by Evie Del Mar
As we got closer, the wind picked up, tossing my hair around my head and the rhythmic thwip thwip thwip of the blades increased in volume.
Cole greeted his uncle, or more like yelled at him. “Where’s the jet? Where did you get this helicopter?”
“I couldn’t exactly park a jet in the parking lot, and when you’re a pilot, you make a lot of other pilot friends and rack up favors.” He turned his attention to the rest of us, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Come on in, guys! It’s not as spacious as the jet, but it’s still nice!”
One by one, we all handed our bags to Colin and climbed inside. I found a seat next to Cole, thinking he might need help calming down again when we took off. Once seated, Cole handed me a headset. I raised an eyebrow to him, wondering why we had to wear them.
“It’s super noisy in here, so we use these to talk to each other,” he yelled over the noise. I nodded and grabbed the headset from him, placing it on my head.
“Melody, can you hear me?” I heard in my headset, sending chills down my spine. I turned to Cole and gave him two thumbs up, not trusting my voice at the moment, especially if everyone else could hear. Once again, Cole gripped the armrests so tight, his knuckles turned white. I moved to grab his hand to soothe him, but someone’s voice came through the headset, stopping me in my tracks.
“Dude, are you alright?” Blake asked. I pulled my hand back and placed it in my lap, not wanting to draw any attention. Cole looked at me, smiling, silently telling me that he appreciated the gesture.
I had told the girls that I didn’t want anything to happen with me and Cole at the moment, at least not until we found all the pieces, or until I figured out what was going on between the two of us. I glanced over at Blair, who giggled, then winked at me, indicating that she did in fact see me almost reach for his hand. I tore my gaze away from her, blushing.
“All right, everyone,” Colin’s voice came through the headset, “buckle up because we’re taking off.” As he finished his sentence, the helicopter began to ascend, then launched forward toward our destination.
I sneaked a glance at Cole, hands still clutching the armrest tightly, his shoulders tensed with unease. I had to figure out a way to help calm him down without causing a scene.
An idea popped in my head. “Hey, Drake!” Maybe I could get us all talking about something, anything, to get Cole’s mind off the fact that we were flying. “Have you figured out where we’re supposed to go search for your missing piece?”
Drake rubbed the back of his neck with his arm, awkwardly smiling. “Yeah, about that…”
Cole chuckled next to me, relaxing his knuckles a bit. My scheme worked. “You haven’t even thought about it, yet, have you?”
“The first line says, ‘where hello and goodbye are one and the same’. How am I supposed to know what the hell that’s supposed to mean?” Drake complained.
The only sound throughout the helicopter was its motor, as everyone silently thought about the meaning of the first line.
“Oh, my God, Blake!” Blair shouted, playfully hitting her brother across the shoulder.
Startled, Blake cried out. “It wasn’t me!”
“No! Do you remember when Mom and Dad had that fashion show in Hawaii?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, do you remember what the receptionist said when Dad checked us into the resort?”
Blake closed his eyes, trying to recall the memory. He suddenly gasped. “You’re right!”
We all sat and waited, hoping the twins would share what they were thinking. I always wondered if there really was such a thing as twin telepathy. I mean, we all have special abilities, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they could perceive each other’s thoughts and feelings.
Drake cleared his throat. “Care to share with the rest of the group?”
“Sorry.” Blair shook her head, coming back to the present. “We went to Hawaii with our parents for one of their fashion shows. When we arrived at the resort, the receptionist greeted us with ‘Aloha!’, which means ‘hello’. After checking in, we started to walk away from the desk when the receptionist said ‘Aloha’ again. Confused, my dad told her that she had already greeted us. She then explained that although ‘aloha’ does mean ‘hello’, it also means ‘goodbye’!” Her voice raised an octave from excitement. “It just depends how it’s used in a sentence.”
“That means Drake’s crystal is somewhere in Hawaii!” Blake finished, equally excited as his sister.
