Arrivals
Caliope was pacing in circles, checking the middle clock in a wall of 10 different clocks marking hours in different countries; the announcement of a delay on Vanessa's fly had her a little upset. Falshore was half amused watching her walk around the VIP waiting room as he checked the stock's market on his cell phone every now and then.
Elaine Clark tried to calm her down as she sent her way some soothing energy "not all things are under our power, all we have to do is wait."
Falshore, with his eyes still stuck on his cellphone, shrugged "I don't see any rush anyway."
Elaine perked a brow and looked at him, she was starting to find his presence and comments annoying "that is because you are a guy and you never see weddings the same way as we do... the designer for the dress is waiting, and also is the Chef who is catering our food."
"I will figure it out when it is my turn..."
Pronab smirked "if ever..."
Falshore frowned and looked at Pronab who was sitting near Caliope reading a book. Pronab was hiding a grin but he knew he had touched his ego. Caliope chuckled and looked at Pronab shaking her head. He didn't look back, but smiled as well.
"Your attention please, passengers arriving from Flight Z0735H proceeding from Italy are arriving through Gate 7." The announcer spoke through the speaker.
Caliope jumped excited after hearing the good news, the announcer repeated the message at the same time she was speeding towards the Gate. Pronab and Elaine were behind her, and Falshore with the other two members of their entourage were catching up after them. As soon as she reached the open doors of Gate 7, several passengers started to walk out, some together, others alone. Halfway through a group of tourists, Vanessa was walking as calm as she could towards the exit; she caught Caliope on the side and with a grin, rushed her pace towards her. They hugged and spinned in a comical embrace, they were both laughing.
"I am so happy to see you! I was getting worried... your flight was delayed for so long!"
"I am so tired! they delayed our departure because they lost some luggage from one of their 1st class customers. It was so strange, but here I am!"
Caliope hugged her friend again, and they smiled at eachother. After they slowed down, Vanessa tilted her head to the side to catch the group of people staring at them. Only then Caliope remembered she was not there alone, and turned around embarrassed on the situation.
"Nessa, these people are with me..."
"Lets see, which of these handsome guys is your future husband?"
Caliope laughed and shook her head, picking one of Vanessa's bags away from her. She gave a step towards Elaine and turned around "Amra could not make it here, please excuse him, you will meet him at the residence."
"Not coming to greet his new sort-off-sister-in-law? minus 1 point on Amra..."
She drew an imaginary note and Pronab couldn't hold the laugh, Vanessa turned towards him and smiled. Caliope quickly tried to excuse him "is not like that, we don't have much time and I want to go do... you know... girly stuff... now that you are here... But let me introduce you, this is Elaine Clark, she is Amra's mother..."
"Oh! such a pleasure to meet you Miss Clark, I am sorry about the joke on your son, I am used to tease Caly like this... please forgive me." Vanessa had changed her tone and blushed, trying to excuse herself. Elaine smiled warmly at her and extended her hand, which Vanessa quickly reached and shook politely. "The pleasure, sweet Vanessa, is mine... Caly is like family to us now, and she only had good words towards you..."
"This is Pronab, he is like... Amra's cousin, not legally I guess, but yes, he is like the playful cousin of the family..." said Caliope chuckling, Pronab looked at her at first with amusement, but then with a kind smile. Vanessa had her eyes now on him "Pleased to meet you, Pronab..."
Caliope perked a brow and smiled, it was rare of Vanessa to say so little, especially after she handed her a good start for her punch line in her introduction. Pronab returned the kind smile at Vanessa "Welcome to England, Miss..."
He made a small head bow and Caliope almost gasped, they were both exchanging some very subtle yet obvious flirting gestures. This made her smile, but deep inside, something else moved, and she tried to blame it just to the excitement.
"And these are Falshore, Tom and Hank, they are our bodyguards, trusted men from Sir Caldwels"
Falshore bowed in a more artistic way than Pronab, and so did the other two, they smiled and offered to pick the bags and then lead them towards the cars. "Such an escort, baby... you have a lot of explaining to give..." She chuckled "you have no idea... but all in due time, we have to go see my dress, that is our first stop."
"Ok, I am hooked! I want to see your dress! lets go!"
They headed to the cars and Vanessa tried to behave as she spotted the luxury in which they were traveling. At her job, Vanessa was a classy lady with great manners, she was polite, refined and very well spoken; but whenever she had the chance to see Caliope, it was just so natural of her to be everything different from what she was at work. Now, she had some trouble adjusting her two different personalities into this new scenery; her friend who allowed her to be free and outspoken, and the people around her whose presence only aimed the best of any etiquette.
