The blonde girl in front of Lila turns around and I recognize her as Lila’s fairy friend Aimee, whom I met at Lila’s birthday party last year. Aimee’s eyes go wide in recognition of me.
“Please don’t tell my mom.” Aimee pleads.
“How did you two even get in here? Alright, I’m taking you guys home.” I tell them.
“Aw, come on! Loosen up Cole! Have a drink with us!” Megan, the brunette fairy friend that I also met at Lila’s party, says after coming over with a drink in each hand.
“Fine…” I reply as I take the brightly colored drink that Megan is offering.
“But only one drink and then I’m taking all of you home.” I tell them.
“Yay!” Lila exclaims as she clings onto me.
In retrospect, I really should have seen that something was going to go horribly wrong; after all, when in the history of the world has ‘only one drink’ ever been only one drink?
…
Chapter 26: Waking Up with Disgust
[September 21st]
I awaken in an unfamiliar bed, wearing only my boxers, with a pounding headache, and a small bushy tail in my face that belongs to a familiar looking chinchilla.
“Hello Colton.” I grumble and push him away as I notice a magnificent ass next to my right hand… a tan ass, next to my feathered-wing covered right hand… Oh you have got to be shitting me!
(Dat jailbait ass! i.e. the last ass you will see other than Ramrod Randy’s in block 2)
“Airi, please tell me what happened last night.”
(Oh, I think you know what happened. You’d think that your first experience with fairy alcohol would have been enough to warn you that you shouldn’t drink it)
“Oh, that little bitch! Wait, so did Lila and I… did we…”
(I recall you telling Lila, ‘you’re like my little toe; you’re short, cute, and I’m probably going to bang you on my couch tonight.’ Lila came back by telling you that her place was closer)
“Augh… I’m so disgusted with myself…”
Lila’s bedroom door opens and a boyish-looking man that is about 5’6” with long blonde hair looks at the situation. His eyes narrow when they get to me. He charges into the room with a six inch knife, jumps over Lila, and flies toward me as my vision kicks in and his aura identifies him as a fairy. I use my left hand to stop the incoming blade as it plunges toward my heart.
“What did you do to the princess?” the guy asks with an uninflected tone and a practically pre-pubescent voice.
(As your attorney, you have two defenses: ‘But your honor, she gave me that come hither look!’ and ‘Those body shots were all her; I was just trying to clean her with my tongue, I swear!’)
“Never mind, don’t bother replying when the answer is obvious.” the guy says and pours his weight onto the knife.
I move my left hand down, grab the blade, and snap it from the handle as I push my right hand against his chest, and thrust my hips upward, rolling him off the left side of the bed and onto the floor.
“Would you just calm down!” I exclaim when I have him pinned.
“So you had your fun with the princess and now it’s my turn, is that it?” the guy expressionlessly accuses.
“What?” I ask confused until I realize that this guy’s chest is kind of squishy.
“HOLY SHIT! YOU’RE A WOMAN!?” I shout as I reel back. My attacker of uncertain gender takes this opportunity to get me on my back.
“Yes, you ass; Now sit still and let me kill you so I can kill myself to atone for my failure.” she says with a monotone.
“Charlotte, stop screaming… I’ve got a massive headache. Cole didn’t do anything; nothing hurts besides my head.” Lila says as she sits up out of bed.
Lila walks over to her dresser, pulls out some clothes, and throws them on. Well I am just super relieved that I didn’t have sex with a fifteen year old!
“Cole, if memory serves from the last morning I woke up with you, you owe me breakfast.” Lila states as I recall the promise I made to her the morning after I wiped out the memories of her rape.
“Alright, just lead me to the kitchen and I’ll make pancakes and bacon.” I tell her as I stand up.
“That sounds good… bacon can help a hangover, right?” Lila asks as she opens her bedroom door.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll fix you something that will. Do you have any orange juice?” I inquire as I follow her down the hall. Lila stops and turns around.
“Charlotte! Do we have any orange juice?” Lila calls out.
