NoGift

[Since you"re going with Clay, you might as well check the pendant left to him by his father.  See if it could be opened or anything of the like.  If nothing is found, try to take a picture of it in every angle.  Also, tell Clay that if he tries to do something inappropriate towards you, I"ll break every bone in his body.]

Reading it and looking at the last part, Aurum"s face immediately turned red thinking of its implication.  How could her brother think that?  What inappropriate?  She glanced at Clay who was sitting at the pa.s.senger"s seat.  His face was a bit pale, a sign that he still hadn"t got over his motion sickness.  This guy, doing something untoward to her?  Hah!  As if that could happen.  She could go naked right now and this guy would probably not even flinch.

Then her face turned even redder.  Wait- how could her thoughts even swerve that way?  Was this because the burden of worrying about the safety of her mother was finally lifted from her shoulders, so her thoughts were simply going haywire?  She shook her head.  

"Why is your face red?" Clay"s voice sounded, cutting off Aurum"s train of thought.  "Are you not feeling well?"

"I"m fine," she said, a bit annoyed.  "You should worry more about yourself.  You looked like you"re about to puke."

"Please, don"t mention it.  I"m trying really hard here not to think about it, you know?" he said in a bit of helpless tone.  "Unless you want to witness a live vomiting scene."

She looked at this carefree guy who, despite looking pale and obviously uncomfortable, still had the gall to joke around.  What she thought earlier, about Clay not reacting even if she pranced around naked in front of him, was not really that unfounded.  

When he first saw her real face back in Shandra, he didn"t have that much of a reaction.  It was something pretty new for Aurum.  Since young, most of the boys her age would give her that "lovestruck" look.  As long as she asked, they would not hesitate to give him what she wanted.  Some would even follow her around.  That only intensified when she turned 13 and entered p.u.b.erty.  

If she hadn"t had a complete grasp of her Gift and there was no protection from his brother, those disgusting people might have already taken advantage of her. 

But Clay was different.  There wasn"t a shred of admiration in his eyes, only curiosity.  It was a novel experience for Aurum, but a very welcome one.  Maybe that was the reason why even if the time they spent in Shandra was not that long, she still fully remembered it.  All of it.

And then they met again at Victoria City. 

Spending time with him, teaching him proper etiquette, slowly getting to know him, and simply just knowing little details about him - those things piling up resulted in the emotions that slowly built up inside her.  Emotions she wasn"t really sure she wanted.  Especially during this time when they still needed to look for those artifacts and also looked out for any attacks that the Pope and his minions might throw at them.

But she still couldn"t help herself.  As evidence of her being here right now.

She sighed.  Was she already completely hopeless, she wondered?

Aurum"s annoyed look didn"t escape Clay"s eyes.  "Are you perhaps… regretting going with me?"

Somehow, that possibility made him a bit sad.  It was just as inexplicable as the sudden happiness he felt when she told everyone earlier that she would go with him.  He didn"t even feel scared when Argent glared at him as if he wanted to skin him alive.  Having these continuous ups and downs of emotions was not like him at all.  He might not know the whys of it, but at least he knew the "what" or perhaps he should say the "who".  Which, in this case, was Aurum.

He only experienced this out-of-nowhere surged of emotion when it involved her.  Which meant she"s the source of it all.  But he truly wondered what this feeling was.  If it"s something good or totally the opposite.

"That"s not it," Aurum said.

"Then what?"

Aurum stared at Clay"s face, she could practically see a sticker posted on his forehead with a big "I don"t know anything" written on it.  She suddenly wanted to take revenge.  Make him as uncomfortable as she was.

"It"s because of the message my brother sent.  He said he"ll break every bone in your body if you try to do something inappropriate towards me." She stared at Clay, making sure she wouldn"t miss any change on his expression.  "But there"s no way you"d do that, right?"

To her utter surprise, Clay"s whole face turned red.  

He turned away and almost stuttered.  "O-of course not!"     

Unknowingly, a smiled already crossed Aurum"s lips.  Well, wasn"t this interesting?

----------

Jaxon looked outside the window of the carriage he"s in.  It was being pulled by four gryphons at once.  It was the limit of the number of gryphons that could pull a carriage at one time.  Any more than that and the gryphon line would be in chaos.  Fighting with each other instead of flying.  

If it was up to him, he"d let a hundred gryphons pull this carriage just so he could reach his destination faster.  Now he"s truly regretting why he didn"t accept that flying contraption that Argent made when she offered him one.  He just thought that it was too precious of a gift.  Now, he couldn"t do anything about it.

If he had one, then he"d be at Argent"s island before noon.  But as things went, it would take at least half a day to reach the place with this four-gryphons drawn carriage.

He needed to go there faster.  Faster.  Faster.

After that talk he had with Anthea, he felt like his whole world had just been turned upside down.  He dared not believe it.  How could he?  He"d been hoping and hoping for years.  Searching every crook and cranny of the world.  But nothing came out of it.  Until his heart just became paralyzed with pain and hopelessness.

Then suddenly, a new hope was presented to him.  The only thing he could do was pack his bag and leave Amexem at the fastest speed.

Jaxon clenched his fists.  His nails digging into his palms.

[Ylannea… is it true?  Is that boy really…?]

He closed his eyes tightly and tried his best to calm his beating heart.

Ylannea…