1

I watched the girl kick her feet back and forth while sitting on the wooden table to my right. She seemed overly cheery and child-like even though she sat with her hands tied behind her back. Her long brown hair fell from behind her shoulder and went into her face, but she did not seem to notice since she had kept her eyes closed for most of the time I had been on duty. Her humming finally changed after she had hummed the same exact song for the past hour, but suddenly stopped as she opened her eyes and looked at me for the first time. I was startled but tried to stay calm as we watched each other until she finally opened her mouth, "Aren't you a little young to be a cop? And you're the first girl I've seen taking shifts this entire time!"

I did not move, "I am the only female in the force and also, I am 22 so I am not too young to be a cop."

"But you're pretty!" She whined, "Why are you wasting your life working here when you could be a model or something!"

I stared her down, "Maybe for your kind I'm pretty, but for a human I am just ordinary."

She shook her head, "If you wore woman's clothes and had your hair down, you would be much prettier than the average human."

I looked to her moving legs, "But my soul is ugly, right?"

"Why do you say that? Humans can't see souls."

I stared into her deep purple eyes, "Every time I meet someone of your kind they tell me the same thing. That I'm a beautiful human, but I am ugly on the inside."

She stopped moving her legs and watched me, "I don't agree," She mumbled, "Whoever told you that was stupid."

What a strange girl, I thought, but my attention was diverted when the walky-talky on my left hip made a static-like noise, "Lieutenant Grove."

I quickly pulled it off my hip and put it near my face, "Lieutenant Grove here."

"Lieutenant, District Chief Evans is at the front entrance requesting your assistance."

I groaned, "Tell Evans that I'm preoccupied and that any of our officers will be eager to assist him with whatever he needs."

"Roger that."

I set the walky-talky on the edge of the table nearest me and the girl stared at the object that was now on the same table as her, "You seem annoyed."

I looked to her with annoyance, "It is one of my many emotions that arise when a pest interrupts my work."

"The man on the other end talked to you like you're the chief, but aren't you a Lieutenant?"

I nodded, "But the chief has left me in charge while he is gone."

"And how long will he be gone?"

I watched her, "What does it matter to you?"

She shrugged and started swinging her legs again, "It doesn't, I'm just curious. You seem different than most of the humans I've come into contact with."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm as ordinary as it gets."

"Whatever you say!" She sang but we both jumped slightly when the door to the detainment room was thrown open hard enough to hit the metal wall and dent it.

"Since when do you hold the authority to deny my command, Lieutenant Grove?" District Chief Evans hollered as he stared me down. I stood from my chair as he came closer and the nervous officer following him came into the room and shut the door.

"I did not mean to insult you, sir, but I am on a very important job right now."

He fumed, "Important? Important! All you are doing is sitting in a room talking to a little girl! How is this important?"

I crossed my arms over my chest, "I believe containing and watching a Wielder is very important, sir."

He looked to the young girl, "She may be a Wielder, but she's too young to be dangerous!"

"If you don't believe the girl is dangerous go look on the east side of town. It's completely demolished and we were able to capture one of the Wielders responsible."

He stared me down again, "Anyone can watch her so you are not absolutely needed."

I sat back down, "I was specifically asked by my Chief to come watch her today since I am one of the few officers in our group that has successfully fought a Wielder in the past," I looked to the girl, "If you have something that only I can help you with, then you must discuss it in here with me."

He sighed, "If I must."

I looked to the man at the door, "Officer, please go back to the front entrance. I will entertain Evans for the time being."

The officer smiled before leaving. Evans pulled a chair from the back of the room and put it in front of me. He started going through his bag of papers, "We are trying to track down someone and I was told that you would be the best officer to ask."

I sighed, "Who are you trying to track that only I could help with?"

Evans stared down the girl, "I'm not sure if we should discuss this with a criminal in the room. She could tell others."

"Can this investigation wait?" He shook his head, "Then I guess we have no choice but to discuss this in front of the girl."

Evans agreed, "We are trying to track down Kana."

The name sent my body still and my side ached, "What for?"

He looked at me, "What isn't he being tracked down for?"

I looked to my lap, "Has something new happened?"

He nodded, "An entire city in the north was destroyed by Kana yesterday night."

I shot up to meet his gaze, "Any survivors?" Evans shook his head, "I see."

Evans sighed, "I don't know why you are considered the most knowledge officer on Kana, but if you can help me in any way I would be grateful."

I looked to the metal ceiling, "The only advice I can give you is to drop the case."

"Excuse me?" Evans hissed as I looked to him again.

"Drop the case," I repeated, "All that can come of tracking down Kana is the death of more innocent civilians and officers."

"How can you be so sure when you've never even been on a case concerning Kana?"

"That is information that only I need to know, sir," I growled, "Kana is the foulest of all the Wielders and if you go after him he will toy with you and your men until you are all killed. He will use you as entertainment to occupy his time and once you are all gone he will destroy another unsuspecting village so that another group of officers will go after him. This is his vicious cycle. He uses destruction to get the police's attention so that he can have fun watching the fools die."

Evans scowled at me, "Do not underestimate me and my men, Grove. You may be the best officer of this area, but you cannot even compete with my men. They are the best of the best."

