The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural Read online

  Lotus left a tire mark on the hotel’s stone entrance as she sped onto the main street. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky which meant she was going to get some awesome sun with her surfing time. As she blazed down the stretch of road with thoughts of Caster fresh in her mind, she couldn’t help but adore the way the uniquely shaped glass scrapers seemed to reflect every beam of sunlight with a brilliant crisp light. Heleow was much smaller than Tarrillian City, much, much smaller. But this was her favorite of the Stelter cities.

  The city of Heleow literally grew out of the ocean. What was once a tiny flat sandy island just seven miles south of Oahu was now a towering city full of glass and power. Once she had driven to the island of Oahu through the magnificent subway tunnel. After arriving in Honolulu, she had sat on the beach to watch the sun set over the towers of glass and the endless purple horizon. The sight had been so stunning she almost decided to move to the Hawaiian capital just so she could have that sight every day.

  She loved life in Heleow. The technology here made living in Tarrillian like living in New York City. There were all sorts of glistening silver robots that sailed in perfect lines around the perimeter of the towers as if they had their own invisible floating highway. They came in all shapes and sizes: ovals, cubes, Frisbees… some even glittered with lights. She wasn’t sure what they did, but she knew that some kept an eye on the city for security, others carried mail, and several were weather detecting gizmos. Honestly, Lotus only cared was that the robots made her city look futuristic, even though life was entirely modern.

  As Lotus drove across a flat bridge, she was reminded of another one of her favorite things the metropolis had to offer. Heleow, in only one way, was like Venice. Channels of ocean water flooded every other street and gorgeous steel bridges elevated the cars over. Traditional Hawaiian canoes drifted through them sometimes hauling a load of fruits, but other times they hauled crates full of DiAchi Tech. Lotus wasn’t sure what it was about the channels. Maybe it was the fact that they turned the water to such an electric blue- or it was the fact that every single one of them was made of a clear metal, giving the city another futuristic vibe. Whatever it was, it was unique. No other place on the planet could even compare to Heleow.

  It was nice to think that this was a Stelter City. She liked to imagine that the city was her own considering that she hardly ever saw her parents and she had no siblings. Though, she had the ghosts of a big brother named Lambert, and a little sister Haileigh haunting her. In fact, she still had their birth certificates and some family photos stashed in a book under her bed. She would glance at them occasionally, longing for someone to keep her company. But then there was a fire, and just like that she became an only child.

  While most celebrities got a dog and cried about family issues, Lotus preferred to hang out at the beach alone. Surfing and singing were her two most irrevocable passions. Singing because music made her feel something more than alive, and water made her powerful…

  The sandy beach was just a head of her now. She vroomed under a bridge and glanced up at the slim metallic bullet train as it sped overhead. There was only one set of tracks that ran around the city and eventually dove under the ocean before reappearing on Oahu. She had yet to board that revolutionary contraption but for now she was content with just watching it speed past. Or she was until she saw the array of blues and purples sprayed into the last cart.

  At the sight of graffiti, Lotus nearly slammed on her breaks. Gang affiliated profanity was the utmost despicable sight in her eyes, and she would have no part of it. Not in her city. For a moment she thought Pele had invaded her city. From what Lotus knew, Pele was a small gang and probably had no more than fifty members. But every single one of them managed to hide their identities better than a superhero. Small spontaneous fires would erupt across the islands, and for anyone who didn’t have direct ties with Stelter City Security wouldn’t know about them.

  Lotus hated the sight of profanity in her city. Furiously, she dialed her manager.

  “Kasper!” she barked when the man answered.

  “Princess?” came his sarcastic response. Kasper was the tall curly blonde surfer boy who looked funny in a suit and tie. He worked for her father and sat a couple people down when ranked on the corporate scale, even though he was only a quarter of a century old. Technically, it would be Kasper who won her father’s legacy, not Lotus. But for now he was assigned to be Lotus’s babysitter along with run some company thing she didn’t care about.

