A/N: Hey everyone, this chapter has taken me several English lessons and some home time to finally finish writing, and I hope I can get the next one up quicker. I guess it's time to bring back the cookie board aye?

Cookie Leader board:

5 cookies for my mate Sammy (Saaammm or s for those of you who read the reviews other people leave)

1 cookie for Z.C.A, even though if it hadn't been you I would probably have been quite offended

1 for Pandarocket, for that review way back at the start.

Chapter 16

Let me give you all a warning. Bookman can be extremely scary without even trying when he wants you to do something.

Flashback:

"You are coming with us Jasmine." I stared blankly at him, one hand resting on the edge of my bed.

"Why?" My voice squeaked and it was barely more than a whisper, but Bookman still managed to hear me.

"Your language skills will come in handy with what we are going to do." His voice was cold and emotionless, his eyes narrowing slightly as I flinched back under his gaze. Lavi was frozen, half out the door, as he waited for something to happen. I had a feeling that he was going to be teasing me if I gave in, but I didn't really have any other options.

Present Time:

So that's how I ended up wandering around the town, katana locked away in my bedroom so it wouldn't ruin the investigation. I was drowning in the heat, and my sunglasses were no match for the bright sunlight. My blue and white striped tank top was clinging uncomfortably to my skin as I looked around for someone to talk to. There was a purple bandana wrapped around my arm in order to cover the contract pentagram from view of the general public.

My big black combat boots hit the ground rather a lot louder than my flats would have, but it gave me a false sense of security in the new town to be wearing my new exorcist boots. I certainly drew a lot of strange looks from the locals, but I hadn't really been expecting anything different. Digging my hand around in the pocket of my denim shorts I pulled out some money, giving it a quick glance before enclosing it in my fist. Money was a universal language, so I figured that it might help my cause if I bought something instead of wandering around doing nothing.

Observing my surroundings I realised that I was more than a little bit lost. Not only was the palace no longer in view, but I couldn't see Lavi or Bookman anywhere, not to mention that I had absolutely no idea where Sebastian had run off to.

"I really need to quit spacing out." I commented drily as I plucked my tank top off my skin, trying in vain to cool down even the tiniest bit.

"Does the young miss want a drink?" The heavily accented voice seemed to be coming from the shadows of a building overhang, one that simply screamed dangerous.

"No thank you sir." I replied curtly in Greek, startling him and giving me a chance to slink away further down the market street.

That little encounter had shaken me, and I would have given just about anything to have had someone with me, be it Lavi or Sebastian, or even Grell, but I also knew deep down that that would just make me seem unapproachable. Bookman had told me to collect information, and that was what I was going to do, but I didn't know where to start. He didn't tell me what to look for, he just told me to look. In all honesty it seemed like a rather pointless job. It also meant that, technically, as long as I came back with SOMETHING then I would have done what he had asked for. But I didn't have the luxury of naivety anymore. Chances were that he wanted me to try and find information about Akuma activity in order to predict the likelihood of anything actually happening at the party next week. I'd already encountered 2 Akuma in my short life, and I didn't fancy getting myself into a fight before I could even figure out how to activate my innocence.

Turning a corner I found myself in a street that – if it was even possible – seemed even brighter and sunnier than the last. I still hadn't managed to find any information and I sighed in frustration, kicking a loose stone that tried to trip me up. The people in this street seemed nicer, definitely not like that shady guy from the last street I was on. There was only one problem. I was now well and truly lost, with no idea how to get back to the palace. Hopefully I'd be able to find a friendly local to show me the way back.

Looking around I spotted a reasonably legit looking café and decided to order a drink. I was worried I might suffer from culture shock if I actually took the time to read the menu, so I just ordered some orange juice. Taking the icy cold glass back to an empty table I tried in vain to get out of the sun. When I realised it wasn't going to happen I crossed my ankles and leaned back in my seat, taking a small sip of the freezing fruit drink.

My eyes wandered, taking in the street along with the people sitting scattered around the café. Most of the patrons appeared to be in their late twenties and early thirties. They would be knowledgeable enough about any strange happenings in the town, but they probably wouldn't want to talk to me, a nosy teenage girl asking questions like some sort of wannabe Nancy Drew.

Shaking my head in annoyance I let out a small sigh before turning back to my juice and taking another sip. I had a feeling that it was going to be harder that I had bargained for to find anything useful, especially since I was automatically crossing off possible information sources without even attempting to talk to them. Hand wrapped around my glass I took a look at myself. Cringing I realised that my outfit practically screamed tourist. It was no surprise that the creep from before had tried talking to me. He probably thought that I was going to be easy prey. Maybe not everyone was as friendly as I had hoped.

A shadow fell across my face and I raised an eyebrow, glancing up from my self-examination. Someone had sat down in the seat across from me at my table. Peering through my rose tinted sunglasses I examined the person who had deemed it acceptable to invade my personal space. It was a young guy, about my age, although whether he was older or younger I couldn't tell. He didn't have a drink or any food; he was just sitting there, watching me with his light brown eyes. It was slightly unnerving. I took another sip, watching him over the rim of my glass.

"Are you new around here?" He asked suddenly in a voice that barely had a hint of a Greek accent. Setting my glass down I traced patterns in the condensation on the side.

