★ 𝙰𝚕𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜 ★

✩ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 6 ✩

Chapter 6

Leo's POV

Leo sat on the sofa, looking out the window at the reddish-pink sky. It was a warm day outside with a slight breeze, and not many clouds. It was empty in the living room, seeing as Walter was off shopping, Codey was doing who knows what and Astor was most likely asleep (although it was roughly midday).

He was quickly distracted from his thoughts by the sound of footsteps. As he looked behind him, he noticed Astor, dressed in his usual fluffy white coat, and a black strapless dress with fishnet sleeves, standing behind him.
"Hey." Leo greeted him.
"Do you wanna come see something really cool? Don't tell Walter or Codey." Astor replied in a low tone.

Leo didn't know how to reply for a moment, since when would Astor want to keep secrets from Walter? "Uh.. OK, I suppose."

"Good." Astor started walking towards the door, clearly expecting Leo to follow. He did so, noticing Astor already had his usual shoes on. Did he ever even take off those boots? Feeling incredibly confused and slightly uncomfortable, Leo put his usual shoes on and let Astor unlock the door for him.

They walked down the path in silence after they had locked the door behind them. Leo wanted to ask Astor where they were going, but felt too awkward.

After a short while, Astor let Leo know, "By the way, we can totally talk now, we're far away enough."
"Where are we going?"
"Good question."

After a few moments of silence, it was clear to Leo that Astor wouldn't elaborate until they got there, which was strange considering Astor usually somewhat enjoyed talking (from what Leo had seen of him, which wasn't much).

He continued walking, feeling like he should have put something nicer on. It was a nice day outside, so he wasn't particularly cold or anything, but given Astor's somewhat formal clothing, he felt like they might be going somewhere fancy.

They finally came to a rather large building relatively near the village. Leo was about to ask why they were here, before Astor entered through a side door. Leo assumed he was supposed to follow, so he walked through the door after a minute or two.

The inside of the building was quite large, with several different rooms and (he assumed) roughly 2 floors. It wasn't exactly clean however, Leo spotted a literal shopping trolley with only one wheel lying abandoned by a sofa with chunks torn out of it.

Looking around, Leo noticed Astor sitting next to another eye demon with curving horns and an oversized red sweater. "Um, Astor? Why are we here?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you for a second. Be right back, Jackson."
"Uhh.." Leo looked down, not sure what to do.
"Follow me." Astor walked into a different room.

Leo was still incredibly confused. It seemed like Astor had been here several times before, which explained his mysterious outings every once in a while, and he acted incredibly friendly to that Jackson dude Leo had noticed sitting with him.

It seemed like the only way he'd be able to figure out more would be to follow Astor, so he did that.

Astor was standing in an incredibly pink room, talking to another eye demon of the exact same height. She had small, triangular horns and a visible mouth located on her chest, which he hadn't really seen in a person before, apart from when Astor wasn't wearing his usual choker.

He assumed this was Stella, who he had heard of quite recently as of last week, when Codey, Astor and Walter had encountered her. He hadn't been there so he had no idea what she was like, although he heard quite a few different opinions on her.

"Um, hi.."
"Hii! Are you Leo? I've heard a bit about you from Astor." Stella greeted him, putting her arm around Astor (who surprisingly didn't object)'s shoulders. Leo was surprised that she sounded American, given most people around had British accents.

"Yeah." Leo was still confused, because literally nobody would explain anything to him. "Why am I here?"

"Good question, why is he here?" Stella asked, and they both looked at Astor.

"So, I was kinda hoping perhaps he could join. I mean, you were looking for new people, and when I brought him out I was thinking about you anyway."

Leo had a suspicion that this was more planned than Astor said, but he said nothing and looked at Stella. "Yeah, what he said."
He wouldn't mind joining whatever this was, seeing as it seemed pretty fun, if a bit chaotic.

"Sure, he can join the Sparkle Squad."
"You actually chose that? Really? That's an awful name."

As he didn't feel like sticking around to watch Astor and Stella have a full conversation about the name of whatever he'd just joined, Leo just exited the room and walked around to take a look at the building. It was kind of in a state, and for some reason there were pink bows tied to random items, such as a bicycle (which was duct-taped to the ceiling).

After a while, he noticed Astor had exited Stella's room and was socialising, which was something he didn't really tend to do at the treehouse apart from speaking to Walter.

Leo decided to go speak to a group of people he assumed looked nice enough, who were sitting on the couch, not bothered by the chunks torn out of it.

"Uh.. Hi."
"Hey. Are you new?" A person in a green dress and a brown cardigan asked him. They had a halo with a cross and some small, fluffy- looking wings.
"Yeah, I am. My name's Leo."
"Hey, Leo. I'm Embryn and this is Aliyah." She gestured to another person with a plus-sign shaped pupil and short, vertical horns, with a halo encircling one of them.
"Hello." The other greeted him, looking to Embryn, who continued to speak.

"That's Jackson, and I assume you know Astor. He hasn't technically joined, but we all consider him basically a member, given that him and Stella are very close friends." She was
pointing to the eye demon in the red sweater, who was looking at something Astor was showing him.

"Oh, yeah. I live with Astor and some other guys."
"How is it?"
"Boring, I suppose. The others don't particularly interact with me, and this is the first time Astor's taken me out."
After a pause, Embryn told him. "Well, if it helps, things here are a lot more fun."

After about two hours or possibly more, Astor let him know they were going home, and he reluctantly left and started walking home with him, enjoying the afternoon heat.
"Was it good?" Astor asked him.
"Great, I made some friends."
"I'm glad to hear it. It was kind of sad watching you just sit there on the sofa."

They continued to walk home, and when they arrived Leo didn't speak a word about it to Walter or Codey, who had reappeared by now, but he was definitely still really excited. It was actually a really good idea of Astor's to bring him to that place, though he wasn't too sure about the name.