Chapter 05

I couldn't get the idea of the Seventh State assigning Emma to the case, it didn't make any sense. It raised more questions, like what isn't the Director telling us? Is the situation more critical than I thought?

I thought back to the symbols.

I shot a glance back at Emma as she walked away. She looked perfectly normal from head to toe. She didn't display any signs that something was wrong.

I let a sign leave me. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The only thing I knew was that we didn't know a lot about what was going on in the Second State.

"Are you okay?"

I broke away from my train of thought and looked down at Wallow, who had just appeared.

"Huh?"

"You sighed pretty heavily back there," he noted, "are you okay will Lieutenant Winters being on this assignment?"

"Forgive me, Sargent, but that matter is classified, and I don't think my opinion matters," I replied.

"Did you know that Lieutenant Winters is Special OPS, SS Class?"

PLAY STUPID!

"Come again?" I blurted out.

"SSH," Wallow hushed me.

Just then, Emma had whipped right back around the corner. I snapped a look at Emma.

"Sorry, went the wrong way," she stated.

Once she passed, and Wallow and I gave her a smile, I continued.

"What do you mean she's SS class?"

"You didn't know?" Wallow questioned.

"Of course not," I lied.

"I had a friend look her up really quick, and he told me that she's SS Class, black operative, and hyper-lethal."

There was a ting of worry in Wallow's voice.

"Well, this just got more interesting," I re-iterated; more to myself than to Wallow.

Once we gathered our travel gear and meet at the rose gate, we teleported to the train station. My thoughts were torn from the mission to the station itself. There were different smells of food, other languages, and even the structure of the station was magnificent.

Overall, it looked like your typical train station except for the trains; they were beautiful, massive, multi-colored, oriental dragons hissing, growling, snarling at one another with box cars trapped on top of them.

I didn't mind dragon trains; they were better than planes. They were faster than most planes, cheaper, and best of all, closer to the ground.

"Oh my gosh," Emma gasped in delight.

I turned my gaze to a dragon with blue florescent tattooing all over its visible body. I couldn't help but smile; she loved dragons.

"Those tattoos on its body are cool!" she called to us.

"They help the cars to stay on the dragon," I informed her when we caught up with her.

"They do?"

I chuckled.

"Yes, the conductors," I pointed to one in overalls and had the same matching tattooing and cleaning a horn of his dragon, "place magic seals on the dragons so that cars don't fall off."

"Who are the conductors?" Emma asked.

"They're druids that specialize in dragons," I added.

"I thought that druids were like more in tuned with the forest and nature?" Emma countered.

"Most are, but there are different classes of druids that specialize in animals," Wallow added.

There were plenty of "oohs" and "awes" from Emma and me. We grabbed our tickets and zigged-zagged between people to get to our platform.

The place was packed for the afternoon except for our lane and platform. It was quieter than the others and was a relief. I checked the overhead board for incoming trains. Ours was going to be arriving at 12:30. That as in fifteen minutes.

Need to kill time.

"So, who's going to meet us there for the investigation?" I leaned over to Emma.

"It so happens to be your old boot camp comrades, Fitzgerald and Abby, do you remember them?" Emma asked.

My skin crawled at Abby's name. Abby was a talented paladin who use to work for the Seventh but transferred to the Second for a better opportunity to advance in rank. Abby was a little redheaded girl, eighteen, the same age as Emma, with an overly, presumptuous obsession of me.

Fitzgerald was another talented paladin that transferred for the same reasons. He was the same age as me but only moved to follow Abby. He had his eyes on her since boot camp.

I only hope that he snagged her.

"Yes…" I groaned.

"They'll be meeting us at the station when we arrive and taking us to a town called Abramstown, where we will be investigating."

Emma's response was short, sweet, and to the point. Then, she stuck her nose back into her phone to answer texts that she was keeping very private.

Before too long, our train roared its arrival and slithered into the station and stopped at our platform. The dragon hissed, and ramps shot down from the doors of the cars. Passengers offloaded going to their next destination in a hurry.

Emma and Wallow boarded the train, having their tickets checked while I took a moment to gain my wits. I stepped on the ramp; it wiggled a little from the dragon's movement. Anxiety shot up my leg. I shot up the rest of the way.

The ticket man checked my ticket and motioned with his hand to keep moving along.

"Eugene," Emma's voice rang out.

I spotted a hand in the air above the other passengers. I squeezed in between the other passengers and was pulled into the room with Emma and Wallow.

"I didn't hear you behind us," Emma stated with concern.

"Oh yeah, well," I pointed to the exit of the train, "I didn't want to get on."

Emma let out a soft giggle. I scratched my head and took a seat next to Wallow. Emma sat across from me, pulling out a book and flipping to a chapter.

"All ABORDED!"

The train shifted from side to side but didn't tip off the dragon's back. It did shoot another wave of anxiety up my spine.

