Morning light spilled through the apartment windows.
Dylan stepped out of the bathroom, then stopped when he saw Yve still asleep on the living room floor.
Face down.
He stared at her for a moment.
Then he closed the bathroom door behind him.
A few minutes later, Dylan emerged wearing a black suit, looking considerably more put together than the state of his apartment suggested.
He checked his belt, secured a handgun against his side, slipped a knife into his back pocket, and tucked a stopwatch into his other pocket.
He buttoned his jacket and stepped toward the door.
Yve was still asleep on the carpet.
He shook his head and kept whatever thoughts were running through his mind to himself.
Before leaving, he turned toward a small section of the apartment wall and opened a concealed compartment.
He reached inside and pulled out a compact biometric fingerprint scanner.
He walked toward Yve.
Before he could get any closer, her voice came from the floor.
“That’s too close, human.”
Dylan stopped.
Yve pushed herself upright, revealing a red mark across her forehead from sleeping face down on the carpet.
Dylan stared at her.
“Thought you were asleep.”
“You woke me.”
Yve brushed herself off and stood straight, as if waking up on the floor was perfectly normal.
Dylan looked at the scanner in his hand.
Yve noticed it.
“What’s that?”
“Fingerprint scanner.” He held it up.
“Put your finger on it.”
Yve looked at him suspiciously.
Dylan waited.
She stared at the device for a moment before apparently deciding he wasn’t trying to do anything to her.
The device registered her print.
Dylan connected the scanner to his phone and opened the identification software.
The system began processing the fingerprint, searching through its available databases.
Yve watched the screen.
Dylan waited as the search continued.
“Once I get your address,” Dylan said, “I’m taking you home.”
Yve lowered her gaze.
“I already told you where I live, idiot.”
Dylan heard her but said nothing.
Instead, he turned toward the door.
But before leaving, he looked back at Yve, staring at her with a strange expression.
Her behavior was difficult to understand.
She had met him less than a day ago, yet she seemed completely willing to trust him.
Then he looked her over properly.
Her clothes were disheveled and her hair was a mess.
Dylan reached into his pocket and pulled out two hundred-dollar bills.
“Buy yourself some food and clothes,” he said, handing them to her.
“When I get back, you’re out.”
Yve took the bills and held them up between her fingers.
“What is this?”
Dylan stared at her.
For a moment, he looked like he was trying to decide whether she was joking.
She wasn’t.
He shook his head, already looking annoyed.
“Money.”
Yve continued staring at the bills.
Dylan sighed and grabbed his things.
“Just use it.”
He headed toward the door, leaving Yve standing in the middle of the apartment with the money still raised in her hand.
She looked down at it.
Then toward Dylan.
Then back at the bills.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
Dylan stopped at the door.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
“Figure it out.” Before closing the door, he glanced back at Yve one last time.
“Ah…
I already hid my guns and weapons.
Don’t even think about lookin’ for ’em.”
He gave her a pointed look, one eyebrow raised.
Yve stared back at him.
Dylan held her gaze for another second before shaking his head and stepping out.
The door closed behind him, leaving Yve alone in the apartment.
~~~
Dylan reached the elevator and pulled out his phone.
As soon as the call connected, he spoke first.
“Got your message.
How’s that possible?”
“No idea, man…” the man on the other end said.
“Maybe she wasn’t registered at birth, or only the higher-ups know her identity.
Those are the only two reasons I could think of as to why I can’t find her on any system.
No birth certificate, no credit history, no nothing.”
Dylan pressed the elevator button.
“Just did a second scan.
Gotta make sure.”
The man scoffed.
“You doubting my expertise?”
“Just wanna make sure.”
“Alright…
whatever.” There was a brief pause.
“Who is she anyway?”
The elevator doors opened to the parking lot.
Dylan stepped out and headed toward his car.
“Hit her with my car yesterday.
Came out of nowhere…”
“That’s rough.
Everybody cool, though?”
“Yeah.
I gotta go.
Thanks again.”
Dylan ended the call, got into his car, and drove away.
~~~
Meanwhile, back in the apartment, Yve started to grow curious about everything around her.
She wandered toward the window and glanced outside.
The building was much taller than she had realized.
She looked down at the ground far below and stared for a moment.
“Wow…” she whispered.
“I could’ve died from that fall.” A shiver ran through her as she remembered what she had done at the hospital.
“I should really be more careful…”
She looked back at the window.
“There’s just air…
no water.” Yve frowned, thinking it over.
“Rule number one?
