After being saved from an akuma by Nova, Allen, Lavi, and Kanda brought her unconscious body back to the Sage's home. Allen's broken left arm was healed by Tsamo while Lavi and Kanda argued upstairs in the room where they were supposed to be watching over the girl. She woke up in the middle of all the yelling and tried to make an escape out the window, but was stopped by Kanda, who then unsheathed Mugen and held it out to her to block her path. He was shocked when she carelessly grabbed the blade and tried to yank it away. The sword sliced her hand, causing profuse bleeding, which she didn't seem to expect to happen. Allen entered the room and tried to stop the blood loss by cutting circulation off of her hand. When he tried to do so, she would struggle more and try to get free, so Lavi assisted Allen in pinning her down. During this time, Kanda noticed her behavior was not only different, but her eye color as well. She in the end managed to punch Allen's face and sink her teeth into Lavi's cheek in her struggles. Tsamo and Bookman then entered the room and saw what was happening. Tsamo calmly approached them and placed his hand on the distraught girl's forehead and spoke to her secretly within her mind. He said…
"Please, stop this. These men are of no threat to you. You are not in danger. They are not your enemy. Cease this pointless struggling. Stop trying to run from the people who want to help you. I'll explain later, but for now, I need you to calm down and open your eyes. Trust me."
The girl then calmed down and stopped fighting the exorcists. She refused to look them in the eye as the stood up off the ground. Instead she was mesmerized by her blood that was dripping off of Mugen's blade.
The Sage rested his hand on her back and presented her to them. "The person who stands before you is one who I trust with my very life. Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Silverton, my apprentice."
The group was now in the main room. Tsamo was sitting on a sofa with the girl, who hadn't said a word. Her sliced hand was wrapped tightly in Lavi's scarf to temporarily stop the bleeding. As the Sage prepared to perform a healing session on her, Lavi, Bookman, and Allen sat on a sofa across from them while Kanda was leaning against the wall.
For the longest time, it was silent in the room. None of the exorcists really knew what to say. Allen's face was still sore from where he'd been punched and Lavi's cheek still had clear teeth marks from where he'd been bitten. It was as if one moment, they were struggling to pin the girl down, and the next, she was perfectly calm.
"I'm terribly sorry about all this." Tsamo finally spoke. His hands were glowing green and he was applying the substance to the girl's hand, the same way he had Allen's arm before.
Bookman shook his head. "No need to apologize. I'm sure there has just been some sort of misunderstanding."
"There has to have been," Allen said, looking around for Jethese, who'd disappeared a while ago. "You said SHE was your apprentice, but we already met your apprentice this morning."
"That's right, that blond dude, Jethese, told us he was your apprentice." Lavi added.
The girl growled at the sound of his name. Tsamo suddenly stopped healing her and face palmed. "When is that boy going to learn…"
Allen tilted his head. "Uhm…pardon me?"
"That boy is most definitely NOT my apprentice…no where near it, even." Just then, Tsamo heard a faint creak coming from the wooden floor in his kitchen. "Mr. Ackers, get in here this instant!"
Frustrated at being discovered, Jethese stepped out of the kitchen into the main room. "Heh, heh…'ey fellas…" he said nervously.
Kanda shot him a glare that sent chills up his spine. "Have you been lying to us, goldilocks?"
"Pfft…Me? Lie? Tch, nah…I prefer the term, 'truth bend'." He said, ignoring Kanda's insult to his hair.
Bookman grumbled. "I see. So, you in fact are not the Sage's apprentice after all, are you?"
Jethese busted out in laughter. "Please, only a low life would want that role!"
Suddenly, an empty mug that was once filled with tea was hurled across the room, aiming straight at Jethese' head. The boy yelped and ducked, barely avoiding the mug, which then hit the wall behind him and shattered. It was thrown by the girl, whose hand was still not fully healed. She was grinding her teeth at the blond boy, whose smug attitude had completely vanished.
"J..J..Jesus…that almost hit me!" Jethese said, his voice trembling under her stare.
