Son of The Monkey King

Chapter 38

After the white haired girl's embarrassing first impression the mingling stopped.

"I still can't believe you did that." She said to her companion downing a glass of champagne.

"What? I told you to follow my lead. I didn't realize the girl who punched a twelve foot wolf in the face would be shy." He responded. In all honesty he had a point.

"Punching is easy. Words aren't. Look at all these people, secretly judging us, looking down on us." Lyra said referring to the high society crowd.

"Eh that stuff never bothers me. At least with these type of people." Raymond said waving the people off.

"And why's that?" She asked. Raymond interacted with everybody with such calm and ease as if he knew these people his whole life. His confidence was something she envied.

"It's simple really. I don't know these people. I'll never know these people. What they think of me doesn't matter, because I'll be in a new town in a new state, in a different timezone, and their faces will be forgotten." Raymond explained to Lyra. "Besides I get more nervous around familiar faces than total strangers." He added. Lyra's brows scrunched at that.

"So I make you nervous?" She asked. If she did, he hid it really well. Before anymore words could be said the sound of a voice broke their conversation.

"Ladies and gentlemen." A man called out. He was dressed as nice as everyone else. "I'd like to thank you all for coming to Mr. Collin's gallery. However I'm afraid the man of the hour has come under the weather." A quiet murmur was heard amongst the guests. "Now we all wish Gerald a speedy recovery, but the night goes on. Enjoy the entertainment, enjoy the food and enjoy the rest of your night." The man said before vanishing in the crowd.

"Well that sounds suspicious. Big night like this and the guy no shows. I'm not buying it." The half monkey said. Lyra said nothing just grabbed Raymond's arm and dragged him out of the party. "Awww I really wanted to get more of those hors d'oeuvres." Raymond said in a disappointed tone.
The girl ignored him inhaling the fresh air in an attempt to calm down. His golden eyes changed to concern at his companion.

"Hey you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just didn't want to stay longer than we needed to." She said. "We just hang out here until the party's over, break in and look for clues." She said. Raymond nodded his head at that. He liked where her head was at. There was a lull in conversation before Raymond asked.

"Hey can you do this?" The man proceeded to leap high in the sky landing on the roof of the building. Looking up Lyra saw him waving down at her. Not one to be outdone she leapt up after him. Though her landing wasn't as graceful as his.
Reaching out with his hands he stabilized her, before she could fall on her face.

"Thanks." She said to him in appreciation.

"No problem." He responded back.

Raymond sat on the ledge of the roof, Lyra quickly followed suit.

"Any particular reason you wanted to come up here?" she asked.

"Well I'm a rooftop afficianado. I've spent a lot of time up on these things." He said patting the ground affectionately. "Also there's only a three percent chance someone comes up here." He added. Lyra couldn't help the small smile that formed on her face.

"Ah. Look at that. Do I detect a smile?" He asked. Said smile was quickly wiped off her face replaced with a more neutral expression. With an eye roll, she said.

"You're imagining things." Though the half monkey pressed on.

"All the time, but I didn't imagine that." He shot back.