"Dinner is ready, couch potatoes!" Eden yelled from the kitchen to the living room where Raf and Tobi were.
"Coming, mother!" Raf teasingly replied.
"So what have you prepared tonight, Eden?" Tobi asked.
"Oh, just the usual." Eden answered. "I already had my meal so help yourselves. I'll drop by to my garden." She said then took off with her gardening tools.
"She's really into plants." Tobi commented as he started to eat.
"You can say that." Raf agreed.
"Boys, can you help Eden with her gardening again after eat and cleanup?" Mrs. Inoue asked.
"Sure will." Raf replied. Tobi nodded in agreement.
Mrs. Inoue went back to her spot where she usually did her knitting. She happened to not eat dinner at all aside from a little oatmeal and tea. Tobi and Raf finished their meal, set the dishes aside, and cleaned up so it's one of the many times of the day to help Eden with her gardening stuff. The two headed to the backyard garden where Eden was then they found that she was, as always, talking to her plants.
"So, did they talk back to you yet?" Raf joked.
"They've been responding to me in a different way. If that's what you really want to know." Eden answered. "They won't grow as beautiful as they are now if they don't."
"Okay. No pun intended anyways." Raf replied.
"Do you need a hand here?" Tobi asked.
"Yes, I actually do." Eden replied. "Can you guys pluck off some weeds back there and if you find snails please take them off. I hate them."
"You got it boss." Raf said then he and Tobi started to take on the task.
The flowers that Eden has been taking care of started to meet their full bloom. Should she sell them or keep them to decorate their home? Even though she has these kits of thoughts she always ends up keeping them. Meanwhile, her brother and Tobi are finishing off their weed work. It's surprisingly one of the easiest tasks Eden asked them so they hardly broke a sweat.
As they wrapped up with the garden works, a strange sound came from their house. It sounded like something just shattered. Seconds after, they hear Mrs. Inoue arguing with someone about something. Then, another breaking sound was heard. They immediately knew that there were burglars in the house. No time of the day is safe.
"Mom's in danger! We have to do something." Eden said as the three of them stayed in the backyard.
"Phones! Do you have your phones with you?" Raf asked. "We have to call the police."
"I left mine inside." Tobi answered.
"Mine too and I saw yours charging at the living room so we can't contact anyone." Eden told his brother.
"I can't believe they opted to rob someone's house moments after the nightfall." Tobi said.
"We should cry out for help! Someone will hear us." Eden suggested.
"No! Don't ever think of screaming for help because whoever it is inside will definitely hear us too." Raf said.
"We should sneak out and still ask for help. We'll just knock on every door we come across." Tobi suggested.
"Fine but we should do it swiftly and quietly. " Raf instructed but before they could go through the fences, they heard a gunshot.
"NO!" Eden screamed and someone from the inside seemed to hear her. They saw someone look through the drapes of a window to the backyard and they're sure that they've been spotted.
"Eden! You need to stay calm." Raf said.
"It's probably a warning shot. We're not sure if your mother is hurt or not." Tobi is trying his best to calm them down. A few seconds later, two armed masked men went out to the backyard, and to their surprise, the siblings and Tobi were still standing there too scared and shocked to hide themselves.
"Do you live here, fellas?" One of the masked men asked as the two of them pointed their guns at Tobi and the siblings.
"They're probably the woman's kids?" The other guy confirmed.
"What have you done to our mother!?" Raf asked intensely.
"Oh, she'll live." One of the guys said. "You'll join her soon enough.".
"Will you hurt us? Please let us go." Eden begged. "We don't have much with us but take whatever you want just let us go."
"Shut up! You will all zip your mouths or the last thing you'll hear is a gunshot to your skulls." One of the guys threatened them.
Tobi and the siblings don't know what to do at this point. Should they run for it, should they resist and fight them head-on or scream for help? They couldn't decide because the most possible result of these choices was the armed masked men shooting them to death. They're thinking that they'll even pull the trigger if they just move a muscle. While they have this encounter in the backyard, they're still hearing things breaking inside the house and Mrs. Inoue's inaudible voice. It sounded like she was begging to spare her kids' lives.
