NoGift

Chapter 28: back to square one

ARGENT immediately shielded Aurum, then calmly looked at the man who called himself 'Gecko'. He opened the prison cell and entered. "Who is your target?" she didn't hesitate to ask. If this guy was a member of Dreich Gallere, then the only reason why he kidnapped them was because he was hired to kill someone in their group.

Gecko sneered at him. Although he was slightly shock that this little boy knew about Dreich Gallere, but once he thought about the boy's identity, he immediately calmed down. He's a duke. Even though he's still young, it's not impossible for someone to teach him about the most famous assassins organization in the world. "Why do you think that I only have one target? I could be here to kill all four of you."

Argent felt Aurum shivering behind her after they heard what Gecko said. She held her sister's hand, silently reassuring her that she wouldn't let anything happen to her. "You could have been hired to kill Finn or me. But it's absolutely impossible for someone to hire you to kill the four of us."

Gecko raised one of his eyebrows. "Oh? May I know why the little lord would think so?" he asked with a bit of mockery in his voice.

"Killing Finn would certainly bring benefits to someone, like being the next head of the McAllister family. The same reason that if I was killed then someone else could take the title of the Duke of Hanover. But it's absolutely impossible for a single individual to gain those benefits by killing all four of us," she answered.

Since Jaxon doesn't have any children, then the heir of the McAllister family was automatically Finn. But Argent heard that the McAllisters have a lot of branch families. Certainly there's someone who definitely wanted to take the whole McAllister family as their own. And one of the easiest way to do that was to kill the heir. The same reasoning could be applied to her. If she's gone, then some distant cousin could easily take the title from her.

But the people who wanted Finn dead and the people who could possibly want Argent dead, were in two different countries, not to mention continents. And the possibility of them colluding to get rid of her and Finn was absolutely low. So if someone hired this Gecko to kill her or Finn then it could only be either one of those two. That's why it's highly improbable for Gecko to be hired to kill all four of them.

Finn stared at everything that's happening. He couldn't believe that Argent could talk calmly about someone hiring an assassin to kill either one of them. He heard about Dreich Gallere from his Uncle Jax. Being from the wealthiest family in the country, it's inevitable for them to be subjected to assassination attack. That's why he knew about Dreich Gallere. They kill anyone for the right price. Hearing this guy admitting that he's from that organization, for the first time in his life, Finn felt fear.

And here was Argent, acting all calmly as if they're not in a dark prison cell with an assassin out to kill one of them. Finn couldn't understand why he could easily act this way. It's even more unbelievable because Argent was a NoGift. Where does he get this kind of courage? He didn't even know but a seed of admiration was already starting to sprout in his young heart.

Gecko suddenly laughed. It's not a pleasant sound, almost like a nail scratching the surface of a glass. "You're quite smart, little lord. As a reward, I'll answer your question. Someone hired me to kill the little master of the McAllister family."

Finn's muscles tightened. Although he already somehow expected that answer, it's still made him gnashed his teeth. In anger or fear, he was not even sure. "Who hired you?"

Gecko grinned maliciously at him. "One of your family members."

"It's probably that damn dog-faced bastard!" Ruby exclaimed angrily talking about their Uncle's cousin. He's the only one who always wanted to be the owner of the McAllister family. "Whatever he paid you, our Uncle could double- no, triple it. Just let us go."

"That's not how this works, little lady. I couldn't violate the contract I made with your family member. That would reflect badly on our organization, you know."

"If you're target is Finn, why did you also kidnap us?" Argent interrupted. Certainly, he didn't take them to kill them. After all, according to Viper, they don't kill people without contracts. But that's only according to him, this guy might be totally different.

"I only really planned to kill him, but then I saw the three of you. Seeing your pretty little faces, I thought why not earn extra gold coins out of you three? So I decided to auction you off. There are a lot of perverts in this world, you know. And they just love beautiful little kids like you. The three of you will surely fetch a huge sum of gold coins," he answered in a tone as if he's just talking about the weather.

"You want to sell us?" Ruby said incredulously.

"That's what I said," Gecko said, smiling at them.

"Where did you take us?" Argent asked, already had a bad hunch.

"The dungeon of a famous underground auction hall. Once I kill young master Finn here, I'll take the three of you straight to the auction that will happen a few hours from now. Convenient, right?"

Argent's brain worked double time, thinking of a way on how they could escape this mess. Then an idea came to her. She looked up at Gecko. "Viper mentioned you to me," she said calmly, completely lying through her teeth.

The moment she said that, Gecko's attention completely focused on her. "How did you know that name?"

"Because I know him. Platinum blond hair, different colored eyes, that's him, isn't it?" Gecko's pupils shook. That's certainly Viper. He just couldn't fathom how he could reveal his real face to a little lord from Albion. "He mentioned you quite a few times. He said you're too weak and useless. That you'll always stay at the bottom of the hiearchy. Always trying to get through but could never really enter the inner circle."

