– CHAPTER 5 –
The Talismans

When Jade looked away and kept going on, Julia got out from behind the dustbin and narrowed her eyes as she warily followed the woman. Jade Chan. She had heard many stories about the Chan family, but had never believed even half of them. However, after witnessing Jade Chan's exceptional martial skills, Julia began to wonder if all those stories weren't really true. If they were, then...

If they were all true, maybe she had a chance. It would be the answer to all her problems.

Walking so calmly in the streets of San Francisco, Jade didn't look special at all, but just another ordinary citizen going out for a morning walk. Yet, Julia was sure she had heard her mention she was going to Section 13. There was no mistake.

About fifteen minutes later, Jade went in an alley. Keeping a safe distance, Julia wondered why she would go to such a place. There was nothing in it but dustbins, rubbish sacks, and an apparently broken phone box.

Then, to her surprise, when Jade entered the telephone box, a hole appeared on the wall. It was so fast that, in the blink of an eye, Jade was already gone.

"Of course," she murmured to herself, approaching the phone box. "It's a secret base, after all."

It was ironic that the entrance to the authorities' base was in the middle of rubbish in a dirty alley while so many criminals' headquarters were luxurious buildings.

But how would she get in? Even if she used the telephone box, there were probably many agents on the other side. In this case, her arrival would not go unnoticed and her plan would be ruined. If only there was any other way in, a more subtle way...

She looked around, seeking inspiration for an idea. When her gaze idly ran along the wall, she sighted a door almost at the end of the alley. She ran to it and opened it. Inside, she could see a flight of stairs leading down. They led her to another door, which she opened just enough to peek at what was on the other side.

She gasped. Several stern-looking people with an air of importance, most wearing either suits or lab coats, transited busily through a very large room. There were huge computer screens and panels and other strange devices everywhere. She really was in Section 13!

She waited for a woman to walk past her, then other two men who were too busy reading papers, before deciding it was safe to come out of her hideout. She gazed around in amazement, until she heard steps and hurried to hide behind one of the strange machines.

"Aw, Jade, do we really have to?" asked a red-haired boy.

"Yes, Vinny," replied Jade with a long-suffering sigh as the duo walked past Julia. "Jackie won't leave me alone until I return the talismans. Now go to Kepler's office before you dad sees you. You know you should be at school by now."

"Oh, all right, then," he said, sounding disappointed.

The boy turned left into a corridor while Jade went on forward. Return the talismans? Those talismans?

Now this was Julia's lucky day.

Very cautiously, Julia followed Jade, quickly hiding every time someone else approached. In time, her surroundings got more and more deserted and she allowed herself to relax a little.

Jade stopped before a huge vault's door, inserted a card in a panel and typed some numbers to unlock the door. Inside, she pushed more buttons on yet another panel and turned off the protection around a vial in the centre of the vault. She then stepped closer to it, lifted it with another button and grabbed one of the small objects that had been kept in it. A real talisman!

She sighed, "Oh, well. Uncle Jackie told me to bring them back. But it's okay. If everything goes as planned, I'll have plenty of time to have fun with you."

Grinning, Jade put the talismans back, then took three more from her pockets and also put them in their respective places. She stepped back and stared at the talismans for a moment longer before pushing the button to get the vial back down. Julia had taken this moment of idle contemplation to sneak around behind her, so that Jade wouldn't be able to see her when she turned to go.

Jade left the vault and Julia hurried behind the vial, lest Jade turned back towards the vial when closing the door. She also noticed that the protection on the floor was still off. Only when she heard the door closing with a heavy thud and absolute silence taking over the vault did she relaxed. She peeked from behind the vial to make sure no one was there and stood up. The protection on the floor was still off.

Her eyes shone when she saw the talismans. All the twelve of them were there, each one with an animal from the Chinese zodiac painted. Her father and his enforcers had told her all about these artefacts. As unbelievable as it seemed, she now had the chance not only to look at them close up, but also to touch them and see if they were really magic.

