Chapter 43

By the time they found Jo, she was curled up into a ball in the dark belly of a shallow cave in one of the more barren regions of Giya. She was steadily rocking herself back and forth, occasionally letting out a strange sounding, almost hysterical giggle. For a few moments Arados just stood there, staring at her. Then he made his way towards her, sat down and placed an arm around her shoulders.

'It's gone,' her voice was like a soft whine, 'it's all gone.'

'You shouldn't have gone after him on your own.'

'But you told me too,' a hysterical giggle made its way out of her, 'I just did what you told me to.'

'Since when did you start following my orders?'

'What does that matter now?' A strangely inane look pulled across her face. 'He has my Order Ara.'

'We have to get you back to the Southern Palace,' he kept his voice gentle as he glanced up at the others. 'Right?'

'Yeah,' Lus made his way towards her, 'it'll all be okay, you'll see.'

'How can it ever be okay?' Jo's eyes widened as they stared up at him. 'How can anything ever be okay again? Don't you see, I have no Order now. I'm Chaos.'

'And Crovell is Order,' False frowned.

'What?' Arados shot him a funny look.

'I've got to go,' he turned quickly, before disappearing.

Almost the spilt second he'd gone, Arados found himself hyperventilating.

'Ara?' Lus half yelped in alarm. 'Are you okay?'

'No, no, no,' he moaned. 'Get me out of here. Get me back to my room.'

'Aw, poor baby,' Jo laughed strangely, 'you can't even predict it now, can you?'

'Why are you tormenting him Jo?' Lus gritted his teeth. 'He's only came here to help you. It's not his fault that…'

The rest of his sentence was cut off by a sudden shrill hyena-like squeal from Jo. The sound of it instantly set Arados's heart racing even faster than it had been before and made both Taylor and Lus's eyes go as wide as saucers. The three of them exchanged a quick look, wishing beyond anything Jo's laughter would stop soon. They knew they couldn't take her back to the Southern Palace if she was making that noise.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Arados tried to get a grip on his agoraphobia.

'Shouldn't we…' he heard Kisara start asking, barely audible above the noise of Jo's laughter.

'We can't,' Arados's voice was so dry and wispy it was a wonder he managed to get it out at all. 'She… she's laughing like Jay.'

'And?'

'Don't you get it?' Lus gave a nervous cough. 'The one thing we've always been told about Jay is his laugh. If anyone back at the Southern Palace were to hear her laughing like that then… well, there'd be a lot of pain, let's just leave it at that.'

'But it's just a laugh,' Kisara's voice edged with confusion, 'how could that hurt anyone.'

'Look, Jay's departure left a huge hole in the hearts of our parents. It would be too cruel for them to hear this.'

'I still don't get it.'

'Well then that's your problem, isn't it?'

'I just wish she'd stop,' Arados opened his eyes again and stared blankly ahead of himself. 'I can't stand being out here any longer.'

'Maybe Tay should take you back on your own now,' Lus pressed his lips together in thought, 'Kisara and I can sort Jo out on our own once she's ready.'

'I can't do that,' he shook his head, 'she's my sister.'

'And one you were all to ready to disown not so long ago,' Kisara pointed out. 'I mean… Oh gee, I hate it when I get so blunt with people, it's not like me. I mean, it is like me, but it's not like the me I like to be like, if that makes any sense. Which I pretty sure it doesn't, because when does anything I have to say ever make any sense. Anyway what I meant to say was that you weren't acting this concerned earlier and…'

'Kisara, you're babbling,' Lus silenced her, 'and I think we all get what you mean. But what you have to remember is that Jo is Ara's full blood sister. Sure she's done something he'll probably never forgive her for, but that doesn't mean he wants to see her in pain like this.'

Just as Lus finished talking, Jo fell silent. She then fell lazily against Arados and close her eyes.

'Do you think she's okay?' Arados stared at her in concern.

'Are you?' Lus shot him a look.

'Not really,' he shook his head. 'We should get back to the Southern Palace now.'

'Agreed. So let's go.'

'You think you're really clever, don't you?' False growled to himself, as he spotted Nichee and Helen together in the distance. 'Hiding yourself with someone you don't think I'll blow your cover in front of. Well you're not that clever. And you've certainly not predicted me that well.'

Quickly he made his way towards them, feeling like a strange kind of hunter, stalking for an even stranger kind of prey. Before he got within shouting distance of their position, however, Nichee disappeared from where he was.

'What the…?' False came to a stop almost the same instant someone grabbed him roughly from behind.

Then, before he had the chance to so much as squeak in surprise, he found himself transported out of hell, to a location near the Forbidden Playground.

'I'm not going to let you ruin things between me and H H,' Nichee's voice sounded from behind him, as the person holding him let go. 'No matter what you try, I'll always know.'

'Really,' False turned round to face him, 'and how is that exactly?'

'I always know where my little bastard Hateling are at any given moment in time False,' a dark grin spread across his face, 'I make it my business to know.'

'Then I'm guessing that means you know who I was just with.'

'How is my little brother and his friends doing?'

'Better than Jo or Crovell are,' he glared. 'You wanted the Teen to switch their polarity, because you knew nether of them could handle it.'

'Actually I wanted the Teen to drain all three of the First's brats of their…'

'No,' False shook his head, 'you had absolutely no intention of the Teen getting Arados's Light. This has all been about Jo and Crovell.'

'What makes you so sure of that?'

'One of the first things you get taught as a Vii Sen wanting to become a Balancer, is that if things seem like too much of a coincidence, then they probably aren't,' he folded his arms for a moment, hoping he looked more confident than he felt. 'It can't be a coincidence that on the day you decide to proposition me, Catilin Ashmar decides to activate Arados's Blue Ice. Nor can it be a coincidence that moments after Kissy reports that information to Dee, you tell me I'm allowed to go off and think about your offer. You knew I would head to her. Just like you knew I would head straight for Arados when I had no choice but to do the recon for you.'

'Is that so?'

'If Ara had lost any more light than he did it would have started to affect Taylor and Lus. So if I wasn't around to save him, then one of them would have. But if something were to affect Jo or Crovell, no one would know anything about it until it was too late. That's why I think it was about them and not…'

'I think you think too much False.'

'Isn't that what a good Balancer is supposed to do?'

'But you're not a good Balancer False, you're a little Hateling. My little Hateling. And no matter how much you try to fight that, you'll eventually start seeing things my way.'

'This isn't about me, Ni,' he glared, 'I didn't come here about me. I came here about…'

'No, that's only what you think you came here about.'

'Ni…'

'Shh False, stop getting yourself so worked up. And why don't you try calling me Dad. It has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?'