Once they arrived at the Mall, Vanessa trusted her luggage to bodyguards, who remained at the car, and followed Caliope. After a walk through two floors, they arrived to a small vintage store that only stood out due to its unusual look. Inside, an old lady smiled and welcomed Caliope with two kisses; one on each cheek, and spoke some words to Elaine in a language Vanessa did not understood. Pronab and Falshore both remained outside of the store and the old lady put a "closed" sign on the door. After a curtain was pulled to cover the windows, Elaine took a seat and pulled another one for Vanessa, who sat still waiting for more information on what they were doing "Nessa, this is Ariadne, she is making my dress... it is almost done, but I know you wanted to approve it first so we made reservation today for you to see it..."
"Oh wow... I thought you knew I was kidding... I mean... I would love to see it..."
"And you shall, Caly my darling, please put it on, I love seen you in that dress..."
Caliope giggled and walked towards the dressing room behind the store. After some minutes, and with the help of Ariadne, she finally had everything in place. As soon as she walked out, Vanessa's jaw dropped; a little theatrical for Caliope's taste, but she enjoyed her reaction "Oh my god Caly! you look like a princess!"
Caliope blushed "thank you... the final details will be done by saturday, just minor twitches I asked Ariadne and she is making them possible... I just can't believe it myself either, this is just so beautiful..."
Elaine released a big sigh and smiled "you are beautiful my dear, you look radiant and just... Angelic..."
Her choice of words made Caliope blush. Vanessa rushed to hug her friend and then looked around her for all the perfect details embedded in the dress "I don't see what else can be done, it is just perfect..."
"I have something else in mind to add and you will understand once you see it."
"Ok, I believe you, now I am thrilled to see what else you prepared..."
Ariadne timidly added "M'Lady will have her dream dress soon." Caliope thanked her and the old lady smiled at her, kissing her hands before leading her back to the dressing room. Once they left together, they saw Falshore and Pronab barely looked at each other, Caliope thought some day she would find out what was between them both to hate eachother so much.
Once in the cars, Caliope explained to Vanessa that the next person to see was the Chef who would do the food for the event. Elaine had put a lot of thought into the menu, and Caliope insisted on putting something in particular to make it more personal. Vanessa frowned "a salad? are you sure?"
Caliope chuckled "it is symbolic, it was our first meal together, he never tasted it before, and I teached him how to serve it..."
Elaine sighed "I wasnt aware it was that special... I feel bad now..."
"It is ok, really, I think that everything happened for a reason..."
"I am missing something here, I know I am..."
Caliope blushed "it is nothing, really..."
Elaine shook her head and explained "I interrupted them both, that is what happened..."
"Aw! I am sure it was not made on purpose... right?"
"At that time, it was... " Elaine admitted embarrassed, looking down a little sad, but Caliope smiled and gave her a hug, she blushed. Vanessa watched with a smile as well as she saw them both bonding. "Now, we should be arriving to the Chef's Restaurant in any minute, and I want my Caesar Salad on the menu!"
They all laughed and changed the mood of the day, as they arrived at the Restaurant where they would all meet the Chef, who was famous for cooking food with passion, and he never allowed anyone to make him change his ways only to adapt to people. Elaine made a little introduction while still in the car "he is very admired, and well... I had the pleasure of eating his creations before, you just can't have anyone else after you try his work of art..."
"A work of art?"
"Yes, you will taste it for yourself..."
Once they entered the Restaurant, they noticed that it was empty, Caliope thought it was because they were late or perhaps it was closed, until a young blond men dressed all in white came to greet them. As always, Elaine was the one who spoke first "Greetings, we are here to see Chef Remesch?"
"Yes, of course, he is expecting you, please choose any place in the Restaurant where you would like to seat, he will be coming out of the kitchen briefly. I am Victor, his Sous Chef."
"Thank you, Victor, we will wait for him."
Once the Sous Chef left the main room, Caliope chose the center of the perfectly circled dining room to wait, he leaned close to Elaine to whispered her a question "what are the Sous Chefs?"
"Oh, they are the assistants of the Chef, one Chef can have more than one Sous Chef, and they are very important, like their right hand on the kitchen."
