88
Prologue
"Whaddya mean, commandeered?" Chari demanded, "That's ridiculous! Who gives you the right to do that sort of thing?"
"Master Skull gave us his full permission," the man with the ponytail sneered, "and if you don't like it, then you can just find a rowboat and paddle yourself back to Italy."
"Skull?" said Chari, confused, "You mean that little errand boy? You take orders from someone who takes orders himself? That makes you, what, the bottom-feeder on the Famiglia food chain?" The man dealt Chari a swift, silent blow to the chest; the wind was knocked out of the boy before he even knew what hit him. He fell to his knees and clutched his stomach closely. The man squatted down and pressed his face creepily close to Chari's.
"Listen, kid," the man chuckled, "We'd be happy to negotiate with you. Problem is, we only negotiate with those of the same Dying Will Flame as a representative we send in. And I'm sorry to say this, but we don't have a Sun representative."
"B-but my Family," Chari stuttered, "They have different Flames. Surely you could talk to one of them…?" The man snickered as though he knew something and was eager to whisper it onto disparate ears.
"That's just it, y'see," he said, "Aside from the flameless guys we have, everyone else is of the Sky Flame, and unless you manage to find someone in this airport who has the Sky Flame in the next 48 hours, we'll be hauling your Famiglia back to Italy. Now get out of here before I call security on your ass." Chari stumbled to his feet, still clutching his chest in pain, and staggered away from the terminal. He pulled out his cell phone and called #1 on his speed-dial. It was almost immediately answered.
"Hello?" said a quiet voice on the other end.
"Keshia, it's Chari," Chari sighed, "Looks like the Calcassa are 'commandeering' the airplane, and in 48 hours they're gonna bring it back to Italy."
"We can't go back there!" the girl said sharply, "You know what the CEDEF said; we're supposed to be heading to Hawaii and we can't afford any wasted time! What are you gonna do?"
"I can't very well break out the Accordo and bash the place up," Chari said as he headed for the exit, "but I have an idea as to what I'm gonna do."
"What's your plan?" Keshia said conspiratorially.
"Well, they said they'll negotiate with someone of the same Dying Will Flame type, but the only representatives they have are of the Sky Flame."
"Seriously?" said Keshia, "We couldn't even find one Sky user. How did they manage get a solid group of them?"
"Personally, I think that's a lie," Chari said, now outside the airport and hailing down a cab, "but it's okay. I'll play by their rules and they can't call a foul ball."
"Again with the baseball metaphors?" sighed Keshia, "Honestly, that's a really bad habit. I think they have medication for that now."
"Haha, Keshia," laughed Chari humorlessly, "I think I'll stick with the medicine I have now, thanks. Anyway, gotta go, cab's here."
"Cab?" Keshia demanded, "You're leaving the airport? We're stuck on the plane! You can't leave!"
"I'm heading out to get a representative," said Chari, "I'll talk to you as soon as I can."
"Not that it matters," said Keshia slyly, "I'll watch where you go anyway. Kind of annoying having someone keeping constant tabs on you, isn't it?"
"Kind of," said Chari, and he hung up the phone. After hailing his cab, Chari stepped in and slammed the door behind him.
"Where do you want to go?" the driver said with a heavy Australian accent.
"Do you know how to get to Namimori from here?" asked Chari.
"Sure, mate," the driver said, and with that, he put his vehicle in gear and headed off.