"Jade, are you in there?" Rath said, knocking on her sarcophagus and Nefer-Tina sighed grabbing one of his loose bandages before he dragged him away. "What are you doing, Nefer-Tina? I need to speak to Jade." He protested, pulling his bandage away from the female mummy before he wrapped the bandage around his wrist.
"That might be a problem since Jade left earlier this morning, Rath." Nefer-Tina replied and Rath fixed her with a raised eyebrow. "She said something about going for a walk."
"No one stopped her?" Rath asked and when she shook her head he crossed his arms against his chest. "Why is she so upset at me?"
"Well you did leave her behind when you went to fight Scarab." Armon pointed out and Rath sighed, shaking his head as he looked towards Jade's sarcophagus. When Nefer-Tina nudged Armon he just shrugged. "Hey it's true isn't it?"
"Yes I should have driven her back to the sphinx instead of abandoning her in the park. First I tell Jade I care about her and then I leave her behind." Rath sighed and Ja-Kal shook his head, patting his friend on one shoulder.
"Presley took Jade to the mall earlier, Rath. If you hurry you can catch up to them." Ja-Kal told Rath who dashed over to his sarcophagus, dressing quickly before he rushed towards the entrance to the sphinx and Nefer-Tina shook her head.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked Ja-Kal who blinked, scratching at his chin for several seconds. "Jade seemed pretty upset with Rath last night."
"Maybe she won't be too angry at him." Ja-Kal suggested but who he was trying to convince was anyone's guess.
Standing near the base of the escalator I sighed, dressed in my human disguise which still felt really strange to me. "Jade, you know Rath didn't tried mean to leave you in the park." Presley said as we stepped onto the escalator and I just shrugged looking up towards the ceiling of the mall.
"I guess so." I replied once we reached the top stepping off the escalator. "Can you keep a secret from Rath?" I asked Presley and after a pause he nodded. "You don't even know what the secret is yet." I pointed out with a faint smile and he shrugged.
"Hey I rpomise I won't say anything." Presley insisted and I finally nodded, thankful that Rath wasn't around. "You can trust me, Jade."
"Well after Rath ditched me in the park Chontra showed her face." I explained and when he raised both eyebrows I sighed. "Yeah that was my reaction too but she didn't attack me. From what she told me this amulet is supposed to be mine, that she gave it to Rath so he'd pass it onto me."
"Is that really true?" Presley asked me as we walked towards the arcade and I just shrugged, still not completely convinced that Chontra was telling me the truth. "Jade, take it from me. Chontra's bad news." He said as we wandered around.
"Yeah so I've noticed and it didn't take a fireball to make me realize that." I answered, remembering how caring Rath was while I was injured. "I promise I won't let it bother me again. Even if I have no clue who made this amulet."
"If it doesn't try to zap you or Rath again you should be okay." Presley replied, showing me a fighting game. "Now are you ready to get your butt kicked?"
"Oh bring it on, Presley." I laughed, grasping the joystick and he grinned back at me. While we spent time in the arcade Rath headed inside the mall grimacing once he saw the ice rink.
"Never going near that again thank you very much." Rath muttered as he gave it a wide berth, focusing on finding Jade and Presley instead. As he searched the mall I finished my third game with Presley. "Whoa you are good at this, Jade." Presley commented and I just grinned at him, giving him a bow and he snorted. "I didn't know you played video games."
"I have since I was a kid, Presley." I replied, leaning on the machine as I stretched. "I hope Rath's not too upset at me."
"I doubt that, Jade. I've seen you two holding hands." Presley pointed out as we headed out of the arcade and I blinked, feeling my cheeks darken. "I won't tell anyone." He added with a big smile and I sighed nodding.
"I really do like him but he can be so stubborn sometimes. I know this amulet zapped me but it hasn't done anything bad since then. Well maybe it zapped Rath's fingers when he tried to use magic to remove it." I said, following Presley as he showed me around the mall.
"That must have hurt." Presley said, stopping near an escalator that would take us to the second floor. "But Rath really likes you."
