"So where exactly are we supposed to go?" I asked after disembarking from the train that took us all the way to Southampton City. The cities were connected by an international railway network that stretched for thousands of kilometers across the Federation. The high-speed trains allowed for us to cross vast distances in a matter of hours, much like how planes did the job in the early twenty-first century. Otherwise we would have to leave a day or two earlier."The Stuart Corporation Building," Alicia replied as she glanced at the electronic invitation she received in her smartphone. "It should be about thirty minutes from the station by bus."
The two of us had brought along bags. Mine was a standard backpack, with my formal clothing and shoes neatly folded or inserted inside, while Alicia was carrying a smaller sling bag. I had no doubt she had some sort of formal gown inside there as well. She certainly wasn"t going to attend the engagement party in a simple summer dress and sandals.
She looked pretty good, I had to say. A sleeveless, light lavender dress that matched her violet hair and exposed her shoulders and slender arms. She would have worn a hat as well, but that wouldn"t be appropriate. I mean, why would you wear a hat inside a train, bus or building?
I had told her that her dress suited her earlier, when we met up, and she seemed very happy about the praise.
"It feels as if we are really going out," she giggled. Then she stopped. "Wait, we are going out, aren"t we?"
"Um…if you say so."
"What"s with that?" Alicia had punched me good-naturedly. Anyway, that was pretty much what happened before we boarded the train, and I basically spent most of the ride dozing off. I wasn"t sure what Alicia was doing, but she was probably reading or watching a video on her smartphone while seated beside me.
I hoped I wasn"t drooling. Ugh.
After we left the ma.s.sive train station, we headed to a bus stop, which, according to Alicia"s smartphone and Google Maps, indicated the prime route to take. Since I didn"t know the way or even our destination, I just followed her without any complaints.
"We"re here!"
Before I knew it, Alicia nudged me and we got off the bus. Stepping onto the concrete, I glanced around and saw that we were in a bustling capital district that was packed full of commercial buildings and people in suits and stuff. Even though it was a Sat.u.r.day, a weekend, there were still many people working here. Engaged in conversation with their smartphones, hurriedly trotting across the pavement, entering or exiting the many s.h.i.+ning, silver skysc.r.a.pers that dotted the landscape.
I didn"t have a degree in architecture, but even I could tell that whoever designed this district was opting for an ultrmodern look. The shapes of the commercial skysc.r.a.pers were sleek. Some of them were domed, some of them were curved, and others were…weirdly shaped.
"There it is. The Stuart Corporation Building!"
Tugging at my hand, Alicia led me to one of the tallest skysc.r.a.pers in the district. This one looked even crazier than the weird designs I had seen, resembling a castle tower than a proper building. It had to be over two hundred stories high. Painted in a fresh, coat of silver-white paint, the grand, pristine building stood proudly among its brethren of skysc.r.a.pers. Lights and golden ornaments accentuated it against the otherwise dull skyline of grayish silver, with gigantic electronic bulletin boards arrogantly showing off the logo of the Stuart Corporation. The clean, bright windows stood out against the white paint, reflecting the sunlight off their translucent surfaces.
Arches and contours ran around the top of the building, which, as I said earlier, made it resemble a castle tower. Ribbings in the walls gave off the sensation similar to the Is.h.i.+mura from Dead s.p.a.ce, a Gothic design that inspired a feeling of the sublime and the uncanny (okay, that was the literature student in me speaking absolute nonsense). Did Lionel Stuart, Cecilia"s father, want to project an air of royalty or something? Was that why he had his main corporation building look like a castle? He wanted to pretend to be a king of his commercial domain or something?
"Impressive, isn"t it?" Alicia asked, giggling at my reaction. She shrugged when I glanced at her. "This isn"t the first time I"ve been here. I accompanied my father to the Stuart Corporation Building about twice or thrice before."
"Your father isn"t coming today?" I asked. Alicia shook her head.
"No, he wasn"t invited this time. And he has no interest in Cecilia"s engagement ceremony." She frowned. "He would have refused the invitation anyhow. He has a dinner with the board of directors tonight, concerning the discussion of school policies."
He was a busy man, if he had to work on a Sat.u.r.day night. I pitied him, and hoped I didn"t become an academy director in future.
"Anyway, let"s go in."
The interior of the building was even more impressive than its exterior. My first impression was that of a first-cla.s.s hotel, the lobby spread out across the first floor in a vast sprawl. Dozens of lamps decorated the walls and ceilings, illuminating huge, blue sofas that were probably impeccably arranged by professional interior designers. Grand, mahogany coffee tables littered the place, giving the building an air of n.o.bility. I was reminded of the castle design outside again.
Right at the center of the lobby was a ma.s.sive counter that was manned by several receptionists, garbed in starched, professional-looking uniforms.
What an absolute waste of money, I thought sardonically to myself.