“Man, could this trip get any better?” Drake sighed with satisfaction. “What about the part with Pele?”
“Hang on,” Blair said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out her cellphone and began typing. “Now that we know the location is in Hawaii, maybe there’s something on the internet about Pele.” She became quiet for a moment as her eyes shifted around the screen. “Here. This one says that Pele is the goddess of fire and volcanoes.”
“Naturally…” Drake joked with a crooked grin.
“According to legend,” Blair continued, “it says that she inhabits one of the most active volcanoes in the world—Kīlauea.”
“Wait.” Drake’s smile vanished instantly. “I have to go into a volcano to get my piece?! Lily had hers handed to her on a silver platter, but no, not me. I have to take a nose dive into a volcano!”
“Now that we’ve got an actual location,” Cole started, “let’s retrieve Blair and Blake’s pieces and then we’ll worry about how to get yours, Drake, when the time comes.”
While Drake continued talking about different ideas on how he would get his piece, Colin’s voice interrupted through our headsets, telling us that we had arrived in Las Vegas, and that we were about to start our descent. I had never been to Vegas, but always heard stories about how it was basically a twenty-four hour party city.
Once Colin safely landed the helicopter, in a parking lot behind some abandoned building, we all exited and stepped down onto the ground. Drake was the last one off as he spread his arms wide open. He inhaled deeply and sighed. “Ah, Vegas!”
I looked left and right, searching for the car Tony had said would be waiting. I figured it would be another SUV. I turned to Cole, confused.
“I thought you said Tony would have a car waiting for us?”
He scratched the back of his neck and looked up and down the empty parking lot. “That’s what he said.” As if on cue, a limousine drove around the building, stopping in front of us.
“No…freaking…way!” Drake shouted in between breaths. “Ha, I bet Tony wanted us to have the ‘Vegas experience’.” He sprinted to the limo, hardly able to contain his excitement.
Cole walked over to Colin. “Thanks again, Uncle. What are you going to do now?”
“Well, I know you’re going to need me again for when you’re ready to go to Alaska, so maybe I’ll stick around here until then. Maybe hit up a few casinos?” He gave Cole a wink. “ I just have to go park this somewhere else.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the helicopter. “Why don’t you guys leave some of your things with me? That’s a lot of luggage to be carrying around. I’ll watch them and be back to pick you up whenever you’re finished.”
“Sure, thanks,” Cole replied.
After we handed off some of our bags to Colin, he shouted from the pilot’s seat, “See ya, kid, and good luck!” and flew out of sight.
We all headed to the limo, where a formally dressed driver was waiting to put our luggage in the trunk. Once I handed him my stuff, I crawled into the limo. The carpet, designed with intricate swirls of blue and purple, lined the floor all the way to the back. The mirror on the ceiling reflected everything, including the bright, neon lights on the side panels. On each side were long leather couches that looked like no one had ever sat on them. At the very back wall was a small TV screen. Every one of us grew silent as we took in the interior of the limo.
“To the Luxor Hotel and Casino, please,” Cole told the driver.
“Right away, sir.
”
Drake began playing with buttons on the ceiling, one of which opened up the sunroof. “Hey, we should all take turns sticking our heads out of the roof, like in the movies!”
“Ooooo, I’ll join you!” Blair said. The two of them stood up on the couch and stuck their heads out of the sunroof, their cheers echoing through the limo. Once they had enough, they crouched back down onto the couch.
“How exhilarating!” Blair panted, trying to catch her breath. “All right, Lily, your turn!”
Lily turned to Blake. “Let’s go!” Together, they stuck their heads out, shouting and cheering as well. I couldn’t help but laugh at their childlike behavior, the positive energy contagious.
When they had had enough, Lily and Blake made their way back down onto the couch. “Your turn, Melody!” Lily said, laughing.
