To the best of her memory, Noa had never been in a car before. She could hardly remember with certainty.
Next to the shiny, black car, she was standing staring at it. It was SO shiny. Besides her reflection, a bit of a dirty one with big eyes and hair sticking out in every direction, could be seen in it.
"Get in," Kane said, still holding her hand, but with his voice cold and flat. Noa noticed that he hadn't dropped her hand though.
"How?" Noa glanced up at him. The car door was taller than she was.
Watching her as if she'd asked him to clarify how rocket science works, Kane then seemed to figure out the problem. Without speaking, he stooped down, put his coffee on the car's roof, and lifted Noa with both hands.
Noa squeaked. Suddenly she was flying! Up, up, up! The ground got far away!
Like a box he was relocating, Kane set her on the back seat. Noa landed on a leather that was lighter than anything she had ever touched. It was cool and smooth and smelt good, like something expensive.
"Sit there. Don't touch anything," Kane said. Then he closed the door and went to the other side.
Noa looked at the car's inside. There were so many buttons. Some were shiny. Some were black. Some had little pictures on them. Her fingers would love to touch them. Press ALL of them. See what they did.
But Kane had said don't touch anything.
Noa put her hands on top of them. This was difficult. There was a button RIGHT there. Just... right there. So close.
She bent her head to get a better view of it. It had a picture of a snowflake on it. What did a snowflake button do? Did it make snow come out? That would be so cool! Literally!
Her finger reached out, just a teensy tiny bit—
The car door opened and Kane slid in next to her. Noa yanked her hand back and sat on it again, trying to look innocent.
Kane noticed. Of course he noticed. His cold gray eyes flicked to her, then to the control panel, then back to her.
"I didn't touch it," Noa said quickly.
"Good."
Kane took something out of his pocket—a phone, but more elegant than any phone Noa was familiar with. He did one thing, said, "Marcus. Come get us. We're at Java House on Fifth."
The phone answered a voice: "Right away, sir. Two minutes."
Kane then put the phone aside. After that, he simply sat there, not talking, not looking at Noa, staring straight ahead as if she weren't there.
Noa moved her feet. They didn't touch the ground. She pulled them back and forth, back and forth. The car was so quiet that she could hear her feet swooshing through the air.
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
Kane's jaw tightened. Only a little bit. Yet, he didn't utter a word.
Noa kept swinging. Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
She stared at Kane's face. It was like looking at a statue. Would statues get annoyed by foot-swinging? Most probably not. They didn't get annoyed with anything because they are statues.
"Are you a statue?" Noa asked.
Kane's eyes shifted to her. "What?"
"A statue. You look like one. In museums. The peoples made of rock."
"Stone."
"That's what I said. Rock."
"Stone and rock aren't—" Kane stopped. His jaw did that tightening thing again. "No. I'm not a statue."
"Oh. You're just really good at being still."
"...Thank you."
"You're welcome!" Noa smiled at him. He didn't smile back. Maybe statues couldn't smile. Or maybe he just didn't know how.
A different car drove up in front of them—long and black and even shinier than the car they were sitting in. A man stepped out. He was older, with gray hair and a neat suit. Without opening the door of the long car, he stood there waiting.
"That's our ride," Kane said. He got out, then paused. He looked at Noa still sitting on the seat, then seemed to realize she couldn't get out by herself.
He went in, took her, and lifted her again. This time Noa was prepared for it. She giggled as she went up in the air.
Kane lifted her into his car and then got into the driver's seat while the older man closed the door.
This vehicle was even more luxurious from the inside. The seats were extremely comfortable Noa melted into them as if she was a marshmallow. There was also more space for her to do cartwheels probably. Though she didn't know how to do cartwheels, If she did she could do them.
"Kane," he said to the driver, "we are going to the penthouse."
"Certainly, sir."
Marcus checked the mirror. His gaze met Noa's and his eyebrows lifted so high that they almost touched his hair. However, he made no comment. He simply turned on the car.
Noa stuck her face to the glass. The city was passing by outside—buildings, people, other cars, and streetlights. Everything was enormous. There was so much to see. Her eyes tried to take in everything at once.
"Whoooooa," she said in an amazed tone, making a fog circle on the window.
She made a smiley face out of the fog with her finger. Then the fog disappeared, so she breathed on the window again and made another one.
Breathe. Draw. Breathe. Draw.
"Stop that," Kane said.
"Why?"
"You are making the window dirty."
Noa looked at her finger. It was dirty. She looked at the window. It was smudged.
"Oops."
