The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (32 page)

Ace nodded hesitantly then leaned forward as
he asked, “Then who’s in charge of sending out murderers?”

Michael held eyes with the only other
supernatural in the room. “That sounds like something my
discipliner would do.”

“
And this person is..?”
Lotus inquired.

“
You’ve met her before,
Loze.” remarked Michael, “Her name is Ithaca. Ithaca
Iglesias.”

~“So,” began Josh.

Ammon didn’t have to glance over to see the
smirk on his face.

“
You and Larissa,
huh?”

Ammon rolled over on his hotel bed so that
his stomach and cheek were pressed against the gold cotton covers.
The boy didn’t look up; instead he watched as his fingers lazily
traced lines in the brown hotel room carpet. “She’s hot.” He
replied casually, his voice half muffled by the covers.

Josh clapped his hand, stomped his foot and
fist pumped all at the same time before exclaiming, “Yeah she
is!”

A moment of silence followed
his statement as the air conditioning kicked in. It rumbled and
rattled as if it were about to break, but even at that, the noise
wasn’t loud enough to drown out the sound of the girls next door.
Cassie had plugged her music into the speaker system and was
blasting the same Caring Diaz song for the fifth time in a row
since apparently it was the perfect
getting
ready
song.

“
Why do girls have to take
forever to get dressed?” Josh huffed falling back on the bed. He
stared at the bumpy white ceiling as his legs draped over the foot
of the bed. “It’s not like we’re going anywhere fancy. It’s just
dinner.”

Ammon shrugged carelessly as his eyes
continued to follow the path of his fingers through the carpet.

“
What’s up?” asked Josh. His
head lulled to the side as he glanced over at his lazy friend. “You
seem dead. Did you sleep last night?”

Ammon’s fingers stopped in the middle of a
figure-eight. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.” He confessed. His voice
was almost so soft, Josh couldn’t hear over the Caring Diaz
chorus.

“
Like…?” Josh
pressed.

Ammon glanced up. “Just a lot…”

“
Bro, you can talk to me.”
Josh sat up on his elbow just to show a little more interest.
“What’s up with you and Larissa? I hear you whispering about
secrets
all the time.” he
hesitated, “You didn’t knock her up did you?”

Ammon recoiled sputtering. “What? No! Are you
kidding me? I mean, sure we’ve made out a couple times, but…” Ammon
was sitting up now and swung his legs around to set them over the
freshly drawn upon carpet. “We haven’t done that yet.”

“
Yet?”
mimicked Josh, “Is that what your secrets are? Are the two of
you planning on sneaking out and making love on the beach? We are
in Hawaii after all.”

Even though the hotel workers had just made
Ammon’s bed, the boy took a pillow and aimed it for Josh’s chest.
His sunglasses were hooked to the collar of his grey tank top and
upon collision, went sailing to the ground.

“
Nah, I don’t think Larissa
is like that.” Said Ammon snatching up Josh’s shades before he
could. “Besides, I know this is going to sound weird, but neither
of us are in that mindset right now.”

“
Whoa, whoa, whoa,” It was
Josh’s turn to be surprised and he too swung his legs around. “Let
me get this straight. Larissa is one of the few solid tens I have
ever seen, but right now you aren’t even thinking about having sex
with her?”

When Ammon didn’t respond
right away, Josh took his hesitance as a
no.

“
What’s wrong with you,
man!” Josh exclaimed.

“
It’s complicated.” Started
Ammon rubbing his neck.

“
What’s complicated about
hot chick, alone with a single guy in Hawaii? I might have gotten a
C in science, but I don’t have to be a genius to see this
chemistry.”

“
It’s complicated!” Ammon
repeated. This time there was a tone in his voice that made Josh
want to give him a chance at explaining. “We promised each
other…”

“
Holey crap, you two are
getting married?!” bellowed Josh.

“
No!” Ammon couldn’t help
but to laugh at that. “No, we are not getting married. I’ve been a
jerk to her; she hasn’t been telling me everything about herself.
So I promised to go back to being myself if she would spill her
secret.”

