Chapter 442: Chapter 442: Festival.
[Edward POV]
"Sup." I greeted the two artists with a small chin lift.
Lorde and Ariana returned the gesture.
Ariana bounced over with her usual bright energy. "We’re heading out. I hope we can hang tomorrow." She touched my arm lightly, eyelashes fluttering just a bit.
I gave her a polite smile. "Sure. My girlfriend and I would love to."
Her face fell for half a second before she forced a breezy wave and followed Lorde out.
Jacob flopped onto the couch with a groan. "Why’d you call us back? We were having a blast."
Finneas stared at him. "We literally took a five-minute walk."
Elsa rolled her eyes and flicked Jacob in the stomach.
"Aaaaoooouuuiii—!" Jacob yelped dramatically.
I snorted. "That was... impressive. Pretty sure you hit every vowel."
Still rubbing his stomach, Jacob whined, "Why would you do that?"
"Because you’re being dramatic. Come on, we’re leaving," Elsa scolded, dragging him by the ear as he protested. They headed toward the guest house where Enid, Alex, Billie, and Finneas would be staying.
I was still wondering what Jacob did this time when my girlfriend stepped into the room wearing a white cropped tank top, a mini skirt, and her hair in double buns. Oversized sunglasses hid most of her face.
"Hey, stranger," she said softly.
"Barbs." I grinned. "You want to go out? I thought you planned to stay in."
I slid a hand across her bare waist and pulled her closer, kissing her deeply.
"No," she said, pulling back with a little pout. "You had plenty of fun running around with everyone else. So now you’re going to have fun with me, right?"
Her voice was sugary, but there was definitely a hint of bite underneath.
I raised a brow. "Aww. Someone feeling abandoned?"
She sighed dramatically. "Yeah. Her boyfriend’s kind of terrible."
"I’m terrible because I listen to what you want?" I said teasingly.
Barbara complained, gesturing like an Italian, "You did listen to what’s on the surface. But, you didn’t read my mind, so you’re still bad."
I laughed at her teasing and said, "Alright then. You look really good, so we should go out."
"It’s 3 in the morning though. Will it be fine?" A voice asked from behind. As Barbara and I turned around, we saw Pepper there, wearing pajamas, and his eyes were half closed.
"Go to sleep. You have a fan meeting early in the morning." Pepper scolded.
"Um, Peps. You know I’ll be fine not sleeping for a few days."
He picked up a water spray and began spritzing me with it. "Go to sleep! Now! Both of you!"
"What! No! Pepper, my makeup~" Barbara whined. Pepper made sure we got inside the bedroom before leaving.
Barbara pouted in defeat and began cleaning up her face to go to bed. Both of us changed into comfy pajamas and just slept on the same bed without doing anything.
"Why did they call us back?" I was still confused by it.
...
[General POV]
-Flashback, an hour ago-
Taylor and Selena stopped by Edward’s house, but missed him.
Barbara smiled at them and said, "He went to check out the camps."
"Oh, are you sure he didn’t go to the raves?" Selena asked mischievously.
"What?" Alex and Elsa were taken aback.
Taylor nodded in agreement to Selena and added, "He went with all his guy friends, right? They must be planning to go there."
"What are you talking about?" Elsa was slightly alarmed.
"Raves... You mean the one where girls party half naked and do it with anyone?" Alex’s eyes shook.
Taylor smirked and played it coy. "Oh, you never went to one before? That’s basically what happened at a rave."
Selena pretended to be worried and said, "I know they are all loyal boys. But if they go to a place where they can do anything without any consequences, will they not try anything?"
Barbara snorted and said, "If you’re trying to make me insecure, your plans won’t work. Eddy is really loyal."
"I’m sure he is." Taylor said sarcastically.
"Jacob is also really loyal." Elsa said. Alex nodded and added, "Finneas... Well, he’s not very good at controlling his impulses, but if Edward’s around..."
Alex turned to Elsa and gulped her saliva. "Didn’t Jacob just kiss Enid at the concert?"
"Yea-Yeah, but he was under a spell. He didn’t do it consciously." Elsa stammered.
