Silas and Benji lay motionless on the bed. Edgar would have easily assumed them dead, but he could easily see the rise and fall of their chests and oddly sense their presence. That was something he had never been able to do before. Edgar could easily detect emotion if someone was angry or happy or sad. He had learnt how to use colors to differentiate these emotions. However, after entering Domus, that ability had become more defined.

At first, he could sense people with tremendous magical abilities like Reina and the White Witch, then people with strong physical abilities like the powerful force that left the room that strange day the White Witch gave them the Runes. Now, he could sense people's presence and how powerful they were.

From where he stood, leaning against the wall in the Recovery Room, he could sense where Reina, Ava, Wyatt and Xavier were. Reina in her room with Ava, Xavier on the deck and Wyatt in the corridor right behind him.

Suddenly, the door beside him swung open noisily, startling Edgar even when he knew the man was heading to the room. Wyatt quickly stopped the door from smacking against the wall then cleared his throat awkwardly when Edgar glared at him.

Wyatt mouthed a sorry then turned back to the still patients on the bed. His eyes scanned over Silas briefly before falling on Benji, and his lips fell into a thin line.

"Why isn't he completely healed?" He mumbled quietly, referring to Benji's scar around his neck.

"The doctor used more blood on Silas than on Benji." He answered.

Silas and Benji had been fully healed except a small scar on Silas' palm and one around Benji's neck. One of Silas' palms had an awkward jagged line on it where the doctor had stitched it together before the blood started working. The burn Benji got around his neck was slowly healing, and it was slightly swollen and red.

"The doctor said he would have given Benji an equal amount of blood, but the beast inside him was taking the blood for itself," Edgar continued.

Wyatt frowned. "Well, shit."

"My thoughts exactly."

Wyatt rubbed his chin slowly before approaching the bed Benji lay in. He touched the boy's forehead, his brows creasing, before slipping the same hand into his pants pocket. The man turned back to Edgar and asked, "You don't mind if I take him to my room, do you?"

Edgar arched a brow at him, surprised he would suggest that after abandoning them. "I mind. I mind so much that you standing so close to him right now is pissing me off."

The caramel skinned boy pushed off the wall and glared sharply at Wyatt who gave him a confused look.

"Why are you mad?"

"Don't even ask that if you can't think about it yourself. Don't you at least have remorse? You left us in a sea of people and look what happened? Reina told you to take care of us!" Edgar said, walking slowly towards him.

Wyatt hissed when Edgar hovered over him like a threatening storm. Being slightly taller, it made Edgar feel a tad intimidating. He pushed against Wyatt's shoulder and asked, "Where were you?"

Wyatt stood still, clearly not daunted by him with the way he raised a sly brow. "I was at a club. Yes, I left because you three are old enough to take care of yourselves."

"In a world we know nothing of? You and your brother are the cause of that disaster, and you are in here acting like it doesn't matter to you!" Wyatt opened his mouth to speak, but Edgar cut him off. "My best friend would have been killed, or even Silas! I don't know what you think of Benji, but he is staying here where I can watch him. So you can either be quiet and watch him in your corner of the room, or get the fuck out."

Edgar pointed angrily at the door, mentally praying for Wyatt to leave, but he just sat on the bed behind him. He gave Edgar a look he couldn't quite understand before looking past him at Benji.

Looking deeply at the man as he dropped his hand to his side, Edgar could see he was pissed but also confused. Emotions themselves were difficult to understand so Edgar didn't exactly know what he was angry and confused about. However, he didn't care and hissed before walking back to where he had been leaning against.

Reina strolled into the room not a minute later and stared at the both of them before the two patients. She cleared her throat quietly then turned to Edgar who had been watching her.

"Can you come with me for a second?"

"How far are we going? Because I don't want to leave that guy with my friends." He tried not to point and crossed his arms over his chest.

Reina rolled her eyes then glanced at Wyatt. "Wyatt, play good."

"I am," he said without taking his eyes off Benji.

She gave Edgar a small smile before leading him out of the room. They passed through the quiet hallways, not seeing any crew members until they got to Reina and Ava's room which was a floor above.

Reina pushed the door open but let Edgar in first. He nodded his thanks before entering the brightly lit room. It was definitely bigger than the room he shared with Silas. There were two beds, one slightly larger than the other and both covered with beautiful zebra striped sheets. There was a soft, white bear rug which Edgar walked across to the large bookshelf. A table beside the bookshelf was covered with books, some open and some not. Reina and Ava's room definitely had more quantity.

Ava lay tucked in the big bed, her blonde hair fell over the pillow, and one of her arms rested on her forehead. Then Edgar realized she wasn't tied up.

He twirled to Reina who stood by the table and asked in a hushed tone, "Why isn't she tied up?"

She shook her head. "I saw nothing in her that could suggest she might be dangerous."

Edgar's eyes widened. "She has memory gap. How is that not a warning sign?"

"More like suppressed memories." She sighed. "If it were a gap, I would find it. But suppressed memories are hidden from people and by people I mean mind readers. The people who did it knew where they were sending her."

Edgar took a deep breath then turned back to Ava. She moaned softly then turned away from him on the bed, burying her head in the pillow. As he stood there, he felt no animosity, but he still couldn't shake that deadly look and aura he had gotten from her at that time.

"I made a list of people she knew or mentioned at least once." Reina continued, searching through the table. "I want you to cross out the ones that sound fishy when you talk about them with Silas. For now, we know our main enemy might be the boss."

"Robert Crossway."

"Is there anything else we need to know about him? Who he walks around with? His name coming up anywhere?"

