The whole cabal was already in the common room when I got there.

I went in and cleared my throat. "Uhm... where's Vincent?"

By the looks I got from them, I knew they were waiting for me. Apparently, there was no need to tell the super exciting story of Aramis' wonderful chat with Pilgrim Reaper. Just thinking of it made me want to drop dead in exhaustion. Literally. Maybe, dying and thus, resting in peace was a better option.

"He's in his room," Vladimir answered. "Still all mad and sullen about the idea of you pledging loyalty to Father, I reckon. What d'you expect?"

Closing my eyes, I rigidly sunk on one of the seats. "Why, do you have any other bright idea? No? Thanks a lot for helping," I retorted half-heartedly.

The boy raised an eyebrow. It seemed like I finally rubbed him the wrong way. Immediately regretting my temper, I let out a sigh and apologized. Then I filled him in on the details of my last encounter with Sharifa, her deal with Max. Everything. That seemed to lighten up his mood.

"SirenSoul," Vladimir brooded. "So that's what's making Cairo able to bear the pain."

I sighed. People kept talking about SirenSoul but no one bothered to tell me what it really was. As if sensing my confusion, Rosario rolled her pretty eyes and answered my mental question.

"SirenSoul is a new-type potent drug that became overly rampant among immortals over the last century. Hector developed it," she muttered derisively like this was something I should have already known. "Production's been banned but there are still ways—illegal ways—to get your hands on it. It was mainly used as a hypnotic and painkiller, especially when rapidly healing from a severe injury. You know how regeneration hurts. Human-made painkillers don't really work."

Rosario's eyes twitched a bit, her hand instinctively fumbling on her chest as though her wound was still there. Surely by now, she had already healed that.

"Ah, but in large doses, it could cause some permanent damage," Vladimir pointed out. "Memory loss, paralysis, unconsciousness, seizure disorders, coma..."

"Seizure disorders," I mumbled blankly, my brain working faster than I could comprehend. "Absence seizures! That's it!"

"Pardon me?" he asked, fixing his eyes on me.

"Absence seizures!" My voice went up a pitch higher as the thoughts in my head got all tangled up. "Your father. He had that. He had an episode this morning... when I talked to him. Said he was trying a drug his son recommended."

Vladimir haphazardly slapped a pair of glasses onto his face. Ponderously, he rubbed his chin, getting up from his seat to pace the floor.

Several seconds ticked, then he finally paused to say, "Son... You don't suggest that Cairo's been drugging Father."

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," I answered, clutching hard on the edge of my seat. "And he's using Sharifa to get the drug from Max."

A short pause hinted us Vlad was thinking hard. Eventually, he got back to his seat, crossing his legs. "The scythe," he began, purposively leaving us hanging for a few seconds. "That's how Cairo was able to steal the Master Scythe and return it without anyone knowing. He'd drug Father before going out to hex our Gates. And Father would have no recollection of it whatsoever. Makes perfect sense. Cairo must have been doing this for too long if Father already exhibited a mild form of seizure."

I stood up. "So how could that help us?"

Vladimir just looked down with a heavy sigh. "Unless we can prove something, I cannot say any of this could keep you and my brother alive." He urgently glanced at his watch. "For the meantime, I'll try to talk to Father about this. You better go to Vincent for now."

The boy was in a hurry when he left with his familiars. I watched them go, wishing them whatever luck this realm had left.

When I got back in Vincent's room, I found him standing, facing the window with a blank stare.

The gown Mei made for me was on the floor. Hurriedly, I picked it up and felt for Mom's necklace in the hidden pockets. It wasn't there. I looked around in panic, giving my own temple a good whack. How could I lose something so important?

"Looking for this?" Vincent stepped closer to me.

My mother's silver necklace was in his hand. A weak electric blue glow radiated from the tear-drop diamond pendant.

I reached out to get it from him but before I could, he closed his fingers around the necklace and hid it behind him.

"Give it back!" I demanded angrily, stomping a foot as I did. "It's mine!"

