As soon as my daddy came walking into our large hotel suite. I wasted little time in running over and throwing myself into his arms for a much needed hug. He held me close, his usual scent spilled over me like a safety blanket. I shaky breath escaped my lungs as I nuzzled my head against his chest. My daddy pulled me away for a moment and looked me over. “Your friends do good work,” my daddy turned towards Joshua who gave a simple thumbs up in return. “Are you sure that Katherine didn’t recognize you?” My daddy couldn’t quite hide the fear that was spreading from his voice.
“Very sure,” I held my head down in shame as I softly whispered. “I was scared when she first saw me,” I admitted. “I still am scared of her.”
“It is okay to be scared,” my daddy replied, his voice over flowing with love and kindness. “I am just happy to see you again,” my daddy got down on one knee and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Verona,” he said in a serious voice. “Do you want to keep helping me? If not I will get you on the first plane ride back to our home. I will even call your mom right now, and convince her not to punish you in any way, shape or forum.”
I knew why he was asking me this question, it was different when the possibility of finding Katherine was still on the table. Now that we knew where she was truly here and from what I had learned, was teaching Trinity her ways. My risk went from 30 percent to 70 percent, the only thing keeping me safe was this disguise. In the back of my mind I heard one of those voices that kept calling out to me in the bathroom frantically saying. “Please let’s go home, I am not ready to face her!”
However, I was still too stubborn to let that happen, so I shook away that voice and whatever fear still remained in me before shaking my head. “No, I am okay now, just a bit scared at first but I can keep going. Plus now we have a general idea of where she is and we can probably gather more information on her much faster now.”
My daddy gave me a skeptical look almost as if he didn’t believe that I was okay. “Anytime you want to go home, please tell me and I will send you back, alright?” I gave him a sharp nod and he ruffled my hair a bit. “It is gonna take me some time to get used to your new look.”
“It goes away quickly,” I replied, looking over my shoulder towards Aisu who was curled into a ball with my daddy’s animal spirit curled around her for comfort of her own. Aisu was just as afraid of Vitani as I was Katherine. I just really hoped that Daddy Thanami’s warning of a scolding with Aisu’s name on it was forgotten. As upset as my daddy could get, he was nothing in comparison to the large purple jaguar spirit.
I was taken to the dining room table where Joshua was sitting. I was growing more grateful for Joshua’s help during this mission, he had been mostly talking and making me laugh while we waited for my daddy to come back. He was the main reason why most of my fear had disappeared once I got back to our hotel. We sat down across from Joshua who was sipping on one of the beers he had brought and tossed one over to my dad. “Since I am on this mission-”
“If you ask me for a beer, young lady, I really will send you back home.” My daddy stated in a stern voice.
“Told you he wouldn’t go for it.” Joshua said, as he tossed me a can of rootbeer for my efforts. “Maybe if I had gotten those wine coolers he might have gone for it.” He said, earning a slight glare from my daddy and a giggle from me. Joshua cleaned his voice before saying. “Alright, so shall we go over everything we have gotten in our first day as JJV?”
“JJV?” My daddy and I said in unison.
“Yes, Jonan, Joshua and Verona.”
“Forgive my brother,” Barry spoke up. The dark green cheetah spirit had been sitting in a corner mostly sleeping during all of this. “He is not the best at coming up with names for groups.”
“We will work shop our team name,” Joshua mumbled.
It honestly felt amazing to sit at the adults table and share information like I really was a spy. I had only gone on two of these missions with my daddy before, I was his mentee back on the island. However, during those missions I was never really allowed to go and get my own information, just shadow him and play with any kids with jepei on the mission. My daddy went first and explained everything that he had learned from the police department. According to his information, The Marsh Pride, as they were called, had slowly but surely been capturing and taking over the drug empire of New York. They had been taking down the leaders of rival gang leaders and taking their former dealers into their family. The man at the top of the chain or rather the king of this pride, was the name Hezekiah Wallace. A man that showed up ten years before all of this was going down and was buying smaller business and eventually started his own bigger nightclub, he owned two very popular restaurants as well as the club he had made for Trinity. He is the main suspect as the kingpin in this operation after one of the undercover operatives saw him at a meeting. The problem was, that operative came up dead a few weeks later and could not testify against him.