Her stretched out hand hit the glass of the vial and she started, as though she had woken uo from a sort of trance. Suddenly, she realised the mistake she had just made. She had been so eager to get to the talismans that she'd forgotten about Section 13's security. Even if she found a way to break through the vial – which was most unlikely –, how would she get out of the vault? Not to mention the security cameras! I, fact, now that she thought about it, it was a wonder alarm sirens weren't ringing already and she wasn't surrounded by agents.

"Blast!" she muttered to herself, regretting it as soon as she realised what she had said. She was beginning to sound like her father. She couldn't stand the fact she had been picking up his habits.

"Who is there?" came a hissing, demonic voice, making her jump and let out a scream.

She turned around abruptly to face a sort of dark corridor whose entrance was blocked by thick bars. She narrowed her eyes to see what kind of creature lurked in there and paled when she saw a pair of glowing red eyes.

"W-who are you? What are you?" she asked, frightened. Little by little, her eyes began to adjust to the dark, enough for her to see what looked like a round, golden dragon statue. "You are... Shendu?"

"Ah, so you have heard of the powerful Fire Demon? I am flattered."

Realising she wasn't facing any imminent danger, for there was nothing a talking statue could do besides talking, she calmed down. "Not so powerful, are you? You're just a statue, locked up in the vault of a government's secret organisation, behind bars..." she said in a casual tone. Ignoring the demon's angry hiss, she went on, "Defeated oh-so-many times by puny mortals..."

"Foolish child! you don't know what you are talking about! Liao Su was aided by powerful magic, and was lucky he –"

"Liao Su?" she interrupted, frowning in confusion. In truth, she had never heard that name before. She decided to test him, "You mean yet more mortals kicked your arse? Who else? Let me see..." She pretended to think hard. "Oh, a senile old man, some fat traitor guy, a ten-year-old girl..."

The demon's eyes glowed more brightly in his fury, but then, he half-hissed, half-snorted, seeming to find something amusing.

"I see. It figures. I did feel something familiar in you... You are Valmont's offspring," he spat the name as if it were a curse.

"No, I'm not," she automatically denied. He chuckled.

"Yes, you are. I can feel it clearly now. Besides, you not only look and speak like him, you have the same attitude; same arrogance, same insolence..."

"I'm nothing like my father!" she yelled, petulantly hitting one of the bars with a clenched fist. Only when the echo of her shout faded did she realised what she had just admitted. She looked away in frustration and cursed herself.

"An obstinate child, indeed," mocked Shendu. When he refused to respond, he asked, "What are you doing here, anyway? Don't you know your father is wanted by Section 13?"

"I came for the talismans."

"Why?"

"None of your business."

"Well, it doesn't matter, for your plan has failed. You got in here, but you didn't think of a way to get out, did you?"

She looked away again, humiliated and angry at herself for being so stupid.

All of a sudden, Shendu's tone turned from mocking into almost friendly. "How about we make a deal? You set me free and I shall get you out of here and take you to safety."

"How would I get you free?" she snapped.

"With the talismans, of course. I know the password to open the vial. The rest is too easy."

"But I want have the talismans!"

"You can keep them after we escape."

Julia glared at him. She might be a child, and sometimes not think of certain details – like a getaway plan before getting in a vault –, but she wasn't gullible. Living amongst criminals had taught her to see when someone was trying to deceive her. Her father had told her that Shendu needed to absorb all the talismans to take his true form. That was what the demon wanted her to do; to give him the talismans.

She doubted that Shendu would give her the talismans even after they left Section 13, for then he would just become a statue again, making his escape pointless. Who did he think he was fooling? Just because her father had fallen for this didn't mean she was that dense.

She glanced at the talismans and at the door. She could pretend to accept Shendu's proposal and, when he gave her the password, just use the talismans to open the door by herself and leave him behind.

On the other hand...

She could almost see an imaginary lamp materialising above her head. Maybe having Shendu about could come in handy, after all. It would certainly save her some time and effort.

"Keep the talismans," she told him sharply. "I know you need them to stay in your true form. Father told me about that too." Shendu's eyes glowed again. Before he could say anything, she went on, "I'll set you free. But only on one condition."

He hissed, considering his options.

"Name it."

To be continued...