The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural Read online

  The audience rang out in applause as the bride shielded her eyes. DH kissed the top of her still wet hair and whispered something into her ear to make her laugh. She took her hand from her face and gestured for Lee to continue.

  "I saw the way DH stared at her when he thought no one was looking. I noticed that he was constantly going out of his way to do things for her. There was this one time when she said she couldn't find the light and DH had to climb over everyone and shove Ditto to the ground just so he could help her out." Lee cleared her throat again. The mentioning of Ditto's name felt odd on her tongue.

  "But, um, anyway he's one of the best guys I know and you're very lucky to be with him." she concluded. "I wish you two the best and I love you both so much." When she clapped her hands, the microphone made a soft thudding sound, but the audience's congratulating drowned it out.

  Lee stared at the microphone oddly then looked back at Ace. He shrugged and climbed to his feet before coming to the center of the stage. "Why are you such a good speaker?" Ace asked as he took the microphone from her hands.

  "It's an orphan thing.” Lee laughed, “Don't choke." she whispered back, taking her seat.

  Ace ran his free hand through his hark hair as he gazed at the multitude. The sight of so many eyes staring up at him made him freeze. "I just forget everything I was about to say." he confessed and the crowd laughed.

  He sighed into his mic making a raspy sound flood the speakers. "Well, Rose is one lucky girl, that's for sure." Ace began, then pulled on his tight bow tie. "I've known her for almost four years now, but I can still remember the impression she set on me the first time that I met her. She was the sweetest person I had met and always so full of life. To this day, I have probably only seen her upset three times tops?" he guessed and turned around for a conformation, but she just shook her head with a guilty smile.

  "Actually, DH had told me several times that he had crushed on Rose. So I took it upon myself to ask her how she felt about him. Here’s how it happened: As nonchalantly as I could, I walked up to her and asked, "Would you ever date DH?" and well, the answer was no.”

  Members of the audience threw their heads back with laughter and Ace felt his nervous heart beat slower. From her seat Rose blushed again and DH leaned back, his head shaking. He knew where Ace was going with this.

  “After that, DH couldn't trust me with anything. He wouldn't even let me hold the TV remote. Do you remember that?" he asked turning around.

  Rose gaped, "So that’s what that was about?!"

  DH hid his face behind his large hand and nodded. Even though his skin was dark, Rose could see him flush.

  "I literally spent an hour chasing that boy around the house trying to get the remote." Ace recalled thoughtfully, "He ended up taking the remote to Garden Park and I had to follow him. But he ended up tripping over the grass, rolling down this hill, the remote fell out of his hand and went plop- right into the pond! And then... Didn't we get ice cream after that or something?"

  DH nodded as the crowd once more erupted with laughter.

  "Wow, there's nothing more masculine than two guys sharing a bowl of custard at an ice cream parlor." Ace shook his head.

  "It was a hot day!" DH cried defensively, "Besides you were the one who wanted to share."

  "Because the small ones were this big," Ace pinched his thumb and forefinger together, "and the big ones were huge. This was my happy medium. Besides, you were the one that wanted sprinkles!"

  "The sprinkles make it taste good!"

  "The sprinkles are there to make it look more appetizing! They do not affect the taste whatsoever!"

  "They do to! The green ones taste like lemon and the orange ones taste like oranges-"

  "They're made of sugar!" Ace cut in. The whole crowd was enjoying their spat, and laughing tremendously. Finally Ace sighed and said to the mic, "I’m arguing with my best friend about sprinkles at his wedding. Wow, who can say they've done that?"

  Though the question was rhetorical, hands actually shot up in the air.

  Ace rumpled the back of his hair and gazed out at the crowd once more. "Great, you made me forget what I was saying. Again." he stood there for a moment racking his brain, but as the moments ticked by, Ace finally said. "Bottom line is; I'm gunna miss you like crazy. There's no one quite like either of you and I'm just so ecstatic that the two of you are together. I love you guys and wish you many long happy years together."

