“Hey ugly,” I greeted when Danson picked up the phone.

“Hey princess,” he greeted me back.

“You called?”

“Alien told me you were back. Where the hell have you been? I’m pretty sure you haven’t been sick as Alien told me.”

“Why? His servants nursed me,” I tried to cover. I could nearly hear he was grinning when he said:

“Please, Xiao Jie. I know you better than that. You would insist on going home immediately instead of making use of the Huang family’s hospitality.”

“Well, you know… When it’s about Alien, it’s different,” I said. “You know he proposed to me, and…”

“Bad excuse. You’ve told me you like another, and responded with a ‘no’ to Alien’s proposal. Try again.”

I sighed.

“Okay, I can’t really tell you. Just forget about it, okay? And don’t mention it in front of my parents. Especially the proposal-thing! If they knew about it, they would force me to marry him immediately, and…”

“Okay, I get it,” he laughed. “Shouldn’t we meet up?”

“Good idea, I actually have something to ask you…”

Ten minutes later, Danson and I were walking around a park – the one where I had found the riddle paper about the Flower Ring.

Every time I looked at it, it was like a very clean feeling put my mind at ease. I actually looked forward to see what powers it gave me. The Silver Ring had given me very strong basic powers (that I couldn’t all control yet) and power to not say spells out loud. What would this give me?

I was in the middle of describing George’s sword to Danson. I had explained that it was ‘a sword I had seen at a friend’s house.’

“To me, it sounds like a black sabre of some kind. But it’s hard since I can’t see it. The way it is made by the blacksmith usually tells where in the world it’s from,” Danson said.

“Okay… it doesn’t really matter anyway. I just want to use the right word for it. ‘Sabre’…”

“Sure you won’t tell me where you’ve been?”

“Sure.”

The mood was a bit depressed when I ate lunch with Genie, Alien and Show in the cafeteria the next day. Albee, Amber and Angela were flirting with some random good looking guys while sending evil glares to Aaron and his group of friends.

Genie and I were talking about her new school, but Show’s presence restricted us from talking about the exact reason why I couldn’t go too.

In an Alien-free moment, I whispering told Genie what had happened between me and Aaron. She was worried and happy at the same time.

When Alien and Show came back from getting (more) food, Aaron and his three friends joined us. Alien looked a bit disgusted at them, Genie tried her best to hide it and Show ate his recently acquired cookie without noticing anything.

“Hey.” Aaron smiled one of his rare smiles. Jiro, Calvin and Chun looked a bit uncomfortable, even though Chun seemed to envy Show’s cookie.

I nervously smiled back. Guess we couldn’t really talk among all these people – especially since Alien and Aaron’s last meeting didn’t go that well. But our eyes said the unspoken words.

Jiro cleared his throat.

“So, I heard you had a ballet contest?” he asked Genie.

“Yes,” she shortly answered, and continued to eat her lunch.

“Then how did it go?”

“Genie won first place,” I smiled.

“Oh… congrats, then.”

The four newly arrived guys also started eating again. We were all silent until Amber, Albee and Angela came back.

“OH my GOD, what are THEY doing here?!” Albee exclaimed. Angela covered her nose, and Amber pulled on an expression like she was staring at some extremely nasty maggots.

“Eating, obviously,” I said, my voice thick with sarcasm.

“Yeah, but they’re like… eating HERE…”

“If you can’t take it, then move your skinny butts to somewhere else.”

“Holy Chanel, Gui Gui, what happened to you?” Angela broke in.

“Yeah, you don’t usually speak like that to us,” Amber went out of her disgusted expression.

I got on my feet.

“Do you know what? I’m pretty tired of you three. Can’t you accept that some people are different from you?”

I left my food and walked to class.

I was talking to Jolin in the cafeteria of the head quarter. All Coders had been informed about my and Aaron’s mission, and George was of course expelled from the organization. Not that he had tried to come back.

This afternoon, I had been to two meetings with Jack; first he had wanted me to tell everything I remembered, my account of the mission; second, he had brought some professionals to see if it really was the Flower Ring.

Genie had to fill out a lot of forms to join the new school, so she was too busy to be with me today. Luckily, I had found Jolin, and was in the middle of telling her about my day.

“…and I can’t take them anymore. The way those three talk really gets to my nerves…”

“It can’t be…”

“…us three…”

“…you’re talking about?”

