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Trading Places
Chapter 1
Venice, Italy.
Zhalia Moon and Sophie Casterwill were the only two people in Dante's house. Lok had gone to visit his family in Ireland for a few days and Dante was in Alaska collecting ancient artefacts for the Huntik Foundation and wouldn't be back for at least a week.
The two girls had gotten into a few arguments since Lok and Dante had left, but nothing too serious. Well, not until Guggenheim appeared on the screen in the living room. Sophie, who at the time had been learning a new spell from numerous books that were scattered across the floor, jumped to her feet, her face serious, but with the hint of excitement. Zhalia rolled her eyes at the girl, hardly believing she had put up with her for the past two and a half years. The midnight blue haired woman looked up from were she was comfortably sitting and raised an eyebrow at her boss.
"Good day, ladies. Dante isn't about is he?" Guggenheim asked, dark circles under his eyes.
"Can't say he is," Zhalia replied, guessing Guggenheim had a mission for him. "But we could always pass on a message if it's urgent."
"I'm rather afraid it is. Would you tell him for me that there's an amulet that's fallen into the hands of the Organisation that he must retrieve at all costs?"
"An amulet?" the chestnut coloured hair girl repeated, her hands on her hips. "Well I could get it for you."
"Don't be stupid. If they asked for Dante they're hardly gonna let you go, are they?" Zhalia muttered, and ducked as a book flew passed her head.
"It's a generous offer Sophie, but this mission has been set for Dante. And Dante alone. I'm sending the information to your holotome," and with that, Guggenheim's figure vanished from the screen.
Sophie huffed annoyed at his refusal and raised an eyebrow as Zhalia opened the holotome and started reading through the mission's description. The Casterwill went and stood behind Zhalia and narrowed her eyes at what she was reading.
"I bet I could have gotten that amulet," Sophie grumbled.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Zhalia shook her head and slipped the mission card into her pocket before closing the lid on the holotome.
"I could have! I bet you anything that I could have got to it before you did!" Sophie shot back, her anger clearly obvious.
"Really…?" Zhalia whispered, her devious mind concocting a plan. "Well why don't you. I'll race you to Paris and whoever brings the amulet back here first, wins."
"But, but that's going against orders!"
"And since when have you had a problem with that?" the lone wolf laughed, standing up to face the rich girl.
Sophie's face hardened. She was torn between doing what was right and staying put until Dante got back and telling him about the mission Guggenheim had set him or taking Zhalia put on her challenge and putting her in her place once and for all.
"Well we can't tell Dante have all the fun, can we?" Sophie finally decided.
Paris, France.
Zhalia shivered as she walked along the catacombs underneath Paris. She'd arrived a few hours earlier, but had ran into some trouble with the suits, who had cornered her on the Eifel Tower. Though the view had been excellent, the thought of falling hadn't been. Though she had escaped the suits, they knew she was here, which probably meant Sophie knew she had already reached the capital of France.
Zhalia stopped and pressed herself against one of the damp walls as a few suits ran passed. She could hear voices; one of them belonged to Klaus. From what she could hear, she had the amulet, but Klaus was having trouble bonding with it. 'Serves him right.' Zhalia moved her head around the side of the wall to see what all the commotion was about. Her eyes widened at the sight of a colourful titan which kept changing colour. Zhalia retreated into the darkness as she heard Sophie Casterwill's posh voice ring out in rage through the catacombs. Two suits held her hands behind her back and pushed her to the ground before Klaus.
Zhalia swore silently under her breath and looked back at the group of people. 'Seriously, that girl brings me nothing but trouble!' Zhalia pulled out an amulet and managed to make the light from one of the Organisation's torches reflect off it. Sophie caught the motion out of the corner of her eye and followed it back to the lone wolf.
Zhalia was pointing to herself then to the amulet. Sophie gritted her teeth. She'd already lost the suits and would never hear the end of it if Zhalia got the amulet.
"Augerfrost!" Sophie yelled and hit both of the suits holding in the gut. "No way am I letting you win!"
Zhalia sprinted out from the darkness towards the amulet with Sophie running at it aswell. They were level now with only a metre between them and their prise. Both girls lunged for it, their hands closing around the small object at exactly the same time.
A huge flash of snow white light and a colossal sound of an explosion sent both Zhalia and Sophie flying. They both hit separate walls and slid down to the bottom, their bodies' crying out in agony. When they woke up, hours later, the Organisation, the amulet and the light had gone. They had been left alive, but certainly not unharmed.
Zhalia groaned as she staggered to her feet. Her hand on her cheek, she pushed her head up and looked around the catacombs. Her jaw dropped and her body froze as her eyes layed to rest on something in particular; herself. Her was staring at a relfection at herself, but when she moved, her reflection didn't.
"Sophie…?" Zhalia called out wearily, looking around for her.
"I'm here," Zhalia jerked her head back to what she had previously thought was her reflection and blinked.
Then, very slowly she looked down at herself and gasped. She was Sophie! Zhalia jumped and looked at herself, who by now she guessed was in fact Sophie, but in her body.
"What did you do?!" Sophie yelled, flicking midnight blue coloured hair out of her eyes.
"What did I do?! You're the one that went after the amulet when I said I would get it!" Zhalia yelled, marching up to herself – which was in fact Sophie.
"Oh gosh! What is Guggenheim going to say?!" Sophie wailed, fearing the worst.
"Never mind the Foundation! What are Lok and Dante going to say?" Zhalia exclaimed. "Especially after they find out we weren't even supposed to go after the amulet!"
"…Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"…Unless we don't tell them," Sophie whispered, now getting annoyed with Zhalia's hair.
Zhalia raised an eyebrow at Sophie's suggestion. She could she the logic behind it, but wasn't sure they could pull it off. After all, fouling two of the Huntik Foundation's best seekers wasn't going to be easy. But it was worth a shot.
"Alright. But no way am I going through library books day in day out," Zhalia replied and started making her way to the exit.
"Fine, acting like you will be easy," Sophie huffed, running after Zhalia. "All I have to do is act like a stubborn cow."
Zhalia pinned Sophie against the wall, suddenly realising the difference between them. She sighed, deciding the day had been eventful enough without having to fight with the Casterwill girl.
"Well after watching you for the past two and a half years, acting like a stuck up brat won't be a problem."
The pair travelled back to Venice in frosty silence, dreading the thought of Lok and Dante discovering what had happened to them. Well until they could find a way to reverse what had happened down in the catacombs, they would have to sit tight.