  He stood there for a moment wondering what to do with the microphone. Then Rose stood up and took her husbands hand. "That's enough talk. I think it's time to dance." She guided her husband down to the dance floor and from somewhere invisible, a DJ plugged in a slow song.

  Ace handed the microphone back to one of the hotel workers and took a seat in Rose's chair beside Lee. "After they get done, do you mind if I dance with you?" he asked kissing the top of her hand.

  Lee glanced out across the dance floor at the porcupine haired boy. He made daggers with his eyes then pointed to Ace before slicing his neck with his finger.

  Lee giggled, "Oh, I don't know. I think you've got competition."

  Ace glanced at the kid then pressed his lips to Lee's. He held them there for a moment before saying, "Alright, but save me a dance."

  "I promise." she said then leaned back in her seat. She watched the two dance around slowly across the floor. The expression on either of their faces clearly portrayed how madly in love they were, and Lee wished she could take a picture.

  The song lingered on, and once again Lee found herself staring into the sea of faces. Most of them were glued to the married pair, admiration painted across their visages. Others were downing alcohol and waiting for the party music to come on. But as her eyes skimmed, she came across a familiar looking face. He was a tall kid, roughly her age, with dark hair. At first Lee thought he just had one if those recognizable faces, but the odd part was that he was looking right at her too.

  The moment their eyes met, the boy turned away and leaned in to whisper something to the girl beside him with sky colored hair. She looked familiar too, along with the short red haired boy and the brown haired girl beside them. Baseball. She remembered it in a flash of lightning. The day she was set free was the day she met those kids. Jared, the tall one. Zoey was the blue haired girl, then Ian, and Kari. She was surprised she even remembered their names.

  Lee was about to nudge Ace when the music stopped and was replaced by the loud bass of some Chad13 song.

  "I hate clubs." Ace grumbled as he watched the floor flood with grinders and hip-shakers.

  "Hey, I'm going to be right back." Lee said climbing to her feet.

  "Where are you going?"

  "I just want to talk to someone real quick." then she was hurrying across the dance floor. When she looked up, the whole table had vanished. Quickly, her eyes scanned the crowd for a flash of sky blue hair or a tall burnet, but the flashing lights were making her sick. Lee stood there for a moment wondering if she should look some more, or if it was wisest to return to Ace. Just as she concluded that leaving was the best option, a finger tapped her shoulder. When Lee spun around, she wasn't surprised to see porcupine-boy.

  "Well hello," she smiled brightly. "Would you like to dance?"

  The boy nodded eagerly and began hopping around with a fist in the air. Lee danced too. She remembered the last time she partied like that, with her hips swaying to the beat if the music. There was a nasty man who had tried to shove his tongue down her throat. At that thought, Lee stopped swaying then began throwing her hands up in the air in a playful way. The boy said nothing at all. In fact, be just stood beside her throwing his limbs around. He was a funny dancer, but he had a lot of style which was commendable in Lee's eyes.

  The music finally ended and morphed into a slow country song. There was a small out roar from the gangsters who wanted to fist pump; so instead, they evacuated the floor until the music changed.

  "It was very nice dancing with you." Lee said holding out her hand to s
hake his. "What's your name?"

  "Curtis," the boy huffed.

  "Well, hi there Curtis, I'm Lee. Thanks for the dance, but I promised my boyfriend I'd save him a slow song."

  Curtis nodded though he only seemed slightly upset. Then he gave a very polite bow, before hurrying away.

  Lee glanced up at the platform and saw that Ace was already moving towards her. With a blissful beam, she hurried in his direction. He was just in her line of sight when the tall burnet stepped into view. Again he was looking right at her.

  "Do you want to dance?" Jared asked. He looked even taller than Lee remembered and his hair appeared as if it hadn’t been cut since that late summer day. At the sight of her startled expression be leaned in and said, "I need to talk to you."

  Lee bit her lip. She had wanted to speak to him also, just to see if he had any news about Larissa and Zach. But the urgency in his voice was almost frightening. She glanced past his shoulder and made eyes with Ace who gave an approving nod. Even from all the way across the dance floor, he could hear his urgent words.

