CHAPTER THREE
Cody ran his hands through his shoulder length hair, laying his head back on his pillow. His eyelids lowered slightly as he watched his brother pull on his clothes, a toothbrush hanging out the corner of his mouth. Lifting his left arm above his head he glanced at his watch, and then looked over at his brother once more.
"Since when do you get up early?" He asked voice groggy. It caught Zack's attention who turned and continued to hold the toothbrush at the side of his mouth. Cody looked away in disgust as a line of drool seeped out of his brother's mouth and fell to the floor. As usual, Zack didn't bother to clean it up.
"Staying with the Jacksons all summer will make you change your habits," Zack mumbled, rubbing at his eye. "I swear to God they're robots or something. They get up early and have a schedule to fill their day. It's no wonder they can't ever sit still." He rolled his eyes then walked over to his brother's bed, sitting down on the end. "So today's going to be the first day you've seen Bailey in a while. What are you going to do?"
Cody glared so fiercely at his brother that he got up from the bed in one quick movement, holding his hands up defensively. "Sorry. I was just asking a question." Cody shook his head and sat up, running his hands over his face. "You're going to have to see her at some point and considering we've all been back in Boston for a couple of days now, trying to lie low and hope that we can get a little bit of normalcy, you're going to have to talk to her at some point."
"I know." With the finality in his tone, Cody got up from his bed and walked over to the dresser, pulling out a simple blue t-shirt and brown cargo shorts. After quickly changing into them, he picked up his brush and started to run it through his hair, staring at his reflection. Every freckle that was starting to disappear as he aged proved that his childhood was really being left behind, replaced by the scars and marks that were reminiscent of every battle and moment he had to grow up through. Each and every one was tougher than the last, even having to find himself through the throws of adolescence—which he found to be more challenging at times. "Especially considering we all need to talk about Mother Nature and everything."
"That's something I'd rather not think about," Zack murmured, his hand instinctively going to his cheek. He dropped it as if he had just burned himself and then went over to his brother, clasping him on the shoulder. "I'm sure there's something that we can find that'll take our mind off it. Let's go see what Esteban is serving for breakfast today."
Cody's nose wrinkled. He turned to Zack, tying his hair back into a ponytail. "You hate the breakfast food here. You say the eggs are bland, the toast is too dry and crumbly, and that the oatmeal is all lumps." He rolled his eyes. "Somehow you even convinced some of the younger kids here that they actually serve eyeballs in it."
"It's Esteban; you know where he's from!" Zack threw his hands into the air. "What do you think is actually going to be in there? His best friend is a chicken you know." He went back over to his bed and sat down, pulling on his shoes. "I mean, he does a good job at running the hotel, even better than Moseby, we certainly got away with more stuff. But I draw the line at the food." He made a motion of drawing a line across his throat and laughed.
"Good to know that you still have a sense of humor," Cody mumbled.
A heavy silence filled the room. Zack twisted his mouth to the side and watched his brother as he continued to nervously run his hands over his hair, as if he still wasn't used to the long locks that now reached his shoulders. It was funny in a way, the two of them had—even he knew it was stupid—longer hair when they were fourteen and constantly mistaken for girls, and now he was worried about what he looked like now? They had faced death so many times and he still cared about his appearance. Zack had thrown that out the window ages ago.
After having millions of people all over the world watch the broadcasted fight, why did any of that matter anymore?
Zack got up and grabbed onto Cody's shoulders. He dug his fingers in and pulled him away from the mirror, propelling him out the door and towards the front of the suite. "Whatever, come indulge in some gross food with me or you're going to crack the mirror." Cody swatted his brother not he arm. The two left their bedroom to find Blazen and Phantom inside an open cabinet. Cody held out his arm. "C'mon guys, we're going to get something to eat."
"Thank you." Phantom spread his wings and soared over to Cody, landing on his outstretched arm. "We were just saying that we didn't want to have to live off of chips for the rest of our lives."
"You don't even have any Twinkies," Blazen added. He flew over and landed on Zack's head, lightly poking him with his beak. "Those are my favorites."
"Mine too, buddy, but they don't make those anymore," Zack said. He and Cody laughed at Blazen's startled gasp as they left the apartment. "Trust me; I was just as upset as you were."
Cody rolled his eyes an exchanged a glance with Phantom. "He even went out and bought out the Paul Revere mini mart of all of the Twinkies, ate half of them, and sold the other half to whoever would pay him top dollar for it."
"Oh! So you're rich now?!" Blazen asked. He leaned over and placed his face in front of Zack's, turning his head so that an eagle eye was staring directly on Zack's own baby blues.
Cody laughed loudly. "Not even close, Blazen, but that's a nice thought." Cody pressed the call button on the elevator and the two stepped inside.
