The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (29 page)

The paparazzi followed them out the door as
they raced down the street. But at least out here, Lee could catch
her breath. She spun around and gazed at the flock of fans. Most of
them had fallen behind due to the fact that they had to chase with
heavy equipment. Once the girls were able to break through the
crowd and speed down the sidewalk in a full sprint, Ace had caught
up to them.

“
Who are you?” asked Lotus
as the crosswalk light conveniently signaled their
right-of-way.

“
He’s by boyfriend,” Lee
remarked once they reached the other side and Lotus continued to
hurry down the street. “His name is Ace.”

“
Oh,” muttered Lotus, her
voice only slightly winded. Her Toyota was in sight now and she
clicked her keys. The three of them reached a door with
synchronized timing and slid in. Lee had taken the passenger seat
and nearly crumpled the small scrapbook as she flopped down. “What
is this?” she asked.

“
It’s a scrapbook.” Lotus
replied her voiced laired with tension, half from trying to escape
the paparazzi, the other from automatic despite aimed at Ace. Even
though Lee liked him didn’t mean Lotus had to. “It’s just some
stuff I’ve collected since the fire. Where have you been
Hail-“

“
Fire?” Inquired Lee as she
gazed at the blank black cover. “What fire?”

“
Don’t you remember, Hails?”
Lotus huffed as she sped off down the road. “The fire in
Tarrillian, and we all thought you and Lambert died.” Her eyes fell
on Lee’s bewildered sunburnt face. “Where have you been all this
time? How did you know to come to Hawaii? I have so many questions
for you Hails, I don’t even-”

“
Hails?” Lee repeated. “Why
do you keep calling me that? My name is Lee. That’s what you called
me back at the store, isn’t it?”

Lotus was so caught up in the moment that she
nearly disregarded a red light. When she slammed on her breaks,
everyone in the car jerked forward and watched with horrified
expressions as a semi-truck missed them by feet.

Lotus studied Lee’s face as the car rocked
back. “No… I called you Haileigh and you looked up. That’s your
name. Haileigh Grace Stelter. I have your birth certificate in
that.” She gestured with her head to the scrapbook.

Lee glanced down at the wallet sized book in
her hands. Between the covers, she could count three separate
laminated pages and her fingers trembled as they traced along their
edges. There was a birth certificate in here, evidence of who she
was, and perhaps there would be clues to the life she couldn’t
remember. For a moment all Lee could do was stare at the small
thing. To reveal what lay beneath was only the first step in
finding her origin. Her fingers traced over the cover. “I didn’t
know my name was Haileigh.” She finally remarked after finding her
voice. “I don’t remember anything. My very first memory is waking
up in an orphanage at the age of twelve.”

“
You were thirteen when the
fire happened.” Remarked Lotus. “You’re nineteen right now and your
birthday’s in August-” Her voice was cut off by the annoyed honking
of the person behind and Lotus glanced back to shoot daggers before
pushing on the gas.

“
I’m nineteen!!?” Lee
gasped. She couldn’t contain her excitement and curiosity any
longer. In a flash, Lee had ripped open the first page.

The Christmas picture took up an entire page
and Lee had to turn the book horizontally to see it correctly. The
first thing her eyes feel on was the kind eyed man with fare white
hair and deep green eyes nearly identical to Lee’s. His smile was
so welcoming, crow’s feet folded across his temples from the corner
of his lashes and his smile shined brighter than anything Lee had
ever seen as if the picture was taken in the middle of his
laughing. Lee felt a tug in her gut and her finger traced over his
suntanned wrinkles, longing to be closer to a man she didn’t even
know.

“
Dad…?” her heart swelled.
With so much heartbreak and sorrow that followed the loss of a
loved one, the joy and admiration that came with the discovery of
one was unfathomable.

“
He’s never home.” Lotus
grumbed. Her tone seemed so displeases; Lee couldn’t understand how
a man could cause Lotus to despise him so. “Ever since the fire
he’s been different.” Lotus continued.

“
The fire that I supposedly
died in?” questioned Lee finally tearing her eyes from the
image.