Taylor shrugged and said, "Anyway. Tell Edward, Selena and I are leaving. We’re skipping Day 2, and will come back on Day 3."
"Tell him yourself. You can just text him." Barbara was annoyed.
Taylor smirked and said, "No. I’m not going to. Because in this way, when you tell him about it, he will be reminded of me when he’s with you."
Barbara stared murderously at Taylor, and Taylor returned the same stare.
"Harlot." Barabra cursed.
"Whore." Taylor cursed back.
Taylor and Selena then left quickly, leaving the other girls.
Alex, Elsa and Barbara tried to be cool with it, but as they checked on the Instagram hashtag section about the concert, they saw a lot of girls with skimpy outfits posting their seductive figures.
Insecurity was bubbling inside them. Therefore, they texted their partners and told them to come back soon. Just to make sure they didn’t bump into those slutty girls they saw online.
Barabra has a different approach. She wanted to join him at the rave. Therefore she changed her outfit.
-Flashback ends-
...
[Edward POV]
The next morning. I was cooking some breakfast for everyone when Frankie came to the kitchen with a tablet in her hand.
"Here’s the report from yesterday."
"Frankie, have some breakfast first." I told her with a sigh.
She shook her head and said, "I want to finish this up before eating. The total profit from food, is around 30 million dollars. So 1 person spent an average of 30 dollars per day for food here."
I nodded and grabbed her shoulder from behind. She was focusing on the tablet and didn’t even realise it.
I could fly after my trip to ZomWorld. But after a thorough testing, I realized I could change the density of the materials around me.
Therefore, I picked Frankie up from the floor like paper without her even noticing and brought her to the dining table.
"Over 30,000 people checked in on the medicine bay. We didn’t charge them anything, so we lost around 40,000 dollars there." She continued.
I made her sit and put some breakfast food in front of her. Pancakes, cinnamon french toast sticks, homemade egg muffins, bacon, and a lot of other stuff people typically see in a Hollywood breakfast scene.
You know, the type where the teenage main character would only grab a toast or something and said, ’I’m late’.
One might wonder what they did with all the uneaten food. Would they store it in the fridge? Would they toss it away, or feed the homeless with it? Who knows.
"Frankie, you want some oatmeal?" I asked.
"That will be great." Frankie replied as the fork and knife moved by themselves to cut the pancakes for her. They fed her food without her even realizing it.
The magic was quite simple actually. And since Frankie knew about my powers– albeit part of it, I didn’t need to be careful.
"Some syrup please." She muttered to the utensils without even looking at them, or realizing what was going on.
"The garbage has been incinerated, therefore we didn’t need the garbage trucks." Frankie said. She added, "Most of the concert goers didn’t litter. Even those who did, were by accident. It was the tamest concert aftermath I’ve ever seen."
"In total, we earned around 70 million from the concert. 100 million from the broadcast. Therefore you now have gotten back 170 million from the 10 billion you put into building the city."
I grimaced and chuckled, "I didn’t put 10 billion in this city."
Frankie finally looked up and asked with confusion, "You filed 10 billion in the tax forms."
"That’s just some tax evasion stuff. I spent much less than that." I muttered. Since I did most of the work myself and with the android construction robots.
"Don’t tell me that. It’s better if I don’t know." She muttered, then ordered, "Give me the hashbrown next."
The hashbrown was cut into bite size and the fork carried it into her mouth.
As she ate the hashbrown, her mind finally clicked and she realized what had been happening.
"Oh shit." Frankie cursed in shock as she saw the floating utensils.
I laughed. She turned to me and calmed down.
"This is really interesting." She smiled in excitement as she touched the utensil which seemed to have its own emotions.
"Also, when did I sit down?" She asked curiously.
I shrugged and said, "Who knows? You want some shrimp fried rice?"
"Why are you cooking so much?" Frankie asked with a worried face. "You could afford a personal chef."
"I cook better." I smirked slightly.
Frankie chuckled and said, "Alright then. We have learned from the first day’s mistakes, so we’re going to do better today. I have stocked up a lot more food." She put her tablet down.
As she ate a blueberry, she said, "The festival stalls are set up, so the people have something to do until the afternoon."
