by June Leung
Helen took the books back to the bookshelves and put them on the emptier side so she could come back to them later in case she missed something. She picked up her phone by the entrance, typing in the name of the first plant, but no results came up. She frowned and moved out of the library, to the corner of the corridor where no one was there. Staring at the list, she made sure she got the spelling right. She tried with the next plant in the list, but still, there weren’t any search results coming back. Either the book was fake or those plants weren’t known to humans. Seeing how almost no one knew about magic either, the latter seemed to be more convincing.
At least she kept the books somewhere she could go back to. It would be a nightmare to search through the shelves again. She headed back inside, and, finding another seat, she scribbled on the paper, trying to capture the image of the plants.
She groaned, rubbing her forehead at the messy strokes. Drawing wasn’t a thing in her skill set. Not to mention the black and white of the pencil and paper wouldn’t help visualize the plants. Maybe she should sneak her phone inside and take pictures. But what if she missed something and needed to come back?
Was there a chance she could sneak these out? Apparently, William didn’t have security codes with the books. No way he could remember every book in the library anyway. It wasn’t like he would need such a book anytime soon—he wasn’t even a nature magician.
She scooped up both books, walking toward the exit until she turned a corner and saw Sophia with her head down. Helen’s breath caught. Before Sophia saw her, she hid behind another shelf, walking the other way.
The exit of the library was in sight when someone called her from behind. She flinched.
“Hey, Helen. Had fun reading?”
At Sophia’s voice, Helen had no choice but to turn around. She forced a smile, there seemed to be no point hiding the books. Sophia had to be blind to not see them. Chill. Sophia doesn’t know much. Just act normal. “Well, I did find out a bit more about my magic. Isn’t it fun to always learn more?”
“Of course, it is. Who’s to say no to more power?” Sophia said. There was something in her eyes that chilled Helen’s blood to ice. “I see you have two books there.”
Helen resisted the urge to run away. “Well, yeah. I was thinking maybe William could teach me about them.”
“I think he would want to make a record of who borrowed what,” Sophia said, her voice cold. Something with Sophia didn’t feel right, and it probably had nothing to do with getting caught sneaking books out.
“Oh, even if he told me to come? You know how tense he’s been with the dark magicians.”
“I still have to record everything. No point risking him being angry, right? He is not going to like missed records. Just make my job easier?”
“OK.” Helen sighed to herself. She was going to follow Sophia to the counter when her phone rang. Her eyes widened in shock. It was the signal for an emergency case. “Well, I guess I have to hurry. How about we fill that in later? I am not going anywhere. I bet William would be madder if I am late than if I don’t check these out.” Before Sophia could answer, Helen grabbed her phone and dashed out of the library. Sophia shouted something, but Helen ignored her. Thanks William.
Once Helen got to her room, she locked the door and finally relaxed. She set the books down on her desk, mixing them in with her comic books. She pulled her phone to check the message. It turned out Patrick was quicker than her to respond. He probably was bored to death, too.
Sophia hadn’t seen which books she’d snuck out with, so Helen planned to just return them later. Sophia probably wouldn’t care enough to search the shelves to track them down. If William asked, she would just come up with something, but he probably wouldn’t care anyway. Given her track record, William should be fine with it. And given how William cared about the dark magicians, he wouldn’t care even if she burned down the library. Hopefully, by that time, her plan was completed. Adrian and Lia seemed to be the bad influence for her to break rules.
Just as Helen was about to open the book and get started, loud and rapid knocks on the door made her jump. There would be no way William already found out about her, right? She hurried to the door. “Coming!”
Patrick was outside, and Helen let out a sigh of relief. “What happened? What’s the hurry?”
“William told me to come for you. We are needed at the office.”
She pulled out her phone, checking the message again. It was the yellow signal for sure, which meant William was only looking for one of them, not both. If he needed both of them, he would have usually sent a red or an orange one instead. “I thought you already responded?”
“I did, but he told me to go get you, too. I don’t know why he didn’t just call both of us in the first place.”
“Whatever. Let’s get going.”
The two of them hurried down the corridor. William’s office door was half opened. They exchanged a look. Patrick’s brows furrowed. “I closed the door when I came to get you.”
Helen took a step forward, knocking on the door regardless. There was no response from the inside. When she pushed the door, William wasn’t at his desk. The two of them walked in, leaning on the bookshelves on the side.
Helen asked. “Where is he? You sure we are wanted here?”
“A hundred-percent. He was here just a while ago.”
“Anyways, any idea why we are wanted?” she asked. He shook his head.
It has to be about Lia or the dark magicians…
“Did you break any rules?” Patrick asked.
Helen rolled her eyes. “Asks the troublemaker.” She shot him a pointed look. Patrick stuck out his tongue with a smirk.
A while later, William barged in with Eric hurrying behind him. William dropped onto his chair, scowling at Eric.
Eric shook his head frantically. “C’mon, William! Do you know what you are talking about? This is not as easy as you imagined. You really think he won’t fight back? No matter how much we surprise them, he will still put up a fight. We don’t even have an idea how powerful he is!”