"I guess so, Presley and I really like him too. After building me a sarcophagus and a pair of daggers I should be grateful but something Chontra said to me keeps going through my head." I finally admitted when we reached the second floor and Presley stared at me until I cleared my throat. "Chontra told me that she loved Rath but he abandoned her in the ancient past."
"That's not true, Jade. Chontra used a spell to make him think he loved her. I know because I was there when she appeared in the city. She even told him that to his face." Presley explained and I rubbed at my face, grimacing at how foolish I'd been at believing Chontra.
"I should have known she was lying but I still fell for her lies." I muttered, unaware that someone I knew had followed us. Watching from nearby Chontra frowned as she heard me talking to Presley.
"So much for tricking her into working for us. Guess it's up to me now." Chontra muttered as Presley and I wandered further into the mall. Once she saw me pause near the rooftop she smiled to herself, waiting until I slowed my walk distracted as I followed Presley. I barely heard his voice too busy thinking about how angry I'd been at Rath the night before.
"Maybe I should apologize to him when I'm back at the sarcophagus." I muttered, not hearing footsteps until I saw a flash of purple flame and I spun around finding Chontra standing there.
"Hello again, Jade." Chontra said, walking towards me and I quickly looked towards Presley who rushed to my side. Seeing him Chontra raised her hand and I raced forward, intercepting the flame. Knocking me over it sent me skidding across the floor until I struck the wall behind me and I groaned as Presley ran towards Chontra blocking her path to me before he pulled out his Boomer-Ra, aiming it at the encahntress who just laughed.
"You think you stand a chance against me, Prince Rapses?" Chontra laughed as I stumbled to my feet, wishing I'd remembered to bring my daggers along. "Besides I'm not interested in you so begone!" She snapped at him, flinging a fireball at Presley and I barely managed to put myself in between the fireball and the young pharaoh who stared at me.
"Leave Prince Rapses alone!" I shouted at her and she smiled as the fireball struck me directly in the stomach sending me to my knees. When Presley tried to help me to my feet I shook my head, keeping myself in front of Presley who frowned at me. "Get back to the sphinx as quickly as you can. I'll handle Chontra." I groaned, a hand pressed to my stomach.
"Jade, are you sure?" Presley asked as Chontra raised her hands and I flinched at the flames that glowed from her fingertips.
"Not really but what choice do I have? You're the one she's after." I whispered and Chontra just laughed at me shaking her head. "Wait so why are you after us?"
"To get his attention." Chontra pointed out, nodding towards Rath who rushed towards us wearing his human disguise. "Nice of you to drop by, Rath."
"Leave Prince Rapses and Jade alone, Chontra. I'm the one you want." Rath snapped at her, putting himself in front of me. "Jade, get Prince Rapses to safetly." He whispered to me, helping me stand and Presley stepped forward draping an arm around my shoulders.
"With the strength of Ra!" Rath called out, his armor appearing before he held up his hand. In a flash his sword appeared and he held it towards Chontra who just frowned at him. "Chontra, why are you here?"
"Rath, for once this doesn't concern you." Chontra explained, nodding towards me as Presley helped me limp towards the nearest escalator. "I wanted to talk to Jade and not you so leave." She added, flinging twin blasts of fire at Rath who managed to block them with his sword.
"When you threaten my friends it does concern me, Chontra. Jade has done nothing to incur your wraith." Rath shot back, putting down his sword before he raised his hand calling on his own magic to fight his former student. "Now why are you really here?"
"Oh that's easy, Rath. Scarab asked me to bring your precious girlfriend back and that's exactly what I plan on doing." Chontra answered and Rath's green eyes widened as she let loose a blast of energy aiming directly at my back. We had just managed to get to the edge of the rooftop and as we neared the escalator that would take us down a floor I felt a searing heat getting close to my back. Without thinking about it I psuhed Presley to one side and the blast of energy hit me instead, lighting up my body as I cried out.
"Jade!" Rath and Presley called out as I stumbled towards the edge and just as I started to fall Presley leaned forward as far as he could, barely managing to grasp my hand. Grunting from the effort he tried to pull me up only to slide towards the edge and I blinked up at him, giving him a smile before I pushed him back with my other hand.
The blow knocked Presley onto his rear and I managed a weak laugh as I started to fall backwards, gravity pulling me down towards the floor far below.