Rosaline Wood (A Violet Eden Follow-on Reboot)

Chapter Sixteen: New York

The whole place was alive. People buzzed about everywhere, talking on phones, hailing taxis and darting in and out of high-rise buildings. It was organised chaos and it was spectacular! And then there was the music; the cacophony of clashing chords filling the air. I could feel the notes flying off the citizens around me. The dull, regular bass of the plodding humans, the sweet individual melodies of the mingling Grigori and the chaotic jumble of the lurking exiles. New York was so full of sound.

    "Rosie?" Cam questioned entwining her fingers in mine, "Are you okay?" I nodded offering a smile to my friend.

    "I'm fine," I muttered in awe, "There's just so much noise. This is amazing!" Cam patted my shoulder and we trailed after Dean.

With our male guide, it was only a brief walk to the Academy buildings. Without Dean, I doubt we would have known the difference from every other high rise. They were boring cement and steel structures with dark, tinted windows panelling all sides. Nothing special; just your typical modern skyscraper. Doubtless, Grandpa would have found something beautiful about them. But the inside of the entry building was . . . WOW!

The place was crawling with security; a uniform guarded every door. Dean flashed a boring looking card at them we entered one of the elevators. He punched a few buttons and we shot upwards at a tremendous speed. At we hit the floor we wanted, I started at the sudden halt of movement almost smacking my face against the cool steel. Someone grabbed my shoulder.

    "Smooth," Dean whispered, "I should warn you . . ." But before he could continue the door slid open revealing a bustling and bright interior. I was overwhelmed by sound. Grigori raced all about the building and the music they emanated was beautiful. Every one of them had perfectly matched melodies mingling and creating an orchestra of perfect harmony. It was bliss. Dean snapped me out of it by taking my hand and half dragging me across the room through another door.

    "Are you okay, Rose?" Dean questioned with a frown, concern written plainly on his face, "You kinda freaked back there." I nodded.

    "Yeah. I'm fine," I replied still in awe, "There's just so much music." My friend stared at me in confusion. He was about to ask a question when Cam burst into the little room we'd taken refuge in.

    "Do not run off like that again!" she ordered, "It is crazy as anything out there and I'm not exactly one of you. I was getting some really funny looks." Dean looked at her like she'd grown a second head. My red headed friend sighed understanding what he was thinking.

    "Her sense," Cam explained, indicating me, "Sound. She hears the music of people's personalities and that stuff." A silent 'o' formed on his lips.

    "And I can read your mind like a book," she added. Apparently she'd now grown a third head.

    "Well, not really like a book," Cam smiled, "Like Professor X, maybe?" Dean continued to stare. Am I truly the only one who can understand her?

    "Cam seems to have developed special powers," I translated, "We're not sure the extent of them yet. We'll talk more about it later." Dean nodded slowly, taking it all in.

    "Back in the bedroom," he whispered to me, "I thought she was joking when she said she had magic powers."

. . .

After we had cleared the air of confusion, Dean led us down a series of winding hallways until we arrived outside an old looking door. Dean knocked and the door swung silently open revealing an office.

    "Mr Nisson. I heard you had arrived," a slim woman greeted unsmilingly from behind a desk, "And you brought friends. How . . . nice." Dean shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. Wait what? Nisson? That was Dean's last name? In that moment I realised just how little I actually knew about him.

    "Josephine," he managed, "This is Rosaline Wood and her friend, Cameron." The woman, Josephine, eyed us as if she'd swallowed something unpleasant.

    "Ah, yes, Rosaline," she purred, "I thought you were meant to be kept under some kind of close guard. I received no information that you were coming to the Academy." I had been in a room with her for less than thirty seconds and I hated her already.

    "It was a last moment decision," Dean tried for a smile, "I didn't have the time to call ahead." Josephine nodded seemingly unimpressed.

    "So," she drawled, placing her hands, palms down on the desk, "What are you here for, Mr Nisson?" At least she wasn't calling him 'Dean' or 'Maple', I told myself.

    "We're here to see Griffin Moore," he stated, "And Lincoln and Violet Wood." Josephine nodded once again.

    "You may proceed to the hospital building," she declared, "But Miss Wood and . . . Kelly was it? Will be accompanied at all times by an escort. I don't feel particularly comfortable having non-Grigori running about wherever they want. And you'll undergo a complete security check." Cam scoffed in disgust.

    "Excuse me!" my friend defended, "Lady, Rose is more Grigori in her eyelash than you are in your entire being! Sweetie, she's a Grigori through and through! We don't need to go through security and we don't need to be tailed like criminals!"

Cam POV

    "We don't need to go through security and we don't need to be tailed like criminals!" I shouted. This woman was getting on my nerves. She smiled a sickly sweet smile.

    "Rosaline may consider herself a Grigori," Jo replied, "But we don't. She has received no formal training and knows nothing of how we work." She made me want to vomit. I slammed my hands on the desk, right on top of hers. Ouch!

    "You wanna know something?" I started but Dean cut me off. The idiot just cut me off and I wasn't even getting warmed up yet!

    "Thank-you, Josephine," the boy really had the trick of fake smiling, "We'll report to Security now. Thank-you for your time." Dean clamped onto my shoulder and dragged me out which couldn't have been that hard seeing as I'm practically half his height.

    "And for the record," I spat before he could get me out the door, "My name is Cameron!" The door slammed in our wake.

    "Really?" Dean rounded on me as soon as we were out of earshot, "How dumb are you? Josephine is running the show at the moment! You can't talk to an authority figure like that!" I rolled my eyes.

    "Sweetie," I replied, "I can. And more importantly, I just did." He blew out a frustrated breath.

    "Seriously," he groaned, "She'll have your head for this. Against her, you're nothing." I shake my head. Time to teach this boy a lesson.

    "You don't know the first thing about me, do you?" I sighed. I saw Rose wilt against the wall eager to stick this one out. "When I meet people now, when I touch them for the first time, I learn everything about them. I get loaded with a whole stack of information; name, birthday, special events, powers, talents, their history, who they've had sex with. The whole works. It hurts when it happens but now I have some serious dirt on your Josephine. Happy?" I got the response I was expecting.

    "Who they had sex with?" Dean choked. He's such a guy. I nodded slowly, emphasising the point.

    "And fantasies." Rose coughed nervously from behind me.

    "Don't we have somewhere to be?" she asked. Yeah, this conversation was about to turn awkward. Dean cleared his throat.

    "Security will be expecting us," he muttered, "We'd better go."

...

So was it worth the wait? Rose doesn't seem to know much about Dean. I mean seriously! She didn't even know his last name. I wonder why he never told her? Anyway. Cam just can't seem to get enough of freaking out Dean can she? I'd love to hear what you've got to say. I really like the next couple of chapters and will get them up asap. As for the song: I like U2 and the title is the same as my chapter so... Yeah.

~SpanishFox