| CHAPTER 32: ALL ABOUT THAT BASS |

"Why are you always so ready to help us?" I asked getting into the car in the passenger seat.

Katia smiled, "My life is pretty boring right now."

"Won't you get in trouble?" I asked as Levi got in the backseat, looking more excited than I am.

She shrugged, "Nothing will happen to me even if I did."

"Oh right, big immortals who can't be killed except by a stupid dagger," I stated dryly, strapping my seatbelt on.

"Exactly," she smiled, "ready?"

"Yup," Levi grinned.

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Katia parked her cherry red vintage car in the huge empty parking lot at the back of the Derek towers from where that Jo lady told me to go from to escape King Alpha.

"This is it," Katia said, turning off the ignition.

"So how are we going to find Collin?" I asked, getting out of the car along with the rest.

"You said he was in some kind of a hospital-looking room with tubes in him, right?" Levi asked.

I nodded.

"Then he must be in the medical laboratory." He said adjusting his weapon belt.

"How do you know that?"

He shrugged, "I've been in a couple of meetings here with King Alpha."

"Okay now," Katia called us, "the magic."

"Right," I stepped towards her along with Levi.

The empty night sky stretched over us with a deafening silence. If anyone looked at us, we'd be seen as three tiny ants in this huge parking lot.

"So whatever Katia's gonna do, makes us invisible, right?" I asked, placing one of my hands in one of Katia's outstretched ones.

"Indeed." She replied taking Levi's hand in her other hand.

She clasped our hands tightly in hers. Her hands were soft and warm, seeming as if she oils them every second.

Katia inhaled and closed her eyes. A look of concentration masked her face as she seemed to be concentrating.

A few seconds passed and when she opened her eyes. Instead of the bright blue colour, a sheen of gold covered her irises.

It only lasted for a few seconds though, before the colour faded and her blue eyes came clear.

She unclasped mine and Levi's hands. Her lips lined with a smile.

"All done."

"Done?" I asked in disbelief, raising my hands and looking at them.

"Yes."

"I didn't feel anything."

"You may not, but it is done. We're invisible to everyone now as long as I keep focus." Katia responded.

I looked at Levi and he only gave me a shrug.

Together, we walked towards the tall tower to the small backdoor from where I made my escape last time. Our shoes scraped across the road making soft noises. More like only mine. Katia and Levi walked as if walking on cotton and air.

We got near the tower. While stepping closer, it took me a second to realize the small grunts and groans behind me.

I twirled around, wide-eyed, to see Katia and Levi's bodies, a few paces behind me, vibrating as if they were being electrocuted. They jerked back, regaining themselves, breathing hard.  

Levi cussed out profanities, "Forgot about the stupid ward."

"Same," Katia spoke.

"Nothing happened to me," I stated.

"You're not exactly a supernatural, are you?" Katia asked.

"Right," I said, "So how do we go in?"

"We can't go in unless the wards are down," Levi spoke placing his hands on his narrow hips, "that's only possible from inside in the control rooms. Or we need a shield of some sort that can prevent us from getting zapped to death."

"Okay, so where is this shield?" I asked.

He shook his head, "It's not an actual shield. Someone has to put it on us. Like...magic."

I turned to Katia.

She shook her head, reading my question, "My magic won't work."

"Then what do we do?" I asked, "I can't go in there alone."

We all went into thinking.

We kept glancing at each other, hoping to think of something that's when Katia's eyes lit up like a lightbulb.

"Why don't you try?" She asked me, a wide smile on her face.

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You have magic." She stated, "try putting a shield on us for two seconds."

I vigorously shook my head, "I can't do it."

"Why not?" Levi piped in.

"I don't know how, and my magic is insane. It goes out of control."

"You only have to do it for two seconds until Levi and I pass," Katia said.

"I can't. How do I even do it?" I looked at my hands, "I don't know."

"Hey," Katia called out to me, I turned towards her, "just listen to me," she spoke, smiling sweetly.

I looked into her eyes. My mouth parted open, and my eyes glued to her like a moth to a lightbulb. She seemed like the most alluring thing I have ever seen in my entire life right now. Her beauty and grace left me dazed. When she spoke, it felt like I was swimming in a pool of soft feathers.

"Just close your eyes and imagine the ward in your head. Imagine it like a big barrier," my eyes closed on their own as she spoke, "now imagine creating a bubble sort of thing and imagine me and Levi in it."

What the hell is going on right now?

I imagined the ward. A tall silver barrier blocking two different grounds. The ward had electric currents running through it, ready to zap anyone who touches it. Then I imagined the shield. My hands rose in front of me as a white glow flowed through my palms, enveloping two figures in my imagination.

"You can pass," I spoke when I was sure my magic had enveloped Katia and Levi securely.  

