A hot commodity

At the end of the dim hallway to the left was a staircase leading up into darkness and in front of them was a set of French doors. They, too, were painted black with beads hanging from the frame and had the same red symbol on them that the door outside did. Aida wagged her slender finger at the doors accusingly, still pinching her nose in pain.

"Not this time, devil door," she taunted before she reached up through the beads and knocked. The doors creaked open eerily and Meena felt the hair on her arms raise up with goosebumps. Nobody was in the doorway. Nope, nope, nope she was not having this crap. She turned to leave but ran into Niko's chest behind her.

His handsome face looked almost as terrified as Meena's, but he still tried to smirk at her. "If I'm in this, so are you," he told her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. They followed the completely unfazed siblings further into the freaking serial killer's haunted house.

They entered a room that had probably hundreds of candles littering the edges of the floor, making what might be a large room into very minimal walking space. On top of that, there were wall-mounted shelves cluttering the wall space, entirely covered with candles as well. There were a few knick-knacks here and there but you could barely see them through the candles. The warm, yellow glow on the ceiling was constantly flickering from the countless tiny flames.

The doors swung shut behind Niko again, and he let out some sort of pained groan instead of a girly yelp this time, gritting his teeth as he turned to accuse the door of trying to scare him again.

In front of them was a woman sitting on a large, fluffy pillow with her back straight as she organized slips of paper on a coffee-height round table. Her back was facing them, which made sense considering they entered through the building's back door. In front of the table was a red runner rug that led out the other end of the room through a curtain of beads. Everything about this room seemed like a fortune teller's business, except for the fact that it was totally DEMONIC. The woman was dressed in a long, black velvet dress and wore a creepy black veil over her head that covered her face. She didn't turn around, although this group was clearly loud enough to alarm her.

Aida walked around the woman and plopped herself down on one of the many pillows in front of the round table. She held up a hand in a mock wave and plastered on a fake grin that didn't reach her eyes. "Heya, Aya."

The woman stopped abruptly and lifted her head to glare at Aida through the dark veil. "You know full well that my name is Ayano," she scolded Aida.

Meena's brows furrowed at the woman's voice. It had a slight accent to it, but not terribly noticeable. She sounded older than them and oddly familiar but as they all walked around the table and sat with Aida, Meena couldn't get a good look at the woman's covered face.

Aida waved off Ayano's chiding. "Yeah but it's normal to Americanize your name, right? A lot of people do it."

Adam swiftly smacked the back of Aida's head, causing more blood to spurt from her nose. Aida tilted her head back and pinched the hurt nose yet again as she tried to glare at her older brother.

"That's rude as hell," Adam told her in his deep voice and she pouted while she scowled at him. Adam turned to Ayano with an apologetic look. "Sorry, we're on the run currently."

Ayano sighed heavily. "Isn't that always the case?" she asked in an unconcerned tone. She continued flipping through the slips of black paper, organizing them by the types of red symbols painted on.

Adam threw a pointed look at Aida. "Yes, but it's worse now since we picked up these two." He gestured with his thumb towards Meena and Niko. "Now we're a hot commodity."

Ayano set the papers down and lifted her face to stare carefully at Meena and Niko through the veil. "Two more natural-born holders?" she asked, mostly to herself. "That does make you quite the target. But it also makes you stronger. Four with natural powers, helping each other stay safe. I think it's possible."

Meena felt the need to speak up then. "Unfortunately, I don't plan on just 'staying safe'. I have a responsibility to help EVERY power holder live safely and that is what I will do, with or without anyone's help."

Ayano leaned forward, squinting at Meena as if she was trying to read her mind. Meena tried to read Ayano's mind, since she couldn't really see her face, but she must have blocked it off because she couldn't hear anything. Suddenly, Ayano stood up and placed the slips of paper into a jewelry box sitting on one of the many wall-mounted shelves. She picked up a candle and used it to light any others that had gone out. Without looking at Meena, she said, "And how, exactly, do you plan on doing that? Especially without help. I can't imagine you'd do the same as Aida and try to just waltz right in."

Meena and Niko both whipped their heads to look at Aida in awe.

Aida glanced back at them, still pinching her nose bitterly. "What?" she asked with an attitude. She shrugged. "It didn't work out well, if that's what you're wondering."

Ayano nodded solemnly. "And it took me weeks to nurse you back to health so you can see why I'm hesitant when another young girl says she is going to barge into Chronos and save the world on her own."

Meena bit her lip. It felt like she was being scolded by her mother. She was having flashbacks of her mom reprimanding her as a small child. "I'll... find a way," she said, sounding much less confident than before.

"Mmhmm," was all Ayano responded with. She set the candle down on the ground, and sat back down on her pillow. She reached under the round table and pulled out another jewelry box. Inside of it was a set of paintbrushes and two jars of ink, one black and one red. She took out the red ink and a thin brush, then held out her hand to Meena. When Meena looked at her confused, she sighed. "Your hand, please."

Hesitantly, Meena offered up her hand. Ayano dipped her brush in the ink and took Meena's hand. She painted a series of lines and swirls until it created a complex circular symbol on Meena's palm. When she set the brush down, the symbol glowed softly just for a moment.

Ayano's eyebrows furrowed as she studied Meena's hand. "Do you not have a power?" she asked, puzzled. "I was so sure you did."

Meena's eyebrows also furrowed in confusion at the question. "I have a lot of powers, thank you very much. But what does this symbol mean?" She lifted her painted palm up slightly to examine it.

Now, everyone's eyebrows furrowed. Adam and Aida looked at each other bewildered and Ayano quickly let go of Meena's hand as if it had stung her. An awkward silence filled the room as the candle's flames danced.

Meena looked around at everyone as they stared at her. "What?" she asked them.

Ayano's hand was shaking when she quickly took up Meena's again. She pointed to Meena's palm very deliberately. "You can see this?" she asked slowly.

Meena raised an eyebrow, nodding in response.

Ayano abruptly threw her veil back and searched Meena's face desperately. "Who are you?" Ayano whispered.

Meena jumped up in shock, then fell back as she stumbled over pillows, knocking over several candles in the process. Wax spilled on the floor where she landed and the candles that had toppled over died out. Meena's heart was beating loudly in her ears and her breath hitched in her throat as she murmured, "Mom?"