"Did we get the ferris wheel?" I asked.
"Two. We have two of them." Frankie replied.
"Noice." I nodded in excitement. "I’ll ride it with my girlfriend before the concert starts again."
...
At the festival. It was located on an open field. There were a lot of game stalls, food stalls, and entertainment such as puppet shows, live busking, and many more.
I wore a simple hat and glasses to hide my identity. Barbara wore a black tank top and jeans. She also wore sunglasses.
"You know Superman’s disguise won’t work, right?" Barbara teased. "If you get mobbed, I will be stomped to death by the crowd."
"Then, like Superman, I will carry you in my arms and fly out of the crowd." I muttered as I kissed her cheek.
She laughed gleefully and said, "Okay Superman. Wait, if you’re an alien, how come you have a normal man’s reproductive part?"
I shrugged and said, "Who said I have a normal one? Mine is pretty damn hug–"
"Eddy!" Enid called from afar, which made everyone around look at us. She waved excitedly, and didn’t realize what she was doing.
"Edward! Hey! I’m OVER HERE!" Enid shouted loudly. I heard unsettling murmurs coming from the crowd.
"Edward Newgate?"
"Is that Edward? Should we go to him?"
"I want to take a picture with him."
As I heard all of that, I quickly grabbed Barbara and snuck away.
Enid was quite disappointed when I didn’t respond to her.
"Is it not him?" She mumbled. "Did I get the wrong person?"
Barbara and I hid inside a tent to get away from the attention.
"That’s so close. We didn’t even get to start." Barbara said with amusement, she grabbed her beating chest and smiled widely.
I checked out the area and said, "It’s safe now." We held hands and I brought her out of the storage tent.
For the next few minutes, we had quite an enjoyable date. We grabbed some foam fingers, played some basketball machine games, and ate some snacks.
And then, we got on the Ferris Wheel.
"Hey Ed." Barbara called.
"Yeah."
She slid her hand on my thigh and bit her lips slightly. "Isn’t this place kinda perfect?"
"Perfect for...?" I trailed off, and she laughed mischievously. Soon, she was kneeling on the cabin floor.
"People can see us from outside." I told her casually.
"I know. That makes it much hotter." She replied.
...
[General POV]
"Ewww." Enid suddenly exclaimed in disgust as she saw a silhouette on the Ferris Wheel cabin from afar.
"Huh? What?" Alex asked in surprise. Enid pointed to the cabin, and Alex’s eyes followed her finger.
"EWWW." Alex groaned in disgust too.
Jacob and Finneas exclaimed in excitement. Finneas said, " Whoa! Awesome."
"That’s really bold." Jacob muttered. He turned to his girlfriend and said, "can we do that too?"
"No we will not, you idiot! Those people are a bunch of degenerates. They will be caught soon!" Elsa grimaced and slapped Jacob in his bicep.
"Cover your eyes kids!" Elsa shouted to the kids nearby. "Let’s go to the dunkin’ stall." Alex pulled Finneas and Enid away.
"Aww. I want to see more." Enid exclaimed sadly. "Wait. Where did they go?" She tried to search for them, but couldn’t see it as they were moving.
A few hundred meters away from them, Phil exclaimed similarly to the boys.
"Ohh. Awesome."
"Phil!" Claire was in shock, she covered Luke’s eyes from behind him.
Luke said, "How can I see where to throw the dart if you blindfolded me."
They were standing at a dart stall, and Luke was holding a big red dart in his hand.
"That makes it a challenge. Throw it." Haley urged him. Luke made a throwing motion, but he was wildly off and almost threw it to his dad’s back.
But Claire grabbed the dart from his hand and stopped him immediately.
"Haley! Stop screwing around and help me." Claire scolded. "Phil! Stop looking, you look like a pervert."
"What? No, I’m not the pervert. They are. Also remember that time–"
"No! And neither do you." Claire stopped Phil immediately.
"Wait. Where did they go?" Haley suddenly asked.
"Huh? Maybe they are at the top." Claire was confused.
"No. I’m pretty sure they are still at 9 O’clock. But they disappeared." Phil shades his eyes from the sun to get a better look.
