White Rabbit

Chapter 7: It Must Be an Honor

"Help me?" Clattonia muses slightly, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because I..." I trail off for a moment, looking for the right words, "You told me that, reminded me that, my duty is to protect people, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to be like everybody else. I don't want to be like everybody else."

"Is that so?" Clattonia says and pauses for a few moments, "Alright, but if you're lying to me, it'll be the last thing you ever do."

"I understand," I say and glance around my surroundings, "So, now what?"

"Where are you?"

"In front of White Rabbit, why?"

"Go around the side of the building," Clattonia instructs.

"Okay, but why?" I ask as I jog down the stairs and make my way around the side of the building into an alleyway, rain continuing to fall from the sky.

"Act like everything's normal. I'll see you and Aeryn when you arrive," Clattonia says before the line goes dead.

"Hello?" I frown, "Clattonia?"

I look at my cell phone to see that she ended the call and I sigh before putting it back in my pocket, as well as the slip of paper.

"Well," I sigh and look up at the sky, "Now what?"

Suddenly, an aura of black energy appears beside me and my eyes widen in surprise when a black haired, brown eyed girl wearing a black leather jacket, red tank top, black ruffled skirt, black and dark grey thigh-high tights, tall, black, lace-up, heeled boots, a red headband, and red belt loops appears. She smirks at me and twirls around a black pistol with red and hot pink engravings on it before putting it away and crossing her arms.

"I'm Aeryn Diadem," The girl continues to smirk, "It must be an honor for you to be escorted by me. Usually I'm the one who people offer to escort."

I raise a brow at the girl and refrain from shaking my head or rolling my eyes. This must be what Clattonia meant when she said she'll see me and Aeryn when we arrive.

"Come on, let's go. We don't have all day. I understand that you want to stand there and admire my beauty, but seriously, let's go because I can't stand being in this dingy alleyway," Aeryn says and scrunches up her nose.

Aeryn grabs my hand and before I can ask what she's doing I find myself surrounded by black energy and within an instant my surroundings change so that I'm standing in Clattonia's hideout with Aeryn. Aeryn releases my hand once we're there and she goes over and sits on a nearby couch. Meanwhile, the other now somewhat familiar faces stare back at me expectantly. As I stare back at them I recognize Juniper, Indigo, Reece, and Clattonia, but other than that, I don't know any of them, aside from Aeryn. Reece scowls at me and leans against the wall with his arms crossed, but Juniper smiles and Indigo waves shyly while Clattonia makes her way over to me from her spot beside Reece.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Clattonia says and Reece snorts.

"If he's going to be working with us he should know his limits," Reece says coldly.

"Reece has a point," Labyrinth says, "After all, we don't want him doing something idiotic."

"Oh, come on," Ink rolls his eyes before grinning, "Don't be so hard on him. I'm sure he'll be a great addition!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Lucian says analytically, "He won't hurt us, I'm aware of that, but how useful can he be aside from getting information?"

"Calm down," Clattonia sighs and tries to get the group to quiet down.

Meanwhile, a girl with blue eyes and white hair tosses her pistol to me and I raise my eyebrows at her. Her eyes drift over to the targets on the side of the wall before she looks back at me and tilts her head in the direction of the targets.

"Caliber?" Clattonia questions when she notices.

"If he can handle my pistol, I'm sure he can be of some use in battles and not get torn to shreds by other supernatural. I'm sure he'll be fine against White Rabbit members though. But that's what we're worried about, isn't it? Supernatural? Being that Jace is a human. Therefore, if the famous sharpshooter prodigy can handle my pistol, he should be fine," Caliber explains.

"I like the idea," Reece smirks slightly and Clattonia glances sharply at him before looking back at me.

I examine the black pistol with white framing and a silver decal in my hand, wondering what makes it so special.

"Challenge accepted," I say and raise the pistol towards the targets, taking a few seconds to aim before firing repeatedly.

Whenever I fire the pistol, black, silver, and blue energy swirl around the gun in a criss cross motion and the bullets that fly out have spirals around them with jagged points, the bullets exploding in blue energy upon impact. After firing as many rounds as the pistol can hold, I examine the targets, which now have no centers left. I look back at Caliber, the girl who gave me the pistol, and toss it back at her. Caliber catches the pistol and nods at me in approval while Reece raises his eyebrows in slight surprise.

"See, what'd I tell you?" Ink grins and Juniper smiles.

"So he can handle Caliber's pistol," Reece starts, "I'm slightly impressed."

"What do you mean I can handle it?" I raise a brow at Reece.

"My pistol is infused with supernatural energy," Caliber explains, "If you would've been unfit to use items infused with supernatural energy, then you would've been turned to ashes within seconds. There's a difference between having powers and using them with weapons and using weapons that have their own supernatural abilities that the owner installed. I was simply proving that you can use supernatural weapons. Most humans can use them, but since they're humans, they can't use their own powers with weapons. For example, Clattonia uses her powers with her weapons, but since they aren't infused with any powers themselves, if a human were to pick one up, it would simply be a normal weapon."

"Wait, I could've just died?!" I exclaim.

"Yes," Caliber nods.

"Then why'd you let me do it?" I ask frantically.

"You are the one who agreed," Caliber says bluntly, "If I would have told you what could happen, then you wouldn't have done it."

"You know what," Reece scowls, "If he wants to stay, he can, but that's only if the others want him here. And don't think I'm saying that because I want you around either, because I don't, but you could be useful."

"Well," Clattonia starts, "Labyrinth?"

Labyrinth scans me over and crosses her arms, but doesn't seem extremely hostile towards me.

"He can stay," Labyrinth says.

"Indigo?" Clattonia raises a brow.

"Yeah," Indigo smiles slightly and nods, "He can stay."

"Ink?" Clattonia asks.

"Sure thing," Ink grins.

"Lucian?" Clattonia asks.

"I suppose he can stay," Lucian says after a few moments.

"Aeryn?" Reece asks.

"Whatever," Aeryn huffs and blows a strand of hair out of her face.

"Juniper?" Reece questions.

"Yes," Juniper smiles.

"Caliber?" Reece raises a brow.

"He is worthy of staying," Caliber nods.

"Katsuro?" Reece asks.

"Yeah, sure," Katsuro smiles.

"It appears that he's staying, then," Clattonia says.

"It appears that way, doesn't it?" Reece rolls his eyes and walks away.