Deliah and Esmira proceeded into the junkyard lot and found nothing but destroyed cars, lingering smoke in the air, and many burns on the vehicles. The smell of mold, old rust, and heavy smoke circulated the lot; the recent explosions and fires only intensified the smell. It made Esmira slightly nauseous and gave Deliah a splitting headache, but the pains didn't stop either of them from searching for the diamond. After half an hour, neither woman turned up with anything.

Deliah crossed her arms and flatly stared at her aunt. "This has to be a joke."

"You think I would take this as a joke?" she replied with a look and positioned her hands on her hips. Esmira took her eyes off Deliah to scan the junkyard from where she stood. "Believe me when I say I'm just as confused as you are."

Deliah shrugged and kicked a rock to her right to a car window with enough force to shatter the glass. "A part of me hoped you were," the demon said. She looked about where she was standing for a place to sit down. she cast her eyes on an oil drum sitting upright on her close left. Upon closer inspection, the demon noticed there was dried oil crusted all over the barrel. Deliah made a sour face at the container and shied away from it. She looked around for another, cleaner, spot and rested her eyes on a faded black sedan with a missing door from the driver's seat. She walked over to the old vehicle, inspected the car seat for any dirt or stains, and sat down. "Something at the museum is behind this, I know it," the demon grumbled.

"It's not the museum, Deliah. The diamond in the dream took me here," the wizard insisted.

"The stone lead to this particular spot?"

Esmira's eyes drifted to the dirt and she pursed her lips together. "Well, yes and no... " she admitted softly and sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "The light more of showed me the way here."

Deliah rolled her eyes and shook her head. "So this was all a waste of our time?"

"We followed the locator spell all the way here, didn't we?"

"All the way to another country to a dead end!" Deliah snapped. Upon catching the disappointment in her aunt's expression, the demon felt a twinge of guilt tugging at her. She didn't mean to yell or to sound negative. It was the smell of rust and motor oil combined with the growing headache that gave her an irritable attitude. She let out a deep exhale to calm herself down. "Do you have an explanation for... this?"

"I d-" Esmira said, then froze in her words. Her hazel brown eyes grew wide, still, and unfocused. She became like a statue, so still that she didn't flinch when Deliah waved her hands and snapped her fingers to catch her aunt's attention.

Deliah raised a curious eyebrow at her aunt. "Ezmi?" She rose from her seat to get closer to Esmira and peered into Esmira's eyes. She saw a green glint in the wizard's eyes and the demon understandably nodded. "[You're in a dreaming daze.]" This wasn't the first time Esmira was in this kind of trance out of the blue, and it wasn't the first time Deliah was there to witness it.

"I was standing here, and I saw something shining down from the sky there," Esmira droned.

The wizard classified these particular kinds of stupor as a dream daze. It was a quirk that happened when Esmira had seen something significant from a recent dream, like a person, object, location, or scene, and would later come to see it in person. This would pull the woman into a daze that would replay that image from her dream, like a deep déjà vu moment that doubled as a subconscious warning to watch out in her near future.

A solid minute passed before Esmira came back to reality. Her hand was lightly tugging at the beads from her necklace. Her eyes became unglazed and she blinked several times in her cognizance. "Wow!" Esmira said in her surprise. "It's been a while since I've dazed out."

"Hm... " Deliah curiously tapped her cheek. It was starting to dawn on her that the gravity of this problem was more serious than she initially thought. The demon rose from her seat and took a hard scan at the junkyard, fixing her eyes on a random spot.

"What's with the look?" Esmira asked.

Deliah didn't answer. Her focus was on a junk metal pile that's peak was on fire, but the fire was small and tired out. "I wonder if any magic was used here?" she asked.

The wizard cocked her head to the side with an interested eye. "What are you getting at?"

The demon reached into her shirt and pulled out a round amulet with gold designs on its outer edges and was smaller that was smaller than her palm. There were two glowing lights, green and violet, steadily circling each other in the middle. The instant Deliah released the necklace, she visibly winced and collapsed on a bent knee. "I knew it," the demon managed to grunt through gnashed teeth.

