Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire- Chapter Thirteen

Wow, thirteen, my favourite number! Hopefully my muse'll realize this and help me finish this chapter quickly. Although I doubt that, this blank page is looking awfully familiar and it's impossible to write when I have access to so many games.

I want to get these (by this I mean the next two chapters) done earlier in the week, seeing as my uncle is getting married on the weekend and things will probably be kinda hectic. Anyhoo, here it is!

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I woke to the sound of a news scroll being shoved beneath my door. Whoever it was on the other side seemed to be having a tough time, and the scroll had ripped a little by the time the person outside had delivered it to me.

It took a while for me to pull myself away from the warm covers and soft pillows, but eventually I rolled out of bed and into a ready position. The news scroll was relatively bare and boring until my eyes passed over one line:

Diànlì shuòshì spotted?

An aged female citizen claims to have seen the missing Silver Dragon Master while she was selling magazine scrolls. The woman has told us that yesterday a young lady approached the stand, dressed in expensive clothing and covering the right half of her face with long black hair. Apparently her eyes were the exact shade of green that is captured in the images posted around the mainland and she had a similar bone structure. Our source tells us that the girl never spoke, but kept glancing around at the sights as though enamoured by buildings and the rest of the marketplace.

Despite the fact that the citizen is probably a delusional old woman, we have reason to believe the Diànlì shuòshì is somewhere in the mainland. Several spottings of a young girl with long black hair and green eyes have been reported, and although most of them are scams there are a couple that are informative and true.

I felt myself turn pale. Was our trip going to be over before we could find out who'd killed Lucas and Mark? Had they really seen me around town? My head sunk into my hands the longer I thought about it. Really, it was only a matter of time until they caught us, and then we'd never be able to put a stop to the murders. They would probably continue until there were no Xuétú left.

I sighed, then stood and pushed back the feeling of despair that was slowly creeping over me. What I had to focus on was getting the Sacred Dragon Pearl and unraveling the mystery. There was a thump from inside Hayden's room, then he peeked his head through the door and glared at me. A copy of the news scroll was in his hand.

I turned away, crossing my arms and refusing to look at him. There was a snort behind me, and then the door slammed so hard it shook the foundations of the building. The sound of it gave me pause, and I took a few deep breaths to keep the tears from spilling onto my cheeks.

Since Hayden had basically refused to even talk to me I needed to find a way to break into the Grand High emperor's palace on my own. I supposed I could just wing it, but it would be much smarter to at least partially plan out how exactly I was going to do this impossible feat.

The silence as I sat and thought about it was depressing. Usually I had sarcastic remarks from Hayden and guidance from Yín sè, but right now I was alone in the simple room with my thoughts. I meditated on my bed for over three hours without breakfast, but nothing came to me.

"This is hopeless," I hissed to myself, hoping that Yín sè would hear and take sympathy on me. What the hell was I supposed to do? I'd only ever broken into the food area on Hǎo yùn dǎo, but never a well-guarded, massive palace.

 Well, there was nothing more I could do besides think about it some more, which would make me panic and be too fearful to go through with it. I shot up, disturbing the satiny sheets and almost knocking my backpack onto the ground. Before it could touch the ground I caught it in an impressive feat of speed.