Chapter 4: Anfractuous (Narrated by Danzel Lee)
"I need to go to my cousin's house. That's why I can't go home together with you today..."
I felt the piercing feeling again, striking my head as if it wanted to shatter my brain into pulp. I always got that kind of feeling and pain inside my head whenever someone lied to me. The girl in front of me was one of that someone. She even had done it quite often. I stared at her beautiful round face, a winning proof of how great the mixture between Caucasian race with Asian could be, with the high cheekbones and dimpled chin, and soft complexion. I used to think that she was adorably cute. My eyes lingered for a while at her plump lips which now drawn to make a fake smile, which I used to consider sweet and at her big, coffee-brown eyes, those I used to relate with sincerity and innocence. This face in front of me used to make me fall head over heels, but now I could only feel disgust.
"You're not angry right, Danzel?" She asked with a fake sweet voice and put her puppy eyes on.
How could I get angry to something or someone that I don't really care for? I said to myself, while pulling the sweetest smile I could plaster on my face.
"Then, I'll go ahead," I said hastily, couldn't wait to flee from the place before she tortured me furthermore with another lie. She waved to me, which I replied with another sweet-fake smile. If I had to face such a pathological liar every day, it'd be sooner than later that I become one of her kinds too. Such an irony...
I walked eagerly to the parking lot, to get my motorcycle and to go home ASAP. I did not want to spend another minute in this dreaded private international school that packed with such fake, rich-kids. If it wasn't because of my eager older brother who wanted to make sure I could receive the best of education that he could afford and solely motivated by the fact that my one and only best friend was going to this school too, I'd rather go to a less-fancy school, but filled with more descent, real, and humble students. My steps stopped when I saw the said best friend was sitting on his CBR motorcycle that was parked next to mine. Clearly, he was waiting for me.
"Irene doesn't tag along?" He asked, playing with his helmet by tossing it between his hands.
I smiled to Han Meng, my one and only best friend, and resumed my steps. Meng was a Chinese descends, with square strong jaws, high cheekbones, long nose, and thick lips. His eyes were slanted under a pair of heavy brows, drifted at me at the moment. He was very tall for a high schooler. I was guessing that his height had reached 180 cm already, three centimetres shorter than my brother. We first met when he and his schoolmates were visiting our orphanage as part of their school project. That time, he and I were both just started the seventh grade. After some misunderstandings that led to a short brawl, we surprisingly had been best friends ever since, until now, when we were on grade eleven.
"Cousin's house," I answered, as I made an air-quote.
Meng nodded, understood. "Another new excuse it seems. I've never peg her for a creative..."
"You can ask her if you need any excuse to skip class."
My best friend broke in laughter. He reached for my shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Chin up, man. You could always break things up with her and find your happiness elsewhere. You don't like her anymore, anyway..."
I rolled my eyes. It was not that the idea to break up with that girl never crossed my mind, as Meng advised, but I was kind of lazy to do that.
"You do know that she is a hard-core drama queen, and I hate to be involved in any drama. If I break up with her, she undoubtedly will take the role of a victim. I also hate to be the centre of her cronies' attention, not to mention all the gossips that I'll be hearing. Can you imagine all the hassle? Maybe later, if my patience has reached its lowest level, I may do so. Moreover, I got the proof of her cheating on me straight from her head. How I could explain that?"
"Yeah, that girl is careful enough to hide her 'infidelity' with that neighbouring high school's basketball captain. But if you want me to, I could help you to gather the evidence you need."
I waved the offer, asking Meng to dismiss the idea. "No need to bother you. If I wanted to, I could make her spill out all of her beans in front the whole school, anytime, without her even realizing it."
Meng smiled so wide, flashing lines of white teeth. "I forgot. You have that ability..."
I laughed along with him. Yes, I did have an 'ability' that I was quite sure not everyone has. At first, I noticed that I could tell if someone was lying to my face. Since I was little, as an orphan, I was raised in the orphanage. I had seen a lot of hypocrisies and lies in my whole life. There were only few people that I knew who'd never lie to me or betray my trust. Meng was one of them, therefore I trusted him so much. When I entered high school, I realized that my power started to evolve. If I added more energy, I could retrieve any fact or truth I needed from anyone who had been succumbed under my power. Exactly with this ability did I draw out truth about how my girlfriend had two-timed me with another boy, without having her realizing it. Those who were subjected to my power would never have any memory about me turning their head upside down to find any information I needed.
"What about you? How's training?" I asked Meng in turn.
My best friend also had 'special ability'. This became another reason why we could constitute a powerful bond in our friendship and we could support and trust each other so much. Meng was born in a Shaman family. Shamans were people that had talent to access the spirit world. They could talk to spirits and in the highest level, they could ask one of their sanctified ancestor spirits or deities to become their guardian spirit. They could also borrow their guardian spirit's power to attack their enemies.
If the Shaman family had ancestor that possessed strong power and skill during their lifetime, then the family would become stronger. For example, Meng's family. He told me that the Han family, which came from the same ancestor as the Han in China, had three ancestors who possessed great power. Meng's father and older brother had been successfully summoned their powerful army general ancestors as their guardian spirits, while Meng was still struggling to summon his family's deity ancestor called Han Xiangzi. After I looked it up online, I noticed that Han Xiangzi was the name of one of the Chinese Taoist deities.
I patted my best friend's back as he sighed heavily, tried to give encouragement. We always spoke about our ability in secret and hid it from our other friends. Actually, I did not comprehend well how Meng's ability work, nor did I have any understanding about a Taoist god, Han Xiangzi, who was often portrayed playing flute, surrounded by white cranes. However, I promised myself that I would always support him and to be there for him.
"Change the topic, please. I don't wanna talk about that piper..."
"Your ancestor," I reminded him and laughed.
Meng rolled his eyes. "Whatever. By the way, do you ever notice that you've changed a bit?"
"Oh great, you don't wanna talk about your ancestor and decided to talk about me instead?" I mockingly punched him on his upper arm. "I changed how?"
"I don't know...more easy-going, I guess. If it was the old you, I'm pretty sure you've made sure Irene got what she deserved."
"Do you mean I was crueller before?" I jeered, which replied by Meng with a grin.
I pondered. I guessed he was right. I did become more easy-going and patient than before.
"It seems your brother's influence is quite significant, considering that you've only been living together with him for a year and half."
I pondered even deeper. When I was on grade 9, just shortly before the national exam, the head of the orphanage introduced me to a guy. They told me that that guy was my long-separated older brother. My brother told me that we were separated when I was still a baby. According to the woman who raised him, a relative of our mother, my brother said, our mother had died from illness. Meanwhile, our father's whereabouts was unknown. Well, for me, unknown was equal with no longer around. After the death of our mother, the woman took the role of guardian for my brother and me. However, she had her ugly past that forced her to constantly in run. Since I was still a baby and she feared for my safety, the woman put me at the orphanage and took my brother Abel with her. Together, they were always in move until my brother was old enough to live on his own. Before they got separated, the woman reminded my brother to find me back. He tried to locate my whereabouts for some years and eventually found me on that said week.
