SUPER RICH KIDS
"Sooo…" Dara said, drumming on the car seat behind her in a made-up jaunty tune. "Who's gonna be who?"
The five of them were packed into a black minivan, camera equipment strewn across the back seat. Claustrophobic. Dara could tell by the tightness of Jaewon's face, her eyes wide, that she was not loving the fact that they had at least one more hour like this. James was shotgun, and Haoyu was driving, enduring highway traffic. With the ease the two handlers had taken their seats, she had a feeling this was a typical mission for them.
"What?" Haoyu asked, glancing at her through the overhead window. "What are you talking about?"
"The roles for our infiltration! Come on, you seriously haven't thought about this?" Dara exclaimed, throwing her arms out. The tip of her ring finger hit Ryan's glasses, and he shoves her hand away. "We can't afford to blow this!"
"I'm a camera guy," Jaewon said simply, through gritted teeth. Through her earbuds, Dara could hear Morrissey bleating out the words to 'This Charming Man'. Jesus, back in her Smiths phase?
"Hm, yeah I think that fits you," Dara said, nodding thoughtfully. "You have that stagehand look to you. No offense."
"You're just gonna make yourself the host," Ryan grumbled, adjusting his glasses. "As usual."
"Shut up!" Dara snapped back.
"I think you'd be better as the host," Haoyu said, eyes not moving from the highway in front of him. "I don't want that role, anyhow."
"I'd rather not, either," James responded, looking back with a smile. "But, I think you and Ryan could be good co-hosts."
"Well," Dara said, tapping Ryan on the shoulder, who rolled his eyes. "Guess it's settled… This is… Ghost Squad! With… Diana Lovelace and-"
"Not 'Diana Lovelace' again!" Ryan shouted.
"'Again'?" James tilted his head slightly.
"She's been trying to do this 'Diana Lovelace' character for every single heist we've done!"
"Well let her," Haoyu said, eyebrows furrowed in the rear-view mirror. "Better that she has a character already. Stop bickering."
"Diana Lovelace and Sir Shane Romansburg…!" Dara exclaimed, clapping her hands.
"Yeah, no, that's too much," Haoyu said, waving his hand dismissively before it rested on the steering wheel. "Nothing extreme. You're not looking to stand out."
"I'm not doing that," Ryan huffed, nudging Dara. "I'll be Shane, but none of your weird worldbuilding. He's my character, asshole."
The two argued and developed their characters as Haoyu pulled into the massive, sprawling parking lot of the hotel. If Dara crained her neck just right, she could see it, a white palatial estate built in a typical colonial American style, the kind rich people would rent out for tacky ugly weddings. No wonder curses or whatever would be in it.
"Before we go in," Haoyu said, as he parked the van. "A few things."
"First off, I'm repeating myself, but we are not interfering in the exorcism unless there is a risk of death. This is a reconaissance mission, not a venue for you to show off your skills."
Dara nodded, looking up at her handler through the mirror. His sunglasses were pulled down, and she could see his dark eyes staring back at her.
"Second," he said, shifting in his seat, and adjusting the mirror with a lithe hand. "We will be talking with these sorcerers, but always remember your characters. Do not disclose any details of your real life to them."
"Finally, do not disclose your Cursed Technique at all costs."
Haoyu adjusted the mirror again, his eyes glaring back at Dara. She shuffled in her seat slightly.
"Some sorcerers have these things, 'Binding Vows', agreements that if they disclose their technique to their attacker, they'll grow stronger. None of you have been stupid enough to make a mistake like that. Make sure it stays that way. In cards, you don't go flashing your deck to everyone. Do you understand?"
The three all murmured vague forms of agreement, nodding along like bobblehead figures. Haoyu tapped the mirror once, before continuing.
"In this field, there are the sorcerers who always adhere to ideas of nobility and tradition, and those who win," he boomed, hitting the steering wheel once. "I want you all to be winners, and sometimes winning means you have to be underhanded or cheat. And always believe that your opponents will do the same, be they curse or sorcerer."
"Well," Ryan said with a smirk. "You recruited the perfect group then."
A smile grew on Haoyu's lips, and his eyes narrow slightly in the mirror.
"I had a feeling I did. Let's move."
