Chapter 61

Jia leaned against the door frame and watched her family laughed and smile. Every once in a while her aunts would kiss her uncles and their children would pretend to gag. Something they picked up from her. Her dad was talking with her uncle Elias, Uncle Dalton and Aunt Iris while her aunty Willow chased the Twins and the Triplets. Her aunt Jasmine, with a hand on her stomach, watched her uncle Nikolai throw little June into the air before catching her.

Soon someone noticed that she wasn`t part of the party and approached her. Jia made things easy by walking out and sitting on the stairs. Her Uncle Brad and Aunt Helena stopped in front of her and sat on either side of her.

"What`s wrong, little one? "Brad asked," You seem upset."

Jia smirked, "I`m seventeen Uncle Brad, you should stop calling me little one."

"Regardless of what age you are, you`re still our little Jia," Helena reminded her. Jia leaned against her aunt`s shoulder and took in a shuddering breath. "What`s bothering you, beauty?"

"Boy trouble, guys, nothing too big."

"Boy trouble? "Helena asked with a grin," Now that, you underestimate, boy trouble is huge."

Brad nodded seriously in agreement with his wife, "Very huge, now tell your aunt and Uncle, what`s wrong?"

Jia sighed and ran hand over her mouth, pondering if she should or not. After a few seconds of deliberating, she turned to her uncle Brad and sat up straight, "Promise you won`t tell papa?"

"I won`t, "Brad assured her.

"I won`t either," Helena added from her left side.

Jia then recounted everything from the moment she met Tristan and the boys to the Mixers, Thomas, the beach, the birthday and even the kiss. She left out the part where Tristan had come to spend the night with her. She also then told them of Dylan`s role in the situation and how everything had changed recently with Jasmine now in the picture.

When she was done, her talkative aunt and uncle were strangely quiet. They were watching Elias as he tried to get the Triplets to hold still enough for him to fix their hair. It seemed like her cousins has taken a swim on the grass and now had grass tangled up in their hair.

"So? What do you think?" Jia asked them gently.

Brad sighed and leaned back to nod at his wife behind Jia who nodded before speaking, "Well, beauty, teenage boys usually get mixed feelings a lot more than girls." Helena sighed and gently grabbed her niece's hands and rubbing her knuckles, "The down side is that they`re not really expected to show emotions and talk about their feelings. So it kind of makes it hard for them to work things out."

Jia frowned, "Okay, but what does that have to do with my situation?"

Helena arched a brow, "It seems to me like Tristan is either confused with his feeling s for you or scared about them."

"Sacred?" Jia asked incredulously," Why would he be scared?"

"Darling, liking someone and telling them you do is the scariest thing a person has to do in their life," Helena explained," You`re letting yourself be vulnerable and trusting the other person to handle your feelings with care."

"Well…we can forget that," Jia stated firmly," He handled my feelings and dropped them into a vat of acid."

Helena patted her hands, "Now, the bigger question is that are your feelings bigger than what he has done to you?"

Jia pulled her hands back and furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"

Helena reached across to tuck a stray curl of Jia`s behind her ear, "I`m guessing that sooner or later, he`s going to realize that he made a mistake and he`ll want you back. Now the question is, will you let him back in?"

Jia looked down at her en-gloved hands and stared at them. Her thoughts running as her aunt`s question resonated in her mind over and over again. After everything that happened, if he wanted to be clear about his emotions with her, would she let him? When he finally does what he promised all of those nights ago in her room?

"And also, we need to take Dylan into consideration," Brad spoke up.

Jia shook her head and turned to her uncle," Dylan?"

Brad gave her an impressed smile, "Jia, it`s not lost on me that the boy might be developing feeling for you and not know it."

"You don`t know that," Jia insisted. Dylan didn`t like her that way, right? He just cared about her a lot. That`s it! Right?!

Not noticing her niece' widened eyes and head shaking in denial, Helena added, "Honey, the last man who forged something for me ended up being my happily ever after."

Brad put a hand on Jia`s shoulder and squeezed as Jia turned to him with shock," Her wedding sword. I wanted something different as an engagement gift so I gave her a sword."

Helena leaned forward to smile at her husband, "Made me fall in love with you all over again."

Brad winked at his wife before gently breaking the hidden secret to Soul Forging, "Jia, forging something in our world by using Soul Magic is extremely hard and at times…it can be painful. It`ll take a great deal of emotion and stamina to forge your charm with the steel and something of very accurate detail."

The lightning sorceress gulped," What?"

"Seems to me that Dylan is someone worth noticing as well," Helena added.

Jia put both her palms to her forehead, her finger splayed as she if she was getting a headache, "This is way too much."