Kane acted as if he had a headache and closed his eyes. "Just... be calm."
"For how long?"
"Until we arrive."
"Where is there?"
"My place."
"Oh." Noa considered that. "Is it far?"
"Ten minutes."
Ten minutes. Noa was not sure how long it was, but it looked like a lot. She made an attempt to be very still.
She lasted about fifteen seconds.
Her feet began swinging again. Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
She gazed in the car. There were cup holders. Small compartments in the doors. A screen installed in the back of the front seat. So many things of interest!
"What is that?" She pointed at the screen.
"Entertainment system."
"What is entertain-meant?"
"It shows movies."
"Videos!" Noa jumped up and down in her seat. "Can we watch videos?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because we are almost there."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
Kane looked at her. That icy, expressionless look that probably made the grown-ups instantly stop talking appeared on his face.
Noa looked at him with her biggest and most hopeful smile. A smile that not only showed all her teeth but even the wobbly one right in front.
Kane twitched his eye. Only a little bit. "Okay. One video."
"Yay!" Noa applauded.
He pushed some buttons, and the screen lit up. Colors! Movement! Noa's eyes got as big as saucers.
A cartoon was shown—something with talking animals. Noa had never seen a cartoon before. She was quite sure her eyes were going to pop out because she was staring so hard.
"The bunny speaks!" she exclaimed. "The bunny is TALKING!"
"Yes. That's what cartoons are for," Kane said.
"This is the most fantastic thing that has ever happened to me!"
Noa winced at the suspense and she was so engrossed she did not even realise that Kane was looking at her with a tinge of melting coldness on his ice-like face and Marcus was staring at him with disbelief.
For her character, Noa noticed only the mystery, the fox, the bunny, the colors, the dialogue and everything that was wonderful about the moving pictures on the screen.
They came to a halt and the video was still on. The bunny and the fox had just discovered a very important clue.
"We're here," Kane informed them.
"But it's still going on!" Noa indicated the screen. "They didn't get it solved yet!"
"You can continue it later."
"Promise?"
Kane looked like he was sorry for every one of his decisions that led to this moment. "...Promise," he said.
"Okay!" Noa got out of the car—wait, when had Kane put her in the car? She didn't remember that. But the belt was undone and she ran to the door with her hand.
He got out first, ran to the car to get me, and I let him pick me up. I was beginning to enjoy being carried. It's like being tall, but without having to grow.
She scanned the place. They were underground. A parking lot, with a lot of luxury cars parked in a tidy manner. Everything was neat, gray, and reverberated when Marcus shut the car door.
He took her to the elevator. Since he was holding her with both hands, he used his elbow to press the button.
"Where are we?" Noa asked.
"Parking lot underneath my building."
"Do you have a building just for you? "
"I am at the top one."
"The very tippy top?"
"The penthouse. Yes."
"Whoa...Noa could not think about living at the very tippy top of a building. "Can you see everything from up there?""
"Most things."
The elevator had arrived and the doors opened. The inside was all fancy and gold. There were mirrors on every wall. Noa could see herself from all sides—dozens of little Noas, all being carried by dozens of tall Kanes.
Kane entered with her and pushing the button that said "PH," he went up.
The elevator started to lift. Noa got a strange tummy feeling. "Ooh! My tummy feels weird!"
"That's normal."
"It's tickly!"
The numbers above the door went up and up and up. 10... 20... 30... They kept going! How high did this building go?
At last, the elevator stopped. The number on the elevator read 50.
The doors parted.
Noa's mouth wide open.
They entered a room larger than three apartments combined. Perhaps four. Maybe a hundred. Noa couldn't even tell because it was SO BIG.
The floor was shiny and dark. The walls were white and clean. Huge windows that looked out to the city were the only part left of the room—not buildings, not lights, not sky. The furniture in the room was all black and white, and it looked like it hadn't been used.
Every one of the items was perfect. Everything was neat. Everything looked expensive.
And everything was completely, totally, absolutely empty of anything fun or colorful or soft or nice.
It seemed like a picture out of a magazine. Not a place where people lived.
Kane gently placed Noa on the floor. Her naked feet made contact with the cold and shiny surface. She stood there, spinning her arms and trying to understand the whole situation.
"Is this your home?" she inquired.
"Yes."
"It is really huge."
"Yeah."
"And very white..."
"I like simple design."
Noa did not understand that. She took one step forward. Then another one. Then, she started to stroll around, staring at everything.