Initially, I was sceptically listening to his story. However, since my 'lie detector' did not give me any sign that he was lying, I decided to trust him and accept the offer to live with him. Moreover, I hated that orphanage, so I would accept any getaway offer on the table. Since then, I had been living together with my older by five-year brother. Then, as Meng had said, my older brother's strongest trait was his easy-going character. He always lived his life in positive state of mind and attitude. He always had strong empathy and always had faith toward others. I, in the contrary, had been exposed to other's maliciousness and hypocrisy for so many years. Therefore, I had never been able to garner such empathy for others. From my experience, empathy would only lead to self-destruction. I could only rub on his easy-goingness, which eventually made me ignore and tune out those who had hurt and betrayed me.
"I'm wondering, does your brother have 'ability' too?"
I shrugged my shoulders. I did think of that for several times. However, my brother never mentioned nor told me about some sort of special ability or super power, so I deduced that he might not be having it. It came across my mind too to ask him about it straight out, but I was afraid if he did not have any ability and listened to my question about ability, he would think that I was crazy and 'need help'. I loved my life now, and to be honest, I was afraid that I would lose it by doing so. Therefore, I kept silent about my power to him.
"Oh no... They are at it again..."
I snapped back from my train of thoughts and followed Meng's line of sight. Not too far from us, on a slightly remote area of the school, near the dumpster, we saw some girls surrounding another petite girl with long, raven hair. I narrowed my eyes to see the surrounded girl a better look and tried to pull any information from my head, to no avail.
"Who's that?"
"Right, popular kid like you might not know her. Her name is Megan Lukas, our junior by a year. She's just got transferred here around three weeks ago."
I frowned to the word 'popular' that Meng used for me. I really had no idea why I could be grouped in that category. Well, one reason did occur in my mind. I tried not to attract any unnecessary attention as best as I could for my whole life, but since I entered this school, I received Irene's attention more than necessary. And, since she was the 'queen' of this school, as her boyfriend, my social status had moved up to the peak of the food chain. Plus, I befriended Meng, one of this school's favourite jocks. Hence, popular also applied for him. It was not like we needed it though.
"And how come a popular kid like you knew her?" I retorted cynically.
Meng grinned. "Because I am less popular than you are, Irene's boyfriend, one of the top three students and the captain of soccer team... In your comparison, I'm still down to earth and low profile. Plus, my long-lost childhood friend, Kencana Nimms, is her classmate and she's get along well with her. According to Ken, Megan is all right. It's just that she is quite shy and reserved, so most of her classmates see her as a nerd. But, she is really cute, don't you think? The boys are often talking about her in the locker room, so in matter of days she has been targeted by the popular girls."
"That group are the ten graders?"
"You really are very ignorant with Irene's community, aren't you? Two of them are her BFFs, popular girls from basketball club and cheers."
My brows shot up, as they usually were, whenever I found something interesting. "Is that so?"
"D', what are you doing?" Meng was looking at me bewildered when I walked approaching the girls. "D', are you serious?"
I ignored my best friend and kept walking forward. Some of the juniors saw me walking by and poked their friends, who poked their other friends, until that group cleared a path between me to the cornered little Megan. They glanced to Meng and me with combination of adoration and embarrassment of being caught doing something that certainly was neither elegant or proper.
"Senior..."
"Danzel, Meng..."
I ignored them and looked straight to Megan. Well, Meng was certainly not kidding. She was cute, gorgeous even. It was not the kind of artificial beauty like Irene(that was highly supported by her application of make-up(but a more of natural beauty. Megan had waist-long raven hair, styled in two ponytails, each on her side of her head, screaming all cuteness in the world. I think she wasn't mixed blood like Irene and me, despite the colour of his hair. She had heart-shaped face with a small turned-up nose that sculpted so perfectly above her natural-coloured, red lips. Her cheeks were a bit chubby, but two dimples that adorned them made her look even prettier. She did not look at me, as if did not realize our coming. Her cognac eyes seemed more interesting to observe her black, flat shoes, while her body was leaning backward leisurely to the wall. She did not seem care about the threat from the bullies, nor needed anyone's help to escape from them. A glimpse of regret flicked in my heart. Why should I stick my nose to where it doesn't belong like this? I suddenly felt stupid, but there was no way for me to back off. I reached for the petite girl's hand and dragged her away. She still showed no expression and found something interesting to see on the ground instead, but she followed me and did not deny my hand.
"Danzel, what are you doing? Do you know her?" One of Irene's BFFs asked.
"Danz, Irene would be upset if she knew about this...," the other one carried on.
I turned my head and glared. From my peripheral vision, I saw Meng face-palm himself. Oh yeah, my best friend knew what kind of stunt I would make to slap those girls with my sarcastic pointed comments. Especially, previous incident with Irene gave me this strong urge to lash out to her friends.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" I asked coolly to the girls. "Why would you meddle on my business? As for Irene, you have no need to worry. Irene won't be upset since as we speak, she is having a great, jolly, sweet time with...Err, what was his name again, Meng?"
My best friend sighed helplessly, and replied. "Zack..."
I noticed that the neighbouring high school basketball captain's name managed to make Irene's bitches' faces turned as white as the walls next to them. Seeing their reaction, I flashed a satisfied smile and enjoyed the sensation of winning.
"Ah right, him...," I nodded to the name and with a warm hand of Megan still clinging in my own, I dragged her walked away from that place.
**
"A simple thank you would be enough," I sneered when Megan was leaving us with her head still hanged low. There was not even once that ungrateful girl looked up to see me properly.
The girl stopped. Her head nodded so swiftly, while her lips moved as if she was mumbling something. I guessed she was mumbling the 'thank you' I asked from her. After she was done doing that gesture, she resumed her steps and not turning back anymore.
"She is so not cute," I commented.
"You can't blame her, she's never asked for your help," Meng patted my shoulder. "Besides, you were helping her not because you care for her."
I smirked and did not deny the sarcasm.
"Okay, I need to go home now. Abel had work and did not come home yesterday, but he just texted, said that he will be home in the evening. I wanted to be at home before he does, to prepare dinner and do chores."
Meng smirked back to me and mouthing "Such a good baby brother..." I stuck out my tongue to the sneer and waved to him. On the next second, I had saddled myself on my white CBR and drove it home in bullet speed.
**
As I wanted, I arrived at home before Abel did. Our home was a forty-five square meters wide apartment with two bedrooms, located just at the outskirt of J City. The apartment complex had five towers, all painted in soothing brown colour and surrounded by clusters of housing. The complex was far from the city-centre, but that would mean less traffic, the way I liked it. Abel had bought this place long before he found me. After he took me in, he once asked if I preferred to live in a house instead of an apartment. He said he could make arrangement and put the apartment on lease to buy a house for us, but I said no. I liked the place, since it was not too big, yet had enough room for the two of us. At the very least, I had my own room for privacy. Abel did not have too many furniture as well, only one long, dark grey couch with a coffee table, a TV stand where the stereo was and the wide LED TV bracketed to the wall on top of it. Next to the living room was the kitchen with several built-on cupboards and drawers, along with the sink, cooking utilities, and stoves. Abel did not have dining table, only a bar that also functioned as the prepping table. I could see that Abel traits of easy-goingness also applied on his choice of minimalistic style for his interior. I felt grateful for that, since less furniture meant less time to do cleaning.
