Chapter 21
With a sigh, he then turned around and tried to sleep off his problems.
…
Meanwhile…
The sound of thunder rumbling could be heard in the distance,
In a hotel room somewhere in the city, two teenagers, who were playing chess by the windows, looked out the floor to ceiling windows and frowned. They could feel that the rumbling was a warning sign.
"More are coming…" said one of the teenagers as he moved his rook. He raised his gla.s.s of c.o.ke and finished it before saying, "It's a good thing that we arrived first, or we would have missed out the opportunity. First demon that's strong enough for us to actually step in. It would be fun to subdue it. We have to find it quickly."
The other teenager, a girl, remained focused as she tried to think of the next step. Her slightly damp dark golden brown hair lay limply on the towel that was draped across her shoulders, with the occasional strands that fell across her face. Annoyed by how strands of her hair kept falling forward, she reached back to tie it up without taking her eyes off the board.
When she finally made her decision, she smirked and nodded to herself. As she moved her last knight away to protect it from the rook, she said to her older brother in an indifferent tone, "It's a good thing that our people were here when the aura from the other day was released."
The moment the news that a strong and possibly demonic aura had been detected reached their ears, their father had sent them immediately. They were a very prominent Taoist family that was based in the United States, and getting rid of demons was part of their responsibilities.
"The earthquake yesterday was definitely related to the demon. There was absolutely no warning at all," said the boy as he gleaned at the Taoist beads on his wrist, where three of the beads were carved with intricate symbols. These were special beads that were pa.s.sed down to the heirs of their family, and legends had it that they were crafted out of the bones of an extremely powerful demon.
"Didn't you talk to Dad earlier? What did he say?" the girl asked as she leaned back in her chair while waiting for her brother to make his move.
"He enrolled us in a private school near the center of the earthquake." The boy sighed as he moved his queen piece. His father had heard about the earthquake as well, and knowing that it was not a natural disaster, within hours, he sent his twins and the younger members of the family to the schools near St. Dexter.
When he was done placing his queen, the
"What?" the girl named Mika asked curiously as she tried to plot her next move.
"Remember the Battle of the Underground Beings 5 years ago?"
"Yeah… Why?" Mika asked with a frown as she looked up at her brother. She had a bad feeling that her brother was about to tell her a piece of bad news.
"The guy who kicked you off the stage 5 years ago… He's in the same private school… And you'd be in the same cla.s.s as him."
"What?!" Mika stood up, toppling the chessboard in the process.
"Hey, I was winning…" the boy said with a sigh. He then looked up at his agitated younger sister and warned, "I know what you're thinking, but you can't hurt him. He's under the protection of the Order."
"Screw the order, Taka!" Mika cursed. "I don't give a sh*t about those half-breed freaks!"
"Dad's not going to be happy if he found out about this," Taka said with a warning tone. He knew that his sister was unhappy about being kicked down from the stage 5 years ago… during the first round. No one could have predicted that the wind Elementalist would be that strong even though he was only 11 years old. "It was your first time joining the battle. You're a lot stronger now, and I'm sure if you guys met on stage again, you would be able to defeat him."
Mika glared at her brother and snapped, "It was your first time too! But you were able to advance to the semi-final!"
"I was…" Taka shrugged and said sheepishly, "lucky?"
Mika glared at him, and after a while, she groaned. In her anger, she looked at the Taoist beads on her wrist. Unlike her brother, only one of the beads on her wrist was carved with intricate symbols. "I'm going to kill that guy!" she mumbled as she clenched her fists tightly.
…
The next day, when Juin woke up, he felt his body aching all over, and his legs felt like lead. So when Mrs. Martin came to pick him up, he almost begged for the doctors to give him another check-up to make sure that nothing was wrong with him.
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Martin asked when she glanced back at Juin and saw that he was walking oddly. He seemed to be unable to lift his feet off the ground as he walked.
"I… don't know…" Juin mumbled as he dragged his feet into her car. "I feel so tired…"
"Are you still in shock?" Mrs. Martin asked worriedly. "Let's get you home and into bed quickly then."
Once they were in the car, Juin looked at Lucifer who was sitting next to him and wondered if he had done anything to him.
"What?" Lucifer snapped. "I'm not into your kind, alright? Where I came from, even a young girl could beat you up."
Juin gulped and immediately looked away. "Where I'm at now… even a 10-year-old girl could beat me up," he thought with a sigh. He tried to lift his arms, but they felt like leads. "Am I still experiencing the side effects of the merge?" Juin thought and figured that it must be the only reason why he would feel like this.
"Oh yeah, Juin, from next Monday onward, your cla.s.s would be transferred to St. Xavier Private School," Mrs. Martin suddenly informed Juin. "The city council made the decision last night, and the management of the private school agreed to take in the students from your year. It's a good thing, since the school isn't that far away."
Juin nodded. He then pointed out, "But there's no school bus going toward there."
"Yeah…" Mrs. Martin knew about this of course. "I've talked to Max's parents."
"What?" Juin gasped. "They don't like me!"
"I know that they have their bias…" Mrs. Martin sighed. Unfortunately, this was the reality. Max's parents would often make donations to charity, but they preferred to keep their precious daughter away from the orphans, especially one like Juin, who was not academically gifted.
And she had a feeling that Max's parents might have known about what happened at Juin's last foster house. Otherwise, there was no reason why their att.i.tudes changed so drastically compared to when Juin was still living in the orphanage.
"Mrs. Martin…" Juin sighed as he covered his face with his palms. He hated asking people for a favor, especially people who did not like him.
"Juin, I know you are embarra.s.sed, but I still have to ask for your sake," Mrs. Martin continued. "They agreed to give you a lift to school, but coming back, you would have to take the bus. Max would be staying at her aunt's place, which is nearer to the private school, and according to them, Max's aunt does not like strangers in her house, so you can't wait for them to pick you up at night."
Juin groaned, but he knew that he had no choice but to do it this way. It was either this, or take the 6 a.m bus, which based on his knowledge, tended to have some unsavory characters.