"MOM!" Raf screamed. One of the guys was startled and without any second thoughts, he raised his gun and shot Raf to his left thigh making him kneel in pain.
"Raf!" Eden and Tobi said. Both of them rushed to Raf who was now bleeding from the wound.
"Don't you be such crybabies. I just made a scrape on his thigh." The shooter said. "He can still walk but he'll be in pain of course."
"You monster!" Eden yelled.
"I sure am." The shooter validated.
"Raf, Eden! RUN! RU-" Mrs. Inoue started to scream from the house then another gunshot was heard making her stop screaming.
Everyone realized that someone just shot Mrs. Inoue. Everything went quiet for a few seconds it's as if everyone is waiting for what's going to happen next. Raf's breath is the only thing being heard for the moment as he still struggles with the pain of his gunshot wound. Eden went silent for a second after realizing that her mother was probably shot and killed. She then slowly walked towards the armed men facing the ground.
"You stay there or I'll shoot you too." One of the guys threatened her.
"Eden, come back here. What are you doing?" Tobi said while still trying to stop Raf's bleeding.
"Eden.." Raf is struggling to stop his sister.
Eden stopped walking as she stood right in front of the masked men. A sinister aura was felt from her that made the two guys tremble a little. Tobi and Raf felt the wind of hatred coming out from Eden as well. Seconds later, she suddenly looked at the masked men then the strangest thing started to come out from the very ground they were standing on which made everyone surprised and scared at the same time.
"What the hell are these things!?" One of the guys shrieked as thick leafy vines suddenly grew from the ground they were standing on then the vines immediately bound them making them unable to move.
"I can't move!" The other guy said. The vines then crawled their way to the guys' throats and as it appears, they're being strangled to death. Tobi and Raf couldn't believe their eyes with whatever was happening in front of them.
The guys were being lifted by the veins from the ground and their struggle was being more and more obvious. They couldn't speak or even use their guns to free themselves from the organic bondage. Approximately twelve feet from the ground, they stopped struggling and both passed out. The vines suddenly went back to the ground as if nothing happened and guys just fell from mid-air like a ragdoll.
"They're not breathing." Tobi confirmed as he rushed to the guys and checked if they still had their pulses. "They're dead."
"What's all the ruckus out there!?" A guy from the house said who is probably one of the masked men.
Tobi looked at Eden and what he saw and felt from her made him startled. He felt the rage from her aura and he saw her eyes screaming of murder. Eden seemed to not about anything but to kill these masked people. Tobi figured that there was a high chance that the vines were Eden's doing. He figured that Eden could be an Anomaly. He tried to reach her in an attempt to nullify her Anomaly if it really was her ability but Raf suddenly screamed in pain so Tobi ran towards Raf instead.
"We're coming out you idiots." The guy from the inside said. "We're running late on our schedule. "
"T, what's happening?" Raf asked. "What have they done to her? What have they done to my sister?"
"I don't know, man." Tobi answered.
Two other guys came out from the house who also happened to wear masks. The guys immediately saw the dead bodies of their comrades so they ran towards them. In the thought that Eden, Raf, and Tobi had something to do with their deaths, the other masked men immediately pointed their guns at them and started to fire simultaneously. But, thick leafy vines swiftly grew right in front of Eden then formed a protective wall that shielded her, Raf, and Tobi from the rain of bullets. The vines broke their wall and then went back to the ground again after the firing stopped.
"What the hell just happened!?" One of the guys asked. "What is this sorcery!?
"No time for chit-chat!" The other guy said. "We must kill that witch and her bodyguards back there. Reload!"
Just before the masked men can reload their guns, another batch of veins grows from the ground but this time, the vines grow a little further from where the other masked men are. The vines suddenly pierced through the guys one by one in rapid succession which killed them instantly before they could even successfully put the magazines in their guns. They have now four dead bodies in their backyard.
Eden is still consumed by her rage. No noise is being heard from the inside of the house so Tobi and Raf concluded that the four dead bodies are the only ones who broke in. Eden suddenly turned around to face Tobi and Raf then several vines grew from where she was standing again the vines started to swing wildly from every direction. Tobi had a hunch of what she'll do next. She will attack them like she attacked the masked men. At this point, Tobi confirmed that it was Eden's Anomaly.