  “There is graffiti on the train!” she bellowed. “Get it out of my city!”

  “I find graffiti art beautiful.” He pointed out with his calm collective voice.

  “Kasper, it would mean the world to me if you could help keep Heleow clean. Please do this one thing for me.” Lotus insisted.

  Kasper chuckled, “Well since you asked so nicely, of course I will help you keep the city clean!”

  “Thank you, Kasper.” was her response. “Hey, why are you talking to me anyway? I thought you would be in a meeting and I’d just have to leave you a message.”

  Lotus continued to drive. The scrapers had disappeared behind her and now there was nothing but sand and towering palm trees outlining either side of the road. The road Lotus was currently traveling on was quite a stretch. But by the time she reached the end, she would have ended up on the jelly bean shaped beach; a manmade bay. She had once seen a satellite view of the island and it looked like a shovel with a city on one end, a beach on the other, and a long stretch of road separating the two. Heleow was still a growing city and the idea was that more buildings would branch off from the long stretch she was driving on.

  “Well I’m currently on the phone with you, princess, because we just were just let out for a lunch break,” Kasper replied. “I’m in Hong Kong right now. We just finished buying out one of DiAchi Tech’s science labs. There’s still a major manufacturer in Singapore, and I’ll be there next week to sign the papers. But after that-”

  “Are you planning on corporate domination?” Lotus guessed. Normally anything regarding business sent her dozing. But not when Kasper was speaking. She wondered if maybe it was because she still had feelings for the guy. They never had anything but a babysitter-baby relationship. In fact when she first found out Kasper was going to be her manager, she had tried to put some moves on him. But he became utterly disgusted as if the thought of dating her was like dating a sibling.

  “It’s not a monopoly.” he retorted.

  “But it sounds like it.” She argued. The asphalt had finally spit her out onto the white sandy beach. Manmade meant perfect waves that rolled in with swells ranging from five to fifteen feet. “After you take over DiAchi Tech, who’s going to stop Stelter Corperation from taking over the world?” she asked as she parked her car on the practically vacant beach.

  There were only a couple vacationing families exploring the new wonderland and some other famous people she might recognize if they took off their big hats and sunglasses.

  “I will,” said Kasper responsibly. “That’s why your dad is making me heir.”

  Lotus shuddered at that title; dad. “Well then why do you want to take over DiAchi Tech so badly?”

  Kasper shook his head though Lotus couldn’t see. “This is a whole lot bigger than you know, in case you haven’t guessed that already.”

  “Nope, surely have not.” She snapped, “But thanks for informing me.”

  “Ugh, you sound like you’re in a bad mood.” Admitted Kasper. “What’s wrong?”

  It was sweet that Kasper cared. He was the only guy that had ever paid attention to her, besides Michael. “Well a lot of things.” Lotus admitted. “My friend Mirage hasn’t called me back in forever.” Lotus started, “But I guess what’s really been on my mind is that… Promise me you won’t laugh.”

  Kasper laughed anyway. “Okay, I got all of the laughter out of my system. You have my word I won’t laugh after you tell me.”

  Lotus sucked in a big breath of ai
r. She knew she could always count on Kasper for anything. “Okay…” she started. “Michael asked me to marry him today.”

  “What!?” Kasper exclaimed, “Congratulations-! Wait, I thought you were planning on breaking up with him?”

  “I was!” Lotus exclaimed, “He asked me during the Flabbergasted segment on the Dylan Dade Show earlier today.”

  “Ooooh!! Do I have your permission to look that up on YouTube during my next conference meeting?” Kasper asked eagerly.

  “Absolutely not!” Lotus exclaimed though she smiled a little at his remark. “But I’m breaking up with him in a little bit. We’re supposed to meet here at the beach, but…” Lotus glanced around. The line of white sand and the sprinkle of swimmers still hadn’t changed. “I still don’t see him. I never see him anymore. Kasper, did you know that Michael will ignore my texts for days at a time? I can’t remember the last time he took me on an honest date. I can’t believe he thinks he can be my husband when he can’t even be a boyfriend.”

