Shadow Thief

6 - Outside this Damn Building

When Theo said escort, I thought he meant him and someone else. Somehow, this turned into a fricken field trip. Mercy and Mila, who was still pretty mad, stayed by each other. Bryce was on his own while Theo and Levi stayed at my sides, trying to make conversation with me.

"So, where are we headed?" Theo asked.

I thought about it. Taking them to Orchid might reveal to much. I decided to take them to Evergreen. Theo let me lead the way, and I did so happily.

When we reached Evergreen, I could tell from my squads reaction that they'd never seen a real slum section before. I laughed, imagining what they're reaction would be if I took them to Orchid.

Okay, now to get to business. My eyes scoured over the crowd, finding someone who's hair color even slightly matched mine. After ten or so minutes of taking random turns, I found one.

"Hey, see that girl there?" I asked Theo. "She's an old friend of mine. Mind if I go talk to her?"

He gave me a smile and nodded. Step one, complete.

I walked up besides the girl, brushing my elbow against hers. She jumped at first, but when she saw my not so threatening smile, she relaxed.

"Don't look now, but there are a small group of people following us. Three guys and two girls. Mind doing me a favor?"

"That depends, is it illegal?"

Thank God I was in the slums. If I was in any of the higher class cities, the girl would've screamed, tried to bat me away, and then run. Step two would be down the drain.

"Not sure. Does it matter?"

She snickered at me and shook her head.

"Okay then," I continued. "I just need you to keep walking straight. Don't talk to them, and just keep walking. When I leave, wave to me, but don't let them see your face. Got it?"

She nodded. Using my pickpocket skills, I slipped a small bag of pages into her pocket. I didn't think she noticed, but I wasn't really sure.

I switched sides with her often, stopping to look at stalls and sometimes just moving to the other side. A second after my final switch, I veered off, waving at the girl. Obeying my instructions, she waved back. When I was out of sight, I took off, running over roofs and down alleys. I gave them about half an hour to find out I was missing and half an hour to get back to base and locate me. Unless they illegally used some kind of communicator, which was a possibility. So, about forty five minutes.

I reached my house first. Quickly opening my safe, I pulled out all my money, in a duffel bag of course. I had to cut the ten minute walk to Ravi's short by running a bit faster than normal. By the time I reached his nameless building, it had been a whole five minutes.

The little bell rang when I opened the door.

"Welcome," Ravi's gruff voice said from the back of the store, "what can I do for ya?" He had a lower tone in his voice, a sad one.

"I was looking for a man by the name 'Ravi'," I replied, a smile already playing at my lips. "I heard he could help me out with something."

A clatter came from the back as well as the unmistakeable sound of running feet. The thirty year old man turned the corner, a tear biting at the corner of his eye. He cleared the counter in a matter of seconds and wrapped his arms around me, luring me up in a hug.

"It's good to see you too," I chocked. "But could you please put me down?"

After another second, I was gently set on the ground. Ravi's hands never left my shoulders as he looked down at me.

"What happened to ya?" He asked, trying to hold back an onslaught of tears. "I heard you'd been taken by the government. I was sure you'd be dead."

"Well, it takes more than that to kill old Shadow." I gave him a cheeky smile. "Sorry, Ravi, but I don't have much time now. I'm in a bit of a hurry. I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything."

"Watch over this for me?"

I shoved the duffel bag in his face and he took it with a bit of skepticism.

"If I'm not back in at least a month, it's yours."

His face changed to worry.

"You are coming back right?"

I didn't answer him. I wasn't sure if I was coming back. After everything that was happening, I wasn't sure I'd ever be left alone again. I might even mess up and get myself killed.

"Can you just promise me that, Ravi?"

He nodded, a disappointed look on his face.

"Thank you."

"Of course." In quiet words, he whispered my real name. I didn't tell many people what it was, but he was my savior. Even on a normal day, I still would've hit him for it. Today was...a special occasion.

And, with one last hug, I was out the door, heading towards Rosemary. I found a shop I visited every now and again and quickly entered the wooden door.

"What can I do for you, ma'am?"

I smiled at the fifty or so year old man. White hairs combed his head and a missing tooth killed his smile.

"I need you to make something for me," I said. Digging through my pocket, I found the blueprint of created and set in on the table. The man looked at it, smiling now and again.

"What do you think? Can you do it?"

"Can I do it? Hell yeah I can do it! Missy what you have here is a finely made first class creation, genius if you ask me! It'd be my honor to make such a thing! For five hundred pages, of course."

The old man may not be entirely sane but he was good at what he does. So, even if it was a bit pricey, a dropped a bag of five hundred pages on the man's counter.

"Come back for it in five days."

Using up the last of my energy, I ran back to Pacific Rose and plopped down in front of the training departments main building. Just in time to see the others quickly running towards me.

"Shadow!" Them yelled, causing a few heads to turn. "What the hell?!"

I stood up, pretending to brush dust off my knees.

"Sorry about that," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I didn't realize I lost you until after I ran my errand. I ran back here and waited for you. I've been here for about half an hour."

They looked at me, a bit shocked and astonished. They finally smiled and led me back into the building.

Not only had I gotten my errands done, but I also gained a bit of their trust.