Get Ready

Alex was completely unbothered by Kato's simmering rage.

He could feel the lingering resentment from the rest of the clan—the silent stares drilling into his back—but he didn't care.

None of them mattered.

Only Onigi caught his attention.

Then, Freya's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Look! A vendor's shop."

Alex turned, his eyes narrowing as he spotted it—a small framed stall, eerily familiar in both shape and design.

It looked just like the one he had visited before.

The one he had dismantled.

Before he could say a word, Freya muttered under her breath and suddenly dashed forward.

"I'm going to see if I can get something useful!"

Alex's frown deepened.

His gaze flicked back to the vendor.

He remembered.

That unsettling cackle.

Those eyes—wild, unhinged, almost possessed.

The way it had spoken of his dead parents as if it had read its mind.