"Eight hundred pounds!" someone in the seats shouts, eyes fixed greedily on Agrise's diary.
"One thousand pounds!" another bidder bellows even louder.
I need that diary, Helios thinks, his jaw tightening as he raises his hand to join the bidding.
"Leader, the diary isn't important. We need to find the information we came here for," Nova whispers, standing up with a look of sharp disapproval.
"No, Grace. I need that diary," Helios insists, glancing at Nova, who is currently disguised in his female identity.
"One thousand four hundred!" Helios shouts, his voice cutting through the tension in the room like a blade.
"Two thousand five hundred!" someone else counters immediately.
These bastards... what are they even going to use that diary for? I need it more than them, Helios fumes, his expression darkening as he raises the price again.
"Two thousand nine hundred!" Helios yells, his eyes glaring coldly at the man who had outbid him moments ago.
"Anyone else wish to increase the bid?" the announcer asks, scanning the room. "Two thousand nine hundred going once... two thousand nine hundred going twice..."
The announcer looks around, but the room has fallen silent. No one dares to raise their hand.
"Sold to this gentleman and his partner!" the announcer declares, gesturing toward Helios and Nova.
"Leader, we need to start the mission. We don't have time for this," Nova whispers urgently, his eyes darting toward the guards lining the walls.
"Just wait. We will start the mission shortly," Helios says in a low, commanding voice.
"Fine, we can wait. It's not like the mission has gone wrong already," Nova mutters, rolling his eyes and looking away in frustration.
After the last item is sold, the announcer addresses the crowd again. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for visiting our auction. Our guests may now go to their private rooms to collect their items. Afterward, we have a party in the ballroom. Please follow the guards."
A guard appears in front of them, bowing slightly. "Miss Grace and partner, please follow me to claim your items," he says respectfully.
They follow him through a series of corridors until he stops at a door. "Please wait here until your items arrive," the guard says, gesturing into the room.
"Thank you," Helios says dismissively, stepping inside with Nova trailing behind him.
"Leader, you know we still have a mission to complete," Nova reminds him, sighing as he sinks into a plush black sofa.
"I know. Why don't you look for a secret passage? You always find a secret room in action books," Helios says with a sarcastic smirk.
"Leader, you have a great sense of humour," Nova replies dryly. He stands up anyway and begins running his hands along the walls.
"What are you actually doing?" Helios asks, his eyebrows arching in amusement.
"Looking for a secret room," Nova says, his voice eerily calm.
"Have you finally gone crazy?" Helios asks, a suppressed chuckle shaking his shoulders.
A sharp knock sounds at the door. "Come in," Helios calls out. Nova immediately stops his searching and stands tall.
An attendant enters, gesturing to a glass box. "Please check your items." Inside lies a shimmering Lilac gem and Agrise's diary.
"Thank you. You may leave now," Helios says. He opens the box and picks up the Lilac gem, holding it up to the light with a soft expression. "I think Moon will love this."
"You're thinking about your sister at a time like this?" Nova asks, leaning back against the bookshelf.
Suddenly, one of the books slides inward with a mechanical click, and a section of the wall begins to grind open.
Helios stares at the opening door, stunned. "I think we are in an action book."
"On a scale of one to ten, where do you think this leads?" Nova asks, a competitive glint in his eyes as he looks at Helios.
"I don't know, but what I do know is that you can go back to your original form now," Helios says.
"Finally," Nova replies. In a blur of movement, he shifts back into his male form, pulling his signature fox mask over his face.
Once Helios gathers the diary and the gem, they step into the hidden passage.
"Why is it so dark in here?" Nova mutters. He focuses, channelling spiral energy into his eyes until they glow faintly.
"I can see normally," Helios says, glancing around the stone corridor with ease.
"Is that one of your side effects?" Nova asks, picking up the pace.
"We should speed up. I need to go home," Helios says shortly.
After a few minutes of walking, they reach a heavy door with light bleeding through the cracks.
"Should we kick it down?" Nova asks, stepping back to find his footing.
"No, you idiot. The guards might hear that. We haven't even tried pushing it yet," Helios says. He gives the door a firm shove, and it swings open silently.
"Whoever tells me this world isn't a cliché, I will hunt down their bloodline," Nova groans, stepping into the room.
They find themselves in a lavish office with a deep red carpet and a massive mahogany desk in the centre.
"It seems we've made it to the Black Market Leader's office," Helios says, his eyes scanning the room for threats.
"We should find the information about the war quickly, before the guards or the Leader return," Nova says. He moves to the desk, pulling open drawers and rifling through documents.
Minutes pass in frantic searching. "Where is this information?" Nova hisses.
"I feel like this is a waste of time. It's been too long; maybe we're in the wrong place," Helios says, leaning against the wall.
"Leader, you're the one who wanted to find out what the Principal of Eclipse was doing!" Nova snaps back.
"But I'm not the one who took the mission from the Royal Family," Helios says in a mocking, sing-song voice.
"Why did I agree to this dumb mission?" Nova growls. In a fit of anger, he scoops up a pile of useless documents and hurls them onto the floor.
Helios looks down at the mess. He spots a single, stray sheet of paper near his boot. He picks it up and reads it. "Is this the document you're looking for?"
Nova stares at it, his face turning red under his mask. "This world hates me!" he shouts, sliding his hand through his black hair and pushing it back in frustration.
"You're too loud! What if the guards outside hear us?" Helios warns.
"Don't worry. This office is made of the same material as our meeting room. Seekers can't hear what's happening in here, and we can't hear them," Nova says, gesturing confidently toward the door.
"Wait... if we can't hear what's happening outside, doesn't that mean—"
Helios is cut off as the door swings open. The Leader of the Black Market Organization walks in, stopping dead in his tracks. He looks at the two intruders, his eyes widening as he realizes they are at his desk.
"Who are you?" the Leader demands. Before they can answer, he slams his hand onto a wall-mounted button.
A deafening alarm echoes through the entire building.