An Immortal's Favour

Jack- One Big Bash

*

I stopped, eyes darting from Kaia's face to Akosua's.

"Mhm, here we are." Akosua bent her long neck, smiling nervously at me, and placed a tan hand over Kaia's shoulder. I opened my mouth to answer.

But the tears beat me to it.

I stayed quiet as the corners of my eyes dampened and stung. Kaia launched forward, wrapping me in her arms, not caring that the shoulder of her top was becoming wet. She was silent, allowing everything- the pain, the anger, the torment -every ugly thing I'd left to rot inside of me to pour out in the moment of my weakness.

No. What am I saying?

I'd always been vulnerable, but it was in Kaia's arms that I reached my breaking point. Nothing had gone as planned; she wasn't supposed to be there, at the summit of a strange mountain, hundreds of feet above the ground, and neither was I. Yet there we both were.

A patch of moisture grew over the crook of my neck as Kaia adjusted her head, burying it into the space at the start of my shoulder. "Gods, I can't believe you're actually here. Both of you."

"We figured it was time," Akosua said.

And, as the two of us pulled back, both of our eyes still red and glazed with more unshed tears, Kaia inclined her head towards Akosua and held out a hand to her, while Akosua, in turn, held one out to me. At that moment, we were nothing more than friends finally free from a lingering bitterness.

All of us (apart from Gale) returned to the hotel, where Kaia booked a room, deciding to bring a trunk full of her things from Akosua's place later on. I briefed them about the party, but couldn't bring myself to talk about my true intentions behind it. I had to tell myself that it was for the best, regardless of whatever my conscience had to say. Too soon, I convinced myself.

It took us three days of working at top speed to get everything- the food, the decoration, etc. -together, despite some minor setbacks. And I did have to pay extra for short notice in some cases, but all in all, we were set to go. Going for the popular bands and caterers was definitely out of the question, but Akosua helped to find great alternatives.

My taxi drew up at The Dome, a large sports and entertainment venue past the city centre, named for the great dome of glass that perched over its concrete base. The structure was surrounded by plains of green grass and other buildings of business. Cars came and went, leaving trails of smoke behind them as they drove down the wide roads over the site.

I thanked my driver, handing over the money that I owed, got out. The Dome stood tall and proud, though the shine of its glass began to dull beneath the fading sky.

The party was due to start at eight in the evening, which was two hours away. Though it didn't hurt to check that everything was still in order for then.

I lingered around without much to do and wound up at our dance hall, the smallest and least showy of the two that were available, thirty minutes before the party was due to start. I surveyed the room, taking in the small chandelier, the giant swathes of blue, translucent fabric that'd been strung up over the walls, falling just short of the floor like waterfalls. The four alcoves at the corners of the dance hall had also been curtained by strings of crystal beads. Not bad for a last minute set up.