Chapter 14

Scientia Song

‘It is a strange thing, being rich.’ Thought Klause while he looked out of an airplane window, the view below was that of a large city with thriving nightlife. Most of the trip was uneventful and all one could see were the clouds that stretched far and wide like a blanket. The sun had just started to set when they took off and it served to create a beautiful site painting the clouds in oranges and pinks.

The flight was two hours long so by the time they were lining up to land it was dark and the city he saw below was sparkling with lights akin to stars. Albeit, stars that were in neat rows.

The plane touched down giving Klaus a strange feeling in his stomach and making his ears pop when the air pressure changed.

He looked over at his would be bodyguards, Klaus let out a sigh. They had made poor conversation partners and in no way helped with his nervousness. Silence was sitting like a statue and Sloth was asleep, but he was always asleep. Klaus had only seen him the one time before and the man was sleepwalking.

Pain did not accompany him, nor did any of the others. ‘I wonder if Pride did not come because she has to look after Pain? What he did may have damaged him more than I thought. Guild, what could it mean?’

Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind Klaus disembarked only to find a bus waiting outside. Like the plane the bus was black with an emblazoned red tree on its side. Big red letters were printed underneath. “Red tree Industries.”

A short woman burst out from its side. “Well come on then, we don’t have a lot of time to get you ready for the party.”

Klaus gave the woman a look of surprise. No one had spoken to him that way in a while and much to his surprise he found it comforting another part of him, not so much.

“Who are you?” He finally asked.

The woman huffed and put her arms on her hips. “I am a seamstress and the best designer you will find in this country. I am here to prepare you for the party, but if you continue to waste my time I will leave. What I do is art, art that takes time; Precious time that you are wasting while standing there like a tree stump.”

Klaus was about to reply, but the fiery woman grabbed his arm and he let her drag him to the bus. To his surprise she only came up to his hip.

“Geez boy, how much do you weigh. Don’t answer that, it’s rhetorical.”

Klaus swallowed his reply down and uncontiously closed the maw making himself lighter than he already had been, but also made him weaker.

He was starting to feel like a deer caught in headlights and frustration was starting grow.

Inside the bus was a complete workshop and as soon as they set foot in it. The bus started to move. There were four other people inside. The woman snapped her fingers and they jumped forward. Bustling around Klaus.

One person wanted to start unbottoning his shirt, but he grabbed her hands. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

The woman who had been unbuttoning looked up at him and the sheer frustration in her eyes surprised him. The frustration was soon replaced by surprise when she saw the strange orbs staring back at her. The short lady smacked him with a measuring tape. “Are you daft? Let go of my assistant, we need to undress you in order to take your measurements.”

Klaus let go of the assistants hands and she continued with the undressing. Another already had one of his shoes off and was working on the laces of the other one. He felt his belt go and his pants drop. All the movements stopped for a second when the assistants stared at the bulge on his crotch. Even the short lady came around for a peek and then the second was over and their professionalism took over again while Klaus was dying of embarrassment.

His frustration reached boiling point and he growled. "Who arranged for you?"

They all stopped at the question. Even the short lady paused and regarded him wearily. "It came from the higher ups, if this is uncomfortable I apologise but I need to get you ready."

They regarded each other for a moment and Klaus finally relented.

Everyone got busy again.

It went like this for a while; luckily there was no need for him to take off his underpants. After all the measurements were done, one of the assistants pulled him towards a sink and he experienced the same treatment he did at the hotel.

“Who coloured your hair.” The assistant finally spoke. She was surprised that it was done so well and assumed it must have been done recently because the roots did not show any change compared to the rest of his hair, however that meant that whoever did such a professional job left his hair in its unkempt state.

“No one did.” Replied Klaus while she dried his hair, which had grown to reach his shoulders over the last eight months. Luckily there was no sign of a beard yet. Klaus found it strange because he had started to shave when he was sixteen otherwise his chin would be covered in what other students called, "bum fluff."

She looked at his hair and then at him dubiously. At first his hair looked black, but under the light she could see shimmers of green and violet.

She made no comment and continued with the work until she put him in a chair in front of a huge mirror. “Any preferences for your mop of hair?”

“Just make it short.” The woman narrowed her eyes at his reply.

Klaus sighed. He wanted to say that she can cut it the way she wanted as long as it was short, but his Pride reared its ugly head. He thought of Mr Parson who always had the latest style. The man had gotten new haircut for the ceremony and Klaus felt it fit his tastes even thought it was a bit long on top.

