Evie was already getting stressed. Finn still hadn't sent her any new messages. Maybe the girl was a hunter and now everyone was dead!
No.
Evie had to calm down. Zeth and Everett were experts in hand-to-hand combat, and BC-13 was up there watching them from the shadows, and there were bodyguards deployed everywhere, on every floor of the hotel, in every tower and on every surrounding street, so everything would be fine...
Right?
But she still had to find out more about this mysterious girl, so she went to knock on the door of one of the team's bodyguards, and although SM-13 greeted her in owl-print pyjamas and with her hair in a messy nest of crows, she willingly let her in and promised to help.
But this was taking too long, and Miley's typing on her computer was already making Evie dizzy, that or her frantic pacing while her hacker friend did her thing.
Evie couldn't stop reading the messages that Finn had last sent her a few minutes ago though...
EVIE â Finn, I need eyes and ears up there.
FINN â First, she wanted to call a friend, but I did what I could to avoid it. Maybe that friend is a Hunter, right? We have to be cautious.
EVIE â She mentioned a girl, Melody, while talking to Frank in his room. Is she the one she's talking about?
FINN â IDK. But how do you know that? You put a microphone in the room before you left, didn't you?
EVIE â I did and let Everett know. What else do you have for me?
FINN â I feel like a secret agent. She says she is Erich's daughter. Zeth wants her to sign papers so she doesn't sue us for bringing her here. She says her friend has a blog, she is going to interview us, maybe that will help you discover more about her.
"Boss, I have something for you," Miley said after a long yawn and rubbing her eyes.
"Please fill me in," Evie said, hurrying to look at the laptop screen in the darkness of the room.
"I have the girl's Facebook and Instagram account, Jade Cullen Swan, she's not very popular, she doesn't have more than thirty friends slash followers," Miley said. "I think you're worrying too much, Evie. This girl is just a Masher. Ooh! And she shared an article mentioning that Zeth sent 'compromising' photos to a Masher Mum and that they were leaked. Let's see..." Miley bit her lip, "Okay, the article redirects me to some X post, let's see. Yes, I want to see the uncensored photo." Miley then gasped. "Oh my god! It's like a dream come true!"
"What?" Evie asked, a bit too worried.
"Look!"
Evie leaned over to look at the laptop screen with narrowed eyes.
"Do you really think it's him?" Miley was fanning herself with her hand, "The photo was taken from the neck down but..."
"Nah. That's not Zeth." Evie said very self-assuredly, patting Miley on the shoulder.
"No. Way." Miley was shocked, gasping and covering her mouth even.
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Oh god! Evie! You and Zeth?!"
"What?"
"How do you know it's not Zeth? Have you seen him naked?" Miley asked. Evie gulped, "Wait. Have you?!"
"What kind of question is that?! No! I'm just saying it would be an insult to think that's Zeth."
"Ooohhh! Why is that? Is this Fake Zeth too small?'
"Well, yeah... I mean! I don't know!" Evie was already scarlet red, "Okay, enough! What I meant was, Zeth is too smart to send something like that to anyone, much less for free. And those fingers? Please! Those are nothing like Zeth's!"
"I've never paid attention to Zeth's fingers," Miley wiggled her eyebrows.
"You're disgusting," Evie rebutted, "I didn't mean it in any dirty way. Besides, that guy has a tattoo. Zeth doesn't have any."
"That tattoo is in a pretty private zone, how do you know Zeth doesn't have any?" Miley laughed.
"Okay, stop trying to confuse me. Zeth doesn't have any tattoos because his healing powers would erase them. That's why I know it's not him. Now could you please stop saying I'm Zeth's secret lover?"
"You said it, not me."
"Make another joke and I'll tell Zeth what you did to his car last year," Evie said and Miley raised her hands in surrender.
"I'm just saying that you and Zeth would make a cute couple. You're both control freaks."
"Stop saying nonsense and..." Evie dropped her shoulders, sighing heavily while looking over her shoulder, "BC-13, do you really have to always spy on me like that?"
"Hey, this is good gossip, I didn't want to interrupt," said BC-13 from the window, shaking his head with a laugh, jumping inside. "I knew you wouldn't go to sleep."
"And I knew you were coming so I left the window open," The two of them fist bumped. "You still got ears up there, boy?"
"I do. Let's say Draco was going to take a shower but had to go back to his room to get dressed, so I asked him nicely to put a microphone on his red vest. Then the ceiling fan fell." BC-13 said as Evie quick-scanned Jade's Facebook page on Miley's laptop.
"Draco likes to play super spy," Evie said, nudging Miley, who was already drifting to sleep and curling up in her chair. "Do you know why Finn doesn't answer my messages anymore?"
"Zeth got mad because he was texting you and told him to put the phone down." BC-13 replied, "I don't think there's much to hear at this point, the girl and Zeth had a brief... Argument, after the interview."
