The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (38 page)

~Before the first ray of sunlight could touch
his room, Ace was up and pacing. He had woken up at five in the
morning and after failing to find sleep again, pacing seemed to be
a good option. Had he really argued with Lee the night before or
was that just a horrible dream? And if it were a dream then why
were his fingers trembling as he continued to pace? In the dark of
early morning, Ace could still make out the time plastered to the
far end of the yoga studio. It was still far too early to go
bursting into the Stelter penthouse. Even if Lee didn’t mind, Lotus
was sure to throw a fit.

He had been up for over an hour now. For him
it was impossible to go back to sleep. What was even more
impossible was sitting there and willing the clock to tick a little
faster. It only took him two more paces to realize the fretfulness
had reached a climax. The mix of emotions, from guilt to anxiety to
regret, were eating him like a poison flowering from his stomach to
the surface. He whipped around in mid-step and was out the gym door
in no time.

Golden sun greeted him over the horizon as he
shielded his eyes and he hadn’t noticed how much he had sweat due
to nerves until the crisp ocean air blew back his oversized
t-shirt. With the cold pavement on his bare toes, Ace began
marching swiftly to the large glass doors. With each stride,
apologetic words whirled around in his mind. He wasn’t even sure
where to begin, or even why he wanted to apologize. In the back of
his mind it was Lee that had done wrong, but that wasn’t his main
concern. What was really important was that they had a disagreement
and one of them had to change to make the other happy.

With his mind clouded in thoughts, Ace hardly
heard someone clear their throat as he marched past a pool chair.
When he whirled around Ithaca smiled at him from under her big
woven hat and sunglasses. Her arms exposed under the black tankini
top and for the first time, Ace noticed how toned they were.
Ithaca’s arms would have been as pixie thin as Lee’s if it weren’t
for the curve of her biceps and shoulders.

“
Ithaca!” he gasped noting
that she was clearly dressed for a day at the beach. “Wh- what are
you doing here?”

With her arms and legs folded, Ithaca sat up
and replied, “Waiting for you of course. Now get dressed Mason.
We’re going to the beach.”

Ace stood there dumbstruck and tried not to
look at the way her shorts flaunted her long athletic legs. “I
can’t right now.” He replied, “I have to-”

“
Look Mason,” began Ithaca,
her tone slicing his next words. “It’s now or never, you can
decide. I have the answers you are looking for and I am a very busy
woman. This opportunity won’t be coming around anytime soon. Now
get dressed.”

Ace only gaped at her with his feet feeling
as if they were made of cinderblocks.

“
Now
Mason.” Ithaca persisted as she climbed to her feet. “What
could possibly be so important that you would give up this
opportunity to find out anything you want?”

Lee.
She was only thing on this planet that could make him rethink
anything. But Ithaca had what he wanted; answers. Again his feet
remained glued to the ground. He couldn’t just leave Lee when they
were already on bad terms. Perhaps Ithaca could spare a few seconds
for him to write a note…?

“
Well?” Ithaca
interrupted.

“
Alright fine.” Ace snapped
turning back to the gym. “I’ll be right back.”

As Ace fumbled around the gym for a pair of
swim trunks, his eyes couldn’t stop wondering around for a pen and
some paper. Even after he found a folded pair of swim shorts, he
couldn’t stop searching. Time continued to tick as he spun in a
slow circle around the gym equipment and in the back of his mind,
Ithaca tapped her toe impatiently. Finally when Ace returned
ripping off the tag of Kasper’s swim trunks, Ithaca was still
wearing the same smile he had left her with. “Where are we going?”
he asked forcing himself not to be frustrated.

Ithaca replied without a word. Instead her
eyes locked to his as she swung her arms around his hips. Before
Ace could fully comprehend how close their bodies where, the world
was spinning and his feet where whipped out from beneath him. All
the air sucked from his lungs, and just as he gasped for breath, he
was slammed back down on damp sand.

