18

Chapter 18

Central Plaza, Cornell Academy, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, Year 2050, Planet: Grimoire

While listening to the tale, Ambrose was in acute disbelief that someone would attempt to order Jennifer and Holly around as if they were simple-minded lackeys. He was surprised that they even put up with such demands in the first place.

Jennifer snorted. "None of them were familiar." She confirmed their suspicion. "Otherwise, I doubt I would've been asked to do such a thing."

When Holly nodded in silent agreement.

Oh boy, Sherpa and Ambrose exchanged horrified glances. "So, what happened when it was discovered otherwise?"

Jennifer blinked at them. "Huh? Oh, I told them to find a professional telekinetic. I refused outright to do it myself." She shook her head. "When they still insisted I do it myself, I told them that they'd gotten the wrong sister."

Wow, talk about obnoxious and obliviousness when it came to ignoring refusals. Just who had the gall to ignore their refusals anyway? That puzzled Ambrose.

Sherpa merely looked contemplative as he tried to understand what happened.

Clearly aware of their dubious reactions and why, Holly snorted. "That's when I showed my face, and they understood what Jennifer meant." She smirked, but there was coldness in her eyes. "I made them pay dearly for trying to force us to do it without assistance." She shook her head. "I doubt they're going to pull that crap on anyone else next time."

Jennifer scowled. "Right, I guess they were from the military sector. That could be why they aren't aware of our particular reputations." She folded her arms. "I can say with distinction that they're no longer ignorant and won't be pulling such nonsense with us again at least."

Hmm, so now they were trying to coerce teleporters and telekinetic into doing work for free? Ambrose and Sherpa were extremely displeased. Sherpa addressed the one point that neither sister bothered to confirm. "Well, so long as you did get paid. Did you report this?"

The two sisters nodded in affirmative. "Sure did, to the Commander Darmono, no less." Jennifer specified the one whom she talked to.

"Ah, yeah, when he heard about the series of incidents, he had a talk with the ones who'd tried forcing us to work for nothing," Holly recalled. "I'm not sure what happened after that."

"While the transportation did get done on time, with the help of others as we'd previously requested...it was delayed due to their unreasonable stubbornness in insisting we do it ourselves." Jennifer cleared her throat. "We'd left while the reprimanding was in progress."

Well, that was a relief. "I think Sapphire and Anara are done." They'd obviously heard what happened. The two sisters appeared nice and fresh-looking. "the rest of you can go clean up." Anara said mildly. "We'll wait for you."

Yep, they knew and were angry.

"How dare those arrogant bastards view us as mindless lackeys," Sapphire growled.

"I had the same thing happen to me as well," Anara confirmed. "I wasn't able to get the necessary backup to refuse." She sighed. "Fortunately, though, Sapphire and I were able to work together and that was how we finished our shifts."

This was for the birds. Ambrose was disgusted.

Sherpa rubbed his jaw. "Well, I definitely think that official complaints should be registered about the treatment you all received." He told them bluntly. "Or else they'll continue to believe they can get away with it." Sherpa was displeased, to put it mildly.

His siblings nodded in agreement. "We'll see to it soon," Jennifer promised.

"I already did that," Holly informed them. "I just don't know if it made it past the internal screening process." She shook her head wearily. "As it is, I think we just need to rest for a short while."

A faint rumbling and crackling from thunder and lightning through the walls, made all of them start. "It is starting, not the rain portion, but the noisiest section of the storm." Sherpa didn't think this was a natural phenomenon. "We've seen this type of thing occur before, haven't we?"

Anara blinked at him. "Yeah, someone meddled with leylines, eh?" Her lack of surprise when she responded made Sherpa frown. She really was very exhausted.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be able to talk more later," Ambrose suggested quietly. "I too am feeling the effects of the earlier work that we added on top of everything else."

In other words, just lie down or do something quietly but let everyone rest. No more talking, Sherpa sighed as he got the message loud and clear. "Sure thing." He mumbled and stretched out on a couch. He immediately fell asleep.

Soon all the others were slumbering lightly, twitching ever so slightly when a loud crack or rumble came too close for comfort to the dormitory building.

Gradually after about two hours went by, they awakened after a very refreshing dreamless rest. It didn't take long for them to wash up even more thoroughly and have something to drink. After checking for any updates, the siblings found a message from both Harper and Daryl. The messages confirmed what Anara suspected.

All of what happened today indirectly targeted them as well as Grifton. No one was exempt from having to remain indoors tonight while the weather was becoming unpredictably stormy and threatening.

"So did you all get these messages?" Sapphire showed the content to the others.

"Yes," Holly murmured. "This is so irregular." She shook her head. "It feels more like this'll turn into a dirge-filled requiem of goodbye if we don't watch what we say."

That was unexpected from Holly.

They were able to leisurely prepare for the meeting with Grifton and their eldest brothers. Once they were comfortable with what they'd chosen to wear. They gathered around the doorway of Grifton's suite and simply waited patiently.

Ambrose yawned. "So, what are we going to discuss this time?" He looked puzzled.

"Oh, something about Grifton's past, I guess." Jennifer shrugged. "Apparently, he's feeling comfortable enough to tell us more."

They all frowned uneasily after recalling what Holly mentioned earlier. When she spoke like that, it came true which is why she rarely made such predictions.