A. Emeritus

Chapter 24

Ember and I peel our arms from around each other and gather our stuff to leave the plane. As I step off the plane I realize I forgot my hat, I turn to head back for it and feel a hand on my shoulder and my hat being placed on my head. Special keeps his hand on my shoulder and guides me off the jet bridge.

"We should stop blocking the path." He tells me, as he leads me through the bridge to the gate where we wait for Papa. Ember and I watch the planes land and take off in the distance, before Fire and Quintessence slowly lead us away from the window and through the terminal. There's so much going on around me I can hardly focus on where I'm going.

"Where are we going?" I ask Special, and start speed walking to keep up with him better.

"We're heading to customs, then the upper level road where we meet the bus." Special explains as he places his right hand on my shoulder and guides me closer to him. "Please stay near me and watch where you're going."

As we approach the lines leading to customs Special takes my hand and leads me through the dividers to the customs agent at the desk.

He places his paperwork and my own on the counter and the agent looks over everything.

"Sir, could you please remove your mask?" The man asks as he holds up Special's passport. Special lifts his mask until the man tells him to lower it. Finally the agent picks up my passport,

"Miss, please face towards me." I do as I'm told and soon enough both passports get the stamp of approval and we move to the other side to wait for the others.

"So, where do we go from here? I mean, like after we get on the bus." I ask Special.

"We head to Indio where we perform at Coachella, there's a few days in Las Vegas on our way to Denver." Special begins to explain as the group slowly begins meeting up with us.

"There should be a copy of the schedule on the bus. You can write everything down on the bus." Papa butts into the conversation. He looks down at me and narrows his eyes. "I expect the best behavior from you, Aster." I raise an eyebrow at him as if to question his sentence.

"I thought I was put under the care of Special while we're out of the abbey?" I question while moving to lean on my suitcase. "Please stop pretending you care about me." I tell him flatly and turn to meet Ember as he jogs over to meet us. Before I can greet him he hands me his phone.

"Valentino won't stop blowing up my phone looking for you." He sighs. I scroll up and see at least fifteen messages in the past five minutes asking him why I'm not answering my phone.

Uttering an apology I slip my phone from my pocket and turn airplane mode off, only to immediately have my phone blow up. I roll my eyes as I text Gizio back.

-Hey, I made it through customs and everything just fine. I had my phone off, I'm not dead.-

As soon as the text is delivered I get a reply.

-I just wanted to make sure you were safe. Love you.-

Fire looks at my phone and sighs.

"I bet he's kept his phone on him just in case you called." He laughs and Quintessence adds.

"Having you across the world for so long is gonna kill him.

Papa begins walking away while the ghouls tease me about Gizio being overprotective. By the time we notice he'd left he was a few meters down the way, probably heading toward the bus. Ember grabs my hand as he runs after Papa dragging me along with him, leaving Quinessence to grab my suitcase and backpack. He slows as we reach Papa and we fall into step next to him. Before I can pull away Papa reaches out his hand and grabs my own in a tight grip.

"Aster please, just for the tour act like you like me." He starts while looking straight ahead, "Don't make me look like a bad father." He continues, making me scoff.

"Tch, you haven't really seen me since the Halloween Ball." I seeth. "By the way, you're likely to attract attention. New leader of a satanic church walking hand in hand with a teenage girl." I look around and try to pull my hand from Papa's.

"I'm not letting go, you're my child, I'm taking care of you while I can." I look at Ember with the most pleading eyes I can possibly manage.

"Papa, Si-" Ember starts, but quickly shuts up upon catching a death glare from Papa. Soon I feel a hand on my left shoulder and another hand separating Papa's from my own. With a quick glance I see Special over my shoulder with a gentle look in his eyes.

"Papa, please remember your relationship with Aster isn't being talked about just yet." Special guides me back by him and links arms with me before explaining, "The clergy has decided that we won't disclose that you're related to Papa just yet. It's best to let you be a mystery and gain a following first."

In the time span of a literal eternity, we reach the bus where Ember drags me in to look around. The inside of the bus was surprisingly dark even with the curtains open.

While I lay my bags on the couch I look at the bunks to see how much space we get.

"I can take a floor bunk, I'm small, I'll fit nicely." I tell them as I pull Signore Foca out of my backpack and throw him into a bottom bunk. "That one's mine." I state, pointing in the direction that Signore Foca landed.

It takes some time for us to get everything figured out and put away, but once we're finally in our seats we are finally on our way to Indio.

While reading my book Fire and Quintessence sit on either side of me.

"Since Special can't be with you at all times and Ember is still too young to keep track of you on his own, the two of us are in charge of you when Special isn't around." Fire explains while motioning to Quintessence.

"I'll be teaching you everything I know whenever we're free." Quintessence tells me, throwing his arm around me and wiggling me side to side, a lot.

"You're gonna give me shaken baby syndrome or something." I complain.

Earth leans across the bus and stops Quintessence.

"You're far too old to get shaken baby syndrome." He says while giving Quinessence a look.

"Aster, will you be joining us on stage at Coachella?" Papa questions as he slides into a spot on the couch, after turning from the back. My eyes widen as I think about the idea of appearing in front of thousands of people for the first time,

"I think I'll stay in the shadows for now. Coachella seems a little too big for me to start." I say, noticing a waiver in my voice. "Everyone at the abbey knows me, no one at Coachella will know me."

Fire places his hand on my head before speaking.

"No one's gonna know you until you get out there, kid" He says in a calming tone. "But I'm sure Papa understands that Coachella is a big event and can be very daunting."

A displeased sound comes from Papa after hearing Fire attempt to defend me. I clear my throat and look at the tour schedule for a second before speaking.

"I'm going to try to be on stage by mid May. That'll give me about a month to make sure that I can swallow my fear and get out there."