Argent Eye III

23

Adam and I were silent for the entire journey home- I didn't know if we were just apprehensive about speaking with the knowledge that the stone was in our possession, or whether we were just out of conversation for now. We had nothing to talk about other than the current situation, and that wasn't something to be discussed on public transport.

We arrived back at the restaurant, and hurried upstairs before closing ourselves in the living room. Adam placed the stone on the table, and for a while we just stared at it. It was beautiful- aside from the seemingly pure colour and the fact that it reflected a rainbow, it seemed to shimmer. As if there was some kind of magic moving inside it.

Like smoke, I realised after a moments thought.

"Now what?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Adam looked up. "Well, we still have three more stones to find." He said. "One of which my uncle hid, one which Fujio has, and then the other one."

"Do you have any idea where Akio might have hidden his?" I asked.

Adam had his chin in his hands. "No idea." He said. "I guess we should start by looking here."

"You think he hid it here?" I asked. "Koji had it hidden, like, not anywhere. It was like he summoned it from... nowhere."

"Yeah, I don't know how he did that." Adam admitted. "But we can't rule anything out. Perhaps Akio hid it here because he knew it would be too obvious, and Fujio wouldn't bother looking. Fujio would be too busy thinking outside the box."

"True that." I agreed. "So, we turn the place inside out?"

"Exactly." Adam said, and without another moment of hesitation, we got to it.

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Three hours passed, and still we found nothing. Not even a clue. After looking in every obvious place, like between the sofa cushions and the like, Adam started pulling books from shelves to see if Akio had some kind of secret hiding spot. We even pulled out all the plug socket covers, but to no prevail. We then looked behind all the paintings, and knocked on all the walls to see if there were any weak spots. Finally, the floorboards came up. Only enough so that Adam had space to stick his head under and take a look around with a torch, but it was enough to signify that we had searched absolutely everywhere.

We both slumped on the sofa.

"If Akio had it hidden like Koji did, then we have no chance." Adam said. "I don't even know what kind of magic that was."

"Hey, let's not give up so soon." I said. "We've had a busy day, and need time to think. Akio may not have hidden it here."

"Exactly." Adam said. "It could be anywhere. For all we know, Fujio might already have it."

"We can't think like that." I said. "Let's call it a night for now. That way, you can try and think about where Akio might have hidden it- after all, you know him better than anyone."

Adam looked at me and smiled. "Okay." He said. "You know, if we get through this, I'm taking you on a proper date. Our last one was ruined."

I chuckled. "When we get through this." I said, and then stood up. "I'll speak to you tomorrow?"

"Yes. I will keep you updated." Adam also stood up, and hugged me. "Thank you for your help, Mills. I don't think I could do this without you."

I hugged him back- he was warm, and his larger frame seemed to encompass mine perfectly. For a second, it was as if nothing was wrong. "No worries." I said, and then pulled away from the hug. "I'll update the others on everything, then see if they can help as well."

"Thank you." He said again.

I smiled, and then left.

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