The little girl sat in a corner, shivering, her knees raised up to her chin as she hugged them with all her might. Her mud brown hair was cut short, but strands of it still fell into her eyes. Her face was ghastly, and she looked like a human ghost.

She was muddy, bruised all over, and she sat in a cold, dark room with her back pressed into the grey wall. Her feet were bleeding.

A low, eerie sound of footsteps echoed through the room.

The girl quickly scrambled to her feet, her face the expression of horror when she heard the sound. Before she could stand however, a cold air had surrounded her body. A horrible chill ran down her spine, and she backed further into the wall, shuddering violently.

In a split second, someone was holding her face.

It was as if he had appeared out of thin air. A tall man tsked as he held the girl’s chin with long, slender fingers. She froze from his touch. A dangerous smile spread on his lips. He had long dark green ombre hair, that were dirty and tousled, and he stood before her in a black robe. His face was pale and ghostlike, as it was sinister and cold.

He traced the girl’s chin lightly, then finally clutched her throat.

The girl gasped.

He looked at her with scorn, then hissed under his breath.

“Why are you so useless, Miya?”

The girl shivered from his tone, then instinctively held his arm to try and remove his hand from her neck. The man shoved it away in bare dismissal, then finally let her go. She panted.

He began to walk away.

Before he had reached the iron door, though, he kicked at something with extreme force. It slid all the way across the doorstep and crashed into the girl’s feet.

Miya screamed in horror.

The man’s eyes turned colder at the sight of the shuddering, screaming girl. They were disappointed to say the least.

His frosty gaze landed at the corpse that he had thrown before the girl. The body lay before her feet, unmoving and dead, and yet the girl was hollering.

Useless, indeed.

The man turned around, the gate flying open once he barely touched it. His voice was nasty when he spoke.

“This is your last chance. Fail me again, and I’ll have your head.”

The little girl couldn’t breathe. She looked at the corpse lying at her feet, at the naked chest that had a small ‘K’ written on it with blood.

She trembled.

A loud gasp escaped Miya’s throat, as events flashed back in her mind. An involuntary shudder ran through her shoulders, and she shrugged forcefully, calming down even when she saw a small, bloody ‘K’ painted on Tao’s left wrist.

She realized she had been standing at the doorstep of Tao’s ward, staring mutely inside, her feet refusing to move.

She had met with the doctor, and she knew there had been no progress in his health since the last incident of him moving a finger muscle. Miya breathed in heavily, and gave the frail old man’s withering face a cold look from afar. Then very slowly, she entered his ward. Her heart burnt when she saw him, but she refused to feel anything at all.

Instead, she walked quickly to his left side and picked up his wrist, careful but callously and observed the sign drawn with blood.

‘K’.

It was fresh. Undoubtedly, they were here.

Even when she had told them not to come.

Miya put down the man’s hand, wary of the needle in his arm. Then very slowly, she breathed in, and breathed out. The air around her had frozen only a little, when she could sense the presence of someone behind.

Miya grabbed the wrist of the person before it could come in contact with her shoulder.

Her own voice turned cold.

“Don’t touch me.”

The wrist was out of her hold soon, and Miya slowly turned around to come face to face with a lean man. He smirked, his breath too close to her, and then he stepped back.

“As if,” he hissed, then leaned against one corner of the wall.

Miya’s face turned grim.

She looked at the pale, ghostlike face of the man, his thin lips, his sardonic smile. His hair was waist length now, longer than she had ever seen it before. It was still ombre, dark green, bringing out more dangerously the exceptional green of his eyes. He stood in the corner, against the edge listlessly, eying her like she was a small bug.

Miya had expected him to appear.

Two nights after Jim had left, she had received the first sign. She had been looking out of her window at a tree below, when she had noticed a ‘K’ mark on one of the branches. It had been her first queue to have her update on Tao.

The person who had initially helped her was growing desperate it seemed. He or she, whoever it was, always sent Kaali, the green haired man to tackle her or talk to her. Kaali and Miya hadn’t been on good terms ever.

Miya looked behind herself, at the still figure of Tao. She then glared at Kaali, her eyes stern.

“I sent you a message. I told you not to come here.”

But she knew there was a chance. That was why she had needed to drop the guard.