He took a deep breath. “Short on the sides ,but make it blend into longer hair on top.” Taking his hair, he rubbed it to the side. “Kind of like this?”

‘I have no idea what I am doing, hopefully she figures it out.’

The woman nodded and grabbed his hair while she uttered words Klaus didn’t know the meaning of. “You want a low skin fade with a thick top and side swept fringe?”

“Yes.” Was all he could manage as a reply.

She started snipping away, her hands a blur and to Klaus’ surprise started to talk.

“You seem nervous? Don’t worry; we will make you look great.”

Klaus chuckled, relaxing a little to her ministrations. “I am not worried about this, but rather the party.” He lifted his hands and gestured around him. “All this is new to me, I was an orphan less than a year ago.”

Her hands stopped and she gave him questioning look, but he did not give answer to her questions. He wasn’t about to tell his life story to a complete stranger.

She sighed when she realised she would not be getting the juicy details. “Well, I can’t imagine what it must be like to be in your shoes. From what I hear the party is going to have the youngsters from the richest people in the world attend.”

“Yes, that’s about how I understand it.”

“As an orphan, how did you get dragged into this?”

Klaus looked into her eyes and she froze for a second. “I found out I am the heir to Red Tree Industries.”

She took a deep breath going over how they had treated the boy since he entered the bus. She would have to tell her boss to apologize. “Well, then you have no reason to worry Sir. You will be the richest one there.”

“There are more things at stake than richest I am afraid.” If Klaus noted the change in how she treated him, he did not show it.

A few minutes later they were done and Klaus could not deny the great change the simple haircut gave him.

The woman ushered him into a rather spacious shower. Luckily there were no voices or strange displays. He made it a quick shower since the woman said she wanted to style his hair again as soon as he was done.

When he stepped out into a small changing room a pair of boxer briefs waited. He looked at it a bit worried. He had stopped wearing boxers after his body changed and for good reason. If he got… excited it would be clear for all to see. He needed something a lot more restricting.

Putting on the boxers, he realised it was made out of silk or a similar material. ‘This feels amazing.’

He shook his head. “Better to be on the safe side.”

The door opened to show the stylist. “Safe side of what?” Her hands were already in his hair.

Klaus pointed down. “I need something more constricting in case… you know.”

She looked down and stared for a second before she coughed. “I see, let me have a look at what we have in your umm size.”

She came back a moment later with a jockey and handed it over to him. Klaus waited for her to leave so he could close the door, but she stood there looking lost for a moment so he cleared his throat.

She quickly got the gist of it and left.

Dressed in his new underpants Klaus made his way outside to see the four assistants holding up four suits. One immediately caught his attention. It was black, but silver vine like patterns ran from the cuffs of the sleeves to the elbows.

The short woman smiled and gestured for the others to leave.

Klaus was whisked away and the stylist started on his hair. She wanted to add product, but Klaus stopped her. “I won’t be using product again so there is no need for it.”

The woman frowned. “Then it doesn’t matter if I use it this once. Let me make you, look great.”

Klaus nodded grudgingly.

To his surprise she only used one product. “This is hair wax. It does two things at once. Holds your hair in place and it will help the natural highlights of your hair stand out. It is not like other products that gives it a wet look.”

Once they were done Klaus was whisked off again. He had a choice between a silver or green shirt, and he chose the silver.

The short woman was standing to the side and giving him a lecture. “I was told that this is your first soiree, so here are some unspoken rules to remember when wearing a suit.”

Klaus was being dressed as she spoke.

“First rule is what Iike to call; Sometimes, always and never. Sometimes button your top button, always button your middle button and never button the bottom one. Second rule; if you are going to roll up your sleeves. Only do it so that that a few inches of your forearms are shown. Do it too little and the shirt will look too big for you. Do not roll them up past your elbow unless you are planning on doing manual labour. In other words never do it.”

Klaus wanted to ask questions about the “sometimes” button, but the woman just kept on going with the rules.

“When you sit down untie all the buttons on your suit jacket and the bottom button of your vest. The prior because it will make you look weird and may alter the shape of your suit and the latter because it will just be more comfortable.”

A blood red tie was brought forward. “Last but not the least; always keep the dimple wide. By this I don’t mean your smile. I am referring to you’re the part of your tie just underneath the knot.”

She stopped pacing and gave Klaus a look as if daring him to object. Instead she found a questioning gaze.

