𝐀 𝐊𝐎𝐀𝐋𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 ── ( ray )

Chapter 19: The Strange Man

Y/n stood flabbergasted in her spot.

It's a person, she thought, a human...

The man - with black hair and white streaks that are slicked to the right side of his face, black intimidating eyes and slight facial hair - was staring at the kids. They stared straight back.

The silence in the room was starting to become deafening, she wanted to speak up, say anything. If there was one thing Y/n hated, was a tense silence.

It's a human, she was trying so hard to convince herself, but his manners are just horrible.

Y/n cringed as she watched the man shoved a handful of cookies down his throat and chew with his mouth open. Cookie crumbs went everywhere. The stranger even had his legs propped on the table. And those were just his manners. Y/n noticed how mismatched his clothes were, the colours clashed horribly.

She knew that the others must've been thinking the same, as they all wore horrified expressions on their faces. Don's eyes were popping.

What the hell's with that?! Don stared at a wrecked tea cup in the man's hand, his cup's broken, isn't it? Yeah, it's empty. On closer inspection, Nat wished he hadn't inspected at all -

So he's sipping air?!

Gilda, the fashionista of the group, was fidgeting. The way he's wearing his clothes is sloppy... her eyes darted around rapidly, I mean, it's unique, but it's... not matching.

He's a weirdo, they all thought, nothing like we expected.

Is it really him? Anna could hardly believe it.

Y/n narrowed her brows, it's not him. Not possible.

Mark seemed to be the only kid in the room - other than the strange man - to be thinking about cookies. He was starving, and was hoping that cookies would rain down from the sky. The lad was starting to drool at the thought.

However, the oldest two in the room had more important things on their minds -

"Are you..." Emma's eyes were filled with hope, "...Mr. Minerva?"

A loud, obvious sigh escaped Y/n's lips, she felt herself drowning in frustration.

"Stupid question, Emma. Really stupid." Yet again, she was able to lessen the tenseness in the room, as Lani and Thoma snorted. Even the man strained a grin.

"The answer to your question, midget," started the man, his voice low and hoarse, "is no. Unfortunately for you, I'm not William Minerva."

Irritated, Ray stepped up -

"Then can you let us see him? We came all the way here to see Mr. Minerva."

A disturbing laugh rumbled through the man's body as he grinned at the children. "He's not here." he said, through a mouthful of biscuits.

A blast of shock rounded up the escapees, what's that mean?

"Sorry 'bout that, but..." the man continued, almost relaxed, "Minerva's not here."

It took the kids a few seconds to digest this, and when they did, each of their mouths dropped to the floor. Alicia had managed to get a hold of Mark by the cheeks, really ready to hurl him to the third dimension this time, so Mr. Minerva really was a liar!!

Y/n slapped both palms on Chris and Alicia's head, forcing them to go back to their spots. And with one swift movement, she plucked Mark out of Alicia's dangerous arms and into safety -