Esmira nodded in her understanding of her niece's test. "Light magic."

Deliah snatched the amulet from Esmira, letting out a sigh of relief as the pain just as quickly washed away. "I can sense some dark magic as well," the demon added as she stood up.

"That explains where all the fire and extra mess came from," Esmira commented.

"Is this good or bad for us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were not the only ones looking for the Diamond. There were others here, one using dark magic and one using light magic?" the demon asked coolly.

Esmira rubbed her neck and let out a sigh. She hated admitting it, but she was starting to understand Deliah's point. She looked down at her not-glowing drumstick in her hand with a frown. "I... I don't even know anymore," the wizard muttered after a long hesitant pause. "Let's just go home."

Hours later...

Immediately after Drago's defeat, Uncle wrote a hanza in red ink on a slip of paper, then attached the paper to the demon's forehead. Jade and Jackie were a bit confused by Uncle's extra steps, but Tohru stated otherwise. "This is an important safety measure," he reassured with confidence. "This parchment ensures that Drago stays unconscious as long as this remains on his body." While the Chans were satisfied they were able to subdue the demon before he could cause any more trouble, they were upset the diamond was lost. It was one of the few times a villain had beat the Chans at their own game, each time was an upset.

It was undoubtedly out the question to take Drago back to San Francisco on a passenger flight, so Jackie called Captain Black for a ride home on a Section 13 jet while telling him what transpired in Morocco. Needless to say, Captain Black wasn't very happy with the idea of housing the demon who destroyed his underground base over a year and a half ago, but Jackie was his friend and Black trusted the Chan family's judgment, so the latter reluctantly agreed.

When the jet had finally arrived to pick the Chans up, Drago's still form was placed on the floor in the back end of the jet while the Chans stayed in the seating area. For extra safety measures, the demon was muzzled and wore a heavyset pair of handcuffs on his forearms. He was in a supine position with his arms resting on his chest like he was an Egyptian mummy. Seeing the demon in this state was fascinating to Jade and she couldn't help herself coming to the back when she was bored to mess with Drago. The child jabbed at Drago's scaled eyebrow, then poked at his nose, waiting and watching to see if the dragon would react (knowing very well he wouldn't). "How about those apples, lame-o?" she taunted with a smile. Just then, she felt two hands grab her waist and pick her up.

"You should not be standing so close to Drago like that, Jade, even if Drago cannot harm you," Jackie firmly scolded as he set Jade down so he was between her and the demon.

"I just wanted to mess with him," Jade protested with a pout.

"You know Uncle would not be happy if he caught you," Jackie said and pointed Jade back to the seating area where Uncle and Tohru were.

"Fine," Jade huffed in annoyance. It was pointless arguing with Jackie, so she reluctantly walked back to the seats to sit beside Tohru.

"Jade, do you have the tracking glasses I gave you?" Tohru asked.

"Her-" Jade started to say before catching herself. When she grabbed the glasses, her face dimmed as she put the damaged pair into Tohru's open hand. "Er, I accidentally landed on them trying to get away from Drago. Sorry."

Tohru sighed as he looked at the separate pieces of the glasses in his hands. He let out a sigh as he picked a broken piece of the lens up, then set it back in his hand. "It is alright. I will make a stronger one before the next gemstone reveals itself."

"That reminds me," Jade said with a hand on her chin. "Uncle, why're we taking Dragon Junior to Section 13 again? Couldn't we have just banished him?"

"I am curious about that as well, Uncle," said Jackie as he returned to his seat. "Captain Black was gracious enough to make room for Drago, but it would be best if we sent him back to the Demon Netherworld, where he belongs."

"If Drago becomes more of a problem than a solution, we will," Tohru said.

Jade curiously tilted her head at Tohru's choice of words. She traded looks with Jackie, who had raised an eyebrow at Tohru's answer. "Solution?" — "Explain."

