Estranged [Completed]

Introductions

The revolving door had deteriorated to nothing more than a twisted frame and a pile of glass. Kalei stormed past, heedless of the shards that tore at her bare feet. The only thing she could feel right now was rage.

The foyer was large— more like immense. The ceiling rose at least forty feet above Kalei's head, inlaid with delicate artisanal moldings and bearing a ragged, gaping hole where a chandelier once hung. The marble floor was cracked directly below the cavity, and all around the walls were dirty and missing chunks of plaster with a few scattered paintings hanging at odd angles. On the back wall, four elevator doors stood in silence with so many dents and scratches in their tarnished metal that Kalei doubted they still functioned.

After casting a glance over all this rotted grandeur, Kalei spotted someone sitting at the desk off to her left. Whoever it was either was very short or was sitting in a very low chair because all she could see was the top of their head.

She crossed the room and discovered he was short. Or rather, he was a kid. A kid who looked to be no more than ten years old, lounging with his feet up on the counter. She couldn't believe it. Lecia had told her this place was SWORDE headquarters, but instead, she found an abandoned hotel with a lazy brat. She wanted to kill Lecia for this sick prank, but the girl was already long gone on some deranged mission. Kalei approached the worn marble counter, her anger growing like a ball over fire, expanding with the heat until it threatened to explode.

"Where the fuck is SWORDE?" she demanded.

The boy calmly took his feet off the counter and set down the book he had been reading. Despite his short stature, he looked somewhat stately in his tailored suit. A brown and black silk tie tucked neatly into a well-fitted, chocolate-colored vest, and a white dress shirt sat beneath it all and covered his arms down to his wrists. A matching brown jacket hung on the back of the chair, and the entire ensemble stood at odds with the boy's black, springy hair.

As his hand released the book, Kalei's attention was drawn to his exposed fingers. A surge of energy spiked up her neck, and Kalei's head involuntarily jerked to one side to release it. As soon as the rush was gone, more bursts began to arise in her arms, in her legs, in her fingers... Kalei clenched her fists and tensed her muscles, doing her best to suppress the energy that accompanied a fierce urge to grab that small boy's hand. Seeing the dark rectangles in his nails didn't help her battle. Knowing that he was Estranged, her mind worked to justify the innocence of grabbing that hand for just one, small high... But Kalei needed her mind clear. She needed to make sure her family was okay.

Kalei pulled her attention away from the hand and looked at the boy's face instead.

The boy met her eyes with a calm, scholarly gaze and answered, "This is SWORDE. May I help you?" His voice was composed and quiet, despite the slightly higher notes his youth added to his formal accent.

Kalei found the child-playing-grownup to be insulting. "Yeah, fucking right. A brat sitting in a hotel? Do you think I'm an idiot? We both know this isn't SWORDE, so tell me where SWORDE headquarters is!"

The boy studied her for a moment, then his chin inclined slightly as recognition lit in his eyes. He said, "Ah, I know who you are." He leaned back in his chair and interlocked his fingers across his small abdomen as though he were a professor examining a new student. Kalei's attention was once again drawn to those hands, both sets of digits fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. The aching desire in her heart strained to be fed by just one touch... Kalei clenched her fists harder and felt all the muscles in her arms ache as she fought against the impulse. Her head jerked again to release a fresh influx of energy.

The boy continued, "If I have judged correctly, you think you know all about SWORDE. When you were an officer of the law, you saw us quite nearly every day, calling upon the Wardens to deal with the Estranged incidents as they popped up throughout the city. It must have been quite difficult for you to let someone else protect the citizens of Celan while you stood by, tasked with keeping the curious onlookers out of harm's way. As I recall, you have submitted an application to SWORDE every quarter since you joined the force, am I correct?"