The vicious man gave her another lazy stare. Then very slowly, he moved his arm. Miya was used to his lousy tricks, so she was quick to grab a dart that he had thrown her way in a split second. It was aimed for the nook in her neck.

Scoffing, she said, “Tao’s condition hasn’t improved. What else is there to do?”

It was at that naiveite that Kaali’s face spread into a vile smile. He hissed again.

“Give me another child. If not this girl your father sold. Maybe your son… if he’s not as useless as you.”

Miya’s jaw tightened, and she quietly dodged another dart, blocking Kaali’s blow as he raced at her like a freezing wind. She grabbed his wrist harshly too, when he attempted to poke another needle to her side. She said in a vicious voice, “If your stupid dart misses, it could hit Tao. I have no use for him, but think what t-that person would do to you.”

Kaali released his hand, then twisted back hers. Hate was written over his face when he glared at her.

“I hate your face,” he slithered.

And just then, something impossible happened. He put an arm around her shoulder, blocking her with force as he threw in another dart.

What?

For a second, Miya was confused. Then, horror filled her face.

She heard a familiar voice.

It was Chenric’s.

“Madame, it’s –“

The dart, it –

“DUCK!” Miya screamed, hoping Chenric would see the dart in time. The guard, who was just about to enter the ward took action and crouched. Miya kneed Kaali’s bottom, and ran to the guard’s aid.

Kaali who had escaped the hit by an inch, hissed, “You b*tch!”

Another cold gust of wind surrounded Miya, and she thought he was going to attack again. She turned back in a hurry to defend them, when she saw that the room was empty.

Kaali had vanished again.

Meanwhile Chenric staggered to his feet, looking aghast.

“M-Madam –“

Miya spun around, not surprised at all. “Are you alright?”

He nodded, “Yes, ma’am. You?”

“Yes.”

Silence pervaded between them, as the guard gave her a blank look. Miya stared back expressionlessly as well.

“Why did you ignore my message?” she asked.

She had clearly texted him to meet her at Raven International School at 4 in the evening when she had arrived at the hospital.

“You shouldn’t have run, ma’am.”

“Would you have let me go if I asked?”

“No. It were the Chairman’s orders to have you followed.”

“Then I wasn’t wrong. If that dart hit you, you’d be having nightmares for the next three months. Sounds easy, but it’s intense enough to kill.”

“I could’ve taken him.”

“Have you heard of the ring with berserk fighters?”

“Yes.”

“He’s been champion for ten years.”

Chenric’s throat dried at that, and his eyes widened.

“T-Then you, mada –“

“He was toying with me, of course. If he got serious, I’d be dead meat. But he needs me. As for you, you were simply hindrance. Hence the dart.”

Chenric swallowed, surprised. Why did the young miss know so much about everything wrong? He looked towards the slim window distractedly, that wasn’t wide enough for anyone to enter or go through. He saw the half open pane and asked, “That man… did he disappear from there?”

Miya nodded. “Yes. And don’t think about chasing him. I’ve tried. Failed for ten years straight.”

With that, she gave another look to Tao, saw that it had been only five minutes since she had entered the ward, there was still two minutes of the visiting time left. Sighing, she turned around. The entire face off had been soundless, hushed, and no one outside could have suspected anything.

That was the thing about Kaali. He was swift, sleazy and vicious. Quiet, but venomous like a serpent.

Miya gave Chenric a look, pretty sure he had had her phone traced to locate her. When she saw the guard seem nervous again, she apologized to him for running away and then forced him out.

The guard looked at the girl queerly, then tried to place the green haired man. That use of darts was a little familiar to Chenric, he had heard of a group of rogues who used them as primary weapons.

Something seemed odd to him, and whilst he promised madame he wouldn’t trouble the young master over the “trivial” matter, as she put it, he betrayed her the next second.

Chenric excused himself to the bathroom and made a call to Jimmy.

That too, was a direct order. And he knew where his loyalty lay.

Miya meanwhile, looked at the slight scratch on her wrist, as a drop of blood shone on it. She cursed under her breath, then pressed her lips.

Damn.

Kaali must have done it when she had rushed to help Chenric.

As it turned out, she still was a rookie compared to him.

Useless, as he would have put it.

Damn.