A Secret Chamber

***ARTEMIS***

After having hotpot with the boys and playing some games, we all decided to turn in for the night. I was staying in one of the halls of the north-eastern courtyard called Xinfeng Hall. Honestly, I was a little confused why they name their halls, still am actually, but I suppose it makes things easier to know which belongs to whom.

Bai said it used to belong to his father, Uncle Wu Fen's younger brother, but it had been empty ever since he and his family transferred to Sichuan. The bedroom was a mixture of traditional Chinese decorations and western furnishings. It had been obviously redecorated for my sake. But as I looked around, it seemed quite nice. The room just gave off the feeling of retro and historical.

As I waited for sleep to come, which wasn't easy, my mind drifted to the day Lei and I visited Liu Fen's store. That very day when I saw Doctor Lesfar to be exact.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but the aura she gave off was somewhat too similar to mine. But there was a slight difference. Same goes to her partner, Detective Celestine.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard footsteps just outside my door. At first, I thought it was Lei or one of our friends, but as I observed in the silence, I realized something was wrong. I noticed that the footsteps were light. It was that of trained individuals in sneaking up on people. How could I tell? I had the same light footsteps. I immediately took the dagger I tucked under my pillow and hid in the shadows.

The door was carefully opened and three people in black clothes came in. I watched them scan the surroundings until they stopped on my bed.

The one at the center brandished a knife and struck the dummy I placed on my bed.

"Damn it! She's not here!" cursed the one on the right in Mandarin.

"We saw her enter and never leave the room. Where would she be?" asked the other one.

"She's hiding somewhere in the room."

Without waiting to be discovered, I sprang into action.

I slipped behind the one on the left, the closest one to me, and hit him on the head with my dagger's hilt which immediately knocked him out. Then I lunged at another one and kicked him on the chest. He landed on the door which broke it.

"Damn! Do I have to pay for that? Everything in this house is probably antique!"

The last one tried to stab me with the knife but I evaded it and kicked his sides. He tried stabbing me again so I had no choice but to parry it and then kick him where the sun doesn't shine. As he writhed in pain, I snuck behind him, kicked away the knife and held him with my dagger on his throat.

"Who sent you?" I snarled.

"You will never know."

"Is that so? I haven't killed anyone these past few years. I think you might be the first, you should be honored."

Eight years ago, I promised myself I would no longer kill, that I would stop being an assassin. That was what I promised my mother on her deathbed. But suppressing such impulse was difficult since I was trained to kill ever since I was young.

At that moment, I really wanted to snuff my attacker's life with my own hands but my brother's words echoed in my head.

"You're no longer a killing machine. You're not Sceptre's Huntress anymore. You can choose not to kill and do whatever you want now."

I took a deep breath. Instead of stabbing the dagger into the guy's throat, I hit his face with my knee in which he passed out. I suddenly heard footsteps come closer and I saw Uncle Wu Fen, Bai, Chen, Lei, Kyle, Seven and one other guy I had never seen before, come inside my room.

Silence hung before us as they assessed the state of my room and the people that were passed out on the floor. Seven and Chen were wide-eyed at the mess in my room.

"I can explain." I blurted out but Uncle Wu Fen remained indifferent which made me suspicious. "Wait… you-"

"Pingjing, take them out and have them healed in the infirmary." Uncle Wu Fen ordered.

The unknown guy, Pingjing, who had adorable small eyes and a youthful face followed his order. A few men in the same get up came in and took the bodies, or rather, unconscious people out.

"At least your skill set never rusted." was Uncle Wu Fen's comment.

"You… planned this." I said in disbelief.

"Technically, it was your father's idea. And well… it sounded interesting so I followed through."

"I can't believe this! And you guys knew?"

"Chen and I were woken up by the noise." Bai defended.

"Kyle got attacked and I was woken up by their scuffle since I'm his roommate." Seven added.

"I was attacked like you." Lei defended. "But unlike you though, I got cornered and defeated."

"Uncle Wu Fen, this is-"

"The Zhang Family of Shaanxi Province is a prestigious family and we're still part of the dangerous side of the world. You are Sceptre's Huntress, yes, but you are also the lover of our family's eldest young master, no matter how much he denies it. Even if Lei's fans don't know that, but the people in this side of the world are different." he explained.

"But getting us almost killed is-"

"Just checking dear." Uncle Wu Fen smiled. "You can sleep in the eastern courtyard tonight, but in a different room of course. You will all be busy tomorrow."

