~ 49: Under The Weather - Part 4 ~

"Hello? Mel?" I asked the person on the other side of the line.

"Hi Lesty," came a croaky voice. "I forgot to tell you that Aidan dropped me home as the cold was starting to show its symptoms. He paid the fare though, and he wouldn't let me compensate for it. Could you try giving him the money?"

"He's a stubborn guy," I said, feeling my insides crumble. "I'm not going to try giving it to him. I will probably just slip it in my pocket or and throw it at me. I can't handle his behaviour."

"Give him a day or two. He's most certainly as hurt as you or even more at having committed a blunder. He will give you a nice apology."

"That means you would have tricked him into it. You can get him to do that but not get the money, huh? Also, take care of your health. I will bring a few important things home for the two of us, though I'm upset I couldn't come along with you."

"I'm taking you home anyways," Lucas interrupted.

My instincts made me jump abruptly and cut the call. Then when my senses returned, I smacked his arm at having me perform the erroneous deed. I cursed at him and myself, earning from him some annoying yet pleasing chuckles.

I marched off towards the banquet hall, with Lucas tailing me. As soon as I spotted Aidan, my irked self returned as I strode towards him. He was sitting and laughing away with his friends, munching on his plate of food. I slammed the money in front of him, saying that it was Mel's payment, and then quickly left the university grounds with Lucas, not bothering to notice if he was as angry as I was.

"We'll take the alley beside the college to fetch those medicines for the cold for you and your friend," Lucas said as he paced swiftly ahead of me.

"You have been eavesdropping this whole time in my head, haven't you?" I asked and huffed a laugh of disbelief. "You're unbelievable. I wish I could punish you sometimes."

"Tch, you're a mood spoiler," he stated earning him a pinch on his arm from me. His yelp and laugh in return were music to my ears.

We slid into an unlit alley without any cameras for him to perform his trick of magical transportation. I held onto his shirt tightly as I felt the red light surround us and then drop us in another place close to his home. The only reason I remembered it was because I had to take this shortcut to make it to his house.

After the two of us picked up what we needed, we readied ourselves again as his power took us to the corridor in our house. We always had to land inside the dark apartment for fear of getting caught on the cameras in the corridors.

The landing was unsteady as the two of us nearly tripped on shoes, almost making Mel aware of our presence. That would be the end of us if she got to know Lucas's true identity. We leaned against the wall as I slowly tried to unlock the door, take out the key, reinsert it and lock it. We then gave out a sigh of relief as we could both walk freely, hoping that nobody had seen us or kept a record of us.

"Mel!" I whisper-yelled sharply. "We got you—"

My speech was interrupted by the eruption of the coughs. But they were very harsh ones, like the one my mother was suffering from. That was when every piece of advice I had heard hit me as I coughed harder, spilling out drops of blood. I could feel something caught in my throat that didn't want to leave just yet.

Lucas hauled me straight and put my head up. He probably thought I was choking, which was partly right. The fact that something was in my throat when I had eaten quite a while ago puzzled me.

I couldn't get what was in my throat inside or out. Mel came rushing, got Lucas to move over and hugged my chest. Then she squeezed hard near my ribs, making me bow down and spill out the fluid. It was mostly blood flowing along with the black phlegm, the white spots and a small strip of the purple fluid.

On seeing the purple fluid rise again, I perceived that Aidan's remedy hadn't worked on me. Now even the necklace seemed powerless after it had used up its efforts on me and my friends because of my decisions. I dropped to my knees as I wasn't able to hold my weight any longer.

Lucas pulled me back with my shoulders and looked deeply into my eyes. I couldn't hold his gaze as I felt weightless. I could see numerous emotions in them, but I could grab none of them right then.

"What trash was she fed?" Lucas said in his low, cold and threatening voice. "Who gave her what?"

"I don't remember anything clearly," Mel said timidly. "I think those people in the factory gave her something..."

"And? There's more that she was given."

"And yesterday, Aidan gave something that he said detects magic—"

His growl of anger resonated throughout the room. She was as quiet as a mouse, trembling with fear. And I could only close my eyes, trying to gather the energy to say it out loud than through the telepathy.

"Lucas..." I managed to say. His attention was completely on me. "Don't worry about it."

"How can anybody not worry about you being poisoned?" he said through gritted teeth. "What did the first idiot feed you?"

'The one back where you worked, unwilling I guess,' I spoke through the bond, 'he fed me something like a love potion. Because after that, your power surged through me and I got the two of them beaten up.'

"I'm taking you from here," he declared as he touched his forehead on mine. I could feel his anger seeping through the promise bond. I had never felt any emotion from him before. I guessed that he was losing control very quickly.

'Don't hurt her,' was the prayer I made as I was certain he would be using his powers soon.

He snapped his fingers causing the blood to disappear from there. Then he etched a letter on the floor which flared up and floated upwards. He grabbed it and shot it towards her. As the maiden fainted and fell, his ball of magic surrounded us and we vanished from the room then and there.