Chapter 4: Silent but Deadly

"Here we are at the dining room." Isabelle said, stopping at a golden door. (Yes, Kord was blown away by the design again.) She opened it with her energy amulet, and the door swung open to a sparkling light blue room, complete with crystal chandeliers and glass furniture. (Other than the couch and sofa at the far end of the room.) But the most astonishing were two people dressed in slugslinger clothes, one young lady and man, standing in the middle of the room. Who are they? Eli wondered.

Just then, Isabelle and Irene leapt into the two people, shouting, "Mom! Dad!" Both of them stroked the girls' hair lovingly and looked up, registering the Shane Gang's presence.

"Mom, Dad, meet the famous Shane Gang." Isabelle said cheerfully, walking up to Eli and tugging at his arm. Ow! Eli thought, holding his arm. Watch it! He did his best to manage a smile as the girls' mother approached him.

"So, you are the son of Will Shane," she said, examining Eli's face with her light brown eyes. "Quite attractive boy, really."

The gentle, soft voice of Mrs Cheng fills Eli with nostalgia, reminding him of his own mother's soothing songs that sang him to sleep every night on the Surface. If not for that dagger which took her life…Eli hid his sadness away and forced a thankful smile. (A/N: The story of Eli's mother will be explained in Lightning Strikes Twice, a tragedy story that I am going to write soon!)

"Uh, thanks, madam." Eli said awkwardly. Just then, Mr Cheng came up as well, and said with a grin, "What have you come here for?"

"Just to get our Boon Doc fixed." Trixie said, putting her hand on Eli's shoulder. "He's homesick."

"Oh," Mr Cheng replied. "Come on now, have a snack. You guys must be hungry."

Within minutes, the Shane Gang and the Cheng family have sat down with plates of delectable food (a lot better than Pronto's homemade meals, which can make Eli sick), and Pronto was complaining about the sausages.

"Why don't you have wieners?" he whined. "These are too small!"

"Pronto!" Eli said with annoyance. "You can't expect wieners to be everywhere, okay?"

Pronto was about to retaliate, but when he looked at the angry faces of Eli, Trixie and Kord, he sighed and sank into his chair, trying to eat the tiny sausages. (A/N: I based this off the sausages that they serve at the celebratory lunch my school treated us to. Aaaand…Rosedragons ate quite a few of them.)

Kord was confused when he saw the entire family eating with two sticks each. "Wh-what's that?" he pointed to the sticks in Isabelle's hand.

Isabelle looked at him with a full mouthful of noodles, and then she gulped it down and continued staring at Kord, making him feel uncomfortable. As though she is studying him to see if he is bright enough to understand what she is going to say next. After that, she waved Eli over, and whispered into his ear, "Have you told them about the world above yet?"

"Course I did," Eli whispered back. "I told them like, months ago when the idiot adventurer Gar Rivelle wanted to invade it. Also, can you use the word 'Surface' instead of 'the world above'?"

"Okay." Isabelle replied.

"Whatchya guys talking about?" Kord asked. "Are you trying to hide something?"

His voice made both teenagers (yes, technically twelve is also counted as a teenager) jump. Isabelle immediately covered that up by saying hurriedly, "Uh, no…oh yes, you know I am also from the Surface, right?"

Suddenly, Irene and her parents stopped eating and stared at Isabelle like she had a million heads. Then, Irene said in a trembling voice, "Isabelle…CHENG?!" She leapt across the dining table with incredible agility and pounced onto her sister. "HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?! YOU KNOW THAT IS VERY DANGEROUS, RIGHT?! NOW SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" she screamed, assaulting Isabelle repeatedly despite the fact that Isabelle was trying to explain the situation to her. The rest of the party was dumbfounded, watching this quiet, contained girl transform into a raging beast who dared to lash out on her own twin sister.

"Irene, Irene, STOP!" Eli shouted as him and Kord tried to pull the angry girl off her sister's body, but Irene was surprisingly strong, and she kicked Kord in the face and Eli in the chest, sending both of them reeling backwards. Trixie caught Eli as he breathed heavily, holding his left hand over his chest (apparently Irene had hurt his ribs) and Mr Cheng stopped Kord with his magic, and Kord rubbed his face and grimaced in pain.

"IRENE CHENG! STOP! NOW!" Mr Cheng hollered at his daughter while gently setting Kord down on the sofa. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"

By then, Eli had fainted from the pain, and Mrs Cheng is tending to Kord's face. Irene immediately deflated and got off from her sister, who was red-faced, sobbing and panting by then. She suddenly turned tomato red, and awkwardly sat down beside Trixie, who was pleading Eli to wake up. A small stream of green magic leaked out from her fingertips and landed on Eli's chest, and almost instantly, he opened his eyes slowly and Trixie sighed in relief.

Isabelle got up slowly, using her magic on wherever Irene had hit her. "Irene Cheng," she said softly. "Eli had already told them about the Surface, okay?"

Because of this little matter, Irene was sent up to bed early (it's only like, 7pm), and the rest of the meal was eaten in silence.

At the end of it, Mrs Cheng said quietly to Eli, "You guys should stay here for the night. Let your slug have some time with his friends."

Eli was about to decline when a stabbing pain invaded his right arm again. "Yeah, thanks." He said before Mrs Cheng directed them to their guest rooms.

It was now 9pm, and Eli brushed his teeth, took a bath and changed into one of the soft pyjamas in the closet. As he snuggled down under the fluffy green covers, he stroked his right arm carefully. He's pretty sure it's hurt, and his thought wandered back to the time when Irene assaulted him unintentionally.

Why didn't anyone notice? He wondered. He can't tell his friends-they will freak out. The Chengs seem pretty good…but after Twist, he can't trust acquaintances much anymore. Isabelle had told him she can see injuries without asking, so she definitely saw that something was wrong with his arm. Then, why didn't she heal it? Is she trying to save that for some kind of surprise?

Eli drifted off to sleep, hoping that the surprise will be pleasant.