My head rocked back, and I swiftly cupped my cheek. She released my collar as she connected, so I fell back onto the couch, the cushions sinking beneath me.

“Ouuwggh! What the hell?”

I glared at her as I felt heat rise to the side of my face. She looked at me with a satisfied smirk, but her eyes held anger. “Now we’re even.”

“Wha-”

“You broke a rib.”

My protest died on my tongue; It was a fair argument.

I lowered my head. “Ahh, yeah. Sorry.”

She tsked her tongue and walked away. Instead of leaving the room, she moved to the other side of the bar and stared menacingly at Devon.

Wait, why are we mad at him? Shouldn’t she be mad at me?

Devon sighed and dropped to the couch. “Alice, keep yourself contained. If you insist on being here, keep silent while he explains things.”

No response, but her mouth tilted into a snarl before she busied herself with pouring a drink.

I was curious, but not that curious. Instead of examining her, I turned to Devon and inspected his pants, where several holes were torn into the fabric.

My tongue brushed across my canines.

Did I do that?

I shook my head and met Devon’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

He gave me an annoyed stare. “I’m fine. But I need you to explain what happened. How did you induce the shift.”

It was subtle, but the girl stopped pretending to be interested in her water and stared directly at me. From a glance, her eyes were honed in on my face, and I didn’t want to look over.

“Well, that’s the thing. I didn’t induce it. Not willingly, at least.”

He squinted and sniffed slowly. “I see. Explain.”

“After you disappeared, Neina directed me to a room I could stay in called Haven Four.”

I paused, waiting for Devon to react. Either he had remarkable control over his facial cues, or the room’s name meant nothing suspicious.

“And?” he asked slowly.

“Well, I relaxed, napped, and cooked food.” His eyebrows furrowed after I paused, so I continued. “And then I met another Grimm. But, uh, he was weird.”

Astra leaned forward and handed me my cup of soup. I had forgotten about the thing after being punched, but I guess she kept it from spilling.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, but please explain who you met. Someone who can force a shift is dangerous,” she replied while sitting on a wooden chair.

I don't remember that being there.

I eyed the suspicious chair but shook my head and continued. “Right. It gets fuzzy, but I remember him being weird and asking for food. He called himself Grim, Grim the Grimm. And I remember how strange he looked. White hair and an extremely torn cloak. But his eyes, that I remember clearly. They burned like the sun, shifting between orange, yellow, and near white.”

A shudder overtook me, and I flexed my fingers. Those eyes weren’t scary, but they looked otherworldly. Even if the interaction afterward made my head roar with static, those eyes had seared themselves into my mind.

I casually sipped at the soup, wanting something to distract me from the memory, but when I looked up, I found Astra and Devon sharing an intense, silent stare-off.

“Is there something wrong?”

Ten long seconds passed, and Astra huffed and leaned back in her chair. “Fine. I won’t.”

I looked between Astra and Devon, who stared at the wall. “Anyone want to explain what’s happening?”

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“No.”

What?

He sighed. “Cain, I need you to make another promise. You can’t share information on who you met.”

A thump rang out, and we all turned to look at Alice, who raised her fist off the counter. “That’s idiotic. Just tell us who he met. Stop hiding things, Devon.”

“Alice, calm down. I want to share information as well, but we can’t,” Astra soothed.

“Tell me why. We’re Grimms; why are we hiding things from each other,” Alice demanded.

The silver chains adorning Astra’s dress clinked as they slowly writhed in the air like angry snakes. She gritted her teeth while glancing at Devon before sighing. “We. Can’t.”

“What do… oh, it’s an Absolute.”

I turned, looking between the three. “Anyone wanna fill me in? What’s an absolute?”

Devon and Astra remained silent. I looked to Alice, and her face scrunched. “An Absolute is a hard rule that we can’t go against. It's built into our system or something. We swear to a couple of them during the rite.”

Wait a second… Was Devon making me agree to one of these when I explained my system notifications?

“Devon. Did you make me swear to one of these?”

Devon regarded me with a strange look on his face. He worked his jaw and sighed deeply. “No. Not an official one. I would if I could, but we can’t make those rules.”

Okay, that’s good, then. Still, this whole thing feels awkward without knowing why it's so terrible for others to find out.

“I guess I promise then? It’s not like I remember too much of what's happening.”

