A/N 6/20/2020: I like Lindsey Stirling and Phantom of the Opera! Pretty much most times, the music at the time will just be some of my favorite songs (which is a variety) that have nothing to do with the story but on the rare occasion, the title of a song or a lyric in a song will fit the chapter. Also let me know if the chapters are too long or too short. If they're too short, I can always go edit the chapters. I'm writing this all ahead of time so that I can post regularly and not feel bad or pressured to get a chapter out. I know all too well that writers block sucks and that life happens. Enjoy the chapter!
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Her father taught her a few moves to stun and immobilize each. He figured those would be enough for now. Amelia was content with what she learned. She practiced them daily so they'd stick and become reflex or instinctive. She wanted to learn this because she came up with an idea that could go wrong, if not done correctly.
"Toby, this is the perfect opportunity. The party will be at the Campbell's house. We could snoop there."
"Are you trying to purposefully get yourself in danger so you can quit? If you don't want to work with the organization, then quit. Don't put yourself in danger to do so." Toby said. They were eating lunch at school.
"It's not that. I know it's risky but I don't want to quit yet. Besides, how many chances do we get like this?"
Toby sighed. "Bad thing is, I know Rin is going to be okay with this. Do you even have an idea of what to look out for? Tell me you have a plan?"
"It's a work in progress." She answered simply.
"AKA, you don't have a plan. I'll help in any way I can, just let me know."
"You can be the look out and just text me when my silly ass is on the verge of getting caught. I'll have Grian and other creatures help too."
"Aren't you supposed to be a lady of high society? Watch that language of yours." Toby teased with a smile.
"We don't have to act all prim and proper 24/7. Right, Tabby Cat?"
"Exactly, Toby. Amelia is right." Tabby stuck her tongue out at Toby.
He scoffed. "Girls always ganging up on me. We really need to add another guy to the group."
"If only there were another guy in our situation. They're either too old or too young." Tabby said. It was nothing personal to normal guys their age. It was just that they learned from experience that most of their classmates are shallow and only see them for their money or more like, their parents money. The ones that aren't after their money just don't pay them any mind; either that or they're too shy to approach them. The three of them have pretty dominating auras, so it could be intimidating to anyone who doesn't know them personally.
"When I was a kid, my dad had a friend and his kid over. I think they were similar to us but he goes to a different school. Otherwise I would have pointed him out." Amelia stated.
"That or we'd see him at the parties but you've never mentioned anyone." Toby pointed out.
Amelia looked confused and then shrugged it off. "Oh yeah . . . oh well." She wouldn't lose sleep over it.
"I know I'm technically not employed by your boss but if while at the party, you need my help, like to distracted people, let me know." Tabby offered.
"Thanks, Tabbs." Both Amelia and Toby said. They usually called her Tabby or Tabby Cat but sometimes, when they were lazy, they would just call her Tabbs.
"Anytime!"
~~~~~~
Amelia had come up with a plan before the party and told Toby and Tabby. She got Grian to go along with it and he in turn got some of his creature friends to help. It wasn't unusual for creatures to sneak into peoples houses. So, if anyone other than herself could see or hear the creatures, it shouldn't be suspicious.
Amelia decided to wait until after the meal to make her move. She thought that the host and whoever, might talk business in that first hour before the meal. So, after the meal and the music started for the dancing and mingling part of the night, she got up and made her way down a hallway that had a bathroom and had the brothers offices. She had a couple of creatures hide in the bathroom to make sure that no one would come use them because when she came out of the offices, she would go to the bathroom just in case someone was coming their way. Then she had Grian wait at the end of the hallway which would have a view of any people coming. She also had an ear piece on a call with Toby so he could tell her also if anyone was leaving the big dining room they were in. It was almost as big as the banquet hall at the venue but not quite as big.
Her adrenaline was pulsing but she was pretty calm at the same time. Even though she hated stressful situations, she could handle herself under pressure. She entered the office and went straight for the desk which was facing the door but by the windows on the far end of the room. She made a silent apology because she realized what she was doing was disrespectful to the deceased. She opened all of the desk drawers and the papers looked pretty normal looking. She decided to feel the underside of the desk and felt a key. She pulled it out and knew it must be for a safe. She went to the closet that was to the left of the desk and behind some boxes, she found a safe. In the safe she found what she was looking for. She took pictures of all the papers and other contents of the safe just in case.
