The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (6 page)

The audience aawed and as
Lotus glanced past Michael's shoulder, she saw several of the woman
in the
h
ouse
tenderly clutch their own hearts. They all fell
for it; Michael's charm. The dreamy bad-boy Australian singer was
just the cover of the book and Lotus was the only one who knew him
well enough because she
already
read the pages.

"Lozey, you bring out the best in me.
You make me smile so much I fall asleep with a grin on my face.
This might be kind of silly, but sometimes I get butterflies when
we kiss or hold hands." He spoke beautifully with a corner of his
lips turned up and took both of her hands in his. "I love you
Lozey, and I have for a long time now. Will you do me the honor
of-?"

“
No.” Lotus said quickly
before Michael could finish speaking. Her heart was beating like a
horse race in her chest and she pulled her hands away from his to
cover her mouth. She didn’t mean to cut him off, but the nerves had
flared up in her chest to the extent that she exploded.

“
Yes,” she
stammered, feeling the palms of her hands begin to sweat. “I mean…”
Lotus had to think fast.
Every fiber
of her being wanted to take a vase and slam it against his face.
How could he think that he would make a good husband when he didn’t
even have time to answer her text? Let alone, how could he possibly
think that asking her on live television to be his wife was a
romantic gesture?

"You're so sweet." she giggled slapping
him on the bicep. She had no idea what she was doing but the
pressure of a thousand eyes was suffocating. "How could anyone not
want you?"

He beamed as the audience cheered. "So
is that a yes?"

“
I…” Lotus sputtered, “Wait
what were you going to ask me?”

Michael grinned as he reached into his
pocket to pull out a small box. “Would you marry me?” He asked
opening the box so that a very large and expensive diamond
glistened up at her.

“
Oh, my goodness.” Lotus
gasped covering her eyes so that she didn’t have to look at the
ring. “Are you serious right now?” she exclaimed.

Michael smiled though she couldn’t see.
“Of course I’m serious. I love you Loze.”

Lotus said nothing as she hid behind
her suntanned hands. She could feel the awkward tension building on
the set as Dylan waited for a response. She couldn’t say yes. She
couldn’t promise herself to him like that. But at the same time,
she wasn’t willing to embarrass him on live TV by saying
no.

“
Can I…” Lotus began
hesitantly as she lowered her hands from her flushed face but kept
her eyes closed. “I need time to think about this, Michael. I mean
marriage is a… it’s a huge deal!”

Eventually, Lotus slid her eyes open
and looked Michael in the eye. He didn’t seem hurt or embarrassed.
He just nodded quietly and closed the box in his hand. “Of course
love,” Michael remarked. “Take all the time you need.”

Lotus wasn’t sure why she felt like she
had swallowed a stone. She should have been relieved that she
managed to talk her way out of an awkward situation, but the
atmosphere was still steaming with anticipation. As her eyes
skimmed through the crowd of audience members, her eyes rested on
the timer counting down to the next commercial break.

“
Who knows, Michael,” Lotus
piped as an improvised ice breaker came to her mind. “I mean, you
can’t hit the high notes like I can, but you’re still a pretty good
singer.” Lotus was stalling now as she watched the timer tick down…
eleven… ten… “And if we had babies, they would probably sing like
angels. I guess marrying you would be my charitable donation to
humanity.”

"So it's a yes?" Michael asked
hopefully.

Lotus sucked in a big breath
as her eyes sailed over to the timer above. Seven... Six... "Guess
we'll just have to find out after these commercials!” She beamed
into the camera, “But in the meantime, folks, I would just like to
say that Dylan Dade and Michael Caster have successfully
Flabbergasted
me!" Two...
One... Off air.

The moment the broadcast went off air,
Lotus felt the weight immediately lift from her shoulders. “What
the heck was that?” Lotus exclaimed turning to Michael as she stood
up angrily. She had only agreed to be on the show for two
commercial breaks so there was really no need for her to stay on
the set any longer. “I can’t believe you put me in a situation like
that!”

“
Like what?” Michael asked
gazing up at her.

Lotus bit her lip and glanced around.
Instead of sprinting off stage, Dylan Dade had stayed to listen to
their conversation. There were a thousand things she wanted to say
to him in that moment, but she couldn’t say them publicly. “Are we
still going surfing after this?” she asked instead.

Michael furled his brow, “Of course,
Loze. Why wouldn’t we?”

Lotus didn’t feel like answering. All
she ended up doing was nodding and muttering, “Good, I’ll see you
there.” Then she turned to Dylan and excused herself from the
set.

In several strides, she was back stage
and wondering through the jungle of sound boxes, props, and cords.
Her dressing room was just down the hall and she managed to wonder
through without any of the technical crew recognizing her. When she
bolted the door shut, she didn’t bother to flip on the lights.
Lotus simply buried her face in the pile of costumes as she flopped
down on the couch.

Why did she even bother with Michael?
She knew him long enough to recall several abandoned birthdays,
where instead of being the best friend who organized a party;
Michael would be partying in Vegas. Even on award nights, Michael
wouldn't be there to support Lotus. Not unless he was winning an
award too. How had they been together for so long?

After realizing that having her face
buried in clothes wasn't the best way to breath, Lotus sat up. She
wanted to be alone, but not alone with her haunting thoughts. Even
in the darkness of her dressing room, Lotus could imagine the beach
and hear the crashing waves beckoning her. That was where the
wanted to be; alone with nothing but the surf to clear her mind.
Without hesitation, Lotus padded through the dark for her car keys
before hurrying from the studio.

~DH took her hand in his and was about
to sink to his knee for the second time. “Rose,” he muttered
gently.