"Wait. They really disappeared." Haley was really shocked, her mouth went wide. "The cabin is empty." She added in horror.
"Wait. Perverted Ghost Exhibitionist?" Haley gasped, a smile budding on her face.
"Or they could just be lying down on the floor. It’s covered by the door, so people can’t see them." Claire added.
Phil sighed and said, "Honey. Don’t ruin our imagination with your skillful ways of public–"
"Phil. Shut up. I’m warning you." Claire said sternly.
Phil laughed and gestured, zipping his mouth shut.
"Public what?" Luke asked with a chuckle. He didn’t understand anything.
"Let’s go to the Dunking station." Phil said excitedly.
The Dunphys walked to the stall where they would need to throw a ball at a target, and the person sitting inside the tank would be dropped into the water.
The Dunphys and Edward’s friend group bumped into each other at the stall.
"Alex!" Claire exclaimed in excitement and went to hug her daughter. "We’re so proud of you."
"Mom! You’re embarrassing me." Alex said shyly. But she hugged Claire tight.
"Hun! You’re a superstar!" Phil said loudly.
"Dad! Hush!" Alex said, with a blush on her cheek.
The people nearby realized who she was, and who they were since they saw the bandmates on the big screen last night.
A crowd began to form, where people wanted pictures with Alex, Finneas and Billie.
"Hey! I’ve seen you guys. In the Fort War... thing." A random teen recognized Jacob, Elsa and Enid. Soon, everyone was surrounded.
A few flying drones rushed to the area and created a perimeter around the celebrities.
The walking humanoid drones, which looked like a droid from the Star Wars universe, also rushed there, but a bit slower. Ten of them began to create a perimeter around Edward’s friends.
One of them turned to Alex and said, "Please follow us to safety."
"It’s fine. We can take pictures with them." Finneas said casually, seeming unfazed by everything. But Alex knew he was faking since his palm was getting sweaty.
The droid said to the fans, "Please. Don’t surround them. They want to enjoy the day too."
The fans calmed down. Some of them apologised and went away. Soon, the crowd disappeared.
"Wow. That’s easy." Enid muttered with exasperation.
"Well. They are Edward’s die hard fans." Jacob said, crossing his arms and nodding slightly. "Unless we’re Edward, they don’t really care much."
"That hurts my feelings a little bit." Finneas was depressed.
On the other side of the festival, Frankie talked to the security team using her futuristic earpiece. The earbud in her left ear looked like an ear pod, with a red glow at the end.
There’s a mini drone following her, projecting live shots of the Ferris Wheel and other parts of the festival so she could see the conflict there.
"Are they really gone? They are not lying down?" She asked Oracle, the AI helping her with confusion.
As one drone circled the empty cabin, Oracle replied after analysing the camera footage, "Yes. No traces of them could be found."
"What about DNA?" Frankie asked. "Can we figure out who the perverts are? I’m going to sue them for all of their worth and kick them out of the land!" She added angrily.
The drone opened the cabin door and entered it while it was at the top of the very slow Ferris Wheel. It took 10 minutes for it to complete a turn.
The drone swabbed some samples from the cabin door and said, "No bio traces found. The cabin’s clean."
"Hmm?" Frankie was confused. "Check the footage. See if we can find out who they are by tracing them backward."
The AI analysed all of the footage they could find, but the result still came out empty.
"Call Edward. Find out where he is." Frankie got an inkling on who she was searching for. "He’s the only one who can do this."
Robin giggled to herself as she saw Frankie’s reaction from afar.
"He’s sure having fun." Robin muttered. Her eyes suddenly turned sharp.
"A military convoy? What do they want?" She said venomously.
The drone caught the presence of the military coming to the private land. Robin stood up, and Woo-Jin followed her to intercept the military before they could get near the venue.
Red Menace and Jenna were patrolling the festival ground. Jenna wanted to find the perverts, but they couldn’t find any traces of them.
"Are they really ghosts?" Jenna asked, her face paled slightly.
R.M smirked and said, "Well. We now know aliens exist. There’s super powered people everywhere. So maybe there are ghosts too."
Jenna shuddered and began to pray.