"Eden, snap out of it!" Tobi screamed.
"What are you saying, man?" Raf asked. "Is this all her doing?"
"I think so." Tobi confirmed.
"No." Raf said with a wretched tone to his voice. "She's one of them?" He whispered to himself.
Just before Tobi could respond to Raf's sentiments, Eden's vines swung more wildly than before making an eerie whooshing sound then as she fixed her glare on Raf and Tobi, the vines suddenly moved towards them at rapid speed and about to skewer them to death like what happened to the other guys. But right before the first vine struck Tobi and Raf, Tobi hurriedly stood in front of Raf to act as a shield. He then unconsciously raised his right hoping that he could negate Eden's Anomaly. Surprisingly, as the first vine touched Tobi's palm, it suddenly stopped moving as well as with the other vines that were also about to pierce them.
Tobi seemed to stop Eden's attack. He and Raf saw the wild vines and went to the ground where Eden was standing. After the vines went back, Eden passed out and went unconscious due to exhaustion from using her Anomaly which made her fall to the ground. Tobi rushed to Eden to check if she was still breathing and thank goodness she was. Tobi noticed Raf look at him and her sister. He sensed that he was not worried about them but what he feels is hatred and disgust.
"What's with that look, man?" Tobi asked his struggling friend as put Eden on a bench.
"Who are you people?" Raf asked back. He just can't seem to believe what he just witnessed. "Am I dead? Is that what this is?"
"No, man." Tobi answered. "You're still with us. You just got shot but you're not dead?"
"So what the hell is happening!? What have you done to my friend and my sister!? Where are they!?"
"Raf, calm down. It's us." Tobi said while still holding Eden in his arms.
"No, you're monsters! Where are they!?"
"Seriously, man. Cut the crap. I'm your best buddy, Tobias Liu and this is your sister, Eden Inoue."
"You cut the crap! My friend and my sister are not monsters! They're humans. They're not like the one who killed my father and broke my mother's legs!"
Tobi realized why Raf was thinking this way. Raf is remembering the pain he experienced when he had their first encounter with an Anomaly. The anomaly who made their father perished and made their mother paralyzed from her hips to her toes. Raf suddenly tried to stand up and started to walk away from them. Tobi's about to run towards him but he heard a banging sound from the inside of the house.
"Raf, what do you think you're doing? You're injured." Tobi said as he stopped Raf from walking away by holding his shoulders tight.
"Did you hear that?" Raf asked after hearing the strange banging sound. "You might want to check that out. That's probably one of you."
"What do you mean? That's probably your mother." Tobi said. "She might still be alive. We should both check that out!"
Raf shrugged Tobi's hand off. As Tobi made sure that Raf was not going anywhere, he rushed to the house to check if Mrs. Inoue was still alive but just before he entered, Raf did his best to run away even though he had a limp. Raf didn't check or even turn around to see if his sister was fine or alive at least. He went over the fences and then vanished from the horizon. Tobi thought of going after Raf but he heard the banging sound from the house again so he chose to check it out instead.
"Auntie Lyn? Can you hear me Auntie Lyn?" Tobi said steadily as he roamed around the house.
"Tobi?" Mrs. Inoue said from the living room but it seemed that she was struggling to speak.
"Auntie Lyn!" Tobi rushed to her after he found her lying on the floor covered in blood.
"Where are my children?"
"They're.. They're.."
"What happened to them, Tobi!?"
"Uh, they're fine Auntie Lyn. They're just resting outside."
"That's very good to hear." Mrs. Inoue is so satisfied with what she just heard from Tobi that she starts to cry. The emotion affected Tobi as well.
"Auntie Lyn, you can still make it! I'll call 911." Tobi said but just before he stood up, Mrs. Inoue grabbed his hand to stop him.
"No, Tobi. I know I won't last any longer." Mrs. Inoue stated. "Just promise me that you will keep an eye on my children."
"Don't say that. I can carry you to the nearby clinic."