I smiled towards him, "Then why do you always come to me for advice and assistance when you have men that are 'the best of the best'?"

Evans pulled me out of my chair by my shirt collar as his entire face turned red with rage, "How dare you talk to me that way! You are just a low ranking woman who loves to beat others instead of doing a respectable woman's job!" He hollered into my face and then threw me to the ground, "Don't expect to be working here much longer, Lieutenant Grove!" He left with a slam of the metal door as I sat up on the floor. I looked over to the girl to see she was off of the table and rushing towards me. She kneeled at my side with her tied hands in her lap.

"That man was very violent."

I pulled back some of my hair that had fallen into my face before standing up and brushing dirt off of my pants, "Wielder," I stated and I knew she looked to me, "I have yet to know your name."

She hopped up and came in front of me with a large smile, "Its Kairi."

I nodded before walking past her and going to the door. I shut it behind me before nodding to the officer that I knew was here for his shift of watching Kairi.

At midnight, it was once again my shift to watch Kairi so I carried a bundle and knocked at the door before coming inside. Officer Trope stood but we were both startled when Kairi suddenly hopped off the table to run over to me, "You're back!"

I nodded before looking over to Officer Trope again, "You may rest now, Trope." He nodded before going past us and leaving the room. I went over to the table and spread out a blanket before putting down a pillow and another blanket.

"What are those for?"

I looked to Kairi, "I thought you might want to rest," I went and sat in my chair as she followed me with her eyes, "I understand that your kind don't need much sleep to function, but I thought since you are already stuck in here you might as well sleep."

Kairi came and sat on the edge of the table right beside me, "You seem to be very knowledgeable about Wielders," She stated, "How did you find out so much?"

I looked to my legs, "I have been fighting and capturing your kind for many years so I have learned a few things over time."

Kairi smiled, "But your reaction towards that man before when he brought up Prince Kana made it seem like you knew a lot more about Wielders than other humans."

I sighed, "I guess you could say that."

"So have you met Prince Kana?"

I smiled and looked to the girl, "It's said that any human who sees Kana will never get to see the next day."

"But most Wielders haven't had the pleasure of meeting him either. He is a very busy man."

I nodded, "He does have a lot to do, since he wants to take out the entire human race."

She watched me, "But I heard a rumor that Prince Kana has changed his mind slightly," She tapped her cheek, "They said that the Prince actually fell in love with a human woman and spared her life because he didn't want her to die."

I frowned, "I doubt it. Kana is a heartless monster, who hates all humans, so how could he fall in love with a human?" I sighed, "Regardless, you should rest. You will be transferred to the capital soon enough."

I came into the station at three in order to take my shift, but was stopped by the front entrance officer and told I had received a call from the royal city. I went into the only room of the station with a telephone and dialed the number I was told. The phone rang for a moment before a man spoke, "Hello?"

I cleared my throat, "Good afternoon, this is Lieutenant Grove from the Lakes View station. I was told that I received a call from this number and that it was urgent."

"Ah, yes! Eva! This is Prince Asher. I have a large favor to ask of you."

I was startled, "If there is something I can help you with, Prince Asher, I would be happy to do so!"

He lightly laughed, "You don't need to be so formal towards me, Eva, we were childhood friends after all," He sighed, "Anyway, I need you to secretly transfer the Wielder you are in possession of at the moment. Due to her young age, I am sure her parents will try to stop her transfer so in order to keep her transfer unknown to the other Wielders I need you to pretend to be her mother. I have already sent two of my soldiers your way so that they can act as the father and son in order to help you get her here without looking too out of the ordinary. Also, I will have to ask you to not take any crowded ways of transportation. The less you are seen, the better."

I leaned on the brick wall beside the phone holder, "Of course, Prince Asher. But it will take a while to get to the royal city without taking the train or major highways, so we will likely get there in three days if all goes according to plan."

"Splendid! I have already informed the soldiers that you will be in charge and that they must follow all of your orders, so I will be counting on you, Eva."

"Of course, Prince Asher. I will not let you down."

"My men should arrive late tonight or early morning."

"Alright, I will see you in three days." I said before hanging up. I went to the detainment room and alleviated the officer inside from their shift, "Kairi, tonight we will be leaving."

"Really?" She asked as she came and sat in my lap after I sat down in the chair, "You're going with me?"

I nodded, "I will be playing your mother along with two other soldiers that will be arriving later that will act as your father and brother. You must either choose to follow me willingly so that I will not have to keep your hands tied up or I will keep you tied up the entire trip."

She smiled and spreads her elbows so that she could wrap her arms around my neck without pulling on the ropes on her hands, "You're the first human I have ever enjoyed to spend time with, so I will not struggle. I will follow you willingly and listen to all of your orders, but you must promise me something."

I looked to her purple eyes, "Promise?"

She nodded happily, "You must promise you will not leave my side until we reach the capital. If you promise that I will follow any of your orders, I'll even kill other Wielders."

This girl was very odd, "Alright, I promise to not leave your side."

She cheered and then kissed my cheek, "This is great! It's like we're going on an adventure!"