  Kasper sighed into the phone. “I’m sorry about that Lotus. I hope the two of you can still be friends.”

  Lotus scoffed over the ocean breeze, “Of course we can still be friends. That’s practically what we were to begin with.” Lotus rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at the time on her dashboard. Michael should have been here by now, but once more he managed to prove how unreliable he was.

  “I’m sorry to bug you about this Kasper.” Lotus confessed. “You probably have another meeting to go to.”

  The man chuckled from the other end of the phone and said, “Lotus, you are a lot of things. But one thing you are not, nor ever will be is a bother to me. However, I do appreciate the concern for my schedule.”

  Lotus smiled. She loved Kasper. He was always so much fun to talk to and she missed him when he was away on business. “When are you coming back?”

  “Tomorrow.” Kasper answered, “Let’s go surfing when I get back. All this sitting in these meetings are making my legs go stiff.”

  Lotus beamed, “I look forward to that! I’ll see you soon.”

  It was Kasper’s turn to smile, though Lotus couldn’t see through the phone. “I love you Princess Stelter!”

  “I love you too, Sir Kasper.” Lotus teased before hanging up and leaning back in her Stelter.

  The waves were beckoning and the sea breeze felt amazing in her hair. Seagulls glided through the air above her and she watched as one of them landed on the white sand near the grill of her car. She watched the waves roll perfectly before coming to a crash on the sandy shore. Though she sat in the car, she could almost feel the rush of an ocean current against her body and she longed to submerge herself in the deep blue water.

  “Lozey?”

  At the sound of her nickname, she sat up and gazed wide eyed at Michael who had suddenly appeared beside the passenger door. “Caster!” she exclaimed glancing around for signs of his car, but it wasn’t there. “How did you…?”

  “I came here to talk.” He said as Lotus’s voice faded. Judging by his appearance, he clearly was not beach ready. In fact, he looked like he had just stepped out of a recording studio. A string of earphones was tied around his dark hair, making him look like a hippie. “Sorry, I didn’t bring any of my stuff.” He said holding up a big guitarist’s hand to shield his thickly lashed brown eyes from the sun.

  He was a very good looking twenty-five-year-old, even Lotus had to admit. He had high cheek bones, a big singing mouth and lips, lean. Michael never worked out, but he could have fooled any one with his wash board abs and flat chest. For some reason he was always beach body ready, even though Lotus had seen him scarffing down pizza after potato chips after doughnuts.

  “Can we talk?” Lotus asked, but Michael was already pushing her surfboard off to the side so he could sit down in the car beside her.

  “Of course,” Michael answered, “Actually, I was hoping to have a word with you too.”

  Lotus raised a brow at him. She wasn’t sure what else he needed to say.

  “It’s about Mirage.” He explained.

  “Oh!” Lotus exclaimed hearing the relief in her own voice. “Good! How is she? She hasn’t been answering my phone calls-”

  “Loze,” Michael’s quiet voice cut her off and Lotus glanced up to look into his somber eyes. “Mirage is dead.”

  There had been moments in Lotus’s acting career when the director would tell her to feel a specific way about something terrible. She had felt like she had acted out that moment so many times already, but none of them felt that real. “Are you…? How? What about-?”

  “Shadow’s dead too.” Said Michael gravely, “I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand but she pulled away. Her eyes fell on the ocean, but she wasn’t seeing any of it.

  “I have to show you.” He said taking her by the hand. “I think they would have wanted you to know the truth.”

  “What truth?” she bellowed a little too loud for the ocean air to block and a sunbathing couple looked her way.

  This time Lotus let him take her hand. “Just trust me and don’t freak.”

  She looked up into his brown eyes, and then the world was spinning. Her vision blurred as the different shades of ocean and sky seemed to swirl before her. The sensation was like evert cell in her body was being ripped apart and being thrown back together all at the same time. Her car vanished from beneath her and before she could comprehend what was going on, they slammed back down on a cool stone floor. Everything stopped and she was standing on the balcony of her penthouse.

