XIX

It was clear that everyone was extremely exhausted, and they didn’t have any reserved strength to put up with more emotional bursts. And they weren’t even close enough to Kimi to talk to him. In the end, it was Dae-yang who came forward and decided to do the talking, the pain in her waist a light leash on her, reminding her to count her words and speak what is necessary.

She limped to Kimi and crouched before him, the pain in her legs spiking. She endured it with tight lips, her expression calm enough. Yes she was calm, but the sight of Kimi’s weak and tired expression made her eyebrows twitch in sympathy.

“Kimi?”

“I’m already sitting before you, so there’s no fucking need to call my name,” hr mumbled. His face was turned away from her as he shallowly whispered, “whatever you’re about to say better be worth the pain.”

Dae-yang sighed and arranged her words in her mind. Raaf, Zee and Tobe talked in the background, their voices hushed. Raja and Rin simply stood by the corner with blank stares. Qharis was busy scolding the twins, her voice sharp and reprimanding.

“...make that mistake again. Homer am I clear?” She looked at him with a hard expression.

Homer raised up his hands, his eyebrows raised in shock. “What? Why me? Clearly Orpheus is—”

“Don’t drag me into your bickering?” Orpheus droned, his pale blue eyes glazed over.

Qharis raised a brow. “Bickering? You were the one...”

The chattering in the background gave Dae-yang minimal confidence and she cleared her throat, ready to answer Kimi’s questions.

“Where do I start from?” she sighed tiredly and held her chin.

“You can start by telling me what your relationship is with those fucking monsters,” Kimi murmured, his thick brows pinched together in a deep frown.

Dae-yang rubbed at her neck. “I wouldn’t know what to say and how to say it until you tell me”—she looked into his dull eyes—“what your mother had told you, so that I can connect the dots.”

“Just names of cadavers.” He locked his jaw and his eyes twitched. Aurum Caedis.

Dae-yang sighed and slowly sat down in a cross-legged manner beside him. “Did she tell you the hierarchy of cadavers?” Kimi gave her a hard sideglance. She gulped and sighed, “I’ll take that as a no. Umm...” She rubbed at her chin.When she finally got it, she snapped her fingers. “Aha! Hunters?” She beamed at him.

Kimi raised a brow at her. “What?”

“Hunters. You asked me what my relationship is with the cadavers.” She placed a hand on her chest. “I hunt down rogue cadavers.”

Kimi looked up with a confused expression. “Hunters?”

She nodded and pointed at Raja. “He’s one too.” Raja replied with a slow wave. “And so are you.”

Kimi stiffened and his eyes went wide, confusing plastered on his face. He looked into Dae-yang’s serious eyes. “Me? What—”

“Your eyes.” She blinked, and he watched in shock as the brown colour of her eyes slowly morphed into grey. “They’re silver in colour.”

He frowned in confusion and said, “silver? My eyes aren’t—”

“That lighter, the one you used to burn the Level Os that attacked the ship, who gave you that?” Her eyes slowly faded into a dark blue, then back to its normal brown colour.

Kimi bristled. “My mother...”

He dug his hand into his pocket and winced as he struggled to pull the lighter out of his pocket. Guess I’d badly scratched myself, he thought as he brought the lighter to his line of sight. It reflected the soft glow of the light bulb.

Dae-yang narrowed her eyes at it. “What did she tell you when she gave it to you?” She looked at his face as he thought in order to remember her words.

“That it had the capability to burn cadavers.” He turned it in his hand. “She gave me for self protection because she knew that cadavers will attack me on this trip, one way or another. And they did.”

“But did she—”

“It was my father’s,” he said quietly. He stared hard at it, before his eyes slowly drifted to the twins, but then he swiftly returned his gaze back to the lighter.

Dae-yang’s expression wavered because she noticed his actions and she sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said under her breath, her voice inaudible to Kimi. “Kimi... that... that lighter, like I’m sure your mother had told you, has the capability to burn and kill cadavers of all levels. And—”

“Levels?” He looked at her face with a raised brow.

She nodded. “Yes, levels. The Level As and Level Os. Level Os are changelings, humans turned to cadavers. And the ones we caught today were Level Os. Level As are like ‘purebloods’, if you want to put it that way.” She sighed due to his confused expression and sat straighter. “I know that your mother told you names in order to assure that you’ll be careful with who you talk with during this trip, seeing as Ashville is home to a lot of Level Os.”

Kimi gulped, his eyes drifting towards the twins again. This time, his eyes lingered for far too long. Murderers, he thought, clenching his jaw. He tightened his grip on the lighter, slowly getting lost in the pit of anger.

“Kimi.” She snapped her fingers at his face. “Are you—”

“Why will Level Os purposely attack this ship if they live all the way in Ashville?” He deeply furrowed his eyebrows. “And don’t tell me that they can swim, because that’s not fucking—”

“They were sent by someone,” Tobe said in response to his question. “Someone like us.” He exchanged sly looks with Raaf and Zee.

Kimi silently clicked his tongue and looked away with a hard frown.

Raja perked up at Tobe’s response. “I fucking knew it,” he whispered. He jumped off the table and landed with a loud thump, drawing the attention of the three siblings. “The way they were moving was too fucking coordinated.”

Rin raised a brow at that. “Are you suggesting that he sent them after us, knowing very well that Mikaelis is on this shi—”

“Don’t. Fucking. Call. My. Name,” Kimi hissed through his teeth.

Raja groaned loudly. “Dude, fucking quit it with your emo attitude—”

“Emo?” Kimi gave him a hard look. “I’m acting emo?” he said through his clenched teeth.

“Fucking yeah,” Raja scoffed.

Dae-yang heaved a long sigh. “Raja.”