"And with all this happening, Marcellus is completely unaware," Brad pointed out to his wife, who nodded solemnly.

"I haven`t told papa," Jia mumbled under her breath before groaning," In his eyes, no guy is good enough for me."

Before Brad could agree, his phone rang. As did all the other Elites, including Jia`s papa. Jia stood quickly and watched as her papa answered his phone with a frown. His eye`s widened because of whatever he saw on his screen. The next thing she knew; everyone was ushered back into the house and the party was quickly forgotten. Jia stood with her little cousins as the adults talked in hushed tones inside uncle Nikolai`s study before Marcellus came storming out with a determined look in his eyes.

"Jia, you`re going straight home," Marcellus said as he quickly steered his daughter out of the family room. She barely had time to say good bye to her anyone before they left.

"Why? What`s going on? Papa, tell me!" Jia urged him as they exited the house and walked down the marble stairs towards their family ship.

"There has been a series of attacks on all the royal families of the fifteen kingdoms!" Marcellus explained.

"What!"

"Apparently, all the Terron Stones have vanished from their vaults!"

"But…that`s impossible!" Jia stuttered. They were now climbing into the ship as Jia tried to wrap her head around the news. Terron stones were portal stabilizers and each royal family had one to make sure that their kingdoms wouldn`t use it to open portals unnecessarily. Portal travels through dimensions were forbidden since the Dark Ages. Normal portal spells could work in this dimension but to go to another world or dimensions, Terron stones were needed.

"I am aware Jia," Marcellus said as the ship doors closed behind them. He quickly buckled his daughter in before starting the ship`s engine. In a few seconds, the ship was online and ascending into the sky," I`m being called in to deal with the situation but I need to make sure that you are back home, safe."

The ship then blasted away as Jia held on her seat hand rests tightly, "Will I still go back to school?"

Marcellus ran a frustrated hand over his mouth," If it`s important."

"I have exams next week, I can`t miss it," Jia informed him.

Marcellus glanced at his daughter, "Jia, things just got worse, the Emperor has made a move and I am not sure if…"

"I`ll be safe at Viola, there`s a barrier around the school, the Emperor will have to punch a hole through Ancestral Magic in order to get in," Jia pleaded with her papa," Besides, he doesn't need to come to my school. He`ll probably be interested in attacking the royals and nobles."

"You are a noble," Marcellus reminded her.

"Viola is secure, please papa," Jia insisted.

Marcellus then groaned," Okay, fine! I`ll drop you off today before I head over to the Kovia Royal family. Stay inside the school and do not leave!"

"I won`t," Jia promised.

***

When Jia finally walked into her room at Viola, she was glad to see her friends all there on the couches watching the news. The news of the attacks and the stones had finally leaked to the media. And it had taken three hours to do so.

"Jia! You`re back so soon!" Zoey said as she stood from the couch and moved over to hug her friend. The other girls quickly followed suit and hugged their friend. They all took their seats with Jia sitting with Fiona and Rose.

"So why you back early? I thought you`d be back tomorrow," Rose asked.

"Elite emergency, I had to come back to school," Jia replied as she ran a hand through her hair before she leaned back against the couch. Kyra muted the news before asking," Is it because of the attack?"

Jia turned to Fiona and Rose, "The media final got word of it."

Rose nodded, "Yeah, we just go the news."

"The Emperor is making his moves," Kyra pointed out.

"What do you think he wants to do with Terron Stones?" Clary asked, leaning forward.

"Something awful I guess," Jia replied with dismissive wave," Anyway, how did it go with Reed yesterday night?"

All the girl gave their friend a –what-the –goddess look as if she was crazy to be asking about that when the world was facing a crisis from an evil Emperor.

"Really? We`re still talking about the attack," Fiona reminded her.

"My afternoon just got ruined by this awful news and then some and I need at least something positive. So please, someone tell me something good," Jia said as she clasped her hands in prayer. Zoey shook her head as Rose bit back a smile. Their friend sure was a handful.

"Go ahead Clary," Kyra urged her friend who turned red ad tried to hide behind her bangs.

"If you`re hiding, then something good happened," Jia deduced with a lazy grin as she lowered her hands.

"He...sort of…well…kissed me," Clary admitted shyly.

Rose laughed at Clary," No, he didn`t just kiss you," The techno sorceress turned to lean over to Jia, " He pulled her away into a dark corner, tucked her hands up and locked them before swallowing her lips."

"Rose!" Clary exclaimed with wide eyes as Jia squealed and howled with laughter.

"He then left her panting for more," Kyra added.

"Kyra!"