"This is why I don't like the train," I whimpered, getting no sympathy from Wallow, or Emma who was hiding a tiny smirk on her face behind her book.

The dragon stood on its feet. The car shifted back and forward. If our room didn't have windows, I wouldn't have known that the dragon had launched.

Before I knew it, the inside of the station became blue skies. My mouth watered as my stomach started to knot. I swallowed, determined to fight off the sickness for the first few hours of the five-hour-long flight.

"I think I'm going to go to the dining car," Wallow opened with, after an hour of silence.

"I haven't had lunch, and my stomach's reminding me. Anyone care to join me?" Wallow offered, hopping down off the seat and waddled to the door.

"No, thank you, I'm fine," Emma mentioned, still reading her book.

"I don't feel like eating," I grunted, continuing my staring contest with the ceiling.

"Very well. I'll be back after a bit."

The door closed with a soft click.

I needed something more to keep my mind off the growing twisting nauseousness in my gut.

"Why are you really on the mission," I let out.

The expression on Emma's face was of pure bewilderment.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Why is the Seventh State sending an assassin to the Second State for this investigation?"

"That's not exactly what you said," Emma drawled out.

"Imma slap you."

"Try it," Emma dared me, her eyes narrowed.

"No, seriously."

"Hue," Emma began, dropping her book and looking at the door, "You know that's classified, and you have no authority to know otherwise."

"So, there's more to it then the Director wanted us to know," I stated, rubbing my eyes trying to forget my stomach.

"That's not what I said, nor is it what I'm implying," Emma answered.

I felt like I hit a cord.

"Will you tell us, eventually, what else is going on?" I pressed, sounding more aggravated from my illness.

"Hue…"

"I mean come on…"

"Eugene!" Emma snapped.

I opened my eyes looking into Emma's one blue eye and one yellow. Her face was emotionless, but those eyes were full of concern.

"Have you taken anything for your motions sickness?" she asked, dropping her tone altogether.

Immediately, I felt my body soften. I hadn't realized that I was getting upset, not forgetting any information out of Emma, but that my pain in my stomach was getting worse. I had wrapped my arms around my stomach without noticing.

"Sorry," I admitted, feeling my ears heating up.

I dug through my bag. I started to pull out the contents of my bag comprehending one thing. I hadn't packed my meds for the trip.

I was left with my jaw dropped and mouth wide open. I turned to Emma's horror-struck.

"Lay down," she ordered, beginning to repack my things.

"But…"

"That wasn't a request, Hue."

"You sound like Mimiku," I shot.

"Guess where I got it from," she smirked.

I didn't put up much of a fight after I helped put my things away. I laid down, placing an arm over my eyes, and focusing on anything other than my present dizziness.

There was a rustle of plastic paper and a sweet mint smell; peppermint to be precise. I lifted my arm in time to see Emma pop the mint into my mouth. I was going to say something, but she set a finger on my lips.

Her finger smelt sweet.

"Shut it," she smiled sweetly, "suck on this and try to fall asleep."

My face went hot, and Emma giggle. She must know that my face was red. I put my arm back over my eyes, helping me to hide my flushed face.

The peppermint began to take effect and calm my stomach. Relief came to me at last, and I slipped my arm down a little to peek at Emma. She was reading a book and, oddly enough, she had reading glasses.

I didn't know she had reading glasses. She looks super cute!

The book was a romance novel thriller from the title: Blood and Sweet Chocolate.

I am a necromancer, Emma. I have been our whole lives. I have wanted to tell you for the longest time.

The thought ran through my head on repeat. I knew that I couldn't and that I was protecting, not only her but me. She made me feel so; what was a good description?

Emma made me feel, exposed, comfortable, stupid, numb, warm, encouraged, like I could take on the world. She was smart, sweet, and she makes my face really hot. I let my lip curl up softly.

The door slid open and in walked Wallow. Emma snapped her book shut startled at the sudden movement.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you, Ma'am," Wallow asked for pardon, "what happen with my Corporal?"

"He wasn't feeling well. He has motion sickness. I told him to lie down and rest for as much of the trip as he could. I think that he's passed out," Emma noted.

Ha! No, I'm not!

"Ah, I hope that he feels better before we land," Wallow answered, hopping up on the seat next to Emma.

Emma opened her book, finding the spot where she was interrupted, and continued.

"If I may, could I ask you a question?" Wallow inquired.

"Of course," she whispered, marking her place.

"Do we need to worry more about this case than we should?"

Emma took a minute to think and responded, "At this time no."

"Right now, there's a lot of speculation and rumors. I'm not going to say, or rather, I'm not at liberty to discuss those rumors," she concluded.

"Ah, very well Ma'am."

Wallow folded his hands together and stared out the window. I examined Emma more so her hands. Emma was a master of a poker face. Her index finger that she dug into the corner of her book was the tell that concerned me.