Stop jumping through windows.
It’s dangerous.”
She nodded to herself, apparently satisfied with the new rule.
Then her attention shifted to the bills still in her hand.
She held them up and stared at them.
“Money…” A small grin appeared on her face.
“Hehe…”
The another thought came to her.
“I miss Nierven…”
Yve sighed.
Then she slapped herself lightly on the cheek.
“Why’d you leave him?” She rubbed her cheek and frowned at herself.
“Haist…
you could’ve at least taken him with you and brought him here.” She looked around the unfamiliar apartment.
“How am I going to survive without my Nierven?”
Yve spent the next few moments sulking to herself before taking another breath and calming down.
Then she remembered what Dylan had told her as she looked down at the money again.
After giving it a second of thought, she walked toward the apartment door, trying to remember how Dylan had opened it.
She placed her hand on the knob, pushed it down, and the door clicked open.
“I love my brain.”
She stepped into the hallway, taking a deep breath as the door locked behind her.
She looked around, trying to figure out where the exit was.
Yve wandered through the hall, knocking on walls and doors whenever something caught her attention.
She passed the elevator several times without realizing it, walked right past the emergency fire exit, then circled back and did it all over again.
She had no idea where she was going, but she was determined to find a way out.
Then the elevator opened behind her.
A woman stepped out and stopped when she saw Yve.
Her eyes went straight to the hoodie Yve was wearing, and recognition quickly turned to suspicion.
She stepped closer, raising a finger.
“Why are you wearing my boyfriend’s clothes?”
Yve backed against the wall, watching her carefully.
She raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
The woman looked her over again, taking in Yve’s disheveled hair, messy clothes, and the money in her hands.
A scoff escaped her.
“Ahh…
are you a hooker?
No wonder…” She stomped her foot and muttered to herself, “If he wanted sex, he could’ve just asked for it…” Her attention returned to Yve.
“Take his hoodie off and leave.”
Yve remained where she was, staring at her with a stern, puzzled expression.
After a moment, she pushed away from the wall and walked past her.
“You’re ignoring me?”
Yve kept walking.
The woman’s face hardened.
“How dare you!
You whore!”
She lunged for Yve’s hair, but Yve sensed her coming and shifted just enough for the woman’s hand to miss.
The sudden loss of balance sent her stumbling onto the floor.
Yve looked down at her.
“Please don’t touch me, human.”
The woman scrambled back to her feet, furious.
“You have the nerve…”
She grabbed her bag and hurled it at Yve.
The metal edge caught Yve across the forehead, making her stumble back.
Blood began to trickle down her forehead.
Yve wiped the blood from her forehead, her expression tightening as anger crossed her face.
She took a breath and tried to hold herself back, but the protective instinct of the predator within her was beginning to surface.
“Oh my god…
you’re bleeding.”
The woman’s anger disappeared for a moment as she noticed the blood.
She stepped toward Yve, apparently concerned.
Yve took it as another attack.
Her body tensed, and she raised a hand to strike.
Halfway through the motion, she forced herself to stop.
Her fingers curled into a fist, leaving only two extended fingers before she brought them across the woman’s cheek.
The slap sent the woman stumbling to the floor.
Two red marks appeared across her cheek where Yve’s fingers had struck.
Yve gritted her teeth and took a breath, fighting to regain control.
She swallowed her pride and forced herself to calm down, keeping her eyes covered with her arms as she approached the woman.
Beneath her skin, a few scales had begun to surface, and she fought to keep them from spreading.
The woman was on the floor, furious and crying, when Yve stopped in front of her.
“Stop pushing my buttons if you want to live.”
Her voice came out deeper than before, carrying a faint growl that made the woman freeze.
For a moment, Yve remained there, breathing through her anger.
Then the tension began to leave her body.
Her eyes returned to normal, and the few scales that had surfaced receded beneath her skin, leaving nothing but smooth flesh behind.
The elevator opened again, and Dylan stepped out into the hallway.
He stopped when he saw the woman on the floor, Yve standing nearby, and blood running down Yve’s forehead.
“Mia?”
Mia immediately put on a pitiful expression, clutching her cheeks as she looked at him.
“She pushed me, Dylan…”
Dylan walked over and helped her back onto her feet.
His eyes shifted to the blood on Yve’s forehead, then to the bag lying nearby.
He looked back at Mia.
“You hit her?”
“It was self-defense.
She attacked me first.”
Yve scoffed.
“Huh…
seems like I overestimated you, Dylan.
