I Control Life and Death

Chapter 007

My grandfather was taken to the hospital for a more thorough examination, while the others followed after him.

In no time at all, I was the only one left in the bedroom.

Casting Sacred Halo had cost a lot of my golden mist. I was completely exhausted at this point.

I found a chair and plopped myself down. Eventually, fatigue and weariness washed over me. I began to doze off.

Ding ding ding ding, dong ding.

A familiar ringtone interrupted my peaceful slumber. My phone was ringing—a call from my mom.

"Will, it's a miracle! Your grandfather is cured!" My mother's excitement and joy were palpable through the phone speaker.

"I… glad he could make it…" I mumbled. "He's… truly… blessed. Must be a good man."

"Your grandfather has called for a family meeting. He said that you should be present."

"Ah… oh… okay."

Although I did not share my mom's enthusiasm in this regard, I did not want to disappoint her or spurn her goodwill.

Given our relatives' attitudes toward us, what was the point of this "family meeting"?

Thinking about such a troublesome matter had dispelled my desire to sleep.

Maybe I should go for a walk… no, that would be a bad idea. I'd only end up in a fight.

Right, some reading will probably help me clear my mind.

There was a narrow door on the western side of my grandfather's bedroom that seemed to connect to a study. The entrance was slightly ajar. I could even see the outline of a bookshelf behind it.

I pushed the door open and picked up a book at random, planning to kill some time until mom and the others returned.

Just then, as soon as I sat down at the desk, the decorative sculpture of a golden dragon drew my full attention.

Was this thing made of solid gold? It certainly glittered that way. It looked so real, too! If someone were to tell me that the dragon could start moving at any moment, I would probably believe them. This was an expensive art piece, that was for sure.

I reached for it to take a closer look. As soon as my fingers made contact with the sculpture's aureate surface, the twin vortices of mist in my mind began to spin rapidly. An indistinct suctioning force wanted to swallow the dragon whole.

I hurriedly put the dragon back down on the table.

When the gold sculpture left the skin of my palm, the force and spinning both disappeared as well.

"Hey now, what's going on here?"

I frowned a little. There was a mystery afoot. Maybe I should pick the golden dragon back up, after all.

Following through with the thought brought the vortices of mist right back up to speed. The suctioning force only became stronger and stronger.

To my great surprise, the golden dragon in my hands was becoming dimmer somehow. Its brilliance was being absorbed into my own body.

The golden mist in my consciousness that had thinned out after casting Sacred Halo was swelling once more, growing thicker and thicker as time passed. Soon, the coin-sized space it had originally occupied was completely filled.

With my mist recovered, I was just about to put the dragon down when I noticed, to my serendipitous delight, that the mist was somehow expanding outward.

This was an incredible development!

I gripped the golden dragon as tightly as I could, drinking in its rich brilliance with astonishing greed. The dragon's light soon faded away, totally consumed by my twin vortices.

The coin-sized ball of golden mist had expanded to the size of a ping-pong ball. It formed a stark contrast to its dark counterpart.

"I never expected a paperweight to do anything like that!"

Still excited, I peered intently at the dragon to see if anything had changed now that the light was gone.

It looked pretty much the same as it did before. From the outside, there was no change whatsoever to its appearance. At the same time, though, something felt rather off about it.

After examining it closely from top to bottom, I finally realized what the issue was.

The eye-catching factor that the golden dragon had for me before was now gone.

I had drained it of its ethereal light. Now, the dragon was just like any other ordinary ornament. Even if it were made out of solid gold, that alone would not be enough to catch my attention.

"Am I supposed to absorb that kind of… light… from things made of gold? That way, I can upgrade my supernatural abilities?"

The conclusion seemed simple enough, yet something still left me puzzled.

I had seen plenty of gold decorations and jewelry in the past, but none of them had possessed this kind of radiance.

Why had the golden dragon carried it in particular?

Was it somehow related to my sorcery?

My train of thought was interrupted by my ringtone for the second time today.