“I’d like to say that young girls that ditch their bodyguards to go to a party and get trashed deserve their hangovers… but yes we do.” Charlotte emotionlessly says as she walks out of the bedroom.
I don’t know how I didn’t realize that Charlotte was a woman; it’s obvious to me (despite her nearly non-existent bust) by the rest of her physical features, the way she walks, and the cold glare in her eyes whenever she looks at me.
“Yeah sorry about that… and ease up on your attitude towards Cole; you’re in the presence of a god.” Lila says sincerely, but finishes in an almost teasing fashion.
“Wait, you’re that Cole?” Charlotte asks with her usual lack of emotion, so I nod.
“The one that tortured Aengus Og to death in the middle of a banquet and took his spot as a member of the Tuatha De?” Charlotte clarifies. I nod in response once again.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were dead?” Charlotte asks.
“Yeah, about that… I’ll explain over breakfast.” I reply as we walk into the kitchen of Lila’s rather large penthouse.
Lila pulls out the stuff to start making bacon while Charlotte hands me an apron so I don’t get grease burns on my bare chest. Lila and Charlotte leave the kitchen and I start cooking the bacon while pouring two glasses of orange juice. I gulp down one of the glasses and pour some of my blood into the second glass, which I bring to Lila in the dining room.
“Airi, please take care of Lila’s hangover and reconnect my blood that is already in her. Please take care of my hangover as well.”
(Fine… but don’t make this a regular thing!)
I return to the kitchen, finish the bacon, and start cooking the pancakes. Ten minutes later, I walk into the dining room holding a platter of pancakes, a plate of bacon, and three plates. Charlotte goes into the kitchen and returns with the silverware, butter, and maple syrup.
“Alright so I want some answers, Cole.” Lila demands as she eats her pancakes.
“Chief among them being what happened to your arm? The bandages are really noticeable when you are only wearing that apron and your boxers.” Lila says.
I sigh heavily as I stop eating and unwrap my bandages. Lila gasps and gapes when she sees my arm.
“Cole…” Lila quietly says with her eyes full of concern.
“My left arm was bitten off by a giant snake in the Underworld while I was preventing Cheza from being eaten by said snake. I ended up making a new one out of the same material as my swords.” I explain.
“But doesn’t that mean that you can’t feel your left arm?” Lila asks.
“I have no sense of touch with my left arm, but I still have proprioception or the sense of my arm’s placement relative to my body. The inside of the arm is all muscle tissue and blood so I can feel the nerves in the muscle, but all nerve endings that were in my skin are gone as a trade-off for having an indestructible arm; that’s why I was able to snap the blade of Charlotte’s knife earlier.” I inform her.
“Oh Cole…” Lila says with this pitying look.
“So why are you at Fogquartz?” Charlotte asks somewhat snidely, but that might just be my imagination because neither her tone nor expression has changed.
“I’m working with The Agency on an investigation. I’m posing as a student at the university to get information; that’s why I had to silence you the other day in the café.” I say while turning to Lila.
“*Gasp* Is that guy you were with
a bad guy!?” Lila asks with an excited light in her eyes.
“No, he’s sort of my friend, but my cover might have been blown had I allowed you to finish your question.” I explain.
“So if I see you in town, am I not allowed to say hi…?” Lila pouts. This is totally unfair; it should be illegal for a girl to grow up and become hot yet still retain a cuteness that bends me to her will.
“Of course you can say hi, just don’t explain exactly how you know me; say I’m an old friend or something.” I tell her. We finish breakfast and then I return to Lila’s room to find my clothes and get dressed.
“I need to get going. See you around Lila and feel free to text me anytime you want to talk.” I say with a smile.
“Alright, thanks for breakfast Cole!” Lila says cheerfully.
I walk out of Lila’s penthouse and down the hall to the elevator. I ride the elevator down to the lobby where I pass by a security checkpoint before exiting the building that is in the ritzy part of town. I walk to the subway and take it back to the university. When I reach the forest, I check to make sure no one is around before taking a full sprint towards Graythorn. Instead of walking for thirty minutes, I reach the edge of the forest near Graythorn in under five.