"There are eight other gemstones to find," Tohru explained. "With Drago in our possession, we can use him to learn more about these objects and find them."

"Oohh, I get it!" Jade snapped her fingers and shot up from her chair. "With Scale Face, we have a huge lead on what his plan is, and stop 'im before it's too late! That's genius!"

"But what if Drago does not tell us anything?" Jackie questioned. "Just because Drago cut ties with those wizards doesn't mean he will be so eager to ally with us, given our history."

"Drago is not our only concern," Uncle dully responded. "Yuzhu is smart woman. There is no telling what tricks she has up her sleeves."

Jade and Jackie's eyebrows shot up in surprise upon hearing Uncle name the unfamiliar woman. "The lady has a name? You know her?" Jade asked. Uncle paused, then slowly nodded. "Was she always evil?" the child inquired further.

The elder wizard confidently shook his head with a hardened look. "No."

So Uncle does know the woman? Jackie closed his laptop to face Uncle.

Jade sat back down and sulked in her hands. She sensed the melancholy in her uncle's tone and couldn't help to feel sympathetic for him. Jade had also noticed that since their recent battle, Uncle had become oddly distant; the fight had taken an emotional toll on him. Usually when the Chans lost an important artifact to the bad guys, the senior wizard would scold everyone for "fooling around" and work hard to make things right. Here, Uncle reprimanded Jackie once, conversed with Tohru over the hanza, and virtually nothing else on the jet trip back. I didn't think Uncle would take it this hard, Jade thought. She downcast her eyes to the floor for a moment as a thought took form in her mind. "Are you 100% sure she's a real bad guy?" she finally asked.

Uncle furrowed his brow in confusion and cast his eye at his niece. "What do you mean?"

"How do you know Drago's not making your friend do bad things like releasing demons 'n' stuff? What if she's still good, she's just forced to do bad like mind-control? Or what Jackie and I were possessed by Shen Du, remember?" Jade asked with a hint of rising optimism in her tone. "What if there's a chance to help her?"

Tohru looked to Uncle and made a small shrug. "Jade has a point."

Jackie rubbed the nape of his neck as his mind took him back to when the Chans battled the Dark Hand over the demon portals. The archaeologist felt a cold chill run down his back remembering the time Shen Du had possessed him. Even if the Fire Demon was inside him for a brief period, it was still a haunting incident that touched Jackie from time to time. "Drago is Shen Du's son," Jackie said in caution. "It would not be a surprise if Drago knows some of his father's old tricks."

Uncle looked to his family with a frown and tilted his head. His furrowed eyes turned downwards with a soft hum as his mind took him back to his after-fight with Yuzhu:

"You don't kno-"

"So tell me."

The corners of Jade's lips curled up into a tiny hopeful grin as she watched her elder scrunch up his nose in deep thought. Uncle didn't have to verbally agree with Jade; she could sense it in the silence that loomed in the air along with the look of thought on the wizard's face.

After some time of Uncle going back and forth with his feelings, he spoke. "It is a possibility... " the Chinese wizard said while stroking his chin. "If what you say is true, then there must be solid evidence that say so."

"Yeah, Drago! He has to know something, right?" Jade asked. She looked behind her at the demon, then turned to the other Chans. "Right?"

"Uncle and I will make him talk," Tohru agreed.

Noon in Tokyo...

Once Yuzhu notified Kamimura of their narrow, but successful win, Kamimura arranged one of his fastest jets for the two wizards back to San Francisco. For much of that flight, Yuzhu kept to herself with the day's past events replaying in her mind; the one that still burned fresh in her memory was Uncle's words - "Where is your honor?"

Yuzhu scoffed and waved off those words. I never lost mine, she answered back in her head.

When the jet finally landed on a private airstrip, there stood a group of six men dressed in identical black suits waiting for them. Jun and Yuzhu knew them to be from Kamimura's organization The Sunrise. The two dark wizards were escorted into a large black van and taken through through Tokyo into the base of a tall office building, which was the organization's headquarters. They went up to one of the highest floors where one of the guards rang Kamimura of the wizard's arrival. Then, Jun and Yuzhu were taken to Kamimura's main office, where the latter sat unmasked at his desk patiently awaiting their arrival.

