her nose before speaking in a hushed voice. “We came here for
you and I don’t want to be the one to hinder.” Just to prove a
point, Lee locked her fingers in his before hurrying across the
street.

Ace peered down at her. The touch of
her hand was like grasping onto a flame and he let his fingers
cling to hers loosely. “Are you sure?”

“
Yes,” Lee said catching the
reflection of her red skin in a jewelry store window. “After this I
say we go back to the hotel, grab our things, and then head to
Heleow. I’m not sure what we would do there though.”

Ace shrugged. Up ahead he could see
into the wide open doors of the ABC store. “I guess we could just
gab another hotel…” his voice faded. “I hate that we have nothing
to go off of. It would at least be nice to have a name or an
address to start.”

“
Well, lets look at all the
information we do have.” Began Lee, “Mirage said Heleow, that’s
where we should go. And we’re trying to find answers about the…”
her voice too faded and she cast her eyes about in hopes of
avoiding eve’s droppers. Good thing she looked around because the
small crowd she had waited at the corner with seemed to be
annoyingly close. Lee dropped her voice even more and picked up the
pace. “About the supernatural… and that involves the gang world.
Maybe we should go to Heleow and figure out the underground.
That’ll give us a place to start.”

“
Problem is,” started Ace,
“There aren’t any gangs in Heleow. Arron told me at the
wedding.”

“
What? But it’s a Stelter
city!”

“
Yeah, but it’s still
growing. Do you really think the Stelters are going to allow gangs
to start in that city?”

Lee frowned, “Well it was worth a
shot.” She sighed. By now they had reached the store. Lee still had
no clue what ABC stood for. All she knew was that these stores
seemed to be exclusive to Hawaii and reminded her of a miniature
Wal-Mart. The doors were propped open by a rack of tourist T’s and
newspapers but the pair brushed past them without a second glance.
If they had looked, maybe they would have been given a heads up as
to what was about to happen.

“
Gangs are the same in
Honolulu as they are anywhere else.” Said Ace hardly even searching
the store. “What if we just stayed here another night and scope out
the underground? It would at least give us a name, or
something…”

Lee opened her mouth to reply but
instead of her voice coming through, the sound of tires screeching
to a halt filled the store. Ace spun around to see what the
commotion was. He just had enough time to acknowledge that a news
van had rolled up to the store before it’s door slid open and
several ecstatic news men and camera crew flooded into the
store.

Lights flashed from everywhere as if
suddenly the store turned into a cage of sparklers. Lee tore her
eyes away from the oncoming news people only to see that those
people at the intersection had followed them into the store and now
had all sorts of cameras out with their fingers angrily clicking
away. When her eyes fell back to the news people, a soft microphone
had been shoved into her face.

“
Lotus!” began the news
man.

That was the only word Lee needed to
hear before piecing everything together.

She should have been surprised, but
what managed to creep upon her face was a laugh. She couldn’t help
but to find it funny her resemblance to the billionaire ended up
leading to this much hullabaloo. “I’m not Lotus Stelter.” She said
into the microphone. She opened her mouth to say more, but the mic
suddenly fell away and was replaced with another.

“
Lotus!” gasped the
reporter, “Does Michael Caster know-?” but that microphone too
vanished in the throng.

When Lee glanced up, she noticed that
the room was suddenly packed with people. The flashing lights
weren’t being reduced, and there were now so many people crammed
into the store that Lee was practically shoved up against Ace. A
shelf of tissues was knocked to the ground as they backed up into
the shelves. “I am not Lotus Stelter!” Lee hollered before yanking
off her hood. “See?” She slid her sunglasses to the top of her
head. “We have different features.”

She could hardly hear her
own voice over the crowd but for some reason, the sight of her
silvery hair and deep emerald eyes sent the paparazzi into shock.
All at once the lights stopped flashing, and people stopped
elbowing each other just to stare. The camera recoiled from Lee’s
face as she glanced up at Ace with an expression that read
well… this is awkward.

“
So then who are you?” one
of the reporters finally asked.

“
My name is Lee. I’m
actually from Tarrillian City.” She replied. Aside from her voice
the whole store was so silent, when a bag of chips clattered to the
floor, it almost seemed to amplify. As her eyes scanned out through
the crowd, Lee caught sight of the only movement near the entrance
of the store. Since nothing else was going on, Lee watched as the
top of a knitted flower hat wove its way through the crowd.
“Sorry,” Lee said breaking the silence, “I guess it was a bit
sketchy that someone who looks like Lotus was walking around in a
hood in shades.”

“
So was it you on the cover
of the newspaper?”

Lee’s face went aghast as she glanced
up at Ace. “Newspaper? What newspaper?”

There was a slight fumbling around as
someone snatched up a paper and handed it forward. Lee caught the
thing clumsily as it came her way and gazed at the headline. If her
face could go any redder, it did and her stomach flipped with sick
embarrassment.