I turned to Cole, with anticipation, to see if he would join me. He gave me a smile and nodded his head up, motioning to the roof. He gave me his hand and together, we crawled on top of the couch and stuck our heads out of the roof. The wind was blowing hard, making my hair fly out behind me, and causing me to squint my eyes. I immediately laughed, feeling like I was a kid again, flying through the air on a roller coaster. On instinct, I lifted my arms into the air, and cheered out loud, all thoughts about The Brotherhood and missing crystal pieces leaving my brain, momentarily.
In the midst of my shouts, I noticed that Cole wasn’t cheering, but was instead staring at me. Embarrassed that he thought I was crazy for acting like a child, I put my arms down, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t even look him in the eyes.
He took his finger and traced my jawline, down to my chin, the trail burning under his touch. I looked into his spellbinding, crystal blue eyes. “Never apologize for laughing or having fun,” he said. “You have the most beautiful laugh.”
I couldn’t breathe. I definitely was not expecting him to say that. “Thank you.” We continued staring at each other, our surroundings completely disappearing. My heart immediately picked up pace, making me thankful he didn’t have super hearing. He lifted his hand and brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, but instead of bringing his hand back down, he moved it to the back of my neck. I became frozen in place. Whatever bond we had between us seemed to be growing stronger, more intense, by the day.
He brought his head closer to mine, his eyes finally breaking away from mine to lock onto my lips. Was this the moment I had been thinking about since I first laid eyes on him? I desperately wanted to close the distance between us, to finally feel his lips on mine. I closed my eyes, anxiously waiting.
“Cole!” Drake shouted from inside the limo.
Still frozen in place, I opened my eyes to find Cole just mere inches from my face. What was I doing? I didn’t want to start anything with Cole right now. My main focus was to not let my mother down by finding the missing crystal pieces, but it was almost like I was in a trance. All I could think about was Cole. His hands on my face. His lips nearly on mine. I couldn’t process anything else in that moment.
Not letting go of my neck, Cole sighed, frustrated, “I’m gonna kick his a—,”
“Man, you’ve got to come back down and check out what’s in the fridge!”
Reluctantly, Cole released me, and I instantly missed the warmth of his hands on my skin. “Ladies first,” he said, holding my hand as he helped me back down onto the couch.
Blair turned to me, raising an eyebrow, accusingly. There was no denying she knew what happened, or almost happened, up there and would definitely be asking about it later. To save me from further awkwardness, the driver turned back to us, announcing that we had arrived at the hotel. He parked the limo, got out, and headed to the trunk to unload our bags. Wanting to get away from Blair’s wondering stare, I quickly scooted to the door and exited the limo.
Cole was the last one out and then shook the driver’s hand. “Thank you for the ride.”
The driver smiled. “It was my pleasure.” He got back into the limo and drove away.
“I’m going to go check us in,” Cole informed us. “Drake, why don’t you come with me?” He gave Drake a stern look, and they both walked inside to the to Reception.
As I entered the hotel, my eyes nearly doubled in size at the beauty of the architecture and design. The hotel was in the shape of a huge, black Egyptian pyramid, with a fully loaded casino located right on the first floor. Cheers and shouts from people hitting jackpots and winning filled the area.
Cole and Drake came back with two sets of envelopes, giving one to Blair. “Dad figured it would be easier for us to get to the light beam, so he got us two rooms on the top floor.”
Blair took the envelope and we all loaded onto an elevator, up to the top floor where we separated, heading into the rooms. The girls and I walked into our room and the first thing I noticed were the two queen size beds. A tray of different kinds of fruits and bottled water were neatly placed on each comforter. My stomach growled at the sight. I hurried over, plucked a strawberry from the tray and placed it in my mouth, sighing in contentment.
I walked into the bathroom and was blown away by the impeccable cleanliness. There was a stone shower surrounded by a rock wall, and a large framed mirror underneath bright, studio light fixtures. I definitely could not wait to use the shower in this beautiful bathroom.
