In a room lit with glow emanating from the walls and floors, Layla stood motionless in the center, her eyes closed. A yellow paper, inscribed with intricate red characters, was stuck squarely on her back.
The sharp sound reverberated through the room, jolting Layla awake. Her eyes fluttered open, disoriented, only to focus on a familiar figure with messy red hair tied into a ponytail. The girl stood a few feet away, a subtle grin playing on her lips.
"Ava," Layla muttered, blinking rapidly. Her gaze darted around the strange surroundings as confusion etched itself onto her face. "Where is this? What happened?" she wondered aloud. The fragmented memories began piecing together—she had been in the Landers' shed. Her cursed smartphone alarm had gone off, and before she could act, she'd been zapped unconscious.
Her body instinctively tried to move, but no matter how hard she strained, she was frozen in place. Groaning in frustration, she fixed Ava with a sharp glare. "Who are you?" she fearlessly demanded, her voice steady despite her predicament.
Ava's grin widened, her expression mischievous as she replied in a familiar, feisty tone. "I'm whoever you want me to be, honey." She began to circle the room, her figure shifting as she spoke. Her body stretched and morphed, transforming into that of a muscular man in his mid-fifties with short red hair. His voice dropped into a deep, commanding timbre. "A friend or a foe—it's up to you."
Layla's frustration flared, her voice cutting through the air. "Cut the tricks and stop talking in riddles! What have you done to me?" she roared, not letting helplessness overshadowed her determination.
The man chuckled, the sound low and resonant, before his form shifted again. As his muscles shrank and his frame slimmed, his voice rose into a feminine pitch. Now a slender, ivory-skinned woman with a dark, wavy bob cut stood before Layla. "I thought waking up to a familiar face would be... comforting, given your circumstances," she said, her voice mockingly sweet. "As for your frozen body? Well, that's just a precaution—so you don't try anything funny and make me kill you by accident."
"Why did you apprehend me? What do you want from me?" Layla demanded, her eyes searching her captor for any hint of their intentions.
Fake Layla leaned in closer, staring intently into Layla's eyes. "You tell me. You were the one who came to this town tracking me. Well, here I am—you found me."
Layla feigned ignorance, her expression calm but her mind racing. "What are you talking about?" she asked casually. No one should know what she was doing here—not just for her own safety, but for the entire C.I.B.
Fake Layla smirked, shaking her head. "You don't have to pretend, sweetheart. You left your cursed smartphone unlocked, so I couldn't help but take a peek. Unfortunately for me, now I know everything. Especially what you and your friend from the surveillance department have been up to. What were you guys thinking?"
Layla's face drained of color. Her worst fear had come true. The very scenario she dreaded when accepting her friend's risky proposition had now unfolded. She couldn't help but regret it all—jeopardizing not just herself, but the entire C.I.B., all for what? To track down a handful of rogue curse users? She had messed up big time.
Fake Layla tilted her head, noticing Layla's despair. "Do you know where you went wrong?"
Layla took a deep breath, nodding slowly. "It was the car, wasn't it?" She answered understanding that a rogue curse user wouldn't dare to kidnap a C.I.B. agent unless it was the last resort.
Fake Layla's eyes narrowed, her frustration evident. "I've been monitoring you the whole night. I had no intention of harming you, even though I helped your C.I.B. agents. All to have my disciple candidate stolen from me by them. But when you came for the car, I knew you knew something you shouldn't."
She paced a few steps back, her anger simmering. Layla stood her ground, going through her captors words repeatedly in her mind. She had to find a way out of this, but for now, she was trapped by her own mistakes.
"Wait, it was you who broke the Sky Prism Array formation," Layla asked her captor in shock. She had read the report on the Treasure Lake curse terrorist incident and knew that the terrorists failed in their secondary objective because a unknown curse master helped Sky Surfer and Crimsion Eyes.
"I couldn't just sit back and watch as curse terrorists wreak havoc on my country, could I?" the fake Layla grumbled, pacing the room with visible frustration. "And how did my country reward me? They chased me down and stole my precious disciple candidate. This is exactly why I try to stay hidden. But no—you had to come looking for me. And now I know things I really wish I didn't." Her voice wavered slightly, betraying the fear simmering beneath her anger.
Layla's head turned following captor. She narrowed her eyes, catching onto the tone of fear in her captor's voice and her training kicks in. "Crimson eyes didn't know about you or your plan to make that girl your disciple," she said carefully. "He only acted as anyone would in that situation, in the girl's best interest—and you know that. But what now?"
The fake Layla stilled, meeting Layla's gaze with an eerie calm. "Now," she said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, "we decide what to do with this little secret of yours. Will it turn us into friends... or will it be the ruin of the C.I.B.?"
As she spoke, she reached out and subtly peeled the talisman from Layla's back, freeing her. The faint crackle of curse energy dissipating sent a shiver down Layla's spine. Regaining control of her body, Layla stretched her arms and legs cautiously, her gaze never leaving her captor.
The fake Layla stepped back, arms crossed, her expression unreadable. "So," she said with an unsettling grin, "what's it going to be?"