You see the title? Sounds romantic, don't you think? Now read the chapter and I bet that in the end you'll be wondering: "Why did that stupid author choose a title like that? It has NOTHING to do with this chapter!"
Thank you to those who reviewed!^_^
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Chapter 15: The Arch of the Destiny
The hamburgers were served and Hsi still watched for a while how Jade did to eat it. He tried to follow her example. A woman came in the snack bar and distributed some pamphlets. She gave one for Jade and one for Hsi Wu, although they were identical. They two glanced at the pamphlets not paying much attention. Hsi left it on the table and Jade kept it in her pants pocket.
"Well... and now?", Jade asked tapping her fingers against the table impatiently and Hsi Wu sighed. He just wanted to communicate with Shendu.
"We have to continue seeking...", Hsi said sounding tired, though what he was feeling was pure frustration.
"Again?! That's impossible! If the portal didn't open in the Mega Galactic Studios then it probably can't be opened ever again! We are wasting time here!", Jade said slightly annoyed and Hsi shrugged.
"What can I do? I cannot just go back like this. Besides, Tchang Zu is my oldest brother. I can't ignore him so easily.", Hsi explained while they stood up and left the snack bar.
"Tch! Whatever. But couldn't we first... uhn...", she decreased her voice tone as she spoke.
"What?"
Jade blushed a bit and crossed her arms in front of her chest as if she wanted to hide something.
"I wanna buy new clothes...", she said and he raised his brows.
"Why? You're already dressed."
"I know, but I don't like these..."
"What's the problem?"
"It is... too low-cut...", Jade murmured.
"I think it's enough as long as you're dressed. We can't stop looking for my oldest brother's portal just because you want new clothes.", Hsi Wu said and Jade placed her hands on her hips.
"But I only want a new shirt! Don't you-", she was interrupted when two men walked behind her whistling and making some passes at her, which made Jade feel quite embarrassed. Before she could do something herself, Hsi frowned and approached of them. He grabbed them from their collar and his eyes glowed red.
"Nobody does that sort of thing to my slave in front of her owner!", the sky demon hissed and the men's eyes widened. Hsi hit the men's head against each other and threw them at the direction of an alley.
"Hey! How long have you thought that I'm your slave?", she asked glaring at him.
"Since I kidnapped you.", Hsi answered simply and then found himself unconsciously staring at her shirt low-cut. He blushed a bit and looked away quickly. Jade opened her mouth to snap something, but he cleared his throat and spoke before her.
"Perhaps you really need other clothes. You can buy it, as long as you don't take too long to do it.", he said and Jade made a surprised face. She didn't expect that the sky demon would agree in letting her to change clothes.
"I am already losing my patient, mortal! I will ask only once again! Where is the damn portal?", Bai Tsa asked with her eyes glowing red and Valmont stepped back.
"I already said that I didn't see it! Shendu did! When you're possessed, sometimes you can't see what happens around you!", he tried to explain and Bai slit her eyes.
"You HAVE to remember of something! How did the landscape look like?"
"I don't remember, that was a long time ago.", Valmont replied and Bai grabbed him by his collar and hit him violently against the wall.
"All right. I have a very efficient method to refresh humans' memory.", she hissed and Valmont gulped sure that it wouldn't be very healthy. On that moment, his videophone rang. Valmont slowly took it from his pocket and pressed a button.
"W-What is it?", he asked and Julia's image appeared in the screen.
"Dad, Tso Lan is asking if you already opened the portal.", Julia said and Bai pushed Valmont so that she could see the screen.
"Where is Shendu? I want to speak to him now!", she demanded and Shendu took the videophone from Julia's hand.
"What do you want?"
"Where is the portal? Why can't you give me right information?"
"I gave you right information, but it's not my fault that you have no brains."
"What?! How do you dare???"
"I was very clear. I said that the portal was three kilometers to the south of the downtown."
"But we already went there and we DID NOT FIND ANY PORTAL!!!"
"Really...? Hmm... Perhaps I meant three kilometers to the north...", Shendu said cynically just to annoy her and Bai Tsa crushed the videophone with her hand, clenching her teeth.
"IDIOT!!!", she shouted throwing the videophone against a wall. It dropped in the ground completely destroyed and Valmont stared at it in horror.