“Looks like someone had a long night.” Nagi says from behind me, causing me to jump.
“Dammit! Would you stop doing that!?” I shout.
“But it’s so much fun!” Nagi exclaims.
“Whatever… I was rushed last night, but I have some questions for you.” I tell her.
“Alright, let’s head up to your room.” Nagi says so we head inside and up the six flights of stairs to my room.
“I suppose the first thing that you want to know is exactly how big my breasts are, right?” Nagi jokes.
“Who is my brother? And my father for that matter?” I ask straight to demonstrate that I’m not in the mood for jokes.
“Sorry… I’m not allowed to answer that… but your tongue should be able to give you a clue.” Nagi hints.
I take out my phone, open up the camera app, and flip it to the front camera view. I stick out my tongue and look at my phone; there’s something silver on my tongue. I zoom in as much as possible before holding the phone steady to take a picture. The picture is a silver yantra, but it isn’t the same yantra as the one on my bracelet, which Sara identified as Kali’s yantra. This yantra has the same square with T’s sticking out of each side, but it has a circle, sun shape, triangle, and then a six-point star at the center. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to assume that this is my brother’s yantra, but only gods have yantras.
“Wait, how can my brother have a yantra? Only gods have yantras and I’m not even a demigod so it doesn’t make sense for my brother to have one!” I say.
Nagi just smiles in response. I don’t think I’ll be getting anymore answers from her. Well, the first thing I need to do is identify this yantra, and then I can go from there; I need to talk to Sara.
“How is this supposed to keep me from killing myself?” I ask.
“It’s supposed to—how did he put it?—calm your mind.” Nagi says rather cryptically. I have a suspicion that she might be getting off on my confusion.
“Hey Cole! Are you there? Rita said she saw you come back!” Travis shouts through my door after knocking. I walk over and answer the door.
“Hey, let’s go for a jog, I have stuff I need to talk to you about.” Travis says while wearing a track suit. I quickly swap my jeans for a pair of basketball shorts before putting on my running shoes.
“Bye Nagi.” I say as I shut the door behind me.
Travis and I jog down the stairs and out the door. We start a circuit around the school and we get more than halfway through before Travis finally speaks.
“Did you have sex with your little sister last night?” Travis asks seriously.
“I saw you leave with her and you were both pretty trashed.” Travis adds.
“Yes, I did leave with her and I did sleep in her bed last night, but we didn’t have sex.” I explain.
“Oh, thank gods. I was thinking that the first friend I’d made here was about to go to jail for pedophilia haha!” Travis chuckles as we pass the three-quarter mark, i.e. the elevator portal bank that I arrived in.
“Okay, here they come. You guys know the drill.” My hearing picks up coming from the forest.
“Hey Travis… wait up…” I say while breathing heavily to feign exhaustion. Travis stops and jogs over to me.
“What’s up?” Travis asks.
“They seem to have stopped.”
“Why did they stop?”
“Should we just rush them now?”
“No, just wait.” the group of voices says. I’d say that there are six in total.
“There’s a group of people up there waiting to jump me. You should probably get out of here.” I tell Travis.
“What!? I’m not just going to bail on you, bro!” Travis says with a determined look.
“Listen carefully: I’m working undercover with The Agency on an investigation. My guess is that my cover was somehow blown and these guys have been sent to kill me. I’m not going to get you mixed up in my problems and let you risk your life.” I explain.
“Well, since I’m planning on joining The Agency anyway, I figure that it’s better for my career to help you now.” Travis says with a smug grin.
“I don’t understand why we do this every year. Isn’t there a better way to test potential recruits besides jumping them like a group of thugs?” I hear from the forest.
“Shit… my mistake, this is recruitment for the fight club.” I say, deflated because I just blew my cover for no reason.
“Well, let’s go kick their asses and assure our spots on the team!” Travis says excitedly.
