For the past week he was home, Darren confessed to his aunt about all the events that happened throughout the months. Nothing was worse than being scolded by his aunt for being reckless and not coming to her first about the amulet issue. As a result for his behavior, his aunt Michelle boarded up his room with her magic to not leave their condo. His aunt allowed two friends to visit him once per day. Today, it was Jesse’s turn to visit him in his room and she allowed Nicola to visit him, which Darren got his aunt's permission to invite her.
The NorthEasters had been going well without him, at least, with Nicola helping him. Darren gave Nicola as many pointers as he could for her to go over their songs well. As he felt uncomfortable with his cast on his arm, trying to do his best to teach her his parts. Nicola was sitting down in a chair, while Darren sits next to her on his bed. He took a deep breath when she and him finished practicing for today.
“I think that’s enough for today. I think that is all I need to go over with you, Nicola.” Darren told Nicola, sitting where his pillow on his bed is.
“Jeez, why are your parts so complicated?” She complained, putting down her bass guitar on the floor.
“Because Linda wrote it that way and I don’t mind it. Come on, it’s not even that hard to play my part!” Darren rolled his eyes then looked at Jesse, who was at his desk on his laptop then said, “Anyway, thanks for coming.”
“No problem,” Nicola replied.
Darren continued to look at Jesse, who seemed to look down. Watching Jesse turn the computer chair around to face the two of them, his friend said, “I can’t believe that our label is a supplier of magical drugs…”
After the events of the rave party, Chantel had shown Darren a picture of what she discovered at The Scarlet Caverns and explained what she saw when he came out of the hospital. Not to mention, she filled Leticia in on what has happened, while she was at the Rise of Light meeting. That drug, “Devil’s Enigma” was something that he learned in his magic education as a mage. He knew one thing about that magical drug, it is bad news and they need to work faster to get all this information together. On top of this, Trenton was over there that night at the rave party and now knew about what was going on. This means every artist under Crimson Crown Music Group was in danger.
Darren sat up and rubbed his neck with his free arm to stretch a bit. He added, “Yeah, that shit is messed up. Every single mage and witch knows that magical drugs are supposed to be banned, and no one is supposed to use it, but… there is a black market for shady mages to sell this dangerous stuff.”
“Doesn’t that mean we should go to the police now before more people get hurt…?” Jesse brought up they should now go to the authorities, because of all the seriousness.
Nicola huffed at Jesse’s remark, then stated, “The Supernatural law enforcement deals with the Supernatural stuff. Outsiders law enforcement don’t even bother with it. Since both government law enforcement don’t work together, shit gets held up in limbo! If you go to the outsider police, they just throw it back to the Supernatural law enforcement. Plus, some Supernatural law enforcement is kinda’ shady as well and they just sit on the cases. They care little about black market dealings between criminals.”
“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to warn people! We should even tell Robert and Linda! One of our former classmates committed suicide because of this potion! Chantel believes Jasper and Millie’s deaths have some connection to this! The more we sit back, the more bodies we’re going to be piling up. Soon, these bodies could be us because we don’t even know how Mr. Travolo is drugging all these people,” Jesse protested.
Darren rubs his temples as this entire situation was stressing him out. He solved the issue with the amulet falling into the wrong hands, thanks to Jasper and Millie, but he needed more from them because all the three of them have been going by hearsay. So, Darren got off his bed and looked under it, using his unbroken arm to reach for a box. Grabbing a black box, where he kept the bracelet that Halden gave to him, it was time to re-summon the spirits again. Darren put the bracelet in his free arm and whispered the incantation as a blue fog-like cloud flooded over the room.
Darren hoped that he did this spell right. Struggling to concentrate, doing this type of magic was putting a strain on his aura a bit. Jesse and Nicola stood back to allow him to do his thing. Finally, when the fog cleared, Jasper and Millie appeared in front of the group. Darren stands tall as he was not afraid of the two former rock star ghosts.
Jasper glared at him, still looking grumpy and his fire border still glowing. Millie floated around near Jesse, his friend feeling uneasy of seeing two ghosts. Darren only took a glance at Nicola for a minute to see her unbothered face, then he turned his attention back to Jasper and Millie.
“I summoned you two because I got a feeling there is something that you aren’t telling me. I can get why I needed to get the amulet away from Mark and how shady the Rise of Light is. But… you’re holding back on other details,” Darren talked to Jasper and Millie.