Joshua’s information came from the streets he used to run in. According to a few people he knew across the city. Hezekiah Wallace grew up in the same streets, slowly making his way up the ranks of a gang he was once in before he killed their leader and took over. Since then he created an empire that brought him more money than any other drug lord that had lived in the city. A lot of dealers were scared of him since according to them bullet’s bounced right off him like he was made of iron. He was probably using a technique known as protection to make his jepei rock hard. With that technique a user could be shot but minor firearms and be just fine. The other reason they feared him was because of his combat abilities, if you didn’t like him then by all means try and fight him. He keeps information on all of their families to keep them in line just in case, but some of them were loyal to him for things he did for them. Often paying expensive prices that his dealers couldn’t afford and most got a good chunk back for their work. There were also rumors from the streets of a tall woman that would come and kill those that might be thinking of snitching as they called it, as well as a smaller figure that was learning how to kill as well.
“Is she teaching Trinity how to kill?” I asked out loud, growing sick to my stomach just at that statement.
My daddy spoke up his face growing a bit pale as well. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Katherine would take another student. Or perhaps she has convinced Hezekiah to train his daughter in our arts, and that changed into turning her into a warrior. We cannot be sure that this girl is the one these men are speaking about.” My daddy turned to look at me. “What have you learned from today, Verona?”
I took my time in explaining everything that had happened at Club Serenity. “Trinity is learning from Katherine about how to be a proper young lady, like she had done with me. When Trinity was starting to mouth off a bit, she was ready to slap her senseless and when they left she warned her not to do it again. She also told her not to forget that lesson, so she is definitely teaching her something.”
“The real question is what is Katherine doing working with a drug lord and how long has she been here? He must have something that she wants.” My daddy stated.
Joshua spoke up first. “I mean if she is here on orders for Lord Blackthorn, she is after money and helping the biggest dealer in New York and quite possibly the biggest empire on the east coast. Would make you the most money at this moment, the real question is what else is Hezekiah moving?” Joshua rested his palms together and seemed lost in thought for a few moments. “Barry,” he suddenly called out as he stood up and went to grab a nearby jacket of his. “Let’s go.”
“Where are you going?” My daddy asked.
“I need answers and the best answers lay in these streets at night. I will call if I need your help, and I should know more tomorrow.” He gave us a smile before he left the room leaving me alone with my dad.
My dad reached back and undid his ponytail allowing his long brown hair to cover him like a blanket. He let out a long breath deflating almost like a balloon. “I am gonna go take a much needed shower, afterwards we can order room service and relax for the evening-” He didn’t finish as his ringtone went off five times. My daddy lifted his cellphone up and I watched his expression turn as hard as stone. “Damn it,” he mumbled before quickly putting his ponytail back up. “I gotta go, sweetie.” He said, raising to his feet.
“Did something happen?” I asked standing up to go with him.
“Some new information came in, some kind of attack near the docks. I am gonna go and lend a hand.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“I need you to stay here,” he stated firmly. “In case this involves Katherine, knowing her, she doesn’t leave the scene of a crime just to make sure her tracks are covered. We can’t risk her seeing you with me and then this disguise of yours is gone. She is much to smart to not put two and two together.”
He had a good point but I didn’t want to let him go alone. “At least take Aisu with you,” I suggested. “That way you have at least two spirit animals with you in case she is there.”
“If she sees Aisu then she will know you are here.” My daddy placed his hand on my shoulder. “I am sure everything will be fine, and for all I know this is not Katherine’s doing.” He turned towards his spirit animal. “Thanani, stay here with Verona and Aisu.”
“Why?” I asked.
My daddy gave me a knowing look. “Verona we both know if I left you alone then you would try and follow me.” My cheeks flushed from embarrassment as I turned away from him with a pout. “I’ll be back in a few hours, if you are hungry, order room service and lord forbid if you sneak even a whiff of alcohol.”
“It is not gonna happen,” I remarked. “Come on, Daddy I did a lot of bad things but I am not gonna cross that line… yet.”
My daddy laughed at that before making his way out of the room with one more wave. “Now that my brother has left us…” A chill ran down my spine as I turned around to see Thanani beckoning me over with a paw. “Get over here, Verona. It is my turn to give a scolding, and trust me this is not gonna be fun for you.”
