bChapter 14. Captured./b

i"I wouldn't bet on that."/i

It was a deep, firm and threatening female voice. Ali remained stunned, looking at the barrel like an idiot for a few seconds before he looked up to face the person that was aiming at him. He widened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. It was a young woman, in her early twenties at most, brown hair, green eyes, average height. He stared at her for a bit, obviously shocked from the fact that a woman was pointing a gun at him. He was definitely not used to that.

"Do you not realise that I'm about to shoot you?" the woman hissed annoyed. That snapped him out enough to notice Lila's tight, agonizing grip on his arm.

"P-please…don't hurt us…" she mumbled, causing the brunette to turn slightly and glare at her.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my forest?" she asked commandingly.

"Your forest…?" Ali mumbled, still a bit stunned. The woman didn't avert her look from the pale girl. She looked too strange. Stranger than the tanned man with the ragged clothes.

"Did ithey/i send you?" she asked again, her index threateningly caressing the trigger of the gun, making sure her captives knew she wasn't joking around. Lila was pretty close to panicking again, but given that was what had gotten them there… it was probably not a good idea. She took a deep breath and looked at the other one's green eyes –still fixed on her-, scared and puzzled at the same time.

"They...? Who are they?" she asked, her expression genuinely quizzical. However the brunette's face hardened even more, her eyebrows furrowing, her lips tightening; a clear proof of disbelief.

"You're toying with my patience, kids", she growled pressing her finger on the trigger more. It's not like she'd hesitate to shoot. She was a full-fledged assassin by now. Cold blooded and precise. She could take them both out in a matter of mere seconds. Suddenly her lip line widened into a disturbing smirk, a strange spark appearing in her eyes. Her expression went from angry and irritated to practically looking like a psychopath. "I should kill one of you. And let the other one go, so they can tell ithem /i what happens to anyone who tries to hurt MY FOREST" the last phrase was said so loud that it echoed in the distance.

Lila shuddered. Ali put his hand over hers swiftly, trying to calm her down, although the possibility of them becoming fertilizer for this crazy person's forest didn't look distant at this point.

i Genie… Where the hell are you? /i

Ali wondered, as, searching his mind for a possible solution, his ethereal friend seemed to be the only one. But there was still no sign of him and he had a terrified girl and a psychopath to deal with. Things looked really bad at this point. He couldn't even make a move, let alone try to disarm the person. They seemed to know what they were doing very well. Ali, as a former pirate, knew a thing or two about guns. They had a steady grip, no trembling, no possible hesitation. He could even sense that. So no tackling his way out of there.

"Please don't… We don't even know how we got here…." Lila's trembling voice interrupted his inner monologue. She wasn't sure it was a good thing she spoke, but at this point it didn't seem like there was anything left to lose from it. Plus she couldn't help it. In a way, she knew it was probably her fault they had ended up in that forest; what escaped her still, was how. Although, to be honest, in Solar's words, they hadn't even touched the surface of her true powers. However, now Lila came to realise something very important, also pointed out by Solar –boy was that dude wise. Without control, they were more likely a hazard factor, than true powers, and this was clear proof of that. Her frustration had… zapped them in this strange place out of the blue and they were now in a life threatening situation because of that.

i D-don't panic Lila… Focus/i

"W-we just… one moment we were there and t-t-the next we're h-here…" gosh she hated when she stuttered. She really hated this weakness. But letting herself go into shock was not an option.

"Hahahahahaha! You really expect me to believe that, kid?" the woman pressed the gun on Ali's -now sweaty- forehead, and prepared to shoot. Or so it seemed.

i*Swoosh*/i

Lila jerked her head to the side, instinctively, at the strange sound. That of course wasn't an option for Ali. He was stiff and frozen in his position, counting his blessings, almost sure that he was about to go to the other side any minute now. Not panicking, just preparing himself. Unless Genie showed up. Dammit Genie…

i What was that...?/i

Lila wondered, momentarily pulling her attention away from the woman with the gun. She could swear she saw a green streak, flash among the trees in the distance. She shook her head. Maybe she was seeing things because of panic. But then…

i*Swoosh*/i

That sound again. Ali turned his eyes to the side as well, he heard it too.

"Now, now Jade. No reason to be so rough with our iguests/i~" a deep but soft voice echoed in the area. Lila looked around in somewhat agony but there was nothing.

iWhere is he? /i

Suddenly, she felt a gust of wind on her face, and the voice came back, this time, sounding disturbingly close to her ear.

"You're scaring this poor girl~" he said again, this time a little softer. Lila turned to the side again, only to come face to face with a pair of black orbs. The person carrying them was rather strange-looking, his skin was… green and he seemed to be hovering over the ground where Lila was sitting. In fact, his body structure looked exactly like Genie's. His figure was much more lean and delicate but still it looked like he was the same kind of creature. Same species of some sort.

"You…" she mumbled instinctively. She could feel he was a magical creature as well. Not exactly the same way as Genie but she could still feel the energy. That much, Solar had the chance to teach her. But all she could do was general recognition. He still looked less scary than the person with the gun.

"Yes?~ I what?~" he mused with a smirk. Lila opened her mouth to speak but was luckily interrupted by Jade's annoyed voice –luckily because she had no idea whatsoever what she would say.

"Stop playing with my prey, Gene. You know how much that annoys me."