I looked behind me. Ella, Hebe and Selina all stood with milkshakes.

I sighed.

“No, it’s three of my… friends,” I explained. They sat down, all as one.

“Then I won’t be…”

“…offended,” Hebe smiling ended Ella’s sentence.

I poked my piece of chocolate cake with the stick. I hadn’t eaten any of it yet.

“I actually liked George. I thought he was my friend,” I mumbled.

“Are you sure it really was him? Wasn’t it dark?” Jolin tried to reason.

“I am completely sure. It couldn’t be any other, and by the way, the Silver Ring lit up for me. I just can’t believe he really is from that organization… BB…”

“Janosch and Z19 are still asleep. We haven’t found any cure yet,” Hebe informed me. She had tears in her eyes. I remembered that it was one from BB that had killed her fiancé.

“There might not be a cure,” a very well-known voice said behind me.

Aaron pushed me a bit so he could take up half of my chair. I moved my plate so he could place his next to it.

“Some of the doctors say it’s possible,” he continued in the same, serious tone. I leaned my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

“I have a friend who is a weapon specialist. Some kind of advanced blacksmith. He said George’s sword was some kind of black sabre,” I told. “I described it to him. He said that if he saw it, he could maybe tell where it was made.”

He had also chosen chocolate cake, and started eating.

“Is it that friend who called you on Thursday?” he asked.

“Yes. Danson just came back from the military in Russia.”

“Wow, Russia?” Jolin broke in. I nodded, and opened my eyes.

“He is brilliant at solving and making up riddles. He always told them to me when we were smaller,” I smiled.

“Can you tell one now then?” Selina excitedly asked. I nodded again.

“Okay. There is a small house with only one door and no windows. Inside the house, there is a lamp. Outside the house, there is a box with three switches. It stands ten metres from the house, so you can’t reach the door from there, nor are there any tools near. In the lamp sits a 40 watt bulb. You now have to find out which switch is the one connected to the lamp. You may switch them on and off as much as you like, but you may only go inside the house once, and you can’t let the door be open while you’re by the switches. How are you going to solve it?” I smiled. This had always been one of my favourites.

The four girls and one guy looked dumbfounded.

“Is this even possible?!” Jolin exclaimed after thinking for a while.

“Of course,” I grinned. Danson’s riddles always excited me, no matter if I was telling them or solving them.

“Alright. I give up,” Ella, Hebe and Selina said at the same time.

“Me too.” Jolin massaged her temples.

“I want to hear the answer too,” Aaron said. I light had been switched on in his eyes, I thought.

“Gah. You’re so impatient. I used three days to solve this! Okay then.” I lifted my head from Aaron’s shoulder and leaned in over the table.

“First, you turn the first switch on. You leave it on for five to ten minutes before turning it off and turning the next one on. Then you walk into the house. It the lamp lights, you know it’s the second switch that works. If it is turned off and cold, you know it’s the third one. If it’s turned off but warm, you know it’s the first switch that works.” I smiled brightly when they all gaped.

“…and this you figured out when you were eight? No wonder you solved that riddle about the Flower Ring,” Aaron looked impressed at me. As it was the first time I had seen him look at anybody like that, my already proud self-confidence build up.

“Actually, it was below my standard to use so much time on it. If I hadn’t known it was connected to the Rings, I’d never have solved it. These where you get all the circumstances and just have to figure out what to do are easier,” I smiled.

“But the question is…”

“…how will you find the last three Rings?” This time it was Selina finishing Hebe’s sentence.

“I’ve got no idea yet. I found the Flower Ring because of a coincidence… and I’m still speculating about how the riddle got there in the first place,” I sighed. It actually felt a bit weird not to have Genie by my side. But I had to get used to it…

Alien and I were walking in the park, by request from my parents. Who of course didn’t know how awkward it was.

“So you found that ring-thingy?” Alien asked when we had been walking in silence for some time.

“Yes. It’s my favourite so far,” I smiled. “I just don’t know what power it gives me yet.”

“It can’t be evil powers. It’s so pretty,” he stated. I kept silent before responding.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover. I also thought George was a happy, cheerful friend of mine before he attacked me in the middle of a forest,” I sighed. “I think this is more powerful than it seems to be. I can feel it.”

Alien walked in his own thoughts for a while.