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I was officially tired of being scolded now, especially for things I had already said sorry for. By the time Daddy Thanani was finished, Aisu retreated to our gemstone to avoid his wrath anymore and I locked myself in the room I was sharing with Joshua to avoid him. Now since spirit animals could walk through solid objects this didn’t really do much, but it was the thought that counted. I had changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top and made sure my braids were put up into a bun and wrapped in a pink headdress that Mrs. Porsha had told me to use when I go to sleep.
I was just about to start my third episode of an anime called, Bridal Wing Golf, it helped distract my mind from my daddy possibly being in trouble. I was gonna attempt to leave but as long as Thanani was here I was going nowhere. I couldn’t attempt an escape like I did with Momma Leela, she was more lenient with me. Thanani would have sat in my room throughout my grounding if he was in the position that Momma Leela was in. I grabbed a nearby phone to order room service, as I hadn’t eaten since lunch and chose not to eat at Club Serenity. My phone began to buzz, and when I checked it I was greeted by a new number and a text that surprised me. “It’s Trinity, I got your number from Aaliyah.”
I pulled myself up from my prone position and looked over this text for a long time. I had completely forgotten to get this girl’s number from Aaliyah. “Sorry, I forgot to get your number from my cousin.”
Those three little dots that appeared when someone is typing appeared and I waited at least two minutes until I finally got a text back. “It’s okay lol… we all make mistakes sometimes, what are you doing rn?”
“Nothing really, I’m watching television in my hotel room.”
“You're staying in a hotel?” She texted back. “why not with your cousin?”
“My dad is here on business.” I explained. “So I am staying in his hotel room with him, it is a really big suite.”
Those dots remained on my screen for another minute. “Alright then.” That was all she replied with and then another message came through. “Sorry if I was rude today when we first met. That is just how I am but you seem cool.”
“Thank you,” I texted back, surprised that she actually apologized. “Sorry if I was rude to you in any way.” I began to type but I stopped for a moment, maybe I could use this to help Aaliyah and the others be treated a bit better by this girl. “I am used to standing up for people, but I didn’t know if you were just teasing them or being mean to them.”
Her response came back quickly. “It is just how I have fun with them. They can take it.”
“What if they can’t?” I texted back with four question marks. “What if it really hurts them and you don’t know it.”
She didn’t reply for a few minutes and I wondered if I had pissed her off. I had just set my phone back when three notifications came through.
“Maybe you are right.”
“It was just a bit of fun, no harm done though.”
“Anyway, I wanted to ask you something?”
I read her first two texts wondering if she truly didn’t notice their discomfort from her fun, or if she just didn’t care. “What did you want to ask me?”
Her response sent chills running through my body. “What else do you know about, Mrs. Katherine. We didn’t get to talk more but I think you have been through more with her than you let on.”
“I don’t know much but her reputation on the island is both good and bad. What I told you back in your club is what I know.”
She texted back almost immediately. “Liar.” Her next response came in two separate messages. “You have learned more from her than you are letting on, and probably have faced her…. Wrath more than you are willing to say.” Before I could respond to those two messages she sent back. “It’s okay, you can talk to me openly. I just… I want to know what to expect.”
Her last message to me was a plea. “She is mad at me and I am scared.”
“What happened?”
Her message came back. It was short but to the point. “I made a mistake and bad things happened at that meeting. She took me home but didn’t do anything else, just told me to go inside, and that this was strike two? Do you know what that means?”
My heart felt sick to my stomach. I knew what strike two was. She had a three strike punishment system. Strike one earned you a slap or worse a caning, strike two was a hard training session where she wouldn’t hold back.
I don’t like thinking about strike three.
“Is she teaching you how to fight?”
“Yes, why?” She questioned.
“When?”
“My lesson is in two days.”
“Do you know how to use the protection technique?”
“Not really no… why what is gonna happen?” She asked with three question marks.
I honestly felt back for this girl, she had no idea what was about to happen to her in two days. “She is not gonna hold back in your training on that day. She is gonna let loose her frustrations.” I texted back.
She didn’t respond back for a very long time after that. “Can you help me learn?” She texted back with four crying emojis. “You can come to my house and you can help me right?” Before I could answer she sent me another text with just two words. “Please help.”
I laid back in my bed and looked at those words for a good few minutes. If I helped her maybe that would get me inside better and I could find more about what Katherine is up to here. Maybe even find information to help Joshua and my daddy with their investigations. I texted her back. “Meet me in Central Park tomorrow morning. I can teach you a little that morning.”
