Echo Book 2

42. Few Flaws

A few hours into the day, Zion and I take the helicopter to Kinnik.

"Welcome, Octavia."

"Thank you. Azo is expecting me."

"Right this way, ma'am."

We walk into Azo's office and Scotch is here.

I try to ignore him. Zion must notice something. He starts looking around.

Azo sits up. "Welcome, Echo. Your dad said you would be stopping by today. I have your suppra in the lab now. Scotch is being trained for work here. Is it ok if he comes with us?"

"Of course. It's fine. This is Zion. He's being trained for Phade Enterprise, I think."

He nods. "Ax doesn't know what to do with me. Now I work for the throne."

Scotch jumps up. "How did you apply for throne work?"

"I didn't. I applied at Phade. Echo said I work for the throne now. Phade pays me. I have no idea how it works."

"Neither do we." I shake my head.

Azo laughs. "Right this way."

I lay on a table and a lady hooks me up to some stuff. Then I count backwards and step out of the box as my suppra.

"Very good. Can you stand right here?" Azo shines a light in my eyes. "Look here, Scotch. What you are looking for is the black marks that line up in her eyes. This is a very good connection."

Azo goes to a table and does some paperwork.

Scotch shines a light in my eyes. "Perfect. Not as perfect as your real eyes though."

I put my head down and stare at the ground. I didn't even want this thing back. I should have never come here. I send Malax love through the feather. He sends it right back. I needed to feel that.

Scotch helps me into the box and I open my eyes as myself. Now I can get out of here. "Can you send it to my house please?"

"Of course, Echo. Thank you for coming in. Can you sign on the line for me?"

I sign Azo's paper and Scotch walks me out. He gives me a hug. "I'm sorry for everything I did. I was so stupid. I knew you had money, and it made me crazy. I won't make excuses. I was a greedy, selfish asshole. I hurt a pretty girl who liked me, for no damn reason other than I thought I could make some money. I'm sorry. I understand if you never forgive me. But I wanted to apologize anyway."

I open my mouth to say words, but Zion punches him in the face and Scotch falls backwards.

Then Zion walks me to the helicopter and pushes me in. "Time to go."

We get strapped in and take off.

"Who was he?"

"He's the boy who brought me a burger. He took me to a concert too. I liked him."

"What happened?"

"He liked my money more than me."

"What did he say to you?"

"He's sorry."

"Do you forgive him?"

"Yes. Money makes people stupid. At least he admitted it."

We get back to Malax's office and Zion sits down. "I punch an idiot."

"At Kinnik?" Malax shakes his head. "You 2 just went to Kinnik, didn't you?"

"He punched Scotch."

"That's understandable. I should give you a raise." Malax opens a folder. "What did he do?"

"He was standing too close to her."

"Good job. What did he want?"

I shake my head. "He said he was sorry for being a greedy, selfish asshole. He wanted to say he was sorry."

"I guarantee that's not all he wanted." Tim opens a folder.

"What are you 2 looking for?"

"The blueprints for the vault ships."

I stand up. "I'm going home. When are we leaving for Oukrant?"

"In the morning, babygirl."

"Sounds good. I'll be in the pool."

Zion looks at me. "You want to get some lunch first? I have the bike. You liked that."

"No. I'm never doing that again. Once was enough. Malax, don't forget to show him how the brains transmit people so he can talk to his dad."

"Bikes scare you, baby?" Tim smirks.

"Something like that." I kiss his head. "See you in a few hours."

I go home and try to watch a movie but Eriska and Tobias show up. She falls asleep on him in their chair and he watches her. He seems so happy.

Then he looks at me. "Did you eat lunch?"

"No. I'm still queazy from the accident. I haven't been able to eat much. I'm trying to take it easy."

"Did you tell Malax and Tim what happened when you were on the bike?"

"No. It's not important. I'd like to learn how to ride myself. I would love to feel the wind on me for real."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

"Why would I? It's over. It'll never happen again."

"You were having fun. Why say you'll never do it again?"

"It wasn't fun. I was wrong. I'm going to Cru. N."

I walk around Cru N. for a while and see a dinosaur I can feed outside the gate. It's the kind with the long neck. I feed him some leaves. I pet him and tell him how good he is. He really is the best dinosaur. Something roars and I run back in.

Malax laughs and puts his arm around me. "Tobias told me what happened."

I shake my head. "I didn't know I was doing anything wrong. I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I asked him to show up with skateboards."

"He showed me the text."

"He came with motorcycles. I didn't know."

"He said it shocked you."

"It did. I was trying to get Eriska to spend some time with Tobias. He asked me to ride with him. I figured since I was a suppra, I wouldn't die."

