Frantically he reached for his phone tucked away in his pocked. But even before he dialed 911, the sound of sirens was echoing down the mountains.
~“Lee,” Ace whispered softly as her limp unconscious body rested against his chest. A deep gash ran along the palm of his hand and the blood flowed like rivers over his fingertips until they dripped onto Lee’s exposed shoulder.
The bullet wound beside her neck wasn’t nearly as gruesome as her leg had been after a metal horn had been lodged down to the bone. As Ace sat on a bench sheltered by a cluster of palm trees, he could see that the wound was beginning to close and a faint blush was beginning to return to her cheeks. By the time the gash in his hand had faded into a pink line, Lee’s shoulder had closed up entirely and there wasn’t much more he could do but wait.
Ace leaned back on the bench and rested his cheek on Lee’s messy hair. Just before him, the ocean had darkened from its clear liquid topaz to a stormy grey. The downpour had just set in over Waikiki Beach and the last of the tourists had already vanished from the sticky sand with towels over their heads. The island of Heleow seemed to be eaten every time a white foamy wave was tossed by the wind. With each passing moment, the downpour grew heavier until even the cars driving on the street behind him decided it was better to be indoors. The shoreline was practically empty in every direction. Now would have been a perfect time to evaporate from the scene and reappear in Lee’s bedroom or at least somewhere in the Stelter penthouse. But Ace didn’t want to go back. Not with bullets on the floor and blood on the wall.
The rain wasn’t slowing. In only a matter of moments, the distant city of Heleow had vanished behind a grey curtain of rain. Ace wished he knew some other location for Lee. Somewhere where she could be dry and safe and they could talk privately for what could possibly be the last time. But there was no where he was willing to take her. The rain continued to pour and eventually grew so heavy that it was making its way through the shelter of palm leaves above. Droplets of water sprinkled over his dark untrimmed hair as a fat tear of rain landed on Lee’s nose. With a start she sat up quickly and blinked multiple times to make sure what she was seeing was real.
“Ace?” she muttered gazing up at him with glazed eyes. Her voice was hoarse from dehydration and Ace wished he had a bottle of water to give her.
He smiled weakly down at her and wiped the remints of water from her nose with his thumb. “Hey, angel. How are you feeling?” he asked.
Lee shut her eyes once more and inhaled deeply. “Where are we?” she croaked, “What… happened?” She glanced around at the scene still unsure if it was reality or is she was still dreaming. Everything seemed real, right down to the scent of rain surrounding her. She took in one last breath of air before turning her focus to Ace.
The humidity had sent his dark hair behind his ears curling in perfect spirals. The droplets of rain rolling down his forehead turned his hair jet back and glued it to his golden skin. She had expected him to smile down at her with the familiar grin she had fallen in love with over and over again, but his expression was as blank as the grey scene around her. It was an expression she had seen so many times; more so before they started dating. It was the look of a lost and confused soul. He gazed at her expressionlessly and watched as the oncoming rain wet her hair.
“I love you.” Lee said quietly. She wanted to say more. She wanted to tell him about how she was kidnaped and ask him how he managed to save her once again. She wanted him back, she had nearly forgotten they had broken up only earlier that morning, but it seemed so long ago given the circumstances.
Ace shook his head and Lee felt her heart break just a sliver when he turned his gaze from her to the swelling ocean. “We need to talk, Lee.” He had spoken so quietly that the pattering of rain around them nearly ate up all his words.
“Yes, we do.” Lee agreed taking both of his firm hands in hers and wishing that he would look her in the eyes. “About earlier today…” she started, “I love you, Ace. I love you so much and… I need to trust that you love me too. I don’t know what you were doing with Ithaca-”
“Lee,” was all he said and Lee silenced immediately. She stared up at him not knowing what he was going to say or do. His expression was entirely unreadable.
