Ninja Stars

Chapter 2 - "Wait, boys?"

A small, black device was tucked in among my jeans and tracksuits, for training, and screeched at the top of its lungs. A flip-up phone was suddenly in my hand when I found the screeching device and I flicked it up, putting it too my ear.

“Hello?”

I relaxed, knowing the voice anywhere. “Jon, thank God.” Jon chuckled on the end of the phone, and I could imagine him, tucked in his room at the academy, hacking at some website, while Oliver, his roommate and our friend, was down in the training room with the others.

“How are you, spider?”

I sighed. “I think we’re almost there. The girl, April, just nipped into a shop to get,” I craned my neck and my eyes widened. “Six bloody pizzas!”

“Cor!” exclaimed Jon. “How hungry is she?” I let out a chuckle at his response.

“Jon, do you know why I’m here?” I heard him sigh on the other end of the phone. April dug in her bag and pulled out a crisp note, sliding it across the counter.

“Really,” he said. “I’m trying to find out. I’m hacking and hacking their data banks, but I’m coming up short when I come anywhere near you. Firewalls everywhere, damn it. There are around seven thousand of us; it’s like a needle in a hay stack over here, spidey.”

He sounded exhausted. “It’s fine Jon. Thanks for the help. Talk to you soon, hacker.”

“You too, spidey.” He hung up and I shoved the phone in my bag, just as April came towards the door. She pushed it out, struggling with the pizzas. I jumped out of the car and grabbed four off of her, whilst she held the last two. She shoved them in the back and thanked me.

She started up the car again, rumbling down the road. “Only a little while now, don’t worry.” I merely nodded in response. The soft music of Taylor Swift floated through the speakers and it turned silence.

Soon, we turned down an alley, and parked the car in it. April pushed the car door open, grabbing the three pizzas. I stared at the small space, wondering where the bloody hell we were.

She turned to look at me, a smile on her face whilst she raised an eyebrow. “You want to sleep in my car, but don’t blame me when those hungry boys run at you for pizza.” She chuckled and I shot out the car, the duffel bag shoved over one shoulder and across my chest. I grabbed the pizzas and followed her down the alley. If she tried to kill me, I’d choke her.

Then, she looked down. She kicked aside the manhole and stared down it, flinching slightly. “Why’ve you opened it?” She sighed and gestured to the hole. It took me a few seconds before the penny dropped. I almost dropped the food. “They live down there!?” I asked outraged. She didn't answer, only slipped her feet down the hole and jumped. Her feet hit a wooden platform.

She looked up, covering her eyes. “You want to stay out there, or find somewhere to live?” with that, she continued the walk over the wooden platform down the sewer. I could smell the raw sewage from up here, a few feet above the green slime.

I huffed and sat on the edge, my legs dangling. “If I find the lochness monster, I’m going back to England.” Then, I slipped in the hole, angling the pizzas to slip through easily with me. The smell hit me first. I let out a howl of agonizing pain and my eyes watered. I’d never smelled anything like it. It was worse than Oliver’s farts.

April chuckled and gestured down the wooden walkway, putting a torch in my hand. It flickered a bit before a bright, solid light poured out of it. I flashed it around the dark tunnel, and almost vomited.

But, I only followed April down the wooden path. She started talking to me, and burst out laughing when I said that I’d blame her if I got eaten by Nessy. She started asking my favourite colour, my favourite books, weapons and what it was like to be in an academy. I answered each politely, a small smile plastered onto my face.