He laughs and kisses my head. "Keep going."

"I knew he had a girlfriend. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to ride with him."

"I rode a bike in college. They are cheaper, and it's easier to get around the 100k a year fee. But if I got it out tomorrow and gave Eriska a ride home on it, would I be doing something bad?"

"No. But if you were riding around with some girl, I didn't know. Maybe that's not good."

"She could also be my sister. Who has rode with me before. That girl had no idea who you were or what your intentions were. She had no right to do what she did. It was not your fault."

I shrug my shoulders. "I keep thinking about some girl riding around with you."

He hugs me. "You're not going to find me in that situation."

"Were you mad I was on the bike?"

"No. I told him to take motorcycles instead of skateboards. That'll impress Eriska more. I told him if he could get you to ride, then go for it. I trust you, babygirl. I know you were doing that for your friend. I also know you and him get along. You're allowed to have friends."

"I never had many."

"It's hard for you. You couldn't go out. I'm happy you get to try different things now. Let me ask you a question though. If you found me riding around with a girl on the back of my bike, would you be mad at me or her?"

"You."

"Yep. But I promise. No girl will be around me that much unless you know who she is. And if you have a problem with a female around me, she's gone."

I hug him. "Thank you."

"I love you, babygirl. You're all I want."

"I love you too."

"What did you think when you saw Scotch today?"

"I wanted to leave. I didn't know he was there. I would have waited another day."

"You ready to leave the planet?"

"Yes. Very ready."

"I meant this one."

"Yea, I guess."

Tim helps me off the table in the suppra lab. "You good?"

Malax gets up. "She thought she was wrong for riding with him."

Tim kisses my head. "If we have a problem with someone you're spending time with, we'll let you know, babygirl. We'll sit down and talk to you about it. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I love you, boys."

"We love you too."

"We're going to a party. Get on your suppra here." Eriska lays on the table.

"I'm done with that thing for a while."

"NO. YOU'RE NOT. GET ON HER."

"FINE." I lay down as violently as I can. Then I open my eyes and glare at her.

"Suck it up. We're going out. We're going to kiss boys. Have s*x. Get really drunk. Then stagger our asses back."

"Few flaws in that plan."

"What?"

"We can't get a suppra drunk. And I'm not having s*x with anyone."

"FINE. New plan. We're going to buy motorcycles and learn how to ride them. Then show up at a party and kiss boys."

I scratch my head. "Is that ok?"

Malax rubs his eyes. Tim shakes his head. "You get no phone numbers and nothing more than kissing. No future contact with them."

"I guess."

She calls for a car, and we go to the motorcycle store.

"So you girls have never driven bikes before, and now you're buying them?"

"Correct."

The salesman shakes his head. "Let's put you on something small."

I jump up and down, pointing. "I NEED THAT BLACK AND PINK HELMET."

He nods. Then he gets me black and pink everything. My helmet has a pink ponytail. Then I have a jacket and pants. Boots. Even the gloves are black and pink. Eriska does everything in black and purple. We look good. Then we pick out 2 black bikes.

"These are fine. They are smaller bikes. Their top speed is about 100. They are still very fast, and you have to be careful. I'm moving you 2 to the track, so we can show you the basics."

She smiles. "We're suppra's don't freak out if we wreck or lose an arm or something."

"Oh, thank god."

I search my pockets. "I don't have his credit card. It burnt up. I didn't even think about it."

"Call him."

"No damn phone." I roll my sleeve up and connect the feather.

"Hi babygirl."

"Your credit card burnt up. I can't pay."

"Where are you at?"

"The motorcycle place with a track. He is going to show us how to drive them."

"I'll be right there."

I disconnect the feather. "He's coming."

"Who is he?"

"Malax Phade."

"Ok. Let's get these moved to the track."

We get to the starting line and get on the bikes. The instructor is standing there. "Use your legs to stand the bike up. You want to sit further back on the seat. Do not bend your wrist like that. That's better. Now to start the bike..."

A half hour later, I stall and she falls over.

"Good try, girls." He picks her bike up. "Remember don't pick your feet up until you start moving."

3rd time, we finally get it. We go slow around the track a few times. Then he puts us in a fake village. We have to stop at stop lights. Go around curves. Malax and Tim come out and watch us. We do really well.

Then we go back to the instructor. "You girls can now drive them on real streets. Be careful. Understand that you are beginners. Absolutely no passengers. Get used to them for now."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Have fun."

Malax smiles. "These helmets have 2 visors. Lift the dark visor and you can pull down a clear one. Do not try to use the dark visor at night."

"Ok."

"We'll follow you out of here."