Once the doors closed and the elevator lowered to the ground floor, Cody could immediately feel his guardian tense and place his talons tighter into his arm. Cody reached out a hand and gently ran his fingers over Phantom's back, hoping to calm him down. He understood how the guardian felt at times. They were so used to roaming free, being able to go anywhere and do whatever they wanted. Even when the teens were all at school the guardians would either wait inside their masters and mistresses or wait back at their homes, hidden from sight until their families or anyone that could see them left.
He felt the same way now, though in the opposite direction. He had been so used to hiding everything, having to run off at a moment's notice, not knowing if those at WingzCorp would be smart enough to attack during school, hiding a big part of himself. Now that it was all out in the open, he wanted nothing more to do than shut himself out and not have everyone look at him so differently.
As a hero.
Yeah, right.
Cody scratched his neck, feeling the puffy skin under his fingers and immediately flashed back.
The energy from the element stone had been stronger than he anticipated. Once he felt all of the energy flow through is body he rushed towards an arbori; one of the green toned humans made completely of plants and vegetation. His speed had been enhanced even further, causing him to move so fast he couldn't control it. Instead of smacking straight into the arboris with a solid punch like he anticipated, he lost his footing and fell heavily on his side into a parked car. The car practically fell to debris under the force of Cody's slam. Before he could raise his hands, the arboris was on him, hands turning into vines and wrapping around his neck tightly.
Cody raised his hands as they glowed a bright blue and he blasted out hard balls of water at the arboris. Instead of knocking it back like he anticipated the seemed to harmlessly deflect off the arbori and flew off to the side. All around him Cody could hear the sound of his friends fighting; their grunts of effort and pain encircled the area. Even the sound of the helicopter's rotary blades was drowned out. Everything started to muffle around him as the vines started to squeeze tighter and tighter by the second. Cody reached up his hands and grabbed onto the vines. Muscles bulging with the effort, he started to pull, trying to force them away from his neck. He could feel the vines starting to dig painfully into his neck, stinging the harder he pulled.
Finally with a loud cracking sound as he broke the ropey strands, Cody pulled the arbori off of him. Bringing his right arm back he shot it forward, encompassing the arbori in water and a blue beam of energy. When he lowered his hand, the arbori was reduced to a smoking pile of leaves. Cody lowered his right hand and lifted his left to his neck. His skin was slippery with the blood that coated his fingers when he pulled his hand way. The cut wasn't too deep, nothing that needed immediate medical attention, or what a quick healing could do.
Cody pushed himself off the car and looked around him, his eyes moving to the portal that had opened in the sky. The arboris continued to steam out of it, it seemed there wasn't an end in sight, no matter how hard his friends were fighting. And then there was Mother Nature in the middle of it wall, watching with a heated smile of satisfaction.
He knew that he would never get the look of that smile out of his head. No matter what amazing memories and experiences he could potentially experience that would outrank them, there were always some things that would be stuck.
The doors to the elevator opened and Zack and Cody barely managed to squeeze out before racks and racks of clothing were shoved inside by the bell boys. Cody exchanged a glance with his brother then followed the path of oncoming dresses and skirts to see where they were coming from.
"Be careful with that! It certainly costs more than what you're wearing and it's still as hideous as ever!" Cody's mouth dropped open when he recognized London Tipton's loud shriek. Comically, he rubbed his eyes, trying to discern whether or not he really was seeing what he was seeing. Or, as the case was, whom he was seeing.
London Tipton followed the bell boys through the lobby, watching to be sure they didn't mess up her clothes or scratch up the clothes rack they were hanging on. Cody was even sure that the rack was made of the best silver money could buy. It wouldn't surprise him. The image of London being in the Tipton hotel was what did surprise him. He hadn't seen them in years…two years at this point, ever since they had left the SS Tipton to try and fight off Zhane, who was under the control of Gattaca at the time.
"London!" Zack cried, getting her attention as she passed.
She turned and looked at the two boys with a blank expression on her face before smiling. "Cody! Zack! How are you guys? Aren't you glad the stupid sea school is over?"
Cody resisted the urge to roll his eyes. London's constant mixing up of his name didn't bother him now so much as it had done before. He always wondered what had happened to them when Zhane had attacked them when they were on the ship. Back when things first started, before Bailey had known about their powers, before they found out about Geneva and Gattaca, before Koto's and Max's deaths, before they had been detained by the government, before they had found the element stones, before…everything. It always sat in the back of his mind, where were London, Mr. Moseby, Woody, Addison, Marcus? Now she was back at the Tipton hotel as if nothing happened, as if they had never gone in the first place.
"I'm Cody," he corrected her quickly. Licking his lips, he exchanged a glance with Zack before stepping over to her. "Yeah, graduation must have been pretty good," he said with a half smile. "I bet you're glad that you're finally able to get away for good."