I took time to take a shower and to do some chores. After done cleaning, I started to browse the fast-food pamphlets to call take-away for dinner. Abel could cook very well, but I had no skill on that department and preferred to entrust my fill of nutrition to the Chinese or Japanese takeaway. I finally decided to call Chinese takeaway as our dinner for today. After my ordered fried noodles, rice, and kungpao chicken arrived, I spent time to watch TV. My mind flashed back to the girl whom I 'rescued' this afternoon. Meng was truly not mistaken. That girl was really beautiful and cute, but her attitude was plain rude. However, my last life-lesson also taught me that pretty girls were more often than not cannot be trusted. Girls like Megan might be better. She seemed genuine, not fake.
I could not hold a smile when I relived the feelings of softness and warmth from the delicate hand that I held firmly just then. She smelled like fresh-cut flowers, fresh and sweet, urged you to stop over and take a deep intake of breath, savouring her fragrance to the fullest. Truth to be told, the girl seemed mysterious and she had aroused my interest. She could be a good distraction, since I did not want to be occupied nor overwhelmed with my problem with Irene. Not to mention, if I were to make a move at Megan, it certainly would shatter Irene's pride and choke her with her own ego.
"I think that would be nothing in comparison with my patience for her these past months," I assured myself to the plan and grinned from imagining Irene's expression.
I snapped back to reality when I heard the sound of keys used and the front door next to me was opening. I looked up and saw my brother walk in with his friend. Or should I say, limping in with his friend. My brother's well-built and tall body was leaned onto his smaller-framed friend's body.
"D'? You came home already?" My brother glanced at me stupefied.
"You said yourself that you will be home in the evening. That's why, I went home before you did," I gave him a stern look, observing him.
The first weird thing I noticed about my brother was his outfit. It was different with what he was wearing when he left for work yesterday and it was definitely out of his element. Abel loved hip-hop style and always dressed himself with loose T-shirts or hoodies and equally loose board shorts or sweatpants. However, today he was wearing a number too small punk rock-styled T-shirt. If I were to guess, the T-shirt must had been belong to Shyu, the smaller guy whom he was leaning on, my brother's best friend. Shyu caught my gaze and smiled at me awkwardly. I flashed him a smile too. The shorter guy helped Abel to sit on the couch, as my brother frowned and clutched his ribs. It looked like Abel have a hard time to suppress his pain but tried to give me no hint of it, although it was obvious that he was badly injured. I could notice healed scratches and bruises on his oval face, be it on his defined chin or on his sturdy jawlines, even though they were slightly screened by his orange hair. Some of the scratches also could be found stretching under his trim eyebrows, just inch next to his deep, black eyes. Abel's thin lips formed a hard line whenever he tried to hold a painful moan from the shifts he made for the most comfortable seating position. It took him to fidget and shift for about five minutes until he let out a satisfied sigh.
"What happened?"
Shyu looked befuddled and dead of words on how to answer my inquiry. Abel finally opened his mouth. "I'll tell you later," he promised before looking back at Shyu. "Thanks, man. Say thanks to Pats too, especially because she's willing to explain everything to Miss B and save me from her majesty's wrath."
Shyu laughed. "Don't worry about it, it was nothing. Miss B only loves to grind our masculine pride. She would do no harm to the female agents. I'll take my leave then, since Pats is waiting for me at home. Bye, Danzel..."
I escorted the smaller guy to the door and shut it close once he walked away. I turned my head and gave a pointed look toward my brother, demanding the explanation he promised.
"Work hazard," he explained. "We got a rough job and got injured in the process. For the details, I'm sorry D', but I can't share it with you."
This was one of my brother's characters that I liked and appreciated, but in the same time irritated me a lot. Abel had never lied, but he was very discreet about his job. He only told me that he works for Law Inc., world's number one conglomerate, owned by a multibillionaire named Alpha Law. He said he's a field worker for Brilliant Law, Alpha Law's daughter. My brother's main job description included dangerous tasks to assure civilian's peace and safety. That's why he always advised me to simply write 'field worker' or 'security worker' to fill any form that required me to write down my guardian's line of work. More than that, he would never breathe out any detail about his job. True, he did not lie, but that did not mean I would not be tortured with uneasiness whenever he went to work. Who could guarantee that he would always come home in one piece, safe and sound?
"Was it a success?" I asked bitterly, almost chocked on my own words. I caught a glimpse of a thick bandage that was wrapped around Abel's ribs and frowned.
My brother flashed a weak smile. My brother was a cheerful person. He smiled all the time, but this one smile made me stunned because I could see trace of guilt and sorrow in his eyes. It was something that he never brought back home before.
"You could say so. I'm starving, D'. What did you buy for dinner?"
That was the hint for me to stop asking because my brother did not want to tell me more than what he had shared, but he also did not want to lie to me.
"Chinese food....," I answered meekly.
I went to the kitchen bar where the takeaway boxes were and grabbed his, along with the chopsticks. I gave the boxes to Abel, who ravished the food in instant. I seated myself next to him, still observing him. My brother seemed genuinely hungry and he tried to act as normal as he could. However, that trace of guilt still lingered in his eyes. I sat quietly, yet deep down I was in battle with myself.
**
"No way D', you can't do that."
I sighed when I listened to Meng's expected reply. When Abel went to take a shower, I snuck out to call Meng for his opinion regarding my brother's problem. Now I was sitting on the emergency stairs at the end of our hallway.
"You promised it yourself D', that you would respect those who never lied to you and would never mess up with their head to get any information you need."
"Dang it Meng, I know that..."
"Abel has never lie to you, right?"
"No..."
"He only doesn't want to tell you, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Then it's the end of conversation. Do not break your own promise, D'! Not to mention, what'd happen if your brother actually has special ability too? There is no certainty that it would have the same effect with when you use your power to 'normal people'. What if you hurt your brother with your power instead? Have you ever thought about that?"
Meng's last argument struck me. That was right. So far, I'd never applied my power to people with ability. For those who had no ability, my power had no after effect. But as Meng said, the case might be different with those who had ability. My power could be useless to be applied to them, or, the worst scenario, created a damaging effect.
"But he is my big brother Meng. He suddenly came home broken, how'd you expect me to just sit still? I do have rights to find out, right? Plus, he may not have any ability," I tried my best to reason.
"That's not an excuse, D'. If Abel refused to tell you, then you should just drop it. He must've had strong reason for that. I say, it will be best for you to support him and just focus on easing his burden at work with your role as his little brother instead of obsessing yourself to find out the story he clearly does not want to share with you."