Travis and I resume our jog. Three werewolves, two vampires, and a wizard, whom are all enhanced, emerge from the trees. Instead of all six rushing us at the same time, they come in waves. Travis plunges both of his hands into the ground and pulls out two gloves that look like cinderblocks. He delivers an uppercut to a werewolf that sends the werewolf flying.
“Irruptus-way Irmavi-fay!” The wizard with a red aura says while his aura flares twice. He rushes at me in a burst of speed before delivering a punch towards my stomach. I move my left hand in the way and watch as the wizard snaps both his radius and ulna, forcing both to protrude from his skin.
“Okay, that’s enough!” A werewolf with a red aura commands from his position at the back of the group and they all fall in line.
“You two have definitely proven yourselves; how would you like to join the fight club?” The werewolf asks as he steps forward.
“What benefits come with being in the club?” Travis inquires as his rock gauntlets fall into piles of gravel on the ground.
“You get to fight as much as you want, you get the chance to represent Fogquartz in the annual tournament, and then there are prizes for winning at the annual tournament.” A vampire says.
“Sounds good to me! Are you in, Cole?” Travis asks.
“Count me in.” I reply.
“Alright, we will have someone guide you to the location from your dorm this Friday at about 6:30pm.” The lead werewolf replies and then they all walk off; the werewolf that Travis gave the uppercut to having already regained consciousness. The wizard’s aura flares again as he mumbles something that I don’t quite catch, but it appears to be a spell for healing his bones.
“Dude, those rock gauntlets were pretty badass.” I tell Travis.
“Yeah, my dad has some control over the earth so using the earth to my benefit is easier for me; then it’s just a matter of using magic to get it to stay put. I’ve gotta ask how you did that though. That wizard used spells to enhance his speed and to harden his bones to strengthen his punch; there’s no way that you should have been able to block that, especially with an injured arm.” Travis says.
“Well you already know my main secret, so I guess that showing you the
other one can’t hurt. Come on; let’s head back to my room.” I tell him. We jog back to Graythorn and up the stairs to my now vacant room. I unwrap my bandages to show Travis my arm.
“Whoa! What is that thing made out of?” Travis asks.
“I’m not too sure, but I have a suspicion that it is made out of some kind of nanotubes because it’s insanely hard, but it isn’t brittle.” I inform him.
“Dude, what are you?” Travis asks.
“Haha that’s a good question!” I reply. That’s something that I’d also like to know.
“By the way, what language was that wizard speaking?” I ask.
“It was a precursor to Latin that is used for all spells.” Travis replies.
“Sounds mysterious.” I reply.
“Not really; it’s actually just Latin Pig Latin. Everyone who uses magic is supposed to just call it a precursor to Latin because Latin Pig Latin sounds stupid, despite how fun it is to say.” Travis informs me.
“Latin Pig Latin… Anyway, I have some stuff to take care of so I’ll see you later.” I say and we both leave my room.
“Okay, see you later bro.” Travis says as we exit my room.
I head down the stairs, out the front door, and into the woods, keeping an ear out for anyone that is following me. When I’m in the clear, I pull out my phone and call Natasha.
“Hello?” Natasha answers.
“Hey Natasha, we have a problem.” I tell her.
“YES! WOOHOO!” Natasha screams.
“Umm, Natasha?” I ask.
“You blew your cover right!?” Natasha ecstatically asks.
“Umm yeah, I did. Why are you happy about this?” I inquire, failing to see how this could be a good thing.
“Because I won! I chose today for the pool and I won!” Natasha exclaims.
“What?” I ask.
“The office had a pool going as to when you would blow your cover, and I chose today so I win! Now, how many people know that are still alive and how many dead people knew?” Natasha questions.
“Umm, just Travis knows… oh and Lila’s bodyguard, Charlotte. Nobody else, living or dead, knows.” I lie. I decide to keep Nagi to myself until I have more information.
Feros and the Underworld Prince Page 18