"We got the Diamond! It was a little tough, but we still got it," Jun joyfully announced as he placed the black box down on Kamimura's desk.

The boss' hands were folded and his eyebrow quirked at Jun as he set the box down. Kamimura reached out to take the box and opened it. His eyes widened in shock as the sparkle of the Diamond twinkled in his sight. He lifted the gemstone from its case to closely examine it. "Did you discover the power the stone holds?" Kamimura asked.

Jun nodded. "I heard Drago say something 'bout it turning into a shield."

Kamimura narrowed his eye at Jun's answer, drawing his attention from the gem to the wizards. "And where is the demon?"

Jun rubbed his neck and averted his eyes to the floor. "Er... he got away."

Kamimura sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I knew it."

Yuzhu huffed through her nose. Of course he would say that, the dark wizard thought. "The plan went awry because Drago got greedy, that's all," came Yuzhu's interjection.

"You are dismissed, Jun," Kamimura curtly ordered.

Jun made a small bow and gave an 'I told you so' look at Yuzhu, then turned on his heel to leave the room.

Kamimura watched as Jun walked out of the room and waited until the door closed to speak. ""That's all"? "That's all"?!" Kamimura repeated with a raised voice to Yuzhu as he stood up. The businessman deeply exhaled and bowed his head to the table. He closed his laptop and moved it to the side so he could look at the Diamond again. The shining glare of the jewel cooled Kamimura's attitude, eventually helping him to find his words. "You say that like a rogue demon that is now a threat to us is something mild, no?"

"Spare me the judgment!" Yuzhu called. "If memory serves, you were okay with me summoning a demon. Now you're backtracking because said demon betrayed us?"

"I'm backtracking because this mission nearly failed," Kamimura corrected with a hiss. "You did put restraints on Drago, correct?"

"I did, and somehow he maneuvered his way out of them."

"Your mission would've gone much smoother if you took some of my people like Kota, Nikki, and Tsuyoshi along instead of that demon rat. You had no problem taking Jun."

"You talk like this kind of situation couldn't happen with anyone else."

"Trust is straightforward. My people trust me as I trust them," Kamimura said with a simple shrug. "And it wasn't my idea to summon the demon."

"Again, we were on the same page with the idea to summon a demon and you hardly protested against it then, so this is a fault we are in together, like it or not," Yuzhu stated with a disapproving frown.

"So I now understand," Kamimura said and caressed his beard. He then picked up the Diamond to closely inspect it again. "The Diamond will remain here in HQ to be studied so we can go into depth about this shield power."

"And what about Drago?"

"Before we worry about him, we will need muscle to replace him," the businessman crossed his arms and leaned on his table. "Someone human."

"You have a name in mind?"

"Not at the moment," Kamimura coolly responded. He sat back down in his chair and opened his computer. He clicked into a series of computer folders and ended up pulling out a long list of names and faces. "I do have a list of mercenary connections. However, it's been a while since I've updated it or have been in contact with those individuals. Now would be the perfect time to comb through and make a selection."

"Since you don't seem to be interested in the way I handle things, I would advise you to find your new "muscle" ASAP. The location of the next gemstone could reveal itself tomorrow for all I know," the chief wizard said as she stood up. "And whenever you get the chance, look into the name Jie Chan."

Kamimura reached into his desk and pulled out a notepad and pen. "Spell it."

"J-I-E C-H-A-N."

"Alright," the man said as he scribbled the name down. "And why do you ask about this 'Jie Chan'?"

Yuzhu glared ahead and shook her head and her eyes drifted into the distance. "I just want information."

The man took the note sheet off and stuck it on his desk. "I'll let you know what I find."

