Jeffory's POV

I smiled at Abby and led her into the forest.

"Where are we going?" She asked, looking around curiously.

"To your Aunty Aphmau's village." I replied.

Her head snapped around to look at me. "I get to see Aunty Aphmau again?"

"Yep." I grinned. "Everyday, in fact. And soon, possibly Aunty Katelyn as well."

"Yes!" Abby squealed. I laughed and led her to the beach next to where Phoenix Drop had been. "Aunty Aphmau!!!!" She yelled, running into her aunt's arms.

"Hi Abby, nice to see you." Aphmau laughed. Abby backed up and grabbed my hand as more people came over, and a little boy called Aphmau 'momma' and she put a werewolf child and ghost boy out of two golden lassos.

"Brother! Hehe! Play! Play! Play!" The little boy yelled to the ghost after a short silence. Everybody relaxed. Guess I missed a lot of Aphmau's life.

"Everyone, this is my honorary brother Jeffory and his daughter Abby." Aphmau said. I smiled and shook hands with everyone. Abby was a little shy at first but eventually shrugged it off and said hi.

Aphmau pulled me aside. "Jeff, here." She handed me a ring with a stone in the shape of a shield, and the color of it was a swirl of my, Aph's, and Kate's favorite colors. "Three-way customized communication amulets. I have one," she showed me her necklace, "and I sent one to Katelyn."

"Nice." I said, taking the ring and slipping it on my ring finger. Not the left like an engagement/wedding ring, but the right.

"It's for mental communication, too. You concentrate on the other two amulets and basically open up a temporary mind link with them. And if you want, concentrate on putting it in speaker mode and the wearers of the other two can hear everything you can hear." Aphmau explained.

"That's awesome." I laughed.

"Yeah. Now you need a place to stay." Aphmau said, going back to everybody.

Garroth's POV

I watched as Lady Aphmau pulled aside Jeffory. My mind flicked back to when Lady Aphmau had transformed into a Jury of Nine form. Jessica Lorde, Jessica Lorde. The name kept running through my mind. I had heard it somewhere.

Jury of Nine, Jessica Lorde, Lady Aphmau...Lady Jessica, JESSICA THE DEMON SWORD!!! Realization struck me as I realized I had probably just figured out who Lady Aphmau was.

"What's up?" Laurence asked me as we showed Dante around. "You're quieter than usual."

"I think I just realized who Lady Aphmau is." I said. I pulled both Laurence and Dante into the Guard tower Lady Aphmau made for me and went upstairs.

"What do you mean?" Dante asked.

"Remember what we learned earlier? She's a Jury of Nine member known as Jessica Lorde. Who do you think of when you associate the name Jessica with the Jury of Nine?" I asked them, let them figure it out, I already did.

"Jessica....Jessica the Demon Sword." Laurence said.

"Exactly." I nodded.

"How can you be sure?" Dante asked.

"We ask Aphmau, duh." Laurence said, going down the ladder. Dante and I rolled our eyes and followed him.

We went up to Lady Aphmau's house, and found her and Jeffory in the playground. Levin was in the sandbox with Malachi and Abby. Abby was teaching them some game while Lady Aphmau sat on the bench and watched them. Jeffory was leaning on the tree and watching them.

"Aphmau, we wanted to ask you something." Laurence said. "It's about what you told us back in Pikoro."

Lady Aphmau's smile faltered a bit, and she seemed a little wary. Jeffory was still looking towards the kids, but I could tell he wasn't really watching them, but listening closely to us, on alert, ready for anything. No wonder he became a Jury member. He's good.

"What Laurence is trying to say," I cut in, "is that we think we've figured out who you were in the Jury and we want to be sure."

Lady Aphmau relaxed a bit, but she still seemed wary. Jeffory's shoulders also slumped from his tense state, but just a little. He also glanced back at Lady Aphmau and smiled at her.

"What do you want to know?" She asked us.

"Were you Jessica the Demon Sword?" Dante, blunt as ever, asked.

"Yes." Lady Aphmau nodded. "I was. Still am, technically."

Laurence nodded. "Okay, that's what we wanted to ask you."

"You know, the Jury isn't such a bad thing to be on- if you can stand the other corrupt Jurors and Zane." Jeffory said.

"Yeah. The only reason I didn't go crazy is because I had you and Katelyn with me." Lady Aphmau replied to Jeffory.

"Pfft. Please. We probably made you crazier than the other Jurors would've had you been alone." Jeffory scoffed, turning to us finally.

"Probably did." Lady Aphmau laughed.

"It's all because Katelyn was jealous of my insanely good looks." Jeffory said, smiling cockily.

"Hah! Don't flatter yourself. Everyone knows Katelyn looks way better than you." Lady Aphmau snickered.

Jeffory clapped his hand over his heart in mock-horror, a fake pained expression on his face. "I'm hurt, Aph."

"No you're not." She replied. "But if you want to hurt, I still got my sword."

Jeffory's hand fell to his side, and suddenly, instead of joking around, he seemed intensely interested. "Wanna spar, for old times' sake?"

Lady Aphmau perked up. "Yes! I do! Come on, then, Green Eyes, to the forest! After I grab my sword. Garroth, Laurence, Dante, you're welcome to join us if you want."

We agreed. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Lady Aphmau ran inside and came out with a sword strapped to her back. Zoey came from the house and sat watching the children as we all headed to the forest.

Lady Aphmau stopped in the clearing the old Lord's house used to be in, and she turned to Jeffory and drew her sword. He drew his weapon, and the three of us backed to the treeline, just in case.

^°^ ^°^ ^°^

Bam. Chapter ended, on a cliffhanger. I'm so evil. But hey, I'm already working on the next chapter, which will have the fight. By the time this is posted, I'll be ready to post the next chapter.