Gurney City - Book Two

Win or Lose

“Augustus! Have I not teach you anything? You nearly killed someone today!” Thomas scolds Augustus, giving me a brief glance.

Augustus huffs in annoyance and glares at me. He shifts into human form with the same glare stuck on his annoying face. Augustus has purple bruises on his arm, making me smug.

That’s what he gets for making fun of Lina and nearly killing her.

I would have been dead as well, if it isn’t for Thomas.

What the heck is his problem? It looks like the only person who he really cares are Bibiana and ‘Aurora’.

Without a word, he walks out of the room and the crowd makes way for him to leave. Some of the trainees in the crowd do not look surprised. It is as if they’re used to this kind of things.

Thomas sighs out loud. “I swear that boy…”

“Do you think you can shift back?” Lina asks softly.

I stare at her, trying to focus on being human. It’s not working. I shake my head in reply.

“Miss Chang?” Thomas says.

Lina stiffens and then relax when she realizes that it was Thomas who addressed her. “Yes, Director?”

“I would like you to assist Melanie to shift back to human form and both of you are dismissed for the rest of the day,” Thomas instructs, looking at Lina.

Lina nods. “Yes, sir.”

Thomas turns to see the nosy crowd and scowls at them. “What business do all of you have here?” he asks coldly.

All of them stare at Thomas with wide eyes before scurrying out of the room. Within half a minute, Lina, Bobbi, Ella and I are the only ones in the training room.

“This is so cool!” Bobbi yells, staring at me from a distance next to Ella since they’re both afraid to get too close to me.

I move so I can face them. I don’t realize until now that I’m surrounded by mirrors. I notice my red scales have a slight glow as if fire is on me. My red eyes are scary enough to scare any human.

For a brief moment, I wonder what will Nate do if he sees me transform into a Xuicoatl. I can already imagine him scream in a very girly way and then faint just like the time I gave him a plastic spider for our birthday.

Boy, that was funny.

“What is she?” Ella asks, taking one cautious step towards me.

I look at Lina, who looks uncertain whether I’m going to eat her. As if to assure her, I make my way towards her slowly so I won’t startle her. She stands very still.

‘Can our scales burn anyone who touches us?’ I ask Anna.

‘Right now, we can burn anyone. That water dragon is not burnt because of his nature,’ she tells me, grumpy towards the end.

‘Is there a way to decrease our temperature, enough for them to touch us?’

‘I can do that,’ Anna tells me.

I look at the mirror again, this time to see that my red scales are not as bright as before. Warily, I use my head to nudge Lina’s back, making her stumble forward.

That makes Bobbi and Ella laugh out loud as Lina glares at me.

“What’s that for?” she asks me.

I nudge her again, this time less force than before. At least I know that I didn’t accidentally burn her.

That would suck.

Lina chuckles and pats my big head when I lower myself so my eye level is the same as ours. I make sure that my mouth is close all the time so I won’t accidentally bite her and kill her with my venom.

That is if I’m venomous…

‘Yes, we are venomous,” Anna tell me.

‘How to shift back to human?’ I ask Anna.

‘Just think of the happy days you have as a human.’

Bobbi and Ella finally have the courage to come closer towards me when they see Lina patting me. It must have looked strange to see a short lady patting a humongous snake which the head can touch the ceiling.

“Come on, Mel. Shift back and I’ll give you a can of Coke,” Lina says.

I pull away, trying to give her a big snake-like smile.

Just as Anna told me, I think of the days Nate and I spend when we were werewolf hunters. When we moved to Meadow Falls. When I scared the crap out of Gwen.

“Nate,” I say when we are both laying down in the meadow in Little Creek, staring at the clouds.

“Yes, sis?” he mumbles, sounding as if he’s close to sleep.

“That cloud looks like a heart shape,” I tell him, pointing at the white heart-shaped cloud.

“So?”

“Do you believe in love, Nate?”

His eyes snaps open. He gives me a look and sits up. “I thought we had a deal about not being in a relationship?”

I sit up and shake my head. “No, it’s not that. I’m just wondering that, when we’re older and we’re HQ agents, do you think you want to fall in love?”

Nate looks up at the cloud. “I think I will. When everything is fine, that is. What about you? Will you fall in love?”

I put my head on his shoulder, staring at Hazard that is sitting on a branch of a tree. “I think I will too.”

“You did it!” Lina screams, hugging me.

I smile at her, hugging her back. “Now where’s that Coke you promised?”

Author's Note

Extra long update! I'm so proud of myself right now. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Unfortunately, no one guessed the correct answer. So back to the story, who do you think is Aurora? Oh, and for this update's question: How old were Nate and Melanie when they lost their parents?

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-M.