A. Emeritus

Chapter 27

I wince as the light of my phone burns my retinas, searing the time into my mind. Three forty-seven in the morning, I didn't sleep for too long. I think as I move toward the edge of the bed and quickly fall to the floor, apparently I'm not sleeping on the bottom bunk. Pain shoots through my gut and my stomach grumbles echo through the bus, as I make my way to the back lounge to throw on a game kill time.

A few hours later Fire saunters into the room and quietly sits beside me. I continue my game as Fire begins to speak.

"You slept for a while kid," He starts, as I continue my barrage of attacks on my opponent. "I was starting to think you would sleep through April." He continues with a laugh. With that added I pause my game and turn to face him.

"How long was I asleep? I thought I slept for a few hours."

"It's the sixteenth, you slept for about a day and a half." Fire tells me nonchalantly, as he leans back putting his hands behind his head. "I've seen ghouls your age in Hell sleep for a lot longer after going through what you did."

My interest piqued, I needed to know more.

"Do other kinds of ghouls need to have what Quintessence had to do with me?" I ask, not fully knowing how to word my question. He stares at the screen for a bit before answering.

"Yes, and no. It's not as hard for others to be exposed to their elements." He leans forward and grabs a controller before adding more. "Ghouls in Hell do have more... unconventional ways of exposing their kits to their elements."

As he connects his controller I reset the game. Going a few minutes without explanation I ask the burning question.

"What do the other ghouls do in Hell?" I ask, selecting my character. "For element exposure." I clarify. Fire laughs a little before and selects his character before answering.

"Fire and water babies are thrown into their element. Earth babies play in dirt, rocks, and plants. Air babies have no problem, air is everywhere. Aether is everywhere too, but harder to absorb." I laugh after hearing Fire's explanation. Which he uses to get the upper hand on me and kicks my character in the stomach.

"You whore." I whisper and focus back on the game. "I'm not gonna let you win, no matter how funny the thought of a baby Ember being thrown into a fire is." I double down on my attacks, and quickly win the round.

Round two begins as Water slips into the lounge followed by Papa, already in his suit. Papa looks dazed, as though he spent the night partying instead of sleeping. Water on the other hand looks like he's never had a better night's rest. They settle in and watch as I hit the buttons to make my character throw a couple swords into her opponent's chest, before ripping off his head and eating his face.

"Fucking Hell, you're allowed to play these games?" Water comments after watching that gory scene unfold.

I glance at Water before selecting a new character and lock my selection, while Fire looks over the characters.

"Well, my dad has never said no, I don't think he's even seen me play. Gizio only cares that I know it's glorified violence and that it's not actually acceptable to rip people's arms off."

Fire selects his character and the screen begins to load the next match.

As I begin to seemingly mash buttons and send a barrage of attacks toward Fire, I hear Papa speak.

"I think the violence is okay, but maybe you could place more age-appropriate games. I know that the M on the disk means it's not for children."

I suck my lower lip in and glance back toward him.

"If you wanted to make decisions on the games I play you should have intervened years ago. NOT after I've played them for years." I hit the trigger buttons and the cutscene for the x-ray move starts, and I hear Papa scoff.

"Valentino has always been irresponsible in raising you." My eyes widen at that comment and I slowly look toward Papa, head cocked to the side.

"He did a fucking better job than you. You don't know anything about me. You tried to step in after 11 years of not paying attention to me." I whip the controller at Papa as hard as I can, which water quickly catches before it can make contact. "Even when you tried to parent you just tried to make me into you. It's too late for that; you dodged responsibility for 11 years and now you want to say the one who picked up what you dropped was bad." I snap and notice the feel of the room begins to change. It feels thick, as though the atmosphere has been replaced by cement. As I begin to really tune into the feel, Quintessence slides the door open and quickly grabs me, pulling me into the front lounge.

"Kid, kid." He starts pulling me into a tight squeeze and rocking me side to side. "Kid, you've gotta calm down. Until you can a better control over your power you could easily suffocate them"

As Quintessence continues to try to calm me, I see Ember roll out of the bunk that I had originally picked. He reaches into my bunk and grabs Signore Foca before making his way over to us and pushes the seal against my chest, and begins trying to work it between mine and Quintessence's arms.

"If you ever want to calm her down quickly, just give her this." He says sitting beside me on the couch. Tino gave it to her when she was little, it's been her little comfort item since she got it." Ember explains and motions for Quintessence to release me, only for Ember to instead hold me in a tight hug. I feel Quintessence place his hand on my back.

"She's calming down so fast." He says in surprise. "I never realized how close you two were."

Ember shrugs before moving me back off his chest.

"Is there a way for you to teach her how to control her ghoul power through that Vulcan mindmeld thing you do?"

I giggle, which quickly turns into a gut busting laugh, leaving me gasping for air.

"When did I ever describe him using telepathy on me as a Vulcan mind meld?" I ask between fits of giggles. Suddenly, I notice that I'm not the only one laughing, the ghouls in the back of the bus and earth ghoul in his bunk have started laughing as well. Ember looks to Quintessence, concern painting his face. "Are those guys okay?" Quintessence lets out a light smile.

"It's proof that the pain she went through a couple nights ago worked, her strong emotions are influencing the environment and moods of those around her. The people she's close with are feeling what she's feeling." I look at him confused before looking at Ember, a wide smile on my face. "It's hard to explain why he's not affected, but it's not a problem. Aether ghouls are also resistant to being influenced with another's emotions. The only person I don't hear laughing that would be a sign of a problem is Papa."

Ember looks to the rear lounge and watches as the ghouls compass themselves before leaning to see Papa better. I lean past Ember and see Papa roll his eyes before standing and making his way up toward us. He sits before us and leans in before speaking.

"We will be staying in a hotel while in Denver. From what I know you two are perfectly comfortable sharing a bed, no?" I nod and glance at Ember who looks as though he'd rather not admit the number of times he's stayed in my room to Papa. "We've decided that for Aster to be able to work with Quintessence, you two will be sharing a room with Quintessence and Fire; Who are both fine with sharing a bed." I see Quintessence shrug from the corner of my eye, and Papa continues. "If possible you will have connecting rooms with the rest of the ghouls. I've arranged this in the best possible way to keep you both safe and out of trouble. Finally, in the event that Special cannot accompany the two of you Fire and Quintessence will" Papa pulls his aviators down and looks at us with a stern expression.