《Canyon的魔法师们》塔里

8、字条？！被禁止的Asmodian

　　-Kate-

　　At seven in the morning I was sitting in the cafeteria with my roommates. As usual, Catherine was trying to give me an oral presentation of today's newspaper, all three of us listened with our minds elsewhere. I just joined a secret student group yesterday night and was promised the access to the latest and the most classified information about this school. To be honest, I was thrilled. Although I was dying to tell Paige that I worked with her elder brother, I couldn't risk discussing about SSSC.

　　Besides, I was concerned about the message Jin Baili was talking about. Clearly he did not get it through any legal means. It was from his mother if he was not lying. Who was his mother How can anyone get hold of message written in Asmodian I was not that fluent in Asmodian at all; Mr Davis and I were just starting to work on it before I left for this school. I was told Asmodian was an old language that was used on the land of devil thousands of years ago. The mere mention of Asmodian will get you in trouble, I mean, serious trouble. Maybe it was not a good idea to be involved in this kind of mess. Whatever Jin Baili was doing, it's better for me to stay away from him and his scheme. I should be cautious, and I could still turn him down if I wanted. Unfortunately, my rational thinking led to an answer that my heart rejected. My heart was crying out for answers, and at last moment, I resolved, I was still going. For one thing, I would certainly regret if I turned down an opportunity to find relief to my acute curiosity, for another thing, It always troubled me why Mr Davis, a prestigious teacher, knew Asmodian. He never told me why and I intended to find it out on my own. Maybe that message can give a hint.

　　"Kate, are you alright" Paige was looking at me worried, "You look like a grieve philosopher just now. Something's up"

　　"Oh no! I'm good. I was thinking about who to team up with for biology lab. I don't know anyone." I lied. Oh God, forgive me, I grew quite deft at lying now.

　　Three of them started to give suggestions, throwing out names that I never heard of. Fine, I decided to try some of them in the biology lab today.

　　"Did you hear The King and Queen ball will be held in two weeks." Catherine suddenly exclaimed.

　　"The annual dance festival Zach told me before. Is it bigger than the homecoming ball" I asked. Zach regularly checked up on me, and I felt grateful for everything he taught me. Henry had a reliable friend after all.

　　"You have no idea!" Catherine gave a wishful glance somewhere behind me, and then glanced back up at my face "It is the greatest ceremony of all time. Everyone would have fun, and the president himself would award the most promising department with a real golden medal and five thousand dollars! Last year it was the science department, although I don't think anyone actually deserved it. It was all for Paige's brother!"

　　I pretended to look surprised when James Morland was then introduced to me. Basically, he was an idol of this school: good-looking, smart, and warm-hearted. Now Neo Alexander was the only one left that I know nothing about. He was not a celebrity like James and Jin. However, as if out of instinct, I felt we would be very good friends someday.

　　--
　　Sneaking out my dorm at night from the back door was not exactly my strong suit, and I was almost caught by Mr Forbes who were picking up her laundry from the wash room. I jogged to the old library in case anyone saw me. As I expected, the lock was removed. So Jin Baili must have arrived. I pulled the book and stroded downstairs in an expectant mood. Tonight I get find something out.

　　Jin was sitting on the chair, watching me as I gradually descended on the floor. He was in school uniform, but it striked me how straight and handsome he looked. He and James were good-looking in different ways. James gave an impression of amicability, but Jin, however beautiful his eyes were, looked at me as if I was his puppet. He found whatever I did stupidly amusing and it annoyed me profoundly.

　　"If you wish for my help, stop looking at me like that!"

　　"Good evening to you too!" he smirked, but quitted observing my face. "For a moment, I thought you were not coming."

　　I was actually right on time. He must be very urgent.

　　"I said I would help you." I told him, and I found it was just the reassurance he needed. So he was not lying, whatever this message was must be important to him. "Where's the message"

　　He reached in his backpack and pulled out something in his hand. He then grabbed the water bottle on the table. "Give me your hand."

　　"What are you trying to do" I reached out my left hand, looking bewildered. In my palm he dropped a golden coin. It shimmered under the light, but it was much lighter than a real golden coin which I had played with when I was a little child.

　　"A coin Where's the messageWhat trick are you playing"

　　"Shut up and look." He opened the lid of the water bottle and poured water slowly on my left palm. It was not water for fragrance of jasmines was sent to my nose when the liquid ran though my fingers. Then all of a sudden, the coin began to melt like a sugar bar in the coffee. A tiny paper ball was revealed. Jin picked up the ball and spreaded it open on the table.