"If I'm not mistaken, that was the point." Tsamo blatantly stated. "Come now, Silverton. He isn't worth it."
She grunted and sat back in the sofa, returning her right hand to Tsamo for healing.
"Why would you lie about being his apprentice?" Lavi asked.
Jethese rubbed the back of his neck. "Just wanted to mess with ya. It sure was fun while it lasted tho-..!" He was forced to dodge yet another mug hurling in his direction, this time, however, it was thrown by Tsamo.
The old man scowled at him. "I'll have you know, the only reason I haven't kicked you out of here yet is because I would like some answers from you. Sit down in that chair and let us talk." Tsamo said, pointing to an empty chair alongside the two sofas.
"Right…I'll just…do that…" Jethese mumbled as he cautiously tiptoed past him and sat in the chair.
"Alright. Now, I know I couldn't possibly be the only one in this room who is confused regarding recent events."
All the exorcists nodded.
Tsamo continued healing the girl's hand. "First thing's first. Could you three explain what happened yesterday when you saw the akuma?"
"Well, I noticed an akuma in town and the three of us went to go destroy it, but before we could even get there, it just fell to pieces."
"Cut into squares?" Tsamo asked.
"Y-yeah..how'd you know that?" Lavi and Allen looked at eachother.
Tsamo shook his head. "Never mind that for now. Please continue."
Kanda took the floor. "We questioned the towns people and they kept saying they saw 'nothing but silver'…Why are we telling you all this? We've already done it after it happened."
"That's true, you have all made me aware of this before. However, my apprentice is the one who needs the answers here"
"But that doesn't make sense! Your apprentice is the one who destroyed it!" Kanda said, irritated.
The Sage ignored him and turned his attention to Jethese, who sat there quietly, afraid to speak out of turn. "That night, I went to speak to Silverton about it, assuming she had destroyed it, but her bedroom door was locked. I assumed she was sleeping as usual and I chose to write her a small note and I slid it under the door. Ackers, the next morning, you somehow confused these people into thinking you were her. How exactly did you do it?"
"Oh, right…" Jethese began, "I kinda snuck in your house through her bedroom window, which was wide open by the way…When I got in, I couldn't find her anywhere, but I did see a little note by the door addressed to her saying, 'Silverton, I'm proud of you for destroying the akuma, but please stop being so shy around our guests. Tomorrow morning I'll be running the usual errands in town. Make sure they feel welcome and keep them entertained.' So then I went and looked around the house for her, and instead I found these guys." He pointed to the exorcists. "They assumed I was your apprentice and I just went along with it, hehe…"
Tsamo glanced at his apprentice, who was looking at the ground and still not speaking out. "Silverton, the night before when you went to sleep, did you have your window open?"
She shook her head.
"Interesting…After he lied to you, what happened?" Tsamo questioned the exorcists.
"Jethese offered to give us a tour of the town." Lavi answered. "He took us to some dirty bar…and uh…we saw her." He pointed to the quiet girl.
"That apprentice of yours started whoring herself out to us." Kanda said, glaring at her sharply.
Tsamo picked up his walking staff that was before leaning against the sofa, reached over, and whacked Kanda upside his head. "How dare you accuse my apprentice of such awful things. Silverton would never EVER behave in such a way."
"I'm sorry sir, but we all saw her with our own eyes." Lavi said, in Kanda's defense.
Tsamo scoffed at them. "Looks can be deceiving." He glanced at Jethese.
Jethese nodded. "That's right. I've known her for a long time. She really isn't the type of girl who would act like a slut. I was surprised to see her there at first, but then she said that her name was…Nova…"
Suddenly the girl's eyes got wider and she began listening more intently.
"That's very interesting. It's all making sense now." Tsamo said, stroking his beard.
"What the hell?" Kanda said, "How does that make any sense? Nothing here is making sense!"
"Silverton is actually my apprentice's last name. I never refer to people by first name. However, Nova isn't hers. Nova is the first name of my apprentice's long deceased older sister."