The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (44 page)

Quickly Ithaca squatted over Larissa’s back
and pinned the captured wrist against her spine. Larissa let out a
howl of pain as Ithaca jammed her knee into the back of Larissa’s
forearm. When Larissa opened her mouth to call her capturer a
filthy Spanish name, she ended up inhaling sand and gagging as
Ithaca spoke.

“
You don’t have to treat me
like your cousin Larissa.” Ithaca insisted as she tried to balance
atop the gagging. “I am trying to help you. You are not alone. I
have powers too.”

It hadn’t dawned on her until Ithaca said it.
It would have been impossible for any natural to pin her down while
she was fighting with all her might. With that realization, Larissa
quit resisting but she was still coughing.

“
I can teach you how to
control it.” Ithaca continued loosening her grip as well, “Please
Larissa, if food and shelter don’t appeal to you, at least join me
so I can help you stop ruining your life. That’s all.”

With her grip finally loosened, Larissa was
able to knock Ithaca off. She climbed to her feet spitting the last
of the sand from her tongue and glancing once more at her
surroundings. The strangers were still running around but abandoned
beach towels seemed more abundant than people. The sound of sirens
wailed in the distance and just over Ithaca’s golden glow of hair,
red and blue lights flashed against a building.

“
You have one minute before
they show up.” Ithaca said unfazed. “So I’m asking once more and
possibly for the last time, Larissa will you join me?”

Join what?!
Larissa wanted to bellow. But the remains of her
dead friend had caught her attention. She couldn’t bear to lose
control again. What if that had been Ammon? Or Lee? Larissa wasn’t
a murderer and if only she had taken Ithaca’s word, Zach could
still be alive.

“
Yes,” she finally muttered
despicably. “You can have me.”

Wickedly, Ithaca’s lips pulled back in a
satisfactory grin and before saying anything else, she reached into
her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Get rid of the body.” She
said handing Larissa the phone, “and expect me to give you a call
within the next hour.”

Larissa took the sleek black device and
stared at her reflection in the touch screen. “How do I get rid of
the body?” she asked slipping the phone in her pocket.

Ithaca tilted her head to the side. “You have
powers don’t you?” she asked rhetorically, “use them.”

Though that wasn’t the response she was
looking for, an idea popped into Larissa’s head. She had managed to
levitate the night Ammon discovered who she was. Perhaps she could
do it again. Without thinking twice, Larissa bolted for the corpse.
She grabbed under Zach’s contorted arms just as she leaped in the
air. Then she was soaring. The wind rushed through her hair as she
continued to climb into the atmosphere.

For as remarkable a moment taking flight
should have been, Larissa couldn’t feel a thing. Too many emotions
and thoughts clouded her mind. But the only thought to take over
was the idea of burying the body hanging from her arms. She willed
herself to soar into the mountains and that was all Ithaca saw
before vanishing from the crime scene.

~In the grog of early
morning, pots and pans tinkering from the kitchen managed to make
its way to Lotus’s ear.
That must be
Haileigh,
Lotus thought in her sleep as she
pulled the covers over her head.
How sweet
of her to bring a blanket and make breakfast…
Perhaps Lee had turned on the radio as she cooked around the
kitchen because Michael Caster’s voice lulled her into a dream. In
her subconscious Michael was there and they were touring in France
again. After a show, they had gone out to eat for the first time as
a couple. Before her sleeping mind could make her relive the past,
a gentle shake of the shoulders had awoken her.

She sat up quickly and nearly forgot she had
fallen asleep on the grey medallion sofa. Her blanket fell to her
lap just as the throw pillows she had been using to cushion her
head landed on the white rug. When she glanced at the person that
had awoken her, his name escaped her lips with a gasp.

“
Michael!” she exclaimed,
“How did you get in here?!” But she knew the answer before he
replied. She had never woken up with an intruder in her home before
and even though it was Michael, she still didn’t like the idea that
he had invaded her privacy. “What are you doing here?”

In his hands a trey of breakfast food waited
to be eaten. Two sausage rolls sat on the main plate with a side of
sunny eggs and a small bowl of pineapples. He set the meal on her
lap as she stared at it in bewilderment.

