NoGift

"I--" 

Before the kid finished what he was about to say, he suddenly fell on Clay"s arms.  Both Aurum and Clay saw that the kid fainted.  Aurum frowned.  Because she wasn"t sure if the kid was acting or if he really did lose conciousness.  

"Take him to the Healing Center.  I"ll go get Silver and go there later," she said.

Clay was slightly confused why Aurum suddenly referred to Argent as "Silver".  Then she reached for his hand and a sweet voice suddenly entered his mind.

[Don"t be confused by that kid.  Being pitiful doesn"t automatically mean trustworthy.  What you see may not really be the truth.  Your gentleness may just bring unprecedented trouble to us.  Since my brother agreed to help you, everything you do could affect us.  So think carefully before you cause an irreparable damage.]

Aurum let go of Clay"s hand.  This was the first time she tried to relay her thoughts to someone with a Gift level higher than A.  But that didn"t mean that she could now freely control her Gift at S level.  As evidence of the fact that she still needed physical contact before she could truly relay her thoughts to the other person.  She was just glad it worked.  But at the same time, she couldn"t help but feel a kind of worry.

Telepaths were not the most welcomed group of Gift user.  A person who could control a another"s mind and mess with their head was generally someone who people could not trust easily.  There was even a hint of fear.  If not for her background and good acting skill, those people who knew about her Gift definitely would not treat her with the least bit of politeness.

What if Clay was the same as those people?  Treating her with kindness when she"s around but then looking at her like she"s a monster when she"s not.

Aurum no longer entangled with that thought and just walked out of the alley.  Her destination?  Of course, the cafe where her brother was waiting.  

After hearing Aurum"s voice inside his head, Clay who was only confused at first felt like he was suddenly dosed with cold water.  He looked down at the boy who was still unconcious in his arms.  He couldn"t refute that he really wanted to help this kid.  His experience with the Temple gave him the natural tendency to help any child in need.  But Aurum"s warning really woke him up.

He almost forgot, in this world they lived in, not all children could be innocent.  As sad as that sounded, it was the truth.  Either they were forced by their circ.u.mstance or the environment they grew up in.  The same thing could be applied to this boy.  

If this happened in another place or another situation, Clay might be tempted to find out the truth and then help the kid if he could.  But this was Victoria City.  The reason he was here, first and foremost, was because of that elf.  He accidentaly met with the Blackbourne twins and asked for their help.  If this kid was really not as simple as he looked, then helping him might just lead to unprecedented problems just as Aurum warned.  

Clay didn"t want to be the one to bring trouble to the twins.  When he agreed to Argent"s conditon in exchange for his help, they were already standing on the same boat.  No matter what the twins were planning to do here, Clay already decided that he would stand on their side.  From then, all his actions could affect their plans.  He didn"t want to be that useless guy who ruined everything just because of his soft heart.

He sighed.  He would bring this boy to the Healing Center and then leave immediately after that.  That way, if this boy turned out to be no good then he couldn"t cause any trouble to them.  With that decision in mind, he walked out of the alley.

What Clay didn"t notice was that on top of the building on the left side of the alley was a boy.  He saw everything that happened in the alley.  A silent expectator.  So silent that no one even noticed his presence.  He had pale blond hair.  His skin had an unhealthy white hue.  His gray eyes were looking at the direction where Clay went.  No expression could be found on his delicate face.

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Aurum immediately saw her brother.  She was sitting on one of the tables on the open area of the cafe, drinking tea elegantly.  Aurum noticed the glances being given to her brother by the ladies around.  She shook her head.  Her brother was wearing a human skin mask and yet she could still attract a lot of b.u.t.terflies.  What"s more if she was sitting there with her original face.  These ladies might not just glance at her, they might even throw themselves at her feet.  

Argent already saw her sister coming.  She called the waitress who served her tea and paid.  Once again, she noticed the waitress blus.h.i.+ng.  By the time the waitress went away, Aurum already walked to her side.  

"Why do you think that waitress blushed?" she suddenly thought of asking Aurum for no reason.  "Blus.h.i.+ng meant being embarra.s.sed, but what was she being shy about?"

Aurum, who wanted to immediately tell her brother about the things that happened in the alley, almost choked.  She looked at Argent and saw that she was not joking.  And then she couldn"t help but sigh.  Her brother was good at everything.  But when it came to understanding different emotional nuances, she"s like a baby chick.  

No, it"s probably more accurate to say that Argent didn"t really put any effort to understand.  Her brother probably could if she wanted to.  After all, she could perfectly understand Aurum"s every emotion.  She"s probably just too lazy to do it to other people.  Of course, Aurum was flattered because of her brother"s attention.  But she still couldn"t help but worry.  

If her brother couldn"t even understand why a person would blush in front of her, then that could only mean that no one could move her heart.  In the romantic sense.  If this continued, Argent might never even want to reveal her real ident.i.ty as a girl and just keep on living as a man.

Aurum shook her head.  This was not the time to think about that.  Both of them were only 14.  No, they would turn 15 next month.  They were young and many things could still happen.  For all they knew, a man would soon appear who would move her brother"s heart and would make her want to live as a girl. 

"It"s because she thinks your handsome and looking at your face makes her heart beat faster," Aurum simply answered her brother"s question.

Argent turned to her sister and thought about her answer.  Well, that"s actually pretty reasonable.  That"s probably the same feeling as seeing your favorite celebrity or something.  Then Lei Feng"s image appeared in her mind again.  She remembered the times when his ear tip would turn red for no reason.  Was it also because he found her handsome?  

"Brother?" 

Aurum"s voice stopped Argent"s train of thought.  So she no longer dwelled on that problem and just turned her full attention to her sister.  That"s when she noticed the absence of Clay.  "Clay?"

Aurum hugged her brother"s arm.  "Let"s walk first."  

Once they were away from the crowd, Aurum began telling Argent about the things that happened at the alley.  From when they found the mad man and the kid up to the point where the two knights took the man and the kid fainted. 

"What"s your opinion, Brother?" she asked once she"s finish. 

An unknown smile crossed Argent"s lips.  "It"s a bit interesting."