“
How has she been keeping
secrets?” inquired Josh. “You mean since that whole car chase thing
when she started getting all moody?”

Ammon thought back. It had been almost four
months since that car chase. Four months was a long time. It wasn’t
until that moment that Ammon realized Larissa had been forcing
quiet her secret longer than he had been dealing with his father’s
death.

If the tables had been turned so that it was
Ammon keeping secrets, he knew he would have spilled long ago, or
at least taken the first opportunity to get them off his chest. At
that moment he couldn’t care how hurtful they might be, or how
private they were. If it were his choice, the truth balled up
inside would have come tumbling from his tongue. But this was
Larissa, and it was her choice to keep them to herself just a
little bit longer.

“
I don’t even know if she’ll
tell me.” Ammon sighed. “She promised, but what good is that when
she hasn’t given me a deadline?”

Ammon hadn’t realized his eyes were glued to
Josh’s sunglasses until the boy didn’t respond. When Ammon glanced
up, he caught sight of the slight smirk upon Josh’s face. “Do I
even want to know what you’re thinking?”

“
Oh come on!” the boy
hollered. “Please don’t tell me you can’t see what I’m
thinking.”

“
I can’t see what you’re
thinking.” Ammon confessed.

“
You’re Ammon O’Connell!”
Exclaimed Josh. He shouted so loudly it almost sounded as if he
were shouting the lyrics with Michael Caster. “You have a
reputation for spotting detail! Come on kid, you know exactly what
I’m thinking now.”

Ammon sucked in a big breath of air before
fidgeting once more with Josh’s shades. Perhaps he did know what
Josh was proposing, and it was a shame on Ammon’s part for not
thinking of it sooner. They were investigators. They all had a
scrupulous eye and a mind set for piecing things together.

“
You want me to stalk her?”
Ammon finally concluded.

Josh sputtered a laugh, “Not even, bro. I’m
thinking all you gotta do is just piece things together.”

“
Piece…?”

Just then a knock on their door interrupted
his next words.

“
Josh you ugly monster,
let’s get some dinner!” It was Cassie of course and through the
front door. Then the boys could hear Cassie’s giggling as she
hurried down the hall with Larissa at her heels.

Josh rolled off his bed, hardly acknowledging
Cassie’s comment. “Yes,” he continued, “Piece things together and
I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Ammon scoffed as he met Josh at the door.
“Are you implying you know something already?”

The flicker of an expression fell over Josh’s
face. “Oh, please. You think I have been stalking Larissa since
that car chase?” Josh flung the door open and the two boys entered
the hall. From all the way at the end of the hotel, they could hear
Cassie shouting for the elevator to hurry up.

“
Just pay a little more
attention to her.” Josh whispered as they approached, but Ammon was
already doing that. His eyes instantly locked onto Larissa as she
leaned against the wall inspecting her fingernails. Of course she
looked fabulous in her white sundress. It brought out her tan.
“I’ll be that you can figure out her secret if you just keep an eye
on her.”

Josh’s voice was almost so low that Ammon had
tuned him out. But just as they approached hearing distance of the
girls, he smiled over to his friend and replied, “Challenge
accepted.”

~“So now what?” asked Kasper.

Lotus didn’t respond. That wasn’t the first
time in their video chat that she had tuned him out. She stared out
the window of her bedroom. The curtains pulled back to reveal her
glistening city past twilight. Her bright orange towel still hung
along the balcony. The balcony with so many memories. It all
started with Michael reviling who he was, then lead to a note
informing her to a lost sibling. Now she was sitting on her bed
staring at the banister as her sister got ready for bed several
rooms over.

“
Oh, Princess?” Kasper said
tapping on the screen of his video tablet.

The heiress sat up started and glanced down
at the image of Kasper with his white shirt unbuttoned and silky
tie hanging loosely around his neck. She snatched up the device and
flopped down atop her sheets. “What’s up?” she asked innocently,
rolling to her side and propping the tablet against her silky
pillows.

Kasper chuckled, “Now that you’ve found her,
what do you plan to do?”

