Argent Eye III

48

"It was easy." I heard a man say in a strong London accent, but everything was a little disorienting. I had my eyes closed, and the back of my head really hurt. My hands were also bound behind me, and my legs- was I tied to a chair? "I just clobbered her over the head, and she was out like a light."

By she, I assumed he meant me. That would explain the pain.

Where was I? Did I dare open my eyes and give away the fact that I was awake?

"Interesting." A familiar voice said.

Fujio. I kept my eyes closed.

"So, about that payment?" The other man said.

"You will get your payment in full." Fujio said. "Speak to one of my men downstairs."

"Righto." The man said, and then I heard footsteps walk away.

There was a sigh. "What a stupid man." Fujio said, perhaps a little amused. The room fell silent then, just for a couple of minutes. Then Fujio sighed again. "You may as well just open your eyes, Millie." Fujio said. "I know you are awake."

Well. Now my heart was racing twice as fast as before. Fear started to creep in. Opening my eyes took a couple of attempts- at first, it felt like they were glued shut. A side effect of being knocked unconscious was my guess. Then, when I did finally manage to open them, I had to quickly close them again. The light in the room was bright. Or, at least, it seemed bright. It did my head no favours, as the spot right at the back continued to throb.

Finally, my eyes opened. I struggled to lift my head, but when I did, I blinked, trying to get my surroundings into focus. I was sat on a hard chair, and there was a blurred figure sitting opposite me...

"Adam?" I asked, and then when my vision finally sorted itself out, I realised that it was Adam. We were in his living room, above the restaurant. I was sat opposite him, and both of us were bound to a dining room chair, wrists pulled tight behind and ankles to the chair legs. His eye was purple and puffy, and his lip had been bleeding.

A wave of pain shot through my head again, and my vision started to darken at the edges. Instinctively, I reached to touch the tender spot at the back of my head, but obviously couldn't as my hands were tied.

I saw that it was dark outside- how long had I been here?

"That was quite a hit you took." Fujio said. I turned to see that he was sitting casually at the dining table, his spirit tiger next to him. "I'm actually embarrassed to say that a random man was able to knock you out and bring you to me more effectively than four of my own men." He laughed.

I looked back at Adam. I thought he looked a little scared, although I couldn't be certain.

"It's okay, Millie." He said. "We-"

"No, it's not." Fujio interrupted. "Well, it won't be, unless you cooperate."

"What do you want?" I asked, although I knew exactly what it was.

Fujio smiled. "I want those stones. And the box- I know you know where it is."

I frowned. "How do you know that I know?" I asked.

Fujio thought about it. "I've heard things."

"Then you must have heard where it was?" I questioned. He must know where the box was. He was just trying to play me. To get as much information out of me as he could.

He laughed. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I do know where it is."

My first thought was that someone working at this restaurant must have blabbed. I only told Adam about the box, and he told his friends. It had to be one of them.

"I'm sorry, Millie." Adam said. "I shouldn't have told anyone about the box."

"It's okay." I said. It wasn't his fault he put his faith in the wrong people. Those restaurant workers were like family to him.

"So forgiving." Fujio muttered, perhaps almost disgusted, and stood up from his chair.

I looked at Adam, not sure what to say. Adam also didn't say anything, but instead struggled against whatever was tying him to the chair. Fujio slowly stepped closer to him.

"Millie, I was rather fond of that blade you let me borrow." Fujio continued. "I was quite saddened when I realised you'd taken it back. But it did inspire me to get a weapon of my own."

And with that, Fujio conjured the smokey spirit element in his hand, and out of it, he pulled out a blade. It was very similar to my own- curved, and about the length of my forearm. The only difference was that it was decorated in Japanese symbols, whereas mine were more like runes. It didn't glow under his touch, either. It just smoked.

It was in that moment that I realised what was currently wrong.

He'd suppressed my powers again.

Like before, I could still feel them there. They were just shrouded in this smokey stuff.

Suffocated and impossible to reach.

Panic started to set in, but I didn't dare let Fujio see it. It might not even last long- before, it had only been for a few minutes. It had been when Fujio ran off, so if I could just get away from Fujio...

Then Fujio stepped closer to Adam, so that he was standing behind him. Fujio placed his hands on Adam's shoulders, like a proud father. Except, Fujio was no father. He took the knife, and pressed it against Adam's throat. Adam's whole body tensed. Froze.

For a second, I couldn't breathe.

"What would you do to save this man?" Fujio asked me. "I have heard you are rather fond of each other."

"Get away from him!" I shouted, struggling against whatever was holding my wrists behind my back.

"Interesting." Fujio said, and then stepped away from Adam. "I was going to ask you to tell me where you hid the stones, but luckily I don't need to. I was quite glad that you'd gone to get the final stone for me- I reckon it would have taken me a while, what with it being stored in that little head of yours." He walked back towards the table, put the knife down, and reached into a satchel bag hanging over one of the chairs. He pulled out a little velvet bag- one that I recognised. The one that Miss Jones had entrusted me with.

I wanted to cry, because it was in that moment I realised all the people I'd let down. The people who risked everything to keep those stones safe. The people who handed them to Adam and I to stop this man from taking them.

But who was I kidding? How on earth were we to stop a man like Fujio from taking them? A man who has probably spent years searching for these stones. Who has probably sacrificed so much to get them.

Stupid. How could I have been so stupid? So careless? We should have destroyed the stones as soon as we had the chance. There was no way we would have been able to get the stones from Fujio, so what the hell were we waiting for?

Fujio tipped two stones out the bag into his hand- the one Miss Jones had given me, and the one Koji had given Adam and I. He then pulled out two more from his pocket, so that in his hand, there were four white, pyramid-shaped stones. They glimmered, even in the unnatural light of the living room.

My heart caught in my throat. Adam and I had made it our mission to stop precisely this moment from happening.

It seemed as though we'd failed.

I looked at Adam, who was just staring at the stones in Fujio's hand, although I couldn't quite read the expression on his face.

"And here we have it." Fujio said. He then returned back to the satchel, and pulled out a box.

The box.

Fuck.

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