Meng was right. I knew it. I just..., I couldn't let go.
"D', I shall remind you of my grandfather's words. Nothing happened as a mere coincidence. Everything has its own purpose, happens for a reason. Similar with that logic, there is no evil power, bad ability. Our power and ability are part of something big, to give meaning to something good. If there was power used for evil, it wasn't that power which was evil per se. It was the user, who chose to use his power to hurt others..."
"For those who are understand, the fine line between good and evil is thin, since the two are depending on man's subjective point of view and the two are in resonance with each other. However, true goodness will never display evil and true goodness will make many people happy," I recited the words taught by Meng's grandfather to us when we were still in middle school.
"You do remember," Meng sighed. "Please don't forget those words D'. I'll tell you this. To be honest, I will extremely upset if you ever use your power to get any secret or story that I don't want to share with you, just because you're curious. If I've decided to hold something from you, that does not mean I don't trust you. It means I could bear and solve it myself. If at the end, I do need your help or have solved the problem, I will definitely tell you. Have faith on your brother, and have faith on yourself! It's enough for him to know that you're there for him. There's no need for you to be bothered with his work problem. To an extent, he is protecting and cherishing you, D'."
"Do you think so?"
"I know so. Have faith on someone who have enjoyed a healthy family life for 17 years with a father and an older brother who always say that and do just that."
I laughed and felt relieved. I decided to take his advice.
**
I didn't need a second look to recognize Irene's back. My steps stopped when I saw that familiar silhouette was standing hesitantly in front of our door. She seemed mustering her courage to press the doorbell, but I stopped her before she could. How the hell was she able to get up and found our apartment? I had only told her where I live, but never gave her our apartment number. Luckily, I was back just in time. I reminded myself to scold the doorman once I saw his smug face.
"Why are you here?"
Irene was surprised. She turned her head and the adorned with fake eyelashes and mascara pair of eyes of hers bugged out.
"Danzel, you surprised me. I thought you're inside..."
"Do I need to report my whereabouts, even in my own apartment? What do you want?"
I guess I had used my rudest voice and sharpest tone to her, because she looked petrified. I knew that in my schoolmates' eyes, if I were a female, they would surely give me the 'ice-queen' nickname. I was well-known for my ice-cold and expressionless face, two things that I suspected caught Irene's and most of my fan girls' interest in the first place. When Irene eventually managed to have me as her boyfriend, she had added her popularity one more level. I was still that cold personality, even though I had joined the popular kids' community. However, to spare myself from any drama and hassle, I hardly spoke in rude manner. I tried to be as charming as I could with my verbal expression, without elaborating it too much.
Irene tried to compose herself and had now played with a strand of her dyed, light-brown hair. She gazed at me under her eyelashes, fluttered it several times, trying to charm me with her 'cute expression'. If I were the five months ago version of me, I certainly had succumbed to her charm and took her in my arms. However, I fed up with her, thus, seeing her like this, I could feel only disgust.
"I missed you," she whispered.
I winced when the piercing pain struck my brain and eardrums. She even abled to flush in spite of her lie. How on earth she managed to do that? Now I was sure that this girl was created to make me suffer.
"I wanted to see you," she added. She was honest this time. "Could I come in and see your place?"
We had been together for quite some time, but I never invited Irene to my apartment, or moved on beyond making out and touching each other necessarily, especially after I knew she often lie through her teeth to me. I did not want to let her filth presence pollute the nice atmosphere and sincere relationship I shared with Abel.
"My brother is sick, let's just talk here. I ask you one more time, what do you want?"
Her plump and covered with pink lipstick lips flashed a seducing smile, while her manicured fingers tried to reach my arms and her body had leaned forward to me. I pulled myself back, diverted her 'attack'. She looked surprise with my withdrawal, obviously did not see that coming. Her flirty smile changed to an awkward one.
"I... heard from Giselle, that somehow you have been listening to a hearsay of me cheating on you..."
"Yep. Except, it was neither a hearsay or rumour, right? That was the truth."
I shunned once more when I saw she try to reach my arms again.
"You're wrong, Danzel!!" Her voice was hoarse, as if she wanted to cry. What a drama queen. "I admit that I got close with Zack and I did know he fancies me, but I don't like him. He keeps make a move on me, no matter how many times I've told him that we are together and I love you. I admit too, I went out with him several times, including this afternoon, but I did that to explain to him how serious our relationship is. I didn't tell you all of these because I didn't want to make you jealous. I initially planned to tell you once I convinced him to stop make a move on me."
I frowned in pain and clasped my ears that were currently stabbed with piercing pains.
"Danzel...?"
"Don't touch me!!" I groaned and panted, feeling that sweats had dampened my forehead. I threw her a stern look. "Could you...please..., at least once..., stop lying?! I knew about the real nature of your relationship with that Zack, so there's no need for you to fabricate such excuse no more! How about this..."
I paused to take a deep breath and shake my head to fully dismissed the pain that linger. I clenched my teeth and resumed my words. I would say these words as firm and as clear as possible, so they could be easily understood even by someone who's so thick-skulled.
"Irene..., I've stopped liking you, stopped caring for you for a while now. Therefore, let's just end this useless relationship."
Irene's lips were shaking. Her eyes stared at me, genuinely looked shock. "You... dumped me?!"
"That's right!"
"Because of that b-, girl?"
I frowned. Why, oh, why did this woman never do self-reflection and always find a scapegoat to blame?
"What girl? I don't know what you mean..."
"That... Megan...or whatever her name was! That disgusting girl who thinks that she's so pretty and is the centre of attention..."
"Are you talking about yourself?"
"DANZEL!!"
"Sorry, slip of tongue," I mumbled, with no regret at all. I waved my hand. "Were you talking about Megan who was bullied by your gang today afternoon? That Megan? She has nothing to do with this. If you need to blame someone, just blame yourself."
The manicured fingers swung once more to slap (or scratch(I really had no mood to find out) my cheek. Fortunately, I had good reflex. I caught her hand and pushed her away from any part of my body.
"I've dumped you, so you are no longer my girlfriend. Now, you're just a random schoolmate for me. And, I hate it if my schoolmate had her tantrum at my place, so please leave. Or, you prefer I call security to escort you out?"
Irene yanked her hand from my grip and stared fiercely. She, then, turned away and ran. Well, I believed that was her wisest decision to make tonight.
Chapter 5: The White Sorcerer (Narrated by Abel Lee)
"Abel!"
"Hey, Abel!!"
"ABELLL!!"
I jumped out of my skin, so close from falling off my chair due to the cacophonous voice that was suddenly blaring next to my (very) sensitive ears. I swore I almost get a heart attack.
"What were you screaming for?" I screamed back to Alexa.