As she was quickly rifling through the papers, something caught her eye. It was notes on the plans her father made for him. It was going to be an auction house like Rin thought. They were going to specialize with creatures, rare items, and people. That made her skin crawl. They were going to sell people? Then there was a small note towards the bottom that said, "Secret partner: Taichi?"
"Elia, Clark and Solomon are heading your way with a couple of others." She heard Toby say on the phone.
"Thanks. I got what I could." She said quickly, as she put the papers and other contents back in the safe. She put it back where she found it and same with the key. Her hands were getting shaky at this point and so she dropped the key. "Crap." She muttered to herself.
"What's wrong?" Toby said in a low, panicked voice.
"I'm being a butterfingers." She said as she quickly tried again. Being successful this time. She ran to the door and quietly closed it. She glanced down the hallway at Grian who was looking between her and the people coming. She didn't have much time left. She knocked on the door, "Guys, it's me, open up now." She didn't hear anything but tried the handle. Locked. "Guys, now is not the time for pranking me." She could hear laughter coming from the creatures on the other side of the door. She looked down the hall again and could see shadows approaching the corner to the hall she was in and Grian looking frantic. "If you don't open this door now, you won't get any shiny objects." This got their attention and the laughter stopped. The door slowly started to open and she yanked it open the rest of the way. She quickly shut the door and locked it. Then she slumped down the door to catch her breath.
"Amelia?" Toby asked.
"I made it. Don't worry. I'll be back shortly." She whispered into the phone and then ended the call. "Guys, that seriously wasn't the time." She gave a warning look which made the animal looking creatures shrink back a little. She didn't mean to be so intimidating. She softened the look on her face and ruffled their heads. "It ended well this time but if we ever need your help again, this can't happen, got it?"
They nodded but started laughing again. "Your face was funny, though! But okay, we want you talk to us again so we won't do that to you anymore."
"Good, now here are your shiny objects like I promised. No fighting over them though." What felt like a long time, was only really less than 10 minutes altogether. She heard the people enter the office and that's when she decided to head back to the party. She was gone long enough.
"Never do anything like that again!" Toby exclaimed quietly once she returned and he pulled her into a hug.
"Trust me, I don't want to. That was way too stressful. I'll send you what I found though." She whispered back.
"You missed it, I was almost going to try to seduce them into stopping." Tabby joked.
"I stopped her though. That just would have been awkward." Toby said with distaste.
"Much appreciated." Amelia laughed.
"It wouldn't have been that bad!" Tabby mock pouted.
After another ten minutes or so, Clark, Solomon and the others came back. People hardly noticed that they left and didn't pay any mind when they got back. That is why Amelia got a little startled when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to see Solomon.
"Yes?" She asked.
"I just wanted to know if you'd like to share the next dance with me?"
She was shocked. She has been asked to dance by some of the others in the past and she's always declined but she was never asked by Solomon. After a certain point people stopped asking her to dance. It wasn't them. It was just that she doesn't really like to dance.
"Uh . . . I don't normally dance." She replied, trying to recover from the shock.
"I've noticed and neither do I, but I was hoping you'd make an exception just this once?" He smiled charmingly and with a look of amusement in his eyes. He held his hand out for her as the current song ended and a new one was beginning.
Toby and Tabby nudged both of her arms to snap her out of whatever trance she was in. "Okay." Was all she could muster as she took his hand and he led her to the dance floor. This caught some attention by other party goers because both Solomon and Amelia never danced, much less together.
"Thank you for agreeing." He smiled. His smiles were always closed lipped but gentle. She could tell it was never genuine though. She wondered what a genuine smile would look like on him. She mentally shook her head at the thought.
"You're welcome. So what brought you to want to dance with me? As you said, we both don't dance."
He laughed. "Are you always so straight to the point? I admire that."