"Grumpy as always, oh great predator" he answered, hovering over in circles around the two intruders. Of course that seemed like a mocking or defying answer, but it was far from that. The type of relationship him and Jade shared, allowed him to speak that way. But there was also another thing…

"Move out of the way. You're blocking my shooting range" Jade hissed. But this was actually a very common tactic of the two. This good cop – bad cop routine was their way of getting to their captives, who were more times than not, sent by ithem/i. Gene didn't like them anymore than Jade did, in fact he'd happily see a bullet planted on the forehead of anyone who had their eyes on the forest –although this pale girl was rather attractive, he had to admit- but they needed to extract information from them. They had come to learn that partial, at least, trust was a better way to get there than actual fear. Especially with Jade's relentless attitude, as Gene had unsubtly pointed out several times. He kept repeating that "You get more flies with honey than with vinegar" and proceeded to call Jade "sour-face". It was definitely not appreciated but it had proven to have been effective in more than one cases so it was by now agreed upon and their most common tactic. Jade would get to plant her bullets in them anyway after they were done with them. Gene was there to give them the illusion that they could avoid that. But that wasn't really an option, especially if ithey/i were the ones that had sent them.

"You're so ruthless Jade. You didn't even give them the chance to explain now." His tone was something between understanding and condescending. Lila didn't know what to make of him, but Ali had already decided he didn't trust him. He was kind of familiar with those techniques.

"They said they don't know how they got here. I'm not convinced"

"Wh….." Ali opened his mouth to speak but the clicking sound of Jade's finger pulling the trigger juuust a bit, made him shush. Her glare was even more compelling.

"No! Please don't!" Lila exclaimed in despair, instinctively trying to push herself onto Ali in order to move him out of the gun's way –a pretty stupid move in retrospect-. The green creature grabbed her arm and pulled her back while Jade looked at her with stone cold eyes.

"You have a death wish, don't you?" he said rolling his eyes. "Let's just at least question them before making any decisions. They might have useful information, who knows" he shrugged, turning to his partner. Jade loosened the pull on the trigger slightly and looked at Gene with a hint of disapproval. After a few long seconds they gun was finally lowered.

"Fine. But if they give me crap, they're done for" Jade said disgruntled. "Restrain them and let's go." As the gun went back into the assassin's belt, Ali breathed normally for the first time since they had arrived at that wretched place. Before he had time to rejoice for the fact that he could still breathe, he found himself with his hands tightly tied with rope. The rope was emitting some sort of green glow. It didn't take him long to realize where that came from. The green genie was waving his hand theatrically in front of Lila.

"Sorry for this. Necessities~" he said lowly, pretending he didn't want to be heard by Jade who had already advanced a bit. Ali quirked an eyebrow at his behavior. He was definitely not one to be fooled easily and Gene's attitude towards Lila wasn't to his liking.

…..

i Dammit Genie….Where on earth are you? /i

Ok, he had to admit this forest wasn't exactly horrible. At least now that he had the chance to look around it actually seemed kinda nice. It gave him an eerie feeling nonetheless. Trees, birds, some shadows here and there, but no sign of Genie anywhere. He'd probably wait a little before he panicked but it was still not a good sign. He glanced back at Lila to check whether the lamp was in place. It was still there.

"You know… The girl. She's got energy." Gene said lowly while hovering next to Jade, always keeping an eye on their captives. He made sure none of the other two heard him of course. Jade frowned.

"Of course she does. They never send commoners" she said dryly. Gene narrowed his brows a bit.

"Yes, but, you see, her energy…is how to say… It's not maleficent. It feels crude, untrained and well… anything but dark. That's not like them."

"Maybe they've switching tactics. Who knows? Maybe they're a decoy and we should expect another invasion. We need to prepare. Perhaps we should have killed them". Gene glanced back at Lila upon hearing Jade's words.

"I think it's better to keep them for insurance for now. And well, the questioning."

"Mh. Fair enough. But ithey/i don't really care for anyone. There's no insurance. We'll just extract any information we can and then, they're gone" Before Gene could reply, Jade took out the key to the mansion. They were already there.

"Where should we take them?" he asked instead. Jade nodded, pointing to a huge helical wooden staircase, leading to what seemed to be the upper floor. Lila and Ali looked at awe at the old mansion. Lila took notice of the architecture. It was quite rural and rather old fashioned.

"It's a nice house…" she mumbled to herself, more than anyone else. Ali walked closer to her.

"Hey, Lila, was it? Be careful… Not that we have many chances without Genie anyway, but try to keep on alert, especially with the green guy." He whispered.

"Huh…? But the other one is holding the gun.." she mumbled again, almost instinctively, as they were walking up the stairs where Gene was leading them, practically dragging them on a green glowing chain that extended from his body.

"Because he doesn't need to. He has magic" he said as-a-matter-of-factly. Lila sighed.

"I noticed…"she said with a sadness that Ali immediately noticed as well. He nodded to the lamp on her neck.

"He's not there, is he?" Lila shook her head.

"No. He isn't…"

"Heeere we are~" Gene announced almost cheerfully as they reached what seemed to be a living room. However the windows were barred with wooden boards, obviously hand-crafted and there was little light going inside the room. "Make yourselves at home. We'll start shortly" he mused and with a gesture of his hand he forced them both to sit on an old but rather clean sofa. Jade had disappeared somewhere on the way. Ali and Lila exchanged a concerned look. That final phrase didn't sound like good news at all.

Somewhere inside Jade's forest, another "intruder" wondered about searching for his party.