　　"That was jasmine beer, totally harmless. "He then drank the rest of the transparent liquid in the water bottle, "took me a lot of trouble to get it though. "

　　I was astounded. I was born into a magical family, but I was never allowed to pry on their secrets. In my entire life, magicians were trying to keep distance from me, including my parents. I always thought: to them, we muggles have no right to understand them or work with them. It was the first time I had ever seen a magical trick. And it was amazing!

　　"You want tissue" He glanced back to me from the message, and I was sure my appreciation and excitement were written on my forehead. "Isn't this interesting!"

　　"Yes! It was amazing! I've never seen a magical trick!"

　　"I was referring to your facial expression! You look as if you were enlightened." He laughed, this time not the sarcastic smirk any more, but he looked truly amused by my remark.

　　"How I reacted is non of your business, now let's get back to the point." So he can laugh after all. "Let me see the message."

　　He handed the crumpled paper to me. There were words on it I'm sure, but they were so tiny that I have to squint to see them. Symbols and words make tangled together. Although the message was only about ten lines long, it was very hard to read. I could only pick up some words from the message. "Five, Magicians, Grand, Help, Five hundred years..." I read out some broken words. To be honest, these are the only ones that I recognized. The rest of them were either in weird shapes or were too blurry to read. But those shapes resembled something I had read back at home. What was it I forced my mind to go back to the huge and vacant library my parents had back home, trying to correspond with something I had read.

　　"It's magical symbols! Very very old magical symbols!" I cried out as I recalled.

　　I let Jin examine the paper, "I had never seen those magical symbols." he murmured.

　　"I've seen them in a book talking about magical arrays."

　　His face, suddenly turned pale, and his eyes strayed away in pain. A cry of sigh escaped him, and he turned away from me. Silence crept on the dungeon, but neither of us mind it now. I've never seen him look so aghast before. What's wrong Did something I say remind him of something terrible Why would his mother leave a message with magical symbols on it I dare not ask, cold air was forming a cocoon around him; I fear my voice was going to break him.

　　Then he turned and walked toward me. He stopped when his face completely blocked my view of the light. "Do not ever speak of this to anyone." He looked at me straight intimidating. He was trying to control me again.

　　"Tell me what's going on first. " I fought back, challenging those two eyes. Damn, Kate, it's Jin Baili you were challenging, and probably the raging him.

　　He stepped forward, and I started back in fright. He' not gonna kill me, is he "This thing is dangerous, it's going to get a lot of people killed."He said,"But it's too important to be ruined. So would you, Kate, please, keep it a secret "

　　"Is that all that's safe to say"

　　"Yes." He stepped back to the chair, thrusting the paper in his backpack.

　　"Alright then,your secret is safe with me."

　　"Can I trust you" He looked up at me again, looking for reassurance like a kid.

　　"Yes. Also, since it's that important, we need to understand it."I proposed.

　　"No! It's too dangerous, I should not have you look at it at all!"

　　"I'm in this already! There's no turning back now. It needs to be understood if it concerns innocent lives! I know..."

　　"I said no, and that's final. " He cut me off, "But thank you. It's late,you better go back to dorm" He picked up his backpack, ready to leave the dungeon.

　　This person was as strong headed as a bull! There was certainly no persuading him tonight; magical arrays required a more than three magicians, and were always dangerous and powerful. Was Jin in trouble What kind of trouble

　　He stopped on the second stile and turned to face me again.
　　"Can I ask you something" He had gone back to the cold and remote tone. "You trust me"

　　"What specifically"

　　"The message thing."

　　"Yeah, why not You look truly worried. Besides, technically, we are in a team now."

　　"The rumors... about my killing people..."

　　"Oh that! I don't think you killed that boy."

　　"Why"

　　"You are too smart for that, and too good. And the school would not take you back." I told him, expecting him to confide in me something more about himself. I was not lying. Deep inside of me, I could tell Jin had a good heart.

　　He stayed silent for at least a minute. He smiled, as if laughing at himself.

　　"What do you know about me, or the school" then off he went into the darkness.

　　"Kate! Take care!" His voice came from above.

　　As I trotted back to the dorm, I cannot stop thinking about the message and Jin. I came to find answers, but only digged up more wonders. I'm in bad need of a sleep.

　　--
　　When I started to forget about the existence of SSSC, and got used to my routine, my peaceful life was again disturbed. I was awakened by the beep of "bean"one morning. I groped through my bag and fished out the bean. "Meeting at 10 pm today--From Sarah Lancer",written in Collerian, was marching around on the screen.

　　So something had come up after all.