Edgar thought about it. If he had his RA45, he would have been able to give Reina a very long essay on the man. The internet was a perilous place, and absolutely anything could be found there. Edgar repeated the name a few times to himself until a bulb went on in his head. He remembered a time in his rebellious phase when he used to do drugs. The drug's effects were different for everybody, and some people didn't even react to it. Other than getting Edgar high, the drug heightened his senses. Actually, it gave him psychic senses. He could sense a lot of people's emotions in a 100m radius. When they were happy, when they were angry, when they were confused, sad, frustrated... emotions he couldn't even feel now.

But then his mum found the drug and started to take them. Her reaction to it kept her in a coma. She didn't stop bleeding from her eyes. Those were the worst few months of his life.

Remembering all that only made him warier of Robert Crossway and Ava, and that's because the name of the drug was Crossway.

Edgar started to turn back to Reina when someone banged on the door furiously, making him jump back in shock. Reina dropped the pen and paper in her hand and turned to the door.

"What is it, Wyatt?"

The door swung open either by Wyatt or Reina - Edgar wasn't sure - and Wyatt came in, panting. He took a deep breath before saying as quickly and sensibly as he could, "Silas is on fire."

"What?" Edgar and Reina said in unison.

Reina was already marching out of the room with Wyatt in tow before Edgar could register what he had just said. Silas on fire? But he was good just a minute ago.

It was when he got back to the Recovery Room that he knew Wyatt meant it literally.

Knelt in the middle of the room with all the beds pushed aside, was Silas screaming with his eyes wide with fear as he hugged his body that didn't seem to be burning but was on fire.

~::~

        The snow fell hard that night. It covered the driveway, and even the pesky robot supposed to clean it. The green machine didn't come online until four in the morning to shovel all the snow off the driveway. Silas stared at it like he always did before going to bed. The day had been long and hard, and he had a bunch of math homework to do when he woke up.

The thought of the long homework only made him roll his eyes, and he jumped in bed. The good part was that he could finally have a day with Esau, his neighbor. The cute Arab boy had moved into the neighborhood opposite his house, and that was honestly the best thing that could happen to him since all the kids on his block were girls. He didn't like girls. They were too sassy.

The lights came on in his room, and he looked at the door to see his mum. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was already in her nightgown. She smiled as she came over to him then ran a hand through his hair. His mum always made it soft enough to do that. Since she always left her hair in a honey blonde low cut, she had time for Silas' thick curls.

"How was school today? Sorry, I didn't make it for dinner."

Silas moved his head to nuzzle her hand then smiled.

She grinned and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight from your dad and me, okay?"

"Goodnight."

She left the room, and he quickly fell asleep.

Silas was really hoping to spend time with Esau, but then, it never happened.

What he heard first were the screams.

They knocked him right out of his slumber, and he sat up on his bed. His little heartbeat drummed as he climbed down from the bed and he slowly crept towards the door. The shouts continued, and they grew louder as he got out into the hallway. What was happening?

His small hands held the railing as he walked down the stairs almost tripping on the last one. The noise that came from the living room grew louder as he neared it, slowing down with fear after he had crossed the dining room.

Silas could already see the living room; the cream couch was stained with some red spots which led to a puddle on the floor. His heart thundered when the screaming stopped suddenly, and he quickly ran to the home line.

He dialed the number his dad had told him to call if he heard something weird and the woman behind the phone answered, "911, what is your emergency?"

"People are screaming in my house." His voice shook as he came out of the dining room, missing the smudge of red that was smeared over the white floor.

"Do you know who they are?

The large red stain led to the center of the living room where he loved to do his homework and watch TV at the same time. Silas looked up and screamed just as his kneeling parents stabbed each other in the throat.

Mrs. Abbas, who had just arrived, cried out in shock when she saw them.

"Hello? Hello?" Silas could hardly hear the voice in his ear as he watched his parents who were covered in blood drop to the ground.

He cried out loud and even fell to his knees. What is going on? Why did they do that? Silas choked on his sobs, not knowing if he should run to his parents or stay where he was.

Mr. Abbas tried to get him to open the door, but he just stared at her crying. What should he do? He didn't know what was going on.

Sounds drained in the background and the only voice he could hear was his. His little sobs filled the blood stained white room until he opened his eyes to find it spotless. No blood. No body. Had the police taken them? Why weren't they taking him?

Was it all a dream?

Silas stood up, feeling many years older. It suddenly felt like he wasn't five anymore. It felt like it had been years since the double homicide, as people loved to call it. The death of his parents.

Watching that scene, he felt the raw emotions his five-year-old self bore. The anger, the loneliness...the hate. They left him. They left him in such a big, confused world. If they wanted to leave so bad, they should have taken him with them. There was no point staying back since he never got to see Esau ever again.

It wasn't like the cute boy would remember him anymore. The only conversation they had was; "Hi, I'm Esau, and I'm from Yemen."

Silas was hoping to get to know him. Silas wanted to be very close to him. But they took Silas away.

They made him sleep with a bunch of other kids before someone came and took him to a home. That was where he met Ava. Where he got a 'family.'

Silas hadn't noticed when the room had gone dark. It felt cold and humid. He looked around himself, barely even seeing his own hands in the dark. What is going on?

Suddenly, he heard breathing. Someone's other than his. He stayed quiet, even paused his own breathing to be sure he had heard something. He had.

It sounded closer to him now, and that made him panic. What is going on?

"Who's out there?"

His words echoed around him.

"What is going on?"

Silas dared not move. Other than his instinct telling him not to, his body felt frozen for some reason.

"Where am I?"

"In your own mind, where else?" A voice came back standing right in front of him, but Silas couldn't see a thing.

"My mind? I don't understand." He shook his head just when a light appeared out of nowhere.

Silas' heart jumped to his throat when he saw the monster that bit right into his neck and almost killed him. At least he hoped he wasn't dead.

The Madara's slit eyes narrowed, and Silas barely had time to run when the beast pounced on him.