Gecko's expression immediately turned viscious. He didn't doubt what Argent said, because it's something Viper would totally say. Argent secretly smiled when she saw his dark face. That's what she wanted. For him to get angry enough that he would momentarily lose reason. She just guessed that Gecko was not in the upper echelon of Dreich Gallere. No one with a high position would sell off three children just to earn more gold coins. Argent hasn't had time to think more when Gecko suddenly grabbed her neck and lifted her from the floor.

"Brother!" Aurum shouted.

"Repeat what you said," Gecko ordered, his grip on her neck getting tighter.

Argent couldn't breath. Her lungs already felt like it's burning because of lack of oxygen. But she still managed to give Gecko a smug look. "I said... *cough* you're w-weak."

Gecko's grip became tighter and tighter. His vision was completely dimmed with anger, he didn't even notice when Argent took her sword from her space ring and plunged it to his chest. Argent made sure that she burried the sword deeply through Gecko's heart. His grip on his neck disappeared and Argent fell on the floor. She coughed a few times before standing beside Gecko who also fell on the floor.

There was shock on his face but it immediately changed into a sneer. "You will regret this."

She ignored him and pulled the sword from his chest. She immediately noticed that there was not even a drop of blood on her sword. Not even on Gecko's chest. Argent's brows furrowed. But before she could even think on the hows and whys, Gecko's body began to turn into dust.

"What the heck?" Ruby exclaimed.

"Are you okay, Brother?" Aurum asked, worried. Completely disregarding what happened to Gecko.

"I'm okay, Aurum."

"That was probably connected to his Gift," Finn said referring to Gecko's body that completely disappeared. Argent couldn't agree more. That's the only reason she could think of anyway. Finn turned to her. "That was completely reckless of you."

"We don't have time for this." Argent turned to Aurum first and easily cut her handcuffs. Then she turned to Ruby and did the same. Lastly, she cut Finn's. "We need to get out of here before someone noticed what happened."

Finn didn't argue anymore and made a slashing motion towards the prison bars. The prison bars were immediately cut into pieces. The three of them went out. The cell was located at the end of a corridor so there's only one way they could go. They ran straight ahead without stopping until they came to a fork in the road. They could either go to the left or to the right.

"We need to separate," Argent said without thinking twice.

"No," Finn didn't hesitate to oppose.

"The exit could only be either on the left or the right. We would waste too much time if we tried both ways. If one of us find the right way, then they could escape here much faster and they could look for help. That's the only chance we got." Argent's voice asked for no arguments. "I and Aurum will go to the right and you and Ruby will go to left."

Before Finn could argue further, Argent already pulled Aurum towards the right. Finn muttered a curse and has no choice but to pull Ruby towards the left.

"Brother, is this really alright?" Ruby asked hesitantly while following her brother.

"Hell if I know." Finn clenched his jaws, he couldn't help but be filled with worry. Argent was a NoGift while Aurum couldn't use her Gift to the fullest. If they encountered trouble, then there's no way they could defend themselves. The only way to prevent that was to get out of here more quickly.

So he ran faster.

On the other end, Argent and Aurum were also running as fast as they could.

"Aurum, listen to me, if we meet any danger, I want you to remove that bracelet. Okay?"

"But Brother--" Aurum couldn't help but remember what she did three years ago. Remembering all those dead bodies, her whole body voluntarily shivered.

"It's okay, Aurum. You could never hurt me." Aurum's ability was something to be feared of. But because of Argent's special constitution, it could never affect her. It would surely come in handy during this situation. Especially now that they're separated from Finn and Ruby. Aurum could freely use her Gift without affecting the two.

When they saw the stairs, Argent pulled Aurum faster. But they haven't even reached it when someone familiar walked down the steps. Argent couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise.

"Do you really think you managed to kill me?" Gecko asked with that sinister smile. "What you stabbed earlier was a copy. This one too is a copy by the way. As long as no one kills my original body, I wouldn't die. And just so you know, my body isn't here."

"That's your Gift, making copies of yourself?" said Argent.

"Yes. Kind of convenient with my job, really. Now, what did I say earlier? Ah, yes. That you will regret what you did."

Before Argent could move, Gecko already blew that annoying powder towards her face. Then everything turned dark.

----------

When Argent woke up this time, she was in some kind of pit. She looked around and saw the countless audience above. It was like she was in a gladiator arena. Then her sight fell on a small cage hanging above the other end of the arena. She could clearly see the long golden hair of the person inside.

"Aurum..."

She started walking towards the end. But then a sudden voice filled the surrounding.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said a man on a platform, wearing a half-mask. "Before we start the auction, one of my dear friend prepared a special entertainment for you. You would be able to witness on how this beautiful boy will save her sister amidst all obstacles," he added dramatically.

Then dozens of men suddenly entered the arena, looking at Argent as if she was some kind of prey.

A drop of sweat fell from her forehead. The only thing on Argent's mind was - how the heck would she get herself and Aurum out of this shit hole?