towels and all. He
stood up in the meter deep water sputtering, and caught the last
sight of Malachi's fare blond hair vanishing into the
crowd.
"Well that sucks," Aaron muttered
glancing down at his drenched white attire. His dragon tattoo bled
through the sleeves of his white shirt. "At least I know I can win
a wet t-shirt contest."
Aside from the laughter of the crowd,
there was another one that was much closer and heading their way.
Aaron glanced up to see Ace approaching with his hands jammed into
his damp silvery pockets. "I shouldn't be laughing, but you had to
admit, that was pretty funny."
"Do you guys need a towel?" asked Lee
as she arrived on the scene. She was running a damp rag along her
fare arms and trying to wash away as much champagne from her hair
as she could. "One of the hotel workers gave me this
one."
Rose nodded, "If you don't mind Lee.
I'd just hate to have to drip dry."
"Not at all," she glanced at Ace, "I
think I'll bring one for you, just incase you get pushed in
too."
"I won't get pushed in." Ace
vowed.
Aaron laughed, "That's what I
thought."
Lee walked away giggling and Ace took a
cross-legged seat by the waters edge. "How does it feel to be
married?" be asked as DH and Rose locked fingers under the
water.
"Like a dream come true." DH answered
though his eyes were locked to his wife.
"I never thought I could be this
happy." replied Rose.
Aaron cooed then splashed them
playfully. "I can't tell you how overjoyed I am for you Rose. And I
wish you the best of luck."
"Thanks," she beamed and splashed him
back. When Aaron didn’t commence the splash war, she turned to Ace
and asked, "Did Dohnatello talk to you?"
“ Sure did.” replied Ace
scooting closer to the water’s edge. “Thank you for hooking me up
by the way. He offered to fly us in a private jet.”
Aaron nodded, "Cool, guess you found
out they were supernatural too?"
Ace nodded, "Why didn't you ever tell
me?”
Aaron shrugged and swatted away a moth
drifting across the surface of the water. "Even the High Krome
gotta keep secrets. We can't just go blabbing. As far as I know,
most of the gang doesn’t even know we have supernaturals in the
High. Even if they did, you're still far more popular than they
would ever be."
Ace glanced around. He hadn't
registered it until Aaron mentioned, but throughout the entire
wedding, he seemed to have made eye contact with quite a number of
strangers. Even as he glanced around, there was a clique of girls
by the punch bowl that turned at his gaze. Even from the other end
of the rooftop, among the elegant tables, there sat a group of ten
year olds with their eyes locked in his direction.
"I'm starting to think that whole media
blitz is coming back." Ace confessed when he finished scanning the
scene.
Aaron shook his head, "Nope. The word
on the street is that you're the King. Yes, your little car chase
gave you some oomph in fame, but no one pays attention to the news.
But people talk, and after three months, the whole of Tarrillian
South Side knows you as the King."
"Last I checked no one even knew about
the Legend."
"They didn't, but because of you they
know." Aaron lowered his voice and edged a little closer to Ace.
"Look, I'm not sure how it worked. People might not believe their
eyes, but they'll believe what comes out of their friends mouths.
Now imagine one blitz of media grabbing the attention of one in a
million. Now that one is going to tell their friends. Then their
friend's, friends. It takes time. But if ever you want to get a
message across in the streets, start with the
underground."
"Sounds like high school gossip." DH
mentioned.
"But think about this." Aaron began,
"How did the Legend even start? No one posted a video on the
internet. No one blogged about it, no one put it on TV. Someone had
to tell people about it."
"But that takes time, doesn't it?" Ace
inquired, "There are many cities on every continent, and many gangs
in each city. You can't tell me that one
Blaize Clement
Willa Edwards
Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
Natalie Hancock
Linda Jaivin
Antonia Fraser
Vivian Arend
Craig Gehring
Jenna McCormick
Stephanie Browning