Chapter 24

"What do we do now?" Drax asked as they all stared at the altar in front of them "Should we just destroy it" he asked.

"I don't think we'll be able to," Raeya said.

"Why?" Drax and Ash asked.

"This is ancient magic, I don't think we will be able to do any permanent damage," said Raeya, and sure enough when Drax hit the altar with his sword, a crack appeared but then a purple smoke appeared out of the crack and it repaired itself.

"We'll have to think of something else; for now let's get out of here, it's going to take some time getting rid of the bodies anyways," said Raeya.

"Why do we need to get rid of the bodies?" Drax asked.

"No need to leave evidence and make things easier for them, anyway, we need things to be calm for tonight so that the girls can infiltrate easily," she said, and Ash also agreed with her.

They spent the next half hour taking care of the bodies, they found a pit over the other side of the hill and threw them in and Drax burnt them. It was the first time Ash had seen him producing fire from his mouth like that.

"Can't do it too much, it takes a lot of fuel and I am always hungry after it; we are much better off manipulating fire outside and other fire spells, still it's always useful for starting a fire" he said to Ash's curious looks.

When they reached back to their digging site, crossing Lucy and the others, they reported it was all clear. They had dug up quite a bit, they were done with the explosives now.

"I think we should put our focus on the digging process now, this all seems kind of futile if we don't find anything here, seems like too much effort" said Raeya, Ash was also thinking the same thing, everyone looked exhausted.

"Can't we do a special spell to see what's underground on the island" wondered Drax.

"You mean a submerging special spell? We'll need to finetune it to pick up any kind of energies or anomalies, it's going to take a lot of work and magical power,r" Raeya said.

"But It would work?" asked Drax.

"Yes, in theory" she replied.

"We won't have to dig around like idiots, we can find out exactly where it is and then we can deal with that altar thing," said Drax.

"Why didn't you think of that before," Ash asked Raeya.

"For the same reason, I can't do it alone, my specialty is wind and that's too just because of my elfish affinity," she said.

"What if you had help?" he asked.

"Help of what?" she asked.

"A witch" he answered.

"A witch? Where will you find a witch on this island?" she asked but Ash wasn't listening now. Looks like meeting Alice couldn't be postponed anymore.

"It's getting dark, get the girls ready and bring them over the back boundary of the camp in an hour, I'll go and deal with the rest," he said and left.

The sun was setting, the lights on the camp were coming on here and there, the digging machines had been stopped and the work day was over. Just like last time the tent on the back of the camp was especially busy. Ash easily slipped inside among the crowd of men that were going for a drink after a hard day of work. Only this time, when the man at the back asked for the entry fee, Ash paid him and went inside. The air inside was very different, even different than the Night Angel he had visited before. He didn't know whether he would even find Alice here, or Jade for that matter. He looked around at the women's faces, but he couldn't find Alice, which he didn't expect; if she was here she was probably working her dream magic on some guy in one of the private rooms. The private rooms were on one side and women were taking men in and out of them. Ash wasn't going to go unnoticed anymore a curvy blonde spotted him and nuzzled up to him seductively.

"Hey handsome, care for some private dance," she said sensually.

"Sorry, you are not my type," he said.

"I am everyone's type" she added.

"How about someone, with black hair and a little taller, my ex-wife was like that," he said, describing Alice hoping there was no one else like that.

"Hmmm I get it, there go in there, she is a bit of a bitch though," she said and pushed him in a direction. Alice was a bit of a character but she maintained her image in front of others to not raise suspicion. But as he peeked inside the room, he found her. She was standing over a man her hands over his head, glowing, the man was lying naked and clearly having a nice dream.

She then spotted him and jumped a little, he smiled, he had missed her a little too.

"What are you doing here? You almost made me break the spell, Get in here!" she hissed in a whisper.

"No way, I am not getting anywhere near that," he said pointing at the man "Finish it up quickly we need to talk, you have five minutes," he said and waited outside the room. After five minutes the man came out looking dreamy and happy.

He slipped inside after he left.

"I don't think there is anything to talk about," she said as soon as he entered.

"Yes there is, we have work to do" he knew what she was angry about but he played dumb.

"You didn't come back, no messages nothing, you left me!" she was fuming now.

"All right, all right, I did, but I had a lot on my plate, you knew how much trouble I was having finding any work for the ship," he said.