Alexa stood in front of me with her hands on her waist. Thanks to the hi-tech medical treatment at the Law Inc. hospital, the petite creature in front of me healed very fast. If she were admitted to other hospital, her wounds might be healed after one month. Meanwhile, with the Law's technology, the doctors here were able to fix her in one night. My broken ribs also had healed about 80% with a half-day treatment. The doctor only had to cast an immovable bandage around the broken ribs for another three days to allow it perfectly fixed.
"I called you for several times!"
"Stop yelling, girl, I can hear you just fine. My broken bones are still healing, what if they got fractured again from the exposure of your cacophonous voice?! I was lost in thought you know...?"
"Oh, so you do have a brain to think in that head of yours?"
I glared at Lior Sebastian. He was another field agent. He had stepped out from his cubical and leaned his slender body to participate in our conversation. His eighteen-year old, young face wore prying expression. He rested his sharp chin on the back of his hands which he put on the cubical partition next to me. His long eyelashes moved swiftly against his pale cheeks as he blinked his thin, almond-shaped, hazel eyes, a very resemblance of cat eyes. Especially, when that pair of hazel eyes narrowed under his low black eyebrows. As for now, his thin-lower lips stretched sideways to form a mocking smile, laughing at his own comment.
"Screw you, Lior! Just scram back to your cubical and shut your mouth!" I yelled to the boy, who ignored me and kept standing at where he was. He stuck his tongue out to me.
"What's going on? Do you have any problem, Abel?" Patricia poked her head out from her cubical. Her cubical was installed on the opposite of mine.
This was exactly the reason why I liked her so much. She had always been so nice and smart. I cracked a smile for her.
"I bet he was just worry over how to explain to Miss B about yesterday's incident," Lior's twin brother, Erwann, interrupted. He had now stood next to his brother and I had two identical faces smile at me like Cheshire cats. The twins were of medium-height and both had identical long faces with sharp chin and soft jawlines. They both had straight nose with high nose bridge on top of thin-lower lips that often smiled slyly, especially if they were collaborating to annoy me. The only thing to tell them apart was their eyes and hair colours. While Lior had raven hair, with equally jet-black eyebrows and hazel eyes, Erwann had dirty-blonde hair and coffee-brown eyes.
"I did not worry over trivial thing like that!" I glared to the twins. "I was thinking about my brother."
"I thought he was the responsible one?" Lior was still grinning from ear to ear. I wished if Santa were really existed I would like to ask him to give Alexa's power to me for a day. I wanted so bad to morph into a woodpecker to peck Lior's head or make a nest on his shining raven hair. Or, I could always settle with pooping on his branded clothes.
"Did your brother ask anything to you?" Pats asked. "Shyu told me that he met him at your apartment yesterday."
I shook my head, so hard, that my nape-long, orange-dyed hair whipped Alexa's chin, drew a sharp protest from her.
"Who told you to poke your face that close to me? Did you hurt your ears too, yesterday?" I jeered. Big mistake, since she started to throw punches to me. "Stop hitting me. This is sexual harassment you know?!" I screamed while trying to stop that tiny knuckles of her.
"So, what's your problem?"
I returned my attention to the previous topic. "Hmm, how should I put it? Yesterday I was accidently overhearing the conversation between my brother and his girlfriend."
"You were eavesdropping on your brother during his courting time?"
"That's pathetic, man..."
"Could the two of you shut your mouth for a bit and let me finish my story?!" I snapped at the twins. This time, Pats and Alexa were on my side. They also threw nasty looks to Lior and Erwann.
"Go on Abel, just ignore them," Alexa said.
"I don't really know how to put it... Err, Danzel has always have this expressionless face and cold attitude, but he's quite friendly if you get to know him better. He also has always been polite to others. I've never heard him raise his voice. But yesterday, toward his girlfriend, he was so rude. He didn't raise his voice, but his every single word was razor-sharp and quite insulting, frankly. He accused his girlfriend cheating on him and broke up with her. That girl tried to explain, but Danzel was adamant that she was just lying through her teeth all the way. He, then, sent the girl away, still wearing that rude manner."
"To be honest, I often have goose bumps whenever Danzel stared at me with his pair of black eyes, as though they could pierce and peek at my deepest thought or they would know if I'm lying. That's why I was thinking, could he really possibly know if someone was lying to him?"
My story reduced my colleagues to silence. They were pondering upon my question until a few minutes later Pats broke the silence.
"Abel, are you sure a hundred percent that your brother has no super power? You do know that ESP trait is family heritance. For example, as you know, Lior and Erwann, also Miss B and her brothers. Their supernatural powers running down in their family. You clearly are an Esper, what made you so sure that your brother isn't?"
Pats' question made me ponder once more. Indeed, I had thought of the possibility that Danzel had ESP power when we first met. Thus, in the first months, I had been watching him closely, waiting for any sign of his power. However, I never found it and Danzel had never said anything about super power or special ability as well. So, I assumed that my brother was a 'civilian'.
"That's why I told you that you're an airhead," Lior scoffed.
"I'm not done!" I snapped. "I'm no idiot either! I've used my radar vision to scan him, but I found nothing."
"When did you scan him?" Pats asked.
"On the first three months we started living together."
"It was quite a while ago," said Erwann. "You do know that Esper power could develop in short amount of time under right stimulation, just like grow spurt. Why don't you try to scan him on these days...?"
That was the main problem. Danzel was very sharp and aware for any attention given toward him. "Not to mention if he saw the change of my eyes colour. How should I explain that to him?"
Alexa smirked. "I think you're just full of excuse. You could wear sun glasses for heaven's sake."
I glared to my partner. Why did she never stand up for me?
"Abel, in my opinion, you really should scan him. You do know there is a schemer category amongst the types of ESP power, right?" Pats said.
"What's that?" Alexa, the twins, and I asked in unison.
Patricia's eyes bugged out almost comically, stared at us in disbelieve, before she finally shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
"I knew that you lot would only read books with pictures on it!"
"That's sort of insulting, Pats," Erwann scowled.
"But truth is somewhat bittersweet, Bro'," Lior patted his brother's back.
Pats ignored them and went to toss around things inside her desk drawer. She pulled out one small CD and threw it onto my desk.
"You can read it yourself at home. In short, we, Espers, have categories for the type of our power. From the most obvious: Miss B, Brenna, Basil and James are the Brains. They have high intelligentsia far above others, and have ability to manipulate the technology. Second category is the Aggressors, like Abel and Alexa, also Aeronwen, Scarlett, Anthony, and Shyu. You have aggressive power to engage enemy in real combats. Then, there is the Schemers, like me, Erwann, and Hannah."
"I don't understand," Erwann interrupted. "To be honest, up until now I've never really grasp the reason why Mr. Law recruited me. I don't have any power if Lior has no lightning power in him."
"Conversely, Lior would not be able to use his power if you are not there to 'make' him. That's how the power of a Schemer works. We have channel to enter one's mind and access their box, to make them do as we commanded them to do. This so-called box is stored inside each creature's subconscious and contains information of every single knowledge and power that the creature ever exposed to. There is Schemer who can access every creature's box, like me with my singing voice. If I access a sorcerer's box, I could read their chants and use my singing to break it."
