A Meeting That Should Have Been An Email
The living taxi cab, Ace, picked up Paul, Levi, and Kalei from the Silver Inn, took them back to the yacht, and they all reconvened for part two of Levi’s ridiculous plan.
This part, however, was much more boring, which disappointed all of them.
They had to hold another meeting.
In the glowing purple lounge room, Levi got out a holo-screen, a laser pointer, and sold his idea to the rest of Team 57, who thought he had finally lost it.
They were all upset, many of them forced to come because Levi insisted it was an official meeting, and they were half-asleep from a long week of partying and raves, hung-over, still in their pajamas, or left the beach on their way to another party.
The new members of Team 57, Oz, Tetsuya, Johnny, and Sasha, tried their hardest to politely disagree, but the older members had no problem telling Levi to eat dirt. He couldn’t tell them to shut up, he wore a grounder, told them the entire truth, and yet again, no one believed him because he was a notorious liar.
“You want us to believe that there are magical people inside fashion accessories,” Amy screamed.
“Yes,” Levi grunted.
“I think this is just a giant plot to cover up your affair. ”
Everyone sat up straighter, the meeting now more interesting.
“Amy what are you talking about,” Oz asked.
“Ignore her. She’s crazy,” Ace replied.
“ Ace and Levi are sucking each others—”
Groans of disgust and disapproval came from everyone, the words giving vivid imagery in their minds.
“I was going to say faces! Don’t be gross,” Amy shouted.
Sasha, tired of all the squabbling, decided to say something. Like Levi, he was big and tall, with brown hair and blue eyes and because of this, Levi did not like him.
He was a gorilla, another gorilla was in his territory, he could steal his mating partner, even though Sasha had no interest in anyone there whatsoever.
“I have not been here long but I think that Amy is upset with Acheus and making lies. She is angry about death of Mark, refuses to move on.”
They all nodded, a few yes’s were given in agreement, and Amy was against herself .
“He told me himself when he was drunk,” Amy shouted.
“He also told me he liked my new haircut when he was drunk! I got a haircut two months ago ,” Fenton laughed.
“I refuse to listen to a man with low moral character! He’s a liar! I don’t want Levi as our leader! He’s mean, a bully, and vile! ”
“Dude. You’ve got to move on, ” Kyle said.
Everyone gave Amy the pitying look, and she was hurt because it was one thing for everyone to not believe the affair, but it was another thing that Fenton and Ryle were covering for him. She knew they knew, how could they not?
She stood up from the couch, took a good look over at everyone, and said her final piece.
“I’m going to get back at you, Acheus. You’re a shit person.”
“You already took Sierra and my dog from me! What else do you want!?”
She looked Levi up and down and snickered.
“You’re next.”
She left, off to the deck, and everyone muttered various insults under their breath.
“I think she’s finally lost it. Mark must have been her handler this entire time and we never knew,” Levi said. “Poor woman is filled with grief two years later.”
“You’re a better person than me. I couldn’t be that forgiving,” Harmonia replied.
They all patted themselves on the back for pretending to forgive an emotionally damaged woman who spoke the truth and went back to the original topic, the magical hats, and belts.
“I think those objects might be real. Why would Levi lie to us about something crazy,” Oz said.
“They aren’t real! How can something like that be real,” Harmonia shrieked.
“They are! I have one,” Ace said. He flashed his wrist and everyone laughed and then screamed when Invictus appeared in the middle of the room.
“Whoa, it's the guy from before, from the S.S. Andromeda,” Casey said.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Hi, I’m Invictus!”
Awkward waves and hellos were given, and Invictus took a seat on the ground, his armor creaking, right next to Ace, smiling, his cape turning yellow, happy just to be involved.
“Harmonia has one too! She’s lying to you all! We need you all to help us find the others before someone else gets them,” Levi said.
“I’m not lying-”
“It’s true,” Casey said. “She has one. I never told anyone because I thought no one would believe me…”
Harmonia’s skin turned red, her heart-shaped irises turned into daggers and steam poured out of her ears. There was no need for her to show her anger and disapproval, it also reflected on her face, and now her cover was blown.
She tried to salvage it as best as she could.
“Fine. I have one. What are you going to do about it, ” Harmonia tersely asked.