Katia and Levi passed the silver ward, my white magic ricocheting the electric currents off them.

When they stood safe and sound beside me, I dropped the shield. My magic slammed back into me as if I got hit by a truck. I gasped and doubled over, holding a hand over my chest.

"Hey, you alright?" Levi appeared beside me, his hand hovering over my shoulder but not touching me.

I nodded, breathing hard, "Yeah, I'm fine. This magic thing," I waved my hand around, "always drains me."

"You did wonderfully," Katia grinned.

"Yup," I stood up straighter, "Now let's go."

They gave a nod and together, we stepped towards the backdoor. Levi pickpocketed the door lock with one of his weapons and we three slid in.

"So where is the laboratory?" I asked as Levi pushed a button to call the elevator.

He shrugged, "I know it's on the sixteenth floor. From there, we have to find it out."

The elevator doors dinged open and we stepped in. Levi pushed in the sixteenth-floor button.

"Okay, so how will we take Collin back home after we find him? I mean we didn't really create a solid proof plan."

My question made both Katia and Levi's eyes snap towards me with a delirious look.  

I blinked slowly looking at both of them, "What...?"

Katia and Levi shared a look.

"Ez," Katia spoke slowly and carefully, "we can't take Collin back with us."

My breath got stuck in my throat, "What?"

"If take Collin back without any permission from either Ace or King Alpha, then there will be much more problems than you think."

My eyes skit to Levi to see him giving me the same cautious look.

"But-but," I spluttered, "then why are we here? You said you'd help me."

He scratched the back of his neck, "I said I'd help you sneak into the towers. I didn't mean we'd steal a whole body."

"Then why are we here?" I demanded.

"We just wanted you to see Collin for a while. You missed him. So we thought, we'd sneak you in, you'd meet Collin, hopefully, talk to him for a while, and sneak back out," Katia spoke, "that was the whole plan."

"But I-"

The elevator doors dinged open. A gloved hand pressed onto my mouth, muffling my words. I looked up to see Levi's hands clad in thick black gloves, pressed onto my mouth to shut me up.

When the hell did he wear those gloves?

A man in his late thirties, with a black coat, entered the elevator. Levi, Katia and I held our breaths, scooting far away to the corner of the elevator, away from the man who entered.

My eyes flitted to Levi, and he left my mouth, pressing a finger to his own lips warning me to keep quiet.

The elevator was dead silent except for the man who started humming 'All About That Bass' by Meghan Trainor. He even did a small dance with his small round body, wiggling his butt and I had never wished of bleach more than ever in my life.

We continued the same elevator ride for a few seconds before the doors opened and the man stepped out, letting the door slide shut behind him.

We all released our breaths, letting our shoulders slump.

"All About That Bass will never be the same for me," I said horridly, giving a shudder.

Katia and Levi nodded in agreement.

We all crept out of the elevator when we finally reached the sixteenth floor. Levi again warned me to be quiet and I resisted the urge to snap at him saying 'I am not that loud.'

The corridor was exactly what resembled a hospital. White polished floors, white ceilings, white fluorescent tubes, white walls. Doors lined and corridor and Levi was the one who stealthily opened each door and peeked inside to check if Collin was there in any of those or not.

When I tried opening a door, Katia blocked my way, shaking her head as if saying 'no sweetie, please don't'. I huffed and let Levi do the job.

Levi opened what seemed like the seventh door. That's when his head perked up and he turned his head towards me with a grin.

"Guess who I found?" he asked running a hand through his hair to push them back.

My heart jumped, "Collin?"

"Yup." He popped the 'p'.

He held the door wide open, and I didn't waste a second to rush inside.

He was there.

I inhaled deeply, seeing him lying lifelessly on a white-sheeted bed. His blond hair, light as the sun, spread onto the pillow under him. His lean body was clad in a white striped hospital gown with tubes and wires inserted into his wrist and arms. His face looked thinner and sharper with red circling his eyes.

Slowly, I padded towards him, scared to move too fast or else he'll disappear.

I resisted the urge to cry. I moved to touch his hair, but a gloved hand shot out, grabbing my wrist and stopping me.

"You'll zap him. He's a werewolf." Levi spoke.

I didn't even realize when Levi stood so close behind me.

I nodded, blinking back tears, "Right."

My eyes fell on Collin again and I inhaled deeply.

I missed him so much.

The room was plain and empty with a few drawers kept in the corner and a fake plastic plant. Other than that, nothing at all.

"I didn't realize Collin had such blond hair," Katia spoke.

"Yeah," I answered.

"You're completely opposite with your black one." She spoke.

"What's that on his leg?" Levi asked, looking at a small black mark shaped like a small flower with four petals on Collin's left foot. It was right above his ankle.

"Oh that's his birthmark," I answered.

