"Lilly, this is n't funny" The old lady pointed at her body and said to me. She raised her hand to hit on my arm but then held her right shoulder and cried in pain. She was wearing the same uniform as that of Hermes but the uniform looked way better on Hermes than on her. Her various body parts were not meant to be in that uniform and I could not help but laugh at her.
"But Andrews..." I whined and earned a glare from the old lady aka Andrews. It turned out that the magical ring chose the body of an old lady this time.
We were in a corridor that led to 'King George's private meeting room'. Our footsteps echoed throughout the dark corridor. There were fire torches at equal intervals but there were no doors to other rooms. There were words inscribed on the walls of the corridor but I could not read it properly due to the inefficient lighting as well as fast-paced walking. I was walking beside Andrews and Rihanna was walking with Raymond. Stella was walking in front of us. We were escorted by two men in front and behind us.
I and Stella did not get a chance to ask Raymond about the truth because, since the previous night when we met at the airport, he and Rihanna were glued together.
The escort stopped at once and kept his palm on the wall. A door opened suddenly and the corridor was suddenly lit with golden lights.
I gulped as I entered the luxurious room. There were about ten chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Each of the golden chandeliers was decorated with hundreds of diamonds and the rays of lights scattered across the room. There were golden spots on the Mahagony table, that was in the centre of the room and the empty golden chairs, that were kept around the table. There were just two men in the room. My eyes were glued to the beautifully designed carpet in the room and I felt to sit on my knees and touch the smooth carpet.
I felt a tug at my gloves and I looked at Andrews whose line of sight was affixed at a point in front of us. My eyes traced his sight to see King Patrick of Yoyomia in 'King George's private meeting room'. My throat dried as I saw the man who made us understand that our identities were worth 50,000 dollars.
Is it a trap? Did King George Qiwey simply trap us?
I was about to take the laser beam pen from my belt when Hermes patted me.
"Woah, calm down kitty, were you stupid enough to think that we could fly from Yoyomia without a pull from the Royal family?"
"Yes," I facepalmed and I cursed the cursed stone. The stone never failed to make me feel and look like a stupid.
"Well, the deal makers are here!" A chubby man raised his glass of wine. His fingers were concealed by the huge rings that he wore. His violet rob seemed to bulge out and bulge in as his stomach moved in rhythm with his hyena-like laugh.
"Yes, yes indeed" King Patrick raised his wine glass to clink it with the other king's glass. King Patrick was wearing a rather simpler suit as compared to King George.
All of us took seats around the table and we were immediately served with glasses of wine. Hermes chucked it down in one single sip and I felt nauseous at the sight. Nevertheless, Rihanna giggled beside him.
"So let's talk business" King Patrick's sound boomed across the large room and all our eyes were fixed on the owner of the voice.
"So here is the deal. You will be given 50 dollars each and you may get lost." King Patrick placed his wine glass on the table and ran his fingers through his long beard. He did not change his daring eye contact which was with Hermes. Hermes tilted his head and smirked.
"King George, with all due respect, would you please tell us why you are so interested in this stone?" Hermes said as he let his arms rest on the table.
"Don't you get it, son. The world runs on lies and a person who has access to truth has the power to stop it. Better, even run it" King George said.
"Once we have the stone, we will have control, both over the arrogant rich as well s the blaming poor and that means we will be able to run the country the way we like." King Patrick added.
"But it will not work if a person is not ready to accept it, you know that your majesty, don't you?" I asked.
"Ever heard of Chinese torture methods, darling" King Patrick said as he motioned his hand across his neck.
"Lilly, down now!" Hermes shouted at me and soon I found myself seated comfortably on the floor while breathing heavily. A sword swung across the place where my neck was and I screamed at the swoosh of the sword.
Stella suddenly held my hand and started running to the entrance of the room. She was literally dragging me while Hermes was carrying Andrews.
I still do not know from where, but a few people suddenly jumped in front of us and all of them had their eyes on my palm. They started taking steps towards me as Stella's grip on my hand tightened.
Suddenly, there was smoke all around us and I started choking. Stella still dragged me and once my choking ceased, we were on a run for our lives. There were hundreds of men behind us and we were running as fast as I could.
The men were wearing heavy metal armours and the corridor was filled with clanging sound as the men ran behind us with their swords.
Suddenly, Hermes snatched my hand and Rihanna snatched Stella's. Stella cried loudly as Rihanna activated her latest supersonic boot and carried her in high speed. She was far off from my eyesight in a single blink.
Andrews pressed a button on Hermes's arm and we were enclosed in what could be described as a black ball. I started panting as I looked around me. I felt like the ball in which we were sitting was floating but I could not see or hear anything from outside. The only thing that allowed me to see what was happening inside the ball was five LCD bulbs above me. Andrews was asleep after some time and I sighed as I looked at the sleeping figure of the old lady.
"So what does the stone that you gave to Andrews really do?" I asked to break the awkward silence.
