the deal
We deliberate for about thirty minutes before Kael and Kavella finally show up. When they do arrive, I notice they are with the man from the train. "What's he doing here?" Natalia and I say in unison. Kavella and Kael then go about explaining their story. Apparently, this man overheard them talking about a secret underground passage that leads to the basement of the Vitarine building, which they are calling the Rose Building for some reason. They tell me that they agreed to pay the big burly weapon collector Kavella's staff in exchange for him successfully sneaking us into the tunnels. They had a problem, though. The man, as good as he is at infiltration, isn't able to pick locks. They need the key to the door down there.
At that point, I introduce Portia as the key holder. She's the second part of our plan, looks like, but the only payment she requires is to be around me. I explain the tricky situation and I try to use words that make me sound unenthusiastic about it to my friends. I am careful with my words, though, because at the same time I don't want to push Portia away and lose that key she has.
After we explain everything to each other, I realize we've suddenly become dependent on strangers. We need this unknown man to get us into the basement, and we need Portia to unlock the door for us. We're in a tight situation here. If either of them are spies, the whole plan goes up in smoke, and we could very well lose our lives. I've never had to put so much trust into the hands of strangers in my life.
We discuss our plans based off of Portia's information. She's telling us that the company has something planned tonight at around 11:30. They are going to be receiving a package and bringing it down to the basement. I am positive that this 'package' is Merava. When they bring Merava down to the basement, she'll be put in the room alongside the Sealed Spirit, where she will awaken him. That's where we will come in.
At some time before 11:30, we'll use the weapon collector Cabel's skill of infiltration and Portia's door unlocking abilities to get into the room with the Sealed Spirit. The goal here isn't to remove the Sealed Spirit from the room, but rather to lie in wait of Merava. When she appears, we will all attack at once. She won't know what's going on, and be overwhelmed. That will be when I deliver the final blow and send her back to the Spirit World indefinitely. Our plan sounds good in theory, but I don't know how well it will work out in practice. Kael seems to have some reservations about the plan but he doesn't say anything about them. I think he's a bit uncomfortable around Portia and Cabel. I can't blame him…I am too.
It's also possible that Kael doesn't see any better opportunities or strategies in his head. This is a tricky situation and most of it is based on factors we can't control. All we can do is try, though. If we die in the process, then so be it. We can't let Merava be free and set all of the Spirit Lords free, we just can't.
After a lot of deliberation, I suddenly find myself at the most awkward dinner party of my life. We're eating here at the hotel, and let me say…I feel anxious.
Portia is sitting next to me, which was unavoidable. She's got her chair pressed flat against mine, though, and I keep bumping into her every time I move my left arm. She's making it super hard to eat.
Kael is sitting directly across from me, and I keep shooting him looks of desperation. Every time I make eye contact with him, my soul is screaming for help, but he doesn't seem to notice. I think he's too caught up noticing Portia to even see my side of things. Sadly enough, I think Kael thinks I LIKE this.
He and Kavella keep whispering things to each other and then looking over at me. Every now and then, Kavella will shoot a glare in Portia's direction. Portia seems completely oblivious to the situation, though.
The weapon collector Cabel is sitting on Kael's other side, and this man is freaking me out just as much. He's looking around the table like crazy, but he hasn't said a single word. I appreciate silence every now and then, but he's just a little bit unnerving.
Natalia is sitting at the head of the table, and she's also shooting out glares to Portia. Unfortunately, she's glaring at me too. They're acting like I invited a monster to eat dinner with us. I didn't even want Portia here.
"She's only here because she bribed me with her key and held a gun to me," I sigh. Kavella sets down her fork and looks at me, but she doesn't say anything. Neither does Kael.
"If I pull a gun on you, can she go away and leave the key?" Natalia barks.
"I don't get why you're all so mean," Portia clicks her tongue. "Jealous much?"
"I don't think they're jealous," Kael inputs. "I think it's the way you're, uh…"
"The way I'm what?"
"You're, um…basically on top of Sigmund, and I don't think he appreciates it."
Portia looks up into my eyes. "Is that true, Sigmund? Are you mad at me? You want me to go running back to Vitarine and tell all my coworkers what's going on here?"
I feel my blood run cold. This girl is outright blackmailing me.
"I couldn't be happier to have you here," I snarl. She notices the distaste in my voice, but she thinks it's funny. Apparently nobody else noticed my mood, though, because they're all giving me glares.
"It's a man's right to have his woman around," Cabel smiles at me. "You two shouldn't talk."
By 'you two', he's referring to Natalia and Kavella. Great. Not only is Cabel big, creepy, and imposing…he's also a chauvinist! At least he's got my back in the situation.
What in the world did I do to deserve a group like this? I've got Kavella, whose fury is absolutely boundless. Even now I can feel her eyes burning a hole through my head. Then there's Kael. He's supposed to be my best friend, but all of a sudden he seems like he's best pals with Kavella. He's barely even looking at me, and he's definitely not talking to me. What did I do to deserve that?
Then there's Natalia. She's hostile no matter how you look at it, and I'm not even sure why. She's a seductress herself, you'd think Portia and she would get along great. I guess they are a little different, though. Portia is straight up clingy. Natalia is more of the light flirtatious type, but she would never be caught dead leaning against someone helplessly while eating dinner like a…like a…
I don't even know what to call it, but she's the only one who ordered pasta and she's slurping down those noodles like she was just hit in the head with a brick and doesn't know where she is.
I thought she was trying to charm me, but it seems almost like the opposite. Her idea of sexy is worthy of a psychiatric evaluation.
After dinner, we all gather up our gear. I leave my bag upstairs in the hotel room, as does everyone else. Even the weapon collector leaves behind his giant pack. We all need to be light on our feet for the upcoming hours, because there's no telling what could happen. All I bring with me is sixty dollars in emergency cash, because hey…you never know. I have Crossed Heart, my sword, also.
From what it looks like, everyone brought weapons and nothing else. Portia has her handheld gun, and that is all. I told her she couldn't use that on Spirits. She told me she knows that already, but she wants it just in case Merava has backup from Vitarine employees.
When she says that, I feel a little nervous. I wasn't thinking of Merava bringing down Vitarine employees with her. That could be a bad situation for me. I definitely don't want to kill or hurt anyone. If I'm placed in that situation, I don't know if I'm going to be able to fight.
Cabel leads us to a small, abandoned building, and we enter it from the back door in utter secrecy. He explains that this building is secretly owned by Vitarine, and they use it to transport people and items back and forth from their headquarters to town. I wonder how he knows this information, but I suppose he wouldn't tell me even if I asked. After all, if everyone had access to information, it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?
We find ourselves in the underground tunnel, and Cabel points us in the direction we need to travel in. I'm expecting him to head back to the inn and wait for his reward, but he doesn't.
"I'll help you guys out, and we'll go back together," he says. I'm shocked at the gesture of kindness, but I don't say a word. I don't know if I can trust him or not, but if I can, then he'll be a good ally to have on my side.
On that note, we proceed into the darkness, which is lit only by an Animus technique of Kael and Kavella's. I wonder what will await us when we finally get to that locked door.