  Sorry, she mouthed as Jared lead her to the center of the dance floor. The boy spun her around; his touch was so unlike Ace's. But he respected the fact that she wasn't his, and held her reverently.

  "So you remember me?" he began. The country song was soft enough for their conversation to be a hushed one.

  "Yes, actually I do." Lee replied, "I saw you at the Gobble Race and you played baseball with me at Garden Park."

  Jared nodded, "Yeah, well I go there often." he hesitated for a moment, "Listen, when's the last time you saw your friends?"

  "That baseball game." she confessed, "Ace set me free later that day and I've been with him ever since. How are they? Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

  "Yes, it was." he replied sharply. They weren't even dancing now, just shuffling their feet to the slow twang music. "Like I said, I go to Garden Park a lot. I think it was almost a week or two after you left, but- Delilah? Is that her name?"

  Lee nodded. Yes, that was the name of the headmistress.

  "Well she brought the kids out to play. Larissa was there but she didn't look too well."

  At first, Lee was excited at the sound of Larissa's name. But the words that followed sent her in a worried plummet. "What's wrong?" she asked.

  "She seemed tired and... I don’t know, but we were playing baseball again, and all she kept on talking about was how she needed to go to a bench somewhere."

  "What?"

  "Yeah, weird huh? We all thought it was." Jared licked his lips, "Zach said she was having... nightmares. They started shortly after you left. They were so bad; she didn't even want to go to sleep."

  Lee frowned. She couldn't believe she was hearing all this now. It was upsetting to her to know that all this had happened months ago, and there was nothing she could do to help Larissa feel better. "Is she alright?"

  Jared shrugged. "We haven't seen her. Last I saw she had met this guy." Jared shut his eyes as he tried to recall the past. "Brown hair, tall... That's about all I can remember. His name was Amm... Something. Anyway, he promised her freedom, then a couple weeks later, we went back to the park and it was just Zach."

  Lee gasped, "No way. Larissa is free? What? How? Where is she?"

  "Zach said the mayor took her. That kid, that Amm kid- his way of getting Larissa freed was by getting the mayor involved. I don't know why, Zach didn't even know why."

  "When did this happen?" Lee pressed.

  "Before Halloween of last year." answered Jared, "But there's more."

  Lee didn’t know how she could bear it if there was more.

  "Zach," Jared began, "He ran away too."

  Lee literally stopped shuffling her feet and gaped up at him.

  "Before Christmas, that's all I know." Jared continued, "One day we showed up to the park. All the orphans here there, but there was no Zach. I have no idea what happened. He never even said he was planning on running away. But we asked an orphan and they told us that one day he was there, the next he wasn't."

  Lee's arms dropped from his grasp and sank to her side. She didn't know what to make of it at all. What had happened? She had always thought they were still living their mundane lives at the orphanage, but they were both gone now? Where? Who was this Amm kid? How did Zach do it? Why would the mayor want Larissa?

  "I didn't mean to damper your day." Jared concluded, just as the last strum of guitar flooded over the speakers. "Just thought you should know." he gave her a slight awkward pat on the back before disappearing back into the crowd.

  Lee stood there for a moment hardly acknowledging anything in front of her. What could have happened to her best friends? How could they be gone already and where were they?

  "Are you alright?" Ace asked and Lee finally looked up. Another slow song had begun, but this time Ace didn't look like he wanted to dance.

  "Were you listening?" she asked.

  Ace shook his head. "Eavesdropping isn't exactly my thing. I found that Curtis kid and we ended up having a conversation about belts and legos." he frowned when Lee only gave a faint smile. "What did that guy say?"

  "My friends... They're gone." she briefly described what Jared just told her and Ace listened intently. She was halfway done telling when a dancing couple nearly ran into them. After that, Ace decided that their conversation would be best on the windy rooftop. He found a bench underneath some paper lanterns and he sat there listening to her tale.

  "So you're worried?" Ace concluded.

