Nine

Jet on a yatch with everyone on the way to the Island looks at Bridget on the phone taking pictures and Luna sleeping in Milton's arms, "I spoke to my dad and he updated me about the injuries to the Lions junior league members. It was an attack caused by hex magic, who caused it no one knows, but we might be the key to curing them."

Axel sighs, "I hear Katsuki needs surgery if he ever hopes to play ever again." He looks at his phone getting updated by the team captain, "We need to hurry up. This ruined a lot of final year student's future careers."

"I will talk with my father and Lotus might start it's own soccer league." Jet suggests, feeling sorry for them.

"You know Lions, is a team owned by White Lotus right?" Milton looks at Jet, baffled when he is surprised.

"Really? Wow, and we won once?" Jet shakes his head, "How disappointing."

"Hey, can we focus on the solution to the problem." Helia interrupts the casual chatting.

"That will depend on if the girls can get their powers. We never tested Patu's frequency gun." Jet smiles awkwardly, he didn't think this next part through.

"At least Bridget stole a Luminous Pearl from Hilary for us." Jack shows everyone the Pearl the size of a bowling ball, "The October's lied to your father and said they don't have any more Luminous Pearls, so they can't report this one missing." He throws it to Jet.

Jet catches it, "The October's are lying to my father again? I'm so glad I don't have an October amongst us. To think I actually considered Hilary. I'm glad I decided to use the exam to test and decide who will join me."

"Where do Hexes get their power from? And what is the difference between that power and essence veins?" Axel asks curious about how the team was magically injured, but he was told no one has magic anymore.

"Hexes are a form of dark magic. It is power that comes from a place called the abyss, it is inhabited by dark forces, and by dark forces I don't mean that as in the movies where they are talking about the colour, I mean creatures that feed on chaos and evil the same way we need food and water to survive," he looks at everyone, he did not expect them to pay such close attention to what he has to say.

"They are brought into this realm by people who call themselves seers and some openly call themselves witches, who are tricked by these forces that pretend to be ghosts or deities people made up." Jet scratches his head failing to explain this the way he can see it in his mind.

"For example, mediums who say they are a Bridge to the other side, they believe they are talking to the dead, but it is actually the trickster dark spirits who feed on death, grief, and dark energies. So people visit the medium and talk to them, when they leave they no longer feel grieve, the heavy weight they used to feel is gone because the spirits fed on it, and so they go and tell more people about this medium, sometimes it does good yes, I can admit that some of them just want to survive but many of them are pure evil.

"Like the ones that attacked the soccer players. They depress them so they can feed on their anxieties, worries, stress, grieving their futures and lost opportunities, and some will regret it the entire life. Meaning they will have these dark forces following them for the rest of their lives, and these things will ruin other areas of their lives too."

Jet pauses thinking of another example and sits at the edge of his seat when he finally has one in mind, "The seers who claim to see the future, they don't. The Seer tells someone what they want to hear and the person who went to the seer opens a gate way to their soul allowing the dark forces to attach themselves to the person like a parasite and they will make things happen just like the seer said, feeding on the chaos caused by manipulating people, by killing people, by tormenting other people's lives so that the seers prediction comes." Jet looks around worried no one understood him.

Rex nods, "I get that. I always feel drained around seers."

"That's because White Lotus literally doesn't Mix with the dark energies. White Lotus is not a random name my father chose for the group. White Lotus is the name of thr force that protects my family and all the members in it. We use what is called White Essence, which is the direct opposite of the dark forces. White essence is the only thing that can kill these dark forces, block them, and cure any injuries caused by them, but this Hex is very powerful we are going to require a lot of power to undo it." Jet looks at Luna.

"The reason I said I don't want to involve the girls is because females are very sensitive to energies biologically, which is why the most powerful witches and seers are women. They get affected by even the faintest residue of dark energy. It can even influence and alter their behavior temporarily, resulting in mood swings. Sometimes it affects them physically, like constant exhaustion, headaches, and other issues that misdiagnosed because a woman's body is already complicated by periods, hormonal changes, iron deficiency and other things, most women don't even know this."

Milton hugs Luna tighter, "What does being sensitive mean though?"

"It depends, but for Luna it started after that accident 3 years ago when she was hexed by that seer her mother had invited to their house, after removing that hex, it left her with a vulnerability to dark magic, sometimes just being near someone with the toxic energy rubs off on her and stays on her. It's why sometimes after talking to her some of you feel like a weight was lifted off your shoulders, because you went somewhere, associated or socialized in an environment or with someone with dark energy, than you come near her and it transferred from you to her. So you need to be careful who you allow near you." Jet looks at her sleeping, "If this works, we could permanently protect her from that."

"What do you need from us for that?" Milton asks.

"You'll be able to sense people to avoid and places to stay away from. All you have to do is trust me." Jet notices the island in view.

Bridget rushes to sit with everyone, "We are almost there."

"We can see that." Axel answers, "One more question, this one might be personal."

"Ask away." Jet leans forward.

"How did a family that used to run this country end up a Yakuza? It makes no sense that you should be White Lotus the two faced Royals. To the public you're a big tech firm, behind closed doors you do various crimes for wealth and power, and now we are about to add the occult to our ranks. Using magic to acquire wealth and status." Axel asks all at once, his many questions jumbled into one.

Jet frowns, "I don't know. It's been 400 years, and I don't think I can break the cycle, but I want us to have honest lives. Study and own the top companies that people are dependent on. Maybe our kids will break the cycle and it could end with us, but at the rate things are going with rivals that use illegal tactics against us, we sometimes are forced to stoop to their level, and we have enemies using magic against us, we need to use magic to protect ourselves."

"Patu has spread the word that White Lotus has lost their powers, so everyone who was afraid of us, because they feared our powers is coming for us." Milton adds.

"What now? We can't even trust our own parents." Axel looks at Jet, "My father is leaving White Lotus and Joining Patu. I am of course choosing White Lotus, but, it's ... scary."

Jet exhales, "You're safe with me."

"I don't know what to do, how will I live in the same house with the enemy?" He tears up, "I don't understand why he would do that." Axel runs his hand through his hair, "What now?"

"We'll figure it out. It's best we have the traitors leave than for them to stay." Jet looks away not sure how to handle the news. His father must be devastated.

Bridget looks at all the boys in a bad mood, "Cheer up. What matters is that if we pull this off, it will give Jet's father the confidence boost he needs. Let us not concern ourselves with the adults problems. They need us now more than ever to be on our best behavior. The media is watching our every move."

"We are barely evading getting a bad public image. I think we need to step up and fight." Helia disagrees with Bridget politely.

"Let's just get through this guys. Once we are home tomorrow. We will decide whether we fight or do nothing." Jet who is clueless about how to help his father shifts his focus to his plan that he concocted to impress his father, "But Bridget has a point, let us not give the media ammunition to burn our parents at the stake."

Milton sighs, "I think Helia is right too. Doing nothing affects your future Jet. If this was your fight, what would you do? Put yourself in your father's shoes."

Jet sighs, "I can't. I have no clue what he is going through. I just don't want to make things worse for him."

"Things are getting worse anyway. I say we fight." Axel adds his perspective.

"Let us not fight amongst ourselves. Your opinions have been heard, but the leader here is Jet. He says he will tell is his decision tomorrow. Until than use your inside voice on the matter." Jack calms down the situation before it escalates.

Jet looks at everyone becoming quiet, and he has to think about the issue he has been avoiding. He doesn't have a plan, what can he do? He's only a child.