Stick Together-- Dizznee Family

A Little Birdy Told Me

A whole four hours of walking later - five minute breaks included - Dex finally reached the space where he kept the one leaping crystal he had.  He, admittedly, should probably have more of them stored away in other places, but the only one he'd been able to get his hands on without any risk of anyone noticing was the one now tucked inside a part of the tree in front of him.

Gingerly, he pried the leaping crystal from it's elf-made hiding space.  He'd done a pretty good job at hiding it, if he could say so himself.  Dex knew the crystal had been tracked multiple times - probably every time he used it - but it'd never been found.  Most likely because no noble would ever think of a technopath not using technology to hide such important things.

It'd taken him hours to make the small, unnoticeable door that lifted up from the trunk of the tree.  Then, inside of that door he'd carved a tiny indent where the crystal was held.  The crystal had two settings: one going to Mysterium, and one that was programmed to lead about a mile west of where he was currently standing.

Dex never thought he'd want to praise his Technopathy teacher for forcing him to work with leaping crystals until the moment when he'd needed the skill.

With a sigh, Dex pulled the small, clear crystal out of it's hideaway and, after closing the wooden door, began walking the mile directly west.

However, the closer he got to his destination, the more he began to hear voices.  Voices speaking the enlightened language.

Dex paused in his steps to listen to their words for a moment.

"He... murderer... murdered... triplets... accomplice... kidnap... insane..."

Dex shut his eyes and pivoted left.  He'd just walk east.

.-.

Thirty minutes or so of walking later, Dex had finally made it a few blocks farther than where he'd originally intended to leap from the east.  He lifted the clear crystal to the light, and with a held breath, took a step.

Even though he had his obscurer on, Dex still dove into an alleyway the second he found himself in Mysterium.  He hated it there and wanted to get out immediately, but Lex had requested cinnacreme and they were running low on other food supplies as well so, pulling up the hood on his cloak, Dex began his walk towards the buildings he knew he should go to.  The buildings where he could easily take what he wanted without anyone noticing since they sold so much.

He took a few extra paths to avoid having to look at his father's old shop again.  He'd learned his lesson the first time.  

Dex went through a few more alleyways and corners before he reached his destination: Phryne.

It was a store that sold nearly everything - food mostly - and it'd existed in Atlantis back when elves and humans got along.  The original shop owner was an ancient, therefore no longer working there, so his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter was the current owner.  Back when Dex worked at Slurps and Burps, he'd asked her what the store name meant, but she'd admitted to having no idea.

Sucking in his stomach and slipping through the door of the shop with the bells attached to the inside doorknob was always a challenge, but Dex was lucky that day with an entire family trailing out of the thin, golden entrance.

A mother, a father, three brothers, and one sister.  Dex held his breath as he tiptoed past them, into the lovely smell of freshly baked mallowmelt.  He walked to the farthest left corner before opening the bag Lex had given to him just before he completely made it out of camp, where the triplets weren't allowed to go.  Thank the Lord for siblings.