“Nothing. We only want you to help us find the others. Since you have one, you must know something, ” Levi said.
He would do nothing until he could find out what to do with her and what she was doing.
He thought about various ways to reveal her mask, wondering if she was wearing a very well-made mask the entire time, if she had plastic surgery done, trying to understand Harmonia’s unique looks.
She returned to her delightful shade of pink, gave off a smug smile, and she had nothing to worry about, her place was secured, and she could feed them bits of info until she found what she was looking for.
“If you want to find another one, just use them like metal detectors. They’ll sense each other nearby, but if they don’t like each other they’ll avoid each other entirely,” Harmonia said.
“You talk as if his bracelet has feelings,” Sasha laughed.
“ You’re not a good friend,” Invictus said.
Sasha scratched at his throat, coughed, beat at his chest, as Invictus calmly stared him down from a few feet away. He smiled, and Sasha could finally breathe, the message sent, it was clear gossiping wasn’t very nice.
It wasn’t what friends do.
Everyone moved a little farther away from Ace.
“They all have feelings and personalities, and if you don’t try to get along with them, they won’t work for you. They can even change if your feelings affect them too much because they’re dependent on you as much as you are on them,” Harmonia explained.
“How do you know all this,” Levi asked.
“Mine and I have taken a long time to get to know each other. Communication is part of any relationship.”
Ace nodded furiously, looking Levi dead in the eyes, and he avoided his gaze, but it was clear from his reaction to the statement that Amy might have some truth in her words.
Everyone was starting to look at them a little different, now feeling a little bad for being mean to Amy.
“I’ll help you guys find them but I don’t want to give it to you. I want to give it to someone who doesn’t have ulterior motives,” Tetsuya said.
“Give them to me, I came here to find them, and lock them away,” Kalei replied.
Kalei, like everyone else, had a Fealty Ring, so automatically they knew she was one of them, so it was easier to trust her, but something was still amiss.
Johnny, the hairy man, stood up and got everyone’s attention by clapping his hands, and said he had his own idea.
“I know this sounds really bad, but hear me out, ” Johnny said.
“We’re listening,” Fenton mumbled.
“What if this lady is lying? I mean, yeah, we got proof of the… stuff... but how would you even hide something that important?”
No one said anything.
They mulled over it.
Where would someone put a key that could take someone anywhere that ever existed, lightning earrings, a mirror to alternate dimensions, and on and on and on. The four objects they owned were a burden. If their collection grew, eventually someone would find them all.
“I think we should pretend we never saw this stuff,” Johnny said.
“Johnny, don’t be a coward. You tried running away two years ago as well,” Tetsuya replied.
Everyone glared at him, and Johnny sat back down, crossed his arms, and called Tetsuya, a dirty liar.
“We can figure it out when we get there,” Kalei mumbled. “If we never try to get them, what happens if someone dangerous gets their hands on them?”
“Someone already has! That guy running around town has one, it’s the sword, ” Ace shouted.
Everyone murmured and now time was of the essence to collect as many celestials as possible, to keep them away from Neros and his ilk. They all made a pact, promising each other to secrecy. One person, however, noticed someone was missing.
“What about Amy, I think she would be upset if we didn’t tell her,” Casey said.
“She’ll be fine,” Ace said dismissively.
She would not be.
“Also, isn’t anyone worried that Levi can just change anything with his voice now. His entire body changed color! I feel like we should talk about that more,” Casey said.
“I’ve heard stories about the things Michael Slater did when he was alive with the same ability. I don’t think Levi should try anything until he can control it,” Fenton replied.
“For once I agree with him,” Levi sighed. “I almost broke my Uncle earlier when I tried to ask him a question.”
Confused looks and exasperated sighs were given by his audience and Levi tried to explain what happened. The more he explained, the worse gazes he received.
Many times people would give him the look he didn’t like because he imitated his father’s coercive tactics of fear. They were giving him the same look when he wasn’t trying now, and he didn’t like it.
Again, Levi was doing the bare minimum of trying to be a good person and was upset he wasn’t immediately gratified for it.
“Don’t worry. I bought a hundred grounders. I can handle this,” Levi told everyone. “I can do this.”
He could not.