"Listen to me. I know that Rafael is a rowdy boy but his a good boy and Eden may be bossy at times but she's really as sweet as candy inside. Please, look out for them. I know you always have a good heart in you." Mrs. Inoue said as she struggled to let the words out.
"Don't worry. I won't let my eyes off of those two." Tobi confirmed then Mrs. Inoue closed her eyes after showing a faint smile on her face. "Auntie Lyn? Auntie Lyn!? Who did this!?"
"L.. La.. La.. Lan.." Mrs. Inoue tried to say something but she couldn't. Tobi now confirmed that she died.
Tobi stayed with Mrs. Inoue for a while and thought of what he'd do next. Will he still call 911 and tell them what happened? That burglars were killed by an Anomaly which is Eden not to mention their brutal deaths. No one will probably believe him. Will he call his parents and tell them what happened? Not really an option since their contact numbers change once in a while and if they want to talk to him, they're just sending him mails or they're the ones to call first. After a few moments, he heard eerie sounds of branches that seemed to be moving from the backyard.
"Eden!" Tobi exclaimed then rushed to the backyard after leaving Mrs. Inoue's dead body on the sofa.
What he saw flustered him greatly. He saw tree branches reaching to where Eden was lying down. He noticed that she was already wrapped with green leafy vines from neck to toe but they were thinner than the vines that she used to attack them earlier and there were dozens of flowers blossoming from these vines. In Tobi's thought this might kill Eden he rushed towards her to negate her Anomaly and as he had expected, the flowery vines unwrapped her and the tree branches stopped to reach for her. Tobi realized who could help them with Anomaly problems so he made a call.
"We need your help. Pick us up here at the Inoue residence." Tobi requested.
"Are you asking or are you order me what to do?" The person on the other line said which turned out to be Thandiwe.
"I'm asking. Please, this is an emergency! We need your help."
"What kind of emergency?"
"I'll tell you once you got here."
"Fine. I'll be on my way."
While waiting, Tobi keeps holding on to Eden to keep the vines and branches away from them. He's hoping that the people from the mansion can help them figure out what happened and why Eden seemed to get an Anomaly. Tobi's worries grow every moment passes that Eden is unconscious. He's just hoping that Eden won't die on him.
After a while longer, the doorbell rang. Tobi was startled as he was not sure who might that be. Before he decided to check who might've rang the doorbell, he carried Eden inside to avoid her own Anomaly from getting her. Just to be safe, Tobi took Raf's baseball bat and then headed towards the front door. He hurriedly opened the door without confirming who might be on the other side. As the door was wide open, he swung the baseball bat with all of his strength but before he hit his target, a gorilla arm grabbed it making Tobi stop.
"Are you out of your mind?" Thandiwe exclaimed. "You asked me to go here to hit me with a baseball bat? That's rich."
"I am so sorry. I just thought you're one of them." Tobi said.
"One of them? Them who?"
"Look, there are four armed masked men broke in this house. They killed Raf and Eden's mother."
"That's awful. So, why call me? You could've called the police."
"That's the thing. Something else happened here?"
"What would that be?"
"Eden happened."
"What do you mean by that? What does your weird friend's sister has to do with this? Was she kidnapped?"
"No she wasn't. She seemed to awakened her Anomaly and killed these armed men."
"Well, that's intense."
"That's the reason why I called you. Can she stay at the mansion?"
"Of course but where's the brother?"
"He ran off after knowing Eden and I are Anomalies. He detests our us. He detests our kind."
"If we're going to leave, we should leave now. I'm having bad a feeling that something will happen if we stay here any longer. I'm sensing an extreme bloodlust in the area."
"How about their mother's body? We'll just leave her here?"
"No. I'll ask Glass and probably a few mother's to drop by and take their mother's body but for now, we should take off."
Tobi went inside Thandiwe's car after putting Eden in the back seat. As Thandiwe said, he called Glass and then instructed him to go to the Inoue's residence to pick up Mrs. Inoue's body but right before they took their first turn on the road, something happened. They heard several explosions that came from the Inoue's house making it engulfed in flames in seconds.
