Nefarious

C150 - Moonchild

-Dane's point of view-

Hayden moved unexpectedly quick all of a sudden, opening the door entirely. Both Eugene and I were caught by surprise, but neither showed it to a great extent. "Dane? Eugene?" he said, frowning upon us. "We were told that you wanted to speak to us," I lied impulsively. Adeline approached us, glaring at me specifically. "Who said that?" Hayden questioned confusedly. "Adeline did," I answered, shrugging my shoulders. "No, I did not! I-" she started. "We must've misunderstood then, our apologies," Eugene said, interrupting Adeline. "How long have you two been standing here? Did you-" Hayden started. "Oh, not long, brother. We just got here. I can assure you that," I answered shortly. He cast a glance at Adeline, sighing faintly before nodding, saying: "You're excused."

-Valerie's point of view-

"Stop counting hours, Alex. You'll stress yourself to sleep and risk having numerous nightmares," I complained, grabbing his phone. A smile tugged on his lips and seemingly, he didn't look the slightest bit bothered by the fact that I'd taken his phone. "I'll take your advice on that," he answered. "Finally!" I sighed in relief. "I will murder you with a shovel if you don't give me my belt back, Jace," Xavier said, trying to sound angry. "Go on, I'll let you try," Jace answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Kinda ruining the moment here guys," Vera said, pointing to Alex and I. "Oh, right. A touching moment in action, excuse us," Xavier said, grinning as an attempt to seem sorry. Alex chuckled, shaking his head at the two who had a completely different way of expressing their affection. "I should probably go hide my shovels," I said. "Probably, but stay instead. Your shovels aren't sturdy enough to kill. Besides, they're made of flimsy plastic," Alex answered. "Ey, don't disrespect my shovels like that. They've been through a lot of adventures in sandpits," I laughed. "Aye, pardon me," he snickered. In my peripheral vision, I could see Vera smiling widely. Although I didn't know her well, it still pleased me to see her smiling. I took it as a sign that we hadn't lost ourselves due to Xylan and everything that's going on.

"I'm trying to come up with a plan for the future since we suddenly have to return to the castle, but I'm blank. I can't think of anything, and it's driving me wild!" Jace groaned frustratedly. "Xylan's too unpredictable to plan anything. We'll have to adjust to a lot, and for the sake of safety, customise our language a bit. Avoid infuriating him as it's probably our best shot at keeping him distant, even if it's only for a short while. Most importantly though, don't let him manipulate you," Alex said calmly, interrupting Jace's evident panic mode. "Right, I'll err-" Jace started, his words mixing as though he was incapable of speaking at all. "I think he just forgot his entire English vocabulary," Xavier said, frowning moderately.

-Dane's point of view-

"We have to distance Adeline somehow. She's suspicious of us already, and we haven't even done anything yet. It's stressing me out, Eugene," I sighed frustratedly. He closed the door entirely, making sure she was nowhere to be seen. "I know, but don't screw things up now just because of Adeline. Divulging the secret will affect Jace no matter what, especially if you divulge it too early, and we all know how important he is in Alex's castle. Without him, the plan won't work out," he answered. "I'm aware, yes. It's unfortunate that he is," I muttered bitterly. I wanted to get along with Jace for this plan particularly, but our past was getting in the way for me. Whenever I look at Jace, I see nothing but fiery anger and coldness even though I'm well aware of how caring he can be. Nevertheless, we are polar opposites, and I fear that we'll come to a disagreement at one point that'll ruin everything. "You're not swallowing your pride by working with Jace on this. Neither of you is, Dane. Frankly, you're overthinking, and that's not what you need right now," Eugene said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Mm, you're right," I nodded faintly.

When leaving the room, we met one of Hayden's best assistants. I used to like her a lot until she began working for my brother. She changed for the worse, and honestly, she was as good as unrecognisable now. "Ah, you're with the moonchild," she said, smiling faintly at Eugene. She'd called him that ever since he came here, and weirdly enough, most people began calling him that as well afterwards. I guess that's how so many know of him even though he's just 'one of the new ones'. "Eugene, yes," I answered. "You have assistants, Dane. Why is it that you accompany yourself with the less experienced moonchild instead?" she questioned. "We all have our personal preferences. I don't trust people the way Hayden does," I answered briefly. She nodded once, her gaze moving to Eugene quickly. "Yet you trust him, the mysterious new one?" she chuckled coldly. "He's been around for a while. Anyhow, you shouldn't question others like that when you have done shady things yourself." "Oh, I'm loyal, Dane. I've proven myself several times. You, on the other hand, people doubt now. Always lurking around, but not doing anything? That seems a bit shady to me," she said. "You needn't be so worried," Eugene said calmly. She swallowed oddly, her tensed facial expression softened and her head lowered a bit. "Right, I'm sorry," she said, clearing her throat. Eugene smiled faintly, and for some reason, she embraced him right after. He didn't stop her, though I'd thought that he would...

Hayden's assistant stopped questioning us and left, strangely enough. "How the hell? What did you-" I started, stammering my incoherent sentence out. "A discussion will never end if no one changes the tone," he answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Right, it was probably because of your voice," I scoffed softly. "My voice? Don't tell me you find it soothing too," he laughed. "Err, don't find it disturbing, but I'm sure your voice is a lot of people's guilty pleasure."

After a short while, Hayden approached us, seeming somewhat annoyed. "My assistant says you talked of Jace Dizary on your own," he said, crossing his arms. Wow, she's really that backstabbing. "Oh, no, no, I'm sure it's the paranoia that got the best of her," Eugene said. She scoffed loudly, preparing to speak against him. "Paranoia? Really?" Hayden asked sceptically. "Ha, I think not. I recorded it," she said confidently. She then reached for her phone but was quick to realise that it was gone. "Perhaps you imagined that you did," Eugene suggested. "No, I know I did it!" she blurted out. "I don't have time for speculations. Don't come to me again unless you have proper proof," Hayden said frustratedly before leaving.

As soon as Hayden moved past the corner of the hallway, his assistant spoke up angrily. "I'm going to find my phone, and when I do-" she started. "Oh, but it's right here," Eugene interrupted, revealing her the phone. She reached for it immediately, and he wasn't reluctant to give it right back to her. "Nice trick moonchild, but there's no going back now," she retorted. She ran off hastily, and I considered following, but then Eugene grabbed my arm. "Let her end up in trouble," he said assertively. I frowned, confused as to what he was talking about. The smallest smile appeared on his face, one that beamed of great satisfaction. "She might have her phone back, but she doesn't have the SD card, and thereby she doesn't have any recordings. She's going right back to Hayden without any proper proof," he snickered. "But then she'll lose her position as an assistant because of double irrelevant disturbance," I stuttered. "Yup, I know," he nodded. "Man, I've underestimated you, Eugene."