“
For me?” she asked
dumbstruck.

Michael smiled and waited for Lotus to put
her feet on the rug before sitting beside her. “I’ve always wanted
to cook breakfast for you Lozey.” He said with a smile, “Mum used
to make sausage rolls for special occasions. I hope you like them.
I’m not the cook she is.”

Lotus hadn’t realized her mouth was open
until she shut it to gaze at her ex. She wasn’t sure what time in
the morning it was. But the sun had already risen and the light
streaming in from the glass window illuminated both his brown eyes
so they looked like the button eyes of a teddy bear. Instead of
having the colored part of his hair drape in his face, Michael had
managed to brush it across his forehead so that it covered
everything above the crease in his eyelids.

“
For special occasions,
huh?” Lotus asked finally finding her voice and picking up a
hotdog-sized roll. “What’s so special you had to break into my
house and make me breakfast?”

Michael’s calm complexion took a back step at
her question. “Sorry Loze, I didn’t think you would mind me
breaking in. You know what I am now so…”

Lotus hadn’t meant to offend him so she cut
him off quickly. “It’s fine Caster. You just startled me.” To
change the subject, Lotus took a bite from the roll and gestured to
his clothes. “It must not be that special of an occasion if you’re
wearing jeans and a hoodie. Are you opening up a thrift store?”

Michael made a short laugh. “Nah Loze.” Then
he hesitated before saying, “I miss you. I know I wasn’t the best
boyfriend. Asking you for something more was wrong of me and I’m
sorry.” He paused before taking a seat beside her and saying, “But
now that you know everything there is to know about me, do you
think we could start over? Please? I want to show you what I do as
King. It’s a side of me no one really knows about but I want you to
see.”

Lotus swallowed hard even before she took a
bite. She had always hated the idea of bandits and criminals. For
Michael to invite her to see how they operated was the last thing
she would have ever agreed to. But at the same time, perhaps seeing
what he did would give her an insight to the numerous questions
that lay within her family.

“
I’m curious as to what you
do as King.” She said before taking a bite. “I’ve been learning so
much about supernatural lately my brain is about to
pop.”

Michael nodded. “There is so much you don’t
know Lozey.” For a moment they held eyes and the eager look behind
Michael’s eyes made Lotus think there was more he wanted to tell
her. Even his mouth hung half open as if willing his mind to spill
some more thoughts but nothing came.

“
So what should I wear?”
asked Lotus moving onto the next sausage roll. “I assume we are
going to hang-out for a majority of today. Should I look thrifty or
like I’m excited to see you cut the ribbon?”

Michael beamed, “Honestly Loze, I’m just
happy to be spending time with you again. But you should probably
wear something warm. I know you hate the cold and its cold as where
we’re going.”

Cold as what?
Lotus wanted to ask but she knew that was just an
Australian expression. “How cold?” she asked instead.

Michael shrugged but stepped into Lotus’s
room. “Reckon it’s fifteen degrees in Arizona.”

“
Fifteen degrees!?!” Lotus
wailed. But even as she said it, she couldn’t help but wonder if it
were even possible to be that cold in Arizona.

Michael rolled his eyes “Fifteen degrees
Celsius. Americans… I think it’s 60 in your units but my math isn’t
the brightest. Either way, grab a coat.”

Lotus nodded before finishing her first
sausage roll. “Alrighty then. Just let me finish this breakfast.
It’s really good by the way so thanks Chef Caster.”

This only made Michael smile wider. Seeing
her happy brought back old memories for him. He wanted to lean in
and whisper that he loved her, but they were no longer together.
His feelings still hadn’t changed, but he knew he couldn’t keep
acting like they were an item.

Michael didn’t have to say anything. Lotus
could read his thoughts through his eyes. Instead of letting the
moment linger, Lotus asked instead, “When should we leave?”

Michael snapped from his trance and reached
for his cell phone. “We probably have half an hour- oh. Nope. I
need to be there in ten.”

“
But you’re the King. You
can show up late and it’s whatever right?”

