The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural

by Stefany Valentine Ramirez

  Larissa knew she could have sprinted for miles and never get far enough away from that situation, but halfway up the mountain, her bare foot slammed down on a rock. Physical pain shot up her leg as if her foot had just been skewered by a flaming arrow. In the blur of the moment, Larissa wasn’t sure what happened next. The whole side of her face collided with something hard and splintery; she heard the crashing of leaves and the heavy knock of impact before reflexively holding out her arms to keep from sliding across the damp mountain dirt.

  Both wrists snap back as she slammed into the ground and the excruciating pain surged up her arms. But almost immediately, she knew her bones were mending themselves back together. Fire seemed to be spreading up to her knee, and as she laid there in the dirt, her tongue recognized the different flavors of salt from blood to tears. Though her body ached beyond anything she had ever felt, Ammon’s raged face stung the back of her closed eyes most.

  Her sobbing echoed around the unfamiliar place as she tried to hide her face from the world. Her wails gagged on her own blood and spit and when she tried to breath, moist mountain dirt clogged her lungs. She didn’t want to be alive anymore; she didn’t know how much more she could take. Of all the people in the world, why did she have to be the one thing Ammon hated most? And how could she have lied to herself and made her think that he wouldn’t mind?

  And what had happened at the beach anyway? Larissa knew she had the ability to stop time, but to levitate as well? In all her knowledge of the Legend, not once had she heard anything about a supernatural with multiple abilities. But for some reason, that just made sense. As if in the back of her mind she knew it all along. She wasn’t just invincible with her ability to stop time; she was unstoppable and there was no telling when another outburst like that one was going to occur.

  Her tears hadn’t receded at all though the taste of blood no longer painted her tongue and she had completely forgotten about the pain within her body. Larissa’s sobs continued to mask the tropical air until her exquisite hearing picked up on something moving her way. Leaves rustled, and Larissa could distinctly hear a set of footsteps marching purposefully toward her.

  With one last cough and sniffle, Larissa sat up and cast her eyes about her surroundings. Nothing but palm trees, bushes and moonlight decorated the mountainous scene and as she listened to the approach, she couldn’t help but hope that it was Ammon.

  But she couldn’t have been more wrong. Directly in front of her, a bush began to shake before the figure of a lady continued toward her. Even with her super sight, Larissa strained to see who it was until the moonlight fell on the face of someone she hadn’t thought about for years.

  She had chosen to forget about her family the moment she was locked up in an orphanage. But the sight of her long forgotten cousin standing in the moonlight reminded her that she was possibly the only family she had left.

  “Que onda prima,” Ithaca smiled, “Remember me?”

  ~It was two in the morning when Ammon finally climbed up from the moist sandy beach. Even as he dragged his bare feet back up to the empty Honolulu street, he couldn’t get his mind off Larissa. He wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep or from the fact that he realized that the only two women he had ever been in love with happen to be supernatural, but somehow, Ammon managed to carry two pairs of shoes and a cellphone with 5 percent battery as he trudged back up to the street.

  It had been four hours since Larissa had vanished on him. At first, seeing her vanish sent him into a rage that took nearly an hour to cool off from. After he finally came to his senses, he had been grateful that the ocean line had been vacant that evening because during that hour, cruel names were shouted into the air as he paced back and forth along the sand. Ammon was pretty sure he blacked out from time to time as his anger directed toward Larissa swelled like waves inside him. How could he have been so stupid to let her into his heart? And yet Larissa was the spineless coward for not facing him.

  Finally after an hour of anger and ugly thoughts did he remember what she said before she vanished. She loved him too. And there was no doubt that seeing him so furious would hurt her. Around that time Ammon finally sank to his knees and whipped out his phone. It took nearly forty calls straight to her voicemail for him to come to the conclusion that she didn’t want to talk to him. As time ticked on and Larissa continued to ignore his calls, his anger had simmered into nonexistence and there was nothing more that he wanted from her but her safety. As the unanswered calls continued to count up, he realized that the comfort her voice would bring made him regret screaming at her from the top of his lungs. Even though he was fairly confident Larissa wouldn’t pick up, he still called her up until his phone threatened to die.

