SURPRISE 'GIFT'

"I'M SORRY, Thea. It's my fault. I've been negligent. I didn't even think that my dear cousin would try to do something like this," Jaxon apologized to the woman in the defaro crystal.

That 'dear cousin' and his wife and children were now cut off from the McAllister family's genelogy. So from now on, whatever he does, he wouldn't ever be the head of the McAllister family. Jaxon wanted him to be an example for others. That if they tried to do something similar, they would end up like him. Jaxon believed that the other members of the family were greedy enough to not try something like that. After all, being cut from the family meant that they could no longer enjoy the family's riches.

"It's not your fault. I'm just glad the children were fine." After Anthea received a call from a crying Felicia, telling her that the four children were kidnapped, she felt like her heart would explode from worry. She only put down her worry when Jaxon told her that her twins were safe. "Maybe I should go back."

After this incident, she really wondered if her decision to leave her kids and look for Dorian was right. If she was there and not sailing in the ocean, maybe she could have prevented something like this from happening. Now, she couldn't even be beside her kids to give them comfort and assurance.

"I don't think Argent would want that," Jaxon said.

"You're right, she wouldn't." Anthea could already imagine Argent's objection.

"I swear I won't let something like this happen again. I'll put security around them if I have to."

"I know and I don't doubt that you would," Anthea said. "When you found them, was it bad?" Jaxon already told her everything that happened, up to the point where he found the twins in some kind of fighting pit. He just didn't tell her what exactly it was he saw in that fighting pit. But when she saw his expression while mentioning it, she knew it was bad.

Jaxon couldn't help but remember the bloodbath he saw because of Anthea's question. His men who canvassed the fighting pit told him that the caused of death of the people who died there was because their brains exploded. He has no doubt that that was due to Aurum's powerful Mana. Honestly, even for an SS level Gift user, the girl's power was truly overwhelming. But that was not all, not all of them died from Aurum's Gift. Six died from sword wounds. And according to the angle of the wounds, the one who inflicted the wounds had a much shorter stature. Which only leaves one person - Argent.

The weird thing was, both twins didn't seem to be affected by what they did. Argent was, of course, wounded. But she's still as indifferent as ever. Aurum appeared shocked. But Jaxon could see that that was not because of the death of the people in the fighting pit but because Argent was hurt. He didn't really know how to tell that to Anthea.

"I think Aurum needs someone to guide her with her Gift," he just said.

Anthea sighed. Just by that answer, she knew that it was probably pretty bad.

"I know of someone who could guide her. If you would allow, I'll ask her if she could help Aurum," Jaxon added.

"I'd trouble you then. Once Argent wakes up, please contact me immediately."

"Of course."

Then the call ended.

Jaxon pinched the bridge of his nose. He still had to deal with the aftermath of what happened. It was a headache since a lot of the people who died were somewhat prominent figures. The silver lining was that the underground auction was illegal. So it wouldn't be hard to cover up the things that happened there. With the McAllister family's influence, it would be easy to spread the news that they were killed by someone who's keen on revenge.

But really, out of all the things that happened, the one that really bothered him was when he asked someone with a healing Gift to heal Argent's wounds, it didn't have any effect. That got him thinking. Does she have some kind of special constitution? Was that the reason why all the people in that fighting pit died and she survived?

Looked like he needed to have a serious talk with the kid.

----------

Argent opened her eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of her room in the McAllister mansion. Her whole body ached. And then everything slowly came back to her. The kidnapping, Gecko, the fighting pit. She tried to sit up, but before she could that, someone suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Brother!" Argent glanced to her left and saw her sister's beautiful face. "Do you need anything? Are you hurting somewhere? Are you hungry?"

Argent was about to answer when she noticed how pale Aurum's face was. There was even a prominent black smudge under her eyes, a sign that she hasn't been sleeping. "Aurum, have you slept?"