She sighed and muttered to herself before continuing with tips. “If you ever buy ties for yourself always make sure that the tie is a darker colour than your shirt. Always make sure that your belt matches your shoes…”

The woman continued with her tips. Klaus’ attention was drawn away by the vest they brought over. It was silver at the back but faded to a dark red at the front. The same vine patterns on it in black, but it was sewn in with a shinier material to make it stand out all the more. It was only when they turned Klaus towards a large mirror that he realized the pattern formed a tree that was not obvious at first.

All in all, he was very happy with his outfit.

It was not long after that they arrived in an underground parking garage. The bus came to a stop and everyone said their goodbyes. Klaus was about to leave when the short woman grabbed his hand. “I apologize for my behaviour towards you. I am used to working with a lot more… difficult customers and we had time constraints-“

Klaus took her hand in his. “It bothered me at first, but looking at how I turned out all is forgiven. You were all professional and if anyone asks I will tell them who helped me, although you will have to tell me your name first?”

The woman beamed a smile at him for the first time and stuck out her small hand. “The name is Belinda, Belinda Karlyle. I was pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Klaus smiled and took her hand. “Likewise, with my next soiree you will be the first one I will have my people contact.”

‘Never thought I would use that line.’

She beamed all the more after hearing him.

She hopped into the bus and it revealed three beautiful, not very affordable supercars. Next to them stood Silence and Sloth. Klaus pointed and asked with mounting excitement. “And this?”

“Silence pointed at the three cars and then at Klaus, before holding his hands out to his sides and tipping like a scale side to side.”

All this happened while Sloth proceeded to crawl onto the bonnet of one and slept.

Klaus thought he understood the demon, but his heart could not believe it. “You want me to choose which one I want?” Silence smiled.

Getting driving lessons was part of the school curriculum so Klaus already had his license, but they had to drive your old run of the mill sedan in the lessons. Not cars that cost in the millions.

Klaus thought of the last time he was in an expensive car. He was with Lilith at the time and he nearly died. ‘I miss her.’

Lilith had left a day before, she too had to build up support, even though she was receiving monetary and technical support in the form of equipment from them- she still needed allies. It was even more important since she had left her family.

Klaus’ excitement grew while he walked towards the cars. The one he had his eye on was matte black with green trimmings. On the side of the door near the bottom were letters written in silver. Poseidon XV twelve.

He had read somewhere that the shape of a sports car was derived from the form of women so that it could draw the attention of men. He remembered that particular article because of the controversy it garnered. ‘I don’t know why it would make them so upset, because if it’s true this car more than gives adequate tribute. Its flowing lines and perfect curves gave him the shivers.

He turned to Silence. “This one is perfect.”

Silence saw the glitter in Klaus’ eyes and smiled before tossing over the keys for it as well as a knife that was nestled inside an ankle strap.

Klaus did not even ask what the knife was for and strapped it to his ankle, making sure that it was not obvious under his pant leg.

He then took the key which looked like nothing more than a remote of some kind. A small indent on the side of it was in the shape of a thumb and using the clue Klaus placed his thumb on it, the car roared to life. With quiet click the door lifted out and up.

Klaus’ smile grew wider. “This is more like it.”

Untying the middle button of his jacket, he bent down and strapped himself into the seat. Klaus was a bit worried that his weight would break something inside so he sat gingerly while adjusting the maw. He smiled when nothing creaked or cracked. Silence knocked on the window. Klaus opened it and Silence held out a dark brown leather wallet as well as a familiar box.

It was the present that Clarissa had given him. He had almost completely forgotten about it. Silence left and walked across the garage to get into a sedan after shoving the sleeping Sloth onto the back seat. Klaus saw him accidently hitting the sleeping demon’s head on the door frame before managing the task.

Klaus ignored the comical sight and opened the box. Inside was a watch. Its colour was platinum silver, but the hands were a fiery red. They showed that it was seven thirty in the evening. ‘It feels like a lifetime ago.’ With a shrug he put the watch on his left wrist.

He opened his wallet and found a black card with the red tree on it as well as his identity document and license.

Klaus stuck his hand out of the window and motioned forward. The Sedan had taken up a spot in front of Klaus’ new supercar. A moment later they were on the road.

To Klaus’ surprise the venue was not very far from the garage which he discovered was under some kind of hotel. The hotel, of course had the red tree on it.

He suspected that Silence had taken a scenic route, because they had climbed onto a freeway and sped off away from the hotel the red tree disappearing quickly in the rear view mirror.