The group jumped out of the van, grabbing the large, black hard-shell cases that carried (or were supposed to carry) their camera equipment. If Dara concentrated right, she could sense that something different was in it, but she didn't investigate further.
As they approached the front office, the woman working it, about their age with blonde hair and dark skin, quickly looked up. Her vest was bunched up at the chest, as if she was about to take it off.
"Excuse me," she called out, as James approached the booth. "T-There's been an incident and the estate is closed for-"
James smiled at her, before flashing his badge. She seemed to droop a little, before continuing to take off her vest.
"Go up this trail, sir," the woman said, nodding her head slightly.
"Thank you," James said, gesturing for the group to follow. "You should head home, it's not safe for you."
The woman nodded, scuttling out of her post as they left. Dara watched her leave for a moment, before turning forward. They'd all dressed down before the ride, back into casual dress, which she felt mixed things about. It was more comfortable, but she looked sexy in the suit… She should've made Ryan take more pictures to send to Jessica…
"Mm," James said, lugging along a large camera case in one hand. "The grounds are quite beautiful, aren't they?"
"It's fine," Jaewon huffed, looking around. "There's trees."
James laughed, shaking his head.
"Why don't you enjoy the sights a little?" He replied, tapping Jaewon's shoulder twice. "Sure, you're on the clock, but you'll be going to beautiful places all across America…"
"Yeah," Jaewon sighed, looking around her. "You have a point."
It was nice, James was right. It was just about sunset, the fading orange light filtering through the broad leaves of the trees. It'd be something to paint, to make a nice watercolor of. The house kind of ruined it thought, its white paint made it stick out too much against the darkness of the greenery.
The house seemed to loom over them as they approached, rather tall for a building so old. Brick buildings could only go so far up before they started to have issues, or something she half-remembered from environmental history in college. The brownstone in Philly that rich people lived in always had strange steel or glass aberrations because of those issues. It gave them a goulish, almost parasitic quality, as if something was chewing up the inside and jutting out of its corpse. And-
"Hey! Hey!"
Dara looked up, directly into the eyes of a teenage girl, about fifteen, her blue eyes wide. Her dark hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail, and Dara almost winced at the sight of it. She was dressed in a dark uniform, like the catholic school kids she would see growing up, but with tights, all in black.
"You three aren't supposed to be back here," she snapped, poking Dara in the chest. "Didn't the lady in the front stop you?"
Oh shit, time to get into character, Dara thought to herself. Wait, 'you three'? Looking back, Haoyu and James have seemingly vanished into thin air. Assholes!
"Oh, we went around," Ryan said, resting his hand on his hip. "We're here to film our show."
"Your show?!"
"Yeah," Dara trumpeted, stepping closer. "'Ghost Squad'. It's a web series. You probably haven't heard of it, but you will."
"I don't care about your show!" The girl shouted, eyes widening. "Get out of here, before I call the police on you!"
Like that'd work, Dara scoffed in her head.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Dara said, eyebrows furrowing, looking at her from the corner of her eyes. "Are you park staff?"
"No, but-"
"That's what I thought," Dara said, trying her best to seem bitchy. "I'm not about to get ordered around by a child. Now run along…"
"Miss Lovelace," Jaewon called out from behind. "You shouldn't be rude to her, she's just a kid. Maybe she's a volunteer…"
"I'm not a volunteer!" The girl shouted, as a man, maybe a few years older than them approached behind her. "Just-Just get out of here!"
The man placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him with wide eyes. She scuttled behind him, hands tucked behind her. He was tall, with a flash of messy red hair on his head, and a wide, pale face.
"I'm sorry about her," he said softly, a smile on his face. "We've rented out this place for a private field trip. You're gonna have to film some other time, okay?"
"But, we had a permit to film today!" Ryan shouted, hitting his hand against the traveling case twice. "We can't just do this another day!"
"I'm sorry," The man said, his voice frosty. "Something came up. You're just gonna have to deal with it."
The two walked away, and Diana and Ryan made a good show of huffing and groaning until he was just out of earshot. Then, they both turned to Jaewon, who was standing silently.
"Did'ya think we did a good job?" Ryan asked, a grin on his face. "I know it's been a while since high school, but I think I still have it in me!"