She looked a little embarrassed but was able to cover it well. "I just don't always like it when people beat around the bush. I feel like it would save so much time if they just spit it out. You know?" She tilted her head to the side when she asked the question.
He chuckled. "Indeed. Well, I figured this was the best way to get you to talk to me alone."
"And why would you want to talk to me alone?"
"Why would someone need to bring a purse to the bathroom?"
She smiled, amused. "Don't you know the answer to that?" She had a feeling at what he was implying but she was calm.
He looked thoughtful. "Were you snooping in their office?"
She laughed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that, that's the first thing you think of?" He looked confused. "I thought that since you have a sister, you might know the answer to that."
"What do you mean?" He wondered. What was he missing?
She couldn't hide her smile. "I'm sure you know girls get a visit once a month. If they want to be . . . you know, discrete, they take their purse with them."
The blank look that changed to realization and then to horror and embarrassment was hilarious to Amelia but she didn't laugh. "Oh. My apologies."
"Hey, no worries." Then she changed the subject and tried to make him feel less embarrassed. By the end of the dance, he was comfortable again. "That was fun."
"Agreed and sorry for my blunder."
"Again, don't worry about it. Water under the bridge." She smiled.
"And thank you for making me feel better. It could have ended really awkwardly."
"You're welcome. I didn't want you being awkward the rest of the night. Though, I'm sure once Gemma finds out, she won't stop bothering you about it."
He grimaced. "Can this just stay between the two of us? I can't let her have another thing over my head."
"Oh? What else does she have on you?" Amelia asked, intrigued.
He gave her a mysterious smile. "Now that is a secret between her and I."
"Would she agree? I can go ask." Amelia went to walk but he grabbed her arm quickly.
"Uh, no. I know she'd be way too happy to share."
"I was only teasing you and our conversation will be our secret."
"Thank you." Solomon said as he let go of her arm. She nodded, then waved and walked the rest of the way to her friends.
"Wow, you and Solomon looked so natural together!" Tabby exclaimed.
"Thanks but that's never going to happen. He's five years older than me." Amelia said with a scrunched nose. Anything more than two years older was a bit too much for her. She knew that would most likely change after going off to college. At least that's what her parents tell her. Toby laughed.
"Five years isn't that bad. My parents are seven years apart." Tabby said.
"Mine are six years apart." Toby chimed in.
"I'll have to ask my parents their age difference. It just never came up?"
"Or you have selective hearing." Tabby teased.
"Shut up." Amelia laughed.
~~~~~~
"Hello there. What do you have in your hands?" A male voice asked the creatures.
"They're our shiny objects." They replied, cautiously. They were intrigued at the same time. Another friend that can see and speak with them.
"I can see that. They're very nice." He complimented.
"You can't have them. A precious friend gave them to us." The smaller creature said.
The bigger creature - though not by much - nudged him with his shoulder. "We're not supposed to say that." He whispered loud enough for even the man to hear.
"I wouldn't dream of taking them from you. I was just admiring them." He smiled charmingly at them, which made their guard lower ever so slightly. "I was only going to ask who gave them to you but you can't say? Why's that?"
"She told us it had to be a secret between us." The smaller one said.
The bigger one nudged him again. "Quit talking about it! She'll be mad and I don't want to lose her friendship!"
"Now now, I didn't mean to cause a fight. Let's all be friends."
"You'll be friends with us?" The creatures asked.
"Of course. As a token of our friendship, I'd like to give each of you a shiny object." The man held out his hands with objects.
The smaller one went to reach for one but the bigger one stopped him. "He could just be trying to butter us up for information. We've known her longer so we can't go against her trust."
"No, we've known Grian longer but he's been friends with her longer than either of us."
"But if he trusts her then we can trust her."
The man was satisfied with the information he gathered. He didn't need the name anymore. "Nope, no strings attached. Please pick whichever one you want and let us be friends."
The creatures smiled. "Thanks!"
The man knew that a creature always hung around her and wondered if Grian was the name of him. That shouldn't be too hard to figure out. "One more thing. Could you give this shiny object to Grian? I'd like to be friends with him too." If this didn't work, he had another way.