“Hey, stop! You stepped on a mini frog, clumsy! What where you’re stepping…” I kneeled down to pick the poor frog up. It wasn’t dead, but nearby.

“It’s in pain. Maybe it’s best to kill it,” Alien bowed down to look at it.

“No way. I can’t kill it,” I exclaimed. I closed my hands around it, but as soon as the palm of my hand touched its head, it croaked. I opened my hands, and it jumped down immediately.

As good as new.

“Wha…?” The croak had sounded like words. But that couldn’t be…

“Croak kwak!” It definitely sounded like it said ‘thank you’. I looked stunned at it while it jumped away.

“Okay. What just happened?” Alien sounded a bit terrified.

“No idea,” I whispered. “Wait… Let me test this!”

I crunched the leaves of a flower, and they withered with unnatural speed. I then held my hand around it, and it bloomed again.

It was like a light bulb lit up in my head. But did this mean that…?

I looked at a small bird. It was singing like any other bird. I reached my hands towards it. It turned its head and looked judging at me, while I soundlessly begged it to fly down through my mind.

Slowly, it spread its wings and flew down in my hands. I stared dumbfounded at it. It chirped a few times, and looked interested at me. But I didn’t understand what it ‘said’.

Alien looked very confused at me when I placed my hand on its head. Suddenly, it felt like a connection was made.

“Chirp tweet tweet?” ‘Who are you?’

“My name is Wu Ying Jie. Friends call me Gui Gui,” tried to say, well-knowing that I might’ve looked insane while talking to a bird.

It cocked its head and blinked.

“Gui Gui. My name Penny.” It felt too odd to be true. But I felt the bird’s claws pricking my hands, so it wasn’t a dream.

“Hi Penny. Do you have little ones?”

Alien now looked very worried at me. Like he was anxious about my mental health.

“No. Cat took.” It really did look sad, and I started to pity it.

“Do you know what? We have a bird house in my garden. The cats can’t reach there.” I looked around to check no one was looking.

“Me see?” It smiled with the eyes.

“S-sure. Just sit on my shoulder.”

Alien disbelieving followed it with the eyes while it flew up at made itself comfy on my left shoulder.

“What… the… heck?!” he exclaimed, when I started walking towards my home.

“This must be the power the Flower Ring gives me! Healing and… speaking to animals.” This was no doubt my favourite ring. It truly suited me, much more than raw attack powers and fighting skills.

When the bird had approved of the bird house with view to the whole back of our huge garden, I realized something.

“Wait, if I can heal things… then I might…?”

I suddenly ran off and left Alien even more confused in the back of my garden.

“Jolin, what ward is Janosch in?” Jolin had run after me from the reception.

“I can show you… but… why?”

We were both out of breath when we stood by Janosch’ bedside. I quickly laid my hand on his pale forehead and thought to myself; ‘Wake up… oh please, let him wake up…”

***

“Gui Gui, I know you don’t want to marry me, but this might be fun for you to see, as my friend…”

He opened a small box and revealed... I couldn’t believe what I saw.

---

“There’s really not something you want to tell me? About you and Alien?” He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. My silence after his question was too long.

---

“Goodbye, Genie. I don’t know how to live without you.” I cried once again. I couldn’t help it.

“We must write everyday, okay?”

I sniffled. But I couldn’t tell her. Yet.

***

Note: George’s sword looks like this: http://jodysamson.com/images/swords/7-19-06/curved-saber-w-fuller.jpg, the blade is just black.

I hope this was long enough xD

And sorry for leaving a cliffhanger… again. I know I’m selfish, but cliffhangers really makes it easier to write more. It’s like my drug against writer’s block, lol. Sorry :’(

My friend Gril (Gril4Life) has made me addicted to “Watcha Say” by Jason Derulo. And gah! Have you seen Show at the Next Magazine Awards? (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7NxEjgZz5s8/TGRqo0D5oVI/AAAAAAAACVI/zGXCSJrXdyA/s400/20108050078) He looks sooo young and sizzling hot with his hair away from his forehead. I want to touch his forehead, his skin is so perfect. Lol <3 okay, calm down Blitz. Don’t fangirl in the middle of the night. Hurry up and update so your readers don’t kill you or leave you.

Thanks for all your comments, you guys are amazing (:

Now that I finally got photoshop again, I think I’ll make some more graphics for this fanfic.

And please please please comment :3

- Blitz