It really wasn’t an issue. If whoever I met gave them such a problem, I could at least minimize the issue. Besides, I barely knew anyone else. I didn’t have a lot of people clamouring to ask me questions.

Devon and Astra visibly relaxed, subtly shifting around to stretch. I decided to sip my soup and wait for them to speak.

Really is good soup. I’m surprised I’m not hungry. I wonder how long I was out.

I glanced to where Astra massaged the back of her neck while stretching. She flexed her fingers and limbered up.

“Does the Absolute do something to your body? You guys look tense.”

Astra sighed. “Not if you’re just talking about it, but this one in particular is… rough.”

She clamped her mouth shut and glared at the ceiling.

Okay… then.

I lifted my cup to finish the last of the soup, but then a sharp pain poked at my chest.

“Uurk! What the?”

“Cain?” Astra asked.

I clutched at my chest, my hand sliding underneath my shirt. Thump! Thump! My skin felt boiling hot, and the pain increased.

The cup slipped from my fingers and dropped to the floor. Tea spilled across the stone as the cup rolled away. I watched it come to a stop by Devon’s boot.

I looked up at the frowning man as Astra knelt beside me, forcing my face to look at hers. I met her eyes, and she rested her hand on my forehead.

“He’s burning up. Cain, what’s happening? What’s wrong with your chest?”

“It...” I struggled to open my jaw. The pain intensified and began to spread up my neck. “Sharp… Heart attack.”

Feels like… one.

Astra guided me gently onto the couch, forcing my head to rest on the armrest. Devon helped by lifting my feet onto the cushions.

I shut my eyes, but not before seeing the concerned look on the girl’s face,

Ugh.

The heat continued to spread, going higher. I tried to think coherent thoughts, but the raging wave pressed at my mind. Astra said something; I could make out her voice, and then Devon replied, but I couldn’t understand what they said.

Someone touched my chest, and I tried to squirm away as the sudden disturbance sent another rippling wave upwards. They grabbed my hand and pried it off.

Le… go!

Two strong arms pushed back my shoulders while another two arms held mine to my side, pinning them down to the cushions. I tried to struggle free, but then a blistering cold spiked my sternum.

The rush of ice hurt like pin needles shoved too far, but I felt the heat retract.

But only for a second.

The pain ramped up and pushed past my neck and up the back of my head. I felt it reach my spine and then double back like a missile. Flames crawled deep into my chest and then continued into the bowels of my gut.

I tried to open my mouth, but the assault became too much. Fingers pressed into the sides of my skull and something heavy pushed down on my stomach.

“Ca-”

I rolled to the side, but strong arms forced me back.

“Ope… your ey-”

Fingers clawed at my face. I tried to shake them off, but they wouldn’t let go. They pulled at my eyelids.

Stop!

The fire rose, and the heat peaked to where my skin felt like it was melting off my bones.

Crack!

Like a vacuum, the heat retracted. It pooled in my gut and then crawled up my chest till I felt it settle around my heart.

“Cain. Open your eyes.”

I tried to flutter them open, but they felt heavy. “Mmmmng…”

“Don’t move, okay.”

Freezing cold fingers pressed against my brows, and I felt fingers pull at my eyelids. One pushed down too hard, and I moaned again. They retracted but came back with a lighter touch. Slowly and gently, they helped peel my eyelids up.

My vision was blurry, but I could make out the yellow irises of Astra’s eyes. “Hey…”

She frowned and looked to her right before looking back at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Mmm. Not too great. What did you do to make the heat go away?”

She shook her head. “We tried to inject you with our mana, but whatever overtook your body destroyed it. If the energy has settled, it wasn’t us.”

“Oh. Okay.” I turned my head and looked at the girl. Her eyes widened, but she hads a strange look across her face. “What’s funny?”

In the corner of my vision, Astra winced.

Why? What did I say?

The girl’s look morphed into one of anger and rage and then hurt. It reminded me a lot like the way Garet looked at me.

What did I do?

She took her hands away and balled them into fists. For a second, she looked ready to punch me again. “Your eyes, they’re glowing, like you shifted.”

Oh? That’s not too bad. So why does she look mad?

“Alice. I’m sorry,” Devon whispered.

She flinched, the anger turning into genuine pain as if she felt betrayed by his words.

Seriously, what’s happening?

“Am I missing something? What’s wrong with my eyes?” I demanded.

She glared back at me and then looked away. “Your eyes… they’re the same as my brother’s.”