"She interviewed the boys?" Evie raised an eyebrow.
"She asked stupid questions at first, nothing a hunter would ask. I heard it all from my ear piece and saw it all from the balcony." BC-13 said. "First, she asked the boys their zodiac signs. Please! Who the hell knows that?"
"Frank is Libra, Draco is Pisces, Alex is Cancer, Finn is Virgo, Zeth is Leo and Everett is Gemini." Evie responded as if she were being interviewed.
"Evie's quite the Masher," Miley laughed, "Plus, she sings really well. You should hear her sing 'Hunter In Disguise' in hotel showers. I'm always in the next room."
"Girl! Shut up!" Evie nudged her, "Anyway. What else did this 'Jade' ask?"
"I barely remember," BC-13 put a finger on his chin, "I think... Who is most likely to not text back?"
"Everett. Although Draco never remembers where he left his phone, not to mention that he has broken a million." Evie said while checking Jade's Instagram, raising her eyebrows upon finding lots of pictures of the guys, "I guess this 'Jade' is obsessed."
"A rabbit talking about big ears," BC-13 said under his breath.
"Looks like Jade is friends with Melody Operman," Miley pointed at the screen.
"Despite what she asked at the end of the interview, I highly doubt she's a hunter," BC-13 said.
"What did she..." Evie raised an eyebrow when she heard her cell phone ring. The ringtone was an acoustic version of 'Hunter In Disguise' which immediately made BC-13 laugh and form a heart with his hands.
Evie showed him her middle finger as she answered the call, turning on the speaker.
"Evie, it's Zeth," she heard his voice and immediately got nervous.
"Hey boss, it's late so I'll get paid for working overtime." Evie said as Miley and BC-13 fooled around blowing kisses.
"Evie, I have some urgent job for you."
"Look how much she's blushing," BC-13 said to Miley, who was blinking a lot and making hearts in the air with her fingers.
"Maybe he wants some Coochie-Coochie," Miley joked and BC-13 began to laugh.
"Shut up you stupid," Evie grumbled.
"I beg your bloody pardon?" Zeth sounded offended on the other end of the line.
"No, I wasn't talking to you, Boss. What do you need?"
"The girl just left. Could you follow her and investigate her to make sure she is not a Hunter? I will give you all the information you need and I want to know if her identity is..."
"She is Erich's daughter, the neighbour across the street from the former Rubinstein Residence. Melody Operman is her friend, I have all the information," Evie nodded, "I'll take care of it, Boss."
"Well, I want two hard copies of what you find out, and a PDF too," Zeth sounded distant afterwards, literally, as if he had moved the phone away from his mouth, and then he started yelling, "Where the fuck are you going, Seamons?!"
"Zeth, I have to hang up," Evie said, looking at her phone with a raised eyebrow, "I have another call."
She hung up and picked up.
"Evie, it's Finn."
"You okay?" She asked, turning to look at Miley.
"Trouble. Jade just signed the papers and is leaving."
"That's good, isn't it?" Evie smiled slightly, "I... I mean... Yeah, so what?"
"No! That's not good! She wants to give the interview to her friend. Evie! We can't let that happen! That girl will steal her moment!"
"And what do you want me to do?" Evie eyed BC-13 and Miley with her brows furrowed.
"I'm rushing down the stairs, she's in the elevator. Could you ask your friend to hack Jade's phone?"
"I guess SM-13 can," Evie said, "And then what?"
"Could you post the video on her account? Post that video on her profile and tag all of us?"
"I have Jade's account by now, logging in won't take long," said Miley, "But you will need to get close to her," she then opened the silver briefcase she had next to her laptop to take out a hacking gadget.
"An EMF Visualizer?" Evie asked. She had used those before. A device capable of detecting and projecting EM fields onto walls in real time, it could also be used to remotely control and hack some electronics.
"I'm running through the lobby to catch up with Jade," Finn said, "Evie, could you help me?"
Evie eyed Miley, who gave her a thumbs up.
"Okay, I can do it. I just need you to buy me and Miley some time. It would be very helpful if you take the phone away from her so I can have a clear visual."
"Thank you, Evie! You're the best!" Finn said, and then he hung up.
Evie took the EMF Visualizer and sighed, walking slowly towards the window with clenched teeth.
"You are angry?" BC-13 asked, looking her up and down with his arms crossed, "Yeah, I think you're angry."
"I'm going down there to help Finn, and I really hope this is the last we hear from this girl," Evie said, climbing up to the window frame, pulling out her grapple gun, "Wish me luck."
She fired the hook at the edge of the window and jumped, swinging down quickly, and when she was one story away from reaching the ground, she flipped back.
She landed on a crouch near the bushes of the main entrance, rising up while the wire of her gun slid into the cannon quickly.