"We must go back! We get their mother's remains." Tobi exclaimed.
"We'll go back if you're ready to die yourself." Thandiwe responded. "We will head straight to the mansion." He said as he continued to drive away.
"Hey, did you see that?" Tobi asked after seeing a strange silhouette in front of the burning house which he's sure that it's from a person.
"My eyes are on the road so I probably didn't. Tell me what you saw."
"There was someone standing in front of the house as if he's watching it from being burnt."
"Or he could be watching us from getting to safety."
"I don't know what's the reason behind all of this but we need to come back to search for answers."
"If you were to set foot on that house again, you most likely to be killed in an instant. Remember that your Anomaly is not an offensive type and you're not a brawler yourself. Not to mention that your Anomaly is not under your full control yet so you have no match to whoever has that immense bloodlust earlier."
"You can help me fight."
"What!?"
"As from what I know, your Anomaly has more attack power than mine and we might be dealing with Anomaly users too so I can make myself useful."
"Don't be dumb. There's no guarantee that someone with an Anomaly caused this and there are chances that our perpetrator is nit alone so if we happened to dive in to combat, it's not going to be good for the both of us. Why are you so hyped up in charging in to a fight? You've never even been in one before."
"I just had a gut feeling that someone's behind this and the fact that they targeted the people that are closest to me, I will kill them myself."
"You got some solid resolve their. But, are you actually planning to kill them? If you do, what will make you different from them? Do you think this is what your friend, this girl and their mother want you to do?"
"I get it. Thanks."
"Great! Now we're on the same page."
"So, what's the plan? Do you have any?"
"I'll get you two to the mansion first then we'll have Anastasia check you both to see if you got some serious damages. Then, we'll assess if can go back to the house to investigate. Crap! Glass is on his way to the house now. He might be in trouble. Hold tight! Things may get really flashy."
Thandiwe sped up his car to get to the mansion much faster and to finally drop off Tobi and Eden. He's thinking of going back to Inoue's house as fast as he can to assist Glass since there's a high chance that there's an impending ambush. He was able to contact Glass on the way and luckily, Thandiwe stopped Glass from coming any closer to the house as he confirmed that he was just one block away from the burning Inoue residence. A few more twists and turns and they finally made it to the mansion"
"I already called Anastasia so just wait her here. I'll go back to house right now." Thandiwe instructed Tobi. Eden is still unconscious and being held by Tobi.
"Got it. I'll go back there too after I make sure that Eden's fine." Tobi responded.
"No need. Leave it to us. Focus you worries to the girl." Thandiwe said then he drove off at great speed.
Glass is pretty adept in using his Anomaly but like Tobi, he's not mostly an attack type Anomaly. He can throw sharp glass discs at his target but his Anomaly is best used as a shield that's why he was the first to be called with the situation with Shin Mathews, the explosion guy. Anastasia did fetch Tobi and Eden from the mansion's entrance together with the banshee sisters. They immediately felt concerned with what happened.
"Are you alright? Is that Eden? How hurt is she? Let's get inside quickly!" Anastasia asked as she and the sisters guided Tobi to the mansion.
"I'm fine. I'm worried about her." Tobi said.
"What happened to her?"
"She's not wounded or anything. I think her Anomaly drained her energy."
"Anomaly? She's one of us!?"
"I believe so."
"Where's the brother, Raf?"
"He took off. His anger towards our kind conquered his judgment so he decided to ran away even he's injured."
"I get that some people has some awful experience with Anomalies with bent ways but to turn your back to your own sister is too much."
"He's pretty messed up there. When I see him, I'll beat him up to his senses."
"Let's move her to the infirmary. You can wait here in the living room. You don't seem to have any injuries. Banshees, kindly attend to him after you help me with Eden."
"Yes, Pandora." The sisters said.
"No, I'm perfectly fine. I'm coming with you. Besides, I only got some minor bruises." Tobi said then they all headed to the infirmary.
Anastasia started to administer first aid to Eden's wounds and bruises to avoid any infections. She then checked Eden's vital signs to confirm if she had any major issues aside from the ones that they saw. It seemed that there are no complications since Anastasia went much calmer from her tense vibe from earlier. As Anastasia monitors Eden they notice an eerie knocking sound coming from the windows.
