The room smelled of burnt sage and copper. It felt heavy, it clung to the skin like a dumbbell.

Kathleen arguably, felt the most weight. Nothing made sense but did at the exact same time.

Mama had long stood up to clear up the room whilst Kael and Kathleen sat on the floor in silence.

But unlike Kael's fixed, stern gaze, Kathleen's was erratic. She didn't know what or whom to focus on.

She pushed herself off the floor, her legs trembling so hard she had to grab something to stabilise herself.

"Explain it," Kathleen said. Her voice didn't shake, but it was thin, like a wire stretched to its breaking point.

Mama didn't look up from the clean up she was doing. The rhythmic gentle sound of her broom against the wooden floor boards was the only sound in the room. 

Kael, however, flinched. He was slumped against the far wall, his knees drawn to his chest. 

To Kathleen’s new eyes, he didn't look like all that calm ; he looked like his was a step away from imploding, his violet energy jagged, violent yet some were calm, leaking into the floorboards like spilled ink.

"Kathleen, child, sit down," Mama murmured, her voice weary. "The smoke from the sage is still in your system. Your mind is playing tricks."

"Don't lie to me!" Kathleen snapped, her head whipping toward Mama. "I see it. I see the mist around your hands, Mama. I see the... the cracks in him." She pointed a trembling finger at Kael.

"He looks like he's falling apart. Like he’s held together by nothing but shadows and that- " she choked on the word, "that thing, that- what is that a chain? He has tied it to Noah. What is it? What did he do to me?"

Kael finally looked up. His eyes were hollow, his fingernails nearly bitten raw.

"She had warned me" he whispered hoarsely, his voice sounded like dry leaves scraping on pavement. "But I didn't listen"

"Who- what the fck are you talking about?" Kathleen barked, her anger and confusion becoming an ugly mix

(Ryle here, if you want to know who "She" is and the warning head on to my Selar, not knowing will not hinder your understanding of the book but knowing adds bonus points. Thks ^⁠_⁠^)

"I didn't want this, I don't want any of this" Kael spat.

"Noah's fate is uncertain, you've got the sight and... and I- " He looked directly into Kathleen's eyes who flinched because of how intense and probing his gaze was. Noticing how she raised her guard up, he chuckled mockingly "What have I gotten myself into"

Mama called out from where she worked "Stop over exaggerating Kaelion, everything is not as bad as you preach. The boy is going to live, the hard part is already over, he should be up in a few hours"

"And what if he survived this one? What of the next? He can't protect himself yet can give another the sight to see Zhil-vae?" Kael thundered 

"Zhil-vae," Kathleen whispered, the word tasting like ash. "Dark energy."

"The raw force of life and death," Mama finally stood, her face etched with a gravity Kathleen had never seen. "Noah is a vessel that was never meant to hold this much. A human is never ment to hold so much. And you, Kathleen, are now a window. You aren't seeing mist. You are seeing the architecture of the soul. And most souls," she glanced at Kael with a mix of pity and warning, "are built on very dark foundations."

Kathleen turned back to Kael. Through the Zhil-Vae filter, his violet glow pulsed with a frantic, erratic beat. "Is that why you’re shaking? Because the foundation is breaking?"

Kael didn't answer. He just squeezed his knees tighter, his body trembling like a leaf in a winter gale. The silence that followed was heavier than any shout.

"We're going back to the apartment," Kathleen said suddenly, her voice turning cold. "Noah’s apartment. Now."

"You can't be serious" Kael sneered.

"It's a crime scene, Kathleen," Mama warned. "The police-"

"I don't care about the police," Kathleen cut her off, her eyes flashing with a dark, secondary light. "I need time to think, space to breathe and I can't do that surrounded by clearly non human creatures in a creepy voodoo house"

Mama turned to Kael who sighed and then spoke up "Alright, when the boy is awake you can be on your way"

*****************************

The first thing Noah saw when he opened his eyes was a teary eyed Kathleen. 

He tried to sit up but his vision spun and he groaned, Kathleen stopped him from sitting up "Don't get up yet, lie down for a bit"

He reluctantly laid back down and from his side vision saw a plump black woman strut down to him and lay a hand on his forehead.

After a while, she lifted up her hand and asked "How are you feeling?"

"Lightheaded but alright" He answered, his voice dry and raspy "But who are you?" 

"You can thank me for saving your life"

*****************************

"Mitch? Hey?! Mitch!!" Detective Mitch snapped out of his daze and looked at the colleague standing in front of him "huh?"

"Hey man, ever since that- well incident that happened at the morgue, you've been sort of out of it. Are you sure you are okay?" The colleague asked awkwardly but concerned

But Mitch did appreciate it, every since he got back from the morgue everyone at the precinct have been looking at him with a weird glint in their eyes.

They looked at him as if he's a freak. As if he has lost his marbles, he hated it.

Hence, he flew into rage "What the fck is that supposed to mean, huh? You think I'm crazy? Is that it?"

The colleague backed off, his hands in the air "No, I didn't mean it like that. You know what I mean man, you've- "

"No I don't" Mitch snapped, he poked the colleague's chest, slow and deliberate, his jaw clenched in anger "Explain it to me right now"

Duke rushed up and separated the two and reprimanded Mitch "Dude what's your problem, huh? You've been acting strange"

Mitch wasn't listening, his gaze was instead fixed on the colleague. At first he thought he was mistaken, that his eyes were playing tricks but he saw it again.

First a bump, then another and another, moving, wiggling under his skin. Forming the symbols that have haunted him for the past few hours.

He turned to Duke, his eyes hollow due to fear, his voice trembling he asked "Do- do you see that?" 

"See what?"

"That-" once he turned to the colleague to point at the bumps, what he saw made him scream.

His face was rotting at a visible rate, peeling off with a disgusting slimy sound. His bones slowly becoming visible.

Mitch fell to the floor, not once did he stop screaming and that's when he noticed them. The maggots, slowly crawling to him.

He could still feel them. Their disgusting texture, their cold bites and how they burrow into his skin.

He didn't wait to catch Duke's reaction, he bolted out of the precinct.

Though the fear was heavy on his mind, he knew he had to make it to that place, that home.

Noah Ware's apartment.

Meanwhile, a figure watched Mitch bolt out of the room, the shocked gaze of his colleagues following him and stood up.

"You still- "

"No need"

"I have something to take care of"