My voice sounded horribly old and croaky. ”’Useless things’? Are you kidding me?!” I screeched, referring to his insult of emotions.

“Whether you like it or not, Lin and I grew up together – I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize our friendship! If you call a pure thing such as friendship useless, then you are the one who is blind!”

Way to go, Xiaoli – you’re just getting more philosophical as the day goes on.

The man’s eyes darkened, and he growled at me from behind gritted teeth. “No one asked for your opinion, little girl.”

I yelped when his palm enclosed both my wrists, securing them in a vice like grip.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, quite honestly.

I hadn’t the foggiest as to why Lin’s Master would want to capture us – I had evaded Lin for such a long time I had forgotten that there actually was a reason behind all this.

There had to be.

The hold over my wrists tightened, and I heard a crack – to my dismay, I soon realized that ‘crack’ had been one of my fingers.

“Ask your father.”