If looks alone could banish, Drago would've been gone with the way Captain Black fiercely glared at his unconscious form. The demons' hanza parchment was attached to his scaled forehead as three agents hauled the demon's body on a stretcher down the hallway. The captain's eyes shifted to the paper that lightly flickered in the air as Drago rolled by. According to Uncle and Tohru, the spell was solid and kept everyone safe. Still, the Section 13 captain had his own skeptical feelings in mind.

"To be clear, Drago is in a... "magically induced coma"?" Black hesitantly air-quoted and turned to Uncle to confirm.

The elder wizard solemnly nodded. His eyes watched Drago and the agents make sure they handled the demon with extreme care. "As long as demon has parchment spell attached to head, Drago will remain asleep."

"Thank you again, Captain Black. You did not have to keep Drago in Section 13 for us," Jackie said.

"I didn't, but I do feel better putting Drago in a cell with Uncle's magic keeping him restricted," Black sourly admitted.

"It'll sorta be like old times when his dear ol' dragon daddy was locked up here as a statue. Like father, like son," Jade chimed in with a bragging smile.

"And keep him around so he can plot against us like old times? I don't think so," Black interjected with a hard look. "Drago should be banished ASAP and be out of everyone's hair."

"WE will worry about banishing demon. You do not worry," Uncle corrected.

"Me?! How can I not worry when you're walking in a demon, unconscious or not, into my base?! I have every right to worry!" Black yelled.

"Did you have to take in dragon? Nooo? Were you forced to? Nooo? THEN DO NOT WORRY!" Uncle turned around to bellow. "Drago is with us because there are other forces of darkness at bay, some of whom are linked to him."

"There were two dark wizards with Drago looking for the Diamond. Uncle and I had fought one of then," Tohru added to acknowledged Uncle's statement. Suddenly, Uncle growled in anger as he marched up behind an agent and slapped the back of his head.

"Ow! What th' hell?" the man cried as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Watch where you are grabbing!" the old man screeched and pointed to where the man's fingers rested. If he had made a wrong move, the paper would've been ripped from the demon.

"Oop! Sorry!" the man said and moved his hand away.

"Careful, Sebastion," Black cautioned. "Make sure that paper stays on him."

"Sorry sir!" the agent declared. The small group continued down the Section 13 corridor until they reached a stop at a large square-shaped entrance. An agent walked up to the keypad on the right and typed in a series of numbers. When the code was verified, she pulled her ID card for the pad to scan it. Then, the doors slid open and the group walked inside to what looked a smaller version of a vault. The room smelt lightly of fresh metal and the room's interior was painted a solid grey. The only furniture in the cell was a neatly fixed bed attached to the wall on the far side of the room.

Jade squeezed her face in her curiosity as she took a step inside and looked around. "Wait, so we are keeping Drago in a vault?"

"I introduce to you the SCV or Solitary Confinement Vault, a combination of a solitary cell and a vault. While you all get your rest, Drago will stay here to be monitored," Black explained as the agents walked by them and placed Drago on the bed. They patted the demon thoroughly from head to toe and checked his clothes for anything suspicious. Black continued. "In the morning, you all can officially decide what to do with him. Scales Jr. remaining here already makes some of the agents a little jumpy, even if it's only for a night while he's harmless."

"The demon's clear, captain," Sebastion approved with a thumbs up to his boss.

"Uncle will determine that!" the wizard matter-of-factly announced and strutted over to the bedside with blowfish in hand.

"Tohru, you said two wizards were with Drago?" Black asked.

The large man nodded. "One was a young man and the other was an older woman."

"You got anything on them that can be investigated?" Black looked to Tohru, Jade, and Jackie to ask.

Jade reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out her camera. "Maybe this can help. I took plenty of pictures."

Black gave a small grin to Jade and nodded. "A good start. So what's the plan?"

"Uncle thinks Drago escaped the Demon Netherworld and teamed up with some dark wizards to look for another source of dark magic. Since we have Drago now, we can learn who else we are dealing with and how to stop them," Jackie added.

"Sounds rational," Black stated. There was a hint of skepticism in his tone as he continued. "However, you said Drago turned coat on those wizards he just teamed up with. Him not being on their side anymore doesn't mean he'll be on ours."

