When Nafisa Radi woke up, she instinctively knew that she wasn’t in her room.

The bed was uncomfortable, it smelled acrid, and there was an annoying beeping sound that kept ringing in her ear.

She tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but when she tried to turn over, it felt like something was dragging on her arm.

“Oii. Stop pulling on my arm.” She sleepily complained.

“Nafi? Nafi baby, are you awake?” A soft voice cried out and she felt familiar fingers gently caressing her forehead.

“Mom?” She cracked her eyes open and saw the worry-lined face of her mother. Her silvery blue eyes had bags under them and her grey cozy sweats were wrinkled.

She seemed to be in a small hospital. As she carefully sat up, she asked.

“Mom, are you okay? Where am I? How did I get here? Where’s that monster? Or Vincent Grace?”

“Nafi please one question at a time. You are currently in the hospital as they’re running some tests on you. Your father was the one who brought you here. As for a monster, what are you talking about Nafi? Please explain to me how you ended up encountering a monster when you should have been home safe hmm. Tell me the truth. I promise I won’t beat you.”

Seeing her mother’s platinum blond hair begin to rise up due to her anger and the vein throbbing on her forehead as she smiled widely, Nafisa could feel herself break into a cold sweat.

“Ahaha. I somehow happened to be near the crime scene. Uhh and as I was walking back to my car, a monster attacked me. But let’s move on from that. Mom, my powers came!”

“What? Your powers?” Seeing her mother’s shocked expression, Nafisa couldn’t help but beam!

“Yes, when the monster attacked and I almost cough-, never mind. I was able to fight back against the monster because my powers came in! Mom! I’m not a dud! I have powers!” Nafisa shouted excitedly.

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“Oh really that’s so great sweetie.” Her mother said with a muted smile.

“Mom, are you okay? Are you not excited for me?” Nafisa asked cautiously.

“Of course I am sweetie. I’m just a bit tired. I stayed up watching you all while you were getting treatment. I was quite worried that you went to do something dangerous so don’t think you’ve escaped getting punished missy! Why don’t you tell me more about this monster and did you say you saw Vincent Grace?”

“Uh yeah. I was snooping ar- cough- I mean I was heading back to my car after Commissioner Falkor said I couldn’t enter the crime scene because I was a dud which is discrimination BY THE WAY!”

“Focus Nafi.” Her mother flicked her forehead in irritation.

“Anyways, as I was going through an alleyway, the street lights suddenly turned off, and then the exit was suddenly blocked by this tall grotesque-looking thing. Mom when I tell you it was ugly, it was hideous. And it smelled putrid. Like rotten meat left out on a hot day.” Just remembering the horrid scent, Nafisa could feel her body gag reflexively.

“What happened then?”

“It grabbed me by the throat and threw me around pretty badly. Then Vincent Grace appeared and I begged him to save me but he didn’t. He said I was almost dead anyway so what was the point? I almost passed out but then my powers came in and I burned the monster. The monster attacked me again and I finally convinced Vincent to save me. Otherwise, I would have died. That’s all I remember.”

“Nafisa, when you saw the monster, did it say anything to you? Try to talk to you or anything? Or did it say anything to Vincent Grace? Did you see Vincent Grace use his powers?” Her mother asked urgently while grabbing her arms, and gripping them tightly.

“Mom?” Nafisa turned to look at her weirdly, “You’re awfully concerned about the monster and Vincent Grace instead of the person who was attacked and almost died. Or even the fact that I finally have powers. Is something going on?”

“I am happy you got your powers, sweetie, I’m just concerned for you. You’re all healed up now but you were so hurt. I just want to understand what went on last night when you were attacked and how a villain got his hands on you. Please answer the question Nafi, it’s important. Did the monster say anything to you or Vincent Grace?” Even though her tone was soft, the pressure her mother used to grip her hand was firm. Seeing the unrelenting look in her mother’s eyes, Nafisa sighed.

“I don’t think the monster said anything to me. It just growled and howled a lot but I could be wrong since I did black out. However, I think I remember that when Vincent Grace appeared, he spoke to it. If I recall correctly, he said ‘Is this what you’ve turned into Levi?’ The monster didn’t respond though. As for his powers, I don’t think I saw anything. He had his umbrella up though which was weird considering it was nighttime. That’s really all I remember Mom.”

“Shit.” Arianna Radi released her daughter’s hand and sat on the single chair in the room.

“Shit shit shit shit.” Watching her usually collected mother curse while clutching her head, Nafisa felt a jolt of fear go through her. What the hell was going on?

“Mom? Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it’s fine sweetie. I just need to go talk to your father. Please stay here. I’ll have the doctor check on you in a bit. If you’re hungry or need anything, call a nurse okay?” Arianna Radi put up her best smile although she wanted to scream internally. It seemed things were worse than she expected.

“And Mom, I told Vincent Grace that if he saved my life, you and Dad would reward him. Is that a problem?” Nafisa asked nervously. It seemed that her actions yesterday had more consequences than expected.

“No. Don’t worry about it. Your father already handled that. Sit tight. I’ll be back.”