My mom was calling me again. She told me to head to the conference room on the third floor.

I hung up and made my way up the stairs. As soon as I arrived in the hall, I heard my mother calling my name. "Over here, Will."

"Mom."

I headed to where she was standing, a few doors down.

"Will," she said, "your grandfather has gone to attend to some business. Right now, your uncle is presiding over the family meeting. You've just beaten his son, so please try to keep your temper under control even if he criticizes you a little."

"Don't worry, mom." I smiled. "I know how to handle myself."

My mother did not seem particularly convinced by the reassurance. "I hope you're taking me seriously, kiddo. This meeting is strictly business."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

We entered the conference room together.

Situated in the middle of the room was a very large table encircled by some twenty-odd chairs. Most of the seats were already occupied.

Our arrival was met by a flurry of skeptical looks.

"Who are these two? This is a family meeting. Why are there any new faces at all?"

"Isn't that Mr. Gleeson's daughter? I thought she disappeared quite a few years back. Why is she here? And who's that young man behind her?"

"Who else could it be? That little bastard is obviously her son with… the strange man she brought home."

The commentary from the peanut gallery succeeded in getting a rise out of me. I balled up my fists, ready to hit anyone I didn't like the looks of.

My mother gave me a cautionary look. She noticed my anger, but now really was not the time.

Thump, thump, thump.

At the head of the table, Soren Gleeson tapped several times to get everyone's attention. "Quiet down, everyone," he shouted. "Now that both of you are here—let us begin the meeting."

As soon as he gave the word, his entire accompanying audience hushed itself.

"It was my father who called for the meeting today. He had two important announcements to make, but other urgent matters came up that demanded his attention. That is why I am here in his stead."

"Firstly, I am pleased to inform all of you that my father has recovered from his illness. He is currently in the process of resolving our projects' issues with capital at this very moment. If you have any projects on hand waiting to be funded, you can safely proceed. Additional cash flow is incoming soon."

"Mr. Gleeson is cured? That's wonderful news! The banks will definitely lend with him backing us!"

"The project I'm overseeing has halted construction for quite a while now thanks to a lack of financing. Without an infusion soon, I'm going to lose that plot of land."

"This is such a blessing! Mr. Gleeson can continue to lead our family to greater heights!"

Soren's statement drew a wave of discussion from the crowd.

By listening in on their conversations, I managed to get a better understanding of what the Gleesons' family business was.

Projects? Construction? Financing?

It sounded like their money was in real estate.

Furthermore, they were having some trouble with liquidity and cash flows, which has clearly been impeding their day-to-day operations.

"Enough! You can chat amongst yourselves about my father some other time."

Soren raised a hand to silence the buzzing in the room. "The second matter is…" He glanced toward my mother and me. "My father has decided that my little sister, Helen Gleeson—and her son—are to return to the family from this point forward."

All our relatives looked right at us.

My mother rubbed her hands together in nervous excitement, but I found it hard to share the same sentiment. On the contrary, I was completely calm.

The Gleesons? Not once did their name ever fill me with glee.

I would not have even bothered attending this stupid family meeting if it hadn't been for my mother's sake.

"Why don't you say a few words to honor the occasion, Helen."

Soren beckoned to her.

"All right." My mother nodded, making her way to the front of the room.

I was right behind her—where else could I be?

"I've been gone from this family for over twenty years. I've always wanted to come back, but for such a long time, I was too scared to. I know what I did back then was rather embarrassing…"

"Yeah, right! What a lying whore!"

A discordant voice interrupted my mother's speech.

I looked around to see what dimwit was responsible for the idiotic comment. It was none other than Kevin Gleeson, whose fingers I had broken only shortly prior.

"Have your fingers finally stopped hurting?" I glared at him.

"What're you gonna do?" After a reflexive shiver, Kevin immediately became defensive. "My dad is right here."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Why don't I give you an extra lesson, free of charge? You look like you need it drilled into your head."

I cracked my knuckles eagerly.