Chapter 39

       No longer how hard Jerome and I tried, we just couldn't figure out where Dirk was hiding. We already knew it was going to be difficult for us. He could be anywhere in the world, which made it next to impossible for me and Jerome to pinpoint his exact location.

       It definitely didn't help that basically nobody was giving us any sort of assistance. No matter how many times we asked Martha for help, she wouldn't listen. She wasn't taking us seriously.

       It didn't matter that Jerome was constantly proving his loyalty to the Protectors. It didn't matter that one time Jerome saved the HQ from Dirk's attack. None of that mattered, apparently. The only thing that mattered was that Martha thought Jerome and I were dangerous for being part of the prophecy.

       "I feel like we should give up," I said, tempted to lie on the floor in the middle of the Op Centre, simply because I didn't feel like doing work anymore. "We're never going to find him."

       "I wouldn't say never," Jerome said. "Besides, how much do you want to bet we'll get the blame for not finding Dirk if he's able to pull off another successful attack soon?"

       I sighed. "Fair point." That seemed to be how things worked around here. Jerome and I would get the blame for things that weren't our fault, especially if we were asking for help.

       "Maybe we just need to change our strategy," Jerome suggested. "Instead of trying to find him, we trick him into coming out of hiding. Or finding out what he's going to do next. Either way would work. I hope."

       I thought about the two possibilities, thinking about which one would be more likely to have a higher success rate. We had been doing a lot of thinking the past couple days, trying to find out where Dirk was. I didn't know if I had anymore brain juice to try to find out what he was planning next.

       Especially because once again, Jerome and I would probably get the blame if we tried to find out what he was planning next and didn't succeed.

       "I think... If we can't think of anything, we might have to try tricking him in coming out of hiding," I said. "But..."

       "But what?" Jerome asked.

       I thought some more for a bit, wondering if it was what we should do when there was a very high chance that Dirk was wanting to kill one of us. If we did trick him into coming out of hiding, that didn't mean it would be easy to capture him.

       It would probably end up leading to a fight, and I was definitely nowhere Dirk's level when it came to magic considering I just inherited magic not too long ago. Sure, Jerome was a lot more powerful and might be able to take him out.

       But Dirk could easily take me out. I needed to be a bit more prepared.

       "But what?" Jerome asked again when it took me too long to answer.

       "But I think I want to become a better magic user," I said. "I can't really help capture Dirk with my current skills, and there's no way I'm going to let you fight him alone."

       "So you want to get back to magic training?" Jerome asked.

       "But, like... More of fighting magic instead of magic that makes my life easier."

       "If that's what you want, then of course," Jerome said. "You want to head to the training room now to work on it?"

       I nodded, so that was where the two of us went. No one was there, currently, which was definitely going to make it easier for me and Jerome to train together. It was a hassle when we either had to wait our turn to fully use the room or take up one half of the room.

       Jerome stretched a bit, honestly making me feel a bit nervous to spar with him again. Last time we did so, I ended up being thrown against a wall and I would rather not go through that again. "So how should we begin?"

       Jerome stretching only gave me a slight few of his midriff, which caused me to say something without meaning to, "It might get a bit stuffy in here while we train so you might want to take off your shirt."

       Jerome stopped mid-stretch, his arms raised over his head. "What?"

       "What?" I asked. "I didn't say anything. Nothing at all. We should get started on training."

       Jerome just chuckled, clearly actually hearing what I said, but he chose not to bring it up anymore. Though, it was quite a shame that he didn't take off his shirt while we were training... Not that it was the only thing I was thinking about.

       We got started on our sparring, and at first, it seemed like I was better than I thought. Then I realized that Jerome must have been going easier on me.

       Once I gave the signal that I wanted to take a break, I sighed. "I can't have you going easy on me, Jerome. I need actual practice, and I can't get any if you're taking it easy."

       "I don't want to hurt you, though," Jerome said.

       I smiled at Jerome's consideration before I said, "I've told you before. Us Protectors have a higher pain tolerance than normal. But if you don't want to use your full power, you can at least use the amount of power you think Dirk will use."

       "Alright, if you say so."

       The sparring match didn't last long. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't overpower Jerome and I soon landed up on my back with Jerome sitting on top of me. I sighed, resting my head on the ground. "I thought I was going to last longer than that."

       "You're still doing pretty well for someone who just recently inherited magic," Jerome said. "If you just keep on training, you'll for sure be able to overpower Dirk. How about this? You can use your ability during training as well. You'll actually be using it against Dirk, probably, so I don't see why you can't use it now."

       "Can we take a break first?" I asked.

       "Yeah, of cou--" I cut Jerome off by sitting up the best I could and pressing my lips on his.

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yay i updated this! it has been two and a half years since the last chapter i am so sorry.

i swear sometimes i don't realize that the last update for my books happened over a year ago.