INTERTWINED | KAI PARKER

Chapter 7

"How are you so sure that it's the one we're looking for?", I ask after eyeing the grimoire Kai is holding on, dropping my hand from his shoulder.

Kai merely shrugs. "I don't. It's an instinct, Evie. Ever heard of that?"

I roll my eyes as I push him away from the shelf with my body and study the spines of the books arranged. It takes me a minute to realise that Sheila had series of grimoires, each for one purpose, depending on the situation. My hand quickly grasps each of the grimoire and hands it to Kai without sparing a glance towards him.

"Wow, you really don't trust my instinct, huh?", he scoffs after accepting the grimoire one by one as I hand them to him.

"It's not about trust, Kai. What if the one you found isn't the one we need?", I turn my head to cast him the see-how-clever-I-am look. "Do you want to come back here and look for it again?"

He purses his lips forward, grunting softly. He looks devastated as if he couldn't find any argument to fight me. "Fine," he sighs. "Geez, are you a debate kid or something?"

"Not really. Debate isn't my forte. But I love arguing with my brother," I flash him a wide smile before carrying the remain grimoires by myself, signalling him to follow me to the car with my head.

The ride to the Salvatore's house is quiet - well, Kai is anything but quiet but I'm not too responsive when I start to dig into the grimoire once we're inside. I stop for awhile when we reach outside the house as Kai parks the car, ushering to the library with the grimoires. We barely speak as we dive into them once again, reading every line in case it's related to the Prison World or the Ascendant.

From the sun shining through the windows until the sun setting and nightfall emerges, we still haven't find anything regarding the Ascendant. I'm now standing and walking around the room as I flip the pages, reading thoroughly before Kai knocks the open door, smiling as he sets his eyes on me.

"Hey, Evie. Dinner's ready."

I hum in response, not looking up from the grimoire. Before I know it, the grimoire is snatched from my grasp and I look up to find Kai closing and throwing it on the table.

"I didn't even finish-"

"I know it's important for you to find the information but you need to eat, Evie. It's a basic human thing to do." He grabs my wrist and forces me to follow him downstairs.

"I skip meals sometimes when I'm in college. It's normal," I pout, defeated by his strong grip as I let him dictate my movement to the kitchen.

"It's not normal! No wonder why you're skinny," he comments. "Fret not, I'm here to make sure you'll be having meals according to its rightful time."

I contemplate whether to smack his head or ignore his comment. I choose the latter as we descend the stairs and he brings me to the kitchen, letting go of my hand once I'm at the dining table. Sitting grudgingly, my stomach grumbles when I smell the food and I sigh, silently admitting that he's correct about it.

"We searched everything and we still found none." I heave a sigh as I shove the steak into my mouth. "What if searching the Bennett's grimoires are a waste of time? What if I'm the reason why we just waste a day or two or three because of this stupid-"

"Woah, calm down," Kai cuts me off. "All the What If questions aren't really helping with our situation. And plus, we searched four grimoires and we still have another four so don't lose hope."

"I'm not losing hope. I'm just-," I huffs, rolling my eyes. "Stressed out, okay? It's been a week and I don't know if Care is okay or whether Eli is okay. And how are they doing right now with my absence. What are they going to answer to the professors? And," I gasp, my body slumping, "The assignments! How am I supposed to catch up with the subjects? The exams? Oh my god, I have a test this week. I can't-"