– CHAPTER 4 –

Jade and Jack to the Rescue

"But, Jackie! Jack is boring! He never wants to go with me anywhere and doesn't like to do anything fun!" Jade protested while they were eating soba at the restaurant.

"That's because you are a troublemaker!" Jack accused.

"Aiyahhh! Stop arguing! Uncle already has a biiiiiig headache!" Uncle complained.

"It's not my fault that you don't think about anything else but research," Jade remarked.

"But, Jade, I only want you to take Jack to school. After that, you can do whatever you want," Jackie said.

"That's no fun! Why do I have to babysit Jack? You know, I really need a better partner in crime. Someone who is just like me, who likes adventures, and doesn't have such an overprotective dad," Jade said, looking pointedly at Jackie.

"You say that now, but when you have children, you'll understand," he said calmly.

Jade snorted. "I don't think so. I don't even want to think about having children any time soon, anyway," Jade answered.

"Jackie..." Uncle interrupted with a serious tone and everybody looked at him.

"Yes, Uncle?" his nephew responded.

"About that strange dream I had –" he began, but was interrupted by Jade.

"Dream? What dream?" she wanted to know.

"Uncle had a strange dream last week. Something to do with a magic pendant that somehow would cause us many problems," Jackie explained quickly, sounding like he didn't really care about it.

"Tch! So what? It was just a dream. You shouldn't take it seriously, Uncle," Jade assured him, smiling and rolling her eyes.

"I have been researching, but the only thing I found was a picture in one of my books." Uncle continued, ignoring Jade's comment. "It was the pendant I saw in my dream, but there wasn't much information about it, only that it is very ancient and can be used as a key to open any type of door, padlock, or vault that is magically sealed."

"What do you think it means? And how could you have dreamed about something that actually exists even though you had never seen it before?" Jackie asked in confusion.

"I don't know, but I'm afraid we will know very soon," Uncle muttered gloomily.

oOo

Jade sighed. She was with Jack on the way to his school and really wished she were in any other place doing any other thing. Nothing exciting would happen now and, though she had found it impossible, she was even more bored than before at the moment. But what could she do? She should have expected her uncles to make her Jack's babysitter.

They were walking side by side, in complete silence, when Jack suddenly came to a halt and watched something on the other side of the street.

"Jade, look!" he said, pointing at an alley. There was a little girl who should be about the same age as Jack. It took Jade a moment to recognise her; she was the conceited brat she had bumped into when she had arrived from Hong Kong. Jade narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she saw three men with her and, judging by the girl's expression, she wasn't pleased with her current situation at all.

"It's Julia!" Jack said, surprised.

"Who's Julia? Do you know her?" she asked.

"She's that new girl I told you about."

"Oh, the one who fought you?" Jade tilted her head. "What's she doing with those guys?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, but it sure doesn't look good."

Jade nodded. It looked like those men were robbing or kidnapping her. She frowned. Sure, the girl was arrogant and antisocial, but she was just a child.

"C'mon. Let's go help her," Jade proposed, unable to suppress a smirk. Now things might get more interesting. Jack, on the other hand, didn't like the idea very much.

"Are you kidding? We can't fight them! We're outnumbered, and worse, they must be armed! Besides, I gotta–" Jack barely finished his sentence and Jade was already crossing the street and running towards the building next to the alley. Jack hesitated a bit, but decided to follow her.

As nimbly as her Uncle Jackie, Jade climbed up the windowsills on the small building – fortunately, the windows were not far from each other – until she reached the alley side, careful not to make any noise. Jack was right after her, having a harder time climbing.

Jade stood on the fire escape stairs. She couldn't understand what the men were talking about, but she had the feeling they were quite angry. She tried to go down a little more and still couldn't hear them clearly, though she did understand some sentences when they spoke up.

"That's it! You will take us to your father, or else we'll kill you right here and right now!" one of the men shouted, losing his nerves. Julia crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Forget it. I won't help you!" she snapped, trying to look audacious, but Jade thought she just looked like a spoiled child disobeying her parents. Jade chuckled silently and got a bit closer to the scene.

"Don't think this time will be like before. We know where your father's enforcers are; they won't come to save you this time," another man said, pulling a gun out of an inner pocket on his jacket. He aimed it at her and Jade didn't think twice; she leapt from where she was and kicked the armed man in the face.

"What the –? Hey, who are you?" he asked after recovering from the hit.

"She must work for her father!" the third man guessed.

"It doesn't matter! Get her!" the other ordered and the three men charged at her.

Jade smiled and leapt forward to kick the first man in the chest and when landing on the ground, she tripped another man. Next, she hit the third man several times and then punched the one who had just got to stand up in the stomach.

Jade did a somersault backwards and grabbed a pipe near a corner. Two of the men tried to attack her again and she hit them with it as if it were an actual weapon. They fell to the ground, dizzy, though not really unconscious yet.

"Freeze, or I'll kill the girl!" a voice was heard behind Jade, who turned to see the remaining man aiming his gun at Julia's head while grabbing her tightly around her neck.

Jade stood still for a while, considering what she should do now, but, suddenly, Jack leapt from where he had been hiding and kicked the man just like Jade had done at the beginning. Jade took advantage of that moment to move that thug away from the two children and the gun. The other two stood up with difficulty, and then they all glanced at each other.

"Let's get out of here!" one suggested. The others promptly agreed and they all ran away as fast as they could.

Jade smiled in victory, threw the pipe away, and clapped her hands to get rid of the dirt and dust, turning to Julia. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Julia answered. Jade waited for her to say something else, but the little girl was completely silent. Jade frowned; she could at least have thanked her.

Jade cleared her throat. "My name is Jade Chan, and this is Jack Chan, my cousin."

"I believe we've met before," she said rather coldly, glaring at Jack. The boy returned it, but looked away when he saw Jade's warning look, sulkily crossing his arms.

Suddenly, he remembered, "Jade, I'll be late for school!"

"The school! Gosh, I forgot it completely!" Jade exclaimed, slapping her forehead. "If Jackie finds out that you were late because of me, he'll eat my liver. Go, Jack, run! Maybe you still can get there in time!" she said quickly, pushing Jack. The boy nodded and left hurriedly. "I'll see in you when your classes are over!" she shouted. He waved his hand to indicate he had heard her.

Julia left the alley and took the same way as Jack did, but very slowly. Jade walked with her side by side.

"Hey, shouldn't you go a little faster? You'll end up getting late too," she warned her.

"It's all right. I was late almost everyday in London," Julia murmured, avoiding Jade's gaze.

"Are you an exchange student?" Jade asked to start a conversation, after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

Julia hesitated. "No. I moved here just a few days ago," she answered carefully.

"Where do you live?"

The British girl looked so annoyed and suspicious that Jade decided to let the subject drop, muttering a quick, "Oh, never mind, then. Geez." After a pause, she said, "Well, I think I better be going, then. I have some things to do in Section 13 and stuff. You know hot to get to school, don't you?" Jade felt uneasy when noting that Julia was finally looking at her in the eyes. Her sky-blue eyes were slightly calculating, as if realising something about Jade. The Chinese girl also found that look a little familiar.

"Of course I do," she answered with an almost sickly sweet smile. Jade forced herself to smile back and waved.

"Um, okay. Bye, then."

Julia didn't reply. Jade turned around and walked away. When she glanced behind, the little girl was nowhere to be seen.

"What a weird girl."

To be continued...