  Lotus hung on to the railing blinking hard and trying to keep her stomach from heaving. “How did you do that?” she wheezed as panic flared in her voice. That wasn’t possible. No one should be able to vanish from a beach then reappear in a penthouse. Nobody! Especially not her boyfriend!

  Michael waited a moment for her to catch her breath before answering. “There are people in this world who are gifted with extreme senses, super strength and speed, and another sort of phenomenal ability.”

  Lotus was still hunched over the railing when she gazed at him, “And you’re one of them?” she gasped, “You can teleport?”

  Michael nodded. “On the streets they call us the supernatural. We’re famous in the gang world because the supernatural tend to lead the gangs. But there’s a sort of cast system among our race; a sort of government we obey. We call the leader the King.”

  Lotus sucked in a big breath of air and nodded. She had heard about that Legend; the story about a race of super human individuals governed by one man who ruled all the streets. It had been Kasper who told her. He could testify from all his years of travel that this story was like a street religion. From Bangkok to Rio de Janeiro, from London to Denver, every gang was humbled by this one entity.

  “There’s a Council the King has. It’s there to help him rule. Mirage and Shadow were only some of the members.”

  “Wh-what about you? Are you on the council thing too?”

  Michael shook his head and took a deep breath. “Lozey, I am the King.”

  Chapter 3 A White and Silver Wedding

  ~A week and a half. That’s how long it took to plan and organize a wedding; a legitimate wedding too. It turned out that the Krome tended to keep their wedding decorations within the gang so the union of Rose and DH was almost a repeat of just about every other Krome member’s. It was in the same grand gothic South Side chapel, the spring theme was identical, Rose even borrowed her gown from a good gang friend. But she still looked stunning, or at least that’s what Lee told Ace.

  Ace wondered down the blue and gold ornamented hallway. Elegantly dressed women dominated the scene; all scurrying around carrying bouquets of springy flowers. None of them had bothered to take out their piercings. It was a Krome wedding after all, and it would have been drab if no one wanted to show off their latest bright colored piercing since it was tradition for everyone to come dressed in white and silver. Even the best man had to dress in Krome colors. Everything on Ace w
as white from the coat, to the pants, to the shoes. The only thing breaking the pale wash was his steel colored vest and bow tie.

  Ace turned the corner and nearly ran into a man on a ladder trying to drape the last of the pale yellow ribbons over an arch way. After a quick apology, he nearly stumbled into a woman balancing three vases of roses. To avoid a flowery mess, Ace flattened himself against a window. As he waited there for a parade of guests to pass, he caught sight of High Krome member, Aaron Kim, tagging every window on Rose’s Koenigsegg in the parking lot below.

  With a crooked smile, Ace shook his head and continued down the lively hall. “Good morning Sunshine,” he announced stepping into the groom’s quarters.

  DH stood in the farthest corner, gazing at his reflection in the mirror. His hands jammed deep into his white and silver tuxedo. Since it was a Krome wedding, everyone would have to abide by the Krome traditions. The first and most important one being that the wedded both flash Krome colors at the alter. There were more to the list, and Ace knew Rose would follow through with every single one of them. After all, she was the ‘Tradition Nazi’.

  The groom gazed at his friend solemnly through the reflection as Ace let the door fall shut. For a moment DH said nothing, only watched as his friend stepped closer.

  “What’s wrong?” Ace questioned, automatically assuming his friend was dealing with wedding jitters.

  DH turned to the side. His eyes were still glued to the mirror, but were now running up and down his handsome attire. “I have a serious problem.” He muttered glumly.

  “What is it?” asked Ace stepping behind a couch with DH’s dress bag draped over.

  “This suit makes my butt look huge.” DH frowned, “White is not a slimming color. I mean look at it!” he turned some more so that Ace could see, but the best man had already slapped a hand to his eyes. “It looks like a moon!” DH exclaimed sticking out his rear.