The interrogation had stretched out for more than an hour now, and the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Nothing you are saying makes sense, Damian,” screamed Selin as she pulled her hair as she turned blue in the face.

“You don’t know who he is, where he lives, or how to contact him. The only thing you have given us is that he calls your number when he needs something, but even in that, it’s a private number, so you don’t even have his contact information,” she said, shaking in frustration.

Damian could only lower his head, trying to avoid eye contact. He knew he had to keep his act up, not because he had been instructed to do it; it was the opposite. He was scared that if he pissed off Khyrum, he would end up suffering a horrible death.

He knew that if people discovered Khyrum’s identity, he would be the first person Khyrum would blame and probably come after. He already had fought with him once, and he hadn’t even used much of his power. Seeing him now fight in the park at 100%, it was a given that he had to keep Khyrum happy. So, there was no way he would spill the beans, as they say.

The room was tense as the conversation had yet to go anywhere.

“Dad, it’s almost going to be time to talk to Commander Shelong,” said Selin anxiously to Nikolas.

Nikolas just eyed Damian before shaking his head, getting up, and heading for the door.

“There is no need to keep this act going. If you don’t want to say who he is, Damian, that’s fine, but can you handle the consequences of such actions?” said Nikolas in a cold, unnerving tone.

“Remember, you guys are now the focus of every big family and organization out there, and they will go way farther than us to get the information they want. Since you didn’t want to help us, there is no reason for us to help you, right?” Nikolas said in a mocking tone.

Damian stayed quiet but could feel Nikolas's pressure; it felt like he was suffocating.

“This old man can still exert so much force at his age; I guess I’m lucky I’m not facing off with him in a battle. I don’t think I could take more than a few blows,” he said to himself.

Seeing that Damian wasn’t saying anything, Nikolas stopped before exiting the room.

“Okay, everyone, let's go. Damian, go with Mehdi to our safe house in the slums. Wait for further instructions from us. If Prime contacts you, pass him over to Mehdi,” said Nikolas coldly.

“The rest of us, let's go talk to Command Shelong. Get ready for any possible outcome,” he said with a concerned expression.

Selin was still upset about Damian's not giving up Prime, but she knew she couldn’t do anything but follow her dad’s orders.

As they all got up and started walking out of the conference room, she couldn’t help but give Damian the stink eye as they left.

Back at Khyrum’s apartment, it was already close to 4 p.m., and he had just finished getting out of the shower.

The shower felt nice as I had not had a chance to clean myself after the fight at the park. But I still couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Damian. He had to deal with all the fallout from the fight.

“I hope everything is ok with Damian,” I said as I started getting dressed.

It wouldn’t do me any good to think about things I couldn’t do anything about, so I started considering my next steps.

“Everything happened so fast that it didn’t give me a chance to buy everything I needed. I still need to get some personal items and some school supplies,” I told myself.

I finished dressing and returned to the living room, sitting on the couch. As I picked up my CAD, I saw I had two messages: one from Roy and the other from Brandon.

“Why would this fucker reach out to me?” I said after seeing Brandon’s name.

I didn’t want to do it, but curiosity got the best of me, so I clicked on the message.

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“So, you finally decided to leave, huh? Good for you; I hope you don’t run into any bad luck out there.”

“I’m not sure what my father saw in you, but you're nothing more than a miscreant who lived off other people's goodwill. Don’t come back if you know what is good for you.”

“One last thing, stay away from Eva; something bad might happen to you if you don’t,” finished Brandon's message.

“What a freaking asshole,” was my only thought after reading the message.

I knew I should have erased it from the start. I don’t know what I was expecting to gain from reading it. Sometimes I’m just too optimistic.

I then moved on to the second message, the one from Roy.

“Khy, call me when you're free,” said the message.

I quickly picked up my CAD and punched in Roy’s number. It rang briefly before Roy’s voice and face came on the display.

“Khy, how are you? Are you ok,” said Roy, who looked a little concerned.

“I’m fine, why do you ask,” I asked Roy.

“Well, it’s all over the news of the fight between Phantom and Damian and his partner; I thought you might have been caught in the crossfire.”

“I’m happy you're okay. Were you involved in the fight,” Roy asked.