Aurum shook her head. "I can't. How could I sleep when you're in this condition?" She squeezed her brother's hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't protect you sooner."

Argent flicked her sister's forehead. "Silly girl. There's no need to forgive. None of these is your fault. I hope what happened in that pit won't affect your determination to control your Gift."

"It won't." It just even strenghten Aurum's desire to completely control her Gift. Because that's the only way she could protect her brother.

Argent sat up and opened the quilt on her right side. "Then sleep."

Aurum climbed up Argent's bed. She lay down and hugged her brother's arm. She closed her eyes and slept.

Argent looked down at her body. She could see the bandage around her wounds. She has no doubt that Jaxon probably tried to heal her using someone with a healing Gift. But obviously, it didn't have any effect because of her special constitution. It would definitely baffled anyone who witnessed it. She had no doubt that Jaxon would ask her about it. Just thinking about that possible conversation was already giving her a headache. Her thoughts were cut when she heard the knocks.

"Come in," she called.

The door opened and Finn came in. There was surprise on his face when he saw her up.

"You're awake," Finn said, walking towards the bed. "Do you feel alright?"

Argent raised her brow. "Yes."

"That's good. Ah, yes, your homeroom teacher called. The result of your advancement exam were already out. You passed. With flying colors, I might add. You could skip to the seventh grade when the next semester comes. Turns out you're right. I'm the one who ended up embarrassed," Finn said, the last one pertaining about the conversation they had when she made the request to skip grades to Jaxon.

"I see." That was not really surprising, she already expected that result. "Is there anything else?"

"I--" He took a deep breath. "I want to thank you. If it wasn't for your quick thinking, I probably would be dead by now and the three of you would be sold somewhere."

"That's unexpected. I didn't think you had it in you to sincerely express your gratitude." Argent was really somewhat surprised. Finn might act like a gentlemanly prince, but underneath it all, he's extremely arrogant. Not really someone that could easily say 'thank you' to another and meant it.

Finn never really thought that there would come a time he would say 'thank you' to this kid. But he couldn't just ignore what Argent did. Especially since the only reason that he and Ruby managed to escape unscathed was because of Argent. And in turn, he was the one who ended up most hurt. Finn could still remember when his uncle put Argent inside the carriage, all bloody and wounded. He didn't understand, but he felt a slight pinch in his heart when he saw Argent like that.

"I may not like you but that doesn't give me the right to deny the fact that you did help us."

"So you're quite reasonable if you wanted, huh," Argent said, one end of her lips slightly tilting up.

Finn stared at that not-quite smile. That was the first time he saw him with that expression. It actually made his face more beautiful. Finn immediately turned his head away, because he could already feel the blush coming up from his face. "I'll leave you to your rest."

Finn immediately walked towards the door. When he opened it, the maid, Felicia was there about to knock. He went out and the maid came in, holding a box.

Felicia's expression brightened when she saw Argent. "Young Lord, you're awake!" she exclaimed, running towards the bed.

"Sshh... Turn it down, Felicia. Aurum's sleeping."

"I'm sorry, Young Lord. I'm just glad you're awake. You've been unconcious for the past two days."

[Two days? I guess I've been hurt more than I imagined.] Argent noticed the box Felicia was holding. "What's with the box?"

"Oh yes. This was dellivered for you, Young Lord." Felicia handed the box to her.

Argent took it, confused as to who might send her something. There was no return address, only her name. Argent removed the packaging and opened the box. Felicia gasped when she saw what's inside. Argent only raised her brow.

Inside a box was a head. The head of someone she's recently been acquainted with. Gecko. The expression of fear and pain on his face was so vivid, it was obvious he experienced a rather gruesome death. She took the note inside and read it.

[A little gift for you. I won't be able to visit you for quite a while. Probably a few years. I hope you won't forget me. With all my poisonous heart. -- Viper.]

Argent couldn't help but smile. Well, wasn't this a nice parting gift?