Artland Series: MINORITY TALENT
One Year Later

"I hate the old town" Casey Minor groaned as the car her father was driving entered the border gate saying: WELCOME TO ARTLAND CITY.

"Well, that's too bad" his father commented, slowing down his car. "You should get used to it from now on, Sweetheart! We'll be here for the rest of our lives" his father said wryly.

Casey rolled down the window and looked outside observing a row of sporty motorcycles parked on the left-right side of the road. A number of teenagers were milling along the sidewalk while joking. Some teenagers just sit on a park bench that is lined up along the edge of the road not far from the sidewalk. Each of them is busy with reading books or playing online games from their mobile phones.

Mr. Minor glanced at the glance of his daughter's face through the corner of his eyes. Then look ahead again and watch the road.

Soon their car passed a line of souvenir shops selling various handicrafts. Not far from the place, they found a sparkling culinary center lined with colorful twinkling lights that are arranged artistically as a whole. After passing through the culinary center, they entered a row of shops with ancient model architecture that sold antique objects as well as old books.

And the old house of Casey's great-grandfather is located not far from the place. Nice, Inner Casey bitter. The old house will be Casey's new residence from now on. And the neighborhood of the shop will be its daily scenery. You have to get used to it from now on, Sweetheart, he told himself. Then step out of the car with a sour look.

"Are you ok, Sweetheart?" His father asked worried.

"I'm ok, Dad!" Casey answered without daring to look at her father.

Before long a young woman of small stature approached them while holding the map. She is not much older than Casey. "Good afternoon, Mr. Minor!"

Casey's father had just opened the trunk of his car, preparing to drop off their belongings. "Good afternoon" he replied to the woman, closing the trunk of his car.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Minor. This house has been waiting for its owner for a long time" said the woman was friendly. He thrust the map in his hand toward Casey's father. "My name is Ary Caroline, by the way!" The young woman thrust her hand out and asked Casey's father to shake hands.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss. Caroline." Casey's father replied with no less friendliness. "I'm Mathew Minor and this is my daughter Casey Minor!"

Casey waved her hand at Ary Caroline.

"Nice to meet you, Casey!" Ary Caroline greeted him. "Let me accompany you and your daughter around to look around," he said, moving his hand toward Casey, hinting that she would follow him.

Casey sighed, then tailed behind the girl with a bored look.

"You'll like it soon!" Ary Caroline blinked one eye at Casey.

Casey squealed inwardly, she could read my mind!

Ary Caroline smiled faintly as she opened the main door. "His interior design hasn't changed since 1990" Ary Caroline told Casey's father.

Mr. Minor responded by nodding.

Casey looked up at the sight before her eyes. It is not the interior design that makes him surprised, but the figure of someone who is sitting sweetly on the sofa in the middle of the room.

A shoulder-haired man stared at Casey with shiny black eyes framed by thick eyebrows that seemed resolute. The man wore a plain white shirt under a shiny black leather jacket combined with black army model pants. On the lap of the man, a black-haired cat also stared in surprise at Casey. "You scared him" he told Casey.

Casey stuttered, looking at Ary Caroline and her father in turn. None of them were bothered by the man's whereabouts. Did they not see it? He wondered in his heart. "Who are you?" Casey sizzled towards the man.

"Casey!" His father called from the top of the stairs. "You're not gonna miss this one" his father said convincingly.

The man on the couch followed Casey's line of sight. Then I looked back at Casey. "You won't be interested in anything that awaits you up there" he said with a mischievous look. "I have a recommendation of a cooler place to visit!" The man then got off the couch and hinted Casey to follow him.

Casey looked up at his father upstairs, trying to cradle him before finally following the man. The devil, he thought. I'm really bored!

The man was still holding his black cat as he walked down the corridor connecting the living room with the kitchen space. "As for information, here's the kitchen!" The man tells Casey, pointing at the half-opened kitchen door and passing through it. "But that's not the most important thing" he added with a whimper.

At the end of the corridor, there is a narrow room with a low ceiling in the shape of a triangle because it is located just below the stairs. Along the walls are bookshelves of dusty wood. In one corner of the room there is a shiny black wooden table equipped with a similar wooden bench.

The man pulled a thick book from a wooden shelf attached to the wall, then thrust it towards Casey.

Oh, that's right, Casey thought. He wasn't telling me to read an ancient book, was he?

The man smiled faintly as he ducked down in front of the shelf earlier and peered through where the book was taken.

Casey was still staring at the confusion while observing the book in his hand.

There was no long sound of crackling from the bookshelf in front of the man.

Casey distracts her from the book and is stunned to see the wall of the bookshelf in front of her slide open.

The man turned towards Casey while smiling mischievously.

"Casey!" His father's voice blared from the middle room.

Casey squealed stifled and stuttered at the man in front of her.

The man reached back into the bookshelf, then the wall closed again. He snatches the book from Casey's hand and slips it back to where it was.

"What are you doing here?" Casey's father asked.

Casey was still dumbfounded looking at the man in front of her when her father had already reached the door.

The man turned his head towards the door while stroking the cat fur on his lap and looked at Casey's father without saying anything.

Casey twisted her body and gulped. Then cleared my throat, "can't I look at my own house?" Casey asked her father.

"I'm just worried you're lost, Sweetheart!"

"Oh, is that right?" Casey groaning. "I'm lost? In my own house?" Casey glared unhappily.

His father sighed. Then he looked into the room and examined it. "Well, since when did you get interested in visiting the old library?" Dad's joking.

Casey stared at the man in the room with his eyebrows intertwined. Then looked at his father, waiting for a reaction. But his father made no comment about the man in the room. Casey exhaled and twirled his eyeballs. So, this man was indeed invisible, he concluded. Then he turned around and led his father into the living room.

"Help me down the things" his father asked after they reached the living room.

"Where's Ary Caroline?" Casey asked.

"He's gone" Casey's father replied before he rushed into the courtyard. "Learn to arrange your own room, you won't take long to do it. Your new room doesn't need much extra arrangement unless it's just putting your stuff in place." His father explained at length while unloading the items from the trunk of his car.

Casey just shut up. His attention was focused on the shoulder-haired man who was now standing in the doorway. He draped the backpack on his shoulder and then lifted a box of dus containing his personal belongings and walked into the house.

"Need help?" The man offered.

Well, yeah. Casey said in his heart. What can a person who is invisible to normal humans do?