ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 85 - Granny’s Golden Ticket

"Urgh, not even an umbrella and raincoat combo would save us from this downpour." Kurt groaned as he sat and waited for Emelie at the hotel’s lobby.

"What, scared you’ll get your panties wet?"

"Finally. I was getting tired of waiting." He looked over his shoulder and saw Emelie, who was wearing a plain black hoodie and ripped skinny jeans. She was also eating what looked to be a protein bar.

"I usually like to take my time when showering, but I made sure to be quicker than usual on account that I knew you were waiting. Some praise would be nice."

"Ahh. You’re a shower type? I was too until I came to learn the joys about bathing."

"Do I even want to ask what happened to make you change your mind?"

"... I’d best keep that information to myself."

"Good. Then let’s move. We have a bunch of kids waiting to be saved and time is of the essence. We have one week before the month is over."

"You know where they are?" Kurt excitedly sprang up from his seat and kept pace with Emelie as they left for the exit.

"Of course I do. Who do you think I am?"

"A walking cheat code?"

Emelie flinched like she’d been hit with a physical blow and abruptly stopped walking as soon as she heard Kurt say that. Her front foot stayed planted, hovering an inch above the ground before dropping down with a dull, lifeless click.

She didn’t turn to look at him. She ceased all motion as her hand hovered a modicum away from the brass handle of the glass door and gulped as if she swallowed a stack of needles.

"W-What did you just call me?" She let out a shaky whisper.

"Whoa. What’s with the vibe shift? Are you having another episode?"

The air in the foyer suddenly felt thin and frigid. To him, it was just a throwaway jab. A casual snark meant for her to simply wave off and ignore. Possibly, to maybe even get a small chuckle out of her.

But to her, that clearly wasn’t the case. As her hand rested on the door handle, Kurt noticed that her shoulders started tensing up and that her knuckles were turning white as she squeezed it. The reflection through the glass door showed Emelie’s terrified expression. Her eyes were wide open, shaking, and her mouth hung slightly ajar as if she were trying to say something but couldn’t.

"A w-walk... c-cheat–" The ambience of the rain, the sound of people chatting and walking about, and anything external that could be heard were all beginning to sound muted as the sound of her breath and heartbeat resonated much louder in her ears.

"Emelie. Snap out of it." Kurt put his hand on her back to stop her from shaking.

Hearing the sound of his voice and feeling the weight of his hand on her back snapped her out of whatever state she was in.

"R-Right. Sorry. I got lost in my thoughts for a second there."

"Are you okay? You looked gone."

"I’m fine now. Just, please don’t call me that again... please."

"Got it."

"Thanks... " She breathed in deeply and let out one heavy breath.

The suffocating tension that Emelie felt her body was going through had begun to ease up. Natural sounds were returning to her. Her shoulders dropped, and the rigid line in her spine softened as she loosened her white-knuckled fist.

"Alright then. Now, let’s–"

"Now hold on for just a second, Emy." Kurt pulled her back from opening the door. "You seriously weren’t about to walk out in this storm, were you?"

"Yes? Is there a problem with that?"

"’Is there a problem’, she says. Yes, Emy, there’s a massive problem."

"And that is?"

"We’re gonna get sick obviously! I was gonna try and bravado this weather, but nope. Nuh-uh. I can’t have you getting sick with the tournament right around the corner. Diana already entrusted you to me, so let’s just wait this weather out."

"Stop being such a wuss. Here."

Snap!

When Emelie snapped her fingers, the green streaks in her glow began to glow which usually indicated to Kurt that she was using magic.

"...What did you do?"

"Covered our bodies with a microscopic telekinetic barrier the size of our body’s proportions. Think of it like an invisible wet suit, without the wet part. Now we won’t get wet."

"Oh damn. Say less." Kurt stepped out of the hotel, and sure enough, the rain had not hit him but instead hit the invisible barrier around his body.

"See. Aren’t I amazing?" Emelie gloated as she stepped out with him and put the hood of her jacket over her head.

"I can still feel the wind, though? And your hair is still glowing, albeit slightly."

"Well, I am still actively using magic to shield us after all, but this amount is nothing. The reason you feel wind is because I’m only blocking out the rain. If I completely shielded you from everything, then how are you supposed to breathe?"

"Only rain? How?"

"A combination of my usual magic plus water magic."

"Right, right. Yes, I see. I’m just gonna nod along and pretend that I understand."

"It’s alright. You wouldn’t understand even if I went into full detail. It’s quite convoluted since it took me hundreds upon hundreds of years to figure out and master."

"I get it already; you’re an old grandma." Kurt rolled his eye. "Now, what’s the location of the kids?"

"Wha– Hey! I’m still eighteen!"

"Physically? Yeah. But those pajamas don’t lie."

"S-Shut up and forget what you saw!" Emelie turned away from him and speed-walked away.

"Where’re we headed?"

"The docks. Luckily for us, we snagged that ship from the cult. The kids are located on another island similar to the one you and the principal landed at."

"Similar in what way? I seriously hope it’s not what I’m thinking about." Kurt clenched his fist and furrowed his eyebrows as he thought back on the cave and its horrors.

"No. There are no goblins on this island, nor are there sick acts happening to them. The place we’re going is actually the place where Tobias and the other cult members disguised as priests convinced the parents of those kids that they were taking them for their ’special training’." Emelie exaggerated the term by making quotation marks with her fingers.

"Okay then. So the plan is to sail to the island and reverse kidnap them, yeah? Once all the kids are safely on the boat, we can go back and massacre all the remaining cultists."

"Reverse kidnap? You mean rescue? And no. It’s not so simple, Kurt."

"How so?"

"Haaaa, you see. Normally, I would’ve sailed together with Peter to the island. He already knew about the cult’s existence within the church, and they were looking to recruit him into their brotherhood. Obviously, he refused them and in any other outcome, would eventually die by their hands. But after some persuasion, I convinced him to temporarily join them, where he would then sneak me onto the island, and we would save them together. But now..."

"But now Peter’s dead. So that’s why you were looking for him. Sorry about that."

"Don’t apologise. I know you didn’t mean for it to happen. We need to think of a new plan. We can’t just storm the place since that island has eyes everywhere and we’d be putting the safety of those kids in danger by alerting that whole place. Sneaking will also be difficult since they practically have eyes keeping watch everywhere..."

"In that case, I do have a plan."

"Really? What is it?" Emelie looked at Kurt expectantly.

"The way you told me about how you and Peter sneaked on that island gave me an idea. We too, will become cult members!"

....

"... What are you talking about? Becoming a member of the cult is an extremely dangerous ritual to undertake that not many survive. Only a few has ever skipped the ritual, but that’s because a member would’ve forced them to join or–"

"Emy! Slow down! That’s not what I meant, geez. I shouldn’t have paused so dramatically."

"Then what do you mean?"

"What I mean is we go there disguised as one of their own."

"And how do we do that?"

"I see your head is still up in the clouds. Emy, didn’t we just recently capture members of the cult?"

"... Oh!" As Emelie’s eyes widened, Kurt could see the exact moment a light switched on in her brain.

"Right! So basically, we take the cloaks of two of the members for ourselves and convince another to play as our golden ticket to entry on that island. Since we can’t just go there without raising suspicion, the actual cult member would vouch for us by saying that we’re the new guys!"

"Kurt, that’s... that’s not a half bad plan. Only problem is convincing one of them to act as our golden ticket."

"No need to worry about that. We already know who will be playing that role." Kurt smirked devilishly as he rubbed his hands together.

"We do?"

"Yep. A certain little... shittypants."