Later that day, Ezekiel comes to pick me up at the house on the premise that we will be having a study session at his place.
"I got the number of my friend's dad that you requested," Ezekiel reports while we sit around his bed. He hands me his phone since I don't have one with the number already punched in. "You should call him immediately. You never know when he's not busy."
Setting down the stack of paper regarding Chard's former friend, I take the phone from Ezekiel then hit dial. The phone rings a few times before a man on the other end answers.
"Hello?"
"Hi, my name is Lillian Frose. Is this Attorney Patterson?" I ask, gathering my notepad from Zaku and flipping it to a summary page.
"Yes, this is he. May I ask why you are calling me, Ms. Frose?" the attorney questions back with a more professional tone in his voice.
"I would like to file a law suit against the following people on behalf of my friend, Chard James."
The attorney clears his throat. "Ms. Frose, you can't file a lawsuit for another person unless they are your family."
"What if I told you that this case would pay you a handsome amount and boost your reputation and publicity?"
"Are you trying to bribe me, Ms. Frose?" The tone in the attorney's voice seems to become a bit agitated, so I start to back off a bit.
"My apologies Attorney Patterson. I didn't mean to make it come off like that." I peek over at Zaku who is waiting for my command. I give him the go-ahead with a nod of my head, and he disappears into my shadow. "I just really wanted to help my friend out. He's lost a lot of money and was wrongfully fired from his job without any severance pay or his last paycheck. I was just hoping that you can -dream- about helping us."
Hearing the code word, Zaku casts a spell that puts the attorney in a dreamlike state where he will obey all of my requests while still awake. Essentially, he will believe that everything happening from this point forward is just a dream, since he wouldn't willingly help us in the beginning. There's a loud thud on the other end of the line, but it isn't long before I can hear shuffling again.
"Attorney Patterson? Are you still there?" I ask to get him to pick up the phone.
"Hello? Who is this?" I hear from the other end.
"It's Ms. Frose, sir. Did you forget what we were talking about?"
"Ah, my apologies, Ms. Frose. It seems that I dozed off. I've been so busy lately. What were we talking about earlier?"
Confirming that the attorney doesn't remember and is successfully in his dreamlike state, I smugly smile as I sit back on the bed. "We were talking about you notarizing the letter I sent you about becoming Chard James's power of attorney and suing people on his behalf."
The attorney checks his email and finds the the letter I sent him earlier while I was trying to convince him to help me. "Ah, yes, yes, I see the letter. I will get this notarized tonight. Since I will be notarizing it for you tonight, and you plan on suing people on Mr. James's behalf, you can give me the list now of the people you plan on suing that way I can go ahead and create the summons for the people in question."
"That would be perfect. I just sent you the list of people that are being sued, their addresses, and their contact information. Also, I would like for the court hearing to be as soon as possible. Preferably in three days, but whenever the court is free and the judge is available is also fine."
I can already hear the clicking of the attorney's keyboard going which means that he's starting the process. "I will come by your office tomorrow after school to retrieve my notarized letter."
"Not a problem, Ms. Frose. It will be a pleasure working with you."
"Likewise, Attorney Patterson."
With that, I hang up the phone and hand it back over to Ezekiel. Zaku returns through my shadow and sits on Ezekiel's bed beside me.
"The spell should last for 24 hours. After that, it will gradually go away, but by that point, everything will already be set in stone, and that attorney guy won't be able to back out," Zaku informs us as he grabs one of the stacks of papers.
"So," Ezekiel starts after standing up to stretch. "How are you going to explain this to your parents?"
"What do you mean?" I ask, not looking up from the papers in my hands.
"You have helicopter parents. How are you going to be able to keep going in and out of the house for long periods of time without them potentially locking you up?"
"Isn't that what you will be for?" I nonchalantly answer.
"What?"
With an innocent smile, I set the papers down and look up at Ezekiel. "Aren't you supposed to be my personal guard? You'll be my accomplice and defend me if my parents start to question me."
Ezekiel hangs his head and groans. "Why did I agree to become your personal guard?"
Due to Zaku's appearance, he can't show himself all of the time. He needed someone who can physically protect and watch over me while out in public that wasn't at school, so, in exchange for whatever the two guys agreed upon, Ezekiel became the one to protect me which is weird because what could possibly happen to me in this day and age.
"We have three days to read up on all of these people if we wish to win against them in court," I advise once I pick up the papers I was reading. "I will be the one to sit in the stands next to the attorney. Zek will sit in the audience. Zaku will switch between my shadow and Zek's and supply information from Zek's side. Zaku will also hide in the shadows of those who are being sued so that he can tell us what it is that they are planning. We have to be prepared as possible, utilizing every weapon we have."
"You really have changed a lot since your engagement," Ezekiel comments in disbelief as he grabs one of the stacks of papers.
"She's embracing what the darkness has given her," Zaku compliments, kissing the top of my head.
Ezekiel glares at Zaku while Zaku simply puts on an innocent face. I'm not quite sure what's going on between the two of them, but they are probably keeping it from me for a reason, so I won't bother with it for now.