Chapter 49

Jia watched as Dylan tapped his watch and read through the map it produced. It seemed like they had landed on the west side of the jungle. She tightened her shoe lace before reaching up to caress her new dragon necklace.

"We're about not that far from the Third Station, it shouldn`t take us long to reach it and the others," Dylan said as he switched off the map," We`d better get moving."

Jia nodded and stood as Dylan took the lead.

"So how did you like your room?"

Dylan shrugged, "It`s fine, I`m sharing with Tristan so we don`t annoy each other that much."

"You`re closer to Tristan than the others right? I noticed that you two are either with each other or not at all," Jia noted.

"We entered the Academy walls at the same time, of course we`re that close."

Jia climbed over a huge tree root, "It`s more than that, I can tell. The others came to school with you all at the same time but you two were already close from what Roy told me," Dylan stopped and turned to Jia who paused in her tracks. The air shifted and the sorceress felt that she had touched a sore subject," Of course, he never mentioned anything personal."

'Except he did say you two were orphans', Jia mentally added.

Dylan arched a brow, "That`s because there`s nothing personal to tell."

The sorceress held up her hands to calm him down, "I know, I know and I`m not prying."

"You sure?" he asked her," Because you have a habit about overstepping boundaries,"

Jia nodded with a guilty smile, "But not with you. I won`t. You don`t owe me anything, it`s fine. I respect that."

The white haired teenager then walked past him. She felt like slapping herself for starting a conversation based on him and his friend. Of course he wouldn`t want to talk about his past, she never liked it when people asked her about her mama so she should have been smart enough to notice that it was the same for Dylan. She was a few meters away for him when Dylan called her name.

She waited for him catch up with her and they resumed their walk. About a minute of silence had pasted, Dylan sighed and said," We arrived at the Academy when we were seven."

Jia turned to him sharply but he made no move to look at her, he just continued walking and talking.

"Tristan and I entered the walls of the Academy when we were about seven. He won`t admit it but I`m a few months older than him. However, I stayed in the Academy longer, "Dylan said as as their path dropped down a steep slope. Dylan slowly moved down but he held a hand up to Jia who looked taken back a bit. This time, he turned to face her, "Don't worry, I won`t bite you."

"I didn`t think you would," Jia retorted but nevertheless, she took his hand and let him lead her down the path.

Dylan then continued," Tristan liked the life on the street with his friends but he also liked the Academy. He`d try to make time for both. When we first met each other, we hated one another. I thought he was there to take my place and Tristan didn`t like meeting boys who were slightly older than him."

"Why?"

"That`s his business, I never asked," Dylan replied.

Jia pursed her lips and nodded," Go on."

The Knight sighed, "But…after a particularly nasty incident that led to us having a run in with Were Bats, we called a truce. And we`ve had each other's back ever since."

"But you don`t mind messing with him do you?"

"You mean the Mixer, right?" Dylan asked her instead.

"Yeah," Jia confirmed as they made it to even ground and Dylan let go of her hand.

"I thought we already talked about why I did it," Dylan recalled, reminding Jia of their little conversation in her room.

"We did but your friend never heard from you about why you did it," the sorceress confided in him.

The Knight shrugged nonchalantly as they resumed their walk, "I`m not someone who likes spelling myself out to others, if you`re smart enough to get through your classes, you`re smart enough to work out the other things."

"Right," Jia said as she rolled her eyes," Because emotions are so easy to work out."

"Emotions?" Dylan asked.

Jia stopped and folded her arms, "Dylan, do you know what emotional intelligence is?"

Dylan paused in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at her, "No, but I`m sure you`ll spell it out for me."

The sorceress narrowed her eyes at him, "Not if you keep talking like that."

"Then let`s put this conversation on hold."

Jia shot the Knight an incredulous look, "This is your idea of a conversation?"

Dylan`s upper lip twitched as he tried to stop himself from laughing. He was learning that Jia was sometimes funny when even when she didn`t mean to be. They continued past a raintree which had Jia looking up to find out how high it was but she stopped when she noticed that Dylan wasn`t waiting for her.

When she finally caught up with him, she moved to walk in front of him and began to walk backward, "So can I ask another question then?"

Dylan arched a brow at her, "Aren`t you asking one right now?'"

"Don`t be funny. How long have you known Juliet?"

The Knight paused, "Depends, why do you want to know?"

"She told me to stay away from Tristan," Jia revealed as she stopped walking backwards before she would hurt herself. She then shuffled back to walk beside the turquoise eyed Knight.

"When?"

She told him of her little conversation with the witch during their day out with the Knights and Dylan snorted before he continued walking. Jia scrambled to catch up with the turquoise eyed Knight.

"Well?" Jia pressed.

"She`s known Dylan longer than I have, they were each other`s first everything." Dylan admitted.

Jia`s shoulders dropped as she reached up to rub her charm, "Oh."

Dylan glanced at her, "Don`t tell me you`re going to listen to her."