"Branches." The Banshees said.
"Is it that windy outside?" Anastasia asked.
"I think not. The wind is pretty calm as we got here." Tobi confirmed.
"We see that other trees are not swaying because of the wind." One of the Banshees said.
"It seems that the branches wants to come in." The other Banshee commented then Tobi remembered what the vines and the tree branches did to Eden earlier in the backyard. The vines wrapped Eden from neck to toe and the tree branches seemed to reach out to her and do the same thing.
"Yes, they do." Tobi confirmed.
"That's nonsense. Why would they want to come in?" Anastasia responded as she chuckled then she suddenly realized something. "Oh, no. Is this her Anomaly."
"Apparently."
"Give us details."
Tobi started to tell them how Eden awakened her Anomaly. From the horrifyingly armed masked men, what they did, their unclear motive, Raf's shooting, the masked men's death, the death of Mrs. Inoue, and Raf's judgment of running away. He mentioned how Eden was able to end her rage making her unconscious. Even though Tobi doesn't have complete control of his Anomaly, he manages to nullify Eden's Anomaly. Tobi can somehow activate his Anomaly under pressure so far.
"That's unfortunate for them." Anastasia commented.
"Very unfortunate. Now, I'm not sure where to go or what to do." Tobi said.
"The mansion is open for both of you. Besides, you two are an Anomaly so you're very welcome."
"I guess we'll have to since we don't have anywhere else to go."
"You'll be safe here. No worries."
A few more checks were made to Eden by Anastasia with some assistance from the Banshees. Tobi can't let himself worry about Eden with her condition because even though it seems that her vital signs are going fine, they're still not sure when she'll gain consciousness. Anastasia suddenly thought of getting into Eden's mind then she saw something.
"We should open the windows." Anastasia suggested.
"No. Why?" Tobi disagreed.
"I looked into her mind and I sensed that her Anomaly has healing properties. Since it seems that those branches wants to come in, maybe Eden unconsciously wants to heal herself with them." Anastasia explained then the Banshees opened the windows in the infirmary. The branches slowly made their way inside and slowly headed towards Eden. Flowery vines were quick to crawl inside as well and they wrapped Eden's body quickly.
"So this is what she's doing earlier. She's healing herself." Tobi realized.
"Her body appears to start to calm down. I suggest we give her time to recuperate." Anastasia said.
"I'm not leaving her here. What if something happened again?"
"Alarms are set all over the mansion so if someone uninvited comes in, it will trigger it so we'll know. Besides, you should relax too. I can see that you're in a mild trauma."
"We hear that Shin prepared a BBQ Party tonight." The Banshees shared.
"Great idea! We can join that party so you can lessen your stress." Anastasia said.
"Fine." Tobi finally agreed.
The four of them went back to the living area and they noticed that everyone was pretty hyped up over Shin's BBQ Party. However, some said that Shin's not yet around since he's still purchasing the goods. Some are excited to see how BBQs are cooked with Shin's explosions as he's been bragging about it almost all day. A few minutes passed and Shin finally arrived.
"I'm back!" Shin said as he entered the mansion.
"Welcome back, Shin." Anastasia said through her thoughts.
"I bought a lot of meat and some other stuff. Are we ready to grill?" Shin asked
"Yes, Blast!" Few guys from the outside responded.
"Blast?" Tobi thought.
"That's the name that was given to him since he's already one of us." Anastasia confirmed.
"So Blast, I heard you'll grill most of the meat with Anomaly. How will you do it?" Tobi asked.
"Oh, that. That's pretty easy. I'll just emit few small explosions to fire it up then it will cook eventually." Shin said.
"Nice." Tobi said.
"We should go outside. We'll start the party soon." Shin invited them.
"You should go. I'll join you guys later. We'll check Eden real quick." Anastasia said. "Come on, Banshees." Then the three of them went back to the infirmary.
"Eden?" Shin asked.
"She's a friend. It's a long story." Tobi said.
"Oh, I see. I hope she's fine."