"Ahh! You broke the videophone!", Valmont yelled in desperation and Bai Tsa shrugged.
"It's all right. We do not need Shendu's orientations to find the portal. Since you don't remember where it is, we will have to seek for the whole city until finding it.", Bai Tsa said calmly and pulled him by his wrist.
Jade was glancing at the whole store, looking for some clothes. She finally chose a black shirt and showed it to Hsi Wu.
"What do you think about this one?", she asked and Hsi sighed.
"Yeah, it's great. Come on with that already.", he said impatiently. Jade observed the shirt a bit more and decided to try it. She ran to a fitting room. When she entered and closed the curtain, the Pan Ku box piece in her hand began to glow.
"Oh, no...", Jade murmured as she quickly understood that a portal was near. The Pan Ku box piece rose in the air from her hands and hit a symbol that had appeared in the mirror. Jade stepped back while she watched how the glow intensified.
Surprisingly, no portal was opened. However, Hsi Wu knew what was wrong. The portal had been sealed by the chi-wizard and only the Meng Hsie pendant could open it again. Now Hsi had just to chant the spell to activate the power of the pendant contained in the box. The sky demon drew a deep breathe and began to concentrate. A blueish energy was emanated from his body and he chanted some magic words while his eyes glowed red. The people at the store panicked and ran away.
Hsi Wu fell on his knees very tired and Tchang Zu stepped out and glanced around himself slightly confused. After all, his portal was in a different place. Seven or eight years ago it was inside a movie studio, and now it was in a clothes store.
"Welcome, Tchang Zu.", Hsi greeted and Tchang glared at him slitting his eyes, making Hsi Wu flinch.
"Ah... I mean... Master.", he corrected and his oldest brother nodded.
"Where are the others?", Tchang wanted to know.
"They are freeing Dai Gui and Po Kong.", Hsi answered and the thunder demon noted Jade's presence.
"You! You're from the Chan clan! You'll pay!", he shouted stepping forward, but Hsi Wu stood between them to stop his brother.
"No, we need her for an ambush!"
"Ambush?", Tchang repeated raising a brow.
"The others can explain it later. Brother Tso Lan said that we must wait for them to return in our hideout.", the sky demon said and Tchang raised his glance in thought.
"I see. Very well.", he said and took his human form. He had a blond hair, darker than Shendu's, reaching his shoulders, and his eyes were blue. He left the store while Jade and Hsi Wu kept staring at him. Jade slowly approached of him and cleared her throat.
"Uhn... T-Thanks... for saving me...", she said in a low voice and Hsi Wu blushed a bit, but snorted in despise to hide it.
"Don't mix things up. I didn't save you. Brother Tso made clear that he wanted to use you as a bait for ambush.", he said. Jade frowned and held her hands in her pockets. She felt a piece of paper and took it. It was the pamphlet that she had received at the snack bar. She gave a fast glance at the pamphlet and only then the understood why the portal was in a clothes store.
The pamphlet had a map to indicate the location of a certain store, and in the map Jade could see that the clothes store formerly was the Mega Galactic Studios, that some years ago had moved to the place where she and Hsi Wu had spent the whole day searching for the portal.
"Oh... So that's why I found the studios were kinda different...", she murmured and Hsi Wu pushed her back.
"Stop daydreaming and let's go."
"My legs are aching... I am hungry... I am hot... I am tired... I am thirsty...", Valmont complained in a low voice while he and the water demon walked. Now it was night and they could see the beautiful full moon. "It's all Shendu's fault! If I had never known him, my life today would be much better, and certainly I would have never even heard about demons.", he continued muttering alone.
"You're right!", Bai Tsa said suddenly and Valmont raised his brows in surprise.
"I am?"
"Shendu is indeed an idiot! The only thing he can do well is to disturb everyone's life! If he weren't family, I would have already get rid of him a long time ago!", she snapped.
"If he disturbs everybody so much, why don't you just get rid of him already?"
"Because... well, because my older siblings would not approve such thing..."
"You know, they say that when two people fight a lot it is because they actually like each other.", Valmont said trying to suggest some sarcasm.
"Well, like you said... 'people'! We two are demons."