The sudden impact sent him tumbling to the
coarse beach. But as he rolled back onto his feet, Ace managed to
glance around. As the sun continued into the sky, the cotton candy
colored clouds parted the rays as if some angelic being where about
to descend. Ace covered his eyes with one hand and with the other
wiped away the taste of fishy sand stuck to his lips. Though the
day was still young, he could make out the sight of eager swimmers
hurrying to the water line with surfboards over their heads. Over
their excited hoops and whistles, the roar of enormous crashing
waves hammered its way to his ears.

“
Where are we?” asked Ace
glancing inland. Upon first glance, the distant mountains seemed to
have more of a horizontal incline and the vegetation was less
tropical. A long stretch of sand separated the thick forest bushes
from the grey-blue waters. Regardless of the pastel colored sky,
this sliver of beach seemed darker, and defiantly not as much of a
paradise as Sunset Beach.

“
North Shore,” replied
Ithaca, “It’s to the north of Oahu if you haven’t already guessed
it. In the winter time, this place is perfect for
surfing.”

Ace glanced back at the swells just as a
surfer emerged from a white tube of crashing water. He had never
seen waves so enormous before even when Tarrillian City shared the
same ocean as Hawaii. With the sun rising higher into the sky, the
morning pinks had begun fading to the familiar pastel blue. As Ace
continued to scan the ocean, more and more bobbing bodies seemed to
litter the dark water reminding him of the candles in the pool at
Rose and DH’s wedding.

“
Why here?” he
asked.

Ithaca shrugged as she sat down in the sand.
“It’s public, the weather is lovely, and I needed to work on my
tan.”

For a moment all Ace could do was stand there
and stare down at her giant woven hat as it covered her shoulders
until finally she glanced up. “Well take a seat Mason. Did you need
an invitation?”

Without a response, Ace flopped down on the
sand beside her. He stared at his own reflection in her sunglasses
for a while before finally asking. “What were you planning on
doing?”

“
Whatever you want me to
do.” She replied with a smirk. “Mason ask me anything and I will
answer to the best of my ability. What do you want to
know?”

Her words surprised him. He knew she had all
the answers- or at least claimed to. But when given all free reign,
he couldn’t even decide where to begin. “What are you?” he finally
asked, “Who are you? How am I supposed to know that what you say is
even credible?”

Ithaca’s smirk didn’t wane
as she laid back on her elbows. “All this time you have been
wondering who you are, but the first thing you want to know is who
I am?” They held eyes for a moment as Ithaca analyzed him in
secret. “I can’t put my finger on it Mason, but there is something
about you. I’m not sure if you’ve changed or grown, but there
is
something
about
you.”

Ace sighed, “Just answer me.”

“
Alright, alright,”
continued Ithaca, “I am Ithaca Iglesias. We were friends as
children, but childhood is something you’re clearly not interested
in at the moment so we shall skip that. I am his Majesty’s
discipliner. In other words, my job is to punish those that
threaten our existence. Oh, and I’m an ultranatural which is
something that should interest you very much.”

Ace narrowed his eyes, “Ultranatural? I’ve
never even hear of that.”

“
Well aren’t you in for a
treat then?” Ithaca snickered eagerly. “Normally, supernatual just
have one phenomenal ability. Ultranatural have several. Mirage for
example, she could look into peoples souls, dive into dreams, use
telekinesis, foresight, yadah- yadah, whatever. With her though,
her base ability is to copy. If she has seen someone do something,
she too can then replicate, thus giving her several abilities. Is
that clear Mason?”

The boy nodded after taking in her words, “So
this base ability-?”

“
It’s like with me for
example,” Ithaca cut in, “I’m just like you.
Intangible.”

“
What?” sputtered Ace, “But
the teleporting…?”

“
If you can move through
solid objects, you can move through space as well; it’s as simple
as that. Mason, you’re an ultranatural and you didn’t even know
it.”

Ace recoiled in surprise and stared at her
for a long moment. This was impossible. He didn’t even know her. He
had only met her yesterday, and she was telling him he was more
than he knew he was? All this information was eating into his mind.
It was hard to remember Ithaca had pulled him away from Lee when he
was so excited to hear more. “If I’m what you think is an
ultranatural, then how come I’ve never teleported before?”

