The sun had barely broken over the horizon when Kael stepped out of the nursing home. He squinted against the gray morning light, his shoulders tense, jaw locked. Sai followed quietly behind him, her silk nightdress now hidden under a borrowed coat a nurse had offered. Her bare feet padded lightly across the pavement.
They said nothing for a while.
The air was heavy with everything that had just happened, his mother's trembling voice, her chilling warnings, the way her eyes darted like something unseen was crawling just beneath the surface of her world, Kael clenched his fists, he didn't know whether to believe her, or to fear what it might mean if he did.
"She's getting worse," he muttered.
Sai caught up beside him. "She asked for you. That means something, don't you think?"
He gave a tight nod. "Yeah. But what does it mean when she starts talking about eyes that aren't from this world?"
Sai didn't answer. How could she?
They reached the car, Kael paused with his hand on the door handle, He felt different, as though something unseen had brushed past his soul. It left behind a strange residue, like he had touched a flame and his fingers remembered the heat even after it was gone.
Sai noticed the tremor in his hand.
"You okay?"
Kael opened the car door but didn't get in. He leaned against the frame, eyes staring at nothing. "She looked at me like she didn't fully recognize me. Like I was… fading from her."
Sai stepped closer. "Or like she was afraid she might lose you, too."
A beat passed between them. He finally turned to look at her, and for a second, just one second he saw something flicker in her eyes. Something ancient, like she had lived through lifetimes, each one hidden behind that calm gaze.
But then she blinked, and the illusion was gone.
Kael ran a hand through his hair. "Let's go back before your dad sends out a search party."
---
At the Asoluka Mansion…
Mr. Asoluka stood by the wide arched window of his study, arms crossed behind his back, the curtains fluttered gently in the morning breeze. His tea had gone cold on the tray beside him, he had seen the security footage. His daughter, barefoot, barely dressed, slipping into a car with the driver at an ungodly hour of the night.
It didn't sit well with him.
"She's not acting like herself," he said aloud, though there was no one in the room.
He didn't trust the boy, Kael. There was something about him, too quiet, too watchful, The way he moved reminded him of someone hiding from something. Or someone who had seen more than he should have.
The phone on his desk buzzed. He ignored it.
He was already formulating a plan. He wouldn't sit back and let this stranger crawl his way into his daughter's life or into his house, unchecked.
Meanwhile…
Back in the servant quarters, the pendant pulsed again.
It glowed in rhythmic beats now — once every few seconds, like the echo of a heartbeat.
But this time, it wasn't alone, the shadows in the corners of the room shifted.
Not loudly. Not like something crashing through the world.
It was subtle. Quiet. Like something stepping between dimensions, brushing against reality, testing the air.
A low hum began to emit from the pendant not loud enough for the human ear, but enough to awaken something else, far beneath the city, beneath soil and stone and memory, a forgotten name stirred.
Later that Morning…
Kael parked the car quietly and stepped out, Sai followed, now fully clothed after they'd swung by a boutique to grab something for her. She had said very little on the ride home.
Kael handed the keys to the waiting steward without a word and headed toward the back corridor, trying to be as invisible as possible.
But he never made it past the courtyard.
"Mr. Kael."
The voice stopped him mid-step.
He turned slowly.
Mr. Asoluka stood in the archway, hands clasped, eyes like sharpened glass.
"Yes, sir?"
"Follow me."
Kael didn't argue. He followed him into the same sitting room where he had been interviewed that first day.
The door clicked shut behind them.
"Sit."
Kael sat.
Mr. Asoluka remained standing. He moved to the wine bar and poured himself something amber and slow.
"My daughter," he began, swirling the glass, "has always been stubborn, but never reckless."
Kael remained silent.
"Last night, she left this house, with you, dressed inappropriately, at nearly four in the morning." He turned sharply. "Do you understand how that looks? And what that means?"
"I do," Kael said calmly. "But nothing inappropriate happened, my mother was sick. She insisted on coming along."
"And you just let her?"
Kael looked him in the eye. "Would you have stopped her?"
There was a pause.
Mr. Asoluka's jaw flexed. "You may have fooled her with your politeness, your silence, your… sob story. But I see you, Kael. I see men like you for what they are."
Kael didn't flinch. "What's that?"
"Hungry. Climbing. Looking for weakness."
"I'm looking for stability," Kael said quietly. "I'm not trying to climb tree."
"Then keep your distance," Mr. Asoluka snapped. "From my daughter, from my family. You're here to drive. Not to attach yourself."
Kael stood slowly. "Then fire me."
Another pause.
"I don't need to. Not yet."
Kael gave a curt nod and walked out, his spine like steel. But beneath his calm exterior, a storm brewed. Not just from the insult, but from the truth he didn't yet understand.
That Night…
Kael sat in the small garden behind the servants' wing, the moon hung low, like a secret trying to confess itself.
He rolled the pendant between his fingers, he didn't remember putting it in his pocket, but it was there now. Its warmth against his skin was… comforting, like it knew something he didn't.
Suddenly, movement to his left caught his attention.
A woman stood near the edge of the garden, her face shadowed by the branches.
She stepped forward... and Kael froze.
It was Sai.
Not the Sai from upstairs. Not the one who had comforted him that morning.
This Sai wore a cloak the color of dusk. Her eyes were glassy, distant, and full of tears that didn't fall.
Kael stood slowly. "Sai…?"
But she didn't answer.
His breath caught in his throat.
"Are you… real?"
Still, she said nothing.
Then her lips moved, not speaking, but mumbling something. A name. Maybe a warning.
And in that blink, she was gone.
Vanished like mist on water.
Kael stumbled backward, heart pounding.
He looked down at the pendant in his hand.
It was no longer glowing.
---