"It was just way of speaking. All right, when two *beings* fight a lot...", Valmont corrected and Bai snorted.
"Nonsense... Like if I were going to take seriously what a human says. You may think that have lived with Shendu for a bit more than one years was bad, but try to live with him for thousands of years. It is horrible, the happiest day of my life was when I moved to Rome and was very far away from him."
"You really don't know how to see the bright side of the life. You should not think that the happiest thing that happened to you is to get rid of something bad, you should be even happier when something good happens to you."
Bai stared at Valmont raising her brows.
"You don't seem to be the type of person who would come up with that phrase.", she remarked.
"Actually, it was my psychiatrist who said that."
"Psychiatrist? You humans are really weird..."
"Well, unlike the demons, we humans have some difficulties in get over a wife's death and a rebel daughter turning against us. I had to move back to England, you know."
"Back? You are from England?", she asked very surprised.
"Uh... Yes, why?"
"...Nothing...", she said shaking her head.
"CONGRATULATIONS!", a man yelled suddenly appearing in front of them. A woman also approached and hung a necklace in their necks. The necklace was formed by some little and shining green and brown stones and had a small metal object in the form of two bells.
"Uh?" was the only thing they could say.
"According to an old legend of this villa, when a man and a woman pass together underneath this arch...", the man pointed at an arch above them, where there were two bells hanging. "...at the exact moment when the bells ring, and in a night of full moon, they will be happy forever. And those necklaces will give you luck.", the man explained and Valmont and Bai glanced at each other and then looked in annoyance at him.
"I will never have anything to do with him/her!", they two snapped at the same time pointing at each other and the couple before them laughed.
"You see? They really match!", the man commented and the woman nodded.
"Only a warning: never throw those necklaces away! That would bring a great bad luck for you.", the woman alerted.
"Bah! I don't believe in those humans' superstitions! They're all unfounded! Let's get away from here!", Bai Tsa said pulling Valmont by his sleeve while the other two watched them happily. The water demon started to leave the villa making sure that Valmont was with her all the time.
"Here it is.", Shendu said when the group finally arrived at the temple where the mountain demon's portal was. Fortunately the place was deserted. Julia took the Pan Ku box piece from Jack's hands and approached of the temple. It began to glow and rose in the air, then it hit the symbol in the temple's door. Tso Lan concentrated and chanted the short spell, but for everyone's surprise, the portal did not open.
"Eh...? Where is the portal?", Julia asked in confusion and Jack shrugged.
"Thank goodness. Thus it's one demon too little to worry about.", he said.
"Brother Tso, are you sure that you did it right?", Xiao asked.
"Of course yes. I... don't understand...", the moon demon answered sounding tired.
"But you lost energy... the portal should have been open now...", Shendu said thoughtful, as well as Tso Lan and Julia. Xiao Fung scratched his head and grinned.
"Perhaps sister Po's portal requires more energy because of its 'extra-big' size!", he said joking but nobody laughed.
"Don't be ridiculous, Xiao! Why don't you stop babbling nonsense and try to think of something useful?", Shendu snapped.
"Wait, he is right.", Tso Lan said and everybody stared at him in surprise.
"I am?", Xiao asked cheerfully.
"He is?", Shendu, Julia and Jack asked at the same time.
"The energy in the Pan Ku box used here to open the portal normally should be the as the one used by the Immortals. But after the portal was sealed, the only magic able to open it is the pendant's, not the box's or ours. We have just to give our energy to the pendant so that it will turn it into power to break the chi-spell that is sealing the portal AND open it. The portal is very big, so the pendant needs more energy.", Tso explained.
"Well, I suppose Xiao's energy can help.", Shendu said and Tso Lan shook his head.
"I already lost too much energy. If only Xiao helps me now, the portal won't open and we two will lose even more energy. After that, it can't be helped."
"So what do you suggest?"
"You have to help us."
"What?! I can't! I still didn't recover all my energy since your releasing in Antarctica!"
"Calm down, Shendu. I am sure that you will not die. Besides, you have no choice."
"You'll get it, Shendu!", Julia encouraged smiling and after a while, the fire demon reluctantly nodded.
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Did you understand Tso Lan's explanation? Neither did I! o.O In Portuguese it's much clearer...