The girls surrounded their friend and the Knight holding her until she calmed down enough for Dylan to loosen his hold on her but not enough to completely let her go.
"Sorry everyone," Jia muttered as she glared at the floor.
"That was your cousin? She`s a nightmare," Fiona exclaimed only for Zoey to elbow her sharply.
"She and I don`t get along, just like our mamas, "Jia admitted." I always manage to lose my temper with her but lately, I`ve been trying not to."
"She was that girl who was with you that day at the Exhibition, right?" Dylan asked.
Jia nodded and sighed before leaning back against him tiredly, "Yeah, she got me then and she still got me now," she then groaned and rubbed her forehead," Goddess! Why do I have to be related to her?"
"Way of the Universe?" Gillian suggested.
Jia pouted as Roy came back to join them. Dylan released her as the Knight took his cousin`s arms and scanned her.
"No fists were thrown?" Roy asked, genuinely worried.
"Not yet."
The Knight sighed unhappily, "I`m sorry, I should have been watching her, especially during your party. She always does something like this."
"Why`d her parents even accept my invitation this year? Aunt Willow practically threw her out and I insulted them."
"I`m guessing grandfather must have forced them to come."
"Right, because Society can never that our family is fighting."
"What can we do to cheer you up?"
Jia smiled at him as an idea struck," Dance."
"Okay," Roy agreed and tried to lead her to the dance floor but she stayed firmly in her place laughing, "Not with me,silly. With my friends."
"Excuse me?" Gillian said putting her hands on her hips.
"Say again?" Rose and Fiona asked.
"Jia!" Kyra and Clary exclaimed with shock.
"I don`t know how to dance," Zoey muttered.
"No one is denying me today. Now, I want to sit down and watch my good friends dance happily at my birthday party," Jia said as she scanned all their faces," That would make me happy."
Roy nodded. Jia then turned and patted Dylan`s shoulder before making her way back to her seat. She sat and folded her hands in her lap before smiling at her friends. She nearly burst into cheer when she saw that Roy had asked Fiona to dance. The lava sorceress looked really shocked.
She saw Gillian gliding away to find her boyfriend while Zoey followed suite with Dylan. Clary went off with Kyra trailing after her to find partners to dance with while Rose stood where she was, looking slightly out of place.
Jia`s heart went out to her friend. Though she was brilliant, finding dates weren`t exactly her favorite things to do.
"Jia! Happy birthday!" A group of little voices yelled at her.
She turned to her left and nearly laughed as she took in the Triplets and the twins. The girls were dressed in pretty purple and silver dresses while poor Timothy was stuck in a black mini-suit and looking very grumpy.
They were all carrying one large basket of orchids that was moved closer to her chair so she could lean over and smell them.
"This is for you!" Yelena exclaimed as she patted the flowers.
"Mummy made us bring it over to you," Jaqueline explained their chore and Jia smiled at them. A second later they all turned when they heard Dalton call out, "Jacqueline! Ruby, time to eat!"
"Oh! Bye Jia!" The twins said in unison before reaching forward to hug her.
The lightning sorceress hugged her cousins and kissed them both before they ran off to their father who grinned and crouched down to receive his girls.
"Jia, can I get out of this suit now?" Timothy whined as his sisters giggled at their brother`s misfortune making Jia look back at her young cousin brother.
"What makes you think I have the power to do that?" Jia asked with an amused grin.
"Mummy says it`s your party and if it`s your party, I have to do whatever you tell me," Timothy recited at the top of his head before he nodded as he had gotten it right.
Jia pursed her lips and thought carefully while Timothy pouted up to her," Well, I guess you could but…"
"But…?" Timothy asked hesitantly.
"But you look so official that I want you to be my official Messenger today," Jia answered with a sad expression.
Timothy perked up as his sisters pouted, "What about us?"
"You two can be my accomplices, I want you two to go and keep my friend Fiona distracted, "Jia instructed them as she pointed at her red-head friend," Just until Timothy can fulfill his mission."