Again Michael shook his head, “Nah. Enough
people think I’m arrogant and I’m not exactly proud of that.”

That statement surprised her. She knew he had
his arrogant moments, but she had no idea he knew that about
himself. “Oh,” Lotus mentioned stupidly, “Well, let me throw
something on real quick then we can go.” She stood up and snagged
the bowl of pineapple before handing the trey to her friend.
“Thanks again for the breakfast. I’ll be right back.”

She nibbled on a piece of
fruit as she hurried up the steps. In no time she was in her room
and throwing on a pair of jeans. The array of tops in her closet
stretched on for miles but hanging to the back of the closet door
was a letterman jacket her character wore in her latest
movie
Stuck.
Quickly she grabbed it and tossed it over her
shoulders.

When she stepped out of her closet, Michael
was right there to greet her.

“
Michael!” She exclaimed
jumping back.

“
Sorry!” He exclaimed, “But
we’re late!” He smiled as he reached for her. Lotus let his fingers
weave into hers even though her hand was as stiff as a block. When
she glanced up at Michael she could tell he was letting the moment
linger where they touch. Old feelings were beginning to swell up
inside her and she let her fingers fit around his like they used
to.

Then the world was spinning and suddenly
Lotus had lost her footing. The whites and silvers of her bathroom
whirled around before being replaced with swirling reds and browns.
A cozy blue sky was beginning to settle before her eyes just as
small tuffs of desert shrubs began to spot along her vision. Then
her feet were slammed to the ground and she reached for Michael to
steady. As she looked up at him, the vast landscape of an Arizona
desert literally took her breath away because she had never seen
anything like it before.

He had taken her to the top of a plateau with
only a step away from the fifty foot plummet to the pile of rocks
and dirt mounded beneath them. From where she stood, Michael’s eyes
seemed to come in line with the faded horizon and the red in his
hair seemed to accent the red in the rocks around her. Over his
shoulder, three separate plateaus decorated the flat stretch of
desert like three separate cities raised on a pedestal. Against the
pale sky a portion of their silhouettes cut like jagged bar graphs
against the clouds while the cliff faces made her imagine towering
Tarrillian buildings molding to form a single mass.

She hadn’t noticed that it was a later time
in Arizona than it was in Hawaii until she glanced up at the sun at
noon. Not a single plateau shadow stretched out over the prairie of
brown rock. A breeze of dry winter air chapped her lips as she kept
her awestruck gaze over the scene. When a cloud drifted by, Lotus
watched it’s shadow roll over the patches of different colored
earth; moving from greens to browns to reds and even yellows. She
could stay there forever just admiring the scene.

“
Wow.” Lotus managed to say
after what felt like an eternity of staring. “Michael, this is
beautiful.”

The boy smiled and reflexively reached to
caress her cheek but his hand stopped halfway and he turned around
to gaze at the surroundings. “Yeah. It’s pretty inspirational. It’s
nothing like Australia but it’s close enough. I can show you
sometime, if you’d like.”

Lotus kept her eyes out on the flat brown
land that stretched on forever. “Yeah,” she agreed, “I’d like
that.” She kept staring at the landscape eventually panning over to
a cluster of plateaus so numerous they looked like mountains.
That’s when Michael’s hand found hers once more. Just before Lotus
could ask what he was doing, the world was spinning again but the
brown-red hues of the desert remained the same.

When their feet touched down, she was at the
base of a giant mound of dirt worn like a skirt against the
towering plateau. Giant boulders scattered about the mound of lose
rocks as the runoff from past rain showers carved veins into its
surface. In between the grooves and rocks, small tuffs of bushes
helped accent the scenery. Lotus hadn’t noticed how cold it was
until the wind picked up and she folded her arms before turning
around and gazing at what Michael was looking at.

Being on the floor of the desert made her
feel so small. Especially with a towering plateau just behind her.
But what she was now looking at didn’t just make her feel small,
she was a weakling and entirely helpless. Instinctively she grasped
onto Michael’s arm and took a step back as she tried to keep her
face from expressing any amount of fear.