"You can access trees and animals' box too?" Alexa interrupted and was answered by a nod. "No wonder your singing was so moving..."
"I still don't understand about my own power, Pats."
"Erwann, you are the other kind of Schemer, who could only access certain people's box. You only have access to Lior's box, to guide him to cast out his power, as you're intended."
"What about Hannah? She's power proof," I asked, letting myself absorbed in the thought of our colleague, Hannah. She was another field agent. She was in her early twenty, although her chubby face and big, round, emerald-green eyes made her look like a fifteen years old or a doll, especially since she styled her curly, copper-blonde hair framing her face perfectly with fringes.
Pats flashed her patented sweet smile, seemed exceptionally happy with my exceptional question.
"Actually, Hannah is like me. If I access other's box with my singing, she accesses the box by making eye contact. After the eye contact had been established, she could ask her target to 'cancel' his/her attack. It's as simple as that."
We were deeply enlightened, like a bunch of students after sat in the class of a very brilliant professor.
"W-... wait, I think you haven't categorized me anywhere..."
"As for you Lior, you are unique."
"Unique how?"
"I think you can be categorized as an Avatar. This type of power is very rare. Avatars could not use or cast out their power on their own. They need a Schemer's help, like you need Erwann to pull out your lightning power. Without him, you are no different with the Civilian."
We were nodding together once more, but this time the twins glanced at each other, smiling. They must had been having the so-called twins psychic bonding moment.
"And..., according to you, my brother is a schemer?"
Pats shrugged her shoulders. "Based on your story, if Danzel really has super power, the most make sense category for him is Schemer. He may have power to tell if someone was lying. I won't be surprised if his power could evolve to the state where he would be able to pull out any truth he needed straight from his target's head, or even to force a lie as truth to his target."
I bugged my eyes, surprised for the explanation. Could that be the case? Danzel might be that powerful? If he were, then to what extent had his power developed?
"Abel, I think you really should take time to scan your brother," advised Erwann.
"Could it be, Abel had been infected by his brother's power, so he had been hypnotized and accepted the lie that his brother isn't an Esper as fact," Alexa said promptly, made me slap her head.
Of course, the sassy petite girl would not be pleased with the treatment. Her tiny fist immediately swung, as it tried to hit every possible spot on my body that she could reach. To face a berserk Alexa, the wisest thing to do was to flee. I deserted my cubical and ended running around the office.
Our office was like a hangar, but instead of a plane stood in the middle of it, there was a pillar of giant computer with dozens of monitor screens. The three Brains were sitting on their magnetic chairs, observing the screens, like planets revolving around the sun. Their chairs were held in place using magnetic field planted around the computer. They could go up and down by adjusting the magnetic power on their chairs.
The field agents were stationed at cubicles, about three meters far from the mother computer. Alexa was chasing me around the cubicles, so I fled to the computer, disturbing the brains on the process. We were awarded with Brenna's curse when Alexa ran in front of the monitor she was observing, and I was with James' pen that he threw at me when I almost bumped onto him. I then fled to the pantry at the corner of the room. Anthony and Hannah were having lunch there. When they saw us whirl down approaching, they promptly saved their lunch, before we had a chance to knock it over.
I was about to flee to the rows of the warp machine installed at the opposite side of the pantry when I felt my body entered a vacuum space. My body lost its weight and my lungs were cut short of oxygen. I could feel my consciousness slowly leaving me as I tried to break out. My limbs were moving wildly like I was swimming. Still, I could not break out from the vacuum, made me almost get panic attack. I caught a glimpse of Alexa who was in the same state as I was from the corner of my eyes.
"Do you think I opened a playgroup here, so you could play tag?!" A sharp voice snapped me back to reality when I was in the brink of passing out.
As I gained my consciousness back, I saw our commander, Aeronwen Joshi, and her majesty, Miss B. Miss B stood next to the platinum-blonde haired man with her hands on her curved waist. Her pair of misty-grey eyes glared at us, so wide that it gave stark contrast with the heavy smoky eyes make-up she wore. Her black brows frowned so deep on her marble forehead, while her oval lips had formed a bow under her small nose.
Next to her, Aeronwen stared at us pointedly with his prominent, sterling-grey eyes, just under his arched black eyebrows. Part of his fringes were hung so low until they nearly reached his thin lips, which now pursed tightly under his narrow nose. I realized that the vacuum space I was in just then was his doing. That commander of us was half Nepalese and half Latina, and he was an Aero-master, the kind of Esper who could manipulate any gas in the atmosphere. He could create powerful explosion using cocktails of gasses or to create vacuum space like before.
I could only grin like an idiot when my boss and her second returned and caught us red-handed, running around in frenzy.
"You are still healing, yet you've goofing around like this? What if your wounds re-opened?" Aeronwen scolded us, but I knew he was trying to ease down Miss B's anger by poking on the raven-haired woman's compassion.
Miss B glanced her right-hand for a beat, before returning her attention to us. "Meeting room. NOW!" She said, to all of us.
**
Our meeting room was located just outside of our office, next to the elevators. There were two meeting rooms there, one was bigger than the other. Miss B's 10 cm high heels tapped loudly on the ceramic floor, as she walked to the bigger room. Behind her were Aeronwen and his partner-slash-lover, Scarlett Rosendale. The woman was older by a year than me, same age as Miss B, 23 years old, and younger by one year than our commander. She had fiery-red, wavy hair that enveloped her body like a piece of red garment. She was as beautiful and stylish as always. Today she was wearing tight, faux-leather black pants, perfectly hugging her long and slim legs like second skin. On top, she wore dark green blouse that brought out her jade-green eyes and allowed her red hair became even more stunning.
When we entered the meeting room, somebody had been sitting inside it. The man was sitting on one of the chairs with leg crossed and he stood up once Miss B entered the room. He seemed older than me by a year or two, although he was much shorter by 15 cm than my 183cm height. His skin was marble-pale, complemented with light-blonde short hair, which made him look even paler. He even looked like he was almost transparent in his white outfits. His outfit was a long sleeve with Mandarin collar white coat, buttoned up to the last button under his chin. His coat was knee long, so I could see that he also wore white silk trousers and white leather shoes. In short, he was white from top to toe. What caught my sight when I first laid my eyes on him was the symbol of Mandalas and other magical patterns sewn with black threads on his coat sleeves and on the back.
I frowned and alarmed when I noticed thick golden aura of the stranger in my green world.
"Sorcerer!!" I hissed and turned off my vision in disgust.
The stranger pivoted sharp glance to me with his pair of icy-blue, deep-set eyes. His blonde eyebrows frowned, as his celestial nose twitched a bit and his thin lips smirked. He seemed displeased with my action and exclamation.
"You have the 'heaven's eye'?" He asked. His voice was soft, but it contained scolding tone. "Don't you know that it was impolite to scan others without their permission?"
"I don't have to be polite to rotten sorcerers like you," I spoke back.