  Lee shrugged, "I don't know what to think. I guess I’m actually kind of happy for them. Except I have no idea where they are."

  "But they don't know where you've been either.” he stated.

  Lee nodded, "What would the mayor want with Larissa? Wasn’t the mayor the one who wanted you dead? What if Larissa was involved in that too? And- ughh, there's just so many questions! Did Mirage mention me finding anything out in Heleow?"

  Ace considered, and then answered, "She just said I'd find a lot of answers in Heleow. But by a lot of answers she could mean there are some for you too."

  Lee sucked in a big chilled breath. “I sure hope so.” Her voice was drowned out by the breeze and the faint hammering of another upbeat song from the pavilion. “There’s something else I haven’t told you.”

  Ace eyed her skeptically, “What is it?” he asked in surprise.

  “That morning when the guy tried to kill me,” began Lee. She was gazing up at him now and adoring how the rocking of the paper lanterns sent warm glows sliding across his face. “He told me why he wanted to kill me.”

  There had been no time between Lee’s recovery and the planning of a wedding for Lee to relive that day. All she knew was that his blood had healed her to the point that nothing but a faint pink scar decorated her thigh. What Ace didn’t know was why he had to heal her in the first place.

  “He said the King wanted to kill me.” Lee finally exhaled.

  Ace’s brows folded. For a moment all he could do was stare back at her. “How? He…?” Ace sputtered then ruffled the back of his dark hair in frustration. “How does he even know who you are?” he finally exclaimed. “You’re not even a super- and why would he want to kill you?”

  Lee massaged her temples and took a deep breath. “I was wondering that myself.” She hadn’t realized how numb her fingers had grown until she pressed them to her neck for warmth. "Is this how you feel all the time?" she asked. “Frustrated and confused?”

  Ace chuckled and shook his head, "Not all the time. I try to forget about the headach that comes with these questions. We are at a wedding after all, and who knows? This might be our last carefree moment together before Heleow."

  Lee nodded. He was right; everything would change tomorrow when they boarded that plane. Questions would be answered, bonds would be formed and broken... Lee just didn't know it at the time. With an even wider smile, Lee took his hand and he lifted her into his arms. After all, she had promised him a dance.


  Chapter 4 One Step Closer

  ~Flash. “One step closer to Hawaii!” sang Cassie then giggled obnoxiously as her camera screen revealed the newest picture of Ammon and Larissa.

  Ammon sat up and blinked the stars out of his eyes. It was roughly four o’clock in the morning. Through the enormous wall of glass along the waiting area of the airport, he could only see the distant lights of Tarrillian City glittering through the muggy blackness. That and the blinking tail lights of airplanes arriving and departing. “Warn me next time you take a picture, Cassandra.” He grumbled then nestled once more beside Larissa, who hadn’t stirred since they had decided to make their hard plastic seats their napping zones.

  Cassie ignored him then turned her new DiAchi-Stelter camera around. She made a silly duck face and again the camera flashed. “One step closer!” she sang.

  “You sing like a pig.” Josh grumbled throwing the hood of his jacket over his eyes.

  “You are a pig!” she spat then snapped a picture of him just as he cranked up the volume in his headphones. When Josh’s picture appeared on the screen, Cassie clicked on the search setting and looked up pig stickers. After finding the sticker of a pig nose, Cassie dragged the image over Josh’s nose.

  “Ta-da!” Cassie sang flipping the screen around for him to see, but every single one of her comrades was fast asleep. Sometimes being a morning person sucked. “Fine.” She spat standing up and tucking the camera into her shoulder bag. “Guess I’ll just go on a coffee run.” She huffed before evacuating the drab but spacious waiting room.

  A couple steps down the mostly vacant hall and she had found herself in an overwhelming dome space, right at the heart of the airport. Shops ranged from book stores to rent-a-car dealerships to souvenir shops, but each of them lined the walls and laired several floors up. To Cassie it looked like the inside of a beehive but in ways it was similar to Millennium Mall. Except, there were only handfuls of people scurrying from store to store and Millennium was multiple times bigger and never empty.