"Coming!" Jade Finster ran to open the door, revealing her brother, Jasper.
"Hello, litter sister," Jasper pushed past Jade and into the house, "going out again?" he asked disapprovingly.
Jade ignored her brother's question, "What brings you here? Beloved Halyssa giving you trouble?"
"Don't speak of my wife like this!" Jasper scolded, tossing a cushion from the couch at Jade. "I'm here to take back my watch from you."
"Miser," Jade replied, "Can't you buy a new one?"
"Hey!" Jasper said, walking towards Jade's bedroom, "That watch's got sentimental value all right?" Standing in his sister's bedroom, he hollered, "Now, where is it?"
"In my drawer, you might have to search for it!"
Jasper pursed his lips, feigning irritation. Pulling open her drawer, he exclaimed, "My! Your drawer's like a pig's sty!"
"Quit whining!"
Whistling to himself, Jasper pawed through the contents.
Finally, after some rummaging, he found his watch. Pulling it out, he saw that it was entangled with the string sealing an envelope. He tried to disentangle the watch, but his attempts were futile. Giving up, he gave the watch a forceful tug.
"Oops," He muttered when the envelope was torn open. Something silvery slipped out and dropped onto the carpet. Picking it up, he saw that it was an exquisitely designed watch.
"Let's see…" Working to open the locket, he saw that it had a picture of Kyle in one of the frames. "Hey Jad-"
The sound of the door closing cut him off in mid-sentence.
"You're in a good mood today," Russell observed as the three of them, Jodie, Kyle and himself got out of the lift. After Aria had jumped out of the window, they found that Daybreak Center had sent reinforcement – a tad too late anyway – and they returned to the Daybreak Center after packing up and driving through the night.
Kyle laughed, "Am I?"
Rounding a corner, they found themselves standing beside Zach's ward. Already, they could hear Zach's laughter through the door.
"Hey Zach," Jodie greeted the shapeshifter as she pushed open the door. At Zach's bedside was his girlfriend. Giving them a nod politely, she excused herself to leave the trio with Zach alone in the ward.
"Already looking much better, aren't you, big friend?" Russell grinned, "When are you free to go?"
"Could have gotten out today had that doc allowed." The bed creaked noisily as Zach shifted his position. "I managed to sneak all the way to the lobby, but I forgot that they've got surveillance cameras everywhere!" Zach's laughter boomed in the ward.
"The nurses here aren't that bad," Russell offered.
"Many of them are beautiful too," Kyle quipped. "I should know," he added, giving a playful wink.
Russell whirled, "Man, are you possessed or something?"
Kyle raised his eyebrows innocently.
"Are the flowers for me?" Zach asked hopefully.
"Nah, sorry. Thought you didn't like flowers," Kyle said. Russell noticed there was a note of pride in Kyle's voice. Of course, after all, he had carefully chosen that bouquet of flowers with the help of Russell and Jodie.
Zach feigned hurt, "I love flowers, ya know." He looked around the ward, "Where's Feymon?"
The trio looked at one another.
"He didn't make it," Jodie finally said.
Zach looked confused, and then his face cleared, "Pity. He wasn't that bad a guy,"
A moment of silence passed by; the team remembering their fallen teammate.
"So, fill me in. What in the world went on exactly?" Zach asked.
"Well, the person who attacked you was actually Aria." Jodie said.
"Aria? Why? Why would she do that?"
"She's a scout for the Night World Council. Basically she and Tommy were a ploy to test our abilities, to see who deserved to be offered the chance to join them at Night World Council," Kyle spoke.
"Despicable!" Zach spat.
"My sentiments exactly, dude. She even cast love spells on Kyle and me," Russell said.
"Which I have yet to settle the scores with you, Mr Timbal," Jodie turned to Russell.
"Come on, Jodie, you know I don't really mean what I said," Russell pleaded.
Jodie turned away, "Yeah? Then why wasn't Kyle acting like the lovesick puppy that you were?"
"I… er…" Russell tried hard to think of an explanation.
Jodie turned back, "You disappointed me, Russ. But nevermind," she leaned close and pecked Russell on his forehead, "I still love you nonetheless."
"Awww…" Zach made a noise, "Too mushy for me." To Kyle, he said, "Going off to see your beloved? Run along now, I'm sure she'll be pleased with that bouquet of flowers."
"You look beautiful tonight," Skye said.
Jade gave a smile, "Don't I always?"
"Yeah, always," Skye agreed.
Jade rested her head on Skye's shoulder. "It's a pretty quiet evening isn't it?"
"Yeah," Skye said, his eyes looking at the lapping waves on the beach. "It's evenings like this that makes us feel really small in this universe."
"Getting a little pensive huh," Jade laughed. "Oh! Look at that!" She sat up and clasped her hands together, making a wish as a lone star slid across the sky.
"What did you wish for?" Skye asked.