Jackie nodded in agreement. "I said the same."

"Yeah, so what?" Jade nonchalantly asked with a shrug. "S'not like we hafta hold hands with Ol' Ugly and sing kumbaya or anything. It's just temporary teamwork thing."

"Drago's body has no signs of interfering dark magic," Uncle informed as he rejoined the group. "And Jade is right! We do not need to form friendship with demon youngin. We only need him to talk," the elder wizard stated with a wag of his finger. "Tomorrow, Tohru and Uncle will create spell so Drago will tell what he knows."

"Makes sense, I'm down," Black nodded at Uncle. "We can set it for tomorrow afternoon."

"For now, make sure hanza remains on Drago. If not... " the Chinese elder lowly warned.

"Will do," the Section 13 captain dutifully nodded, then turned to his faculty. "Get some agents that can take turns watching the cell for any activity for the night."

"Yes sir!" the agents saluted in return, then marched out the cell.

Black held up a hand to the Chans and signaled them a nod. "I'll see you four tomorrow," he said, following his agents off.

"Goodnight Captain Black," Jackie waved back.

"It is late, sensei. We should be heading back home to get some rest," Tohru suggested.

"Uncle knows that!" the Chinese wizard called.

Jackie held back a light yawn with his hand. "I will retire here for tonight in case Black need help. Some tea will help me get over the jet lag."

"I would stay, but I've been craving for some cookies, so I'd rather be home," Jade chimed to Tohru and Uncle. "'Night, Uncle Jackie."

"Goodnight, Jade," returned Jackie.

San Francisco stormed throughout the day and for much of the night.

The sky was engulfed in heavy dark clouds filled with thunder that echoed throughout the skies. Lightning danced from spot to spot in the air and occasionally sounded off with a powerfully sharp crack! to compete with the thunder. The rain came down in a heavy downpour that collected in pools of water on the sidewalks and roads, and fell into the roadside drains like waterfalls. The strong wind rocked the trees, signs, and anything else that managed to get in its way. The city was swarmed with a thick and cool fog. Combined with the heavy rain, this made it hard for anyone walking or driving to see no more than six feet in front of them.

The city weather coincidentally matched Deliah's and Esmira's moods when they arrived. It wasn't easy coming home empty-handed. They were left to stew in their defeat as they took the bus home. The rain drummed on the bus's roof, creating gentle and soothing background for the ride with only five people, including Deliah and Esmira, as passengers. Between the woman, the ride felt tense—they haven't said a word to each other. Esmira's head was buried in her journal rereading some of her recent dream entries while Deliah's head rested on the window with closed eyes. The droplets, fog, and darkness made it near impossible to see much outside.

Deliah's eyes flashed open upon hearing the flip of a page for what seemed to be the hundredth time. For a moment Deliah had thought about biting her tongue and saying nothing, but she waved the thought away. "[You think if someone had taken the gemstone, we should be looking for them?]"

Esmira scratched her head and sadly sighed. "[I don't know...]"

"[You think they got some curse from it?]"

Esmira resisted the urge to roll her eyes and cast her niece a dismissive look. "[The grave curse thing again?]"

"[It's a reasonable explanation to why we were led astray by a rock.]"

Just then, the bus stopped at a transit stop. "Highland Road! Anyone stopping on Highland Road?!" the driver called.

Deliah and Esmira got up at the same time hearing their familiar street name. The wizard reached into her bag to pull out a black umbrella and handed it to her niece. "Wait for me," she said and nodded ahead. Deliah made her way out the seat before Esmira and shuffled down the aisle. Once she was off the bus, she opened the umbrella and waited for Esmira to come. As the wizard made her way to the front of the bus, she pulled out a bus fare card from her wallet and slid it across the machine to ring it up. The transaction went through and the machine printed out a short receipt.

"You ladies get home safe now," the driver tipped his hat to Esmira.

"You as well," the wizard said as she grabbed her receipt and stepped off the bus. Then the bus doors closed and drove off, leaving Deliah and Esmira to walk home.