The girls nodded with determination and set off. The sorceress then turned to Timothy and leaned close to whisper into his ear. The grey-eyed boy nodded and ran off to the desserts table where the boys were standing with their plates full of desserts.
He then pulled on Chase`s trousers which prompted the Knight to look down at him. The other boys looked down as well as Timothy pointed back at Jia made a fainting gesture with his hands. They all turned up to the Birthday girl`s chair and Jia pretended to look miserable and sick.
Chase and Mike exchanged nervous glance before they nodded. Mike left the table and went off to find Kyra who had already given up on dancing and was trying to go to their table to sit. She watched her kind heart friend ask the girl he liked to dance with him and the Shadow sorceress blushed before nodding.
The birthday girl then swung around and was happy to see Chase dancing with Rose.
"They do make a lovely couple," Jia sighed happily as her younger cousins suddenly appeared beside her.
"How did we do?" Yelena asked her eagerly.
The sorceress smiled down at her little cousins, "Wonderful, you may go and change if you want."
Timothy fist pumped the sky before he turned and ran off with his sister following behind him.
Jia watched the dance gone on for three songs until it was time for her to cut her cake. The white haired teenager stood as the cooks wheeled in a colossal ten-foot cake into the ball room until it stopped in front of her. It had silver and purple fondant and was chocolate flavor. There were lightning bolts, butterflies and bubbles painted into the cake. At the top, there was an edible statue of a butterfly with lightning bolts surrounding it.
Everyone began to sing her happy birthday as her Papa came up to her and offered her a knife. Behind him, Jia burst out laughing as she saw her Uncle Elias carry a small miniature cake of similar color to the colossal one but it had seventeen lit candles on it. He stopped in front of her and waited until the song was done.
"Make a wish, Jia!" Roy shouted to his cousin with Fiona still in his arms. Jia blinked back tears as she closed her eyes and made her wish. She then blew out her candles quickly and everyone cheered.
Later, when everyone was carried away with the party, Jia was told by her Papa that she could open her presents now if she wanted to. Remembering that she had a long weakened ahead, she nodded and asked for her gifts to be brought forward.
The gifts were small and delicate or large and expensive. She had received jewelry from most people, new dresses, shoes, letter openers, paintings and a portrait from her grandparents. Her uncles had bought her a hover bike that was currently back at the castle. Her aunts had bought her new clothes for her wardrobe. Her friends had bought her a new Headphone. Gillian and Ash had bought her a custom made jewelry box that had her name engraved on the top. It was set with amethysts and silver. It was also blood sealed so that only she could open it.
But her Papa`s gift was amazing. It was a music box that had a three figurines dancing as a song played. It was her and her parents. The song was her mother`s lullaby.
Later as she sat on the floor next to her presents pile admiring the music box, she was tapped on the shoulder by Dylan," Hey."
"Hi," she greeted him with a smile before she raised the box up for him to see," It`s my parents and I. From when we were dancing in the Green house."
"It looks amazing," Dylan said with a sad smile as he moved to crouch down in front of her so he could be at her level.
"It`s my favorite memory," Jia revealed as she tried not to cry, "We were so happy that day."
"You deserve it… Listen,I…uh... I have something… for you," Dylan admitted, he then pulled out a small silver present from his pocket and held it out to her. Jia looked up at him with a mischievous smile, "I thought you and the guys didn`t have time to go present hunting for me."
"The others didn`t, this is from Tristan and I," he then looked over his shoulder and Jia followed his gaze to where Tristan sat with everyone on their table. They were all listening to him and Cole retell some kind of story. He then turned back to her," Even if we hadn`t come here for your party, we would have still given it to you. Think of it as a thank-you and birthday gift from us."
Dylan watched as Jia put down her music box and took her present from him. She studied the box carefully before opening the lid and gasping.
She pulled out a small necklace that had a single charm that was shaped like a dragon head and had lighting coming out from its mouth instead of flames.
"Oh. My. Goddess," Jia exclaimed as she ran her fingers over the char, "How did you… Where did you even..."