Nearly a minute of silence ticked by and Ace hadn’t said anything. His blank eyes just gazed out at the rocking waves and Lee’s mind spun in all different directions. “Can you please…” she began slowly before her brain could overload on all the different things that Ace could be thinking. “I need to hear you say that you love me too.”
At first Ace continued to sit still and Lee felt the sliver in her heart break just a bit wider. Then finally he turned and muttered softly. “I will never stop loving you, Lee.”
A wave of relief spread down to her toes and mended the ache in her heart. The yearning sensation to kiss him rolled up from her stomach to her arms until she was reaching for him with her eyes half shut.
“That’s why we can’t be together.” His words stopped her when she was only inches from his face.
Her eyes fluttered open just as her brows folded in utter confusion. “What?” she asked thinking she had heard wrong.
Ace inhaled deeply as if he were getting ready to give Lee a lengthy speech. “I made a deal with Ithaca.”
“What?” Lee asked again. She sank back in her seat and leaned away from him. Her heart throbbed, but she wasn’t sure if it was because of pain or nerves. “What about Ithaca?”
“Lee, she’s evil.” Ace finally said, looking at her in the eyes. “She wanted to kill you. She had someone kidnap you and she was planning on letting you burn alive in a filming studio. Even if I had managed to rescue you in time, she would have never stopped hunting you and your family down. Ithaca wants you dead, Lee.” Ace shook his head as he spoke. He felt his face hang with grief as he listened to his own words. “That’s why I made a deal with her. She needs me for something and I haven’t figured it out yet. I guess I’m more than a pawn to her because she was willing to leave your family alone if I… if I…”
Lee set a hand over his damp arm. She knew what he was going to say, and she knew what that meant about their relationship. Tears swelled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheek just in time for Ace to catch them and wipe them away. “Don’t go.” She whimpered.
The sight of her tears sent Ace’s heart sinking like a stone in his chest. He pulled her body into his and felt her warm tears stain his rainy shirt. It wasn’t until she started trembling that he realized how much the idea of not being with her would hurt him. He knew she was a gem and leaving her was like finding a precious pearl then throwing it back into the sea. He would never find another woman more special to him than she was. There was no one he would rather spend his dyeing day with than her. Ace wanted her now, and he knew that he would want her forever.
“Ace, stay with me.” She begged.
“I can’t.” he replied into her hair. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to ignore the burning sensation building in the back of his eyes.
“Please,” she muttered again.
“Lee,” Ace said this time more firmly. When he pulled away, Lee gazed up at his deep blue eyes glistening with tears. She had never seen him cry but seeing his tears mix in with the rain on his face only confirmed to her that his feelings were genuine. He really loved her.
“I can’t keep saving you!” he confessed wiping his slightly pink eyes with the back of his hand. “Do you know how terrified I was when I got back to the penthouse and all I saw was blood on the wall? I didn’t know where you were! Lee, I have almost lost you so many times and I can’t keep rescuing you!”
“But,” Lee spat nearly choking on her words, “I have powers, Ace. I can use them to protect myself. I used them on August when he was trying to kidnap me-”
“And he still managed to take you!” Ace finished. He held her sticky wet cheeks in both of his hands and pulled her face close to his. His eyes danced back and forth as he glance
d from one teary green eye to the other. “Do you know hurt I would be…” Ace’s voice cracked as he thought about the words he planned to say next. A hot ball seemed to slide up the back of his throat and press against the back of his eyes until tears ran down his cheek once more. “Do you know how hurt I would be if I lost you, Lee? I don’t… I wouldn’t even know how to live without you.”
Lee closed her eyes and let Ace wipe away the tears that rolled down her face in such abundance that she didn’t know if they would ever stop. She imagined herself in his situation. What if somehow, Ace was taken from her? She had learned to love him so much; she had put so much effort into this one man and for all of that to suddenly be stripped away? She imagined losing such a wonderful, compatible friend. She imagined living, but knowing that the love of her life could not breathe the same air as she did… Lee would have cried harder if she hadn’t already felt in her heart what she imagined Ace was feeling.