He dangled the necklace in front of me. "Do you know what this is?" he asked in a quiet voice that sounded amazingly calm.

I tried to snatch it from him. It was no use. He was quicker. "It's my mother's necklace! Now give it back!"

Slowly, he shook his head, his gun-metallic eyes serene as he looked at me. "You know, my mother used to have one just like it. It was called Helcium."

"Please," I said. "It's really important to me. I'm sure it just looks like your mom's necklace.

"I don't think so." His brow lifted. "Like you, my mother had a powerful soul. To prevent Strays and other immortals from taking interest on her, the Master Reaper gave it to her as a present. And it's the only one of its kind." He feverishly grabbed my shoulders, his breathing ragged with vague anticipation. "D'you know what that means, Aramis?"

"Uhm... No?" I mumbled, confused. "But I'm sure Mom didn't steal it from your mother so—"

"Listen to me," he went on, impatiently cutting me off. "The Helcium is what made Death invisible to all mortal and immortal entities way, way back when he was first banished to the mortal realm. He needed to be invisible so that he could do his job. Then, we happened," he pointed two index fingers to his chest. "He had thirteen sons to carry out his work. But we couldn't just break the Helcium and divide it among ourselves. So, to avoid all of us fighting over one stupid locket, Pilgrim gave it to my mother. No one knew where she hid it after she died. In our earlier days, we had to literally wear black hooded cloaks just to hide our identities from mortals whenever we were on patrol. Eventually, Hector and Alex developed Nysmic, and the Helcium was forgotten."

I kept staring vacantly at him. I had no idea where this was going. "If this is about another super old curse in my family that I didn't know about, I don't want to hear it please," I complained with a shaky voice.

Before I knew it, I thought I heard Vincent laughing. 

"And now, he's clearly lost it," I grumbled through pursed lips. "Err... newsflash, Master, this is no laughing matter. Seriously.

The look on his face was priceless—his lips curving up slightly in the corners, his raven hair waving above his dark brows, the light in his eyes as he gazed at me. And I found myself involuntary smiling back at him for no apparent reason.

"Have any idea why we're laughing?" he asked.

"No," I replied, feeling lightheaded with all the snickering.

Vincent hurried to the window, dragging me with him since he was still mindlessly holding my hand. There was that distant gaze again as he looked at the glittering lights that flitted in a spiral motion around the castle.

I felt his consciousness pushing through the Transference link, trying to connect with mine. I let him into my mind, let him see through my eyes—the blazing red willows, the glowing lilies and roses, the magnificent golden bridge, the flickering fireflies, the crimson Glitches...

"That's it!" he finally said, quickly towing me toward the door before I could ask what was happening.

We were barely halfway across the room when I heard an earsplitting crash from the common room several urgent footfalls heading to our direction.

The floor shook. Dust and small bits of stone rained from the ceiling.

I clutched Vincent's arm tightly when I heard noises from the other side of the door. He tensed, protectively stepping in front of me.

"Aramis," he whispered in his usual bossy tone. "Scythe. Now."

"On it," I answered, struggling to keep still.

At once, I touched the thirteen mark on the side of my neck with my right hand. I felt the frost creeping from the tips of my fingers moving upward with a searing pain. I fought the urge to flinch.

In my hand, a long rod slowly materialized. The air around it shimmered with cold mist. After a few more seconds, my staff completed its formation. It glistened like black glass when the light from the window shone on it.

Vincent had already summoned his Cataclyst—a huge twisted monstrous claw that covered his left arm. The red metallic scales, the long crooked talons looked wickedly deadly, crackling with energy. His other hand was shaking against mine. I knew that this time, it wasn't because he was forcing back a laugh.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight our way out," he growled, his eyes fiery with murderous intent. He grabbed my free hand and said, "Whatever you do, don't let go."

There was a loud bang. The carved wooden door flew off its hinges. Vincent blocked it with his Cataclyst and sent it flying across the room.

Seven male familiars barricaded the door. All of them were in white uniform robes embroidered with number one emblems. One of them—a skinny guy with fair hair, paper-white skin and red eyes, advanced indifferently.