"But what is your name? We'll need to tell him who wants to be his friend."
"He is even more cautious than we are. But that's because of Alpha." The smaller one added.
"Alpha?" The man, asked confused. He's never heard creatures refer to another creature as Alpha.
"So what is your name?" The bigger one said. He wasn't going to answer the man and he stopped the smaller one from answering too.
"Taichi."
"What a weird name!" They remarked. "Oh well, thanks new friend!" Then they scurried off.
The man had the creatures followed. He figured they wouldn't seek out their friend until the next day because it was rather late at night. Sure enough the next day, in the afternoon they followed the creatures into town. They seemed to stop out front of a random shop just waiting. Suddenly a big group of people got in the way of the man's view of the creatures. He was growing frustrated. The crowd started dissipating and he could see the creatures again. Though he noticed they didn't carry the object anymore. They were able to give it to their friend. Where was this friend? The man was looking everywhere but he couldn't find anything. Not even a sight of her. "Dammit!" He cursed. "Let's leave. No point in sticking around."
"Yes, sir." His chauffeur replied and drove off.
~~~~~~
It was a beautiful day out, so Amelia was sitting outside on her front porch with Grian. She was sitting on the swing bench and Grian was on the ground. He declined to sit with her on the swing bench because he was afraid of falling off. She wasn't swinging at this time but leaning forward with her elbows on her knees talking with Grian. She had her earphones in but wasn't listening to music or talking on the phone. She did this when she went outside and wanted to talk with Grian. If anyone walked by, they'd see the earphones and assume it was a phone call. She wore the ones with the wire because her hair was too long for the wireless. Though a quick fix would be to push her hair behind her ear to show off the ear bud but she preferred the ones with the wire. Grian didn't mind that she did this because it didn't stop her from talking to him. He'd prefer that to being ignored.
"I love bloopers in movies! It shows that they're only human but their mess ups are hilarious!" Amelia said while laughing.
"Me too! Though I think your laughter is the best part of them." Grian agreed.
"Oh stop!" She said flattered but embarrassed. Then she went on to recall another really funny blooper but she couldn't get through speaking it because just picturing it was throwing her into fits of laughter.
Grian knew exactly which one she was trying to talk about. "I didn't think you'd have such a reaction, it was great!"
Amelia calmed down and they continued to just talk about whatever came to their minds, when she heard someone clear their throat. She got startled because she didn't even see them coming. She looked up to see who it was. "I'll call you back." She said then picked up her phone to make it look like she was ending a call.
"Hello, Amelia. I didn't mean to interrupt your call."
"Hi, Solomon. No worries. It wasn't an important call anyway. What brings you here?"
Solomon quickly glanced at Grian and back to Amelia. It was subtle and barely noticeable but Amelia caught it. Only because she likes to look right into people's eyes as she talks to them. She played it off nonchalantly like nothing happened.
"I have a meeting with your father. Did he not mention it?"
"No, I don't believe he did but I've been told I have selective hearing, so it could also be that." She joked.
He smiled. "I remember being like that."
"You make yourself sound old."
"Thanks." He said sarcastically though his smile never went away.
She got up from her spot. "I'll walk you to dad's office because that's more than likely where he's at."
"Thank you but you don't have to."
"It's fine. I don't mind." She smiled.
"Well, if you insist." Solomon said with a relieved smile. "I don't believe I've been here before."
"Then why did you say you didn't need my help?"
"Good point. Honestly, I didn't want to inconvenience you."
"It's no inconvenience to me, Solomon. I was just relaxing anyway and I'll do so again once you're safely to your destination."
He laughed at her word choices. He thought it was kind of silly yet cute. "Thank you, again."
They walked through the house, making small talk here and there. She would say what room they were passing as a way of a quick tour but didn't take any detours. From the front of the house, her parents office was on the complete opposite side. They finally made it but the door to the office was closed. She put her hand on the knob but didn't open it yet. Solomon stopped just beside her but behind her a little. He looked at her curiously because he wondered why she didn't just open the door.
