Sequel: The Federation ›
Legion Of Rockstars
Welcome To The Legion
I, Asher Tallarico, had never heard of the Legion Of Rockstars, or just LOR as my father often referred to it as. I’d heard my father mention it a few times, but never paid any attention to it. I never asked him what it was or his association with it or anything. It didn’t matter to me. For all I knew, it could be a place he used to visit when he got high. He hadn’t done the drugs in years, but that didn’t mean he still didn’t think about the strange places he’d sink into after snorting some cocaine or smoking some marijuana.
And then, at the peak of my career, right after I’d released my third album and gone on a small tour to promote it, I received a letter. It was a letter from the Legion Of Rockstars.
Dear Asher Tallarico,
We understand that you are a solo musician who specializes in rock, mainly punk rock. You breathe rock music, and we all agree that you have a beautiful voice full of power and beauty. But, that is not why we have contacted you. We have contacted you because you have been accepted into the legion.
We think you would make a fine addition to our group of agents. Please contact the number listed at the bottom of this letter if you accept our acceptance. You will be told all the details if you call the number to accept.
We hope you plan to join us. We are always looking for new agents such as yourself.
Sincerely,
The Directors
We hope you call.
1-000-000-0000
I hadn’t known what to make of this strange, random letter. When I talked to my father about it, however, he instantly told me to accept their offer. He’d been an agent himself for about five years until my mother gave birth to me. Once that happened, he left to raise me; he wanted me to have the best childhood ever, and so he knew he needed to be there. “It’s not the military, Asher,” I remember him telling me calmly. “If you decide to leave, they will release you with honor. No such thing as dishonorable discharge exists at the legion.”
From his brief description, it sounded like the perfect mixture of danger, action, friends and enemies, honor, and teamwork. He couldn’t go into further detail about it, something about preserving the legion’s secrecy, but he’d had a lot of fun during the brief period he’d joined. To me, it sounded like a super spy agent type deal. It sounded like a lot of fun.
It didn’t take long for me to accept. When I called, it somehow instantly knew who it was talking to. An electronic voice answered after half a ring with: “Asher Tallarico, press one if you accept. Press two if you do not accept.” I pressed one, and the electronic voice thanked me before telling me that on a certain date, a man would pull into my driveway in a silver Sable. That would be the car that would transport me to headquarters. It also explained that upon arrival to headquarters, I would receive two months of training before being inducted officially into the legion as an agent. It thanked me again before hanging up.
“Miss, we must walk from here,” the driver said politely. I sat up straighter in my seat, blinking around at him. He sat twisted around in the driver’s seat, his door open and his feet planted firmly on the ground.
“Oh, sorry,” I answered hastily, unclipping my seatbelt and rushing to climb out of the car. I plucked my ear buds out of my ears and turned my iPod off before sticking it into my pocket. “Why do we have to walk?”
“Headquarters is not accessible by car,” the driver answered calmly, stepping over the bushes lining either side of the trail that the car sat on. We appeared to be in some sort of giant forest; trees were on all sides, their emerald leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. The trail continued onward past where he’d parked the car, but obviously the trail didn’t lead to headquarters since the driver was stepping off of it. I hadn’t even asked his name yet. He kindly held the bushes apart for me to step through before handing me a flashlight and leading the way through the trees.
The driver weaved his way expertly through the tree trunks, stepping over limps and around thorn bushes like he had them memorized by heart. I followed close behind, except I was a whole lot clumsier. My clothes constantly snagged on low-hanging branches and thorns. I tried to avoid everything, but it was impossible. No doubt I would end up with a ripped shirt by the time we reached headquarters.
“Whoa,” I gasped as I burst through a thicket of bushes. The large gaping mouth of a cave expanded right in front of me, and I craned my neck back to look at the humongous mountain that we stood at the base of. I’d never been this close to a mountain before. The driver, however, appeared to not be impressed by this sight anymore, and simply headed into the cave. I quickly followed after him, clicking my flashlight on so that we could see in the darkness just beyond the mouth of the cave.
The flashlight beam preceded us into the cave, swaying slightly as I walked. The cave became narrower and narrower as we walked further and further into it. I began to wonder when we’d ever reach wherever we were going. Surely we’d been walking for at least five minutes, just in the cave alone. I also began to wonder if headquarters had comfortable beds and good food. I wondered who I would meet at this place. Even though I was a rockstar, and my father was a rockstar, I hadn’t met very many other rockstars.
Something slammed hard into my arm, and it took my brain a second to realize the something had been a bat. I shrieked and jumped sideways, stepping on the poor driver’s foot while simultaneously knocking him against the cave wall. Blood flooded to my face in embarrassment and I quickly asked the driver if he was okay, training the flashlight on him.
“Yes, Miss Tallarico, I’m fine,” he answered, straightening his jacket and continuing onward.
“I’m really sorry,” I apologized, hurrying after him. “A bat flew against my arm and it freaked me out.”
“It happens a lot,” the driver answered, waving his hand to brush away my apology.
A few minutes later, the driver and I finally reached the back of the cave. A wall sprouted up in front of us, and I looked around, trying to find a way out of the cave. The driver calmly reached out a hand and pushed it against a spot on the wall that was a lighter black than the rest of the wall. A few moments passed, and nothing happened. I wondered if maybe my father had handed me over to an insane asylum escapee. Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe this was all just a sick joke of my father’s.
A loud sound filled the cave, echoing against the walls and bouncing back so that it sounded magnified tenfold. It sounded like the rumbling of thunder, but my eyes widened in shock when I realized it was the cave wall. The cave wall began to separate, sliding out of view to reveal a brightly-lit hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. At the very end, if I squinted my eyes, I could see the opposite wall of the hallway.
