Chapter Fourteen

Monday morning found Serena walking onto school grounds a good ten minutes before the late bell. Walking in she found Ami and Lita talking quietly in the hallway by the classroom.

"Hey Serena!" Lita waved her over. She slipped into the seats beside them. "You're here crazy early, girl."

"I know. I figured my dash to school was probably a little too fast to be human, so if I got up earlier to walk more slowly, I'd avoid suspicion."

"And Darien, too." Amy guessed correctly.

"Well yeah. We bump into each other every day and now he's my instructor. We see each other too much. Besides what am I supposed to do, greet him saying 'hey possible enemy and everyday nemesis, how are you? Do you happen to be evil?"

"That's a smart thought. I wish I could figure a way around gymnastics, though." Amy bit her lip nervously, and typed surreptiously into her mercury computer.

" We can't just quit." Lita shrugged. "We paid 53,000 yen for the semester's classes."

"53,000 yen!" Serena yelped. "Isn't there some kind of refund?"

"Oh silly me, of course there is. It's under the Possible Negaverse Threat conditions of the contract." Amy barked.

"Easy, Ames." Serena replied. "I didn't mean to bother you. It just means we can't back out of it, then." Serena sighed. "So I guess we're stuck."

"Well, it is good Senshi practice." Ami volunteered timidly. "We've all gotten injured a lot less, and battles have been finished much more quickly. Just look at our stats."

"I believe you Ames." Lita and Serena responded automatically.

"It's ok. I just have to keep avoiding Darien in the morning. It's worth it for the cause." Serena yawned, pulling out her bento. "Though I don't think I can keep missing breakfast."

Feeling guilty, Lita pushed a brightly pattered bag at her odangoed friend. "Save your lunch for later. Have some of my breakfast."

"Oh thank you! I'll just eat a little bit.." Serena opened it eagerly.

"No you won't." Lita and Ami replied in tandem.

"You're right…"

On the other side of town, Raye had her own problems.

Namely the new part-timer.

"What do you mean, you rehired him? What happened to Chad?" Raye screeched.

The old priest smiled. "Young Chad went to Hokkaido in search of a vision." That the vision was of a pretty brunette named Rin was something he chose to keep secret from Raye, to spare her feelings.

"He could have all the visions he wants if he cut his goddamned bangs! Grandpa! Why would you hire him!? Don't you remember what he did?"

"What he allegedly did. Granddaughter, I wouldn't hire a man if I couldn't see into his soul and find it good! Do you think I'm senile?"

"No, Grandpa."

"Better not. I've got many more year and buckets more wisdom to share with you before my time is done." He handed a fresh set of robes to Jadeite, who bowed and walked toward the main house.

"Besides," chuckled the wizened old man. "Tourism season is coming and he was always popular with the ladies."

Raye groaned and slammed the temple doors behind her.

It was getting worse. Whatever power he possessed, was jamming her clairvoyance with interference. She kept getting rushing images, sounds, smells, voices, even sensations that bogged down her mind and made her dizzy. Three days of it, and she could barely move with the strength of so many memories.

And it was all because of him.

She'd tried tea, meditation, yoga, clearing her mind, redirecting her mind, opening it, even finding another location to do a fire reading.

The strength of ancient fortitude here had once anchored her powers, and help her channel it.

Now it was all too much.

"Jadeite?"

"Yes, Raye?" Jadeite asked politely. He was too polite. It had to be a mask, some kind of artifice to fool her grandfather. But it wouldn't fool her.

"We need more paper for the good luck charms. Go and get it." She ordered dismissively. With any luck it'd buy her at least an hour of blissful silence and she could get a proper reading for once.

"My pleasure." He turned on his heel, but not before admiring how prettily she gave orders. 'I think I might enjoy it too much.' He thought ruefully.

At last, the head ache cleared. She sat before the Great Fire and reflected on the past events. She meant to ask about where the Princess was, how to bring together the Silver Crystal, Darien, or Endymion, or the Negaverse, or the Generals, but much to her irritation Jadeite's reflection appeared in the flame.

'God I'm so sick of Jadeite. I can't waste any more time.'

"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan! Great Fire is Jadeite evil?"

Suddenly there was a rush.

A crystal tower

A fountain

Kneeling in prayer

Silk

The heat of a kiss

Silvery laughter

Hunting for the rabbit

Mars Fire Ignite

Destruction

Blood

So much evil it was the taste of metal in her mouth

Betrayal

And then a silver light and… nothing.

That nothing became darkness that consumed her and for the first time in living memory, the Great Fire went out.