The Skin Walker

02 | The ICA

"it's astronomy, we're two worlds apart,"

Astronomy Conan Gray

R U T H

"Scream, and we hurt you," The man closest to me spoke first.

He was taking up most of the space in my room as he crossed his muscular arms and watched me carefully with light brown eyes. His long auburn hair was tied back away from his face, displaying the scattered scars over his pale skin.

"Do you understand?" He asked in a slow, deep drawl.

My back was plastered to the door. I nodded once, using my hand to cautiously reach for the handle. It didn't take too long to notice a pair of icy blue eyes scrutinising my hidden action.

The second man was just as tall and large as the other, both sharing similar features; scars, the same shape of almond eyes narrowing on me and unusual marks in the middle of each other's collarbones.

"My name is Anderson," They both stayed still in their spots as the same man spoke again. "But you can call me Ander."

He was the one with a 'γ' symbol marked in the hollow of his throat. I knew Greek well enough to know the sign meant gamma. I just didn't know how that had anything to do with the man taking a step closer to me as he unfurled his arms and reached for his pocket.

"Right," I whispered before clearing my throat. "But you can stay right there, Ander. I can listen to what you have to say from right here."

Ander nodded once before pulling a wallet out of his pocket. He opened the brown leather material and showed it to me. He was presenting me a badge, an investigator's badge of some sort.

"I'm not familiar with that," I kept my voice quiet and mentally relaxed when the entirety of my hand wrapped around my door handle.

The blonde man behind Ander locked eyes with mine before dropping them to where my front was blocking the view of my hand.

"Stop doing that," He said abruptly, halting my movement. His voice was deeper than Ander's.

"Don't tell me what to do," I harshly murmured. "You have no right to tell me what to do when you just broke into my house and ambushed me in my bedroom."

His light brown eyebrows rose at the sound of my rebuttal. Served him right. These strange men had taken over the space I felt most safe in the world. If I didn't feel safe here, I didn't feel safe anywhere else. I needed them to leave as much as I needed them to tell me why they had gone to such measures to get to me.

"We'd like you to come with us, please," Ander spoke, gaining my attention again.

A few strands of his hair were out of place, and the more I stared at them, the more he glared at me.

"No, thank you," I replied, adding manners as he did.

"Ma'am," He sighed deeply and brought the badge closer to my face. "I didn't ask."

I forced myself to take a deep breath before glancing at the badge again.

"Can I...?" I reached for it to get a closer look, and he let me take it away from him.

The top read 'International Criminal Affairs' while the rest presented an accurate format of what an FBI ID would look like. I'd known that because my brother was one. But in this case, I had never heard of the ICA.

"I don't trust this," I told them, handing the badge back to Ander's abnormally large hand.

"Every year, the ICA chooses three civilians to watch a court case from the small town of Europa. These civilians are chosen at random from different towns around the state. You happen to be one of them, princess," The other man spoke up, speaking in the same neutral tone.