Caliope nodded and looked around the room to see the details of the Restaurant; besides the perfect circle room that was the main dining area, there were two lateral wings that served as themed rooms, one was filled with sea decoration, the other one had a wildlife style, bamboo walls and tiki bars. The decoration on the main dining room was classic and elegant; she could tell why Elaine liked it so much. After only a few minutes, another young man came out of the kitchen, and this one had the top hat of the Chef. Caliope was impressed, he seemed younger than her.
"Lady Clark, I have heard so much about you, I am honored to meet you!"
"Thank you Chef, I am quite delighted to have booked you for this unique and special event... this is the bride, Caliope... and her best friend Vanessa."
"Oh! the bride! pleased to meet you both..."
Caliope smiled kindly "Thank you so much Chef, for taking us in such short notice... "
"This means a lot for her, thank you." Vanessa added, obviously impressed by his youth as well.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, now let me tease your tongues with some of my favorite entries and we can start doing a selection... if that is ok with you?"
"Absolutely!" the tree woman exclaimed in choir.
The Chef went back to the kitchen with a grin on his face, Caliope was entertained. She continued to look around and found the curtains on the walls that gave the atmosphere a very vintage look; the chandeliers were also breath taking. Only when she focused on the windows, she noticed something strange; after she looked closer she thought there were strange shadows at a distance. She rubbed her eyes and started to get nervous, it had been days after she had any encounter with the dark ones, as she called them. The idea that they were being surrounded by them right then and there, having Vanessa close and uninformed, started to panic her. She focused her eyes on the windows again and gasped; there were more shadow figures now standing outside, just watching, she grabbed Elaine's hand squeezing it. Pronab caught Caliope's sudden mood change, he stood up and followed where she was looking then elbowed Falshore, who looked at him frowning first, but then immediately changed and got on guard as he caught there was a situation in the brew. When Vanessa looked at Caliope, she worried and went next to her, kneeling in her front.
"Are you ok baby? you look pale, like you are going to have a heart attack... don't get panicked now!"
"It is not that..."
Elaine tried to relax the mood "I think she is just nervous, maybe you can bring her a glass of water from the kitchen?" trying to distract Vanessa from what was really happening.
"Good idea, I will ask the cute Chef for one."
Vanessa stood up and walked towards the kitchen, and as soon as she crossed the doors, Pronab reached to Caliope and kneeled in front of her "What do you see? ghosts again?"
Caliope shook her head and squeezed Elaine's hand again, she put an arm around her and closed her eyes, trying to use her power to calm her down. Pronab was getting more irritated "can you talk? Caly start saying something please!"
"I see shadows... they are gathering on the windows... it was just one... now they are more, and more are coming by the second!"
Elaine gasped "You mean they can see you? see us? are they humans?"
"No, it is like the dark one on my window back then, remember? once outside the light of the room, it was just a shadow... they are just like that, but is in broad daylight! you can't see them?!"
She shook her head as Pronab turned around to the windows and saw nothing. He frowned and looked at Falshore who pulled out a small dagger. Vanessa walked back in the room with the glass of water and froze at the sight of the sharp weapon "Ok... what is going on?"
"We were hoping for a better time for you to learn all about this, I know Caly wanted to tell you personally, but it seems there is an inconvenience we need to deal with and... well... you my dear, whatever you see from now on, please try not to scream, it will only make things worse." Said Elaine as she stood up and looked around the windows. "I think you are making me more nervous now... Caly?"
She turned her head to see her friend and tried to take a deep breath and invite her to come closer "just come here with me please?"
Vanessa walked slowly and sat next to her. Elaine picked up her phone, then threw it to the table "Useless... they blocked all our signals Pronab... we will have to interfere..."
"I am more worried on what we can't see and why..."
Falshore stood next to them "they must be like the other ones at the residence."
"They were ghosts, impossible to control... for what we know, this ones are targeting us."
Vanessa gasped as she heard the words coming out of Elaine's mouth, she looked at Caliope and whispered. "What kind of friends you have? this is sounding like a bad joke Caly..."
She swallowed hard and looked at Vanessa's eyes, her face and body gesture reflecting the agony and fear she was going through "Anything you see here from now on is not product of your imagination Nessa... I wanted to tell you this with calm and time... they are Angels... real Angels... who are here in earth to protect us... and what they are talking about, is that of which we should fear and be scared... the opposite of Angels... the darkness and creeps behind every horror story... I am sorry my friend... they are here for me."
Elaine turned around and looked at Caliope "I am very sorry darling, but I need you to reach to him... we have no communication to the outside..." And she understood, in her own way, she knew it would come to this. She closed her eyes, crying out for Amra.