The last text I got from her that night was just one word. “Okay.”
I probably would have to run this by my daddy and Joshua but if I could do even a little to help this girl. I would gladly do so.
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How and why this city decided to place a large park in the center of it. I will never understand, however I was more than grateful for this amazing attraction. In the two days I had been here, I could feel myself getting more tired. My home island was filled with nature energy that kept us going strong, in this city there was barely any of that kind of energy. It was like putting the wrong fuel in a car, it could move a bit but eventually it was gonna get slower. However, as soon as I stepped into this park, I could feel power starting to surge through my veins. I had agreed to meet Trinity at one of the ponds, this one being called Turtle Pond. I could see why it got its name as I could already see a few turtles poking their heads out of their shells. I sat down in front of the murky green water and crossed my legs. I missed my home more than I thought I would. I kinda missed Sevil jumping on my bed every morning, I missed the crystal clear blue waters that was in every body of water on the island. I missed the stars that could be seen no matter where you went.
I missed Momma Ravana, after being near Katherine for just a few seconds. It made me desperately want to be held by the woman I truly considered my momma. She was there when Katherine betrayed us, she was there when I had nightmares of the woman, she was the one that came to the mother’s day festival with me for the first time. She gave me unconditional love and affection, it didn’t need to be earned or deserved, she just provided it endlessly.
As a smile crossed my face at the thought of my momma, I heard someone call my fake name. I spun around to see Trinity walking over to me with what looked like a workout bag and a bright wave. Behind her stood two tall and mean looking men, neither had the sign of jepei aura so it was just gonna be us. “Stay back!” She hissed a bit as she looked at the two men. They stopped moving and I could have sworn one of them rolled their eyes. She picked up her speed and I was caught off guard as she threw her arms over me in a tight hug. “Thank you.” She whispered towards me. “I really appreciate this.”
“It’s my pleasure,” I answered, hesitantly putting my arms around her for a firm hug.
As we broke the hug I took a better look at her. She had changed her hairstyle from the previous night and now it was done up on her head like a puffy red and brown bush. Almost looked like a tree with a few leaves from the autumn colors that I see in books and movies. She was not wearing anything that would let people know she was rich. Just workout leggings and a tank top and some kind of cute red shoes. She suddenly grew a bit nervous, “are you sure that Ms. Blackthorn is gonna hurt me?”
“Well it depends on how angry she is.” Judging from the look that spread across her face, Katherine was more than angry. “Was what you did really that bad?”
Trinity began to kick at the ground. How she could go from looking like a queenly brat last night to a scared tween worried about punishment was surprising. “The other night she took me to a private dinner with a few of her investors. Before the dinner started she told me to stay quiet and watch, but one of them insulted my daddy.” Trinity’s hands tightened into tight fists, I could hear her knuckles crack as she did that. “I don’t know why she expected me to not stand up for my daddy… one thing led to another and when we were leaving, she didn’t seem really mad. Just really really calm, like scary calm. She just kicked me out of her car a block away from where I lived and told me this was strike two, and that she would see me for training.”
I knew the calmness that she was talking about. Katherine didn’t show her anger often, not because it didn’t exist, but because she saw no need to be angry. It gets in the way, from the thoughts of anger come hatred, anger blinds you from what is really important, channel all of that anger into your blows but keep your mind calm. Those were just a few of the lessons she had taught me. Anger is a good fuel but it burns quickly so save up your anger until you really need it ,and your blows will burn hotter than the sun. It took me two years to give up on that lesson, to not hold in my anger or rage for too long. It was safer to let it all out than just keep it locked away. “If Ms. Katherine is very calm that means she is trying her best not to lose her temper. She doesn’t like getting angry.” I explained to Trinity.
“How do you know for sure?” She asked. “I know that you are lying to me about your relationship with her. Has this happened to you before?”