"Maybe, what's it to you?" My fingers fell to the table and I met his eyes, subconsciously wincing at my blatantly kiwi accent. The only time I didn't have a too strong kiwi accent was when I was speaking Greek. He laughed, his brown eyes sparkling in amusement.

"You looked a bit lost." He admitted, shrugging his shoulders under my questioning gaze. "Okay okay, that's a lie. I just couldn't stand to see a cutie like yourself sitting here all alone." It's a good thing that I wasn't one for blushing, not much anyway, because the happy go lucky boy sitting across from me had a smooth talking streak and a way with words. Emma probably would have fainted by now, although that may be partially from the heat.

"Right…" Tightening the bandana around my arm I considered my options. He seemed eager enough to hang out with me, although his intentions were most likely selfish and not out of the good of his heart. I was still injured, and I didn't have my katana – Athena, named after the Greek goddess of war strategy and wisdom – with me for defence. If he tried anything then I would be in trouble, but Sebastian would find me before anything bad happened. All I had to do was call for him.

Leaning forward over my glass I peered over the rim of my glasses. "Well hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?" He also leaned forward, mimicking my movement, and looked at me with renewed interest.

"Sure thing, fire away." He was probably wondering why I hadn't bothered asking what his name was.

"Has there been anything… oh I don't know… weird or abnormal happening in or around the town recently?" He blinked, brown eyes showing a hint of confusion before he grinned again, apparently not taking my question seriously.

"Nothing apart from seeing someone as gorgeous as yourself sitting all alone out here." I rolled my eyes behind my tinted sunglasses, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. He was even more of a shameless flirter than Lavi. And with my thoughts then turned towards Lavi I started getting angry, imagining the red headed exorcist flirting with everyone who walked by. I wasn't even sure why it pissed me off so much.

"While I'm flattered, that had absolutely no relevance to my question, not to mention it was unnecessary and unhelpful." Clenching my fingers around the glass I quickly sculled the rest of my orange juice and stood up, glaring down at him as I did. The single ice cube that had managed not to melt clinked in the bottom of the glass as I slammed it down on the table.

"Where are you going?" He called out, suddenly sounding desperate. Ignoring him I stepped out into the street once more, calling thanks to the store employees as I went.

"Hey seriously, wait for me!" Sparing a quick glance over my shoulder through my copper bangs I continued walking, stopping in the centre of the street.

"Sebastian!" I called angrily, only flinching a little bit when a tall black shadow suddenly appeared from behind me. A smirk lit up my face as I turned to look over at the boy who had invaded my table, watching his confused expression as I stood with my loyal raven.

"Sorry babe, but I have to run." I called over to him, venom dripping from my voice as I inwardly cringed at the coarse use of the ugly language of unnecessary flirting, which was something I never did. Without giving the irritating teenager a second thought I tugged Sebastian's sleeve discretely and let him guide me off to another area of the town. Unapproachability was going to be better than being harassed by stupid people with no information.

"Wait! I can answer your question for real if you just wait for me!" Man was that boy persistent. Stopping in my tracks I exchanged a quick silent conversation with Sebastian, concluding that it wouldn't do any harm to hear him out now that Sebastian was here.

"Fine." I crossed my arms across my chest, making sure not to move the bandana, and waited for him to catch up. I wasn't sure what had caused the sudden change of heart, and I'm not really sure I cared, as long as I found something to bring back to Bookman so he wouldn't think I was a burden.

He glanced around nervously before stepping closer. "My mum said I shouldn't talk about it, so you can't tell anyone, okay?" I nodded irritably, waiting for him to continue. "There was a weird… explosion I guess… at the edge of the town yesterday." My eyebrows shot up and I looked up into Sebastian's shocked red irises.

"Why do you think no-one told us?" I asked him, momentarily ignoring our information source. His pupils flashed to slits for a second as he stared past me, lost in his own little world.

"They're keeping it under wraps, so they don't want the tourists to know. Maybe the Captain didn't want to worry us? Although one would think that that would defeat the purpose of being the security." Groaning I flicked him in the arm.

"Shut up Sebastian." The blonde haired local was still watching me, looking even more confused than he had a moment ago. "Sorry. Um… thanks for your help? You can go now." With my casual dismissal he gave me a rather offended glare and stormed off, apparently not happy with the way I had treated him after he spilled a secret.

.:Later:.

Once everyone was gathered in the room that the guards had put aside for us to use as a base of sorts we all spilled our information. To my surprise I had managed to find out more than Lavi, which wasn't saying much since I had only found one thing. That boy really mustn't have been trying. But when Bookman admitted to not having been able to find anything either I nearly sank into a state of shock.

"What happened to you two?" There had to be some logical explanation as to how BOOKMAN could have been refused information. He had proved himself to be something akin to all-knowing, and if he didn't know it he would find out, whether you liked it or not.

Apparently I'd had a lucky break, since he wasn't the only one who had been told not to talk about the explosion. It only made things seem more suspicious and I could tell that Bookman was thinking everything over and trying to reason it out in his head.

I had Athena lying on the table in front of me, and I stared down at the blade in thought. Someone had given out that order, someone who wanted to cover it up. I wasn't open minded enough to think of a good motive though, so I decided to leave that up to Bookman. All I was worried about was the party in a weeks' time, and how hard it was going to end up being to protect the guests when we weren't even getting all the information about possible attacks in the area.