Denver woke with a violent jolt, her heart hammering in her chest like a war drum. The world around her was blurred and gray, shadows stretching across the walls of the unfamiliar room. Pain stabbed through her side, sharp and unrelenting, and she gasped as her body refused to respond. She tried to move but her limbs felt like lead, frozen in place. Her mind reeled, struggling to piece together how she had ended up here.
Then, a voice cut through the silence, calm but firm, echoing against the walls.
"If I were you, I would not move."
Across the room, an elderly woman moved with quiet efficiency. She wore clean blue scrubs, her hands steady as she arranged something on a small table. Her hair was streaked with gray, but her eyes sharp and observant seemed to see everything, including Denver's trembling form. Their eyes met, and Denver felt a strange mixture of caution and trust.
The woman approached, carrying a small plate with neatly cut apple slices. She set it gently on the edge of Denver's bed and helped her sit up, her touch warm and reassuring.
"Young girls like you should be out there enjoying life, not trying to end their own," she said softly.
Denver blinked, uncertain how to respond. Her voice came out as a hesitant, almost hollow.
"Thanks… I guess."
The woman smiled faintly, a small, knowing curve of her lips.
"No need to thank me it's my job, after all," she said, adjusting Denver's posture so she wouldn't strain her back.
For the first time since waking, Denver felt a flicker of comfort, the room smelled faintly of antiseptic, mixed with the sweet scent of the apple. She looked around, realizing her brother, Dion, was nowhere in sight. Anxiety prickled at her, a cold, sharp sensation in her chest.
"Have you seen a boy?" she asked, her voice tight with worry. "Black hair, dark eyes… someone who looks like me?"
The nurse shook her head slowly.
"I'm afraid not, dear. I don't know where he is."
Denver clenched her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palms. Her mind replayed the chaos of the day the gunfire, the screams, the panic. A low, dangerous growl escaped her throat.
"I swear… if I ever see that bastard again, I will kill him," she muttered in her thought, teeth gritted.
Before she could dwell any further on her anger, the door to the room swung open with a sharp click. A man in a black suit stepped in. His presence was immediate and commanding. Denver's stomach turned cold. Agent Kael. The old nurse instinctively bowed and exited without a word, leaving Denver alone with him.
Seeing him made her blood boil. Her ears still rang faintly with the memory of gunfire, and her hands clenched at her sides. She glared at him, her voice trembling with fury:
"What did you do to Mom? Huh? Where is my little brother?"
Kael's expression remained calm. He took a slow step forward, then, unexpectedly, bowed his head in apology.
"I am truly sorry for everything you have had to go through," he said quietly.
Denver raised an eyebrow, confused by the gesture.
"Uh… why does this feel like he's confessing his feelings?" she muttered to herself.
He straightened, running a hand through his dark hair, then spoke with the calm, measured tone of someone used to authority.
"Your brother is in a hospital he suffered a minor bone fracture, and so did your mother."
Denver's glare did not soften.
"How is my Mom? Did she survive the gunshot?"
Kael raised a brow, as if she had missed something obvious.
"You must have misunderstood. We did not use actual bullets only tranquilizers, enough to knock her out."
Relief surged through Denver, heavy and overwhelming. Her shoulders sagged, and she let out a long, shaky breath.
"Thank goodness… haha," she said, exhaling, her body finally loosening its tight grip on fear.
"And where are they now?" she asked.
"They are in a different hospital from you," Kael said, watching her carefully. Denver frowned, suspicion written across her features, he continued.
"After clearing up the misunderstanding, your mother and brother informed us about your… condition. For your safety, you must be transferred to a facility separate from them."
Denver's mind raced, thoughts colliding with worry and frustration.
"Then where exactly am I right now?"
Kael gestured to the window Denver followed his gaze. Outside, a towering building stretched skyward, massive and imposing. Surrounding it were thick walls, layers of fortification, a fortress designed to intimidate.
"We are inside the WGR," he said simply.
"During your stay here, I will oversee your care," he continued. "But your health is the top priority. For now, rest."
Denver studied him, unconvinced, her mind still reeled from the events of the day. That mysterious boy, the shooting, the chaos it was all a tangled mess, and she had no reason to trust anyone completely.
"By the way… do you know a gift user? Spiky yellow hair, blue eyes… the one you sent to hunt us?" she asked, suspicion lacing her tone.
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly, reading her thoughts before she finished speaking.
"Don't even think about it," he warned, voice firm. "You'll only get yourself into trouble again."
Denver's fists clenched, nails biting into her palms. "Oh, and whose fault is it that I'm in this state right now?"
Kael's gaze softened for the briefest of moments, a flicker of something unreadable passing through his eyes. He said nothing, but the silence between them was heavy, charged with unspoken truths. The room seemed smaller now, the walls closing in, thick with tension, fear, and anger.
Denver sank back against the pillows, exhaustion and adrenaline mingling into a strange, restless energy. She stared at the ceiling, mind spinning, thoughts of her mother and brother mingling with a burning desire for answers and revenge.
For a moment, neither spoke, then Kael turned his back to her, pausing near the door. He looked over his shoulder once, locking eyes with her for a fleeting second. His voice, calm yet authoritative, cut through the room.
"Once you fully recover, you will immediately take a diagnostic test. It might take weeks or even months depending on the complexity of your curse. So take this time to get all the rest you can."
Denver's eyes narrowed, suspicion flaring once more.
"They're not going to experiment on me, are they?" she asked cautiously, her voice tinged with fear.
Kael's lips tightened into a thin line, a subtle grind of his teeth audible.
"Who knows?" he replied, almost teasingly, before he turned and strode out of the room, leaving Denver staring after him, heart racing, mind spinning.