With A Ghost

21. Alarms

I dreamt that I uploaded an incomplete chapter. Somebody commented, "I'm just going to pretend that it was a very funny chapter. Ha ha ha."
Oh the horror...

Kota

"Why wouldn't it have been a good idea for Gabriel to come along?" Sang asked as we waited for the salesperson to bring the glasses that I had ordered.
"Because there are many clothing stores around here, and we've got a bit of time to spend before we went to see Jade," I answered her with a smile. She gave me a confused look. She really was cute.
"He'll want to drag us around to look at clothes and shoes for us, especially you," I clarified.
Her eyes sparkled in amusement. I can see why Gabe would want to dress her up.

The salesperson brought me my glasses. They looked exactly like my previous pair. I took off the ones I was wearing, given to me by the hospital.
Then I looked at Sang, who was thoroughly studying my face. I tried to fight the blush making its way to my cheeks.

"You look great," Sang said, "with and without glasses."
There goes my attempt at hiding the redness of my face.
But when she blushed, I had to smile. She probably wasn't supposed to say that out loud.

"Is Victor going to pick us up?" Sang asked as we exited the store. I confirmed that he was.

I checked the time. Ten more minutes before he arrived. I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from taking another step. She turned her face around to look at me.

"We still have a bit of time," I said, holding her hand and bringing her close. I don't know what made me brave enough to do that, but I wanted to.
She looked at me questioningly.
"Let me look at you properly now," I told her.
A pretty scarlet tinted her cheeks.
I held her emerald green eyes, trying to find out the secrets that swirled around in them. I didn't know much about her. Just her name, a few of her abilities, a few of her interests. In reality, she was quite far away from me. She was helping my team. We found out about hers not too long ago. She had a separate life, one not tied to mine, and I wanted to know more about it.

She really was a beautiful sight to behold. Pretty lashes, roseate lips. An unusual hair color that suited her. Tawny blonde, but with different shades? It was hard to tell. Is that why Gabriel wanted me to take that hair-tie from her?

Her hair was tied neatly. It suited her. I could see all of her face. But, it would be nice to see what she looked like with her hair down... No, I won't pull out her hair-tie. What if I ruined her hair?

"Kota?" she asked. A funny thing happened inside my chest when she said my name. It would be best to ignore it. I didn't want to do anything wrong.
"Let's go," I said, forcing myself to look away from her. Don't do anything wrong. Count. Count. One, one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand, four... Maybe it wouldn't hurt...

I held the back of her head as I lowered my head to press my lips to her forehead. She stilled completely. I pulled back, internally panicking.

Her face flushed pink. Lips parted in surprise. There was no sign of repulsion. I really shouldn't be staring at her lips like this... One, one thousand, two, one thousand... I guess another one won't hurt...

This time, I placed a kiss on her cheek, my lips lingering on her soft skin longer than I intended.

I felt her take a sharp breath. I let go. Looking into her widened eyes, I felt myself go redder. But I was actually quite satisfied. I managed a warm smile, trying not to act like it was a big deal. She gave me her own, still blushing. My insides probably melted.

"It's your fucking fault! Never shoulda trusted a hoe," Greg yelled at from the other side of the glass that separated the room. We all watched both of them from the outside, unbeknown to both.
"I didn't ask to work with an asshole like you. Where do you think you're from?" Jade screamed, standing up.
"Bitch, you known me for two months. You know where I from."

Jade was a black-haired girl, whose clothes probably didn't fit her anymore but she chooses to wear them, and I had an unflattering idea of why she would. I have never seen her or heard of her before, but she clearly had heard of us.

Her lips twisted into a smirk, "I bet you saw that blonde bitch and blew your load. Bet you have a thing for blondes. Is that how they caught us?"

Instant rage consumed me, but I held it in. She didn't deserve to even refer to Sang.

"Just 'cause I didn't fuck you even though you begged for my cock, you don't have to put the blame on me, hoe."
"Just admit that you don't like the good shit; you go for all the cheap sluts, like that blonde."

"North, don't go!" Sang's voice interrupted my own thoughts of spite for Jade. I, along with the others, looked at North, who was barely containing his anger. He wanted to walk into that room.
"North, it doesn't matter! She didn't do anything to me. Her words are worthless," Sang pleaded.
"You can confront her after we complete our observation, Mr. Taylor," Mr. Blackbourne said, his eyes never leaving Jade and Greg. "In fact," he added, "I will join you myself."

Sang's eyes widened. North and Luke didn't look any less surprised, but unlike Sang, they looked pleased.

Mr. Blackbourne is not all suit and tie; he can take some very serious action, especially when it involves someone he cares about.

...

Someone he cares about.

....

Sang. When did he start...

Oh well, I wonder if they'll let me join too. From what I can see, Nathan wanted to go along with them the most. Just one of them is enough to intimidate somebody. Three of them together is not exactly a ride to a candy-shop.

Sang sighed in defeat.

"Don't be jealous, hoe. A bigger ass doesn't make you sexier," Greg shot back at Jade after some more bickering.

"I hate to agree with him, but the fucker's right," Gabriel muttered. I agreed with him too.
Silas sighed, "We're not learning anything useful here. Interrogation didn't work out either."

Actually, we did learn a few things, although not that useful.

If Greg messed up, Jade would've stepped in and 'seduced' us (which earned several snorts).

The only thing that was worth knowing is that their mysterious employer, unsurprisingly, is a rich man, someone who can give up a lot of cash and drugs. He even got Derrick a forged ID. He only communicated with them through multiple phone numbers, which were being looked into by an Academy team. Also, none of these hired teenagers knew each other until two months ago, ever since they first needed to work together. Why hire teenagers and not experts if you're that rich... I wasn't sure. But it looked well-planned. Not only is it cheaper to hire kids our age, it is also safer. It let's you stay hidden and manipulative. Neither Jade nor Greg would care to look more into the identity of their employer. They would just get what they wanted using the easy way. Another reasoning would be that no one really cared about these kids. If something happened to them, responsibility would not be at all heavy. Nobody would even bother to look into their cases properly.

"We should interrogate Derrick now," Dr. Green said, "He's at the warehouse, isn't he?"
As if on cue, Victor took out his phone. He frowned as he looked at the screen.

"Derrick?" he answered with the loudspeaker on, earning the focus of everyone in the room.
"Victor! God. Victor, help me. Help my sister. You remember Danielle, don't you? Nathan will remember her," Derrick's voice was frantic. I had a bad feeling about this.
"Calm down. What happened?"
"He took her. That man took her," his voice shook.
"Who took Danielle?" Victor kept his tone calm, but I knew that alarms were seizing him.
"Man, I'm so sorry, Victor. I'm sorry I was doing these things. I only did them because I thought I was doing the right thing."
"Derrick, calm down. Who took her? How did you find out? We can't help you if you don't give us the facts."
"It was that man who hired me. H-He took her because the plan failed. He won't give her back unless I get you guys to him."