The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (48 page)

“
Fine!” he finally spat.
“You win. Take me to this element. But I’m telling you now, if you
think I’ll wake up hating the Stelters, you would have better luck
beating my brains out with a rock.”

Ithaca smirked, “Oh, Mace, you’ll be
surprised. But I must ask, why the quick turnaround?”

The past ten minutes had been such a
rollercoaster of emotion. Wanting Lee, then feeling betrayed.
Needing to love her, then being rejected. Now here he was, hating
Ithaca for the train wreck in his life. A piece of him needed to
correct things with Lee. But after seeing how confidently she
wanted to rid him from her life, Ace knew there may be no hope at
all in getting back together. To Lee this really was the end. But
Ace wasn’t ready to quit. If anything, knowing she was no longer
his made him want her so much more. In this moment, Ace wasn’t
forsaking what had just happened. His logic was that the situation
was delicate. Not returning to Lee immediately could help him
prepare what needed to be said.

“
I’m not turning around.”
Ace replied, “I’m getting what I came to Hawaii for. That seems
like an accomplishment to me.”

Ithaca cocked her head to the side before
leaning off the far wall and hesitantly making her way to him. “And
what about your darling Haileigh?”

Hearing her name sent an icepick through his
chest but rather than let his expression show, Ace narrowed his
eyes at her and said, “Move quickly before I decide to change my
mind.”

At that remark, Ithaca mockingly picked up
her pace to a jog until she was standing beside Ace with her hand
on his elbow. She said nothing. All there was time for was her
smile before the room was turning and then their feet were slamming
down on a small remote island.

The high noon sun illuminated the tuffs of
coral beneath the rolling waves as Ace glanced out at the topaz
ocean. As he pulled away from Ithaca’s grip to glance around, he
finally noticed how thick the wild brush up shore was. The coconut
trees climbed at least three stories high and arched over from the
years of growing fruits as smaller bushes filled every other space
below. The wilderness was so thick; in fact that hardly a patch of
white sand could be spotted through the shrubbery.

“
So where is the element?”
he asked impatiently.

Ithaca said nothing. She only turned on the
spot and marched over to the bushes. At first she was going to pull
back a branch to allow passage but stopped with her arm
outstretched. “It’s times like these when I’m grateful to be
intangible.” She called over her shoulder then vanished into the
brush.

Ace didn’t hesitate to
follow. Literally walking
through
the bushes felt odd to Ace. He should have been
holding his hand up to keep a branch from snapping back into his
face, but there was no need. And in no time at all, Ithaca had
stopped in a small clearing with nothing but an odd rock formation
that looked like a giant princess tiara jutting out of the sand. At
the base of the boulder a small cave just big enough for someone to
crawl through awaited them.

Ithaca took the lead but instead of getting
on all fours, she walked straight through. Ace followed and soon
enough they were standing inside a small cave illuminated by
nothing but the hole in the rock and a small pool of water. It was
the most bazaar thing he had ever seen. The pool was hardly the
size of a manhole, but he couldn’t tell how deep it went. Instead,
the entire liquid seemed to be glowing as if it were made from glow
sticks.

“
That doesn’t look natural.”
Ace said as he watched it sit motionlessly and
undisturbed.

Ithaca rolled her eyes, “Just take a sip
Mason. I’ll be back for you in the morning.”

Morning?
Ace’s head snapped up as Ithaca began to walk away.
“What?”

Ithaca stopped walking to repeat slowly, “I
will be back…”

“
But in the morning?” he
sputtered.

“
It’s no picnic, Mason.
Element is the most painful thing I have ever felt and one reason
is because it takes so long to change you.” She said, “I thought I
already explained this.”

Ace frowned and glanced back at the glowing
water. “It takes half a day to change?”

Ithaca shrugged. “If you’re lucky it might
take an afternoon. It took me an entire twenty four hours…” she
shivered thinking back. “Whatever. But if by some magical reason,
you finish transforming before I get back, here.” She reached into
her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Ace had been too busy
staring at the glowing pool of water that he nearly missed catching
the phone when Ithaca threw it his way. “My number is programed
in.”