Even penguins have higher standards when it comes to choosing a mate.” She looked between the two of them before walking toward Mia.
“Hey, human.
Never put your hands on me again, or I won’t hold back.
Your choice.”
Yve gave Dylan a stern look.
“Take me outside.
I don’t like it here.”
“Let’s get you patched up first.”
“What about me?” Mia asked.
Dylan looked at her without saying anything.
He picked up the bag and handed it back to her, then glanced at the red marks across her cheeks.
Without another word, he returned to his apartment.
A moment later, he came back out with a cold bottle of water and handed it to Mia before holding it against her cheeks himself.
He then led her toward the elevator and pressed the button.
Still without saying a word, Dylan took Yve’s hoodie by the arm and guided her back into the apartment.
Yve watched Dylan as he took a medicine kit from the cabinet, brought it over to the couch, and sat beside her.
He opened it and started sorting through the supplies before looking at the cut on her forehead.
“Who are you?”
Yve stared at him.
“I already told you.”
Dylan said nothing.
He dabbed antiseptic onto a piece of gauze and pressed it against the wound.
Yve winced, her face tightening as she gritted through the sting.
Dylan kept cleaning the blood away, checking the cut before reaching for another piece of gauze.
“Ran your prints two times and nothin’ came back,” he said.
“Who are you really?”
Yve’s eyes narrowed.
“I just told you.
Why do you keep asking the same question over and over again?”
Dylan pressed the gauze against another small scrape near her temple.
Yve flinched again but stayed still, watching him with growing annoyance.
He applied a small amount of ointment to the wound and carefully worked it around the edges.
“D’you not remember your real name?”
Yve’s irritation disappeared for a moment.
Then she smirked.
“Wow…
you didn’t seem like an idiot to me.
Why are you being one now?”
Dylan scoffed and looked at her.
For a moment, neither of them said anything.
Yve held his gaze with the same innocent expression in her eyes, as though there was nothing in the world she needed to hide.
Dylan watched her closely, trying to decide whether she was telling the truth.
Logic told him she could be lying.
Everything else about her made that harder to figure out.
“You got a family?”
“Yeah…”
“You know where they are now?”
Yve thought about it for a moment.
“I do…”
Dylan nodded.
“Let’s go.
Gonna take you there now.”
Yve blinked.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He stood and put the medicine kit away.
“Sorry for hittin’ ya with my car…”
Yve shrugged.
“It’s fine.”
She got up and followed him toward the door.
They reached the parking lot and while Dylan was outside, Yve scrolled through the map on his phone and entered the coordinates of Reefville.
The map zoomed out, showing the huge expanse of the ocean.
A moment later, Dylan closed the trunk and opened the driver’s door.
“You good?”
Yve nodded.
“Yeah…
I entered it like you said.”
Dylan nodded, not thinking much of it.
“Alright.” He got into the car and started following the route.
~~~
They reached the beachside, and Dylan let out a heavy sigh when he saw where the GPS had taken them.
He looked at Yve, already preparing to ask what the hell they were doing there, but stopped when he saw her smiling at the ocean.
Dylan didn’t think much of it.
He got out of the car, walked around to her side, and opened the door.
“You live here?”
“Not really…
still pretty far.
Would take me a few days to get there, but yeah…
I live here.”
Yve stepped onto the sand, and Dylan followed after her.
“You said your family lives nearby.
Where are they?”
Yve turned toward him with a sincere smile and pointed toward the ocean.
Dylan stared at her hand, then at the water.
His expression changed.
“They all live there?”
Yve nodded.
“Yeah…
well, I guess except for my uncle Darnell.
He hasn’t come home yet.”
Dylan looked at her, his expression softening into something Yve couldn’t quite place.
“So you alone now?”
Yve nodded.
“For now.
After a year, I’ll go home…”
Dylan watched her for a moment.
There was nothing playful in her expression now.
She looked thoughtful, genuine, completely certain about what she was saying.
“You goin’ home?
Where?”
Yve blinked, confused by the question.
“Uhmmm…” She pointed toward the ocean again.
Dylan lowered his head.
“I meant your real home…
where your family used to live.”
Yve continued looking at him.
Then she pointed toward the ocean once more.
“There?
There’s home…”
Dylan exhaled heavily, his expression difficult to read.
Yve looked back toward the water.
“I’m going to prove something to them.
Once I do that, I’m going home.” She turned to him with a genuine smile.
“Home is where your family lives…right?.”
Dylan said nothing.
He just looked at the woman standing in front of him, trying harder than ever to understand her.