Aether Lightning

Chapter Four

Stella went with Charis to the mayor's office. They bid goodbye as Charis enters the building. Renee immediately walks up to Stella. Since there are no guards in sight, the girls decide to go into the building.

Upon entrance, the girls could see that there was no receptionist.Charis is not in sight. Walking down the hall, Stella sees a sign that says it's the mayor's office.

"There's the mayor's office." Stella nodded towards it.

"His name is Adonis." Renee said. "So, we know that he's not Orphea."

"But why the need for private security, then?"

Renee shrugs. "Should we go inside and find out?"

Stella walks to the door, but before she is able to open it, one of the guards comes from around the corner and notices the girls.

"Hey!" the guard shouted. "You're not supposed to be here."

Before the girls could respond, the door next to the mayor's office opens and Tassos pokes his head out. "It's okay! They're with me." He turns to the girls and gives a half cracked smile. "Come, ladies!"

Stella and Renee walk into the room and see Florian and Jasper.

Renee is surprised. "Boys! What did you do?"

Florian smiles. "We just beat up this guy." He nods towards Tassos.

Stella looks at Tassos and then turns to Florian and Jasper. "Explain yourselves."

The boys explained that Tassos knew who they were and started a fight against them. It ended up with Tassos being knocked out. Tassos knew that Stella and Renee were coming here, so he was expecting them as well.

"Anyways," Stella said. "We know the mayor is someone named Adonis. Who is Orphea?"

Tassos smirks. "As if I'll tell you."

"They beat you up before," Renee said. "I can have them do it again."

"Heh! I underestimated them. This time, I'll just call for backup."

"So," Stella said. "Why don't you do it now?"

Tassos smiles. "Because I want to make a deal." He waits for an answer, but doesn't receive anything. "I'll give you Orphea's number two. You can beat him and get whatever information from him."

Stella's eyes brighten up. "And what's in it for you?"

"That's none of your business, but if you must know, with the number two out of the way, I can be by Orphea's side and the new number two."

Stella thinks about it for a moment. "What's his name, then?"

"Good," Tassos smiled. "I thought you might say that. It's Babis. I'll even point you in the right direction."

Stella looks at Renee. "We need to talk about this first." She looks at Florian and Jasper. "Stay here for a bit."

With that said, Stella and Renee stepped out of the room and left Tassos to be guarded by the boys.

Back in the hallway, Stella turns to the mayor's office and leans to Renee. "Let's see if the mayor's in there. I want to confirm some information before we go along with that Tassos guy." She walks to the door and opens the door, there are two people inside. One is Charis who is surprised to see Stella. The other must be the mayor. He looks to be about forty years old. Bald-headed and dark blue eyes. His outfit is a loose collared white shirt, black dress pants and black dress shoes.

"Hello? Can I help you?" asked the mayor. He stands and looks at Stella. When he was standing, his height was slightly shorter than Stella's.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Stella responded.

"Stella? Renee?" Charis said in confusion. "What are you guys doing here?"

"As I was saying," Stella responded and looked at the mayor. "You must be Adonis, correct?"

The mayor rolls his eyes. "Correct! And why are you here?"

"I'll be straight with you. Who is Orphea and is Orphea causing you trouble?"

Adonis looks surprised and hesitates for a long moment.

"Well? We're here because of Nero if that means anything to you."

Adonis looks at Charis. "Can you please step outside?"

Charis is confused, but still did as she was told.

"So, Nero sent you two? Two girls are supposed to help me?"

Renee is upset at that comment. "We could just leave you here and say that you were beyond help."

Adonis shakes his head frantically. "No, no! That's not what I meant."

"Anyways," Stella said. "What is going on here?"

"Well, let me explain," Adonis began. "A few months ago, this girl named Orphea approached me and tried to extort me. She blackmailed into being her puppet."

"How so?"

Adonis lowers his voice. "She has evidence that I'm having an affair with someone."

Renee scoffs "Tsk! Then you deserve to be a puppet!"

Adonis shakes his head. "No, please! I don't want to be in this situation any more!"

Stella sighs. "Whatever. Just act as if everything's normal. We'll take care of everything."

With that said, the girls leave Adonis in his office and return to the room where the boys and Tassos are in.

Stella agrees to Tassos' plan to have him lead her and her friends to the house of Babis.

The walk from the mayor's building to Babis' house was about twenty minutes. From across the street, Tassos, by himself, crosses the street to the house. Stella and her friends follow behind but stop and stay out of sight at the front gate. Tassos goes past the guards and knocks on the door.

The door opens and out comes a guy wearing a red collared shirt, black dress pants, and black sneakers. "Tassos? What are you doing here?"

"Babis!" Tassos said out loud. "So, glad to see you!" He leaned into Babis's ears and no words could be heard. The volume of his voice was too low and Stella was too far away to hear. After a few seconds, Tassos comes to the front gate and finds Stella and her friends waiting. "There! That's him! Happy now?"

Stella stares at Tassos for a while. She looks at Renee, Florian, and Jasper. After a few seconds, they started to go to the front door.