I haven't receive any reviews for chapter 8 at the point of time when I was uploading this chapter, so we'll just go straight into the story.
Btw, the tag for the thought speech is somehow not working, so i would just underline the words for thought-speeches.
The icy silence between Russell and Jodie was stifling in the car. Seated up front in the driver's seat was Feymon, while Jodie, Kyle and Russell sat behind in that respective order. Kyle turned to his right and saw his friend staring out of the car window, in deep thoughts. The latter turned as if he felt Kyle's stare and said, "I should have been the one to stay behind and look after Aria."
Kyle felt Jodie stiffened beside him. With a cold glare, Jodie taunted, "Really, Mr. Timbal, what makes you think you make a better bodyguard for our oh-so-fragile Aria back there?"
That acidic question was met with an explosive reply.
"What's with you? What's eating you, Jodie? Why are you so bent on getting Aria killed?" Russell would have leapt out of his seat if not for the crammed interior of the car. Kyle opened his mouth and was about to mediate matters, but Jodie beat him to it.
"Because she wouldn't die without you!" She raged, her eyes swirling with deep blood red colour.
"And who's going to answer for it if she does? You?" Russell scoffed, "You aren't even important enough to be held responsible for her well-being!"
Kyle leaned back in his seat and sighed inwardly. Up front, Feymon seemed blissfully oblivious about what was happening in the backseat, but Kyle knew that the witch was merely staying out of the couple's pointless argument.
"We've reached." Feymon's usually quiet voice was raised in order to be heard above the heated argument.
"Thank god!" Russell spat and got out of the car, slamming the door shut even before Kyle could get out. Shaking his head to himself, Kyle saw that Jodie had, in contrary to her soulmate, not made a move to get out of the car. She was just seated in her place, staring into the headrest of the front seat.
"You know that he didn't mean what he said," Kyle spoke.
"He didn't." Jodie replied, and Kyle was surprised by her own conviction. "He's acting differently, and I think I might have a clue why."
The door at Kyle's side opened abruptly.
"Time and tide wait for no man. Are you going to just sit in there all day long?" Russell asked brusquely.
The building was isolated, surrounded by overgrown weeds. The exterior paintings of the house were peeling and there was an ominously paved out path leading right to the entrance of the building.
Feymon closed the car boot, and despite his effort to make as little noise as he could, the sound was amplified in the unnatural silence and echoes bounced off the walls of the building.
Everyone be careful. Kyle warned. The group, having equipped themselves with the weapons that they had brought along, started up the path.
It was an uneventful journey into the building, but they did not want to take their chances. Almost immediately after they got inside, they were faced with three doors. Without a word, Russell went to the left door, Feymon went to the right one and they hit the buttons beside the doors simultaneously.
Nothing happened.
Exchanging puzzled looks, the two tried again, and still, nothing happened. Kyle took a step forward and hit the button to open the center door.
Miraculously, it opened. The heavy door slid upwards and Kyle went into the center room. The moment the door reached the zenith of it's ascension, it came crashing back down onto the floor heavily, separating the two rooms firmly once again.
Russell and Feymon looked at each other in amazement.
One of you try the button first. Kyle spoke through thought-speech.
Russell slammed his hand on the button for the left door, and this time, it opened.
"Genius," he muttered halfheartedly to himself and head into the room before the door slammed door. Feymon did the same and finally, they were split up in three separate rooms: Russell in the left room, Kyle in the middle one and Feymon in the right one.
Hey, Jodie with you? Russell asked grumpily.
No. You checked with Feymon yet? Kyle replied as he looked around the room. Other than some wooden crates carelessly thrown around the room, it was empty and the walls were painted morbidly in dull gray.
She's not with him either. Russell's voice was tight.
Tried asking herself?
Russell made a rude noise. You think she wouldn't be giving me the cold shoulders now?
Kyle did not answer him, instead, he directed his thoughts at Jodie. Jodie, where are you?
After a few seconds, he still got no reply from her. He pressed the button to open the door back into the main room where they had came from and saw nobody there. Turning back, he raised his eyes up the wall to study the tall ceiling as he told Russell, She's not-
It was this moment when something heavy landed on him and sent him sprawling on the ground.
Zach, on the other hand, was sprawled on Aria's couch. Whistling to himself, he doodled idly on the papers and pens left behind by his fellow Daybreakers. His big fingers had some trouble gripping the slender pen initially, before he gave up and used only two fingers to hold it. The result – a terrible sketch of the vase in front of him, the lines were crooked and light, very much like an artwork done by a very young child.
"Damn, she made it seemed so easy," Zach muttered, referring to Aria. "Maybe I should get her to give me a lesson or two on drawing." Sighing loudly as he got himself off the couch, he stood in the living room and stretched himself, hearing the satisfying loud 'pop's from his spine.
Speaking of the witch, he thought, I haven't seen her around since the rest were gone. He craned his neck and tried to look at the second floor without having to physically climb up.
"Aria?" he hollered, "Whaddya doing?"
Only the birds replied him with their chirps.
Scratching his head, he began to ascend the stairs – and stop short as he caught a figure running past the windows from the corner of his eyes.
Descending light-footedly, he looked around to see if he could still spot the figure. Slowly, he started towards where he last saw it was heading.
Aria, is that you? Zach switched to thought-speech, not wanting to alert the figure in case he was an intruder.
He had not been expecting a silver knife to protrude right out of his chest the next instant. Reeling from the shock, he turned to see who had assaulted him, but there was no one.
The last thing he thought of right before he blacked out was where in the whole world Aria was.
In actual fact, the figure was not an intruder, but Jodie. When she saw that Zach had fallen, she changed her course and went to his aid instead. The silver knife had missed his heart by inches, but it was still too difficult for her to get it out without causing further injury to him. Whipping out her cell phone, she dialed for the Daybreak Hospital.
"Jodie Wayes. Casualty in 43 West Coast Drive. I repeat : Casualty in 43 West Coast Drive."
She grabbed a cloth from the kitchen to try and staunch the blood flow. But she could not stay with Zach until the medics arrive. She had her own plan in mind.
While the rest of her teammates went into the building, she slipped back out without their notice and drove back to Aria's house. She felt bad, of course, for abandoning them when they probably needed her. But, if her intuition was correct, it would be necessary to do what she was about to do.
Going up to Aria's bedroom, she went to the table and searched for the glass tubes that she saw the witch hiding yesterday. She rummaged her drawers, looked beneath the stack of letters and books, before she finally found them placed in a box. The two glass tubes, filled with emerald green liquid, were laid side by side. Jodie grabbed the box and raced out of the house.
Her sharp eyes saw the slashed tires of the car, undoubtedly done by her suspect in mind. Jodie had not miss spotting who Zach's attacker was, neither did she miss catching Aria drove away in her own car.
Jodie shapeshifted into her form – a golden eagle – and picked up the box in her sharp talons, before taking off towards the building.
There you have it. I'm glad I got it out before I had the unfortunate torrents of exams and all. Please do remember to review, thanks!
Up next : What is Aria up to? And what is happening back in the Daybreak Center? Find out only on = Companero del Alma.