"Let me do all of the talking, okay?" He turns to us before approaching the large white door. The hallways of this building look like a mansion. They're wider than my entire room but are much more minimalistic.
There's hardly any decorations or designs on the walls, but the doors have little engravings on each of them.
"Fine." I abide and cross my arms. I don't trust Carter to get all of my points across, but if this stage three refuses to help us, I'm going to teach him a lesson.
However, I'd rather have a stubborn voyager than a crappy one. I'll take what I can get. "Do you think you'll persuade him?"
Carter looks around before knocking as if he is making sure we're at the right spot. "If he didn't owe me anything, then probably not. But today is your lucky day my friend."
He knocks on the door twice, pauses, then knocks again. Within a few seconds, I hear footsteps walking quickly to the door. It whips right open and a tall man with messy brown hair and dark eye bags stands behind it with a dull expression on his face.
"What do you want, Reynolds?" He quizzes in a raspy voice. He glances over at us two and his annoyed expression doesn't change. I notice something different about him and I can't put my finger on it.
Then I realize.
"Hello, Stallard." Carter smiles.
He doesn't have a sparkle in his eye when he looks at me. He's the first person I have ever met who doesn't have these magical eyes, but his are still magical to look at. They're a bright golden brown with an electric blue and red right down the middle of his iris.
His face is extremely structured, especially in his cheekbones but lacked a little in his jawline. He has a small nose and sparse, thin eyebrows. His nose is a bit crooked, but it doesn't mess with the attractiveness of his face.
"How many hoes are you going to bring over to my dorm? I'm sick of it." He shuts the door and Carter sighs, but knocks once again.
"What?" The man asks through the walls.
"This is about your job, Colton." He calls out sternly. There isn't an answer, but I hear the footsteps again.
"I'm not doing a favor for one of them." He whispers once he opens the door.
"You're not doing them a favor. You're doing me a favor. *Remember?" Carter's voice gets quieter when he says it. Colton's eyes widen and he glances at me, then back at Carter.
"Whatever. Come in." He opens the door for us and Carter sends me a smile as we enter.
Colton's apartment is empty, like nobody lived in it. There's a few couches that face a large window, a large kitchen with a long white countertop. Everything is clean and shiny. Untouched.
"These girls need you to take them to the Underworld." Carter begins, collapsing onto one of his couches. He seems to feel welcome in this empty place. They seem like friends, which is odd to me because I didn't think people from other stages are normally friends unless they already knew each other.
"Under what reason?!" Colton practically shouts. Brooke and I stand by the door while they argue.
"Someone has been misplaced in the Underworld. Her brother." Carter tells him and Colton turns around to face us.
"Which one, the pretty one or the blonde?" He asks, looking right into my eyes. I can sense Brooke blushing next to me, but the red on my face isn't from being flattered. I'm fuming with anger. His gaze lingers on me longer than Brooke and I begin to feel uncomfortable.
"Don't worry about it, he has a weird thing for brunettes. Everyone here could be a model, including you." Carter reassures me from the other side of the room. That doesn't exactly help. Not only is that irrelevant, I would have to spend two weeks with this asshole.
"Well?" Colton asks.
"Me. My name is Julia." I say and his head turns back to look at me.
Carter narrows his eyebrows into a knot. "I thought your name was Juliet?"
"It is. But I like to go by Julia." I announce. "I don't like the name Juliet, it was my grandmother's name."
"Well, Juliet, do you understand how much work it is to travel from here down to earth and then enter the gates of the Underworld without getting caught or dying or making it out in time? Do you understand how much you're asking of me?" He takes a few steps towards me, his jaw clenching.
"Shut up, Colton, don't make her feel guilty. This is your job. You signed up for it." Carter puts him into his place and I enjoy every second of it.
"Is this even legit? It's pretty much impossible for somebody to be misplaced." He begins to brush through his messy hair.
"Trust me, I checked. He's definitely down there and you've only got a week or so left to save him." Carter informs him with the widest smile on his face. I can tell he likes making Colton angry.
"What? I have a week to do this? You've got to be kidding me, Carter. Out of all of the favors I could do for you, you give me the hardest one?" Colton tightens his leather jacket around his chest and takes a seat at the kitchen table.
"How many times have you gone to the Underworld and made it out?" Carter interrogates, making it clear that he knows the answer.
"Seven." Colton mutters. I raise my eyebrows in shock, and I'm honestly impressed.
"How many people have done that as many times as you?"
"Zero."
"That's what I thought. I chose you because you are the best and Julia over here deserves the best because someone doesn't deserve to suffer in that horrible place for eternity. You would know, right?"
Colton looks away from his friend. "It's not that simple. This is a rescue mission, meaning that I have to search the Underworld for him and there's no way of knowing where he is. You know how big this place is, it would be impossible to find one person among millions." He lowers his voice, which doesn't do anything because I can still hear them converse.
"You know you have to do this, man. There's no getting out of it, you know I have authority over you." Carter raises his eyebrows to emphasize his seriousness.
"Oh, don't play that card. I just don't understand chasing after something that's nearly impossible to find." The brunette defends.
"I won't play that card until you refuse to do it. Do you accept this mission, voyager?" Carter stands up as does Colton.
"I suppose." The man returns and the two boys shake hands.
"That settles it. I will give Colton the emeralds the day before your journey. When will you two be taking off?" Carter glances back and forth at Colton and I.
"The day after tomorrow." He glares at me. "I'll meet you at the stage two station and we start at the brink of dawn. Got it?"
I nod. I want to ask him more questions, but he's so intimidating.
"Don't stress about it, Colton, you're my closest friend and I wouldn't send my closest friend off to the Underworld if I thought it wasn't going to end well. Love you man, see you at the party when you get back?" Carter questions as we all walk out, but he keeps his head stuck through the crack of the door.
"Sure." He replies flatly and sarcastically, then Carter shuts the door.
"Isn't he great?" He looks at us and I can't tell if he is being sarcastic or not.
"I'll definitely be looking forward to a long trip with him." Brooke scoffs.
"That's what seven trips to the Underworld does to you." I remark, my voice laced with bitterness.
"Oh, come on guys, he just doesn't open up to new people very quickly. He's a great friend to party with."Carter defends him, but I'm not sure why. There isn't one thing to like about the guy besides his looks.
"You think?" I state.
"Remember, he's the one helping you save your brother." Carter says and I sigh.
"Whatever."
"Wait, what are the parties like here?" Brooke quizzes. Of course she would ask a question like that during a time like this. I'm counting down the hours until my brother is stuck in the Underworld permanently and Brooke is wondering what stage four parties are like?
"I'll let you in on a little secret." Carter admits, "we have these tablets that we call trip tablets. They make you feel like you're drunk without the hangover the next day. It's pretty great. We only use them on special occasions, though."
Brooke's eyes light up instantly. She was addicted to partying when we were alive and now she can be addicted to it when she's dead. Perfect.
"Training tomorrow is going to be unbearable. It might be my last day here..." My voice trails off thinking about being reincarnated as a whole new person. I can't imagine forgetting Nick and Brooke. There's no way of anyone knowing who I am reincarnated as, so I'd lose a lot of people forever.
"Don't say that!" Brooke scolds, "we're going to make it out!"
I sigh as we make our way back to the monorail station. "I sure hope so." Turning to Carter, I narrow my eyebrows. "If Colton was on another voyage or wasn't able to go for whatever reason, would you have still granted us permission to go with someone else?"
He looks down at me. "Nope."
Ahhhhhh what do you think of Colton? :)
It's definitely going to get more interesting from here
-SM