Levi frowned at it for a while, seeming to be lost in thought, before looking at Katia. They both shared a small look before Katia dismissed it with a shake of her head.

I ignored them, looking back at Collin, "I wish we could teleport him with us back home."

"Want us to give you some time with him?" Katia asked.

I nodded, "Yeah sure."

Levi and Katia left the room.

I sighed, "What did you do Collin? And why? You know I'm so, so, so, mad at you like I can literally punch you right now or hit your face with our football. Once I get Lucretia's crown and trade it in exchange for you. You're gonna have a lot of explaining to do and a lot of apologizing. You could have at least trained me for this type of world instead of keeping me in the dark."  

I snorted, "yeah you must be thinking right now 'Ezzy get out of here, you shouldn't be here. Danger! Danger! Danger!'" I tried pretending Collin's deep voice, "but guess what? I met literal danger and even zapped him. Yup, that's right. I met your king. King of werewolves. King Alpha, my oh so pristine mate," I rolled my eyes, "Jerk. But right now, I'm not the one with tubes inserted in my body, lying on a stupid uncomfy bed who doesn't even know who or what is talking to them."

I stopped myself again from running a hand through his thin strands of hair.

"The day I stop caring for you is the day I'm no longer your sister," I said, "so suck it up, pretty boy. I'm not gonna back down until I get you back."

I stayed silent after that, just staring at him and resisting the urge to touch or hold his hand every single time.

When I felt like I've had enough, I sighed and peeled myself from my position beside Collin and forced myself to walk out the door. It must have been twenty minutes since I stood there.

I walked out the door and clicked it close beside me.

"Hands behind your back!" A voice demanded.

I jumped out of my skin, whipping around to see four men in security guard uniforms. Blue balls of fire illuminated from their hands as they stood positioned at the end of the corridor. I froze in my place.

Wait, am I not invisible?

"I said hands behind your back." One of the guys demanded again.

So am I invisible or not?

Thinking to test it, I put my hand out towards the men with my fingers making a finger heart.

The men frowned, "What...are you doing?"

Okay, not invisible.

I looked around. Where the heck is Katia and Levi?

"This might seem unusual but...do you know that mayo is actually colourless and tasteless ketchup?" I asked.

They all shared a look.

"Yeah, I know, right? Even I was shocked." I spoke, slowly trying to creep towards the elevator.

"Hey, we know you're trying to walk towards the elevator. Stop right there." They pointed their blue light thingy at me.

"Okay, okay," I put my hands up in surrender, "but have you seen these two people? One looks like a goddess and the other looks like a grunge boy."

Almost on cue, a door burst open ten feet behind me.

Katia and Levi slid out.

There was blood caked on the corners of Katia's mouth where long and sharp canines glinted with her eyes glowing wild and golden. Levi had two long knives out in his hands. Dark blood lined its blades.

"Yup." Levi smiled devilishly. There was something maniacal and dangerous about the way he smiled. "Goddess and grunge right here."

"I want to apologize about your twenty-seven warlocks inside," Katia had almost the same evil look as Levi as she spoke referring to the room they just came out from, "honestly, they needed better training." 

"Okay..." I turned towards the security guards, "now that my BFFs are here, Ciao." I gave them a salute and turned around to walk toward Katia and Levi.

"I need more guards and warlocks here on floor 16th." A guy from the security spoke into one of those small microphones that's attached to his collar.

"Oh you really don't need them," Katia said wiping the blood from the corners of her mouth with a napkin, "we'll just leave and save all the drama."

Levi smirked, tilting his head to the side, giving the guards a mischievous look.

"I know I shouldn't be asking this right now," I started, "But what is going on? Why aren't we invisible and why are you people fighting warlocks?"

"Katia's magic weakened because we're in Derek's towers where it's strict to not use witch magic," Levi spoke to me in a low voice, "So the wards slowly drained her magic. We were no longer invisible, and we didn't even know it until the security noticed us from the cameras and came up here."

By the time Levi finished speaking, the elevator doors dinged open, and seven more warlocks marched out, holding out blue fireballs in their palms.

Levi straightened up, keeping his weapons poised while Katia raised her hands, claws shooting out.

Footsteps thudded behind us, and we three twirled around to see almost twenty more warlocks striding from the other end of the corridor.

Where do they keep coming from?

Soon, dozen after dozen warlocks surrounded us from every corner, blue balls of flame ignited in their hands, ready to take us down.

I felt myself scoot close to Katia and Levi whom I expected to be the same as me; tensed and worried.

But instead, Katia had her claws ready to attack and Levi had his weapons out in his hands with a more excited evil look. It was as if Levi was enjoying this. I could feel his excitement before the fight even began.

"Surrender!" One of the security guards commanded.   

Levi smirked mischievously.  "Make me."

It took only two words for the warlocks to charge.

