It’s a Yacht, Not a Boat

Fenton, Ace, Levi, and Kalei placed their treasures on the bed upstairs and tried to piece together the past events of the last few days to understand what happened.

"So that mirror took you to a place where there's a girl me," Fenton asked.

"Yeah. She's pretty," Ace replied.

Fenton raised his eyebrows in approval and picked up the last remaining piece of Lush, a large shard, and all that could be seen was his face, pretty and sad, and sometimes he would cry.

It disturbed them all because the giant shard would get wet and shake.

"I don't know what we could even do with a broken celestial. How could we even find all the pieces of him," Kalei asked.

"Sorry I lost them. That giant bug came out of my apartment," Levi replied

"Are you sure a man that has glowing blood made a giant bug," Kalei asked.

"It was in my dream, so it happened ," Ace replied.

"That doesn't sound right to me."

"All my dreams have come true though. What else can we go off of?"

Ace picked up Paul, who was, for some reason, very warm, and his outside exterior was bumpy and hard, getting bigger.

"Did he tell you what he is," Ace asked.

"Nah, I guess we'll never know," Fenton replied.

"That is a heart," Lush declared.

Ace dropped it onto the bed, walked to the bathroom, and the sound of the faucet could be heard, and next, the sound of screaming.

Levi tried to open the bathroom door, but it was locked, the screams continued, and Paul signaled danger was near.

"Open the door with your voice," Kalei suggested.

Levi ripped off his grounder and used his magical words.

"Oh! Yes. Unlock."

The door clicked open, but the bedroom door slammed shut and locked itself, balancing it out, and Levi opened the door to see Ace smacking his right hand against the wall.

"He came back! He won't come off my wrist!"

"How did he find you?!"

"Invictus crawled up through the sink, and shot right out! It's like he always knows where I am!"

"I always do, because I was made, just for you," he replied. " I was born, so I could protect you. Of course, I would know where you are."

"That's so creepy."

Their collection of cursed objects was now at a solid four, with Paul, Lush, Invictus, and the Parasitic Twins, but it didn't feel like a victory. Paul was...well, Paul, Lush was broken, the twins refused to help unless Levi let them sleep with half of Atlaan or eat half of Atlaan, and Invictus was obsessed with Acheus.

"Get Paul to tell Invictus to chill out, " Ace told Fenton.

"I can't...they uh... they broke up. He said Invictus is too immature for him."

Kalei giggled and Levi snorted at the very idea of two items in a relationship.

"I don't want to know anymore," Ace sighed.

"Let's focus on finding more and finding out what else my father is up to instead. Follow the list I gave you guys."

They went to work, the oddest list of instructions they were given in their life, but they decided to just go with it. They had no idea what they were doing, and they figured, if this doesn't work we can always leave tomorrow and hope it's not too late.

Fenton's first task was the easiest, assembling all of Team 57 on the boat.

The next task seemed impossible, and it said he should invite almost every astral in Atlaan's Defense Program to Florentine Beach. On the list of instructions Levi gave him, in messy red ink, he wrote, only text Harmonia.

Fenton did as instructed and somehow it worked.

Harmonia was adored by everyone, for her bubbly personality, beautiful looks, charm, and weekends she spent volunteering. It was all out of the goodness of her heart, not because love made her stronger, nothing close to that of course.

She didn't have friends on BookFace , she had a like page, and on her page, with thousands of followers, she posted that she was going to a party on The Night of Sin on her friend's boat. She cross-posted on Twatter and Binstagram , and within an hour everyone knew there was a party happening at Levi's boat.

Levi checked his phone once the notifications and vibrations shook his phone faster than a blender, and grumbled softly to himself.

"It's a yacht, not a boat."

Levi told Ace that his job was to do what he did best.

"Be distracting."

Ace saw this as flirting when it was not.

Levi needed Ace to distract his father from any plans he was going to do, and it worked so well, so disgustingly well, Levi was starting to think his father was interested in Acheus, in a different way .

