The room was filled with graceful silence. Save for the soft breeze from the air conditioner mounted on the walls. The morning light gleamed through the curtains. Two officers lie, their bodies in vain. Sabastian stood in the middle of the room, enraged. A rage he hasn't met in years. A rage that once destroyed him. His fists clenched tight. His face frowned. His blood pulsed throughout. And then he listened.

  His mind painted with precision what reached his ears. Rejecting any but the mere vibration of matter. It encompassed his surroundings, the room, the floor, even the whole building. Yet nothing. No sign of Cassius. A soft laughter escaped his lips. Not one of amusement, but rather one filled with hopelessness. In that moment he wanted to do nothing more than rip apart the two men that lay unconscious before him. Cops that wanted him dead, or worse.

  The mattress sank with his weight. He sat both his hands running through his hair as his elbows rested on his thighs. And that's when he noticed. He heard. And he saw. The man standing behind the door. Not human. No. His body had a different composition altogether. Taking a deep breath, he lowered his hands from torturing his hair, locking his fingers together infront of him.

  The door opened. “You know, it's really not a good idea to leave an unconscious body in front of the door.” The intruder's voice echoed through the room. “And a cop at that.” He walked further into the room meeting an unfazed Sebastian glaring into his soul.

  “Nicklaus.” Sebastian said, his voice filled dripping with malice, his lips twitched with annoyance.

  “Sebastian.” Nik replied with an easy smile. “Come on, what's with the frown? Smile a little.” He added his voice cracking into an amused laughter.

  “Give me one good reason not to decapitate you right now.” Said Sabastian.

  “What? No foreplay? That's kinda rude, you know.” Nik said, walking over the bodies of the officers.

  “Enough with your jokes!” Sebastian snapped. “Where is my son?!”

  “Relax.” Nik said, his demeanor shifting to his professional persona, built for business. “He’ll be fine. He’s with someone who’ll look after him. And probably bring him back to you.” He sighed. “As for why I'm here… His majesty demands your presence back home. The details will be shared with you later.”

  “How?” Sebastian asked, his head tilted.

  “Did you really think that you too can stay under the radar? The world is evolving. Hiding nowadays is harder than what your family’s been doing for centuries.” Nik said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, don’t cause a scene. I'm also on vacation... Well I was supposed to be. But you know.” He shrugs.

  “So what? I'm just supposed to sit by when you kidnapped my son?” Sebastian’s jaw tightened.

  “I wouldn't call it kidnapping… It's a carefully constructed displacement.” Nik shrugged.

  Sebastian stared at him. Forgetting who was standing in front of him for a moment, his lips curled as his eyes squinted looking at Nik with disgust. “Right…”

  ~~~

  “So… What you're saying is… This child's father is back at the hotel we’re staying at?” Mr. Aldrich’s eyes darted between Nathan, Jenny and the blonde haired child. Still processing the information he was being exposed to. It's not that he didn't trust Nathan and Jenny. In fact these two, more notably Nathan, are reliable students. But right now, Mr. Aldrich had a hard time buying what they were saying. ‘What are the chances?’ He thought.

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  “And how exactly do you both know that?” He asked, his eyes locked on Nathans. He knew Nathan couldn't lie. He could verbally, but his face would give it away. The twitch on the left side of his lips as if his mouth refuses to comply but is forced to lie anyway.

  Nathan's eyes went straight to jenny. Aldrich knew instantly that Nathan didn't know himself. Jenny told him. And he had believed her. ‘Why?’ Aldrich didn't want to admit it but he was a fan of the romance genre. He almost couldn't contain himself at the possibilities. Like a die hard fan finally seeing his ship sail, Aldrich’s focus ascended to the fourth dimension.

  “I saw his guardian back at the hotel. He was already looking for the child. You can ask Zoe. She was with me.” Jenny explained.

  Cassius attentively watched the people roaming the streets. He noticed how people looked at him. How they'd be surprised by something as simple as his eyes. He enjoyed that. Watching people. But their faces weren't the only thing he could see. The faint glow in their chests would whisper to him. Something his father had told him to keep secret no matter what happens. Seeing emotions, and desires was not normal. Even among them.

  “You okay, Cass?” Nathan knelt down in front of him.

  “I'm fine.” He replied, his face brightening up as he saw Nathan's face.

  “We're gonna take you back to your family, okay?” Nathan said, petting his head gently.

  “Okay.” Cass replied in the same manner.

  But all of that was a facade he realized people trusted. A face they believed. Yet inside the mind of this five year old was anything but okay. How could he be? When there's darkness, unlike any other he had seen, inside nathan. Not from a human. Not from an Aetharian. The worst part was, Nathan had never lied once, since Cass started watching him. Since he entered the museum.

  Cass would have usually categorized anyone with that dirty, dark energy surrounding their hearts as evil. But Nathan had no ill intent. He was a void. An empty shell. And that terrified Cass, even though he knew that he could have snapped their necks effortlessly.

  ~~~

  The rain hammered against the dark-shaded window, as if nature itself was trying to wash away the unnecessary clutter from Megan’s mind. She sat at her desk, her head resting on the cool pages of her notebook. Goosebumps dotted her skin as she listened to the soft, rhythmic melody of the rain outside.

  She tapped a pen absentmindedly against her hand, the motion syncing with the steady hum of the rain. Her laptop sat open beside a stack of books on the table. The room was dimly lit—cozy. A potential intruder could be kung-fu-ed into oblivion without ever knowing what hit them. But for Megan, this atmosphere was home.

  Her phone vibrated quietly next to her. She turned her head and glanced at the glowing screen. She didn’t need to check the name—she already knew who it was. And while she wanted to reply, she just… couldn’t.

  The offer was tempting, no doubt. But something about it didn’t sit right. Why would Klein Belmonte, the internationally bestselling author who had dominated the charts for six straight months, want her—a high school senior—to work for him? Sure, she enjoyed his books and had sent him a few passionate emails about his writing, but proofreading his work? That was a different level. She wasn’t qualified—not even close.

  Megan sighed. She had to decline. Klein would move on to someone more suitable, someone actually worth his time. He had better things to do than waste energy on a teenager still struggling to meet deadlines.

  She opened her laptop and pressed the power button. Writing formal emails was second nature to her at this point. She’d been sending them for years now, mostly through her work on a self-publishing platform. She’d made a little money off her stories—not enough to brag about, and she never revealed her identity.

  After a few carefully chosen words, she hit send. Megan leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

  “When are they coming back?” she murmured. “Nathan, you as*hole. How could you not tell me you were going too?”

  She groaned, rolling her eyes in frustration.

  Megan hadn’t gone on the trip with the others. She had a deadline—her next chapter was due tomorrow. Her writing schedule had been in shambles lately. It wouldn’t have mattered last month, when she was ten chapters ahead. But now?

  “I swear I’m gonna kick your ass when you get back,” she muttered, grabbing her phone and opening her chat with him.