Chapter 216: Expectedly Unexpected

Slamming the door behind her, Jayden inwardly took a deep breath only to be surprised by an uncontrollable barrage of coughing, her eyes becoming itchy and slightly teary like there was something stuck inside, which prompted her into inspecting the room around her.

From the shabby, dusty, almost broken look of the faded golden door, she was able to assume what the interior would look like yet it seemed far, far worse than she ever expected as she began to frantically look around with her gray, dust-filled vision.

Considering Abby's position in her family, her room was extremely small, not even a fifth of the size of her own room, the size was more comparable to that of a servant's chamber than that of the daughter of one of the most important families in the country.

The room that was supposed to be crimson in colour was now more like ash, died gray with dust. The few surfaces such as drawers and tables around the room also had the same colour of infested rot, rust and faded gray.

The curtains that were hung at the back of the room that led into the small balcony were torn and tattered, the sign of black burn marks on the tips. 

The bed that was once no doubt red was stuck to one of the walls and was in a very similar condition, the seethrough blinds all around it accumulating so much dust that it almost became opaque, similar burn marks on it and the wall around. She damn near expected a mouse to walk out from under it and she would not have been surprised if there was an entire rat colony living beneath such a putrid, disgusting bed.

Although she did not require any light source, she could not help but notice that no matter how many times she tried to flip the light switch on or off, nothing would happen.

The smell of burnt dust filled the air, making it seemingly the only thing that they both inhaled as they both contained themselves and controlled their urge to cough. 

It was almost like the room was abandoned, forgotten and unmaintained for many years, something that she knew was no doubt the case. She began to even doubt if the bathroom was still fully functional and why her parents had even agreed for Abby to come to such a dirty, disgusting place. Yet she really did not even have time to ask such questions which seemed rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Instinctively taking a deep breath, dust coming into her system once more making her let out a small cough, her gaze shifted towards Abby who was standing casually in front of her like she was waiting for her to speak.

However, before she could do anything, Jayden needed to confirm a few things.

"So, are there any cameras in the room? Is there a sound-cancelling crystal installed?"

Jayden's voice was low but audible, making Abby immediately respond with no hesitation, a serious look on her face as she whispered back with an equally low voice. 

"No, there are no cameras in here. But, there is a sound-cancelling crystal. This room hasn't been touched in many years, probably since the last time I was in the house since my parents really hated me, so, there are definitely no cameras. The only thing that should still be fully working is the bathroom,"

"Well, that's good to know then," Jayden replied with a nod and a smile.

For some odd reason, Jayden took Abby's words at face value and did not even question them, her trust for her being that strong. She had the urge to not even look if there were any cameras to show her trust towards her but in the end, she ended up taking quick glances anyways, just in case something new arose that was unbeknownst to Abby. And, just like she expected, although she did not look very hard, she found absolutely nothing, making her show a bright smile. 

"All clear, I didn't find a single thing,"

"I told you!" Abby replied with a casual chuckle, making Jayden feel comforted as it felt like the good old times in her mind.

Yet, she only got lucky that what Abby said was in fact the truth. If there had been any extremely tiny cameras hidden, then Jayden would not have found them and been completely exposed. That small lack of care stemmed from her trust towards Abby who seemed completely certain of her words, not even mentioning the fact that there was a chance that she might have been wrong since she had not been here in years, which she for some reason ignored and deemed as completely normal. 

Now that there were no longer any cameras, Jayden casually and with no hesitation closed her eyes, her body cracking and shifting, her height shrinking down to around 2 inches shorter than Abby, the once short black hair on her head now growing immensely and turning dark blue, her cute face, feminine charm, and bountiful assets returning on her body as she transformed back into her normal self, making Abby's eyes go wide as she smiled, seemingly because she was now able to see her best friend's face once again after being kidnapped, Jayden returning the sentiment with a cute smile of her own.

