Free The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural by Stefany Valentine Ramirez Page A

unreliable he was.
    “ I’m sorry to bug you about
this Kasper.” Lotus confessed. “You probably have another meeting
to go to.”
    The man chuckled from the other end of
the phone and said, “Lotus, you are a lot of things. But one thing
you are not, nor ever will be is a bother to me. However, I do
appreciate the concern for my schedule.”
    Lotus smiled. She loved Kasper. He was
always so much fun to talk to and she missed him when he was away
on business. “When are you coming back?”
    “ Tomorrow.” Kasper answered,
“Let’s go surfing when I get back. All this sitting in these
meetings are making my legs go stiff.”
    Lotus beamed, “I look forward to that!
I’ll see you soon.”
    It was Kasper’s turn to smile, though
Lotus couldn’t see through the phone. “I love you Princess
Stelter!”
    “ I love you too, Sir
Kasper.” Lotus teased before hanging up and leaning back in her
Stelter.
    The waves were beckoning and the sea
breeze felt amazing in her hair. Seagulls glided through the air
above her and she watched as one of them landed on the white sand
near the grill of her car. She watched the waves roll perfectly
before coming to a crash on the sandy shore. Though she sat in the
car, she could almost feel the rush of an ocean current against her
body and she longed to submerge herself in the deep blue
water.
    “ Lozey?”
    At the sound of her nickname, she sat
up and gazed wide eyed at Michael who had suddenly appeared beside
the passenger door. “Caster!” she exclaimed glancing around for
signs of his car, but it wasn’t there. “How did you…?”
    “ I came here to talk.” He
said as Lotus’s voice faded. Judging by his appearance, he clearly
was not beach ready. In fact, he looked like he had just stepped
out of a recording studio. A string of earphones was tied around
his dark hair, making him look like a hippie. “Sorry, I didn’t
bring any of my stuff.” He said holding up a big guitarist’s hand
to shield his thickly lashed brown eyes from the sun.
    He was a very good looking
twenty-five-year-old, even Lotus had to admit. He had high cheek
bones, a big singing mouth and lips, lean. Michael never worked
out, but he could have fooled any one with his wash board abs and
flat chest. For some reason he was always beach body ready, even
though Lotus had seen him scarffing down pizza after potato chips
after doughnuts.
    “ Can we talk?” Lotus asked,
but Michael was already pushing her surfboard off to the side so he
could sit down in the car beside her.
    “ Of course,” Michael
answered, “Actually, I was hoping to have a word with you
too.”
    Lotus raised a brow at him. She wasn’t
sure what else he needed to say.
    “ It’s about Mirage.” He
explained.
    “ Oh!” Lotus exclaimed
hearing the relief in her own voice. “Good! How is she? She hasn’t
been answering my phone calls-”
    “ Loze,” Michael’s quiet
voice cut her off and Lotus glanced up to look into his somber
eyes. “Mirage is dead.”
    There had been moments in Lotus’s
acting career when the director would tell her to feel a specific
way about something terrible. She had felt like she had acted out
that moment so many times already, but none of them felt that real.
“Are you…? How? What about-?”
    “ Shadow’s dead too.” Said
Michael gravely, “I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand but she
pulled away. Her eyes fell on the ocean, but she wasn’t seeing any
of it.
    “ I have to show you.” He
said taking her by the hand. “I think they would have wanted you to
know the truth.”
    “ What truth?” she bellowed a
little too loud for the ocean air to block and a sunbathing couple
looked her way.
    This time Lotus let him take her hand.
“Just trust me and don’t freak.”
    She looked up into his brown eyes, and
then the world was spinning. Her vision blurred as the different
shades of ocean and sky seemed to swirl before her. The sensation
was like evert cell in her body was being ripped