“If we wait any longer, he will get even stronger. I’m not going to let them hold Lia hostage! They could have already killed her. We have been tracking them down for years—are we giving up now? If we let them loose, you really think we will be safe? You know how much he hates us.”
Helen looked between them with a frown. She’d never seen them argue before. Although none of the words made sense without more context, she could infer that it was about the dark magicians. She exchanged a glance with Patrick, his brows knitted tightly as he shook his head.
William turned to them. “I tracked down an old enemy of ours, of all magicians. But it will be very dangerous to fight them. You two can decide whether you want to join or not. Be prepared to meet the hardest fight you will ever see.”
Helen gulped. This wasn’t good. Now she was almost certain who the old enemy was. She didn’t know much of what happened between Adrian and William, but from Benjamin, she knew they weren’t on good terms at all.
A flash of what happened in The Orbit surfaced in her mind, sending a shiver down her spine. Adrian and Benjamin were scary fighters. If William really was going to fight them, it would be really bad.
Despite Helen’s effort, William had still found something in the end. She should have seen it coming. She thought of the friends she met in Benjamin’s bar—would they also get killed in the crossfire? That better not happen.
“How strong is the one you are talking about?” Patrick asked.
“I suspect he is stronger than me, at least my equal. We may also meet his minions,” William said.
Except Benjamin doesn’t think you are their equal.
“Must we fight them?” Helen asked. When William glared at her, she gulped and continued. “I… I mean are you sure they took Lia?”
William sighed. “I am not sure, to be honest. But regardless of whether they are the ones taking Lia or not, we still have to de
feat them. Now that I finally located them, I don’t need them to run away again.”
Helen wanted to convince William not to, but she didn’t dare to challenge him. If he found out she was hiding something, it wouldn’t end well. The silence lingered for a while.
“Let me know before next week. We will plan by then,” William said, dismissing them. There were only three days left. Helen and William left, but Eric stayed, seemingly wanting to further discuss with William.
“Do you think it is a good idea?” Patrick asked, toying with his hair.
“I… don’t know. Dark magicians sound scary.”
“Agreed. William didn’t tell me much, but I think he knows what to do. He always does. Well… though his plans don’t always go right.”
“Are you going to join?” she asked.
“If they are that dangerous, then I guess I should try to bring them down, but I am a bit worried, seeing how I don’t even know how strong William is. But at least we have both Eric and William?” Patrick shrugged. The two slowly made their way out of the clan, parting ways by the corner.
Her plan with Lia better work before everything came crashing down.
Chapter 30
Lia
Lia took a seat on the couch in the living room. It had been a few hours since Helen messaged her about the potion. Success or not, Helen would probably let her know. As soon as she knew there was a sleep potion, she made a plan and told Helen. It was a huge bet, but her options were limited. Hopefully there would be time to make sure everything would work.
She stared blankly at the bare wall; Adrian didn’t even have a television there, not to mention a video game set. Although she was doing nothing, her heart was racing. Her eyes went to the locked entrance, then to the locked door of Adrian’s office. Adrian had come back, but he didn’t talk to her much before he went into the office with Benjamin. They had been in there for almost an hour. Apparently, it was something she couldn’t know, like always.
Having seen how quickly Adrian could come up with a plan like what they did with the meteorite monsters and The Orbit, he would attack the clan soon. They probably wouldn’t be talking about keeping her safe, seeing how she’d been behaving herself. At least they never caught her messaging Helen. At least she’d lasted for a day without doing anything.
Helen agreed with her plan, though warning her how crazy it sounded. Lia sighed, wishing for another way to stop them. She still had to wait for Helen to give her the potion for her plan to go smoothly. She resisted the urge to reach for her phone in the room, she couldn’t bear the risk of Adrian seeing her with it. In case he decided he should take it away from her. To hell with her safety.
If Adrian or William were able to exercise their well-crafted plans, a lot of people would be affected. If they had been fighting for years before, and countless magicians already died in the process, letting them fight on their terms would be disastrous. She stirred her soft drink with the straw before taking a sip. The ice had been melted for a while. She put her legs up on the arm of the couch, lying down.
After quite a long while, she startled at the sound of the office door opening. The two of them walked out with coy smiles on their faces. Lia gulped; that didn’t look like a good sign.
Adrian came over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace and rubbing her back. She hugged him. “Something happy happened?”
“Very soon.” He ran his fingers through her hair.
“What will that be?”
“You will know. Just stay here and watch it unfold.” Adrian gently kissed the tip of her nose. Lia faintly nodded, her eyes flicking to Benjamin. He winked at her with a reassuring smile.
I know you two are trying to take care of me, but I really doubt I will like what you are planning…
Benjamin went out to grab the three of them dinner while Adrian headed into the bathroom for a shower. At this chance, Lia snuck into his office. They must have finalized the attack on the clan, I have to know when…
She scanned the documents on the desk, but the pile seemed to have nothing to do with the clan nor the Elders. Her heart racing, who knew what Adrian would do if he found her inside his office. She flipped through them anyway. Out of the corner of her eye, there was a scrap piece of memo-sized paper with something scribbled on it. She turned back to other documents, but something about the note caught her. She took another look, and it seemed to be shorthand words or something. Lia cursed under her breath for not bringing her phone with her.