"Master Vincent," he said in a hoarse sickly voice before bowing low.  "The Grand Master wishes you to have an audience with him now... Along with your familiar."

The albino guy shot me a long malicious look, his bloodshot eyes lingering carefully on my staff. Vincent just eased from his protective stance. I did the Math. One wrong move and we would be toast so we might as well be careful.

"We are expecting your peaceful cooperation," the albino added.

"Peaceful cooperation, huh?" Vincent snorted casually, eyeing at the shattered remains of the door. "I can see how peaceful you want this to be. Don't you people know how to use the door knob?"

The albino's forehead crumpled but he kept his ground. "You and The Twelfth have been accused of stealing an important artifact—the Grimoire of Chasms. Please come with us."

"By all means," Vincent replied with a taunting smile, cautiously backing away from Cairo's familiars. "I'll just—"

In a fraction of a second, he had already snatched my hand and hurriedly dragged me to the window. He gave me a fleeting glance before crashing straight into the glass panels. Together, we hurled ourselves outside, through a shower of glass shards. We tumbled on the tiled canopy just below the window.

We got on our feet before the pain of the impact could even sink in. Then we darted along the narrow roof that stretched in front of us. Once we had reached the end, I stopped. The drop must be a good three hundred feet. In any other day, that height would have made my knees shake, but it didn't seem applicable at the moment.

"We have to jump," Vincent panted.

From above us, I could hear the albino familiar barking orders at his companions. A few seconds wasted and they would definitely close in on us. So without thinking twice, I automatically looped an arm over Vincent's neck and closed my eyes tightly. Then, we jumped.

At first, it was a steep free-fall. My insides roiled. The air pressure made it impossible to breathe, much less scream. Vincent twisted in midair, cinched my waist with his normal arm and dug his Cataclyst against the stone wall. We stopped falling for a second, but our combined weight kept pulling us down and quick. Sparks shot everywhere as Vincent's claws raked against the concrete. At least, he had succeeded breaking our fall.

 About ten feet off the ground, he let go of the wall. I was out of breath when we landed on all fours. We were in the garden near Mistress Roselle's statue.

Another huge explosion shook the ground. I looked up to see huge plumes of black smoke spiraling from the hind left spire of the castle. I caught a glimpse of the white uniformed men draughting from the castle entrance in a straight line.

"This way!" Vincent yelled.

I followed him. We made a shortcut to the bridge, barely able to avoid stumbling on the carefully trimmed hedgerows, the flowerbeds, the driftwood. I knew Cairo's familiars were getting dangerously close but I didn't look back. My draughting wasn't exactly that good. Vincent could have just outrun them easily. It was bad enough that I was slowing him down, so I focused on not tripping.

Just as we were about to reach the foot of the golden mosaic bridge over the lake, three figures emerged from the shadowy mist. Vincent stopped on his tracks to see who intercepted us.

Sharifa, and Pilgrim Reaper's two other familiars stepped closer, their scythes drawn. Vincent cursed under his breath. We were pinched.

I readied my staff.

Vincent's legs were tense, ready to pounce. "Step aside," he demanded with a dangerous tone.

The wiry blond familiar pointed his rapier to our direction. Giving him a closer look, a realized that he looked like a teenage version of Archie. Even his scythe was similar to Archie's.

"The Master Reaper wants you both alive," the fair-haired familiar announced with an unreadable expression. "But he did not exactly order to have you unharmed."

Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched whistle. Out of the blue, something shot down from the sky like a lightning bolt. There was a loud thunderous crash. Then there was a blinding light.

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Hi there! It's me again. Shim! Remember? Uhm--- no? Well, now you know! As requested, here's another chapter. I wanna ask you guys a favor. I'm entering the Hugh Howey (Halfway Home) FanFic Contest and I'm hoping you could show your support by READING and RATING my entry in booktrack.com called AURUM. You can find the link in my profile page. Please please, give it a chance. I t would mean a lot to me.

salutes,

shim :)