"And I was helping you do your dirty work, I wanted to get out of this place"

"You have a big debt with the bank; we weren't going to get rich overnight while duking some old merchants out of a few coppers," he said.

"Fine, What are you here for then? another job?" she asked.

"Yes" "No!" she had her answer ready.

"It pays very well, you can finally pay off your debt," he said.

"Don't fuck with me"

"I am not"

"How much?"

"Enough, don't know exactly yet but can definitely solve all our problems," he said.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, I mean, nothing in the deal, the job is however pretty risky though, but you know high risk high reward," he said.

"What is it?"

"Well, basically we have to get information out of some men who come here"

"No, I told you before, they can't speak while they are in a dream, they'll have to be awake for that, and I don't do that," she said.

"I know and I won't ask you to" and then he explained to her their whole journey and plan, the important parts.

"You are crazy," she said at the end of it and fell silent thinking.

"Look if there is any trouble, you can come on the ship," he said.

"Of course, I will, my room better be still there," she said.

"Of course, although I had to shift some of your stuff in my room though" said Ash.

"I don't know how we'll just get them in though, I mean I can't just show up with two women and they'll start working here, not under the nose of Mistress Jade"

"Jade is here?" he asked.

"Yes, Gretchen's not here though thank god" she then added.

"You just make sure you look out for them, I'll see about Jade," he said.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know yet, and also you are free in the day right," he asked.

"Yeah although I wake up late. Why?" she asked.

"You'll have to do a spacial spell," he said and her face turned sour.

"I told you I am not a good witch," she said.

"Don't worry you'll have help"

"Who? Do you have another witch here?" she asked alarmed.

"No, an elf, Raeya, I never asked before but why do you have such a problem with other witches always," he asked.

"Nothing, Mind your own business," she said at that.

"Ok madam, be ready for the spell tomorrow, and prepare for the girls, I'll bring them in about an hour," he said and left. Now he was facing the room in which he knew Jade was. He hadn't seen her since their first or technically third meeting. He had a lot of other questions besides what he was supposed to do too. He made up his mind and knocked on the door.

"Come in" her elegant and strict voice came out from behind the door.

He entered and locked the door behind him. She was sitting behind a small desk, working. She hadn't looked up yet but when she did, her usually neutral expression flickered a little.

"What are you doing here?" she breathed slowly.

"I... " he hadn't asked himself that question, she obviously just meant inside this room, but he took it as something else and couldn't help answering honestly "I don't know".

"You aren't supposed to be on this island, Ash Beckham," she said quietly "If Knox finds out, you'll be dead in a flash"

"Will he find out?" he asked.

She looked at him for a few seconds, her expressions again unreadable.

"If you are here? Then you are after what Knox is after" she began "He has the upper hand, and you need some other advantage, and now you are here" she added "So far so good?" she asked.

"Very good, but It was a surprise to find the Night Angel here, and I don't think Knox is any better than us right now," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, Knox might guarantee the safety of your girls but" he stopped.

"But? But What?"

"You want information I can give you, but you'll have to do something for me," he said.

"Hmmm, the boy who saved my life selflessly, it saddens me to think what the world has done to you," she said but he knew she didn't mean it.

"We don't intend to do many things that we do in our life, it's like they happen to us, you should know that better than anyone," he said.

"Fine, ask what you want. But if it is something ludicrous"

"Two friends of mine want to join your establishment; you let them in, and they'll handle the rest," he said.

"One question, do these women do this willingly," she asked.

"Of course, they do, It's my team we don't have any other options so" he traded off.

"Fine, I'll take care of them and if they are so important to you, I'll see they are treated best, as best is it possible in a brothel" she added "Anything else"

Ash didn't know if he should ask this now but here we go he thought.

"Why didn't you meet me, after that day?" he asked feeling silly. She looked surprised at that.

"I... I wasn't avoiding you, I just didn't think it was a good idea for us to meet anymore" she said, she was completely different now her business personality gone, Back to the girl Ash had met first.

"Why because of the age difference?" he asked.

"What? I mean no! But still, you don't want someone like me, we are not suitable for each other" she said.

"I didn't care then, I don't care now," he said.

"This is not the time and place for this discussion, let's get off this island first," she said going back to her old self "Send your girls through the back door, I'll be there," she said.