Ace hadn’t noticed how long he had been
without a cell phone until he was staring awkwardly at the sleek
black device in his hand. It almost fumbled from his grasp as he
remembered that phones belong in his front pocket.

“
Well, if that’s all,
Mason,” Ithaca said taking a step back, “I’ll see you when I see
you.”

This time Ace didn’t bother to stop her from
leaving the cave. Once Ithaca had reached the other side of the
rock, Ace heard the slight gust of wind accompanied with
teleporting. That’s when he knew he was left stranded on the
island.

He watched the ominous element sitting there
peacefully. Just one sip of foreign glowing water was supposed to
make him remember everything. As he knelt down beside the pool, Ace
realized he had two choices. Spend a majority of the day delaying
the change, or do it right away. Without the reassurance of having
Lee in his life, Ace could honestly say that he felt incomplete and
empty. The change would make him feel again. Besides, Lee hated him
now. What could possibly hurt more than that?

Without a second thought, Ace plunged his
hand into the pool and scooped up a handful of glowing water. The
moment his flesh penetrated its surface, the light vanished and he
was thrown into darkness. Ace wasn’t sure if that was supposed to
happen, but he tilted his head back and let the element slip into
him mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, Ace was out like a
light, and the memories of his childhood were buzzing around his
mind.

~Beneath the black leather seats, the car’s
tires crunched against the loose gravel.

It was all a daze. Mason blinked.

Across from him sat Ithaca looking young and
innocent. Her cheeks were rounded and dimpled when she smiled. For
a moment her grown up face flashed before his eyes. But the hard
angular bones and blazing hazel eyes vanished at her youthful
voice. “We’re here!”

The limousine came to a halt
and Mason felt his small body press against the slippery seats
before the side door was thrown open by a chauffeur. Light from the
outside flooded in as he watched Ithaca gaze out. Her hair was a
lighter brown in the past. Even a strip of highlighted hair ran
down the front of her dress as if it were a natural golden
blonde.
What’s going on?
Ace wanted to ask but nothing came from his
throat.

Ithaca was the first to slide out, followed
by Mason. Once his expensive leather shoes touched down on the
loose gravel driveway, he was immediately aware of how large
everything seemed around him. First and foremost was the enormous
mansion that seemed to loom over him like a medieval castle with
its towers and spires climbing to the sky. Stone blocks stacked
atop each other like stormy grey clouds building into a
thunderstorm as large tinted windows reflected back the clear sunny
day. Vines, bushes and all sorts of shrubbery accented the property
in crisp green lines, paving out the rounded driveway like leafy
fences.

Ace had been here before; he remembered the
scene from several visits in his past. Yet this time, everything
around him seemed to have an ominous glow as if he were dreaming.
But nothing could be further from the truth. This was a piece of
his memory lost and forgotten by some supernatural force. At that
recognition Ace wanted to shout, to scream with joy, to wonder
around the place and stuff his mind full of everything he had
forgotten. But this was a memory. His twelve-year-old self was in
control and all he could do was let this event unfold.

Behind him, the limousine door shut and began
to drive off. When he glanced back to watch it drive off, a wall of
trees and a gated fence were the only things he could see that
allowed anything to come in or out. They had just been dropped off
at the Stelter Mansion. His father was already there probably
playing golf with Mr. Stelter.

As the sleek limousine vanished into a cavern
of trees, Mason felt Ithaca’s small cold hand grasp onto his. When
he whirled around she was already pulling him up the steps.
Together, they pounded on the large wooden door eager to spend the
day playing with Grace. As Mason waited for the large wooden door
to be thrown open, he remembered the first time they had been
introduced to Haileigh Grace Stelter. She had been so shy that she
didn’t want them to know her real name. For the longest time they
called her Grace and even when they finally realized what her real
name was, they continued to call her Grace.