"Not telling you. They say that when wishes are said aloud they wouldn't come true," She turned and saw a secretive smile on Skye's lips.
"You made that, didn't you?" Jade asked incredulously, but apparently elated nonetheless.
"I can make many more things happen," Skye said his green eyes shining behind his spectacles.
Jade leant closer and they shared a kiss, "Tell me you didn't make this happen."
"I didn't," Skye said, before their lips met again. A rustle broke them off, and Jade squinted to see under the rising moon.
"Kyle!" She exclaimed. Quickly getting out of the bench, she ran to catch up with the departing figure. She avoided stepping on the bouquet of roses on the ground. "Kyle!"
Kyle stopped in his strides.
"Kyle, it's not what you-"
"I know what I saw," Kyle's voice was cold.
Jade held Kyle's hand, but he brushed it off. "It's… It's not like what you think," she stuttered.
"What is it then? Come on, tell me what is it? If kissing is not enough. Then what more does it take to prove that you're having an affair with him?" Kyle asked.
"Kyle…" Skye spoke up. Kyle turned away.
"I'm sorry," Jade whispered.
"Don't. Don't start this 'I'm sorry' business, all right?" Kyle finally turned to face Jade and she realized, unlike the cold voice she heard, Kyle's eyes were full of sorrow, and it broke her heart to see him like this.
You had meant to use Skye as a substitute.
Hot tears sprang to her eyes out of horror and guilt. She thought that what she had with Skye was just a temporary phase, nothing that could lead to the confrontation as it was now. It was all because of her selfish folly that three of them were hurt.
"We're soulmates," Kyle said quietly. "We're supposed to be true to each other. I trusted you…" His voice trailed off. There was a note of forlornness in it, a note of despondency. "Maybe we should –"
"Sever our soulmate bond?" Jade muttered softly, the words coming out of her even before she had a chance to think them through.
The words fell crystal-clear to Kyle's supernatural hearing. For a moment, he just stood there motionlessly, barely a few inches away from Jade. His dark eyes had an unmistakable anguish in them. Slowly, he nodded to himself, his gaze downcast as if searching for answers on the ground.
"So this is what you wanted all along." Kyle's voice was pained.
"No…" Jade cried desperately, "That's not what I meant…"
"Who can do it?" Kyle was resigned.
"No…"
"Tell me!" He said sharply, dark eyes flashing wildly. He noticed Jade stealing a glance at Skye, and it did not take him more than a second to gather the answer.
"Do it." Kyle said finally.
Skye looked trapped. For a long moment, the trio did not speak. The stifled sobs of Jade and the occasional crashing waves filled the silence between them. The tension was palpable and thick, almost choking.
Jade looked at Skye. Had he not seen all these in his visions? She wondered sadly. Perhaps he had, perhaps he, like herself, had chosen to turn a blind eye to the impending outcome.
Skye wetted his lips nervously and looked at Jade, "No."
"No?" Kyle's lips curled into a smile, but his eyes held his true feelings. "The two of you really sound like a couple, telling me-"
"Stop it, please! I can't take this anymore!" Jade shut her eyes and cried out.
"-not to sever this soulmate bond when it is my beloved soulmate who suggested it!" He said acidly, not stopping to listen to what Jade was saying.
Skye was getting desperate, "Perhaps we can talk this over?"
"Talk? No. You didn't talk to me about it when you were with her."
"You weren't there when I needed you," Jade said softly. The two Night People turned to look at the human girl on the ground.
"I wasn't there? I was on a mission…" Kyle cut himself off in mid-sentence, "And maybe that had been a ploy by Elder Kollesbarr here so that he can have some quality time with the girl he had been eyeing for so long."
"It was the Council which gave the order-" Skye started.
"But it was you who chose the candidates for the mission," Kyle continued for Skye. Standing in front of Skye, he stared squarely into his green eyes. "You do not have a choice. Break the link." Turning to Jade, he said, "Tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. sharp, in Skye's workroom." With that, he turned and left.
"Kyle!" Jade stumbled behind him.
"Follow me one more step," Kyle whirled around and warned, the coldness in his eyes chilling Jade to the bones.
Skye could offer no comfort to Jade, as she sank to the ground and watched her soulmate leave.
POLL POLL POLL!! D
Time for poll again! This chapter, we dealt with Kyle having realised Jade's infidelity, and the big confrontation!
It's time for fault-pointing session!
Who's fault is it that things turned out the way they did today?
1) Kyle! He was stupid to go for that mission!
2) Jade! What a slut!
3) Skye! That guy's up to no good!
And the second question... drumrolls
What should Kyle do?
1) Ditch Jade! Carry on with that bond breaking session! yes! Now he's a swinging single!
2) Kneel on the floor and beg for Jade to come back to him! Nothing's going to be more painful than to be separated from her!
3) REVENGE!! Nyah ha ha! No way he went through so much to be ditched!
Till the next chapter, adios, amigos!