“What?!” He looked deeply into Kimi’s dark, grey eyes. “Fuck what your problem is. I don’t know why you fucking act like you’re the only one who’s fucking got a problem with life.”

Rin held his arm. “Raj,” he warned with a small frown.

Raaf and Zee paused their discussion and looked at Raja.

“What?” Kimi supported himself with the wall and stood, his face frozen into a frown. He pointed at Raja. “You... always so insensitive that you fucking act like you know what others are fucking going through.” He held his head and pressed his hands against his ears, looking like a crazed person. “Stop acting like you fucking know anything!”

Raja took a step forward, Rin’s hand still holding onto him. “I know everything. I know that—”

“Raja,” Tobe warned with a frown. “Stop provo—”

“You lousy piece of shit. Are you a fucking god?! What are you, a fucking saint?! You forgive murderers and killers now huh?! Isn’t that right?!” His voice shook the ship, rattled the silence of the night, and shook him with great force. His voice was drenched in pain and anguish.

Raja scoffed and nonchalantly blinked. “Well I fucking might be. At least I’m brave and smart enough to know when to fucking find clarification.” He scoffed again, this time the corners of his mouth raising into an amused sneer. “I don’t go around acting like it was the world that—”

“My father...!” He held his fist to his chest and gnashed his teeth, his eyes stinging, his tears already spent. “You know what, fuck you! Fuck your—”

“Fuck you too,” Raja hissed.

“Raja! Stop it!” Dae-yang yelled in anger.

Homer winced at that. “Ouch.”

Qharis gave him a hard look. “I suggest you just shut up and watch.”

Homer raised his hands. “Why always m—”

“Homer?”

He looked at Orpheus. “What?” He raised a brow.

“Shut. Up,” Orpheus whispered with a cold voice and his brother stuck his tongue out at him.

Rin shook Raja’s arm. “Raja.” He pressed his hand into his shoulder. “Raja calm do—”

“I don’t know what Aurum sees in you,” Raja spat out in distaste and Kimi froze at the mention of the name.

Raaf furrowed his eyebrows at that. “Don’t call his name like that,” he said stiffly.

Tobe sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and whispered, “children and their bickering, always...” He shook his head.

Zee shuddered and looked at her brother, sensing the dark emotion that rolled off of him. “Raaf.”

“Like I fucking care.” Raja shrugged off Rin’s hand. “Every fucking day that bastard keeps calling, asking about this fucking thwart. Fuck if I care about that old man’s—” His words got shut down when Raaf suddenly stood before him, his gigantic hand crushing his throat.

A dark air surrounded Raaf. His eyes glowed a dangerous gold; it was cold and gnawing. “I warned you,” he said in a smoky voice.

Raja struggled to pull off his hand, but to no avail. His breath got stuck in his throat when he tried to breath.

Kimi froze due to the shift in the atmosphere. The pit of his stomach churned in fear. Raaf’s voice clouded him like a thundercloud and he gripped his neck tightly.

I still feel fear. His eyes were wide in fear, and he shook intensely. What’s this sudden feeling?

“Raaf,” Zee whispered. She moved to him and gripped his shoulder tightly. “Raaf.” She tightened her grip. “Raaf!” she exclaimed when Raja started convulsing. “Ra—”

Raaf let go of Raja’s neck with a dissatisfied click of his tongue. “Don’t test me next time.”

Raja dropped to his knees and held his neck, coughing loudly. His body shook with each breath he tried to swallow. Spittle drooled down the corners of his mouth. When he finally regained his breath, he looked up at Kimi and gave him a dark look. He gritted his teeth.

“Fuck—”

“Enough!” Zee waved her hands around in frustration, her hair jumping around. “All this childish bickering is starting to get on my nerves. You all just need to calm down and listen. Listen.” She pulled her brother to the corner and tried to calm him down, her hand softly rubbing his back.

Rin strode to Raja and harshly pulled him to his feet. “I told you to calm down,” he hissed. “You never listen to me.” He pulled his friend to the corner and sat him in a chair.

Kimi breathed to calm his aching nerves. He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. When his bubbling anger eased up a little, he plunked onto the floor, his eyes still shutting out the world.

Tobe accessed the situation. When he noticed that nobody had the strength to start fighting again, he suspired and looked up.

“Whatever that happened tonight wasn’t a coincidence, it was for a purpose,” he said calmly. “And we all need to stay alert and sharp. We need to work together in order to survive.” He moved his gaze from one person’s face to another.

“And the humans?” Orpheus asked, his eyes fixated on the floor.

“They don’t need to know. Until we’ve repaired the ship, they are to stay asleep.” He looked between Orpheus and Homer. “Am I clear?”

“Yes,” they answered together.

Homer stood straighter. “But... I still don’t know who would send the Level Os to attack this ship. Clearly the only person capable of doing that is—”

“He can’t,” Qharis said firmly, her eyes drifting towards Kimi. “Even if he needed to he just can’t.”

Everyone stayed quiet after her words, silent until Zee walked to the middle of the room with a calm expression.

“You all will return to your rooms. Don’t talk about this again. This is between the cadavers on this ship and the Hunters.” She looked at Kimi. “And if you need to discuss about anything concerning this night, wait till we get to Ashville. Okay?”

The teenagers stiffly nodded in response. Kimi just drowned their voices in his head, and painted their faces red in his mind. He wasn’t just going to stay calm and pretend like everything was fine. He opened his eyes.

Who the hell do they think they are? He looked at the twins. Fucking deities?

Author’s Note: this is my favourite chapter so far. Why? Because of the fight. Fight! Fight! Fight! “ψ(｀∇´)ψ Please vote, comment and share. Till next week! Bye for now.