Ithaca scoffed, “Have you ever tried to? I
didn’t think so.”

“
What about
Michael?”

Again Ithaca scoffed, “Oh, please. Michael?
The only reason he’s the King is because he hides in plain sight.
And no, he’s not ultra. You can’t branch off from teleportation.
Think of it like a tree. You have to grow the stem before you can
grow the leaves. In this case intangibility is the stem and
teleportation is the leaf. You have to have one before the other.
Yes?”

“
Yeah,” Ace agreed
recognizing the excitement in his own voice. “So teach me how to
teleport.”

“
It’s just like going
intangible…” Ithaca muttered with a roll of the eyes as if Ace were
incompetent. “You can figure that out in your own time. What more
do you want to know?”

Ithaca had now opened his mind to the
immeasurable amount of questions. Questions he never realized he
had, tumbled their way to the front of his mind and his tongue tied
as he tried to figure what he wanted answered most. There were
questions about his past, the fire, how he knew the Stelters as
well as contemplations about the Legend and the race of
supernatural. Mirage had told him about supernatural blood healing
other people and the physics behind an intangible object. Ace’s
mind was spinning and his heart racing with excitement, he knew for
sure that if he had been standing up, he would have needed a
seat.

“
Oh, there is another
ability I have. I should tell you now before we get side tracked.”
stated Ithaca as she climbed to her feet. She offered her hand and
for the first time with his free will, Ace touched her.

“
Come,” she said turning
around and strutting toward the foamy waterline. “I would rather
show you than tell you.”

Ace followed closely behind watching the way
her long dark hair swayed until she stopped on the beach at the
point where the dry sand met the wet. When she whirled around, her
big sunglasses had been pulled off and the golden glow to her hazel
eyes literally took the breath from Ace’s lungs.

Ithaca smiled when their eyes met. Normally
her smiles turned her beautiful almond eyes in vicious glares, but
not this time. When she smiled, she was legitimately happy. “I know
there is a lot to take in but prepare yourself! Your mind is about
to be blown. Sit, sit! I have to show you.”

Before Ithaca could tug his arm down, Ace had
already flopped on the warm sand. “What now?” he asked as casually
as possible.

From her cross-legged seat beside him, Ithaca
turned to look out at the ocean, “Do you see that boy? He’s wearing
red swim trunks and he’s on a yellow surfboard.”

It took a moment for Ace to change gears. He
had been so focused on Ithaca that the beach was practically
invisible to him. When his eyes finally adjusted to the swirling
dark water, he did notice the young child hardly a tennis court
away from the shore line. His arms flailed franticly as he tried to
paddle out to sea. Ace nodded silently at Ithaca but kept his eyes
locked onto the kid. “What about him?”

The moment the words left his lips, a swell
had lifted the boy and the board until it was near vertical before
throwing him backwards into the water. A wave crashed on top of him
just as he reappeared on the surface. Ace cringed as he watched the
water pummel him, but up shore a pair of older high school looking
boys had thrown their heads back with laughter.

“
Nice going Justin!” one of
them hollered. Ace and Ithaca didn’t need supernatural hearing to
follow their shouting.

“
Oh, hush up!” they heard as
their mother slapped a shoe against the trunks of her shouting
boys. Then she turned back to her younger son still flopping about
the surf. “Take a break Justin! You can try again
later!”

Ithaca and Ace both turned back to see the
kid drag his board into waist high water with his head hung in
embarrassment.

“
What was the point of all
that?” Ace asked still watching the boy.

Though Ace wasn’t looking at her, he could
still feel Ithaca smiling as she replied, “I’m going to make him
surf.”

“
What?” sputtered
Ace.

Ithaca held up and hand to silence him then
pointed back at the boy who had now turned back around and was
paddling his board back out to the open ocean. “My third ability is
mind control. Well, it’s more like extreme persuasion- mind control
nonetheless.”