I See Emeralds

Chapter Twenty-Five (Emil's POV)

(L: Leon, E: Emil)
L: Emil, guess what! :D
E: Hi Leon.
E: What is it?
L: Mathias found some colors!
E: What ones?!
L: That's the thing, he's not positive yet.
L: He knows he has a blue, but other than that it's a mystery.
E: ?
L: Well...he was talking to that guy Tino, his old best friend
L: And Tino's made lots of friends since Mathias started helping us.
E: I know that, I was at the table with you and Lukas. That cookie was pretty good, btw.
L: Tino sees blue and has told Mathias that he knows, like, all his friends' soulmates.
L: But he didn't say what colors! :/
L: Can you meet with me after school at the usual spot?
E: Alone? O_O
L: Nah, bring Lukas. Mathias is trying to convince Tino to come along with him too.
E: Alright then.
L: Thanks, see you then <3
E: <3

What a dork. I put away my phone before my brother can see the stupid smile on my face. "Lukas, Leon and Mathias may have just found us a whole bunch of colors," I tell him. He instantly turns around.

"Did you hear? Apparently the school is holding some shindig for Valentine's Day. Could be a good opportunity to find some soulmate couples. I say we go." He seems to have completely ignored me! "I think that it's lame, but if it's for the mission it will be worth it."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Anyways, we've gotta meet with them today when they get out of school. I'm even going to bring you to me and Leon's super secret hangout."

"It's a closet of some sort. I've picked you up there before," he says and rolls his light blue eyes. Rats!  "But sure."

***********************

Leon is standing with Mathias and one of the guys from lunch. Their clothes are horribly unmatched as always. They're in front of our secret hideout! Now it's not secret anymore! Oh, what am I, five? It's just a janitor's closet. Yeah. Not important at all. But it's special to me.

"I'm only going to tell you anything once you tell me what's going on here," the boy from lunch insists.

"That's for Lukas and Emil to decide, Tino," Mathias says and leans against the wall. He nods to me and my brother. Lunch Boy is named Tino, right.

"Do you think there's any stragglers hanging around or are we free to talk out here instead of in that tiny closet? It's hard big enough to fit two people in there, much less five," I ask. Lukas taps his finger to his forehead in thought and accidentally shocks himself with a small amount of blue sparks.

"Ouch. Um, yeah, we should probably be fine."

"We can say that we're discussing a T.V. show if anyone hears us," Mathias suggests.

"Have you told Tino about the plan?" Lukas asks. Mathias and Leon shake their heads. I can't help but admire how well Leon takes care of his hair. It makes him look really-shoo gay thoughts! Now is not the time.

"Nothing more than what we said at lunch," Mathias answers.

"Good. Tino, you like colors a lot more than most people. I can tell just by looking at you. For now you can only see blue, but what would you think about seeing all the ones that your friends see too?" Lukas begins. He establishes eye contact with Tino, who has curiosity in his violet eyes despite his grumpy behavior.

"Um, that would be pretty great, I guess. What are you talking about?" he answers.

"We have a way of making that come true," I interject.

"You're lunatics. That's not even possible."

"Then how would I know that you have blonde hair and purple eyes and are wearing a neon green sweater, blue jeans, and obnoxiously yellow boots? Pretty uncoordinated outfit by the way. But then again, nobody can ever manage to match very well. It annoys me to no end," I say as nonchalantly as I can. I've always wanted to show off the fact that me and Lukas still see every color.

Speaking of Lukas, he gives me an odd glare. "I didn't realize that was part of the plan," he growls. I shrug.

"He must believe us now. So basically, kiddo, if you just tell us what color eyes your friends see, we'll be able to restore color for everybody using a machine we have. Easy as pie. That's a saying teenagers still use, right?" I continue. Tino appears baffled.

"Wow, um, okay..." He pauses to make a mental list. "Let's see.  Including me and my soulmate and none of you, we have...three purple, one brown, two green, one yellow, two blue, and one red. And one of my friends has a brother...so make that three blue and two yellow if we can get him and his soulmate on board." 

"That's really good. Really, really good!" I exclaim. Lukas thinks for a moment. 

"Yes. Tino, you're going to be very valuable to us. If you can get all your friends to help, we won't even need to find extra people. But...there's a bit of a catch. It's not as easy as it seems," he trails off. I raise an eyebrow. 

"You mean...that?" I ask. He nods. 

"What?" Tino asks. Lukas rubs his temples.

"Well you see, for this to truly work...they all have to be couples first."

(Look, a new POV! This is about the only Emil chapter, sorry. But I am currently writing a companion story to this book, and it focuses on the side ships. So that means a lot more HongIce! I most likely won't publish that until it's completed.)