"It gives the wisher an alternate physical form for some days. The wisher can't choose a form, it is simply given by the stone"
I was starting to feel bored when I felt a warm hand over mine. I tried to retrieve my hand when I saw that it was Hermes who was holding my hand. He held my hand and his grip tightened as I tried to loosen my hand from his.
"Hermes, what are you doing?" I said as he sat in front of me.
"I am sorry, I am sorry..." He freed my hand and put them up in the air. He started massaging his forehead and said, "I don't think we are going to survive, Sagsa has been trying to escape for the last one hour and she will soon run out of fuel.
"Sagsa?"
"This spherical anti-gravitational sonic automobile" He shrugged.
"The point is just give that stone to me , I have to say it to you." He moved his hand along the wall of Heidi, "It seems like we do not have much time"
"No, I have to ask you something, what is the third persons charm for 'The Wail of The lover'?"
I asked him that question because I was pretty sure that the answer must have been in the torn out pages of the book. I expected him to know the answer and thus we could start a conversation based on it. My plan was to make him confess that he stole the book from a girl but my plan was a failure.
"The lover of the holder faints due to the pain," He nodded his head sideways and slumped his shoulder.
"How do you know it?" I asked in hope to open the cascade to our unsolved mystery.
He kept his palm on Sagsa and scratched his head. He said, "Okay, this is of no point, give it to me." He snatched the stone from my hand and shut his eyes. He controlled his scream as his veins seemed to bulge out. It looked like a lot of tree trunks were embedded on to his black uniform. He tightened his grip on the stone and finally opened his eyes to meet mine.
"I love you Lilly,"
I looked at him. He looked at me. I kept looking at him without blinking and he kept looking at me without blinking. The complex process continued for a few seconds that felt like centuries until he shrugged. I was pulled out of the trance when he moved his hand sideways infront of my face. I pinched me to confirm that I was not in a nightmare.
Hermes said that he loved me and that was the biggest secret he was keeping from me. Raymond's face suddenly popped in my mental vision and I sighed.
"Ask me the question, once again." Hermes said.
"Which question?"
"About the Wail of the Lover."
"Yeah...how did you know about the 'charm on the third' of the Wail of the lover?"
"There were a lot of assumptions related to it in the book I read but I confirmed it when the girl I love the most fainted when I held it,". That's when I remembered the place where I saw the necklace before seeing it's picture in the book. It was in Hermes's hand at the museum during the night of our mission. He used it to further distract the Watchmen.
"Who fainted?"
"Rihanna..." He said.
I felt like I was out of breath when I heard him say her name. I could not help but glare at him. Rihanna said that she fainted due to an immense pain that day but I did not think much deeper about it. It must have been at the same time as he Hermes took the necklace but the timeline did not match.
"I know all of you, Stella, Rihanna and you," He said and then smirked at me.
"But how?"
"It slipped out of Mr Doom's mouth but the credit does not completely belong to him. I had suspicions, he was only a confirmer."
Rihanna said that she fainted only after reaching Hermes's house but Hermes held the necklace after a few minutes from the time Rihanna left the museum. I was about to ask him when he answered my unborn question.
"Oh, come on Lilly, my car is not as fast as Sfear"
"Sfear?"
"Super fast electronic robot"
"The 'a' is for..."
"I wanted it to sound cool," Hermes said and chuckled.
I chuckled with him but it ceased as soon as I realized that he just said that Rihanna was the girl he loved the most but he also said that he loved me. I was already in a 'though not official, existential relationship' with Raymond and I did not want it to be ruined but the paradigm simply confused me. I did not want to speak about his confession but I really wanted to know if my hypothesis was right.
Is he in love with both of us? Creep!
"You love her the most, don't you?"
"loved," He said as he touched the body of Sagsa once again. He frowned and cursed under his breath.
"Whom do you love the most, now?"
"You"
"When did this happen?" I moved my index finger between him and me.
"Since the moment I saw you blush when I came to you for the confirmation,"
My eyes went wide as I heard him. I leaned forward and took a hold of his mask. He simply slapped my hand and took a hold of my wrist. I tried to slap him using my free arm but it was also soon imprisoned.
God! Why are men gifted with large hands?
My next self-defence strategy was to kick him but he knew me too well he sat on his knees with his calf on my legs.
"Your assumption is right, I am Raymond but now is not the time for the dramatic facial revelation. This mask is too tight for fast re-wearing and within seconds we will be on the floor."
We fell on the floor as soon as the blessed tongue pronounced the words.
Andrews fell on his butt and started crying soon while massaging his lower back. I ran to him and started supporting him to stand up but he was way too hurt for standing on his own. I did not fail to notice the sea of armed men around us while attending Grand Ma Andrews. I looked at Hermes as a drop of sweat found its way on my forehead. Hermes was holding two guns and shouting at them to back away.
Suddenly, a rope fell in front of me. It wiggled and its tip grew into ten sections of equal thickness. These sections extended until they reached the necks of some of the men. In a second, they were lying unconsciously on the ground.
"A mother in need is a mother indeed," She said as a lot of men started running away. It looked like a group of beetles running away with their heavy shells.