London rolled her eyes. "I wish," she snorted. "Daddy's making me go until graduation and that's not for another two years." She nudged Zack on the arm. "Geez and I thought he was the smart one." Rolling her eyes, she turned back towards the candy counter desk where a young brunette man was stocking the shelves. "Ugh. When is Maddie going to get back from college? I'm sure she would have been bored without me being her roommate. Who else is she going to spend her first year with?"
"First year?" Zack repeated.
But London's attention had turned form the twin boys and back to her clothes as they were finished being put into the elevator. She then stepped into the other waiting one and went up to her penthouse suite. Cody slowly turned from the elevators, his eyes narrowing as he did so. Something wasn't right here.
"What's wrong?" Phantom asked. He feathers started to puff out, like they always did when he was aware that Cody was having nervous or ill feelings. "I can feel it. Something's wrong."
"London has never really been that bright, but she said something extremely weird right now," Cody said, scratching the back of his head.
"What did she mean that it was Maddie's first year on college? She's getting out next year," Zack said slowly. His eyes were narrowed a well, rivaling the expression of extreme suspicion that Cody was feeling. "And…she should be graduating now. I mean,"—he gestured to Cody—"like you said, London isn't necessarily bright, but even she would know when she should be graduating so she can finally leave that place. Hell, God knows we've heard it enough."
That's what I was thinking, Cody slowly nodded, his eyes moving around the lobby of the Tipton hotel. He couldn't help but get a feeling that something was wrong. He had become adept to noticing it at that point.
/What are you thinking, Master Cody? / Phantom asked him telepathically.
/That there's no way that London is that dumb. Otherwise, I have no explanation for it. / Cody continued to watch the lobby. But for what? Some sort of a bomb blast that would blow up the ceiling? A meteor to come crashing through the windows? For Core to suddenly come back, guns blazing and to kidnap more people to use against them? Or for some sort of wave of darkness to take everything out in one swing? He even expected the Earth to suddenly fall into the sky, anything but for things around to be considered normal.
A familiar call sliced through the air, "Oh, Mr. Moseby!"
Zack and Cody shot their gaze over to the front of the Tipton hotel where Marion Moseby strode through the revolving doors, nodding at Norman the doorman as he went. Cody felt his mouth drop open as he looked over at his brother. The same thought shot between the two of them.
What the hell?
"Esteban, I hope things have been treating you well while I was gone," Mr. Moseby practically sang as he walked across the hotel lobby and over to the former bell boy as he stood behind the front desk. With a large smile, he gently rested his arms on the counter top. "I've heard nothing but good things."
"That's so nice to hear from you, Mr. Moseby," Esteban continued. "And I will be glad to give you your job of having the day manager job back." He puffed up the front of his dress shirt. "I can only do as well as you if I watch the best."
Mr. Moseby smiled. "You're doing fine." He took a step back away from him the desk. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see how the other employees are doing then I will go back to my apartment and spend the summer to myself." He turned on his heel and stopped short when he spotted Zack and Cody. A mixture of a grimace and a growl crossed Mr. Moseby's face before he stalked over to them with a tight lipped smile. "I know that you boys still have two years left on the SS Tipton and I bet you're glad to be back here, but please stay away from me over the summer. I need to have some peace and quiet from you teenagers at some point."
Before Zack or Cody could respond, Mr. Moseby walked by them and walked over to the candy counter and spoke with the young man there before disappearing around the corner towards the kitchen.
"Geez," Blazen said as soon as Mr. Moseby was out of earshot. "I forgot that guy was so snappy! He needs a good fire set underneath him."
"Or a way to cool off," Phantom agreed.
"Don't even think about it," Zack warned his guardian. He placed his hands on his hips, craning his neck to look up at him. "I can't take you anywhere. You're always getting into some sort of trouble," he scolded him. Blazen didn't seem to care about the fatherly tone Zack was giving him.
"In case you've forgotten, I'm the same age as you and I take a bit of your personality. So if there's anyone that always gets into some sort of trouble, it's you!" Blazen painfully poked Zack on the top of the head, snagging a few of Zack's blonde hair in his beak. A mischievous glint filled his eye as he spat the hair back to the ground.
Zack ignored Blazen and turned back to Cody. "So are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah," Cody said slowly. "A major case of déjà vu."
A/N: Looking over it again, I realized there were a few plot pints in Mystic Melody that that I had dropped without noticing. So they're going to be reappearing as the story goes on; as you can see when I finally explained what happened to those that were on the SS Tipton. And with that, the story now officially starts, so things are going to be more fast paced from here on out.
Also, some things that happened in real life (like the Twinkies thing) obviously don't fit in a correct timeline with this story, but its fiction and I can do what I want. Haha.
Cheers,
-Riles