When they reached the venue Klaus could see the hotel in the distance again. Klaus was thankful towards Silence, because the drive had given him time to calm down and to put his game face on. The drive was also not a slow one and for a moment it was just Klaus, the road and the red lights from the Sedan that mattered.

Klaus drove his car to the front of the venue entrance drawing more than a few glances. He came to a stop took a deep breath and got out. A valet stepped forward to get in, but Silence was there before the man could move far.

Klaus gave the excited valet a shrug and muttered. “It works with fingerprint authentication.”

A lot of eyes were on Klaus then. The old him would have shrunk back from it, but the new him took long strides over the red carpet while camera flashes went off. Klaus found them very irritating.

A guard looked down at a guest list and spoke with a little hostility. “Mr Alexandros Roth?”

Klaus nodded at the question that felt more like an accusation.

“You are late.” Said the guard with a frown; revealing the reason for his hostility.

A woman stepped forward- shoving past the guard and gave a bow. “Mr Roth, my name is Sarah and I will be your personal waitress today, please follow me to your table.”

They walked through a set of double doors that were open and then another set, however as soon as the second set was opened a voice spilled through it. It was a woman’s voice, but it was strong and jazzy. Klaus liked it immediately.

Swinging in the backyard

Pull up your fast car whistling my name.

The entrance opened up into a large atrium with a fountain in the centre. People were milling around, laughing and talking with each other. Klaus could see a clear divide in the groups as some were giving others pointed glares.

‘The cordiality here is as false as can be. This is a battlefield like any other.’

Open up a beer.

You say get over here and play a video game.

Klaus wanted to find the source of the voice before doing anything else. It seemed to draw him in and make his feet walk by themselves.

I am in his favourite sun dress.

Watching me get undressed, take that body downtown.

More people started to notice him as he made his way past. He was the only one without anyone by his side. That coupled with his strange eyes and hair drew a lot of gazes. None of them recognized him as well, which was the strangest thing of all; since all of them moved in the same circles they should have met at one time or another.

I say you the bestest

Lean in for a big kiss.

Go play your video games.

Mystery breeds curiosity and curiosity breeds interest, be it good or bad. The fact that he ignored everyone made it worse. These people had spent their lives as the centre of attention so when they did not get it, it was out of the norm.

Klaus went through doors leading from the atrium and left the fountain behind while stepping into a huge garden. On the far side was stage and on it a young girl around his age. She was the source of the voice.

There were tables and chairs arranged in neat rows in the garden. Set up around the tables like a coral were large poles on which hung silken drapes which danced in the wind. Little strings of lights coiled around the poles and hanged with the drapes, keeping the area nicely lit. The waitress was saying something, but Klaus ignored her and continued walking down the centre and towards the stage.

It’s you, it’s you it’s all for you.

Everything I do.

I tell you all the time.

Heaven is a place on earth with you.

As he got closer, he saw that her hair was raven black and flowed over her shoulders. The light shining from above cast her eyes in shadow, but her red lips were wide as she sang. Klaus wanted to brush her hair back so he could see just a bit more of her face. He fought the impulse and came to a stop at the last table before taking a chair and sitting down.

She was sitting on a stool while she sang, one leg crossing another. Her red and gold dress had a cut that stopped just a bit above her knee.

Just as he sat down, she lifted her head. Klaus realized her eyes were closed when she did and at that moment she opened them. Her eyes were slightly slanted, marking her to be of Asian descent. Said eyes had red eye shadow that bled into gold. Surprise flashed on both their faces. For Klaus, because he realized her eyes were a golden yellow and for her, because she did not expect someone to be sitting there.

The surprise was short lived and she continued her song all the while keeping eye contact with Klaus.

Tell me all the things you want to do.

I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true?

They say that the world was built for two.

Only worth living if somebody is loving you.

Baby, now you do.

At the end of it she smiled, showing perfect teeth. She then stood up from the stool in front of the microphone.

The waitress next to Klaus did not know what to do because Klaus was at the wrong table, but he stood up when the singer did and walked towards the steps of the stage, before holding out his hand for her to take while she climbed down.

She hesitated for a second and then took his hand.

“What is your name?” Klaus asked.

“Amelia Song Scientia, and yours?”

Klaus still held her hand and she did not try to take it away.

He smiled. Others used his full names so he thought that he should as well. “Klaus Alexandros Roth. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”