The plane ride was long. It turned out that The Eye did not get them a private jet and instead they were flying commercial. And, they were in economy. Henley and Danny were sitting next to each other, and currently they were arguing about airplane food. Jack and Merritt were sitting next to each other, with Jack by the window. Aria was sitting behind Jack and the person next to her was some cocky douchebag who was trying to flirt (unsuccessfully) with her. He placed a hand on her knee and Aria then picked up her bag and climbed over the idiot's legs. He reached out a hand and attempted to squeeze her ass but she turned quickly and let her heavy bag hit him in the face.
"Merritt," she said, "switch seats with me." Merritt was awoken from his doze to see the tealy girl standing next to him, looking cross.
"Why should I do that sweetheart?" Merritt asked.
"Because if I sit there any longer I'm going to get raped." she hissed.
"Fine, fine. But only because I like you." Merritt reluctantly got up and let Aria sit next to a sleeping Jack. He turned and started trying to get into Aria's former seat. "Try anything on me or her," he declared to the idiot, "and you'll see an image of me naked." and with a bop on the idiot's head, he fell asleep.
Jack woke up to a finger snapping in his face. "Merritt stop..." he groaned. Then he heard a giggle. His eyes snapped open. "Aria?" he asked. He looked at the girl. Her tealy hair looked darker and she had dark shadows under her eyes. "Did you sleep at all? Where's Merritt?"
"Merritt is sitting in my old seat because if I sat there I would have been raped by the douchebag who sat next to me. And no, I don't sleep on planes. At all. I like to be awake and alert in case there is an emergency. We're landing in an hour and you haven't eaten anything. I have some bread. If you want it." she explained, tucking a strand of blue green hair behind her ear and handing a piece of bread.
"Thanks," he replied, taking the piece from her, "where did you get this?"
"I tricked an air hostess." she said simply. "The air hostess didn't like me so I said if she gave me bread, you'd give her your number. The idiot I sat next to slipped his number in my back pocket so I gave that to her."
"You are an evil little girl." Jack smirked.
"I'm not little! I'm five foot seven." she exclaimed.
"I'm five foot eight."
"Then you're the little one. Most men clear five ten." She said, looking triumphant.
"Anyway," Jack said, "why don't you have a phone?"
"I could never afford one." Aria said simply.
"You could probably afford one now."
"People can get traced with cell phones though! They aren't very safe when you're trying to escape something!" She exclaimed, looking aghast.
"Come on Aria, you're with me. I'll keep you safe. " Jack said, smiling wide at the girl.
When the group of magicians landed at LAX, Henley immediately started to look for baggage retrieval. Aria simply shouldered her one bag and pulled a rubber band out of her pocket, braiding her hair as she did so. "Where are we staying?" Merritt asked.
"I don't know." Danny replied, looking shocked.
"What's this?" Aria had pulled out a slip of white paper as well as a rubber band, passing the paper to Danny, she wrapped the rubber band around her braid. Danny unfolded the paper and began to read the words printed on it.
"Alright, let's get Henley's stuff, looks like we're going to Sunset Boulevard."
Three hours later, the magicians reached home. "Henley," Jack gasped, "you are not going to bring over twenty bags, ever again!"
"I agree with the kid." Merritt said, slumping against the front door. The house was a mansion, about the size of the English Home and had a neat little garden, pool, and acres of land to explore.
"Is the door unlocked? Aria don't let that one touch the ground, there are very fragile things in it." Henley reached out to lift the bag that Aria was holding. Danny tried the handle, it was locked.
"Jack, unlock the door." Danny said, taking the bags from the younger boy. Jack reached into his pocket for his lock pick, only to find it missing.
"Um, where's my lock pick?" he asked, looking at the Four Horsemen.
"Is it this?" Aria said, holding out the tool. "It was in my pocket, I don't know why." feigning innocence, Aria smiled, she had snitched the lock pick from Jack so she could see if the pickpocket knew he was being pickpocketed. Clearly, he didn't. Jack took the tool while looking at her with a sideways glance. Reaching down, he inserted the lock pick into the lock and pressed several buttons to make the mechanism work. Click.
"Alright, let's go in." Merritt said, heaving up Henley's bags and his suitcase before heading through the door.
The minute Aria stepped through the front door, she saw a large sweeping spiral staircase and a crystal chandelier.
"Wow, they got us a nice place." she said breathily. Her expression was one of pure amazement as she gazed around the foyer. Jack saw her face and smiled to himself, he'd only known her a short time but he had never seen her eyes shine that brightly.
"Let's pick bedrooms." Danny said, breaking the moment. The five young adults picked up their bags (and Henley's) and headed up the spiral staircase. When they reached the top, they froze. The second floor was breathtaking. Paintings hung on the walls and a balcony overlooked the front hall. Several doors lined the corridors and they were all painted white. Danny went ahead and began opening all the doors. "Pick one." he said simply, standing back and looking through the doors. Aria followed Henley until the reddish haired woman had picked her room. Tossing Henley's bags on her bed, Aria strode down the hallway and walked into what appeared to be the smallest bedroom.
"Picked mine." she called out, standing in the doorway.
"I picked mine too!" Henley called out, she was trying not to squeal over the large closet.
"This'll do." Merritt said, tossing his suitcase on the ground and flopping onto the bed.
"I like this one." Danny said, admiring his room.
"I'll just take this one then." Jack looked around and walked in, dropping his bag on the ground.
An hour later, the five had showered and were getting ready for bed. All the bedrooms, except Aria's, had adjoining bathrooms. Aria had to use the one in the hallway.
"So, tomorrow we'll discuss shows and we'll talk about safety." Danny waited for objections. Nothing was said. "Alright then, good night." and he headed off to bed.
Henley and Merritt mumbled their good nights and went to bed.
"See you tomorrow." Jack smirked as he walked through the door of his room. Aria smiled at him. The young girl was wearing her special pajamas that made her feel safe, a white singlet and purple short shorts.
"Let's go exploring Aria." she whispered. During her exploration, she found a room that was for entertaining, a living space, a large kitchen with adjoining dining room, and a small powder room. She walked back up the stairs and headed back to her room. It was small, but she liked it. A bed in the corner, armoire and wardrobe nearby. She dropped down on her bed and covered herself in her blankets before drifting off to sleep.
A/N Wow, major filler. I promise something exciting will happen next chapter. Maybe a show? Thanks for the feedback!