I was left speechless. Then I realized, that even though Uncle Wu Fen was a swell guy most of the time, he 'was' still involved in the dark side of the world.

***

We were sitting in Xuanyuan Hall, Lei's living room. Bai, Chen and Lei were finalizing a few things for the party, while Dean and I were reading old Chinese books about medicine. Dean was interested in it, but he couldn't read traditional Chinese characters and luckily, I could. Seven and the others were getting a tour of the Zhang Estate by Pingjing, the young man from last night.

I asked Lei and Chen about him but the two stayed silent about it.

'I suppose I'll try some other method to get answers.'

Later that afternoon, we finally had some free time and Lei showed me around the manor.

"I want to show you something." he said.

He brought me to the Ancestral hall and stood in front of a name plaque that read, 'Memorial of Zhang Hao Ling'.

"She's mine and Chen's mom."

"Oh." I bowed the way Chinese people do when greeting someone. "She passed away when you were both young right?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't really sure what caused her death. I remember that she was very pretty and very kind. You're my girlfriend, so I want you to meet her."

"I'm sure she's very happy about you."

"I hope so."

A scoff suddenly interrupted our moment. A middle-aged man came into view.

"Xiao Lei'er, outsiders are not allowed inside the Ancestral Hall. You have cut off your ties in the family and yet you've brought one, and worse it's a foreigner. This is breaking our rules!" he said in a scruffy voice.

The man was probably in his late thirties. He was wearing a business suit and he had too much jewelry on his person. Not to mention, he also had thinning hair on his head.

"Fourth Uncle." Lei bowed. "This is-"

"Does your father even know about this?"

"He was the one who told me to bring her here so she could pay her respects to my mother."

"I see, so it was Wu Fen. Oh well, he is the clan leader after all. But breaking the rules for his prodigal son and his girlfriend, hmm… Wait 'til the elders hear of this." the man left.

"Fourth Uncle!"

"I don't like him." I commented.

"Neither do I. And he sucks up to the elders too." he sighed. "Dad's probably gonna get into trouble because of this."

"I thought he's the clan leader?" I asked.

"He is but ever since the fire years ago, which burned down some of our family's important documents, the elders had started disapproving of him. Then there are vultures like my fourth uncle who want to take the position themselves."

"Hn. This set up, it resembles Sceptre a lot. Many don't want me to take over as well just because I'm a woman. Little did they know, I could just snap my fingers and they could snuff out of existence."

"Chill Arty." he chuckled. "Liu Fen said magic is a last resort, remember?"

"I know that."

"Speaking of magic, I want to show you something."

I raised an eyebrow at his statement. He led me behind the altar where a big wheel with the symbols of the Chinese zodiac was placed. He pushed the tiger, dragon and rat in a row, then the floor opened up and revealed a set of stairs.

I just stared at the opening.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm starting to hate secret doors."

He seemed to have realized what I meant because he chuckled.

"There are traps, for people not meant to come inside, but there are no monsters inside."

"Just be sure."

We descended downstairs. Our phones were used as flashlights as we trudged the dark corridor. We came to a stop and I caught a glimpse of an open space on the floor.

"Err…"

"Wish we have Coby right now." I muttered.

Lei dug something on his pant pocket and took out a matchbox. He ignited a matchstick then lit a torch that was hanging on the wall. It illuminated the room and then I saw the big hole on the floor.

"Err… traps?" I questioned.

"Yeah."

He held out his hand and showed me two small metal balls. I asked him what it was for but the idiot just smiled and flicked it in front of us. I heard a clang and then poles used as a foothold emerged from the hole.

"There are spikes down there so you'll have to be careful in crossing. Come on."

We crossed the hole by jumping from one pole to another, kind of like the one back in Liu Qing's tomb two years ago, minus the name characters. We reached a solid floor and faced a stone door. Lei pressed another smaller wheel of Chinese zodiac symbols. Although I didn't get the chance to peek at the combination. The door opened and we were greeted by a vast space with rows of shelves filled with books.

"It's my mother's collection. She loved travelling and she had collected many books back when she was still alive. Mom told us before that she collected grimoires as well."

"Grimoires? As in spell books?"

"Yep. She never really said why though. I figured since you're a witch why not give it a try?"

"Liu Fen had been teaching me though."

"He's teaching you eastern magic, and remember, you're originally Italian, try learning western magic as well."

"Your family has a lot of secrets."

"You have no idea."