A gloved hand grabbed mine, pulling me until I was sandwiched between Katia and Levi's backs, shielding me from the warlock's attack and their blue flames. I watched through flashes and blur in between bodies and chaos.

Warlocks continued throwing their blue ball flames at Levi and Katia who tried dodging them. Levi took out a small rod from a pocket in his belt. He clicked a sort of button the rod sprung out from both sides, elongating into a human-length staff. He rotated the staff in his hand, creating a shield to block the blue flames.

What in the Chat noir?!

On the other hand, he held a knife that slashed warlocks as they came closer.

Katia clawed at the warlock's chest as they came closer, slashing their skins open. When three or four warlocks came closer, she'd swipe her hand in the air, using magic, sending the warlocks flying back.

A warlock jumped in between the circle Katia and Levi made between their backs where I stood. I jumped back away from him, but he held my wrist pulling me closer. A scream came out of my lips as I tried scratching his hand.

His hand switched to my throat, and I gasped, failing against him.

I couldn't fight like Levi or get claws and canines like Katia.

My magic. I need my magic.

With his hand still squeezing my throat, I brought my hand up to his face and grabbed onto it like a starfish.

Um okay...now white flames please erupt.

They didn't erupt.

Why the hell is my magic not working?

I tried focusing on the white flames to erupt from my hand, but they never came.

"Get off my face!" The warlock snarled trying to move my hand from his face by jerking his head around.

I took his distraction as an opportunity and brought up my knee to his nuts. He yelped, leaving my neck to clutch his jewels and fall onto his knees to the ground.

Something slid in my hand and I yelped, jerking around to see Levi slipping a dagger into my hands.

"You'll need that," He said, his knife swinging and fighting off three warlocks, "kicking them in the dick is kinda harsh."

I stared at the dagger in my hand. Dumbfound.

"I don't think it's legal for me to kill people right now," I said with uncertainty.

Levi gave me a wide-eyed stare before breaking off to stab a warlock in the shoulder with his staff.

"No, no, don't kill anyone!" he stated, "it's against the law. Only rulers, kings and leaders can do that. Just hit them enough so they can't move or fight."

I held the dagger firmer in my hands, feeling the hardwood of the hilt.

Okay, I can do this.

I sucked in a deep breath and moved towards a warlock who was already charging at me. I raised the dagger. He raised his blue flame.

We got closer.

"I can't do this!" I screamed suddenly.

The warlock in front of me got startled and tripped backwards.

Oh my god, I'm such a wiener!  

Before I could dwell on the fact of how I can't fight properly, Levi grabbed my elbow pulling me behind him. He started backing slowly, pushing me towards the elevator as he and Katia fought off the warlocks at the front.

When we got close to the elevator, I pushed the button and it opened.

Levi, Katia and I hurtled into the elevator.

Levi spun his staff to make a shield to block the blue flames from reaching us as the elevator doors started to close.

A warlock almost got into the elevator before Levi took out a small pocketknife and lunged it at his shoulder, sending him falling back.

The doors finally closed sending us into an immediate silence from the chaos that just erupted up there.

Levi and Katia were breathing hard, slumping against the elevator walls. I was breathing hard too even if I didn't fight much. The elevator slowly went down in silence.

We all took in a few calming breaths before Levi broke out into a grin.

"Woo, that was fun!"

"You do enjoy violence," Katia stated, standing up straighter. Her claws and canines receded back into her body. Her pink spring dress was torn at some places. Other than that, she still looked like she walked out of Eve's Garden.

Levi had a few rips through his clothes too. His hands and fingers were caked with blood with a few cuts running along his arm. They were visibly healing on their own.

"I hope we get out of this freak tower before any more of those warlocks come down." I spoke, "I never knew meeting an unconscious body meant having a war fest."

"Let's just hope we can get into the mansion without King Alpha noticing us," Katia said.

"Oh right, forgot about him. Imagine his face if he got to know what we did." Levi grinned.

I snorted, "He'll be like 'you stupid, stupid, stupid human. I can kill you before you even open your eyes arghaghagha'."

Katia chuckled while Levi smiled amusedly.

The elevator doors dinged open and we three stepped out, walking over to the small backdoor from where we came in and from where I made my escape last time to get away from King Alpha.

"Here comes the end of our adventure," Levi said, raising his hand to open the door.

"Stop."

Someone spoke from behind.

All three of us froze in our places.

Like actually froze.

I wasn't able to take any other step forward or even move my hand. From the corner of my eye, I saw Levi and Katia were stuck too.

A blue sort of fog engulfed us, taking the shape of our body as it did so. It turned us around to face the person standing behind us. He had his hands clasped behind his back with a grim look lining his mouth.

His eyes settled on me, and an annoyed look crossed his face.

"You rodents created havoc in my medical center." Ace glared.

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Date: 19 August 2021