There was a kitchen—all stainless steel and black counters. A living room—with a sofa that seemed too luxurious to lie on and a TV mounted on the wall that was bigger than Noa's entire body. A hallway that led to other rooms.
Moreover, there were windows. Lots of windows. From the floor to the ceiling, which allowed viewing of the city spreading out under them as if it was a toy village.
Noa ran to the windows and stuck her hands and face on the glass. "We're so HIGH! I can see EVERYTHING!"
"Don't touch the windows," said Kane automatically.
It was too late. There were already small handprints on the glass.
Noa looked down. Down, down, down. The cars on the street looked tiny like ants. The people were just little dots. They were so high up that it made her dizzy in a good way.
"I'm flying!" she said. "I'm a bird!"
Kane rubbed the bridge of his nose. He seemed tired. Or maybe he always looked like that. It was difficult to tell with the impassive face.
"You're not a bird. You are a child who needs..." He glanced at her—really looked at her, taking in the dirty dress, the matted hair, the bruises, and the thin arms. His jaw clenched once again. "A bath, you're one who needs a bath."
"What's a bath?"
Kane looked at her. "You don't know what a bath is."
"Nope!" Noa said happily.
"How can that be?"
"I don't know. What is it?"
Kane looked like he was really trying not to say some bad words. "It is... water. To get clean. You wash yourself when you are in water."
"Oh! Just like the bucket!"
"What bucket?"
"The mop bucket that is in the storage room. I used to drink from it sometimes."
Kane's expression did something that Noa had never seen before. For just one moment, all the cold emptiness receded and something different—something fiery, furious, and lethal—appeared.
Still, his voice was flat when he talked, "You consumed mop water."
"Only when I was really, really thirsty,"
"How often was that, then?"
Noa shrugged. "Many times."
Kane faced the other direction. He got out his phone and pushed it so hard that it looked as if it were going to break. Then he held it by his ear.
"Vivian," he said into the phone. His tone was cold. Off putting-cold. Ice-cold. The kind of cold that could freeze things instantly. "I need you at the penthouse immediately. Bring children's clothes of size... I don't know, whatever a three-year-old wears. Toiletries. And be sure to call Dr. Chen. Tell her it's urgent. Don't care if she is busy. I pay her enough to drop everything."
He listened for a moment.
"Because I have a problem."
He listened a bit more.
"A small problem. About three feet tall. Just come here."
He ended the call. Then he stood there with his back to Noa, his shoulders clenched.
Noa came to him and pulled his pants again. "Kane?"
He glanced at her.
"Are you angry with me?"
"No."
"You seem angry."
"I am not angry with you."
"Oh. OK." Noa trusted him. She didn't know why but she did. "Who are you angry with?"
Kane's jaw clenched so hard Noa could hear his teeth. "People who hurt children."
"Oh. Like the mean lady?"
"Yes. Like the mean lady."
"She used to be very mean. She didn't give me food for a very long time. And she locked me in the storage room. And sometimes she--" Noa stopped. Some things were hard to talk about. "Sometimes other stuff."
Kane got down on his knees. Suddenly his face was at the same level as Noa's. His gray eyes looked into hers.
"Listen to me," he said. Still cold, but there was also something else, something that was strong, something that was sure: "No one is going to hurt you again. Do you understand?"
Noa nodded.
"No one. I don't care who they are. If anyone tries to hurt you, you tell me. Right away."
"OK."
"Say it."
"If someone to hurt me, I tell you right away--im-meed-lee-it-lee."
"Immediately."
"That's what I said!"
Kane's mouth went up slightly. He nearly smiled. Then he became tall again and said, "Come on, let's work out this bath thing before Vivian gets here."
He was already going down the hallway when Noa followed him. Her little bare feet went pat-pat gently on the shiny floor.
"Kane?"
"What?"
"Who is Vivian?"
"My assistant."
"What's a sister?"
"As-SIST-ant. She supports me with the things that I have to do."
"Oh. Is she nice?"
"She is efficient."
"What is ee-fish-int?"
"It means that the person is good at his or her work."
"Is that the same as nice?"
Kane stopped right there. He looked at Noa as if she had asked the most complicated question in the world.
"...I suppose we'll find out," he said.
After that, he opened a door and Noa saw the most incredible room she had ever seen in her life. It was a total white and silver theme with a swimming tub and a wall with a mirror that stretched from the floor to the ceiling.
"Whoah," Noa said. "Is this where the magic happens?"
"It's where you get clean. Whether that's magic or not is up to your perspective."
She had no idea what it meant, but she was too excited to care.
Her brand new life was off to a stunning start.