Claire clutched the table and blinked. The world around her seemed like a fish lens. She blinked again. And again till she realized she was seeing everything but watching nothing. A shrill wave of panic washed down her spine.

She abruptly stood up but slummed down instantly. Claire started freaking out. She had no commands over her legs and neither were her hands fully awake.

Sweat started breaking down her forehead and soon, her breaths became too short to keep her mind clear. She could sense it. She was going into a panic attack.

But now's not the time. Please no!!!!

A handheld onto hers while another started rubbing her back. Gently. Soothingly. In a rhythm so familiar.

"Derek? ... Is that...you?" she hitched between her breaths.

"Shh..breath..you don't need to speak now," a soothing voice replied.

But Claire couldn't stop speaking. She had to know there was someone. She had to know for sure there was. "Derek...I...where.."

"Calm down Claire. You are hyperventilating. I'm here. Just. Breath."

After minutes numerous, Claire finally calmed down. She looked around, her vision finally in focus. She found a concerned Derek looking at her and an angry Xen continuously banging on a glass wall, which she didn't even notice all this while.

She looked at Derek again, reassuring him that she was okay now. But her head was pounding. She refrained from rubbing her temples. She didn't want to worry Derek any further. Rather started studying the surrounding.

They were in some sort of an opaque glass room standing in the middle of infinite darkness. A faint shade of light was lighting up the room just enough to be able to tell between your fingers and no matter how much she tried, she couldn't place the source of this ghostly radiance.

She looked at Derek again. He also wore the same pained expression she had. Xen's back was turned towards them but his continuous cursing and banging were saying it for him too. It felt like they were all drugged.

"Geez, pipe down Xen. You are gonna break the glass."

"How can you care about this fucking piece of glass when We. Are. So. Fucked up ourselves?" Xen shouted in between his every kick.

Derek sighed. There was no helping him. Wherever they were, it seemed like a sort of interrogation room and he did not wanna add vandalism to the list of anything that they were brought here for.

Xen raked through his hair, his face all red from rage. "What the fuck did we fucking do?"

There was no answer.

None of them could recollect what's the last thing they did. But none of them were deliquescent enough to see themselves into interrogation rooms. At least not Claire and Derek. They both looked at Xen.

"What? I didn't do anything. It's not me. I swear" Didn't look like they were convinced.

Claire looked around once again. None of the buildings in Annexa was this fancy. It's true Xen's temper had shown him the sheriff's face too much and they had the chore of bailing him on multiple occasions but the whole police department didn't seem to have half the budget this room had, though all that was there were a smooth edge granite table and five chairs.

Five chairs? Claire squinted.

Just then they heard something. At first, it was a small murmur. Gradually the resonation turned into footsteps echoing through an invisible hallway. They froze in their positions.

There was a loud sound of stomping and gun thuds and before they knew it, a portion of the glass wall slid on their right revealing two figures walking towards the entrance in pitch black uniform. They saw two rows of guards on each side bowing down on their arrival.

So we weren't alone all along Claire thought.

One of them was a male and another one was a female. She couldn't make out their faces but their chevrons showed that they were no jokes. They were weighed down with medals which were proudly glistening even from the hallway. There was something about the way they carried themselves that told her they were bad news. They appeared on the door and suddenly the room dropped into dead silence. Even Xen walked back to his seat.

The intensity of the light increased abruptly, leaving them momentarily blinded. The guy took a seat in front of them while the girl leaned against the glass opposite them and just stood there crossing her arms, her eyes fixated over them.

It wasn't till he sat in front of them that Claire realized the person in front of them was around their age and had the most brilliant eyes she had ever seen. They were a lively shade of blue and green, perfectly complimenting his chiseled face making her realize she had heard of this lethal combination before. She gaped in horror as she looked to and fro between him and the girl on the back.

There's no mistaking it! It's them!! The prodigal duo of the infamous House 9. The most lethal marksmen of Nix whose sheer mention petrifies the heart of citizens even in Annexa. The only two people who became lieutenants at the age of 15 and became members of the Oracle at 16. The boy with striking eyes and the girl with a streak of white hair.

She couldn't grasp what horrible stuff they could have possibly done to gain their audience.

A sheer sense of uneasiness brought her back to her senses when she found a pair of eyes boring holes in skulls from the back of the room. Claire looked away. The girl's intense eyeing made her feel naked.

"Well, since we'll be here for a while, let's introduce ourselves, shall we?" the person in front of her twinkled," I'm Lt. Liam Krieger and that's Lt. Rayo Schwan. And who might we have here?"

For a while, no one spoke.

" Why are we here?" Xen hissed in a defiant tone.

"I believe you didn't understand what I asked. You have been asked to introduce yourselves," Liam said, the tone of smoothness now replaced by the harshness of authority, dripping heavily on each word.

" I'm Derek Daveson and that's Xen Widder."

Liam glared at Xen."I'm Xen Widder," Xen retorted submissively.

"And who might you be Missy?" his glare softens.

" I'm Claire. Claire Huskin" she replied in a timid tone.

"So..um... lieutenant, could you please tell us what we are doing here or where is 'here in the first place?" Derek spoke slowly.

" I don't know. You tell me. We would also like to know. What are you doing here?" Liam probed crossing his arms.

Just then Rayo walked towards the table. She stood in front of Xen and grabbed his forearm, whisking it up.

She looked at it for few seconds and let it go. "We are done here for today," she spoke for the first time in the whole while.

The interrogation ended just as abruptly as it started. They left the room just like that, leaving them yet on uncertain.

But this time, they knew, they had entered the vulture's nest.

Oh! Isn't that star shining? Go on. Spank-it. It's calling you 😁