All he did was give Ace his father's number and told him to teleport around town, making it impossible for him to track him down, but the caveat was that he had to wait until another group of assailants was sent his way, and again he would leave.

Ace called Maximillian while eating breakfast on the deck, pancakes with syrup and chocolate milk, and Fenton balked at the amount of sugar in his diet.

Maximilian played his little game and called Ace back, and Ace didn't pick up.

They continued, calling each other back, and they all giggled like schoolgirls at the table, because it was so easy. Maximillian was an old angry man, obsessed, shaking his fist at clouds, and he refused to give in, refusing to be the one to pick up the phone.

Fenton and Ace spent the next few hours keeping an old man busy while Levi and Kalei went to pay Rikka a visit in the hospital.

-------------------------------------------------

Rikka was elated to see Kalei, she hadn't seen her in almost a year, but when Levi walked into the room, she pointed right at the door, demanding that he leave.

She was exhausted, finally able to sit up, wearing grey sweatpants, her top a thin hospital gown, and she smelled , she knew she smelled because she could smell herself and people were keeping their distance.

She didn't want him there.

"Speak."

Rikka clutched her throat, coughed, shuddered, and then belched.

Levi and Kalei made pained expressions, as little sparks came out of her mouth, in the shapes of various letters and numbers, flowing out, the burp long and malodorous, fizzling and disappearing in mid-air.

Rikka beat her fist against her chest and coughed a little more, then spat out a glowing Q onto the floor.

"Excuse me," she gurgled.

"Levi you should wear a grounder or-"

"I came to apologize and fix what I've done. Not to be lectured."

"Did you, did you really? Because Uncle Max came and he wanted something and I'm sure you want something too," Rikka rasped.

"Fine. Can you tell me why Uncle Rico is using your power?"

"I don't need to. He came to visit me before your dad did. He's at some shady motel near Silver Beach called the Silver Inn."

"Oh my gosh, you have no idea what this means, " Kalei said.

"What does it mean," Rikka asked.

"Levi thinks your dad knows where all the celestials are!"

Rikka shook her head and laughed, the entire notion ridiculous.

"That's impossible. He spends all his money, all his time, disappearing for months on end, getting up to stuff with Uncle Max."

"Maybe it's a cover. What if Rico is in control this entire time? "

"You're smart but you have a big head. My dad isn't a criminal mastermind, he needs help. "

"I'll go talk to him, and then I can explain everything, okay?"

"You're full of yourself. Get out already," Rikka replied.

Kalei turned to leave with him, Rikka said she could stay, but Kalei chose to go with him, because she was still on a mission, after all, to find Rico Slater.

Levi got out his phone, made a quick phone call, and Kalei jumped when Ace appeared, gave a friendly wave, and popped them over to the Silver Inn, and blinked away, once again, off to be distracting.

"Oh my god this place is so gross," Kalei said.

It was.

Levi and Kalei were privileged, seeing regular homes as sheds, but the Silver Inn was disgusting.

Cups littered various places in the parking lot, the sidewalk was old and cracked, with grass growing out of it. Parking spaces hadn't been maintained, the painted lines faded and it was hard to discern where someone could leave their car, causing some people to pack too close together or too far apart.

The two young adults in their swimwear and fancy accessories stood out immediately once they arrived at the Silver Inn, not because of their sudden appearance, but because they looked like potential customers that would pay the bill and not trash the place when they left.

Levi was greeted at the front entrance by the manager and owner, Harry, who he did not like, because he was always shouting when there was no need to shout, and the moment he entered the door, he called him big guy or boss and refused to call him anything else.

"So uh, Harry Harry, is it?"

"No. It's Hairy Harry! Call me Harry for short! What you need boss?"

"Have you seen a sweaty, skinny man with glasses and greying hair?"

"That's kind of rude to describe him-"

"Oh yeah, Rico? He's in room 23, why," Harry asked.