"Oh! There's the girl," Evie said, frowning as Jade ran out of the Hotel and down the steps with the cat in her arms and her phone in one hand, so fast she nearly fell.
"Hey, wait!" A voice called out for her.
Jade turned around.
"Leave me alone, Finn!"
"Wait! Don't go!" Finn followed her relentlessly down the sidewalk until she stopped under a streetlight.
"I don't want to be in a music video!" Jade yelled.
Finn stopped dead in his tracks.
"What?" he cocked his head. "Are you serious?"
Jade looked at him straight in the eye, shocked that he didn't believe her.
"Yes! I just want to be a normal person who has no idea how to get paid or what to do! I didn't sign up for that when I met you!"
Finn rubbed his nape and looked away.
"Hey, I get Zeth can be a little... Paranoid but... He's worked a lot to make us a successful band and he's a perfectionist, but he is not a bad person, that's for sure." Finn ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "He just wanted to keep us safe. But you were amazing in the interview. Maybe you..."
"I just did it for my friend, the interview," Jade snapped back, and he seemed annoyed, even lowering his eyebrows, "Sorry. I forgot you don't like being interrupted."
"And I am sorry about this," Finn took Jade's phone from her hand and put it behind his back, "I'm not letting you go until you listen to me!"
"Give me my phone!"
"I said no!" He replied, a little playful but with a certain air of seriousness in his tone, "Let's make this easy, okay? Look, we're going to be professional about this..." He paused and looked over his shoulder at Evie behind the bushes. Evie gave him a thumbs up. "We gave you an interview, private, and you just want to give it away to someone else. Do you know how much we charge per interview?"
"Okay then..." Jade muttered. "How much do I owe you?"
He smiled a little.
"Don't give away the interview, upload it to your whatever account, but don't give it away. Stop living in the shadow of your friend and take credit for what you did!" Finn then looked over his shoulder at Evie again.
"I see. That's why you want me to take care of this, isn't it Seamons?" Evie whispered behind the bushes, taking out the EMF Visualizer, pointing it at the phone in Finn's hands. The display showed a small clock on the screen, and in a matter of a few seconds, a green check-mark appeared. Then she pressed her earpiece, "SM-13, I have extracted the video, we can upload it to Jade's account," She said as she opened the Visualizer's menu. The video was there, and also many pics of the boys and some fanfics in pdf.
"Listen, Finn. I am tired and I want to go back to Melody's place," Jade sighed. "So give me my phone."
"And Melody is your only friend, isn't she?" Finn crossed his arms.
"Yes. I don't have any other friends."
"You've got six new friends now, well, maybe five." He said, "But Zeth will be your friend too. I know because I saw him forgive the woman who..." But he fell silent, looking over his shoulder at the bushes. Evie was already gone. "Just post the video on your account, will you? Don't live in anyone's shadow and forge your own destiny. Be our model and..."
"Seriously? I don't understand why you guys want that. It's one thing to post a video and quite another to be a model." Jade shrugged. "Now give me my phone and let me go back to my boring life."
"Your life is boring because you want it to be. You've never had anything happen to you because things don't just happen. We make them happen, through our actions."
"It's easy for a famous singer to say."
"And you think I became like this just because I sat in my bed waiting for it to happen? I'm still fighting to be the famous singer you think I already am."
And then he started typing something on her phone.
Damn!
What was he doing?
"I saved my number, I didn't do anything else," he told Jade and handed over the phone, leaning down to be eye level with her. When his handsome face was close to hers, her breath hitched, and she swallowed hard before meeting his gaze. "I apologise on Zeth's behalf for what happened earlier, but I won't apologise for wanting to change your life for the better, and I hope to see you again. You can call me if you change your mind about being our model," He waited for her answer, but when she said nothing, he sighed. "Fine, forget it. Go home now, it's late. Or if you want you can stay at the hotel, I mean, it's late."
This was all wrong.
He was her idol, and yet she treated him so rudely.
But... Was she really that important to them?
"My friend doesn't live far away but thanks. And about the video, I'll think about it. Thank you for giving me this opportunity." Jade said what her mother would have advised her to.
"Don't think too much then," he patted her shoulder twice. "Take care, Jade," and then he walked back from where he came from.
However, once inside the hotel, Finn took his cell phone out of his pocket and quickly called someone...
The waiting tone rang twice, and when he pressed the elevator button, Evie finally answered.
"Hey! I distracted her as much as I could to buy you some time." He said while stepping into the lift, "Please tell me your friend could hack her phone," He bit his lip, then smiled from ear to ear, "Good. Thanks, I owe you one. Upload the video to her account... Yes, yes, also check that she's not a hunter like Zeth ordered, but do the video thing before that. Yes, I know this is illegal. God! You sound too much like Zeth! Have you ever been told that you and him would be the perfect couple?"