“Promise me you’ll come back.” She sobbed, “Pease Ace I need to hear it.”
Ace stared down at the top of her shivering head. That wasn’t a promise he knew he could keep. He didn’t know what Ithaca had in store for him. He didn’t know how long he would be her puppet. It could be only months, or it could be decades. But one thing he knew was that no matter the length of time, his hear would always belong to Lee.
“Angel,” he muttered gently lifting her chin up so that their lips were only inches apart. “When I come back,” he began confidently. He knew what he was about to say. It was something that he had thought about only once or twice, but as the words cumulated in his mind, he knew he would never regret speaking them. “If you’re still in love with me, Lee, I promise you’ll be my wife.”
For a brief moment Lee’s tears managed to stop flowing. She gazed wide eyed at the most stunning man she had ever known and realize that his love for her ran far deeper than anything she had ever known. The tips of her fingers went numb and even as he leaned in to press his lips to hers, she nearly forgot how to kiss back.
“I love you.” he said between kisses. “I will never stop loving you.”
Lee sat there feeling his lips press against hers, then over her cheek, then down her neck, and back up to her lips. Each time Ace’ lips came off her skin; he was muttering those three words. I love you. As if he knew she could never get enough of hearing it. I love you. And she knew he did. The tears stopped rolling down her cheeks because she had forgotten why she had been so sad. What was there to cry over? Ace was madly in love with her and she with him. And when he came back, she knew without a doubt that she would still be in love. In other words, she knew that one day he would be her husband. After that, nothing could pull them apart. Not even Ithaca.
“I’ll always be in love with you Ace.” She smiled before clutching him around the neck and forcing his lips open with hers. With the hope of seeing him again fresh in her heart, suddenly the thought of letting him go didn’t seem so hard.
~Larissa kept her eyes glued out the window of the jet. The plane hadn’t taken off yet so the view out the window remained the same. Men scurried in bright colored jackets over the asphalt runways as trains of luggage snaked their way out of the terminals. The rain clouds had begun to fade from the scene sending gaps of light shining onto the ground brilliant rays. She had thought that the rain storm would prevent the plane from taking off, but she hadn’t heard anything else from Ithaca. As she sat alone in the jet, the phone on her lap remained motionless.
Larissa peeled her eyes away from the window and glanced down at her phone to check the time. The plane was scheduled to depart in nearly five minutes and still no one else was on the plane. A pang of impatience shot through her, but she immediately forced herself to relax. She knew what happened the last time she lost her patience and she wasn’t willing to rip apart another person’s skeleton. Even if that other person happened to be Ithaca.
At the moment, Larissa needed Ithaca the most. She was the only one that could explain why all these sudden transformations were happening to her. Especially since the latest change had left her with no phenomenal ability, but instead a ghostly grey ring in each eye.
Just when Larissa had decided to give Ithaca a call, the door to the jet was thrown open and August stepped inside with Ithaca directly behind.
“Ithaca,” Larissa called climbing to her feet.
Instead of snapping at Larissa, Ithaca looked up with an expression that clearly meant she didn’t want to talk. Her eyes hung with exhaustion as if she had just finished a lengthy argument and her lips were as tight as a line. “What?” she finally asked. Her voice almost seemed dazed like her mind was off pondering about something that had happened not too long ago.
“Um,” Larissa began hesitantly. She glanced over at August to see if he was willing to explain why she seemed so distant but he said nothing. He just crossed over to a couch on the far wall and sat down.
“I changed… again, and I was wondering if you could tell me what it means.” Larissa finally spoke up.
Ithaca fought back the urge to roll her eyes. She didn’t want to babysit her cousin, but helping her out seemed more pleasant than thinking about the fact that she just ran into her first love. “What is it?” she asked.
Larissa pointed to her eyes and Ithaca stepped a little closer to see what she was pointing at. “Eyes, yes Larissa, I know my anatomy.” Ithaca grumbled before pointing to her own nose, “And look, nose… and ears… what’s your point?”