"You three did excellent," Haoyu said, popping out from behind Jaewon. "Good work."
"And where exactly were you two during this?!" Dara huffed, stamping her foot down once. "You left us high and dry!"
"Sorry," James said with an apologetic smile, hands clasped in front of him. "We had a hunch that we would know that guy, so we figured you could handle it."
"Well, did you know him?"
"Yes," Haoyu replied, his expression tight, adjusting his sunglasses. "That was Alec Normann. A grade-one sorcerer and instructor at the Charleston Academy of Jujutsu."
"Charleston?" Jaewon asked, tilting her head.
"There's academies for this?" Ryan asked, rubbing his chin. "Are they like charters?"
"Who names their kid Alec?" Dara scoffed, kicking the gravel.
James chucked, rubbing his chin with broad fingers. He gestured vaguely to the estate.
"We'll talk more when we get in there, come on."
The sorcerer group seemed to be mainly centered outside, so sneaking in was relatively easy. All the staff must've been dismissed for the occasion, so there wasn't anyone to shout or run after them as they made their way up the rickety wooden stairs. After a few minutes of struggling, they managed to shove all their equipment inside one of the hotel rooms, decked in red patterned wallpaper and white drapery. After she set down the case on the plush carpet, Dara walked over and peeked through the blinds.
Out the window, she could see Alec, the girl from earlier, and a dark long-haired boy and blonde girl in pigtails standing in one of the main courtyards, by some pruned bushes.
"So," Dara said, pulling the curtains back and looking over at James and Haoyu, who were both sitting down. "How do you know this Alec dude?"
"Well, we went to school together in New York," James said with a smile, leafing through some novel that had been either provided or left behind. "I was nothing more than acquaintances with him while…"
"We never got along," Haoyu grumbled, taking off his sunglasses. Dara felt there was something more lying there, but decided not to push.
"That's true of most of the sorcerers that you went to school with," James said, looking over at him. "So he's not unique in that regard."
"So, there's schools for this then," Jaewon said, lying against the bed. "Is there a Philly one? Why were we never recruited?"
"Yes," Haoyu said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "But the Philly one's been gone for a while. They're like private schools."
"Ugh, that's why then," Ryan sighed, his tongue sticking out. "Family's too broke."
"Or you just hid under the radar," Haoyu yawned, before checking his watch. "Here's the plan for now. We stake out, observe this exorcism, then magically when they're leaving, you three pop out of the bushes and ask for questions, say you filmed them, any excuse to get them talking."
"Fine by me," Dara said, lying against the bed. "Need the damn rest anyways. Been up since six."
Despite that, as she lounged on the bed, while Jaewon leaned off to a corner listening to music and Ryan passed out on the chair, she couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't because of anxiety for once, but just becuase her body wouldn't let her for some reason.
After what felt like forever, Dara felt something odd come over her, like she was getting blanketed or trapped by some force. For a moment, until it was gone as fast as it came.
"Oh," Haoyu said, sitting up and peeking out the window. "That'll be the curtain. They're luring the curse out."
Dara sat up and walked over to where he was looking. Sure enough, the sky was pitch-black, when it was only about six in the evening. Haoyu had explained its purpose a while ago, something-something, keep other sorcerers and non-sorcerers out. She heard Ryan yawn, and stumble over to the window, Jaewon close behind.
"Ugh," Dara huffed, watching the three kids wander around the courtyard. "Please let this curse be out there and not in here…"
"It's probably not," James hummed, still reading his book. Dara turned to face him, tapping her foot. "If I had to guess, it's in one of the surrounding houses. Not the main one."
As if on cue, Dara heard a loud boom, then the shattering of glass.
"Oh shit," Jaewon said, deadpan, and Dara rushed over to look out the window, James close behind.
The blonde had gotten thrown from one of the side buildings, which now had its front facade smashed in. Glass littered the ground, as something, blue and bloated slunk out behind her. It crawled towards her for a moment, before slowly rising on its haunches.
"That half-wit," Haoyu growled, clenching his fist. "He's sending his students up against a special grade!"
authors note
chapter title is from super rich kids by frank ocean.
im watching a lot of tcm these days.