"Abel!" Miss B gave me pointed look, as if she wanted to eat me alive. "Mind your mouth in front of Mr. McAllen."
"Since when do we have to bootlick the sorcerers, Miss B? If it wasn't because of their kind, there would be no Balin phenomena that had harmed so many innocent civilians!" Lior looked like as if he would breathe fire.
Miss B glared back to Lior. "Do you think I went all the way to Norway for two whole days and nights for what? Sight-seeing?"
"You did not tell us, how'd we suppose to know?" Lior was absolutely had no rival when it came to bicker.
"Lior, Miss B took me and Scarlett to Norway to participate on a closed conference with the sorcery community. They have heard about our department and they are also alerted on Balin phenomena. They contacted us, because they genuinely realized that the phenomena could lead to chaos if it's not handled properly and promptly. They also acknowledged that the craft used to make Balin is a forbidden craft that should be destroyed and the sorcerer that had accessed the craft should be persecuted. The conference sealed with a pact that stating such decision. Miss B as the representative of Mr. Alpha Law, the head of Esper community, and Mr. McAllen, as the head of the sorcery Orders hegemony, had signed the pact."
"You could imagine, a quarter from around two million of sorcerers all around the world had agreed to support our effort to put an end on these Balin phenomena. With this, won't half of our burden had already lessened?" Scarlett added.
"How would we know if they're really trustworthy?"
"We have our pride too," said the sorcerer calmly. "I won't ask you to trust me, but I inform you nevertheless, that we certainly will execute everything we've promised, especially when the promise had been sealed with our real name."
The meeting room was instantly buzzing with our voices. It was no secret that each sorcerer had two names; one was the name they used daily, and the other was their real name. Every sorcerer would only reveal their real name to their parents and spouse or future spouse, because if their enemy got hold of their real name, it would be equal with sentencing them with death penalty. Their enemy would be able to control or defeat the sorcerer by using the said sorcerer's real name. Therefore, a sorcerer's real name was as vital as their life.
"Wow, they're dead serious," Alexa whispered.
"Little girl, do you think we would be wasting our time to attend the conference if we weren't serious?!" The sorcerer chastised Alexa. The ice-blue eyes glazed coldly to Alexa's. "Our community had always been a secretive one. We had been living behind the shadow, inheriting our ancestor's lifestyle and arts. However, recently some of ours, presumably the young wizards, had accessed one of the old and forbidden crafts. They were making ruckus everywhere, threatening all the Orders' existence. If we let them be and do nothing, they will attract further unwanted attention toward our community, which may lead to witch hunt frenzy all over again. We certainly could not overlook that kind of possibility and just waiting until everything had been too late. No, they must be stopped, and I definitely will see this matter brought to the end by myself. Do you understand now, Little Girl?"
Alexa diverted her gaze from McAllen's and pouted. I knew she felt like crap to get a lecture from a sorcerer. I never liked their kind, because almost on each of my encounter with them gave me ugly impression toward their community. However, after listened to McAllen's explanation, I came to realization that this Balin matter would threaten most of the sorcerers' livelihood, up to their very existence. Most of them were not expecting such attention to be drawn to their community and as eager as we did to put it on stop.
Miss B raised her hand to ask for our attention. "Now if you've understand, quickly and quietly sit yourself down. I did not invite Mr. McAllen here today to squabbling with you lot. He has important information to tell you, so pay attention!"
We obediently walked to the rows of office chairs(that surrounding the long, oval-shaped meeting table(and took our seats slowly. The sorcerer waited until all of us seated, as he observed us intensely, one by one, with that kind of appraising look. After the last person sat, the sorcerer walked to the front of the meeting room. A big transparent monitor became his background.
"My name is Cody McAllen. I am a first-class Warlock, the head of Magellinian Order that locates at Pacific and Atlantic region. I am, too, the leader of Sorcery Orders Hegemony."
McAllen paused as our buzzing sounds filled the room. I quite stunned by the fact. That sorcerer (or as he said, warlock) was still so young, yet he acquired such magnificent power and status for his age. According to our manual, Magellinian Order was one of the five strongest sorcery Orders in this world.
"Today I came here to represent my community, as well as to show our determination to wage war against the Balin creators. This objective aside, I also have personal interest for your report on the last incident at Scotland, where a Balin became master of other Balin," McAllen carried on after the buzzing sounds subdued.
"It was my partner and I who handled the case. Do you have further information about it?" I raised my hand to interrupt.
"I'm sure you have learned that our community is categorized into four classes of sorcerer type. First class is the warlocks like me, witches and the master alchemists; second class are the conjurors; third class are the mages and the last class are for the novice wizard and novice alchemist. In theory, only the first class could master the craft of Balin creation, because only this class possesses adequate power, skills, and experiences. However, our latest investigation revealed to us that recently even the second and third class' might be able to master it."
The buzzing started to break out once more. We looked at each other in horror at that information. If what he said was true, then, our work surely would be twice as great.
Shyu raised his hand. "Mr. McAllen, you said that theoretically, only the first class' sorcerer would be able to meet adequate requirements to do the craft. But why the other classes have now also able to do it, as they certainly would not meet such requirements?"
"Before answering that question, I think it's best for you all to know that the craft of Balin creation itself was mysterious. No one knew who the creator of the craft was. We only knew that the craft first used around a century ago, by one of the oldest and strongest orders of ours. It had been created significant turmoil in our community. Therefore, the first hegemony was established to make an end of this matter. There was no record whether their efforts were futile or not, but the craft eventually disappeared from circulation and the turmoil died down. No one had ever seen or heard about the craft anymore, until recently. According to rumours, the craft would not merely demand a sorcerer to meet the three requirements, but also obligates the said sorcerer to make commitment, since they have to take care of their creation afterward. That kind of commitment also requires them to put more effort, time and energy, something that the lesser classes usually don't have as adequate as the first class does. However, the lesser classes found their way to sail through with collaborative effort and implementing a special orb that has power to boost their lack of energy and skill."
"What kind of special orb was that?" Aeronwen asked.
McAllen gave a CD to Miss B, who passed it to James. That brunette, curly-haired colleague of ours was a brain with ability to read and show any data stored inside any data storage, such as USB and CD, without first plug it into a computer. The said brain took the CD, placed it on his right palm as he closed his amber eyes and concentrated. It did not take another second before the data were shown on the screen behind McAllen.
"Well, that's impressive," McAllen cracked his first smile. "This is the picture of the orb."
Our gaze fixed on the picture of a violet-yellow coloured ball, as big as an adult man's fist.
"There has no official name for this orb, since its creator had not yet come forward to announce its creation. However, based on its function, we agreed to call it the wisdom orb."
"Don't you know who the creator is?" Miss B asked.
McAllen paused for a bit, his blue eyes wore a sad expression, which he immediately dismissed. "Was," he replied without further elaboration and waved his hand to James, asking the man to show the next picture.
Once more, my eyes met the royal-blue eyes of Liam Rourke.
"Liam Rourke," Alexa whispered beside me.