Once we unpacked, we left the room and met the guys in the hallway.
Lily looked around, making sure no one was in earshot. “Now what?”
“We can go and survey the area, see where the light beam is and how we can access it?” Cole suggested.
Blair shook her head. “We’ll have to wait until it starts getting darker. They’re not going to have it on during daylight.”
“Well, then,” Blake started, “we might as well go out and walk around for a bit and enjoy the scenery while we can.”
Drake draped an arm around Blake’s shoulders. “Blake, my man, that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day. Let’s go!” He led the way back down to the lobby and out of the hotel.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
We spent the entire afternoon, and into the early evening, viewing all the sights and sounds of Las Vegas. To say that I was overwhelmed would be putting it lightly. Everywhere we turned was another hotel and casino, the cha-ching and buzzer noises from slot machines drowning out the chatter from people walking down the street. Drake insisted on taking pictures with every showgirl that walked down his path, each one wearing a more lavish costume than the previous.
As we made our way back to the Luxor, Blake stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “I’ve got an idea! What if we got someone to give us a tour? That way, someone who works there could show us where the light is, giving us an opportunity to look around. Maybe Blair will have the same ‘pull feeling’ as Lily did.”
Blair gave it a thought. “It couldn’t hurt.”
Drake ran his hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face. “I’ve got the perfect plan on how to get us that tour.” His lips spread in a mischievous smile, and then he walked inside the hotel.
We trailed after him, Blair catching up first as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. “What exactly is your plan?”
Drake pulled something out of his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. “Watch and learn…”
“Is that gum?”
“Yup, pumpkin spice. Chicks can’t get enough of that stuff.”
“It’s summer. Where did you get pumpkin spice anything?”
He put his finger on her lips. “Shhh, don’t question it,” he whispered, and turned to walk to the reception desk where a petite, young woman frantically fixed her strawberry blonde hair and checked her reflection on her computer screen before plastering on a flirtatious smile.
I couldn’t hear a single word Drake was saying to her but he pointed in our direction, making her giggle as she twirled a strand of her hair.
“Is he flirting with her?” Blair sneered.
D
rake waved us over. “Kim has so graciously offered to give us a tour to see the sky beam,” he exclaimed.
Kim giggled at Drake, smiling so big I was worried her cheeks would get stuck. “I’m technically not supposed to,” she admitted. “So, if you all could keep this under wraps, I would greatly appreciate it.”
We climbed onto the elevator as Kim swiped her employee key card, taking us to the top floor. “When we get off, we’ll have to climb two ladders, one person at a time. One is twenty feet and the other is almost forty, so I hope no one is afraid of heights.”
When the elevator doors opened, Kim led us down a hall where the first ladder was, each of us making the climb up. I stepped off the second ladder and saw insulation tarps covering all the sides of the pyramid-shaped building with numerous light bulbs scattered around.
“You mean, it’s not just one bulb?” I asked, bewildered.
Kim shook her head. “No. There are actually thirty-nine individual lamps but only half make up the sky beam, due to cost.”
“Why aren’t they on now?”
“Because it’s not time yet, plus we can’t be in here when they’re on because the room will get too hot.” Kim walked around the room, explaining more about how the sky beam worked.
I stood near Blair, who’d been examining each bulb, and whispered in her ear. “Any sort of feeling or pull?”
She put her hands on her hips and shook her head no, her lips puckering in disappointment.
“Maybe since all of them create the single beam, what if we turn them all on and you examine the beam itself?”
“You might be right, but how are we going to do that with Kim here? Plus, she even said that we can’t be in here when the beam is on.”
I put my fingers to my chin and tried to come up with a plan. I knew light bulbs became hot quickly after they were turned on but I wasn’t so sure about twenty bulbs altogether. All we really needed was a few seconds, a minute max, for Blair to check out the beam. I was very confident the minute the lights turned on, she would feel something. We needed that crystal, and we needed it now.