Shadow Land

Hints and Hunts

“So, what happened? Are we going to have S.W.A.T. teams coming to arrest us for murdering people?” DJ asked when he heard the door open behind him. He had been lying on the couch reading Great Expectations, his favorite comfort book as he had given Dickens the idea. They had been childhood friends, but DJ had to leave him when he was turned, even though he still dropped in occasionally to tell the writer about some of his adventures.

                Alexander closed the door and leaned against it with his eyes closed, “I’m not sure. I went to some café and Called the Count. He started out like he was going to blackmail me, but then he caved, quickly. He’s up to something.”

                “Yeah,” DJ’s voice cracked over the word.

                “Look, I know you don’t believe me, but trust me, people don’t…wait, what did you just say? What happened while I was gone?” Alexander demanded suspiciously, opening his eyes and looking around the room.

                “What do you mean?” DJ asked as innocently as possible.

                “You never agree with me, and your voice just broke, like when you’re hiding something. Plus, you’re rereading Great Expectations, so that means something either really big or really bad happened.”

                A bit of both, DJ thought.

                “Oh, Damien called,” DJ used the old definition of the word, meaning to come over, knowing that Alexander would think it was over the Connection. DJ knew he couldn’t lie to Alexander, but he had to dumb it down as much as he could, so his friend would not answer questions he could not answer, or think he had betrayed him.

                “What? Why didn’t you say? Did you reject it? Was that the first time?” Alexander hurled questions while walking to the chair.

                “Well, I couldn’t reject it, he’s…”

                “Why? You know what he did! How could you?” Alexander jumped back out of the chair, his fists clenched.

                Dj jumped up, too, his original Dickens falling to the floor and the spine broke, “Alexander! Please, just listen to me! Let me explain,” He whispered the last part, staring into his friend’s eyes, trying to find reason in them.

                After a few seconds, Alexander nodded and sat back down, “Fine. Explain. What did he want to ‘talk about?’”

                DJ smiled slightly, relaxing a little, “Well, you and Miranda, actually.”

                “What?” Alexander was getting tense again.

                “He said he was sorry,” DJ supplied. Well, Damien had said that, and it was not exactly a confidential secret.

                Alexander looked away, “The…” he started cursing Damien in many languages DJ didn’t recognize, but the few he did know made him wince. DJ waited in silence until the other boy calmed down again.

                “Okay,” Alexander took a long, deep breath after a few seconds, “So what else did he say?”

                DJ sighed, now was the time to see if he could manage this.

                “You know, the standard confidential stuff that comes with a government job.

                “What kind of ‘Confidential stuff?’” Alexander pressed.