"It was Tristan`s idea to make a pin shaped like a dragon. Something about it being from your favorite story but… I thought a necklace would be more practical for you to wear anywhere, the lightning was my idea," Dylan explained," Seeing as you're the Sorceress of lightning."
"This must have cost a fortune," Jia whispered in awe.
Dylan rubbed his neck awkwardly, "Actually it wasn`t, I made it in the Weapons Forge back at Academy. The metal is made from Harashkagi Steel, which glows in the presence of negative energy. The chain was something we bought at a small jewelry store outside of the city."
"Do you like it?" Tristan asked.
Both teenagers turned to see Tristan standing behind Dylan. The turquoise-eyed Knight stood and moved to stand beside his friend.
"I love it, I really do, thank you both so much," Jia said sincerely to them both as she put down the necklace and reached up to take off her butterfly necklace. The charm instantly vanished, showing the boys the two scars on either side of her shoulders. Their eyes instantly darkened at the sight of the scars but Jia didn`t notice. She was busy putting on her new necklace.
"That`s so beautiful, Jia," Rose gushed as she came over to join the two Knights and the Sorceress.
Jia blushed, "Thank you, it`s a gift from Tristan and Dylan."
Rose arched a brow at them and smiled knowingly at them. Dylan cleared his throat, "We'll leave you two. Happy birthday again, Jia."
"Happy Birthday, "Tristan quickly added. They both then left with Rose grinning at them while the birthday girl admired her new necklace.
"Jia," Rose said softly.
The sorceress hummed in reply before she looked at her friend.
"I`m Team Dylan," Rose said.
Jia frowned up at her friend, "I don`t follow."
"If you want to date someone, my money`s on Dylan especially after the stunt you two pulled at the Mixer."
"Rose!" Jia exclaimed and looked around to see if anyone heard her friend," Don`t about that here, my family will hear you."
"Sorry, it`s just, you two, kind of look good together," Rose stated as she moved to sit beside her friend on the floor. Her gown luckily wasn`t too tight to stop her.
"What do you mean?" Jia questioned her.
Rose nodded at her necklace, "Like just now, I saw him and that way he was smiling at you, talking with you and giving you that gift. It looked a scene from a fairy tale story. He likes you."
Jia rolled her eyes at her friend, "Of course he does, I`m his friend`s cousin and I helped him with something a few months back. Besides the gift is from him and Tristan."
Rose frowned, "Tristan? Wait…didn`t he try to fight with Dylan at the Mixer when he was dancing with you?" Rose suddenly gasped," Do you like Tristan? Is that why you were dancing with Dylan? To make him jealous."
The lighting sorceress tried to speak up, "Well, I-"
"Because then it would make sense but still I think Dylan deserved more than to be used by you," Rose added.
Jia put a hand up to silence her friend, "Rose, it wasn`t my idea, it was Dylan`s."
"Dylan was trying to make Tristan jealous? Why?"
Jia shrugged and rubbed her new necklace charm. Actually she knew the reason why but she didn`t want to admit it to her friend.
"Either way, I`m on Team Dylan. He hasn`t done anything really, really, wrong to you and he doesn't have a psycho ex behind him."
"I don`t want to talk about this anymore," Jia muttered.
Rose scanned her friend`s face carefully before nodding," Okay, I respect that, but think about it. I…I want you to be happy. You deserve someone special."
With that, Rose stood and left her friend to her thoughts.
Jia sighed. True, Dylan was someone that she liked and was warming up to especially since it seemed like he cared about her feelings and wanted her to be happy but she knew that his feelings for her were friendly. She knew he wouldn`t hurt her, she trusted that about him. Being romantically involved with him was something she had never considered so Rose making a huge del about it was not something she wanted to consider today of all days.
Having feelings for one boy was more than enough. She then held up the charm to her nose and inhaled the scent of oil, spice and something that reminded her of a forest that she loved. She remembered when Dylan had grabbed her earlier away from Isabella, he had the same scent as the charm.
"He must have been the one to pack the necklace," Jia muttered to herself.