I was prepared for this, I had talked it over with my daddy on how to best tell this girl the truth but keep my identity a secret. I sat down on the grass and stared out across turtle lake and a moment later Trinity sat down beside me. “I didn’t mean to lie to you about not knowing, Ms. Katherine. I was just worried that if you knew you would tell her about me and I am really scared of her. I was being taught by her, before my family went back to Spain, we lived on Tarun Island, a homeland for people with jepei. I was not the best behaved child and my parents, Aailiyah’s aunt and uncle, sent me to learn from Katherine. Kinda like having a stern mentor to get me back on the right path and turn me into a proper young lady. I was disrespectful with her at first but she quickly taught me the lesson about disrespect and why I should never do it. After that, I was never like that to her again. She taught me about fighting, how to be proper at dinners, how to let go of certain things even if I liked them. However, the punishments for disobedience were harsh, strike one was a slap, one so hard that it make your head spin and your teeth rattle. That or she would take a cane to your backside and that was the worst. Strike two, is her not holding back in your training, she is gonna make you suffer and if you beg for mercy she will keep going. She won’t stop unless you impress her, land a hit on her, or just submit in silence, no crying or whining just silence.”
“W-What is strike three?” Trinity couldn’t hold back her fear if she was paid a million dollars to do so.
My mind wandered for a moment. I remembered running from her as fast as I could, hiding underneath my bed and in closets. I could never run fast enough, she always caught me and when she did.“Mommy please, please no! Stop!” I closed my eyes tightly as I wrapped my arms around myself in a soft hug. “P-Please,” I found myself begging and hot tears starting to escape from my closed eyes. “Please don’t make me talk about it.”
I hadn’t even noticed that another pair of hands wrapped around me until I looked up at Trinity. “I won’t, it’s okay.” I let out a shaky breath before running my palms across my eyes to dry my tears.
“I’m okay,” I forced a smile across my lips before straightening up. “I am sure she won’t do that to you, and maybe I am overthinking your training session with her tomorrow. I was different and needed a firmer hand, maybe she is gonna be easier with you. However, it’s always best to be prepared so I am gonna show you what I can about the protection technique. Why haven’t you learned it yet?”
Trinity's face relaxed as her fear and nerves seemed to melt like stone. “It’s not that I never learned it, it’s just my daddy taught me not to rely on it. We are lions, we don’t believe in defending, we attack first and weaken our prey before they even have a chance to attack back. So we focused more on amplification.”
“Is your animal spirit a lion like your dad?”
Trinity shook her head and pulled out a ruby colored gemstone from around her neck. “Come on out, Kimmy.” From that adorable name I was guessing that maybe she had a smaller cat spirit like a snow leopard or a mountain lion. I was not expecting a fairly large dark red, komodo dragon spirit. “I have the spirit of the komodo dragon, this is Kimmy.” The large lizard let out a soft groaning sound as Trinity rubbed up and down her head. “Kimmy, this is my new friend, Cindy.”
Kimmy looked up at me with a pair of dark red eyes. “Nice to meet you,” she replied. She sounded like Trinity just with a slightly more grumble in her voice.
“What is your spirit animal?”
“Oh no,” I thought to myself. I didn’t really think of that, I couldn’t risk showing off Aisu. If she told Katherine that she met a new friend with a purple jaguar spirit. She would know I was here. “Spirit of the leopard.” I answered quickly mentally slapping myself as I said that.
“So instead of another animal you come up with my smaller cousin?!” I heard Aisu giggle in my head.
“Will you shut up already!” I thought back. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked as Trinity seemed to have said something while I was scolding Aisu.
“Can I see her?”
“Ummm, I can’t really summon her right now. She is still asleep and it takes a long time for her to wake up.” I forced a bit of laughter before adding. “She is annoyingly cranky if you wake her from her sleep.”
“So now you are putting your worst quality onto me.” Aisu replied in my head.
“Shut up!”
Trinity seemed to believe me as she dropped the subject. “So then, Master Cindy,” she said with a giggle. “Are we gonna start my lessons or what?”
“Yes we can start.” I said laughing a bit as well. Then something came to my mind, there was also rumors of a smaller figure running around Katherine and doing damage to rival gangs. If that was true, then maybe this was a good chance to see if Trinity’s skills were good enough for her to be that figure. “The best way for me to teach you protection is to see how good your use of amplification is. So I wanna spar with you for five minutes.”
“You want me to kick your ass is what you are saying.” A smug little smirk appeared across her lips as she leapt up to her feet. “Since I like you so much I am gonna go easy on you.”
“Thank you for showing me some mercy.” I said with a smile.
I really wish that I held back a bit in this fight. That was the first of three mistakes I made on this mission. Three mistakes that might cost me my life.
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