The Truth

Lucy was stunned to hear what Skylar said and angrily retorted, “Are you even listening to yourself, Skylar? Do you even realize that she meant something to me too and bringing her every time worsens things for me as well. An eternity without her is not easy on me. So, can you please stop with your obsession of sulking over her death?”

Skylar’s eyes were glossy, she stammered and said, “Luc I’m not kidding, I’m serious. I saw her, she was in front of me. She didn’t even know my name. I feigned to be someone else and she didn’t even remember me. She didn’t seem to know me at all. But it was her and I know that for sure. She’s using some other name J… Jade.”

Lucy desperately continued, “How do you know it’s her?”

“The necklace Luc, she was wearing her necklace. It was hers. the necklace was given to every twentieth-generation first-born daughter, Luc. Emerald was the first-born daughter of the twentieth generation. She never took it off because she knew it was the source of her powers. How come she gave it to a stranger? This means she was alive this whole time. The only question is why doesn’t she remember me?”

“The name that you just said ‘Jade,’ it was the other mineral behind the necklace, right?” Lucy tried to confirm. And Skylar nodded. Skylar was somewhat afraid of something as if it were eating her up from the inside. Aiden eavesdropped on their conversation about some unknown jewelry. Lucy was herself astonished and didn’t know what to say. She agreed with Skylar as it was a very sensitive matter for the two and they both decided to go back to Skylar’s apartment and investigate the matter.

After a lot of running here and there, Aiden finally found Jade and her friends. Jade was thunderstruck to see him. She whispered his name, “AIDEN.”

“Jade,” he replied with a small smile and went close to her, and they hugged. Jade thanked him for saving her life.

Emily then inquired, “So you are Aiden, huh!” Raven was in a dilemma and asked, “Wait! Wasn’t it that Ethan guy all along …?”

Emily laughed and replied, “Never mind, Raven, you missed a lot! Ethan was just a passing fancy … C’mon, let’s go grab some yoghurt.” She said as she gestured, explaining everything to Raven as they left to go to a nearby yoghurt shop.

The duo were finally alone with each other, not hiding or suppressing secrets. She asked him, “So, how come you are here today? You looked scared of me when you ran off the other day.”

“It’s not like that Jade, I … um…, I have some compulsions, I hope you understand. I can’t tell them to you right now, but I will soon,” he tried to justify his stance.

“All right, but do you care to explain to me what I saw the other night?” She sighed and queried.

“That … well no I can’t, not yet, but you need to tell me if you have encountered any sort of attack or danger in the last few days. Anything uncertain even amongst your known people.”

Jade then raised both her eyebrows and said, “First, okay, secondly you’re the only weird one I have encountered in the past few days.”

Jade then swallowed and thought to herself whether she should tell Aiden about the necklace, but again decided not to, as she felt that he didn’t open up about himself and felt that she would sound too eager and too clingy. She didn’t know for sure if she could trust him. He also didn’t give her any clarity over the matter as to who he was and what was the meaning of these untoward happenings?

Jade suddenly felt like she should tell him about the girl who came up to her for her own safety, as Emily too found something fishy in the episode. She mentioned casually, “It’s just that this girl came up to me a few minutes earlier and said that there was something stuck in my hair and removed it for me, but Emily found it weird as there was nothing in my hair earlier.”

Aiden was immediately suspicious and asked about the girl’s appearance. Jade started describing her. “She was tall, about 5’7, slim, had brunette hair and a purple streak in her hair that was let loose. She was wearing boyfriend jeans and a tee, and she had well-defined eyebrows.” Jade added the last part with raised brows.

Aiden asked about her eye color. Jade replied, “Her eye color … um…mmm, it was a shade of hazel with golden flecks.”

He told Jade to stay safe and aware and that he would be back soon. Aiden was now sure that the girl Jade encountered was Skylar. But he was confused about what Skylar wanted with Jade, there were so many people in the mall but why did Skylar go to Jade?

This opened a door to another mystery that made things even more complicated than ever for everyone be it Aiden or Skylar. Who was Jade and why did she look like Skylar’s long-lost friend? Most importantly … who was Emerald? How are Emerald and Jade related? Apart from that, a question of grave concern was whether Emerald was alive! If she was, where had she been all these years? Why hide? Every question was a mystery in itself and gave rise to new questions. But it was only Emerald who knew the entire truth.

At Skylar’s apartment, both Lucy and Skylar were digging up the old records, the ones that everyone thought to be long gone and lost to dust but in reality, some of them mainly the ones pertaining to Skylar’s history and presence were secretly saved by her. A major part of which was her journal, which she had stopped writing after the trauma of the death of her best friend, who was more like her soul sister. The grief of her death left Skylar with no words to express herself. Lucy was at the other corner of the secret apartment room. She then suddenly came up to Skylar with tears in her eyes and meekly said, “Sky, if Em is alive then maybe Trix too would have made it …” Lucy, deep down inside her, knew that what she hoped for was not possible as she had seen her sister Trixie die in front of her in the fire, which consumed Emerald as well. But since she is very much alive in flesh and blood, there was a possibility. It was nothing and just a little spark of hope.

Hope is a very dangerous state of mind. It ignites the possibility of a false perception that may never exist.

Skylar told Lucy to relax for the day, as they already had a lot to process. They both went out of the room and locked it. Skylar prepared a cool drink for Lucy. After relaxing for a while, Lucy decided to get back home.

Whereas on the other hand, Aiden informed Bree, Kayle, and Kol about the encounter with Skylar and the mystery of Jade. They did not know what it was but there was hope that they might know after they have a conversation with Skylar. Bree decided to go up to Lucy on her own to request her to make them meet Skylar, instead of spying on her and wasting time. They decided that even if Lucy denies their plea, they will go up to Skylar on their own and talk to her in a civilized manner.

Aiden’s friends then asked him what is so special about Jade that he does not let her go and is willing to take so much risk, it’s not their duty to find out who she is and protect her, but despite that he is so eager to be her knight in shining armor. Aiden laughed it off and said, ‘she is special, very special’ with that he just smiled, and they all knew the reason behind his smile at once.

But the peace was short-lived. The demons returned, and the attacks started to take place again but this time they were even more horrifying; not like the earlier cases where there were no casualties. Now humans have started to face the consequences of matters far beyond them. The first attack was reported in a club basement with four casualties of security guards, eight casualties of humans, and three werewolves. This started to unsettle the super realm. Few even blamed Skylar as she was a part-demon and considered impure. Also, because the attacks became more gruesome and ruthless since her return.