My Covert Bodyguard

38: Aloha, Idiot

The wind whipped around my messy hair, the humid, warm air making me shrug my jacket off quickly. The scenery around me was not at all what I was expecting. The moment Kyle had mentioned Hawaii, I had imagined a touristy city I had visited a few times before, with smiling hula dancers handing me a lei and the airport set up with furniture and drums made with koa trees and carved with pineapple designs. Instead we had landed on a much more rural area, with nothing more than the strip of concrete of a runway and trees and dirt everywhere else. 

"We still have an hour drive from here, let's go." Ollie said, bringing me from surveying my surroundings. We climbed onto a large jeep. It was such a difference from the elegance of the limo and the jet, it felt like I had jumped from one movie to another. The wild and unexpectedness of this trip was making me actually feel adventurous. Like Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones has to have a gut of steel to be constantly on road trips in rural areas.

Damn.

The entire trip was up and down, side to side, like a true Indiana Jones ride. Minus the sparkly skulls or exciting music everywhere. Just trees and dirt roads for a painful, nauseous hour. 

The headquarters of the Legion appeared suddenly. One moment I was in the depths of a forest, the next there was a towering, beautiful building among the woods. I didn't know how the driver had done it, I would never be able to go the right direction, nor find the exact entrance for it.

But the headquarters, it was absolutely breathtaking. There was a clear, huge lagoon at the base of the headquarters, with a lily-pad shaped platform on it, giving an illusion of it floating in the water. The platform had a massive domed roof held up by pillars of sky-high, intricately carved wood. There was a huge emerald-colored marble door from where the platform became the entrance to the building, giving it a royal look. Most of the building was built with wood, and it looked like a watery cabin, like a mermaid kingdom-cross-Tom Sawyer island. As I looked more carefully, I could see that it was built into the side of a mountain—or a cave?—and I could only imagine the building being built with layers and depths, deep inside and under the earth.

The headquarters looked like a teenage dream rather than a criminal organization headquarters. I saw some young-looking guys jump from the top of the building into the lagoon or cling to a long strand of rope and plummet into the water.

"Who are those people?" I asked, turning to Ollie.

"They're the recruits. You're going to be training with them soon." Ollie winked at me as she added, "if you've cut things off with your little bodyguard, the guys here tend to be pretty hot and smart."

I raised my eye brows as I glanced at them, diving into the water and looking like normal high schoolers and college students on an exciting summer break. I didn't know the Legion had recruits. How did they train, and where did they come from? I guess I'll be finding out soon.

We walked across the wooden bridge connecting to the main entrance over the lagoon, and I was very conscious of the various stares I was getting. Even the recruited boys, who were preoccupied with their swimming, snapped their attention to me. I fought the urge to look down or let my hair fall on my face as I raised my chin and held myself high.

I heard Roselle before I saw her. I heard the click of high heels, and I saw her, wearing a classy, turquoise-green sundress and strappy heels. She was dressed far more casually than I'd ever seen her, with her hair piled up in pretty locks. Her eyes beamed at me, sparkling a dark green. I was struck by how much similarity I saw in her of my mom, and even myself.

"Oh Cassandra, sweetie, I am so excited to see you. I have to admit I was surprised of your decision, but you had even more sense in you than I ever imagined." She actually embraced me then, and held me in arm's length as she examined me. "You're going to love it here. Isn't it absolutely beautiful here? We'll prepare you so well for everything, and you can finally meet your family!"