"I don`t steal boyfriend`s, that isn`t me," Jia argued.

"They aren`t a couple anymore." Dylan pointed out.

Jia snorted, "But he`s still with another girl. "she then watched Dylan stiffen slightly," See, you`re not even going to deny it!"

Seeing no escape, he ran a hand through his hair and growled, "This is why I don`t like pairing up with girls."

"I thought I couldn't trust you, to tell me the truth."

The Knight admitted, "You can but relationship talks don`t sit well with me."

"Why? Did someone break your heart?"

Dylan`s eyes suddenly darken, the turquoise getting darker, hovering towards dark blue or green, "Jia, leave it alone."

Before the white haired sorceress could say something else, something landed between them and exploded in a blue light. Jia was knocked backwards against a tree and landed on the ground with a painful thud. She coughed and gasped as she pushed herself up felling disorientated. The forest floor looked like it was tipping from side to side and her vision was getting blurry.

She heard someone call out of her before a set of hands moved forward to firmly grasp her face.

"Dylan?" Jia croaked.

"Hey, you alright? We`ve got to go! Now!" Dylan said urgently. He turned to see the trees shaking and a loud howl was heard. He muttered a curse before turning back to the white haired girl to scan her face. Her eyes weren`t focused on him and she looked like she was going to pass out soon.

"Can you run?" Dylan asked.

"I…I don`t know, I think if the floor stops moving…I could," Jia muttered as she blinked and tried to stand before groaning and clutching the back of her head.

She felt Dylan put a hand to the back of her head before hissing. He then muttered something and suddenly, she shrieked as he picked her up bridal style and ran.

"What are you doing?! I`m heavy!" Jia tried to protest but Dylan huffed, "I`ve lifted forest logs heavier than you!"

"What hit us?"

Dylan glanced behind and cursed again, the trees were still rustling and leaves fell, signaling that whatever was coming after them was moving fast, "A stun grenade! I didn`t get hurt because I`ve got my armor crystal on, it protected me, you? Not so much." Dylan explained as he ran around a tree and jumped over a fallen log. The movement jolted Jia and she groaned.

"My magic is useless right now. The world keeps spinning."

A loud swopping sound was heard before they both went tumbling to the ground. Jia groaned as Dylan had somehow maneuvered himself so that he was above her.

She felt him untangle himself from her and stood before quickly going through his bag. She watched Dylan pull out his swords and unsheathe them. She then closed her eyes and tried to push the dizziness away and to center her mind.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Jia opened her eyes and saw a woman who had blue hair and yellow eyes standing front of them with a smirk. The lightning sorceress noted that she was wearing a black and orange armour.

She moved to stand with a glare," You! You were that girl that attacked the museum!"

"You know her?" Dylan asked as he got into his familiar stance to defend her. He wasn`t worried about himself, he could handle himself but Jia, she was barely able to stand still. She wouldn`t be able to hold herself up in a fight.

"She`s one of the Emperor`s lackey's." Jia explained while trying to balance on her feet. There had to be something else inside the grenade that was making her dizzy. She usually would be able to bounce back faster.

The women hissed, "I am his right hand. I am no one`s lackey."

"Aren`t you here attacking us on behalf of him?" Jia asked her with a smirk.

Dylan nodded, "Sounds like a lackey to me."

"Silence! You, "the woman hissed as she pointed at Jia but Dylan quickly moved to black her from the bluenette`s view. Jia wanted to scold the Knight as the woman continued," The lighting bringer, you have rejected my Emperor`s offer."

"Oh, he still remembers that?"

The woman growled, "He never forgets those who disobey him."

"Well, then I feel honoured."

"Very honoured," Dylan added and Jia wanted to laugh. She couldn`t believe that even though they were facing a bad guy or girl in this situation, they were still trying to crack jokes.

"And as punishment for it, you must be dealt. His plans must not be delayed."

Out of nowhere, two Psi- Leopards landed in front of them, growling and roaring.

"Goddess above!" Jia exclaimed and held up her hands in a fighting stance. Her head was really pounding now. Before she could do anything, Dylan charged at the Psi-Leopards and slashed one before turning to the other as it pounced on him, "Jia, run!"

Jia`s jaw dropped, "Are you insane? I never run!"

"These things absorb magic, I can`t defend you and fight them off at the same time," Dylan pointed out as he rolled to dodge one of the grey cats before turning to the other who was picking itself up.

"Who said I needed protecting?!" Jia yelled at him.

"Kill the Knight. You know what to do to her," The woman instructed the Psi- Leopards before she vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

Jia turned to find her as she heard her voice echo throughout the forest," Whatever your worst memory is, I hope you don`t think about it often."

Before she could even make sense of what she heard, something landed behind and the sound of someone laughing was heard. She spun around and gasped as a large hand grabbed her neck and its eyes glowed blue. The last thing she heard before blacking out was Dylan screaming her name.