Now, clapping the dust away from her hand and armour, Jayden took another deep breath, only to profusely cough once more.

However, once she regained her composure, she lifted her hands up to her side, as the sound of stretching of flesh and cracking of bones filled the air, Jayden's body stretching to an unnatural degree until it was enough for another person's entire body, as it separated from her main one. That blob of flesh and blood immediately shifted and transformed, opening their eyes as they saw the world for the first time, a complete, perfect clone of Preston, although far, far weaker, bowed down ready to receive orders from his master.

Not too long after, another clone appeared, ripped out of Jayden's body as they too opened their clear blood red eyes, their crimson dress a small light in the otherwise dark room, that person of course being none other than Abby. 

With wide-open sights, not even able to utter a single word, Abby stood there in the middle of the room, still shocked at what she had just witnessed. 

She always knew that Jayden could do such things but not to this extent and proficiency, the last time she had seen Jayden use clones, it took her almost 5 minutes to do and took all of her mental concentration, now she was able to summon 2 at a time, casually and instantly with no care in the world. 

"You 2 already know what to do right?" Jayden spoke with an air of authority at her two kneeling servants, leading to them both nodding their heads firmly before gazing back up at their master. 

"Yes, we completely understand our orders!"

With a smile on her face, Jayden pointed at the door.

"Now leave and serve me well," Her cold, commanding voice a complete contrast between that and the voice that she used to normally address Abby. 

Then, without hesitation, the 2 clones nodded once more, standing back up and casually yet confidently walked towards the door, the Preston clones opening it up and holding the door open from the outside with a bow, waiting for the Abby clone as she elegantly walked through the door, prompting them to close it behind them with an audible slam.

"Those 2 were just my clones so they are not the brightest at all times but they should buy us more than enough time to flee, the maximum time they can stay "alive" will be 24 hours which will be more than enough. They should at least take care of the 2 servants that had been tailing us for so long," Jayden said in a calm voice, shifting her gaze towards the window of the room. 

"Well, I would have liked to ask you many questions but we are really low on time. We can discuss things when we get back to the school and see Moby, maybe he can fix whatever happened with your mind link,"

Hearing Moby's name, Abby's face immediately tensed up as she watched Jayden walking towards the entrance of the balcony, making her clench her teeth before shaking her head, Jayden not seeing any of it since she was not looking in her direction.

"I'm so happy right now… I will finally be able to see my lord again… Let's leave immediately! I can't really wait much longer!" She spoke, her expression immediately shifting into a dark smile that Jayden was not able to witness. 

Firmly, Jayden grabbed the door nob to the door to the balcony ahead of her before responding to Abby's words

"I'm glad t-"

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Jayden immediately stopped what she was doing, her eyes growing as she tightly clenched the door harder, sweat running down her shaky, ghost-like face that she did not allow Abby to witness. 

A sudden, extremely, all too familiar voice rang in her head, making her come to a clear realization that she had not seen until now… The words that the voice spoke could not have been the truth yet for some reason, deep down in her heart she knew all of them were true. It was almost like her entire life had been a lie, her entire perspective on life and reality itself flipped on its head until this point as the words of this person, her clear master, revealed a truth that she was so stubborn and brain dead not to realize and how she could make herself useful for now. 

"Jayden, is there something wrong?" Abby's tender voice spoke from behind her. 

Wiping the sweat off her face as she calmed her breathing and emotions, she put on the best poker face she could muster, turning around to face Abby before replying. 

"Damn, there seem to be some guards patrolling the area outside, no way we could leave now without being caught…" She said, lying through her teeth. 

"Those bastards, I'm sure they're not onto us but they are still delaying my meeting with my lord!" The annoyance and hatred in Abby's voice was clear, yet Jayden felt nothing but contempt as she faked a smiling expression. 