They had driven out of Honolulu and were now
somewhere Lee had never been before. The car sped along a stretch
of road beside the ocean. There was nothing but lush tropical trees
climbing up beside them and an endless stretch of white sand and
ocean on the other. Across the dark blue horizon, the Heleow towers
decorated the edge of the world. But when her eyes shot forward
through the windshield, the entrance of a tunnel greeted her.

At the base of a jagged Oahu mountain was the
start of the oceanic tunnel leading to Heleow. At first, Lee had no
idea where they were headed, but when the darkness enveloped them,
she didn’t have to ask. Two lanes of traffic was all that could fit
in the concrete tube and as the car took a slight plummet, Lee
could see through what little offered light that they were the only
car under the mountain.

“
Alright clearly something
is not matching up.” Began Lotus. “You were in the Stelter Mansion
the night of the fire, and now you’re telling me you woke up in an
orphanage not even knowing your own name.”

Lee gave a light laugh. “Looks like we’ve got
some catching up to do, sissy.” She remarked with a grin.

Lotus couldn’t help but to smile back. She
remembered Haileigh always having that effect on people. She always
had this glow around her that made everyone else smile. Maybe that
was one of the reasons she had a boyfriend. Lotus had almost
forgotten about him. With a startled cry she glanced at the rear
view only to have Ace’s eyes gazing back at her. “Who are you
again?”

“
Ace.” He replied. “I can’t
believe you’re Lee’s sister. The resemblance… it’s
freaky.”

“
So that’s what you go by?”
Lotus asked turning back to her sister, “Lee?”

Lee shrugged, “That’s what the headmistress
at the orphanage called me. It’s cool that I have a real name now.
I cannot believe I’m a Stelter…” Her voice fell and up ahead Lee
could make out a bright ring of light at the end of the tunnel’s
plummet. “But what if I’m not?” she asked quietly.

Good point. Lotus had been too caught up in
the moment to even think about that. Just because they looked like
sisters didn’t mean that they were. But Lotus felt it; like finding
that missing piece to a tea set. Even if Lee wasn’t her blood,
Lotus would treat her as such.

“
We have a DNA lab in Heleow
if you really want to know.” Lotus began. “But I know you’re my
sister. After all the crap that’s happened in my life, I’ve finally
got my sister back. I feel it. But if it makes you happy, I’ll stop
calling you Haileigh. From now on you’re Lee.”

For the first time, a lingering silence
followed. It wasn’t too terribly awkward thought since for the most
part everyone was too busy gazing at the next strip of tunnel.
Suddenly, everything became transparent and through the thick
tunnel glass, Lee could make out the vast blue ocean. Barnacles and
algae clung to the wet side of the clear tube making her feel as if
she was headed for Atlantis.

As Lee’s entire mouth went numb, her eyes
glued out the window and watched as the water danced in silvery
lines against the fare tawny sand beside her. The water was so
clear; it was as if she wasn’t even under water. In fact there was
nothing distinguishing the liquid space aside from when Lee cast
her eyes up, she could see the surface as a thin sheet of clear
aluminum rolling up in small hills then collapsing into miniature
valleys. The bottoms of boats yards away bobbed along the surface
as their anchors held them in place. Schools of fish drifted along
everywhere. Some of them far away looking like flocks of small
birds and others swam along the glass close enough for Lee to count
their gills.

“
Unbelievable…” Lee muttered
when she was finally able to find her voice.

Lotus beamed, “And you’re not even in Heleow
yet.”

Up ahead, Lee watched as the fare brown sand
dropped into a vertical black cavern full of jagged rocks and
possibly caves for sea monsters. But the tunnel continued to travel
in a straight line as steel beams held the path up like a bridge
drowned by the sea. Lee thought back to Stelter Bridge in
Tarrillian City with its high wires and elegance. But this Stelter
bridge lacked all that glamour. It was as simple as a plastic straw
balanced between two books and submerged under water.

“
There’s not much of a view
here.” Lotus said as her eyes remained glued out the blue tinted
window. “Just wait until we get to the penthouse. I suppose that’s
where you’ll be staying?”

