Not so Imaginary // On Hold // GxB Paranormal Romance

Part Eleven | Are We There Yet?

E L E V E N

"You need a permit to go surface," said Yaro over the top of a stack of paper about half as tall as me. He heaved it onto the table with a whump.

Go surface, AKA, pass through the Divide and back to Earth.

"A permit?" Leave it to Yaro to get all official on us.

"Of course," he added with a pointed look in my direction, "She's not technically supposed to be here, so I don't suppose there's really any need in her case."

"You've got to be kidding me," said Ren, sifting through the top layer of papers in the stack. "This is gonna take forever. It's not like anyone would notice if we just--"

"Just because you got away with it before doesn't mean you will now," said Yaro. "Ren, need I remind you that you're under strict surveillance. I wouldn't be surprised if there are guards posted outside right now." As he said this, he swung an old-fashioned watch out of his pocket and flipped it open. "We're running three o' clock time at the landing place. Now you'd better start writing if you want to be down before dark."

I guess I should have been grateful that Yaro was going with us at all, but at the moment his penchant for following rules did seem to be putting a bit of a delay into our plans.

Then again. "Maybe he's right," I whispered, leaning toward Ren across the table, "We want the Council's cooperation, so maybe we should follow their rules."

Ren heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes, but picked up a pen anyway.

"That's better," said Yaro with a glance of approval for Ren and a smile towards me. "Now, I expect this complete within the hour. I'll be waiting."

With that, he turned and strode from the room.

Under any other circumstances, I suppose it wouldn't have mattered too much if we followed the Council's rules or not. Thing was, we were actually going surface on their orders, not against them.

Yaro had come to us with a deal.

"We find the Crystal Sun and bring it back," he'd said, "And all your crimes are forgiven."

Ren had looked at him like he was crazy, and maybe I would have too, but it seemed to me that it wasn't such an impossible task.

After all, I'd said, "You've already been looking for it for years, right?" Five, I think it was.

"Which is exactly why it's hopeless," said Ren, but I didn't quite see it that way. It wasn't proof of how impossible the task was--rather, how much of a head start we already had.

Besides. If what Yaro had said before was right, I might be the missing key. Maybe I would be the link that could activate the missing crystal.

That was how we ended up where we were now, at the small table lit by a hanging light inside Yaro's house, huddled over the stack of paperwork. Well, more like, I was standing over Ren's shoulder trying to make sure he didn't get bored and give up.

"You're like a hovering parent, you know that?" he said, and I think it was supposed to be a dis, but there was a air of something that sounded like amusement in his voice.

As it turned out, most of the weight of paper sheets were carbon--paper that duplicated each form in triplicate. By the time Yaro walked back in, Ren was on the last one.

"There," he said when he finished, cracking his knuckles and pushing back from the table. "Never make me do anything like that again."

Yaro sniffed in approval and straightened the stack of paper. "Very well," he said, "I will have Eldrich deliver this to the Council immediately."