A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.

Xavier went through the same thing.

As soon as they entered Hena’s house, the first Ashbearer blurted:

"I am finally inside a girl."

He instantly felt killing intent from Draxus and a sharp piercing glare from Hena.

Zane also watched his friend with his lips twitching.

Jammy moved one step away from the man.

Xavier raised his hands.

"I meant, inside a girl’s house."

"You didn’t say house." Draxus said.

"I was excited, alright. You will not understand how it is to live without love from the opposite gender."

Draxus’ gaze softened.

"I understand that more than enough."

He looked at Hena and smiled.

Hena shook her head.

"Stop the nonsense and do what we are here for."

She walked towards the stairs.

Zane followed her all the while staring at the house.

The ceiling touched the sky.

Sunlight came in from the windows lighting up the building.

But apart from the size and grandness of the house, Zane noticed it wasn’t well maintained.

Cobwebs hung in the corners, furniture laid all around like orphaned toddlers.

"Your house is just like mine, girl." Jammy said.

Zane jerked his head at him.

"You have a mansion as well?"

"Nah. I mean my house is dirty too."

Zane frowned.

"But you are a janitor."

"So?"

"You should work from home."

"I won’t get paid for it."

Zane gave up.

"It is not dirty." Hena said.

Jammy chuckled. "Yeah? Then I am sixteen years old."

Hena glared.

"It is not dirty. It is..."

She averted her eyes.

"It is empty."

Zane sensed the regret and anger in Hena’s voice.

He stopped Jammy from saying anything else, and he also remained silent.

Draxus walked beside Hena like always and Xavier made sure to look at everything inside the house.

He was a man passionate with truth so he would not waste a chance to know about Hena’s truth as well.

The truth being how girls live.

But he didn’t know that researching Hena wasn’t a trusted source to know about girls.

Nonetheless, Zane didn’t stop him and simply followed Hena.

And now that the talking was done, Hena finally got to ask her question.

But through Draxus.

She gestured to him and Draxus understood her right away.

"What was all that at the door? Why did you promise sixty percent to the Warden? Why are we considered thieves for entering our own place?"

Draxus asked all the things and Zane was ready for it.

Jammy and Xavier also paid attention as they wanted to know too. They wouldn’t have asked Zane about it but now that it was asked, they won’t miss the answer for that.

"If we would have shown our faces, it would have become a problem. You know that too. The warden would tell everyone that Zane Atlas is here. So I played along the theme of us being thieves. And we should be glad that she is hated by people otherwise we would be somewhere else right now."

"But why sixty percent? He didn’t even ask for it. You were the one to offer him money." Draxus argued.

"He would have asked for it anyway. I simply fastened the process. I asked him how much and he gave me a number."

"But why should we share our money with him?"

"Who says we will share it with him?"

Draxus stopped.

"You."

Zane sighed.

"You should know about such people. Almost all of them want money and power. By agreeing to his demands, I gave him power and promised him to give him money. But in reality, all I gave him is an illusion."

Draxus frowned.

"You will understand it soon enough. Though, we still have to give him a little money." Zane said and continued walking.

Draxus did the same.

Eventually, Hena stopped in front of a room.

On the door, Princess was written but the words had faded over time. They appeared no more than as a forgotten memory.

No one commented on the words and Hena pushed open the door.

She entered with Draxus and Zane whispered to Jammy:

"If she refuses to give money, do you have it?"

Jammy coughed.

"I am a janitor, kid."

"So? You smoke cigars and wear high end clothes."

"And that’s what eats up all my money."

"Useless."

Zane went inside the room as well.

Jammy didn’t mind the insult and with Xavier, entered the room.

The room had the same type of theme as the whole house but a crib was kept in the corner that had rust eating it.

Some broken toys laid on the floor like the limbs of crippled childhood.

Hena spared them no glance as she roamed around the room.

Zane didn’t know what she was doing but he decided to trust her.

He also didn’t mention anything about the room as Hena clearly wasn’t interested in talking about it.

The pink paint of the walls had darkened, ripping like the skin of an old gutterborn.

Zane rested his head on one such wall and let Hena do her work.

After a second, Hena turned to him.

Zane looked left and right.

Why is she looking at me now?

He couldn’t read anything from her face and it was fine until she was only looking.

Zane could handle that.

But then, she started walking towards him.

Long strides.

Zane glued to the wall and in no time, she was in front of him.

The man gulped and decided it was high time to move.

But before he could move, Hena raised her leg.

Zane’s eyes widened and he had lived long enough to know what she was about to do.

And she did.

Her leg came crashing down to Zane’s face and just when he smelled the dirt on her shoes...

THUD!

He jumped to the side.

THUMP!

Hena’s kick landed on the wall behind Zane.

All eyes bulged except Draxus but before anyone could spew their anger...

SHRILL!

Gold Lumens bursted out of the wall.