The Hidden Children: Ocean's Loop

Chapter 23- Together

Heavenlee spread out the black sleeping bag that Avery and Karlee has brought her. She smiled at the other two "A pink sleeping bag as always?" Heavenlee asked.

"I have my own brand to uphold, would you expect any other color from me?" Karlee asked. She had switched from her cheer uniform to a pair of fuzzy pink pajamas that had white daisies sewn into them. Karlee was holding Heavenlee's cropped hoodie like it was a safety blanket against her chest.

"No, I wouldn't." Heavenlee stated "though don't call it your brand- that makes it sound like it's not who you actually are and it's a show for others." Heavenlee looked at the hoodie that Karlee pulled closer, a sure sign that Heavenlee isn't getting that back any time soon.

"Okay Lele. Though I meant it in more of the way that it his how people know me. I also brought a bunch of fuzzy clothes and blankets so I can stay warm down here" Karlee said "And also- I do have a brand- I am part of a band after all. The Mystics. I actually have my first concert tomorrow. We've been practicing since I was five for this and we debut tomorrow"

Heavenlee turned her head "you're in a band? With who?" She asked

Karlee looked up "well- the singers are me, Sky, and Melody. Trenton plays the drums- and he handles the special effects. They're mostly fire. We also work with Lily and the Kappernacht twins, Emma and Aliyah. Lily plays guitar, Emma plays bass, and Aliyah does a synth piano. Then Elara said she'll be our manager. any profits we get will be split evenly between all of us. Though we all fully know that it is unlikely we'll get any profits for a long while."

"Well I wanna go now! Getting to see you perform would be awesome!" Heavenlee exclaimed. "wait- you said Sky was part of it? But she's in a magical coma?"

Karlee nodded "yeah, this was planned before they all went on the mission. Our only agreement on it was that we would wait until me, Lily, Emma, and Aliyah graduated high school." Karlee said "So the rest of us talked a couple years ago, when Sky went missing and we had decided to go ahead with the plan even though we don't have Sky so it will just be me and Melody doing the singing until Sky wakes up." She smiled brightly, though Heavenlee noticed how the roses in Karlee's hair were just a bit smaller than they usually are.

"Okay." Heavenlee said "I'll still want to see you perform tomorrow."

"we'll find a way for that to happen" Avery said. "they'll be awesome. I remember seeing one of their first practices when Karlee was five. I was 12 at the time. If I remember correctly- that was exactly a year after Declan disappeared. Levi was scared and upset about it all."

"Of course you thought about Levi during that time. Even back then you were obsessed with him" Karlee said. she ended her sentence with a small giggle.

Heavenlee looked between the two of them. "So what's the plan. Either you two tell me you have a plan or I'll do what I do best."

"which is come up with a really bad plan that might get you outed and somehow it works the way you want- with a few major caveats. Am I incorrect in any of that?" Karlee asked

"you forgot about giving me and you heart attacks with fear because those plans do backfire in major ways," Avery said, they glanced over to Heavenlee as he spoke "like getting herself into a proxy deal a day after she learns that she's in constant mortal danger and threatening to suffocate herself because she wanted information about her parents."

"it worked and I mean- this gives me the ability to protect my parents and siblings from harm." Heavenlee said. She leaned her head back against the cliff that the three of them had made camp by. "Aurora and Asher won't have to know that the greek world exists in their own world- much less that their siblings are fighting for every day they live."