Lotus inhaled deeply, “Well, Michael says
he’ll take us to meet Ithaca tomorrow but I’m hoping Hails and I
have some sister bonding sometime in there.”

“
Well,” began Kasper, “Dylan
Dade contacted me. He says he wants you on his show again. This
time, bring Lee.”

Lotus groaned, “Do I have to?”

“
You’re little co-star guy
is gunna be there too,” Kasper informed, “What was his name? Zach?
Whatever, but it’s that little comedian you saw on the
beach.”

Lotus raised an eyebrow, “What? Why?”

“
Not sure.” Answered the
manager as he loosened his tie some more, “Dylan’s probably gunna
have you talk about that movie and obviously Lee- Haileigh,
whoever, is being interviewed.”

When Lotus huffed, she managed to send a
strand of hair off her face. “I really don’t want to.”

“
I know.” Replied Kasper,
“And I would have told Dylan’s people
no
if they hadn’t already booked your
little co-star.”

“
Spectacular.” Grumbled
Lotus. Her eyes rolled over Kasper’s image and rested on her granny
costume piled up by her bathroom door. Not even twenty four hours
ago, and she was dressed in that marching across the beach looking
for her sister.

“
Lotus.”

“
Hmm?” asked the
heiress.

“
You’re doing it again.”
Kasper grumbled.

Lotus giggled as she tucked her hand beneath
her chin. “Sorry Kasper, I’m just so…” she was at a loss for words
so she smiled brightly at her manager.

“
You’re so…” Kasper made the
same face to complete his sentence and they both burst out
laughing.

As Lotus’s lips pulled back into a smile, she
couldn’t help but think how wonderful of a day it was. Now it was
coming to a close and she was simply laying on her bed laughing the
time away with her manager. “Oh, Kasper.” She sighed when their
laughing stopped. “I can’t remember ever being this happy.”

“
Well in that case Lotus,
I’m ecstatic that you are in such a delightful mood.” As he gave a
courteous half-bow, his eyes collided with his wrist watch and for
a moment he examined the time.

“
What time is it in…
wherever you’re at?” she asked.

“
I’m in Tarrillian City
right now.” He replied, “And it’s two-”

“
Kasper!” Lotus gasped, “I
had no idea it was so late! You should have told me!”

The man chuckled as he scratched his ash
colored beard stubble. He had just shaved that morning but it was
growing out already. “Don’t worry. I’m flying on a plane with your
father tomorrow. We’re going to inspect a manufacturer in Denver.
I’ll probably just sleep it off then- speaking of your father.” He
cut in before Lotus could change the subject. “Did you still want
to tell him? Or shall I?”

The billionaire readjusted herself on the bed
as she nibbled on her lip. “I guess…” she began hesitantly, “You
know what? I have a better idea. When does Dylan want me to be on
his show again?”

“
This Wednesday I
believe.”

Lotus beamed, “Great! Tell dad to watch that
episode. Tell him his daughter has a surprise.”

Kasper frowned. Lotus hated seeing him like
that. She knew she was being stupid and he was about to call her
out on it. “Lotus,” Kasper began, “he’s going to hear about it
before then. Please put some effort into contacting him. He’s your
father. He wants to hear from you.”

“
If he does than why doesn’t
he just call me?” she spat. She didn’t mean to come off harsh. Not
when her day had been going so well. But talking about her father
was always a touchy subject.

Kasper stared at her through the screen. Even
if he wasn’t there in person, Lotus could feel him burning her with
his eyes. “I don’t know Lotus.” Even if he had known, Kasper
wouldn’t have bothered to explain for Lotus wouldn’t have
listened.

They sat there for a moment without speaking
a word. Finally when Lotus couldn’t bear it anymore, she grumbled,
“Fine. I’ll call him tomorrow. Lee’s probably going to make me do
it anyway.”

A faint smile made its way to Kasper’s lips
as he tugged off the rest of his tie. “Good. But don’t get mad if
he doesn’t answer, okay?”

“
It wouldn’t be the first
time.” Lotus grumbled.

“
And I promise I won’t say a
word about Hails until you do.” He continued, “Does that sound
fair?”