  Honolulu was so unlike Tarrillian in the fact that not even a car was in view as Ammon crossed the street. There was no way he was going to find a taxi to take him back to the Stelter Hotel. He wasn’t even sure if he could walk the distance without getting lost. But the hotel was right along the shoreline. If he stayed along the beach, maybe there was a chance he could find it before sunrise. Then, if by some crazy chance, Cassie and Josh were awake, he would have to explain to them why he showed up alone.

  It hadn’t even dawned on him that a lie was needed to keep Cassie and Josh unaware of Larissa’s identity. If he had reacted in such fury when Larissa finally showed her true colors, there was no telling how Cassie and Josh would react. Even if Josh had noticed that there was something fishy about Larissa’s behavior, Ammon was pretty sure he didn’t see this.

  The humid see breeze tossed Ammon’s wild brown hair around as he trudged toward the heart of Honolulu. Through the rustling leaves of a palm tree, the familiar Stelter Crest illuminated at the top of a tall tower. Relief spread over him as he realized he wasn’t as far from the hotel as he had imagined. In less than ten minutes, he would be stepping into the hotel’s elevator and ascending up to his suite. In less than ten minutes, Larissa’s cover-up story would have to be made due to the fare probability that Josh and Cassie were still wide awake.

  By the time Ammon entered the lobby of the Stelter Hotel, he was far to sleepy to notice the startled glances of the hotel clerks or observe the grand lay out of the premises. Instead, Ammon slumped over to the elevator and began his assent with a brilliant lie in mind.

  “Stop knocking me off Cassie!” Josh’s voice raged over the ambiance of video game jingles when Ammon stepped in.

  “How else am I supposed to win?” Came Cassie’s retort.

  Ammon let the door swing shut behind him and in two strides, he was face down on his undisturbed bed top.

  “Sooooooo,” Cassie sang as she sat atop Josh’s bed and hammered down on the A button. “How was your daaaaaate?”

  “…mhh..mmm..nnn… shum..mnn…” Ammon replied with a face full of soft sheets. He had hoped that his friends would be too interested in the game to really care about his evening. But Cassie’s response was the complete opposite.

  “Hey, why did you pause the game!” Josh exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air. “I was about to get a box!”

  But Cassie ignored him and swung around on the sheets to face Ammon. “Where’s Larissa?”

  Oh, here we go, thought Ammon as he sat up in his bed. “Larissa’s gone.” He answered sharply.

  Even those two words were enough to get Josh to drop his controller and swing around. “What did you do, sell her?”

  “Yes, Josh.” Cassie snapped. “Because here in Hawaii, a favorite-pass time is selling people. Did your mother drop you as a baby? Jeez…”

  Just before Josh could spew out a yo-mama joke, Ammon intersected and said quickly, “Come on guys. Just look at me. I’m not in a good mood… Larissa and I broke up.”

  Cassie frowned, “Aaaww, and it was a bad break up too?”

  Ammon glanced up at the worried expression over Cassie’s face and nodded. “Yeah, it was pretty bad.”

  “So, what happened?” Josh asked.

  Ammon’s eyes shifted
over to Josh before saying the one word no one wanted to hear while they were on vacation. “College.”

  Before taking on their undercover assignment in Tarrillian City, each one of them had been promised a full ride to any college in America. Even though he knew none of them had even filled out an application for the fall semester, Ammon figured that this would be the best cover-up story to protect Larissa’s real secret.

  “I don’t think any of you knew this but Larissa’s pretty smart. She made me promise I wouldn’t say how high her IQ is but it’s over 100.” Ammon lied. “Didn’t you notice she always seemed like she was one step ahead?”

  “Like when she was the only one who brought a gun to the Gobble Race!” Cassie exclaimed.

