Jace reached out his right hand to Natalya which she took without any trace of hesitation. His gaze lingered on her confident expression for a while, not knowing what to make of it.
Considering her family status, he assumed there would be many who would try to take advantage of her. Was she so naive to voluntarily take the hand of a Teleporter for the sake of some fun? Jace didn't believe that, and yet he couldn't see any caution on Natalya's part.
Was she a runaway princess type of girl? Maybe her parents were too strict on her turning her rebellious? It would fit her dressing style and mannerisms.
"Power failure?" Natalya teased when she noticed his hesitation.
"Alright, come on" He shrugged. If she wasn't worried, why should he be?
"Don't go too far from school though" Natalya hurried to say. Jace nodded and in the next moment, they were absorbed by a swirl of purple and blue.
Jace and Natalya found themselves in a swirl of purple and blue colors. Not as mist but the distance itself was coloured.
Natalya slowly reached out her hand to it but Jace immediately pulled it back.
"You can't touch it, think of it as the horizon, only it looks closer like it's engulfing us, that's just an optical illusion," he explained.
"What is this place?" Natalya asked in amazement as she looked around at the beautiful kaleidoscope.
"I don't know what it's actually called but it's like the connection between two points, I call it a space node. All around us are chaotic storms of space, you can't see them but I can. If you get stuck in one, you could be teleported anywhere. Or decapitated and your parts randomly teleported to different places." Jace shrugged.
"Lost a hand once. Didn't hurt at all, it was a clean cut" he teased but Natalya simply stared at him with a plate expression.
She had heard, "I lost a hand once, I'd rather be gutted a million times over than experience that grinds again".
"What's wrong?" Jace asked noticing her horrified stare.
"Nothing, it's just my ability," she explained leaving out the details.
Jace wasn't one to get into other's thoughts, "Ready to get out of here?" he asked and Natalya nodded quickly.
In the next moment, she looked around and turned to Jace with an unamused expression.
"The school library?" she asked.
Jace meanwhile had a bewildered expression on his face but it was soon changed to a though frown.
"And this section of it no less, are we kissing now?" Natalya continued to tease.
This section of the Library only contained history books of the old world before the Reformation. No teacher taught anything about that and so no one bothered coming here... except mischievous couples.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Natalya finally noticed Jace's ever-changing expression.
"We just got pulled out of the void by something, this has never happened before"
"Something or someone?" Natalya asked, her entire demeanor changing in an instant. Her eyes turned cold and her muscles tensed.
"Something...I can feel it, it doesn't feel alive" Jace explained.
Natalya suddenly turned her head to the side simultaneously raising a finger to shush Jace's lips.
Feeling the warm finger crossing his lips, Jace froze up. His eyes traced down her hand to her chest tightly held in shape by her bodyfitted shirt.
Suddenly he felt a tap on his forehead, "Eyes up here". She was whispering now for some reason and that made him shiver like a drop of ice water roll down his spine. Immediately he took two steps back until his back was touching the opposite shelf leaving Natalya standing alone in the middle.
She turned to glance at him and shook her head as she muttered to herself, "Boys"
Returning her attention to the whispering voices, she focused all her powers on it. Because of her ability, she couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could clearly hear what they meant.
"We found the place but there was a problem when retrieving the vial. A kid lives there and we can't get in without making some noise"
She frowned at the phrase, "the vial", her ability should have allowed her to hear what was in the vial unless the person speaking had no idea himself.
"Kill him and bring it to me within seven days" she grating wavy and yet beautiful voice made its way to her ears. Her pupils suddenly turned into pinpoints, her ears started to bleed and she crumbled to the ground, her body jerking in convulsions.
"Natalya!" Jace shouted and kneeled beside her, hurriedly tapping her cheeks. Just before she fell, he felt the restriction in space lose up and disappear so he immediately picked her up and teleported away.
***
Natalya slowly opened her eyes finding herself in a white room.
"Dammit, the hospital? F*ck that Jace" She spat some curses unaware that Jace was sitting right beside her.
Shaking her head to regain herself, she turned to her side to push the red button on her bedside table but just as her hand rested on it, her eyes registered Jace sitting there.
"Umm, hi Jace" she smiled awkwardly.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Jace quickly asked trying and failing to hide his awkward expression.
What he heard was different from what Jace said, he heard, "A hospital? Why did Jace have to involve my parents?"
"A slight headache, should be gone in a bit" she replied feeling warm at the concern in his eyes.
Jace stared at her for a bit then glanced down before looking at her again, "I'm sorry for calling your parents I just thought they'd know better what to do since they know your ability better than I do" he explained.
Natalya's eyes widened and then she rolled her pupils in exasperation at the realization that Jace hadn't heard what she said but what she meant.
"It's okay, thank you."
"What exactly happened?" Jace asked curiously.
Before she could answer though, two figures ran into the room.
"Oh my God Nat!" Her father exclaimed shaking his head by the door while her mother ran towards her and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I didn't die before but I just might now" Natalya groaned.
"Hugging too tight" everyone heard.
Jace studied the two people who just entered and immediately he understood why Natalya was such a goddess.
Natalya's mother wore a braid, her hair dyed a light blue. One could say she was like a goddess of sexuality in the old world mythology but even that wouldn't do her justice. The woman wasn't in any way slender, she was robust but still fit and had such perfect curves that staring at her too long could easily put one under a spell. Her long crimson gown with a purple hue around the edges hugged her body so perfectly that Jace felt a little disturbed by her taste.
Turning to her father, he simply looked away. No one, no man should look that good. Jace didn't know men to be so handsome and he had seen really good-looking men but Natalya's father was something else, his intense stare, cold and yet expressive face, chiseled chin, and muscles that defined themselves through his shirt made him a perfect specimen.
"This is Jace, Jace, they're obvious. Don't worry Mom, he's not my boyfriend"