Millie opened her mouth to speak, until Jasper waved his ghostly hand and interrupted her, “Never mind the details. Just save yourselves! Walk away! You don’t need to know the details. Just tell your band to pick up and leave that shit label when you can!”
“It was kinda too late to ignore the details when one of my friends literally found piles of dangerous magical poisons that our new label’s CEO is harboring at a rave party in Underwood. Is there something that you aren’t telling us? Are you asking us to ignore something illegal going on?” Darren asked, holding his cast arm, then looking away from them. “A former classmate of ours is dead. No more lies,” Darren told them, glaring tensely into Jasper’s fiery, ghost eyes.
He knew Jasper was hiding something from the group. Watching Millie go to take over the conversation once again, her face showed usual sadness, which still gave Darren chills to his skin. Her spirit essence calmed the room, at least in contrast to Jasper’s explosive nature.
“Darren, there are many before you that have tried to expose what people like Nico Travolo and his people are doing. Many like Jasper and I failed. Some people like us died for it and many others just gave up and succumbed to their desires. It’s easier for all you just to save yourselves. Don’t expose it. You walk away and start fresh the minute your contract ends. It’s not worth it. Do not fight them,” Millie explained, but that answer did not satisfy Darren at all.
Before he opened his mouth again, Jesse walked up to the ghosts bravely and said, “Look, I know... Millie? Jasper? A former classmate of ours died, possibly something to do with this whole ‘magical drug smuggling operation’.” Jesse air quoted those words. Continuing his talk, “What’s good about hiding whatever shady business that Mr. Travolo is doing?! If people died, it would give those families closure if it all gets out. Look whatever secret that has been going on, it has to be shut down. We just can’t have more people getting hurt!”
“That’s not your problem! Worry about yourselves!” Jasper shouted at the boy which Millie tried to calm him down again.
Jesse backed away when he saw the fire ghost’s flame borders surrounding him glowing brighter in rage.
“Worry about ourselves?! Did you not hear him?! People are getting straight up murdered! Oh, my god! What fucked up priorities you ghosts have?!” Nicola butted herself in this conversation.
This conversation was getting out of hand with Darren sweating, trying to keep this necromancy magic spell up. Millie and Jasper were reluctant to tell anything at all! He felt a strain whileusing up his aura, while Jesse and Nicola were arguing with Jasper and Millie. Since keeping the spiritual communications was more difficult for him as a non-necromancy mage, even with using this bracelet as help, stress won out and Darren cut off the communication, then fell down to the ground in exhaustion. Jasper and Millie’s spirits disappeared immediately, while Jesse and Nicola stopped to look at him.
“Darren!” Jesse ran up to check on the mage who was panting.
“I’m okay. This turned out to be a pointless chat,” Darren sat himself up on the floor, dusting himself off with his free hand. “Looks like we have to talk to them another way.”
“No! No more of this. I’m pulling the plug on this! We’re telling the police! I know you and Chantel want to lie low, but we have to stop this! I’m calling her right now to tell her this thing has to stop now,” Jesse pulled out his phone to dial for the authorities.
Suddenly, Darren saw Nicola using her telekinetic powers, grabbing the phone, then throwing it out the window. Jessie looked up at her in fury, “What the-? You know, you’re going to pay for that!”
“Didn’t we tell you before if you go to the Outsider police, they wouldn’t give a shit! Look, Outsider, if you want to expose this Mr. Nico Travolo guy. We just need to tell the right person to expose it without fucking your friends over,” Nicola shouted.
“My name is Jesse, not Outsider and….” Jesse defended himself, until Darren’s aunt, who swung the bedroom door open with a bang interrupted the three of them.
“Jesse, your father is in the hospital…” Aunt Michelle ran up to Jesse, which Darren watched his face from worry to fear.
Before Jesse could say anything, Darren just nodded at him, signaling him to leave. He watched Jesse follow his aunt out of his bedroom. Soon, Nicola was the next to leave as her time was up here. Observing her picking up her bass guitar, she waved goodbye to Darren, then walked out of the bedroom. Darren sighed and sat on his bed, scratching his cast arm.
Just before he could relax, a text notification from his cell phone buzzed, and he went to check on it. His face went from calm to horror when he saw the text was from none other than his brother, Mark.
The text said:
You messed with the wrong group, bro. Blood will come.
Darren could only sense that now things will get even worse from here on out.
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