Behind The Smile||Karmagisa

Chapter 24: The Smell of Danger

I rubbed the few droplets of excess water off of my head, wrapping the small towel around my neck after my ears picked up the faint sound of my ringtone. Lazily, I dragged my feet towards my bed, plopping myself onto it before I felt around the sheets for the small device. When I got a hold of the noisy phone, I checked the caller ID before I slid the green option to the right to start a rather dull conversation.

"Sleeping?" the man asked, his tone hoarse right off the bat.

I rolled to my side, ignoring the towel slipping off my neck. "No, taking a shower." I corrected him, propping my head up with an arm. "So? Why call me now?"

"I have a job for you." he got right to the main point of the call.

"Yeah? I think I'll pass." I pressed the loud speaker alternative before I rolled onto my stomach, burying my face into a pillow I found comfortable. "I'm too bummed out to go adventuring." although my voice muffled, I made sure he could clearly understand what I was saying. If not, he'd release an annoying 'what?' from his foul mouth.

"Don't be like that." he continued. "You earn the money you need for college by doing this."

"I'll probably get a scholarship with my damned brain." I joked, wanting a little laughter to bubble from this man's tone. When he dragged the silence between us, however, I clicked my tongue, knowing that he's not amused with my childish behavior. "When is this job?" I asked, getting the particular conversation over with.

"Tomorrow."

"No way." I instantly reacted, my head bolting out off the pillow material to transfer the call to private mode before I positioned the device beside my ear. "You know very damn well what day tomorrow is. I won't go on some mission just to miss his birthday."

...again.

I heard a huff coming from the other side of the line, "Listen, this one's serious." he said. "I need the whole lot of you to go. Your flight leaves tomorrow night and you'll get on with the mission as soon as you land over there."

I raised an eyebrow, both in annoyance and suspicion. "Where is over there?"

He took a moment before he answered with a word. A single, simple string of letters that represents a city in the UK. A dreadful place where I spent two years running from the Queen's watch dog.

And, there's no way in hell I'm going through that shit again.

"Fuck no." I gave my answer. "I am so not going to London again. And surely not on the date of my boyfr--" I coughed, retracting my words only to morph them into a different one completely. "--brother's birthday. You should very well be aware what would happen if I leave him alone. I don't even know how long you want me to bloody stay there."

"Three weeks." he simply replied.

"Fantastic." I huffed. "Do the rest know?"

"You're the first one I've called so far."

I scratched the top of my head, my legs crossing over one another in front of me to adjust my sitting position. "Look, dad. I don't care if you tell me this, fuck I don't give a damn if you're somehow trying to win me over by telling me this first-- of course you fucking wouldn't, I'm not going to that city and that's final."

"No, its not." he stopped me just in time before I hung up. "This is a very serious job and the Queen herself entrusted us with this mission. All the other squads are scattered all around the world, each doing their own duties. Yours is the only team available."

"The Queen?" I gagged. "After what she did two years ago? After we nearly died in the hands of her watch dog?"

"She says she'll personally apologize about that."