Chapter 4

Khalid stepped away from the door and went to stand in front of her. Octavia was almost shaken, but tried her best not to look at him 

"You really are so determined, aren't you?" He asked softly,,his eyes on her face, while her eyes stared at the floor. 

"Mica" he called without raising his voice. 

His dark eyes were still glued to Octavia's face. 

"Yes, Master" Mica rushed over and bowed.

There was a short silence. Then, he said:

"Bring her to the hall at exactly 9 p.m."

"Yes, Master" Mica replied immediately and taking one last look at Octavia, he turned and walked away. 

*

*

"Octavia, are you sure about this?" Mica asked as they sat in the room together. 

"You can still leave if you want to. I can talk to one of the guards to convince the master",

Octavia just stared keenly at her and suddenly lifted her hand to her hair. 

"Why did you make your hair this way?" She asked in her timid voice, touching the ponk style on it 

Mica scoffed and also touched the hair. 

"Don't you like it?" She asked and Octavia smiled

"Its beautiful". She said. 

The two sisters stared at each other for a few seconds. 

"You've changed" Octavia broke the silence, her voice so soft as she spoke. 

"I did? How?" Mica asked, even tho she already knew what she was referring to. 

"Your...your ways - everything. You look more...bold now" she replied and Mica looked down at the floor and chuckled. 

"Well....I had to blend with the others". She said. 

"The firat time i got here, it was so difficult getting them to accept me. Master Khalid is very strict with his members. 

"You know, his clan is one of the most powerful. So, everyone wants to belong and serve under him. It was very difficult getting to please him and make him choose me. 

"I had to go through a lot, did a lot of dirty jobs just to prove myself. Back then, we were 12 and in the end, only 3 of us were chosen. 

"I'd found it so difficult blending with them, tho. It was so difficult.but, I had to. I had to act like them, fight like them, and eat like them. So, that's the reason I became this way. Tho, I'm proud of it". 

Octavia watched her sister as she spoke so enthusiastically. She stared at her like her whole life depended on the story. 

She had so many questions to ask - so many questions about the X-family, what they do and how things were being handled. But she was scared of asking Mica because Mica might see the fear in her. Yes, she was damn scared. 

"How's dad?" She asked after a little pause. 

Octavia cleared her throat before replying:

"He's fine"

"And Agatha? Is she still being a pain in the @ss?" Mica chuckled and Octavia shrugged and nodded.

"She had actually been sick - severely sick. But she's fine now". She added. 

"Does...dad ever talk about me?" Mica asked, a different look in her eyes and Octavia shook her head slowly. 

She scoffed and stared down at the floor. Tho, she had expected her father wouldn't care about her anymore, she still felt bittered. 

What an unfortunate way to have a father. 

She breathed in lightly and stood up. 

"Come on. Let's take a walk around" she stretched out her hand to Octavia, but Octavia stared at it like it was strange. 

"I...I don't think I want to. There'd be...so many people outside" she answered shyly. 

"Come on, don't worry about that. Its fine" she said, but Octavia still didn't take her hand. 

"It'll be 9 p.m. soon, Octavia. Let's take a short walk around", she urged.

"Wh...What would happen at the hall?" She forced herself to ask one of the disturbing questions, but the reply she got from her sister wasn't encouraging - not at all. 

"You're the one who insisted on staying, Octavia. You should be ready for the worst" she said bluntly and walked out of the room.