Ace rubbed his brow with disbelief.
“How did they get that?”

Lee hardly heard what he said. “This is
on the cover of every newspaper?” she asked, her voice flooded with
embarrassment, “All over Hawaii?”

No one answered her. For a
lingering moment, the entire store remained silent. Then finally,
when someone had the courage to speak up, they called her by her
name. Her real name. At the time Lee tore her eyes from the paper
and scanned once more through the sea of faces, she had no idea
that was the name given to her at birth. In fact, the only reason
why she looked up was because she heard
Lee
.

“
Hey, Lee.”

It was a soft voice that managed to
ring out through the still stunned store. But Lee managed to catch
the movement of the girls lips as she peeled back her hat-wig and
sunglasses. A gasp went through out the crowd as golden hair
tumbled down Lotus’s shoulders.

“
Haileigh.” Lotus gasped
dropping her disguise and shoving her way to the front. As her arms
grasped around Lee, tears rolled down her eyes and the flashing
lights commenced with the uproar.

Chapter 8 More Questions than Answers

~Lee had thought the crowd was rambunctious
before, but she had never seen anything in her life that could
compare to the paparazzi’s reaction then. Elbows smashed into
faces, expensive cameras drew blood as they collided with those
scrambling forward for a better view. Even the flashing lights had
grown so intense, it was as if they weren’t even flashing and the
whole room had just turned into a steady beam of light.

Lotus Stelter was hugging her- someone Lee
had never met in her entire life, but for some strange reason, Lee
had felt like she had a connection to the heiress. From the first
time Lee was told she resembled Lotus, Lee had secretly adored the
celebrity. In a sense, having Lotus wrap her arms around her was a
pleasant surprise, like having the coolest kid in school request to
be lab partners.

Lee didn’t know what to do. Her arms hung
lifelessly by her sides as a stunned expression plastered to her
face. How had Lotus even known her name…? Then it hit her.
Obviously the celebrity knew something Lee didn’t and as the
seconds ticked by, they seemed to slow down as Lee fit all the
seemingly invisible puzzle pieces together. Lotus knew her name.
They looked alike- or alike enough to fool the Hawaiian citizens.
What more did Lee need?

When the realization hit her, her arms
couldn’t wrap around Lotus fast enough. Lee has spent so much time
wondering who she was that it never crossed her mind to think that
maybe she belonged to a family. Ace, for the first time in months
no longer dominated her mind because Lee finally had that one thing
that had been missing. She didn’t know it in her mind, but she felt
it in her heart and in every inch of her body. Lotus didn’t even
have to say a word.

Ace didn’t know what to think. He knew the
whole situation with Lee’s mistaken identity and the swarm of
paparazzi was completely bazaar, but seeing Lee willingly wrap her
arms around a complete stranger made absolutely no sense. It was as
if Lee knew this person, and as the crowd continued to rage, Ace
felt more confused than ever. For a moment he even considered that
Lotus was someone else, perhaps a gang friend from Tarrillian City
he had mistaken. If so, then why was the crowd growing more and
more rambunctious?

Since all Ace did was take up aisle space,
one of the eager photographers shoved him in the chest. Ace
stumbled back into the throng of people, unwillingly being forced
away from Lee by those clawing their way forward. “Lee!” he
called.

Even over all the commotion and with her
embrace locked onto Lotus’s; Lee heard his voice and her eyes swam
through the crowd to meet his. Ace planted his feet and ducked as a
rod with a mic attached to the end swung his way. He didn’t know
what to say, however the look on his face conveyed how he felt
perfectly.

As if Lotus had eyes in the back of her head,
she loosened her grip from Lee and spun around. For the first time,
Ace held eyes with the heiress as his back collided with the
handles of a Coca-Cola fridge. As Lotus and Lee stood side by side,
holding his gaze, even he could hardly tell the two apart. Aside
from the color of Lotus’s eyes, they seemed only slightly smaller
than Lee’s, and her lips were fuller. Except for that, the
resemblance was so startling, even Ace saw the invisible puzzle
pieces. “Ho…ly…” then he finished with a word he had never said in
front of Lee.

Lotus glanced back at Lee as she blinked away
the last of her slightly runny make up. She was about to say
something, then a microphone sailed to her mouth. “Lotus!”
exclaimed the journalist. “Is this your sister?”

Lotus ignored the man. Her hand slid off
Lee’s shoulder before clinging tightly to her fingers. “We need to
get out of here.” She hissed and with that, she began plowing her
way through the crowd.

“
Wait,” called Lee, but
Lotus didn’t stop. “What about Ace?” When she glanced back, Ace was
edging his way around the perimeter of the throng.

Lotus almost seemed to fight the crowd like a
bear swatting away flies. But even as they emerged through the
front of the store, the paparazzi continued to form themselves
around the Stelters. “You might want to start getting used to
this.” Remarked Lotus as her strides grew longer.