Shortly after Mason knocked, she was there to
greet them. A pang in Ace’s chest swelled when he saw her so young
and standing there so eager and excited. For the daughter of a
billionaire, Grace sure didn’t dress like one. Unlike Mason and
Ithaca’s expensive suit and dress, Grace’s clothes looked like they
came from a thrift store. Her yellow shirt clashed horribly with
her crimson corduroy shorts and the older Ace couldn’t help but to
smile at this. Lee was always asking the ginger twins for help with
dressing, and now he knew that mismatched clothing had always been
the way she was.

“
Mason!” she
screamed.

Her green eyes looked a million times wider
on her boney face as well as the freckles dotting her nose. If
possible, her skin seemed pinker but when her pretzel-stick arms
were thrown into the air with excitement, thin blue veins ran like
spider webs beneath her skin. At that age she was taller than Mason
by nearly half a head. Come to think of it, so was Ithaca and he
felt overwhelmed when she threw her arms around them for a hug.

“
I feel like I haven’t seen
you in forever!” she exclaimed stepping back to let them in. Ace
couldn’t help but note how odd she looked as a child. The corduroy
shorts exposed her bony knees and her slender arms seemed to make
her head look abnormally large against her tall lanky
frame.

Ithaca smiled beside her and that’s when Ace
realized that unlike Lee, Ithaca had always been a beautiful girl.
Her dress fit perfectly against her well-proportioned physique and
even as a child, her face could have been prettier than most
models’. “We saw you last month.” She said. This was odd for Ace to
listen to considering there was nothing but innocents behind her
words. “and the month before that. And the month before that!”

Grace only continued to smile before ushering
them in and slamming the door so that it echoed to the endless
ceiling above. From the wooden dome above hung an enormous
chandelier. The kind of chandelier a princess would have at her
ball. “Oh that reminds me,” she began, “Did you know last month
Lotus got nominated for a Grammy?!”

“
No, I didn’t.” Mason
confessed. At that moment, he really didn’t care. Nor did he know
what the award was for. All he wanted to do was play with his best
friends and the Stelter Mansion was so huge there was an infinite
amount of running around they could do. Before him was a gaping set
of marble stairs wide enough to send an elephant up to the veranda
over their heads. The rails were made of a polished wood and just
begged to be slid down. None of the Stelter’s maids were around. If
he hurried now, there would be no one to yell at him.

"Since so many people like that song she
wrote,” Grace continued, oblivious to Mason itching for some fun.
“she gets to wear a really pretty dress and meet other singers! Mom
is making her dress right now in the art veranda." she exclaimed
pointing up the massive stairs behind her.

Though Mason had visited the
home several times in the past, his eyes still followed her finger
up the marble stairs. An endless amount of expensive paintings
covered the wooden walls from top to bottom. Mason never failed to
notice a new painting. But this time just as he was about to set
his eyes back to Grace, he caught sight of a familiar face pained
over in oil. Her eyes were the exact midnight as his; serious and
outlined with thick black lashes. But a smile stretched across her
lips; a familiar one that he wasn’t sure if he had seen it in a
mirror or if it was just a figment of his past.
Estelle
was the name that came to his
mind
.
But he had
once called her another name.
Mom.

A sudden rush of hatred filled his heart as
Mason turned away to gaze at his friends. How could Estelle have
left him when he was only a child and how could the Stelter’s honor
her by hanging her face on an expensive frame? Mason clenched his
fists and turned back to his friends to keep his mother out of his
thoughts.

"What games do you want to play?" Grace's
ecstatic voice chimed, catching Mason’s attention immediately.

“
Do you want to play
secret agents
again?”
Ithaca asked.

Memories of previous games
ran around Mason’s head and this was one of the games they had made
up years ago. The object of the game was to start at one end of the
home and work your way to the other while picking up specific items
along the way. But there was a catch; they weren’t allowed to run
into each other. If they did, the first one to
shoot
the other- in other words, throw
a pencil and hit the opponent- would get to stay in the room while
the other had to go back to start.