“Welcome to the legion,” the driver said with a smile, taking the flashlight out of my limp hand and motioning towards the hallway. “You will know what to do once you reach the end. Good luck.”
And then, at the peak of my career, right after I’d released my third album and gone on a small tour to promote it, I received a letter. It was a letter from the Legion Of Rockstars.
Dear Asher Tallarico,
We understand that you are a solo musician who specializes in rock, mainly punk rock. You breathe rock music, and we all agree that you have a beautiful voice full of power and beauty. But, that is not why we have contacted you. We have contacted you because you have been accepted into the legion.
We think you would make a fine addition to our group of agents. Please contact the number listed at the bottom of this letter if you accept our acceptance. You will be told all the details if you call the number to accept.
We hope you plan to join us. We are always looking for new agents such as yourself.
Sincerely,
The Directors
We hope you call.
1-000-000-0000
I hadn’t known what to make of this strange, random letter. When I talked to my father about it, however, he instantly told me to accept their offer. He’d been an agent himself for about five years until my mother gave birth to me. Once that happened, he left to raise me; he wanted me to have the best childhood ever, and so he knew he needed to be there. “It’s not the military, Asher,” I remember him telling me calmly. “If you decide to leave, they will release you with honor. No such thing as dishonorable discharge exists at the legion.”
From his brief description, it sounded like the perfect mixture of danger, action, friends and enemies, honor, and teamwork. He couldn’t go into further detail about it, something about preserving the legion’s secrecy, but he’d had a lot of fun during the brief period he’d joined. To me, it sounded like a super spy agent type deal. It sounded like a lot of fun.
It didn’t take long for me to accept. When I called, it somehow instantly knew who it was talking to. An electronic voice answered after half a ring with: “Asher Tallarico, press one if you accept. Press two if you do not accept.” I pressed one, and the electronic voice thanked me before telling me that on a certain date, a man would pull into my driveway in a silver Sable. That would be the car that would transport me to headquarters. It also explained that upon arrival to headquarters, I would receive two months of training before being inducted officially into the legion as an agent. It thanked me again before hanging up.
“Miss, we must walk from here,” the driver said politely. I sat up straighter in my seat, blinking around at him. He sat twisted around in the driver’s seat, his door open and his feet planted firmly on the ground.
“Oh, sorry,” I answered hastily, unclipping my seatbelt and rushing to climb out of the car. I plucked my ear buds out of my ears and turned my iPod off before sticking it into my pocket. “Why do we have to walk?”
“Headquarters is not accessible by car,” the driver answered calmly, stepping over the bushes lining either side of the trail that the car sat on. We appeared to be in some sort of giant forest; trees were on all sides, their emerald leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. The trail continued onward past where he’d parked the car, but obviously the trail didn’t lead to headquarters since the driver was stepping off of it. I hadn’t even asked his name yet. He kindly held the bushes apart for me to step through before handing me a flashlight and leading the way through the trees.
The driver weaved his way expertly through the tree trunks, stepping over limps and around thorn bushes like he had them memorized by heart. I followed close behind, except I was a whole lot clumsier. My clothes constantly snagged on low-hanging branches and thorns. I tried to avoid everything, but it was impossible. No doubt I would end up with a ripped shirt by the time we reached headquarters.
“Whoa,” I gasped as I burst through a thicket of bushes. The large gaping mouth of a cave expanded right in front of me, and I craned my neck back to look at the humongous mountain that we stood at the base of. I’d never been this close to a mountain before. The driver, however, appeared to not be impressed by this sight anymore, and simply headed into the cave. I quickly followed after him, clicking my flashlight on so that we could see in the darkness just beyond the mouth of the cave.
The flashlight beam preceded us into the cave, swaying slightly as I walked. The cave became narrower and narrower as we walked further and further into it. I began to wonder when we’d ever reach wherever we were going. Surely we’d been walking for at least five minutes, just in the cave alone. I also began to wonder if headquarters had comfortable beds and good food. I wondered who I would meet at this place. Even though I was a rockstar, and my father was a rockstar, I hadn’t met very many other rockstars.
Something slammed hard into my arm, and it took my brain a second to realize the something had been a bat. I shrieked and jumped sideways, stepping on the poor driver’s foot while simultaneously knocking him against the cave wall. Blood flooded to my face in embarrassment and I quickly asked the driver if he was okay, training the flashlight on him.
“Yes, Miss Tallarico, I’m fine,” he answered, straightening his jacket and continuing onward.
“I’m really sorry,” I apologized, hurrying after him. “A bat flew against my arm and it freaked me out.”
“It happens a lot,” the driver answered, waving his hand to brush away my apology.
A few minutes later, the driver and I finally reached the back of the cave. A wall sprouted up in front of us, and I looked around, trying to find a way out of the cave. The driver calmly reached out a hand and pushed it against a spot on the wall that was a lighter black than the rest of the wall. A few moments passed, and nothing happened. I wondered if maybe my father had handed me over to an insane asylum escapee. Maybe nothing would happen. Maybe this was all just a sick joke of my father’s.
A loud sound filled the cave, echoing against the walls and bouncing back so that it sounded magnified tenfold. It sounded like the rumbling of thunder, but my eyes widened in shock when I realized it was the cave wall. The cave wall began to separate, sliding out of view to reveal a brightly-lit hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. At the very end, if I squinted my eyes, I could see the opposite wall of the hallway.
“Welcome to the legion,” the driver said with a smile, taking the flashlight out of my limp hand and motioning towards the hallway. “You will know what to do once you reach the end. Good luck.”