She held up one finger and said in a hushed tone, "Hold on just a sec." He nodded and continued to watch her. She knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Came the muffled voice of her father.
She started opening the door and turned to Solomon once more with the finger up. She went in and closed the door behind her. "Oh, Mr. Charles Camden!" She said in a sing song voice.
"Yes, Miss Amelia Camden." Her father replied in an amused tone.
"A Mr. Solomon McCallister is here to see you!"
"Thank you, Secretary Camden. Please show him in."
She waltzed to the door and opened it. Dramatically she held her arm out. "Right this way, Mr. Solomon McCallister."
Solomon gave a small amused laugh and smiled. "Thank you, Miss Amelia Camden."
"You're quite welcome. Now if you'll excuse me." She dramatically bowed, left the room and closed the door behind her.
"She's quite the character." Solomon mused.
"Indeed. Please don't mind her. She means well."
"I don't mind. I found it quite endearing and she's just having fun in her own home. It's kind of a nice change to see from the usual polite girl I see at the parties."
"Thank you for thinking so." Charles smiled and then folded his hands together on top of his desk. "Now, what kind of project would you like to discuss?"
They spoke for about an hour when they finished. Amelia had been reading a book in the window seat in their more casual living room. They had a casual living room that her and her parents regularly spent time in but they had a fancier one attached to a dining room for when guests were over. Both living rooms were attached to the kitchen on either side.
Her father and Solomon walked past the living room in the direction of the front of the house. Her mom poked her head out of the kitchen. "Did I just hear your father and Solomon walk by?"
"Yeah?" Amelia answered, unsure.
"Can you stop them before they leave? I want to ask if he wants to stay for dinner."
"Sure mom." She replied normally. "DAD! SOLOMON!" She yelled out.
"Not what I meant!" Her mom said while giving her a warning look. Amelia shrugged.
Her dad and Solomon appeared in the doorway. "I know this is your home but that's not how you should behave when we have a guest or client here." Her father said.
"But he said I should be more casual with him." Amelia said defensively. "And besides, you didn't warn me of company. What did you expect?"
Solomon laughed. "It is true that I told her she should be more casual with me. Please don't punish her. It's much more fun to see her this way."
The warning look her father had disappeared as he looked at Solomon. "Are you sure you don't mind? She's normally well behaved."
"She's a teen. I remember when both Gemma and I were like that. Let her live a little."
"You have a point." Her father replied.
Amelia rolled her eyes when she knew no one was looking. Lisa popped out of the kitchen. "I was wondering if you'd like to stay for dinner? I just finished making it."
"That would be lovely but I don't want to impose."
"You wouldn't be imposing." She assured.
"Then I'll kindly take you up on your offer." Solomon replied.
"I hope you don't mind an informal dinner. I don't have the dining room ready for visitors." Lisa said, a little self consciously and moved some hair behind her ear.
Solomon smiled kindly. "Informal is perfectly fine."
"Great, right this way." She smiled whiled holding her arm out to gesture to a table behind her. The table was square but the positions of the seats were two on one side and two on the other. Right next to each other. Versus the normal of each person having their own side. "Your father and I will sit next to each other and you don't mind sitting next to Solomon do you?" She asked Amelia.
"I guess I don't have much choice unless you'd like to sit next to him?" She whispered her reply and finished with a hopeful look.
"You'll be fine." Her mother said, apathetically and patted Amelia's back.
"Thanks." Amelia grumbled. She quickly changed her outer expression to a smile even though she didn't quite mean it but she wasn't upset either. There was just something about him that always made her wary even though he was nothing but nice to her.
She approached the table and he pulled out the chair for her. "Amelia."
He pushed the chair in and she sat. "Thank you, Solomon. You didn't have to do that." She said, sincerely yet caught off guard with the gesture.
"You're welcome. It wouldn't have felt right if I didn't." He smiled as he sat down next to her.
Her mother, Lisa, got all of the food to the table at the center and she plated each person a serving. There was a comfortable silence while they started to eat and then her mother put her fork down. "The party a couple weeks ago was fun wasn't it?"
Amelia gave her mother a warning glare and thought to herself, Don't you dare bring up the dance!