Adam Peaks and the Living City

Chapter 23: A Friend in Need

"Grace?" Adam frowned, "the royal lady I met in the Gardens?"

"Grace is the last living, direct descendent of Last Lord Dremara Adarbu," Jake nodded, "so you're right, she's basically royalty. The paper says that she was last seen in the Arteries last night, with a bunch of Adarbu and Nelluth bodyguards. They're all dead, and she's missing. The LCIT won't comment on any theories, and won't give out the actual location ... so Adrian's made the executive decision to tell everyone it was a quote 'pack of roving werewolves', the racist bastard. He's gonna start a Goddamn war!"

Piggy appeared over Jake's shoulder and trembled as his voice got louder and even less composed, "Adrian is gonna use this to light a fire under the ass of every closet racist, xenophobe, and idiot who hasn't already pledged their lives to the Senna. God damn that man!"

"Is that all you care about?!" Camilla stood upright with startling speed, making Piggy vanish into Jake's clothing with a pitiful squeak, "Grace is missing and all you care about is politics?!"

"No!" he threw up his arms in surrender, "no, I'm just saying-"\

"Saying what, Jakob?!"

"I'm just worried about what might happen because of this!" He responded meekly, all thunder in his voice evaporating, "I mean, Grace is an important figure to all of the Undying, and werewolves being blamed for her disappearance is gonna light a fuse in this place! This is bigger than-"

"Grace is not just some figurehead," Camilla bellowed, "she's my friend!" She fell back onto the bench and tears flowed freely down her cheeks, "she's my mentor. She took me in when I first became Undying, and she taught me to harness my powers, to mould them to my will. She taught me what it means to be an Adarbu, and she had no reason to help me. I was an orphan, a nobody ... and she turned me into a respected, powerful member of the Family. She had nothing to gain, but she did it anyway; she saw someone in need of help, and so she helped," Camilla wiped tears away from her face and gasped, "she shared with me her love of history. 'Our most powerful dreams are influenced by our past, and our futures are shaped by our dreams'. She hammered that message into me every single day, and taught me to never give up," she stopped crying and the expression of hopelessness vanished without a trace. SHe wiped her face with the sleeve of her flowery blouse, and then stood up, her eyes shining with resolve, "and I am not going to give up on her."

"Where are you going?" Adam reached out and faltered when she glared back at him.

"I must apologise for my earlier outburst," Camilla replied in a dull monotone, "and I must also apologise that I will be unavailable to aid you in any magic training for the foreseeable future. Jakob is more than capable of-"

"Woah, hold on," Adam stood as well, his stomach leaping, "that's fine, but please tell us where you're going."

"You do not need to know."

"Yeah, we kind of do ..." he replied evenly, "you're sorta freaking out, so you're probably going to do something a little, er, crazy?"

"I am fine," Camilla snarled, showing her fangs.

"I mean, you did flip a bench just now," Jake slid into the conversation, "so Adam does have a point."

Camilla growled and then straightened her clothing, "I am going to go look for my friend. The LCIT is filled with humans; they have proven time and time again that they are incapable of finding missing Undying. They will require someone intelligent to help them, and it is always best to strike while the iron is hot. I will investigate on my own, if need be."