“No, I was at InnovaTech when this happened,” I said calmly.

Roy didn’t know about my powers; I meant to keep it that way. The charm excuse I was using bought me the cover story I needed, so I was good.

“Hey, it's still about a month before the auction. When I send the transport over, make sure you are ready to travel,” said Roy.

“I know, I’m ready for it,” I answered.

“One last thing, you already moved out of the Richie Home, so where are you staying now? Is it fancy so you can impress you know who,” said Roy playfully.

“I’m not sure who you want me to impress, but yes, it’s a nice place. Seeing I had to be out today, I had no other choice, but I’ll find something in my style later.”

We chatted for a few minutes before we hung up.

It was close to 5 p.m., so I went out to find food and shop for what I was still missing.

I called for another ride service and had them drop me off at the Shopping Center at the entrance of Mt. Ethos.

The building was huge, sprawling out for quite a good distance. It was shaped like a pentagon, with five different entrances and three stories high. It had all sorts of stores inside.

The first floor was primarily retail stores and some off-brand shoe stores, the second was high-end shopping stores, and the third was restaurants and entertainment establishments.

I walked in like any typical 15-year-old. I wasn’t worried about being spotted, as no one knew me here.

“I need to find some clothes, as most of mine are now either badly burned or completely torn up,” I said as I walked around the first floor.

I continued to walk for a while, going in and out of stores and picking up clothes as I went along.

About 30 minutes in, I started to feel hungry as I remembered I hadn’t eaten anything since I had the snacks.

“Hmm, let's go check the restaurants on the third floor,” I told myself.

I walked over to the stairs and rode them up to the third floor.

“Hmm…smells good up here,” I told myself as I walked around the restaurant establishments.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two familiar faces sitting in one of the restaurants called Sweet Delights just ahead.

It was Cora and Nox.

Seeing them there felt weird, not because I was jealous or anything. It felt more like I was spying on them for some reason.

They were sitting at a table by one of the windows, eating something that looked like an ice cream dessert. They were talking and laughing like a couple, one would say. I figured they were on a date.

Not feeling comfortable walking by them, I stopped and headed back the same way I had just come from.

I started walking, thinking about what other good food stores I could find on this side when suddenly, I heard Yara’s voice.

“Khyrum, what are you doing here?” she said, sounding surprised.

I turned around to see Yara coming from the restaurant to my right. She was holding what looked like a bag of food or something.

“Hi, Yara,” I said.

“I’m just here trying to get something to eat,” I told her.

“Really? In this place that’s so far away from the Richie house back in town,” she asked.

“Well, yeah, I’m on my own now,” I said softly.

“What?”

“You’re saying you don’t live with the Richie’s anymore,” she said excitedly.

“Yeah, something like that.”

I didn’t want to elaborate much on this; I just wanted to go to a nice, quiet restaurant.

“Cora is going to be thrilled. I’ll let her know once I get back to the house, as she is not here with me right now,” said Yara, not too convincing.

I just looked at her and shook my head.

“What, you don’t believe me,” she said while darting her eyes around as if looking for something or someone.

“I know she is here, Yara.”

“She is with Nox on a date, but that’s no one of my business,” I said as I walked away.

I’m unsure how, but Yara misinterpreted my lack of interest in what Cora was doing for something totally opposite.

“Khyrum, don’t be upset. She still likes you; it's just that Nox…” she said as she cut in front of me. I quickly avoided her and continued to walk away.

Seeing that I wouldn’t stop, Yara quickly turned and headed towards her sister.

I continued walking for a little while before arriving at this Chinese restaurant called the Lotus House.

“This place looks good and seems serene,” I told myself.

I walked in, and after waiting a minute for the waiter, I was shown to my table.

I picked up the menu and started looking at the different dishes. I ordered three or four of the main dishes, along with some dumplings.

After waiting for another 15 minutes or so, the waiter brought me the food I ordered.

“This looks good,” I said, drool dripping down my chin.

Suddenly, I heard the waiter say, “What the hell is she doing on the window.”

I didn’t even want to look, but I did.

Right there, plastered on the restaurant window, was Yara pointing at me. How she found me was a surprise since I wasn’t sitting near any windows.

“Cora, I found him; he is in this restaurant,” she screamed.