"His real name was Ivan Aramanth. He was also a first class Warlock and the leader of Trevelyan Order of the Western Europe region."
"Are you saying that the Warlock, Ivan, sent a lesser class' to resurrect him with his own orb?"
McAllen's marble face stiffened upon hearing my question. The same sad expression that I saw previously re-appear on his eyes. This time, it was accompanied with anger.
"Mr. Lee, Ivan was my childhood friend. We played and learned our craft together. I could assure you one thing; Ivan had always hated the type of craft like the Balin creation the most. He created the orb not for that purpose, but to help himself to improve his own skill, so he could extend his life-span and to be with his lover for a little longer."
"However, then, ironically and tragically, the orb's secret fell into the perpetrator's hand. They even used Aramanth as their guinea pig, resurrected him and his lover as the first gay Balin couple ever exist."
We promptly turned our head to the alien voice. We were stupefied to found another stranger was sitting amongst us. The guy wore same style outfit as McAllen's, but his long coat colour was deep purple, while the Mandala and magical patterns on it were sewn with white threads. The patterns themselves were different with McAllen's. The stranger's thin lips threw a smug smile when he noticed our expression, while his pair of almond-shaped, violet eyes shone wickedly under his thin-arched eyebrows. He had a diamond-shaped face, which now screened partially by his wavy, chin-long, dirty-blonde hair when he cocked his head side-ways. He was slim and tall, and now had sprawled his long legs on the meeting table, as he sat next to Anthony at the farthest end of the table.
Our brunette co-worker, Anthony, could only look sheepishly to the taller man. His perfect, proportional lips forcedly cracked a smile when the sorcerer winked at him. However, Anthony's slanted, oak-brown eyes, as well as his handsome, oval face, had only shed confusion for the sudden development and for the appearance of the uninvited guest.
"You're late, Campbell!!" McAllen reprimanded the other sorcerer.
The said man shrugged his shoulders. "I came ten minutes ago in invisible magic, just when you started your blabbering. It's not my fault that you lot were way too engrossed in the discussion that you didn't sense my presence."
"Hey McAllen, is he your lap dog?" Lior asked harshly, seemed upset since none of us acknowledge the new sorcerer's presence. I felt him, since if that sorcerer was enemy with ill intent, won't us be dead ducks?
"Mind your tongue, Boy!"
The taller sorcerer opened his mouth as his hand shot geomancy wave toward Lior. Fortunately, Erwann was deft. Even before we could scream in horror or react, he had 'made' his brother to rise his hands and formed a shield out of his lightning energy. The sorcerer did attack in full power since the twins had to use a huge amount of energy to maintain their shield and defend themselves. Their chairs were pushed backward when the two energies clashed.
"Mind yourself, Campbell!" McAllen warned.
Campbell clenched his teeth. Murder was still on his violet eyes, but he obeyed the warning. He threw himself back to his chair and crossed his legs again on the table.
"My apologies," McAllen said to Miss B.
"The fault was on my side too," Miss B replied airily, giving the Sebastian twins a pointed glare.
Erwann got the hint and nodded. His face was still pale, surprised with the sorcerer's power. Lior even got paler than him. I think he got the shock of his life. And later on, even until the meeting was dismissed, that raven haired boy was not able to take another look at the taller sorcerer. I took a glance to Alexa, who was looking at me too. We were laughing up Lior's sleeve, but tried our best not to show it on our face.
"Ladies and gentlemen please meet Mr. McAllen's partner, Campbell Timofei," Miss B pointed the taller sorcerer. "Starting from tomorrow, the two of them will be joining our department."
The room once again filled with the buzzing sounds. However, this time, it was the buzzing of dissatisfaction.
"Miss B, why are you inviting these sorcerers to join us? Won't we have the wolf by the ears by doing so?" I protested.
"If you've signed the pact with them, then be it. There's no necessary to let them join in!" added Alexa.
Aeronwen stood up and raised his hands to silence our protests. "Guys, please calm down a bit. Miss B did not agree with Mr. McAllen's request out of the blue. Why don't we give Mr. McAllen a chance to tell him his reason first?"
We finally held our complaints and gave Cody McAllen chance to speak. The sorcerer was putting us under the scrutiny of his blue eyes, intimidating us with his charisma as he was doing so. I had to admit that he could be a charismatic leader despite his young age.
"As I told you before, Ivan was my best friend. I personally against the Balin craft, yet someone turned my best friend into a Balin. Don't I deserve to have a say on this matter? To be honest, what I wanted the most at the moment is to revenge the culprit for all their doing to Ivan and Jonathan. I also have to find back the wisdom orb. They cannot have it, or they will be making more Balins. Be it for my own personal interest or for my community's, my objectives are no different with yours. So, instead of working separately, why don't we join hands to put down this matter to its end?"
"That's why, until we could root this problem out, we will be working with you," Timofei added.
"So, it's a temporary thing...," James looked relieved.
"Will you put them in new team, Miss B?" Basil asked, drawing our immediate attention to the eleven-year old. A single thought arose in our head.
"They can't be put in one team, Miss B!" Alexa said.
"Clearly can't. Who'd know what they'd do on the field," Scarlett joined in.
"Sorry, but we don't trust them, Miss B," I carried on.
Calmly, Miss B stared at us one by one. She cocked her head and asked. "Then, which team shall I break down to be teamed up with them?"
We were caught in immediate silence and could only glance to each other. No one seemed willing to be teamed up with the two sorcerers. Well, that was to be expected, considering our ugly past with their kind. I felt a tug at the end of my hoodies. I glanced to my partner. She didn't look at me, only stared lily-livered to the smooth surface of the table. She might not even realize what her hand was doing. I chuckled silently to the revelation how my partner was treasuring our partnership. Even if her mouth would never admit it, Alexa liked to be my partner. Hell, who won't be?
"Break down our team, Miss!"
We now turned our head to our brunette colleague. Anthony was raising his hand, while Hannah nodded on his side.
"Are you sure Tony, Hannah?" Aeronwen asked.
Hannah was nodding once more, firmly than before. "Lior and Erwann are inseparable, as well as Shyu-Pats and Aeron-Scarlett. If either Abel or Alexa were to be together with a sorcerer, they certainly will be in constant argument and bickering with them. Hence, we are the most make sense of choice of team to be broken down."
Miss B's oval lips, tinted with dark-red lipstick drawn into satisfied smile. Stood just next of her was McAllen, who was also flashing a thin smile.
"Then, I'll be with the pretty boy, and Cody, you go with the doll," Campbell raised himself from the chair and offered a handshake to Anthony. "I hope you won't mind."
Our medium-height colleague shook the sorcerer's hand and smiled. "It's Anthony Lotsano, not pretty boy. I hope we can work together well."
"Then I'll be with...," Hannah flashed a sweet smile to McAllen, who was also smiling to her and nodding to her word.
Next to me, the tug on my hoodies had been loosen. My ears still caught the relieved sigh came from Alexa.
**
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