All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 9: And a Dash of Pepper

"Welcome to the Dungeon," Atticus interrupted my inspection with the Devil's gleam in his eye.

"This. This is our lab?" I choked around a lungful of dust.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Atticus reminded me. "And even then the University gave it to us begrudgingly on the condition we cleared out room for it ourselves."

"I don't even know where to begin!" I whined, and as if anticipating this reaction beforehand, Atticus thrust a broom into my hands that he had found propped up against a wall papered in black and green fuzz.

"You've got to be kidding me," I protested in a low voice while eyeing the menacing dark shadows that pulsated in the corners where I suspected giant river rats might be hiding.

"Relax, you're supervising," Atticus said as he hobbled over to a corner full of dusty boxes and started to rifle through them.

"Supervising? Supervising who? You said there was no team," I wondered aloud, still standing in the entrance in case I needed to make my quick getaway.

"I said the old team had quit. I never mentioned my new team," Atticus replied, almost sounding disinterested. He pulled out stacks of binders from out of one box, skimmed the titles, only to drop them back in again.

I stiffened, "Who? Who is this new team?"

"Well you, my fine boy, of course." Atticus drawled while opening another dusty cardboard box, "And then there is myself..."

"And...?" I prompted, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Atticus kept his back to me while he rambled to the point of distraction (which I believed was his full intent), "And a fine, young, bright shining star burning with potential and enthusiasm that I think you will find..."

"...Who is it, Atticus?" I hissed.

"Her name is Pepper...or Piper... I think...no, Pepper, definitely Pepper," Atticus nonchalantly replied as if knowing her name was not a condition of her employment.

"Pepper," I repeated and Atticus nodded curtly. "Does this Pepper have a last name?" I asked.

"Mayday," Atticus wheezed with a cough.

"Mayday. As in... Pepper Mayday," I carefully enunciated before shouting, "OH MY GAWD, you have a daughter???" I shuddered internally as the image of Atticus in pigtails bitch-slapped my brain.

"Of course not! Don't be a fool!" Atticus spat as if the notion was preposterous. And then he softly confessed, "She's my niece."

"Hellz-to-the-no!" I cried and started hedging my way to the door, "No way! I'm not babysitting any of your spawn or any spawn related to you!"

"Do you want this impoverished girl not to earn any money to save up for Uni? Would you deny a poor girl a right to a decent education and future?" Atticus cajoled.

"Oh, that's rich," I shot back. "And I'm assuming she's qualified, right? I'm just so sure she has a background in..." I was in the middle of snapping right when I heard footsteps fall behind me and a rich throaty feminine voice interject, "Are you in here, Attie?"

I turned around to see a wide curvaceous girl standing behind me with jet black Betty bangs and emerald green lipstick that matched her unreal jewel-toned eyes, which I assumed could only be colored contacts. Her face and features were broad, and her slightly upturned pug nose was sprinkled with fine freckles. She wore a strange layered look of tees, jeggings and fishnet stockings that all looked like they had been through a paper shredder so that random strips of flesh would pop and play peekaboo as she sauntered towards her uncle in the middle of the room. What would you call that style? Reveal and conceal?

"That's your niece??" I squealed, feeling foolish on how high-strung my voice sounded.

"Sure. Why not," Pepper shrugged while eyeing Atticus, who was doing his best not to look either of us in the eye. Something seemed off between those two.

I glared at her and said, "You don't sound so sure."

"Yeah, well, you don't sound so sure yourself," Pepper snapped. "Aren't you the one who got tossed out of school on his ear?"

"YOU TOLD HER!" I accused Atticus, and I suddenly noticed he had been sneaking off on us towards the door, a small stolen cattle skull under the arm of his silk shirt which was now stained with sweat.

"Of course, he didn't," Pepper countered as Atticus threw us a small wave without looking back. "It's not every day one gets to meet an infamous criminal mastermind such as yourself," she teased by popping her large wide eyes open and sporting a wicked grin that just showed the tips of her fangs in the corners of her mouth. Pepper stepped forward and invaded my personal space in order to lightly trace her jungle red-painted nails down my shirt. "I'm surprised old Attie left a poor defenseless gal like me all alone with the likes of you," she purred.

I responded in kind by shirking back from her electric touch with a shiver.

Pepper laughed with a coy toss of her raven hair, and then sat her wide round ass down on top of a stack of boxes before pulling out a magazine from her purse. "When nerds go wild!" she mocked as buried her nose in her now open magazine. Wait...was that Teen Beat?

Didn't they stop making that?

Don't answer that.

I stared at her for a moment, and then stared at the broom at my hand and heaved a sigh. Supervising. Righhhhht.




///

A/N

Wow guys! I can't believe the momentum building on the reads now! Really cool...just going to warn you...things are about to heat up pretty soon! What did you think of Pepper? She was just one of those completely unplanned an unexpected things that wormed it's way into the story and I think she might have a home.

And as promised....here is a picture of me and Jim in LA together (above or at the start of the chapter). We only got to hang out for a little teeny bit of time but he will be coming to Toronto to work for a few weeks and I'm really excited.

What do you think of Jim? When we started this project it was originally going to be a web series and there was a thought Jim could play David as he had acted as Brian X Clearly for Conspiracy for Good, and for a long time I wrote David with Jim in my head. But I have to say since starting All Your Fates, I've had other people pop into my head for David. Who do you think would play the part? Let us know in the comments below.

And remember: It does us great pleasure to read your comments, see your votes, and answer your questions. Please drop us a line anytime. And chapter 10 will have a dedication to a certain super fan who I think she knows who she is!

<3

~C

***

Like All Your Fates? Show your support for the creators:

Follow:

Read Carrie's other books on wattpad on her personal account: http://www.wattpad.com/user/CarrieCutforth

or check out her other projects on http://carriecutforth.com

Read Jim Martin's novel Young Americans here: (you can read the first 20 pages for free): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019EY6MP4

//

All Your Fates © 2012 Carrie Cutforth, Jim Martin and Tom Liljeholm. All Rights Reserved.