Larissa furled her brows. “You mean you don’t see?”
Before Ithaca could ask what Larissa meant, another body had appeared on the plane like a magic trick.
“Ah, Mason.” Ithaca grinned lightly, “I’m pleased to see that you kept your word.”
“Shut up,” Ace grumbled before walking past her to take a seat in the farthest corner of the plane. His wet shoes left damp footprints with each step.
Larissa watched him take a seat and stare idly out the window with an expression she imagined was over her face not long ago. They had both left someone they loved on the island. Larissa wasn’t sure what was going to happen once they arrived back in Tarrillian City, but she imagined she would be spending most of her time with him. They both wallowed in pain while Ithaca and August sought to evoke it.
“Sit with me,” Ithaca said, pulling Larissa’s attention away from Ace. “The plane should be leaving soon.”
Larissa followed Ithaca toward the front of the jet and sat down beside her on the white leather couch across from August. “Now what about your eyes?” Ithaca asked.
This time Larissa leaned in as close as she dared to her cousin and opened her eyes wide. “The rings.” She said, “The really thin lines around my eye. You don’t see them?”
Ithaca stared long and hard into Larissa’s rust colored eyes before finally shaking her head. “Nope, you’re still just as beautiful as I last remembered.”
“Let me have a look,” August chimed in, leaning forward.
As Larissa turned to face him the engine began to start up leaving the jet full of vibrations. When the plane started forward, Larissa nearly knocked her head against August’s but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Do you see anything?” asked Larissa with a flitter of hope in her chest.
But just like Ithaca, August shook his head and leaned back into his own couch. “I see nothing.”
Perplexed, Larissa pulled out her own phone and used the blank screen as a mirror to gaze at herself. Sure enough, the faint silvery hoops were still in her eyes just like the last time she had seen them. She opened her mouth to call them out for not seeing what she could see, but August beat her to it.
“This change must have made your eyes absolutely magnificent.” He remarked. “I reckon you can see things that we can’t.”
Larissa leaned back in her seat as well and waited for him to explain. By then, the plane had gained enough speed so that it could launch itself up in the air. For a moment they flew in silence and thou
gh the scene beyond the windows was changing, Larissa kept her eyes glued to August.
“What do you mean?” Ithaca inquired, her eyes narrowing.
August shrugged. “She’s the only one who can see the thing in her eye. Guess we’ll just have to wait for her to figure out what’s so special about it.”
Larissa’s perplexed expression hadn’t changed. She eyed August silently as the rumbling around the jet seemed to silence everything else. She let his words sink in and pondered them silently for a moment before Ithaca finally stood up.
“Well it was nice talking to you.” she said, staggering in her stance for a moment because she hadn’t anticipated that the plane was still climbing. “But, August, if I could have a private word with you?”
August rolled his eyes, “What did I do now?”
“No,” Ithaca spat, “No, it’s not that. It’s about that… guy… I was telling you about. That guy and the fire.”
August sighed but climbed to his feet anyway and followed Ithaca into the captain’s cabin. August shut the door behind them and Larissa heard it lock. Their voices were muffled by the sound of the rushing plane, but she figured that if she wanted to hear what they were talking about, she could.
Instead, Larissa decided she would go back to her sat by the window. As she got up, she glanced at Ace’s wet dark mess in the farthest corner of the plane. She didn’t know him well, but a piece of her wanted to sit beside him. But as she approached, Ace didn’t bother to pull his eyes from the window and just before Larissa walked past her seat, she decided talking to him wasn’t a good idea.
Instead, Larissa plopped down beside the window just in time to see the last of the Hawaiian mountains disappear behind grey rain clouds. As she stared out the window at the grey wall of clouds, her thoughts rolled back to her eyes. Perhaps it was the color of the clouds that looked so similar to the new rings around her eyes, but she thought about what August had said. She needed to figure out what she could see now.
The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural Page 42
