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Chapter III

"That was incredible! Inhuman! How did you do that?!" Cinder laughed at her reaction, apparently glad he made an impression on her.

"Years of practice. You weren't so bad yourself, for a first try," he pointed out, and the girl smiled widely.

"I have to admit though, it's harder than I thought. So now we jump from one roof to another?"

"Exactly. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Of course!"

"Let me go first then." The girl nodded, watching him start to run on the roof tiles, surprised he didn't trip and fall. Instead, he looked very gracious, as if he were dancing on his own. Jade wanted to be able to do that too.

He was now ready to jump on another building, and the girl watched him attentively. On the last step, right on the edge, he brought his feet together for more strength and then pushed his body in a jump with his hands stretched forward. In midair he crouched so that he'd land on his feet and then landed, just as gracious as ever.

"Your turn."

It wasn't a long jump so about anyone could do it. The only problem was the surface on which she was supposed to run. Afraid she would slip and stumble, Jade's heart started beating faster. Cinder was calmly looking at her.

Step by step she started running and gaining speed. Now, close to the edge, she brought her feet together just like the assassin did and jumped with her hands stretched out, thinking of when she would jump from a tree to another. The only mistake was that she forgot to bring the feet in front so she was about to land with her hands first.

Seeing her mistake, Cinder leaned forward ready to catch her. Fortunately she got hold of the edge of the roof, right next to the hooded man's feet and didn't let go. Her feet were searching for something to step on as they were hanging in the air, but before they found anything, Cinder had grabbed Jade's hands and pulled her up with ease.

"You're as light as a child," he told her.

"That's not true."

"Excuse me, you're as light as a doll," he teased. The girl didn't know if to blush or be angry. However, she knew for sure that he was very strong.

"Thanks," she said plainly, looking anywhere else. "It wasn't so hard actually. It's similar to jumping from one tree to another. I'm just used to smaller distances and to catching the next branch with my hands, not land on it."

"Still better than nothing. The market isn't open yet, so shall we try again?"

The girl nodded and smiled at his suggestion. Slowly they jumped from one rooftop to another, eventually gaining some speed. Each time Cinder stopped to wait for her and give her an extra hand if she happened to need it. Luckily for her, these houses were closer than the first ones, which made the jump much easier. On the other hand, they were going uphill and in consequence not all buildings were at the same height, so sometimes they would have to jump on the walls and grab something, then climb back on the rooftops, and that was more exhausting.

For a few minutes they kept going on like that, until Jade didn't need to pause in between jump to regain her balance. Eventually she grew tired so she stopped.

"Aren't you tired?" she asked him in a breath followed by gasps of air. To her surprise he shook his head.

"I'm used to it. I can go on like this for almost an hour straight."

The girl's reaction was to look at him in surprise with one hand on her forehead and the other on her hip. It made him let out a short giggle he mostly held for himself. Then he spoke.