"Tell me, what do you find so off-putting about the "grave curse thing"?" Deliah asked.

"It just doesn't add up," the wizard replied, as if the answer was obvious. "Like there would've been clues in my dream pointing to that."

"Why must the clues be from a dream?" Deliah tentatively asked and stopped walking.

Esmira turned to face Deliah with crossed arms and a scowl. "You can be skeptical all you want, but that's just what I think."

"Ezmi, look at the weather," the demon instructed and pointed up.

The wizard carefully moved her head to see beyond the umbrella so the rain didn't hit her. "Okay?" Esmira inquired with a shrug.

"When we left, the weather here was nice and the skies were clear," Deliah said as she started walking again. She looked up and around from time to time seeing the storm rage on above them. "Now, there is serious thunder, wind, lightning, and rain—all are the first signs of trouble often overlooked."

Just then, a powerful gust of wind nearly knocked the umbrella from Deliah's hand, briefly exposing her and Esmira to the elements of the storm. "Hey!" Esmira cried out as the strongest part of the wind came down on her. The best she could do was to cover her face with her arms and widen her stance so she wouldn't get knocked down by the breeze. Just as Esmira felt herself start to tip backwards, she felt a hand on the center of her back steadily keeping her upright. Esmira didn't have to turn around to know it was Deliah using her strength to keep her and the umbrella sturdy.

"That was too much," Deliah muttered as she wiped the water from her face with her arm. The fierce winds started to die down and the demon checked the umbrella for damages as she readjusted her hold of it. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," the wizard responded as she fixed her ruffled clothes.

The women briskly walked for a few more blocks, enduring much of the storm as they could until they finally reached home. Esmira was the first to walk up the front porch steps with her house key in hand. She unlocked the door and wiped her shoes on the outside mat, then took them off to step inside, placing her shoes on the shoe rack close to the door. Deliah was right behind her wrapping up the umbrella and shaking off the excess rain so no water wouldn't trail in the house. She followed Esmira's process of wiping her shoes on the outside mat, taking them off before coming in, and placing them on the shoe rack.

"You know how many times in ancient times a storm like this was a sign of bad luck?" Deliah asked aloud and locked the door behind her. "Too many times to count."

Esmira pulled her dreaming journal from her bag to look at the cover in defeat. "Maybe I'm thinking too hard on this," she said as she put the book on the kitchen table.

The demon hung the semi-dried wrapped umbrella against a rack close to the door, then walked over to her aunt. "This too will sound... harsh... " Deliah hesitantly stated as she bit her lip. "But humans typically ignore these signs and they grow to be worse and even irreversible later on. It would be best to keep your eyes and mind open and not dismiss any possibilities until you find your solution."

"Ugh, I'm just too tired right now," the wizard yawned out. Her eyes were half-closed as she dragged herself towards her room. "I'll think about it in the morning," she barely mumbled out and closed her door.

Deliah went over to the table to get Esmira's journal and flipped it open to her recent entry. The demon skimmed through the neatly-penned entry. Hmph, Ezmi's never been off her game like this. There is more here, has to be... the demon thought as she re-skimmed the entry and finally closed it. Deliah then curiously looked to the stairs leading to the attic, the gears in her figurative mind turning with a quirked brow. Maybe I can assist.

A/N: [Arabic]

Hey hey! Summer's almost upon us! I'm relieved just because it means more time to rest and relax!

This chapter didn't have much crazy stuff going on, so it's a rather short chapter compared to the others. Esmira continues to run in dead ends about her visions, Drago is locked down with Uncle's hanza to be interrogated, Yuzhu and Kamimura are set back by Drago's betrayal, and Kamimura is ready to look into info on Uncle. I'd like to say this is like a cool down period because things will definitely pick up in the following chapters.

As a note for Every Chinese New Year, it will take some time to get the next chapter out. I've only set the outline and haven't started writing yet. I have my fingers crossed that I can get it out soon, but no promises!

See ya!