"Don't worry, it will all be fine. Well, now that we are stuck in here for now, why don't you tell me about exactly what happened with you to make your parents like and respect you again? Especially your sister, if all you had told me before was the truth then I doubt that any of this could happen without you doing something. Please, if we are still friends, then tell me the truth now…" Jayden spoke, her eyes turned into worried, tender, yet deadly slits as she stared deep into Abby's soul.

"Well, it's just because since I got first on my exam and proved my strength as no longer a weak, useless member of-"

Abby's words were immediately cut off by Jayden's teary eyes as she held her tightly from both arms. 

"Please! Tell me the truth! What has our friendship been for all these months?! A lie to manipulate me and Moby!?" Jayden's words echoed in Abby's mind, bouncing endlessly back and forth in her cranium. 

Once again, hearing Moby's name made her brain hurt as it felt like it was about to explode and break out of her skull from all the echoes, tightly clenching her teeth, both her hands on her hair, she staggered Jayden's arms away as she shook her head profusely to get rid of many unwanted thoughts.

Taking heavy, deep breaths with wide-open eyes to calm her nerves, ignoring the dust as her eyes became teary herself, a sad expression on her face as she moved her hands from her head to her profoundly beating heart, she spoke.

"I'm telling you the truth! Why won't you believe me! I have nothing in this world other than you, Alex, and my lord and now it seems like even you abandoned and lost trust in me! I'm truely worthless! Nothing is like what it seems! I still hate all my family members with a burning passion in my heart and nothing will ever change that!" Abby screamed her heart out, a waterfall of tears running down her face as she looked at Jayden's face of sadness, shock and surprise with heavy, tear-filled eyes.

With a look of melancholy and a voice of distress, Jayden spoke, reaching her right hand out towards Abby who was clearly in agony.

"A-Abby I-"

Suddenly, before Jayden had the chance to properly even start her sentence, a flash of crimson light lit up the room for a split second before disappearing. All of a sudden, Jayden's once clear, unhindered eyes became blurry as she struggled to see things clearly. A numb feeling of a hot, burning pain filled and ravaged her stomach, the burning seemingly never-ending as it continued to rip her cells apart. Instinctively, she put her hand exactly where the pain was, only to see the river of blood gushing out and her hand being immediately died a scarlet red from her own blood. 

'Fuck… what's going on… did she just…' She thought before her thought process was cut short as she felt an odd feeling of pain in her lungs, struggling to breathe as she felt liquid begin to crawl up her throught.

Coughing a mouthful of blood before clenching her stained, pain-filled teeth that were cracking and clenched tightly, her arms firmly gripping her burning open wound, she tried her best to maintain her standing position befall ultimately falling down on the ground from her lack of strength, knowing that she was in the body she was in, as fragile as glass. 

Suddenly, the sound of the wind howling from behind her along with the noise of footsteps filled her ears, the bright light of the moon entering the room, no doubt coming from the balcony door that was for some reason now wide open.

The voice of a cute yet ominous female giggle sounded clearly from behind her before moving directly in front of her. 

With her fragile, weak body and hazy eyes, her mind in pure turmoil, Jayden struggled to lift her head off the ground to see who it was, using every ounce of energy left in her body as she peered at the 2 smug grim reapers ahead of her with vigour, anger and determination in her eyes.

"Wow! Good job! You did much better than I ever expected sister! But, as for you little miss Griffith, I couldn't say the same thing… I am very disappointed in you... how could you fall into such an obvious trap? I expected much more from the great Griffith family's only daughter…"

Looking down at her with wide grins from ear to ear and a pair of piercing, fiery red glowing eyes were the faces of absolute beasts, looking down at her like she was nothing but a slab of meat ready for them to devour. It was a scene that she had fully expected to see and had already mentally prepared for. However, despite all of that, now that it was all happening in reality right in front of her eyes was still too mentally taxing and overbearing for her fake, fragile soul, seeing her best friend in such a state was almost too much to bear.

'Fuck… She came here much faster than I ever expected…'

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