  “And she’s quick to notice things.” Ammon added knowing that Cassie would be easy to lie to but Josh had already seen some of what Larissa really was. Now was the time for Ammon to convince him of something else. “Have you noticed?”

  Josh nodded as Cassie looked thoughtfully up in the air.

  “She’s a genius guys. She’s had her name down at Yale for years.” Ammon continued to lie, “That was her big secret. Remember when she started getting all moody after that chase?”

  This time, both Josh and Cassie nodded.

  “She stayed locked up in her room because she didn’t want to go to Yale as a celebrity. That was just one of the reasons why the TCPD stopped all media about the chase after a while.” Lie after ugly lie. But with every nod his friends were giving him, they sure seemed to believe it. “She’s… amazing guys.” Ammon continued. Even though he was fibbing through his teeth, he never imagined he would get emotional with his words. “I’m really going to miss her.”

  “So then why did you break up?” Cassie asked. “What about long distance? You’re good at baseball. What if you went to Yale for that?”

  “Yale is a school for smart people.” Ammon snapped, “I can’t even figure out how to use the Pythagorean theorem.”

  “But-”

  “Can we stop talking about this?” asked Ammon whipping out his cell phone because it just gave him a dying buzz. “I need to sleep.”

  Josh and Cassie shared a look. Without another word, the TV screen went blank and Cassie slipped back into her room through a door in the wall. Josh turned off the light and fumbled around in the dark before he found his bed. All was still. Even though Ammon’s body was begging him to sleep, he couldn’t stop hoping for Larissa to call back. An hour later, sleep finally consumed him with his hand still clutched onto his cell phone.

  Chapter 10 The Ultranatural

  ~They were alone in their home in the mountains. A sheet of moonlight bled through the sliding glass doors casting a shadow on the ground where August sat cross-legged. Out the glass doors and over the railing of the patio, the Honolulu skyline laid out below them like the shoreline of the ocean but Ithaca wasn’t glancing out the window. She was standing by the glass doors with her shoulders leaning into the wall and her piercing gaze locked onto August. She could have taken a seat on the sofa since it was the only thing decorating the living room space, but the anticipation was too great for her to sit down for.

  August’s mint colored eyes glowed like distant headlights when he finally slid them open. His eyes didn’t have to adjust to see Ithaca leaning against the wall before him with her arms folded firmly across her chest. Slowly a wicked smile spread across his lips before he said, “Well, congratulations. You did it.”

  Ithaca’s smug grin turned into a faint laugh before she exclaimed, “Excellent! Here I was thinking their love was inseparable. I mean even when we were kids Mason always fancied her.” She sighed as she strutted her way into the moonbeam lining the floor. “Why do I doubt myself? I always knew these looks would make him rethink me.” From out the window, a small stretch of sand separated their shabby little abode from the waves heaving in high tide. “Tell me darling August, every detail. I simply must know.”

  The bass player rolled up from the ground and glanced at the pearly moon as Ithaca waited. “Well, if you must know every detail, I suppose I should mention that your plan almost didn’t work. Haileigh isn’t much of a fighter is she? If it weren’t for the fact that she hadn’t slept a wink the night before, I think she would have been able to control her emotions a bit more and they never would have argued.” He said as he began to recall what thoughts had been on Ace’s mind shortly before he fell asleep.

  August had been invading Ace’s sleeping mind as he sat on the floor. It was the same talent Mirage had stolen to implant nightmares and secrets into the minds of others. August had the ability to conquer any mind as long as the person was asleep and Ace’s had been the one Ithaca requested.

  Ithaca scoffed but didn’t tear her eyes her friend. “You’re killing me August just tell me what you saw.”

  “Well, they fought, just like you wanted.” continued August, “After you and Michael left. Lotus went to her room to catch some sleep, and then they started having it out.”

  Ithaca giggled excitedly, “Who started?”

  “Who else? Lee of course. She didn’t like the way Ace looked at you.”

  “Then what?” she continued excitedly.

  “Mason started to explain that you were a stranger.” continued August. “Then gave some long explanation about how you are undeniably pretty, but how he’s already in love with Lee and how he loves who she is and not just what she looks like.”