"He's our uncle. Thanks."

They walked past him but Harry grabbed Levi by the arm and told him that he couldn't simply walk in.

"You don't look like his nephew, and she don't look anything like you," Harry said.

Levi grumbled, turned to look at the man, and whispered to him that he should forget we ever came.

"You got it, boss," Harry mumbled, his eyes flickering green, and he left to find someone else to yell at to clean something that should have been done yesterday. Kalei wandered off as well, and Levi grabbed her, asking where she was going.

"I don't know how I got here but I think I should leave," Kalei said.

"Ah...dang...let's make this quick, follow me."

Unable to say no, Kalei followed him from behind, marching awkwardly down the brown carpeted hallway to Room 23. Levi knocked on the door, hard, and waited for an answer, but none came.

Impatient and belligerent, Levi decided to take and take.

It was all he knew.

"Uncle Rico, open the door."

The sound of thumps, pleading, and shouting from the other side of the door emitted, and Rico was banging against the furniture, fighting the coded script that Levi had entered into the simulation, but he couldn't win.

He opened the door, sweaty, skinny, and greying, just as Levi described. He wore no pants, no shirt, only boxers, unshaven, legs hairy, and for some reason, his watch was on as were his socks and shoes.

" Levi? Your hair and skin changed! Did you dye your entire body," Rico asked.

"I don't have time for this! Tell me where you hid the Celestials."

Rico laughed, and the more he laughed, the more his voice became warped and twisted, as did the halls, the walls, the lights, swirling, the colors mixing together, pushing against, reality melting.

Two script codes were written, and they were conflicting.

A bug was found.

"Levi, I have no idea what you're talking about," said the talking dishwasher that replaced his uncle.

Kalei let out a soft ding , toast came out of her socket, breakfast was ready.

Levi stood in the swirling colors, next to a giant toaster and a talking dishwasher, and finally admitted that he couldn't do whatever he wanted without consequences.

"I was mistaken," Levi rasped. "I think I can find the celestials on my own."

The dishwasher opened its mouth, plates clattered onto the floor, breaking, and they splintered into tiny teeth that ran down the halls, around Levi's ankle, climbing upwards, using his leg hairs to pull themselves upwards.

He shook his legs, trying to get them off, and they flew out, off into the swirling, bold madness, giggling, spinning, and the dishwasher sighed.

"I remembered that I made myself forget, but I forgot that I remembered and then Ir remembered tha t I forgot whywwwwwwww....."

Kalei let out more soft dings, her toaster body jerking but her arms still attached at the sides, legs holding it up, and it continued to jerk with every ding, over and over, and over, and Levi giggled nervously, trying to think of what to say next to turn it off, but he didn't know what.

"I don't know why I forgot…..I don't know how. Who told you I forgot? Who told you I knew? "

The dishwasher was angry and set everything on Pots and Pans, Heated Dry.

"I'm sorry," Levi said.

Another soft ding went off.

Paul sat in the hallway, glowing softly, and everyone stared at him, and for some reason, Levi felt like he was being scolded by his mother, a small child again, touching something he shouldn't have.

Nothing was amiss, no toasters, no teeth, no mixing colors, and Paul let out another ding.

"I'm sorry to bother you Uncle. I think I'm going to go now."

"It was nice to see you two. I love you," Rico said.

Levi grazed his fingers on the doorframe, and was confused, the reply so odd considering the circumstances, and he looked at Kalei, who smiled and he knew that it was only him who remembered.

He picked up Paul, who was so very happy that they were doing fine, so worried about them, he was upset that children were playing with matches. Paul had come, just to fix the mess.

Levi had no idea what he was doing and was a zygote in Paul's eyes, after how long he had been alive, and told himself he should possibly get a little leash to make sure Levi doesn't run out into the street next time.

Levi held Paul close, upset that only he and a rock would ever know what happened.