Michael William Slater III

Ace’s bail was based on his income, but Levi paid for it so Ace did not spend a single night in jail, making Forthright furious.

There was nothing he could do, his brain short-circuiting when he saw a murderer walking out, with a tracker and a grounder on him, off to kill another person, encouraged by two trust fund babies .

Ace was exhausted, barely able to stay awake, and fell asleep on the car ride back to his home. Levi and his cousin, Michael William Slater III, took him home by calling Michael’s driver.

Michael III was Levi’s cousin, older than him by roughly twenty years, the age gap because Levi’s father was the youngest of Michael’s children, at fifty-two, and Michael III’s father was the eldest.

Levi never felt comfortable calling him by his first name because he was much older than him, even when he was grown, and always called him sir or Uncle Mike.

Uncle Mike looked at Ace, knocked out, leaning on the car window, and grinned, amused that Levi was so willing to ask for help when he was not the sort of person to even ask for help for very basic things.

“Did he do it,” Mike asked.

“No,” Levi grunted.

“How do you know?”

“He’s not that kind of man,” Levi sighed. “He’s dumb...not evil.”

Mike snorted, pushed his glasses up by the bridge, and informed him that someone can very much be evil and dumb , citing one of his favorite books, The Banality of Evil.

“Sir, even if he did, why would he kill him, ” Levi said. “He doesn’t even know who he is! When he heard his name he thought we meant some guy his friend was seeing months ago!”

“He could be lying,” Mike replied. “He could have killed so many people he forgot. It's possible, Levi. ”

“I know being a lawyer makes you a skeptic but I know him. He bought a rock because it glowed for three grand. He thinks Muenster is a different way to say monster instead of a type of cheese, ” Levi insisted.

“Just one rock,” Mike asked.

“ Yes. ”

“I’ve spent a lot more on worse things, so he isn’t that weird,” Mike laughed.

Levi groaned, and Mike told him that it wasn’t too late to separate himself from the entire ordeal.

“There has to be some reason you want me to represent… this… ,” Mike said.

He pointed at the snoring Ionadian, his pointy ears twitching while he slept.

“Grandpa would be livid if he knew you were talking to one of those ,” Mike said in awe.

“Well grandpa isn’t here, ” Levi replied. “If you don’t want to represent him I can find someone else.”

Mike shook his head and smiled as they arrived at Ace’s apartment complex.

He found it absolutely charming, so bohemian, the kind of place so-and-so owns and gifted to her daughter. Levi wondered if he sounded like that when he spoke at work to others. The longer he was away from his family, the more he noticed how detached from regular society they were.

Levi woke Ace up and they were about to get out of the car when Mike stopped him.

“I can drop you home Levi,” Mike offered.

“Oh he stays with me,” Ace answered absentmindedly, half-awake. “He’s been sleeping over a while now.”

Mike gave off a half-smile, half-smirk, the family relation clear as day. Levi was trying to get Ace to stop talking with his death glare but Mike asked him more questions.

“Oh, how often does he come inside , I mean, come over, ” Mike asked.

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“Mmm, almost daily, why,” Ace asked.

“Oh we can use him as an alibi,” Mike replied. “ Where does he sleep? ”

“It’s time to go,” Levi mumbled.

They stepped out of the car, Levi slammed the door shut, causing Ace to flinch with the strength he slammed it with. Mike rolled down the windows, sneering, grinning, eyes curving from his devilish smile.

“I’ll represent him for free if you tell me the truth!”

He said this, as the car pulled away, down the road, and Levi was sweaty, his right hand specifically. He let go of Ace’s, rubbed his sweaty hand on his shorts, held his hand again. Then he was angry with himself because he wondered how long they had been holding hands without him noticing.

They returned upstairs, using the creaky old elevator and Ace was tense the entire time, holding his breath, furrowing his brow, scrunching his nose.

“What’s wrong,” Levi asked.

“This elevator is creepy as hell,” Ace whispered.

“Yeah? It’s always looked like this.”

“I’ve never been in it before.” Ace replied.

Levi realized that Ace teleported wherever he wanted whenever and he was getting angrier by the second by the simple act of waiting and walking, unable to move freely with the grounder the police left on him while out on bail.

Levi found this amusing until they could not get into his apartment because Ace rarely brought his key anywhere when he could teleport inside.

After paying $80 to get his landlord to unlock his apartment door, Ace had a permanent scowl, his key left on the coffee table, the first thing he saw when he opened the door, and Levi snickered.

The television was on, some action film with explosions, the plot thinning by the second, and The Rock sat on the couch, pulsing lime green, and then orange, reacting different colors to the movie, scene by scene.

“How did it do that,” Ace whispered.

“Don’t touch it. Don’t look at it,” Levi replied.

Invictus popped out, smiled, and sat next to The Rock, and again their weird strobe light conversation began, this time, the colors more rapid, brighter, intense, and Ace felt a need to step in.

“Something about this feels wrong,” Ace shouted. “I feel like this is wrong, but I can't explain why!”

The light show stopped, Invictus blushed, and he pretended as if nothing had happened.

“Are they talking to each other? This feels weird,” Levi muttered.

“We should get rid of it,” Ace whispered.

Invictus’s cape turned a deep, dark red, mimicking the texture of blood, spilling over the couch, onto the floor, and The Rock started to emit steam, turning black. Invictus’s eyes turned black as well, and Ace had never seen him angry before, he didn’t think he could become angry.

Invictus pointed at Levi.

“Take what is mine, I will take what is yours, ” he said.

“Or we can talk this out,” Ace replied.

“What is said is said, ” Invictus boomed, shaking the walls.

The light show began again, this time faster, streaks of light hitting the wall, and Ace said nothing. He took Levi’s hand, brought the dog inside, and locked the door, a prisoner inside his own house, now afraid of The Rock.

The dog paced around the room, anxious, taking cues from its owner, and he sat on the bed, whimpering under the blankets, listening to Levi and Ace argue about what to do about their situation.

“You said I was crazy when I believed that thing was flirting with my bracelet,” Ace hissed.

“Just leave it alone,” Levi replied. “ I don’t want to die. ”

Ace was stressed so he got under the blankets with the dog, and he warmed up right to him, and Levi got in as well, all three of them afraid and bewildered.

“My cousin thinks you killed that guy,” Levi said.

“I didn’t,” Ace replied, his voice muffled through dog fur.

“I know Ace, but the District Attorney’s office is claiming they have DNA evidence and that is pretty solid stuff.”

Ace let go of Chewie and turned to face Levi, asking him what do you mean, are you serious, you can’t be doing this to me.

“Ace-”

“I didn’t kill him! I don’t even know who he is!”

“I know, but you don't have to worry about it even if you did ,” Levi explained. “I can get someone to destroy whatever evidence, real or fake they have.”

“That would be breaking the law. We would be actually committing a crime this time. ”

“That doesn’t matter, I have money.”

There were so many things wrong with this perverse statement that Ace didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t have time to say anything as the sounds of metal crashed all around them.