Spirit

Never Get Ready, Get Set...

It took a day for Roy to tell the rest of the group where we could find new abilities. I hope it took longer because all it did was cause more troubles in the warehouse.

"Chinatown?!" Leena yelped as soon as she heard it.

"I know, right?!" Oliver was excited. "Can you imagine all the beautiful things-"

"Baby, I don't think that's what she means." Jack whispered.

"What? You don't want to go to Chinatown?!" He shrieked.

"I want to, but we can't all go Oliver!" Leena replied.

What I found amusing was that they almost had the same tone. I couldn't help but smile a little bit. Apperently the others didn't.

"Leena, we have to," Maddie suddenly cut it. "We can't send only one of us, it's too dangerous."

"But we can't send the whole crew, too much caster aura, 'Hakem will zero on us in no time." She replied.

"So we spread out." I said. They all looked at me, confused. "Did I say something wrong?" My face was red.

"Actually, what you said is exactly what we need to do." Rob said, not looking at me directly.

"Okay, but the warehouse-"

"We have no other choice Jack." Rob interrupted calmly. "We can't leave one or two of us here, we won't make it."

"It's either all or none of us." I concluded.

Leena still looked a little bit shaken, but she finally agreed with us.

"Guys, I have to warn you" Roy started, "it won't be easy when we get there. Word spreads fast in Chinatown, so we have to be careful."

Roy explained to me that the casters in Chinatown don't have any connection with 'Hakem', but they didn't like their piece of land over there disrupted, and casters weren't always welcome, thinking they will annoy them, or something like that.

"They will know who we are, what we want, and they won't give it to us easily. We might even have to fight." He swallowed hard before saying the next words. "All of those people over there are trained by my parents, and let me tell you, they don't hold back. There's gonna be spies, muggers, all kinds of happy people. So use everything you have."

I could see beads of sweat circling his forhead, so I decided to change the subject. "Okay, so we move tomorrow. Who will go with who?"

"The usual." Rob simply stated.

I looked at him kind of like "hi I've never been on a mission before" but he didn't seem to get it until I cleared my throat.

"Oh yeah, you're new." He smirked.

"Yes, four months trai-"

"The usual is," Jack cut in, "me and Oli, of course, Leena and Maddie, Rob alone, since he's an earthbender and Roy usually stays hidden in the computer room but when it's really important, like now, he goes with the ladies."

"Which ones?" I winked until I felt left out. Probably because I was.

"Oh shit, there's still you." Maddie whispered. "You can't go alone!"

"Yeah, you're not strong enough." Rob teased.

You ass, I thought. But Roy hit him in the ribs, and I knew he added a bit of electricity in there, and I felt better.

"Don't worry about me, I can handle it." I said.

I wish I didn't. I spent all afternoon freaking about the next day.

"I mean, I've never been out there for a long time! I don't even know how to act around people!" I said.

Unfortunatly, my fox only nodded, reflecting my mood. "Oh yeah, I forgot you only got out of me as well. Were you nervous?"

He cocked his head.

"Okay you can reply anytime now!" I said.

"I got out to see you kissing another caster. How would you expect me to be?" He simply answered in my head.

"I like him." I heard a familiar voice behind me.

I groaned, and faced Maddie. She came close and kissed me.

"I didn't ask for a replay!" My fox panicked before entering my body in a hurry.

"Was I kidding myself Maddie?"

"Oh my God, you sound like such a girl! Enough! You are strong and you will be fine!"

"Be honest."

"You are a lousy aimer and you will be fine!" She laughed. I gave her a small nudge.

"What the fuck is wrong with this configuration?"

"Too much caster aura, you said it yourself."

"Ugh why do I always have to be so right?"

Maddie laughed again and gave me a small kiss.

"What about tonight, I take your mind off deadly missions and stuff, and we can jump in the action tomorrow you won't even realize it." She said seductively.

I couldn't refuse. Of course I couldn't. I'm glad I didn't. Best. Night. Ever.

The next day, Roy distributed a lot of gadgets, like stun-guns, and earpieces as he told us that, even though we could communicate with our spirits, those would be less dangerous. He also gave us tiny microphones so we could speak to each other in case of any danger.

"Please, take care of each other." Roy said for the tenth time "Watch out for any-"

"Anything that could get you in trouble." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Funny. Shut up." Roy muttered. "Now as I said, we meet-"

"At Ichiban, which is actually a Japanese restaurant-" Oliver continued.

"Oh God you two are really a couple." Roy complained. "Come on ladies, let's go."

Leena gave Rob a kiss, she was still shaken but he was comforting her and telling her that everything will be alright.

The irony in this whole scene was that Maddie was the one comforting me.

"You'll be fine, baby" she said. "Just control your emotions, and you'll be alright." She kissed me, and said. "I'll miss you."

I felt like my heart was going to implode. But I couldn't do anything but watch her leave with Leena and Roy. I didn't notice how much I'd been standing there until I realized I was alone with Rob. I was still pissed at him. But I couldn't show it as fear was taking it's place.

"Well, good luck." I muttered, and turned to the opposite direction of the girls.

"You too." I heard him whisper.

I heard the roaring of the cars before I saw them. I was surprised to see so many of them, since I hadn't heard them when I lived in the warehouse.

I went to a bus stop and got on one after waiting for a while. I got to the far end and sat. I started watching everything outside: the tall buildings, the people on their cellphones, I could even see some guys snorting some lines. I chuckled at the scene.

I was so absorbed by the entire thing that I didn't even pay attention to the person sitting next to me.

"It's rude not to say hello to your trainer, you know." She said.

"Ugh, if Maddie knew you were here, she would snap your tiny litlle red head, Emily." I groaned.