She looked up at him with those gentle
blue eyes; her ginger lashes were so pale that even in the dim
lighting of the old South Side garage he could barely see them.
“What’s up?” she asked.

She had said that the last
time he was about to propose; when they were at that expensive
tower restaurant in North Side. She had looked so beautiful in that
dark blue gown with her long crimson curls tumbling around her. He
had sunk to his knee right in front of her- right in front of the
whole restaurant and reached into his pocket to find… the ring
missing. Instead of looking like a bigger fool than he felt, he
tied his shiny shoes and was thankful his skin was dark enough to
cover his furious blush before he ended up asking her a lame
question like,
Did you hear about what
Congress is doing about that thing in Japan?

But this time he could feel the small
jewelry box pressed against his leg, and he slid his hand in his
pocket. He should have waited for a more romantic moment, but this
question had been annoying him for weeks now. They hadn’t been
doing anything but fixing old car engines- well Rose did that. DH
tried not to break things.

He took a deep breath and sank down to
one knee. Rose’s eyes grew huge and she pressed a hand to her thin
pink lips. “Are you…?”

Yes he was. He was going to ask her to
marry him. The idea might have been a ridiculous months ago, but
having the gang split up was one of the best things to happen to
him- relationship wise.

The gang always referred to their group
as a family, but DH tended to cringe at that word. For the longest
time, he had wanted it to be so much more. With Rose, anyway. For
about as far back as he could remember he had had the biggest crush
on her. And for a while, just being able to see her face every day
was enough to satisfy.

As the years went on, that satisfaction
turned into a strange sort of hunger. She always wore the happiest
smile, always there to help out, always a great listener- not to
mention she knew how to party. He would adore her from a distance,
but their friendship had been too precious to ruin. He had
considered dropping out of the gang just so that he could start a
relationship with her, but he couldn’t risk the idea of not being
able to see her every day.

He was her best friend, and when her
sister passed, that’s what Rose needed the most. He was there from
the moment she needed a tissue to the moment she fell asleep on his
shirt stained with tears. They had shared secrets to the point that
they knew what color socks the other was wearing. Hours and hours
would fly by as their intimate conversations grew deeper until
finally, she kissed him.

At first DH though he had dozed off
within the night and was having the strangest delusions. But it was
real. She really loved him more than he had thought.

“
Rose Dare,” he said locking
his dark eyes to her fare ones, “Will you make me the happiest man
alive and-”

Just then someone barged into their
garage and knocked over a cart full of tools. It was Ace with Lee
bleeding in his arms. Rose gasped and DH sprang to his feet. Before
Ace even said anything, Rose was hurrying him to the corner of the
room. There was a loft with a sofa set and a television, but it was
certainly not the environment for a girl bleeding to
death.

“
What happened?” DH
exclaimed as he reached for his phone.

“
No, don’t.” Ace ordered and
his tall friend froze his fingers.

“
She’s dying.” Rose
whimpered. That was the first time she had seen Lee in a month. But
her sight brought back so many horrible memories. For some reason,
she imagined Lee bleeding from her abdomen and she was wearing an
elegant crème colored gown…

“
Get me a cloth, Rose.” Ace
said peeling back the already drenched rags on her leg.

At the sound of her name, she
remembered there was a first aid kit right behind the couch.
“Here,” she announced grabbing the kit and throwing it open. There
was a stash of gauze right at the top and she tossed them over to
Ace.

When he didn’t catch it,
Rose glanced over and realized he was jabbing his forearm with
a
s
crewdriver
. “What are you doing?!!”
she wailed.

Ace yanked out the tool and let the
blood pool up on his arm until it overflowed and ran down into
Lee’s disgusting gash. Her leg was still bleeding torrentially but
even with a few drops of his blood, it was evident that the wound
was healing.

“
How in the world…?” DH
wondered. “How did you know?”

“
Mirage,” Ace
answered,
his arm was
burning
, but he willed himself to stay
beside her
.
“She
told me in a note.”

It had taken several minutes
for the
h
ole
in Ace’s arm to heal over, but by then Lee’s leg
was looking several times better. Finally he took the gauze and
patched up her leg tightly. “She’s probably still going to need
stitches.” He sighed.

“
What happened?” DH asked
his eyes still glued to the blood sopping her pants.

Ace rolled his shoulders and gave a
hesitant sigh. “Someone tried to kill her.”

“
What?” sputtered
Rose
, her eyes growing to two times their
normal size.
“Why?”

“
I don’t know,” replied Ace.
“All I know is that she isn’t safe here. She can’t stay in
Tarrillian City.”

There was a hesitant moment as DH
studied the look on Ace’s face. “I know what you’re thinking.” The
tall friend finally said.

“
Enlighten me.” Ace
mused.

“
You’re going to take her to
Heleow, huh?”

“
Heleow?” Rose chimed,
“Hawaii? Ace, you’re going to Hawaii?”

The boy nodded and took a seat gently
at Lee’s feet. Rose and DH got the hint and shared one of the
grease stained couches. “I’m sorry Rose, I never told you any of
this.”

“
Told you I won the
favoritism war.” DH whispered into her curly hair.

Rose ignored him
while
still gaping at Ace.
“Why would someone kill Lee?”

“
I wish I knew,” replied Ace
as he glanced at her recuperating body, “But I have a feeling I’ll
get the answer in Heleow.”

“
Why Heleow? That’s so far
away!” Rose exclaimed.

“
Mirage gave me a letter
that night… back at the opera house. She said there would be
answers for me in Hawaii. She also mentioned there was more to
being a supernatural than just having power. I can do
more.”

“
That’s how you found out
about the blood thing?” Rose asked pointing at the sleeping Lee. “I
haven’t seen that girl in a month- how is she?”