“
With you?” Lee gasped for
the first time pulling her eyes from the scene. “In a
penthouse?”

“
I know you’re my sister.”
Replied Lotus, “Of course you’re going to live with me. I’m not
sure about your little boyfriend though.”

“
He doesn’t have a place to
stay either. We came here from Tarrillian City- actually we came
here to find answers for Ace, so this was an unexpected turn of
events.” Lee spun around in her seat and glanced back at him. From
Lee’s angle of the back window, the water around them seemed to
brighten the color of Ace’s eyes. Or perhaps the color wasn’t
brightened; instead it was his entire visage that seemed to be
glowing. He smiled at Lee and mouthed
I
love you.

“
I love you too.” She
whispered back then spun around to face Lotus.

“
Answers?” Lotus asked,
“Answers to what?”

Lee didn’t know where to start. Letters,
superpowers, lost identities, and one night that collided them all
together…“It’s complicated,” she finally stated.

“
Come on, Hail- Lee, spill.
I’m dying to know what my sister’s been up to for the past six
years.”

Lee wanted to spill. In all honesty she did,
but pinpointing a good place to start seemed impossible at the
moment so she changed the subject. “And I’m dying to know what my
life was like when you were in it.”

Lotus kept her eyes out the window. Without
her long dark lashes and smoky makeup, Lee could pinpoint every
shade of blue in her eyes. They were so unlike Ace’s. When his
matched the twilit sky, Lotus’s seemed to shimmer like the water
surrounding them. “Happy,” Lotus finally answered as her gaze
remained locked to the road. “I was really, really happy when you
were in my life. Even though we are four years apart, growing up we
were best friends. It seems like we had mutual friends too but… I
can’t remember. I know they are there, but every time I try and put
a face to a memory… it’s like hitting a brick wall. I guess it’s
because I’ve been keeping these things out of my mind. I haven’t
thought about you in so long because it only reminded me that I was
all alone. But now your back. It’s nice to know that you never
really left. Wait- why don’t you remember? Do you think you were
traumatized after the fire?”

Lee glanced up thoughtfully and sighed. That
could have been a possibility, but she didn’t remember waking up
smelling like singed hair. “I have no idea…” she finally
remarked.

Ace cleared his throat in the back seat, “I’m
not really sure if this means anything, but I’m putting the pieces
together and something’s not adding up. There was a fire?” he
directed that question towards Lotus.

“
Yeah,” she sighed. “We had
a home in East Side. I had just gotten nominated for a Grammy and I
couldn’t get any sleep that night so I went for a stroll in our
garden. I remember staring at the statue of an angel then I heard
the explosion. After that everything’s a blur.”

“
We had a garden?” Asked
Lee.

“
We’re the Stelter family.
We have everything.” She remarked with a laugh. “I think I have a
picture in that scrapbook if you want to see it.”

Lee flipped through the
first pages, her eyes lingering over the shrunken birth
certificates.
Haileigh Grace Stelter
born in Tarrillian City nineteen years ago…
Lambert Christian Stelter…

“
What about Lambert?” asked
Lee. “Is he…?”

Lotus shrugged. “He died in that fire, but
then again so did you…” her voice fell once more and for a moment
all that could be heard was the rumbling of a speeding car in a
glass tunnel. Then Lotus picked up with a smile. “Finding you gives
me hope that he’s out there too.”

Hearing Lotus say that gave Lee hope also. To
have a sister...parents… and a big brother. Could living get better
once she had everything she always wanted?

“
Is that Lambert?” asked Lee
once she flipped to the next picture.

The boy might have been Lee’s age, but it was
hard to tell. His golden hair was well kept, short and gelled over
with a crisp part on one side. Lee could have easily mistaken that
goal oriented gleam in his green eyes for that of an entrepreneur
in his early twenty’s. The one thing that gave away his age was the
sheer amount of acne covering his face making him look like a white
cookie with pink chocolate chips.

Lotus didn’t have to glance over. With a nod,
she said, “Yeah, right before the fire he was eighteen. He was
always following dad around. Dressing like him, talking like him…
We never really saw eye to eye like you and I did. But Lambert
loved you. We all loved you.”