There was still the sound of running water from the bathroom, but her time was running out. She closed her eyes. Despite her hand shaking, she held onto the paper. Somewhere in her mind, she knew it had to be important. Adrian was too tidy with things; he wouldn’t keep something useless lying around. She took in a breath, staring at the scribble. Slowly the rest of the world seemed to fade and the markings danced in front of her eyes. She began to hear something in her mind. She slapped her hand over her mouth.
“Really? Just a forcefield around the clan?” Benjamin asked.
“Not even a forcefield. Just a lousy spell. I can break it in seconds,” Adrian said, his voice cold.
“Then everything is nailed down?”
“I guess so. I can’t believe you convinced the two of them to come back.”
“Well, I told you they would. They are far too interested in putting an end to the Elements. When are we going? I don’t know how long she will agree to stay here.”
“Next week. You said they would be back by then, right? I want the stack on my side. You have to keep watching her. There’s nothing those nasty Elements can do in a few days to stop us.”
“Great! But I guess it’s time you start planning what to tell her. She’s not going to like this.”
“I know… but she will have to accept it as is. There’s nothing she can do.”
“Agreed, my King.”
The voice slowly faded from her mind as her heart hammered in her chest and her mind raced. Was this also something with her dark magic? Before she could give it more thought, the shower stopped. She quickly put down the paper to where it belonged and rearranged the documents in the best way she remembered. She rushed out of his office into the kitchen just in time to hear the bathroom door opening.
Lia opened the fridge, trying to busy herself. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She froze. Adrian was smirking at her, hugging her from behind.
She let out a sigh of relief, straightening, and turned to him, with an audible gulp.
He raised his brows at her. “What’s wrong?”
Lia’s eyes trailed down his bare chest, his towel was hanging from his shoulder. He was in a pair of shorts. She blushed, but couldn’t tear her eyes off his muscular frame. “Um… nothing.”
He tilted his head sideways, looking down at himself. He took a step back, drying his hair with the towel, flexing his biceps. “I am too used to being here by myself. Sorry about that.”
“I know this is not simply your office for long.” She winked at him, he was a bit too good looking for her to tear her eyes from.
He leaned closer to her with a cocky smirk. “Like what you see?”
She rolled her eyes, trailing her fingers down his chest. He had to be working hard for that body. “I guess you don’t look that bad.” He shivered under her touch.
He snorted, turning away from her and leaned on the kitchen table. “Are you that hungry? Benjamin is already getting us dinner.”
“I guess I am bored. And when I am bored, I like to find some snacks. Who would have guessed you don’t even have a television here.”
“Why waste my time on those things?” He shrugged. His hair was almost dry, he made his way out of the kitchen, Lia followed him.
“You had no problem playing video games with me all day before.”
“With you, it’s different.” He picked up a fresh t-shirt from the armrest of the couch, putting it on. Lia grinned, hugging him from behind. He smelled like mint from his shower.
Her heart skipped a beat as she rubbed his abdomen, he sure was well trained.
If only we weren’t hiding things behind each other’s back… But you are too cute to get mad at…
He patted her hand. She could feel him smiling. There was the sound of keys at the door. She reluctantly let go of him. Benjamin was back with dinner.
Adrian and Benjamin seemed to be in a great mood. There were those sly smiles on their faces. No matter how handsome Adrian looked, it didn’t sit right with her. Not in the current situation. “You two seem to be really happy, huh?” Lia raised her brows.
Benjamin blinked and said, “You know I’m always happy to see you two not fighting.” Lia blushed slightly, rolling her eyes.
Adrian forked up the spaghetti and chuckled. “What’s wrong with being happy? When chaos isn’t around, that’s good enough for me.”
She tried a few more times, but despite her effort, they wouldn’t leak a word. Nevermind. I already know of your plan. And I have a better one to trump yours.
They packed up the wrappings of the food. Adrian offered to take them out. Lia furrowed her brows. “You aren’t staying for the night?”
He awkwardly cleared his throat. “You are quick, huh? I have to be back in the dungeon. Unless you want to come with me?”
At the mention of the underground base, she shook her head. “No way, I’m not getting close to there. Who knows whether you will lock me there again.”
A pained look flashed through his face, he nodded faintly. He kissed her goodbye, hugging her once more before he left.
At least I can feel free to contact Helen now.
Benjamin was watching her from the kitchen. She raised her brows.
He shrugged and his smile faltered before he returned to the office.
Lia stared at his back until the door closed behind him. He seemed to be troubled. But he was happy just a moment ago. It probably wouldn’t be smart for her to go ask him; curiosity wouldn’t help when she already knew the things she needed to know. May as well lay low until she could carry out her plan. She thought of the scribble and what she heard when she focused on it. While she didn’t know why or how, what she heard felt real.