"This way," Alicia said as she motioned toward the elevator. She glanced at her phone. "We"re to meet up in the seventy-fourth floor." She smiled as she turned to me. "It"s the rest area. We can spend the next few hours there while waiting for the engagement party to begin, and then get changed…maybe an hour before it starts."
"Sounds good to me," I agreed as I followed her into the elevator.
The moment we stepped out into the seventy-fourth floor, I found someone waiting for us there.
"Brother!"
Adrian Stuart hurled himself at me, and I deftly dodged him. He almost toppled into the elevator just before the doors shut. d.a.m.n. If I had given him a little kick, he would have gone right into the elevator and taken upstairs. And I would be rid of the annoying b.u.g.g.e.r.
"How mean!" Adrian whined as he turned toward me. "To avoid my greeting like that!"
"That"s…quite the greeting, Adrian," Alicia remarked, amused. The fourteen-year-old turned toward her.
"Sister Alicia! It"s so good to see you too!"
"Same." Alicia nodded politely. "What are you doing here?"
Like us, Adrian wasn"t dressed for the formal event just yet, still in his usual red hoodie and blue jeans. Then again, the engagement party was hours away, so who the h.e.l.l would want to get into such an uncomfortable getup with so much time remaining?
"I heard that Brother Richard and Sister Alicia were coming, so I decided to come say h.e.l.lo!" Adrian knitted his hands behind his head. "It"s so boring being by myself. I haven"t seen you two in ages! You haven"t been visiting!"
We had no reason to visit, but I wasn"t tactless enough to point out the hard truth. Instead, I merely smiled.
"Well, we were…busy."
"Right! I heard about the campfire incident! Is it true that you nuked three Crastrates, Brother Richard?!"
"It"s true!" Alicia laughed when I didn"t reply. "Richard is officially a walking nuke right now! All the different powers in the Federation want to recruit him!"
"…um…actually, I think that"s what Uncle Lionel wants to do." Adrian suddenly turned serious and uncomfortable. "I don"t know for sure, but I heard from my father that Uncle Lionel is trying to draw as many talented mages as he can to the Stuart Corporation. That"s why he deliberately sent this invitation to you."
I exchanged an uneasy look with Alicia. No wonder Alicia"s dad wasn"t invited. He wouldn"t have bothered calling Alicia along if he didn"t know of our relations.h.i.+p. Not that he actually knew the true nature of our relations.h.i.+p, which wasn"t official until just a few days ago.
"Uncle Lionel will probably want to talk to you later." Adrian was nodding to himself grimly, his lips pursed. "I don"t think Father is happy with that."
"Where"s your father, by the way?" Alicia inquired, glancing around. Adrian c.o.c.ked his head to the side.
"Not here. He"s overseas at the moment. But he entrusted me with a task that only I can do!"
"What task?" I asked curiously. Adrian shrugged, as if it wasn"t any big deal.
"Pa.s.sing on a letter."
I would have asked to who, but Adrian changed the subject later.
"Brother, this is your first time here, right? I"ll show you around!" he stopped and turned apologetically to Alicia, as if he just realized that he had forgotten about her. "You can come along too, Sister Alicia."
"If you"re fine with me tagging along," Alicia replied good-naturedly, not at all offended. Adrian nodded fervently.
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"Sure! Please do! Sister isn"t available at the moment. She and Brother Shawn are busily organizing the party. There"s a lot of things they have to do, so I don"t think you"ll be able to meet her until the party begins. It"ll be better if you follow us!"
More like Adrian was the third wheel, but again, I didn"t say anything.
"There"s a gaming room down that corridor." It soon became clear that Adrian didn"t really intend to show me around the place when he led me down the brightly lit path to a room in the middle, pa.s.sing by the other rooms without explanation. He grinned. "Are you good with shooter games, Brother?"
Yup, that was his aim. Literally. He didn"t want to show me around. He just wanted to have fun and play games. Fortunately, I was game.
"Yeah. I"m a veteran of survival horror. Sci-fi horror shooters, I mean." I patted my chest proudly. "I"ll have you know I"ve survived a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p and a s.p.a.ce station infested with zombie aliens. Even a whole planet, for that matter! I"ve also fought demons, killed my way through h.e.l.l and back to Mars!"
"Uh…"
Alicia was watching us blankly. Evidently she didn"t play games like we did. In contrast to Adrian, who was nodding excitedly and understanding which games I was referring to, she found herself completely lost.
Adrian and I didn"t forget about her, though.
"What kind of games do you play, Sister Alicia?"
"Um…me? I don"t really play games…"
"What about movies? There"s also a TV segment in the gaming room, so if you"d like, I can hook you up and you can choose any movie you like. We have the entire digital collection of Hollywood and Chinese cinema films…old Hong Kong cla.s.sics too, if that"s your thing."
Shaking my head, I watched in amus.e.m.e.nt as Adrian sought to ensure that Alicia would be just as entertained over the next few hours as we would be.