Chapter 27

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In Biology this afternoon, Ms. Grace was walking back and forth, explaining another theory.

"A pearl is formed in an oyster when a foreign object, like a grain of sand, is stuck in its shell," she said. "The oyster is in great pain, but if the object doesn't kill her, nature covers the object with the oozing that forms into a pearl."

Then she went on about the jellyfish, "If the environment provides the jellyfish no food, they would grow food inside themselves to feed on. They stay in the sunlight all day to photosynthesize. At night they go into deep water where there is a lot of nitrogen to fertilize. It is called 'adaptation'  everyone. We all have to adapt to any harsh conditions that life throws at us because it's our natural gift."

I listened, thinking the oyster and jellyfish are just creatures, but they figure out a way to survive. Nature might do the same to me. The more I stay with humans, eating human food and acting like a human, maybe the more human I become. Just so you know, evolution never ends. Nature has created me, and I will learn to adapt myself one day at a time.

After class, Octavia and I strolled along the hallway. I took this opportunity to ask her, "When do we start our mission?"

"What mission?" she asked, sounding like she really had no idea about it.

"Our investigation!" I hissed. "I know you've been busy doing some espionage!"

"Oh, that," she breathed. "Well, I have been collecting data lately."

"Did you find any lead?" I asked with my heart tweaked with excitement. "We'll go in search for the people who had helped our parents in the past, right?"

"Okay, that's not high on the list," she said. "First, we've got to choose who we will go to."

"For now, we know two people, your aunt Florentine and Lord Dimitri," I offered the idea. "How about we go and find your aunt first?"

"Tell me why you choose my aunt?"

"Because she's your aunt," I said automatically.

"You trust people so easily," she said, sounding like I was a complete naïveté.

"Then you want to get to that Dimitri guy?" I asked. "There are only two people who knew about our secret families."

"True," she said. "We have to be careful. My aunt is never around to find, not even in the Underworld. I had been tracking her down for two years, but there's still no trace of her. Fortunately, my father knows a lot of people, and I got to flag Lord Dimitri instead, but that's because he's one of the few vampires who run a business with the humans, sometimes even with the government officers."

"What do you mean? Vampires run business with humans and the government?"

"Yes, kind of," Octavia replied. "The top government knows about the vampire existence, but it is classified as a secret. Who knows? We may be second to the Alien cases. But vampires are different. They blend in with the socialites and other important people. It makes their lives much easier that way."

"What kind of business does that lord do?"

"He imports and exports jewelry and antique goods from around the world,"

"He sounds rich," I said.

"Filthy," Octavia agreed. "Most of the older vampires are."

"How old is he?"

"About four hundred years old or something," she said. I nodded, knowing that if you go by years, four-century-old is an impossible age, but if you convert it into a human year, that vampire lord might be as old as a forty-year-old man.

"So should we go to him?" I asked.

"My mom did talk to him a lot when she was alive," she said. "I think he has my interest."

"Good, let's get him then,"

"Viv, we can't trust anyone at the moment," she warned me. "I have to make sure that none of them is a potential threat and prove that they're really harmless."

"Then how can we get to prove that?"

"Well," she sighed, "There's a masquerade party in town tomorrow's night. A lot of moguls will be attending the event. It's part of a charity, and I think it might stand a chance that I can find him there."

"You said I, not we," I pointed out.

"Vivienne, it's too dangerous. We can't afford to make any mistake. We might end up exposing ourselves. All those vampires don't want us half-bloods to exist, remember?" she said.

"Yeah, I do, they will be after us the minute they know we're alive," I said, "But we can't live in hiding forever!"

"You have no idea what we're up against, and I certainly don't want to risk your life with me," Octavia said in a firm tone.

"How could you say that?" I said. "We've been this far. We are in it together!"

"Viv, I can't..." she tried to reason again, but I cut her off.

"My safety is the least of your worry, Octavia. I have to go!"

Octavia's cheeks blushed like bright roses. I found it so adorable, but her deep glittering eyes looked at me with this intense frown. Still, I wasn't going to back out either. We held each other's gaze for a long-suffering moment, and then Octavia started closing the distance between us. Her tall figure towered over me as my back was against the wall. She put both hands on either side of my head with her eyes still bore into mine. And for a ridiculous moment, I thought she was going to kiss me in the middle of the hallway. And some part of me wanted it.

Instead, Octavia said, "If you can get permission from your mom, then you'll be free to come with me."

My face fell completely. Octavia just smiled. She knew my curfews. If I ever asked Mom to go out again at all, I might as well tell her I was going to climb Mount Everest or cross the Pacific Ocean. Oh gosh, what should I do?

I slammed the door of the suite open, the force rattled the hinges. Cammie and Alyssa dropped everything they were doing just to look at me (literally). I noticed that Cammie was reading a thick Arabic dictionary while Alyssa was working on some devices and electronic tools on the table. It looked as if a robot just came in and took a dump there.

"Someone is not in a human mood today," Alyssa mused.

"Sorry, girls," I murmured. Then I plunged myself onto the cushion and flicked on the TV, but I couldn't focus on whatever was on the screen. Cammie leaned herself over my shoulder and studied me.

"Who made you this thwarted?"

"Nobody," I said.

"Really? You never watched TV before," Cammie noticed, reading through my face.

"We don't need to guess, Cam," Alyssa said with a confidence of a genius. "Nobody is Octavia."

They are way too smart. I knew I could never hide anything from my best friends. So I told them about what she and I were up to lately.

After I finished, Alyssa said, "Oh, so you're upset that she doesn't ask you to the masquerade ball?"

"It's not like that!" I said though it wasn't far from the truth, "Octavia thinks it's too dangerous for me, but I have to go. After all, it's about my family matter, too,"

"You know what? I can wave a magic stick on that," Alyssa said, and I smiled at her, feeling the hope rising from the bottom of my heart. I knew if Alyssa was planning something, it would never fail.

"Really? You can help me?" I asked.

"Well, not that kind of turning-a-pumpkin-into-a-chariot variety, but still, we can bring you to the ball and find your princess there," Alyssa shrugged, though I still felt awkward that my best friends were always coupling me and Octavia.

"No, I can't let her see me," I said then I remembered, "Oh heck, she still can find me!"

"But you're going to wear a mask!" Alyssa said, "She won't recognize you."

"That doesn't work," I shook my head. "Octavia and I sort of have this empathy link, remember? So we always know whenever the other one is around."

"Okay," Cammie said. "Then why not turn it around? You will sense it too when Octavia approaches you, so just take off before she could step on your tail, and even if she finds you, so what? It's not like your girl is going to throw you out of the party or anything."

"Oh yes!" I said in perky voice again, but then there was another problem that made me sigh. "But...I still don't have a masquerade dress."

"Now, that's when the fun begins," Cammie said, looking at Alyssa with a wicked smile. I tried not to gulp at their idea of fun. "Don't worry Viv, we got it."

"And how do you get me there?" I asked.

"The masquerade party is a charity cause, right?" Alyssa came to say. "And you all know who my mom is."

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