Fortune and Fortitude Pt. 04

Nice. "Uh, yeah, I could probably use your help then. I've got a lot of money I need to spend before a few months are over, and I have no idea what to use it on. Do you have any advice?"

"I'm sorry, Master, but I simply offer legal and other forms of counsel. Your personal spending habits are hardly my area of expertise. I can help you to spend it, however."

"I guess that'll work." But on what? He should definitely wait for Quinn on that one. "I'll give you a call soon, then."

"Very well, Master Bertreck. I will require your passcode each and every time you call. A safety precaution, let's say."

"Right. Okay, thank you Mr. March." He hung up. Well, that proved... useful. Probably.

He quickly scrolled through the list again. Jessica was probably just Miss Senguine. A quick check in the texts confirmed his suspicion. That left only one named contact, located right at the bottom of the list - EMERGENCY.

Jared stared at it for a moment. What could possibly warrant such a label? Maybe it was just his Dad's contact. Or maybe not. Either way, he doubted he should EVER call it. Since demons apparently lived with life-threatening circumstances, whatever they classified as an emergency, he didn't want to know. The apocalypse was just a business takeover, afterall.

He shivered and kept browsing, but there were no more names. Unless he wanted to call random numbers, he should probably go to bed. He turned off the light and climbed in bed.

And waited. After trying to sleep for about an hour, he decided to screw it and clicked on the light again to grab his phone. What's the worst that could happen? His Dad wouldn't give him a phone that had dangerous contacts - right?

Before he could lose his courage, he punched the call button on the top of the list. Here goes nothing. He took a few deep breaths before the call answered.

"Hello?" a rough, gravelly voice answered. "Who is this?"

"Um, Jared. Jared Bertreck."

"Don't know a Bertreck. Or a Jared, for that matter. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Jared gripped the phone. "I'm Mr. Scott's son. The Ferronaught?"

The line was silent for a few seconds. "I see. I didn't know Fitz had a son, but you wouldn't lie about such a thing. What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"I just wanted to know who you are and why he put your contact in my phone."

There was the sound of a defeated sigh. "Young, aren't you? I'm Myr."

"Nice to meet you."

Myr didn't sound amused. "Look, kid, I do business deals. If you need an artifact or other Terrestrial semblance, you call me. Otherwise, leave me alone. Got it?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Mister Myr. And thank you." Jared didn't get to finish by the time he had hung up.

Jared winced and entered the contact name. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Artifacts? Terrrestrial semblances? He didn't really know anything about those. He added a note to the contact and named it 'Mur.'

He hesitated, finger hovering above the next contact. He was overreacting, right? It would be fine. So far, they had been pretty civil to him. He pushed the button and held it up to his ear.

It didn't even ring once. "Scott," a woman's voice snapped. "How did you get this number?"

"Um, sorry, this is Jared."

"Jared?" She sounded surprised. "Jared who?"

"Bertreck? I'm Mister Scott's son."

She cursed into the phone, using some language he'd never heard before. "What do you want?"

"Uh, well, I... I wanted to know why your contact was in my phone. And who you are. My dad, he gave me this number and said I could probably use it."

She scoffed. "Jared Bertreck, you said? I'm Natasha." She paused. "Wait, where do you live? Are you a resident of Midville?"

He froze. "Uh, I don't think I'm supposed to answer that."

"And you're mister Scott's son?"

"I'm sorry, I have to go." Jared quickly hung up. Something in her tone made his blood run cold. And she had named his hometown.

How could he be so stupid? Of course they could track his phone! Jared stashed the phone in his drawer, unsure of what to do. On a second thought, he flipped over and retrieved it, trying to call Quinn again. Once more, it went to voicemail.

He took a few deep breaths. He could deal with whatever happened. Hopefully this Natasha person wasn't as bad as she sounded. Still, he was going to have a hard time getting to sleep.

This next chapter will almost CERTAINLY have some action, so stay tuned!