Lost Flyght – Chapter 14

I keep my face straight until they walk off.

“Vivian…” Gus whispers, almost reverent. He’s seen me handle business, but nothing like this. Actually, I’ve never handled anything like this ever.

“Shh,” I hiss. I reach back and recline the chair all the way to horizontal. “No one talk to me for at least fifteen minutes.”

I lie down and throw my towel over my head.

Shit. I poked the beast. What the fuck, Vivian? Why would I do such a thing? She goaded me, and I responded just like she wanted me to. I proved to her I was the bitch she thought I was. How could I have been so stupid?

Tears fall from my eyes and drip down my face to pool in my ears. Thinking over everything I said, I also insulted Jinzo with my crack about how loving ships was for fools. I bet the whole incident has now been recorded too, and it’ll all be on the duonet in less than an hour.

I’m so fucking stupid.

Time ticks by as I go over my options in my head. There are not many avenues open to me now.

Sitting up, I wipe my tears from my face with the towel and grab my bag.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Sure.” Gus picks up our few belongings, and Skylar squeezes my shoulders from the side. I hate the fact that I’ve dragged my loved ones into this situation, but I’m also glad I have someone who will stick by me.

Inside the villa, I head straight for the kitchen, open the refrigerator, and look for the makings of a sandwich. Sliced pork, cheese, butter lettuce, mustard, and mayo. Oh, olives! Yes. And a cucumber too. Perfect. I dump the ingredients on the counter, stuff a pickle in my mouth, and turn to find Gus and Skylar staring. Skylar’s smile could light up the room.

“It’s good to see your appetite is back to normal.”

“What?” I mumble around the pickle.

“Your appetite,” she says, emphasizing every syllable. “You always ate when you were stressed.”

I stop and look at the counter, at all the food I’ve pulled from the fridge. It’s been a long time since I ate away my feelings. Gus joins me at my side and adds a bag of bread to the sandwich fixings.

“No.” Memories of the last ten years come flooding into me. “You know what? I always ate when I was angry or happy. Never when I was stressed. I guess school didn’t stress me?” I laugh at this. “I was always glad to learn and do projects and make my way towards my degree.”

Setting two pieces of bread on the cutting board, I pile on the sandwich fixings.

“I always ate when I was angry at the universe, too. Angry at a bad grade or angry at my parents for something stupid they did.”

I pull a knife from the drawer and slice my sandwich in two.

“Now, I’m angry at that horrible woman for making me feel the way I do.” I clutch the knife in my hand and imagine brandishing it at Cressida. That would scare the pants off of her, and that makes me laugh enough to put the knife down and take a bite of my sandwich.

Aw yeah. That’s good. That’s exactly what I need right now.

Gus reaches over and picks up a piece of pork that has fallen from my sandwich and pops it in his mouth before I can snatch it away.

“It’s tasty, right?” I mumble around my mouth full of food.

“Move over,” he says, knocking his hips against mine and putting together his own sandwich.

“Are we not going out for dinner?” Skylar asks, throwing her hands up.

“Hell no. She’s out there. We’re not going anywhere. Call what’s-his-name and see what he can do for us here.”

“Raul,” Skylar fills in. I’m so horrible with names. “Sure. I’ll call him up once we know what we’re doing about Cressida.” She turns around and tosses her hat onto the couch. I circle the kitchen island and join her there. “Come on. Let’s brainstorm. There has to be something we can do about her.”

I rest the plate on my lap and put my feet up on the ottoman. “Let’s put a hit out on her. I’m sure there must be someone we can call.”

Skylar laughs, but Gus points his finger at me. “No killing.”

“Fine.” I pout before taking another bite of the sandwich. Of course, the nurse will suggest I ‘do no harm.’

“Maybe you should sue her first. Send out the first warning shot.” Gus brings his sandwich over and sits next to me.

“What would I sue her for? Being a righteous bitch?”

“Threatening you in public. Defamation?” Skylar suggests. “You guys are making me hungry.”

I groan and rest my head on the back of the couch. “If only Malina had given me a chance, we might have something to use against Cressida.”

“Wait, what?” Skylar sits forward, and I realize I didn’t tell her about my call this morning. So between bites of my sandwich, I fill them in on what happened.

“And then she just ended the call and left me hanging.” I shift my empty plate to the end table.

“Wow. Something big must have happened.” Skylar stands up and paces back and forth. “I think… I think we can use this to our advantage, Viv. We don’t have to know what happened between the two of them, we just have to suggest that we know something happened between the two of them.”

Hmmm, this idea has legs. “I like it. Yeah. Maybe all I have to do is mention Malina and their falling out. But I can see this plan crumbling to pieces too. She’ll call my bluff.” I drum my fingers on the couch’s arm. “We need something extra. Something we do know.”

Oh! I stand up, my legs itching to get moving.

“After today, Cressida will be hurting. She’s going to be sitting with her network and making plans, just like we are. And I got the feeling that her network is not happy with her right now. Be right back.”

I scramble out of the room and up the stairs to my bedroom. Throwing everything out of my bag, I dig around until I find them. Yes! I knew it was a smart idea to go to my grow room before we left.

“Vivian?” Skylar calls up the stairs.

I run back down, barely stopping myself from falling on the stairs, and stand in front of both in the living room.

“This is what we need.” I hold up my clear container of fern fiddleheads. “This is the invisibility fern.”

“Ho-ly…” Skylar gets to her feet and comes closer to look. “You grew that one?”

“Yeah. How could I not? It’s one of Dad’s lesser documented seeds, but invisibility? Hell, everyone wants that, am I right?” I smile as I hand her the box. She opens it up, sniffs it, shrugs, and hands it to Gus. He frowns at it.

“Vivian, you didn’t have the best of time with those berries. Are you sure you want to do this? It’s your vacation.”

“It’s not much of a vacation anymore.” I hold out my hand and take it back. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Skylar, you’re going to call Raul and get us a dinner here in a few hours. Gus, you’re going to observe me while I take this. Then you’re both going to cover for me while I sneak over to Cressida’s villa and spy on her. I’ll get something to back up the Malina claim. Anything.”

And I’ll test out the seed so we can move forward on developing a new product when we return to the Amagi. Surely, this one will go better than the prescient berries. I have full faith it’ll be a winner.