  “Typical Mason.” Grumbled Ithaca folding her arms once more. “This hardly sounds like a fight.”

  “I haven’t finished.” August added, “They were about to stop arguing when Ace told her what you said to him on the rooftop.”

  For once a frown slid across Ithaca’s plump lips as she tilted her head to the side. “I don’t understand.”

  “You told Mason you would see him again. That’s the last thing Lee wants. She’s afraid he’ll start falling for your pretty face and forget about her. That’s what made him mad. He couldn’t understand how she could be so insensitive. From Mason’s point of view, he saw you as someone with answers he had been waiting forever to meet. Haileigh sees you as a threat and she doesn’t want Mason to be affiliated with you. Bottom line is; they went to sleep angry at each other and you have just created the first wedge in their relationship.”

  A bewildered grin plastered over Ithaca’s face as she let his words hang in the air. “Well,” she finally started after collecting herself together. “I had no clue it could be so easy being me. Pele is on our side, Gadianton is our leader, and pretty soon the key to our success will join us as well. How I love to be alive tonight August.” She finished with a smile.

  The Australian superstar gazed at her through the moonbeam. “There’s one more thing I should tell you. He plans on apologizing- Mason does. First thing in the morning. If you want to keep this up you’ll have to-”

  “I know what I’ll have to do.” Growled Ithaca as all cheeriness drained from her voice. Quickly she turned around and walked her way to the glass door and glanced out at the black ocean churning far beneath them. Somewhere out there was an island housing her secret weapon. “Looks like the truths are coming out a little sooner than expected.”

  ~Before the first ray of sunlight could touch his room, Ace was up and pacing. He had woken up at five in the morning and after failing to find sleep again, pacing seemed to be a good option. Had he really argued with Lee the night before or was that just a horrible dream? And if it were a dream then why were his fingers trembling as he continued to pace? In the dark of early morning, Ace could still make out the time plastered to the far end of the yoga studio. It was still far too early to go bursting into the Stelter penthouse. Even if Lee didn’t mind, Lotus was sure to throw a fit.

  He had been up for over an hour now. For him it was impossible to go back to sleep. What was even more impossible was sitting there and willing the clock to tick a little faster. It only took him two more paces to realize the fretfulness had reached
a climax. The mix of emotions, from guilt to anxiety to regret, were eating him like a poison flowering from his stomach to the surface. He whipped around in mid-step and was out the gym door in no time.

  Golden sun greeted him over the horizon as he shielded his eyes and he hadn’t noticed how much he had sweat due to nerves until the crisp ocean air blew back his oversized t-shirt. With the cold pavement on his bare toes, Ace began marching swiftly to the large glass doors. With each stride, apologetic words whirled around in his mind. He wasn’t even sure where to begin, or even why he wanted to apologize. In the back of his mind it was Lee that had done wrong, but that wasn’t his main concern. What was really important was that they had a disagreement and one of them had to change to make the other happy.

  With his mind clouded in thoughts, Ace hardly heard someone clear their throat as he marched past a pool chair. When he whirled around Ithaca smiled at him from under her big woven hat and sunglasses. Her arms exposed under the black tankini top and for the first time, Ace noticed how toned they were. Ithaca’s arms would have been as pixie thin as Lee’s if it weren’t for the curve of her biceps and shoulders.

  “Ithaca!” he gasped noting that she was clearly dressed for a day at the beach. “Wh- what are you doing here?”

  With her arms and legs folded, Ithaca sat up and replied, “Waiting for you of course. Now get dressed Mason. We’re going to the beach.”

  Ace stood there dumbstruck and tried not to look at the way her shorts flaunted her long athletic legs. “I can’t right now.” He replied, “I have to-”

  “Look Mason,” began Ithaca, her tone slicing his next words. “It’s now or never, you can decide. I have the answers you are looking for and I am a very busy woman. This opportunity won’t be coming around anytime soon. Now get dressed.”