"You, boy! Want to buy your girlfriend a necklace? Pretty necklace for a pretty lady!"
Jax turned, attention caught by the glittering necklace being crushed by a meaty fist. His eyes flicked to the heavy-jawed man who held it, but before he could open his mouth to respond Athena delivered a sharp jab to his ribs.
Hissing in pain, Jax snatched her hand and once again began moving through the thick crowd, his free hand tenderly rubbing his bruised flesh as his eyes darted from side to side.
"Why is it you can never just say, 'no, Jax' or 'don't do that, Jax.'" He mumbled, glowering down at her, "Instead you have to hurt me. You're so violent, like, Athena mad. Athena smash tiny human."
"Why is it you can never just follow the plan?" Athena hissed back, rolling her eyes at his impression.
Annoyed by the pain in his side and her attitude, Jax jerked Athena forward until she tripped into him, then slipped his arm around her waist so he was close enough to whisper, "On a safer topic, I'm fairly sure we're being followed. Do you see the young girl two stalls behind us?"
He swiveled, using the canopy from a nearby booth to hide the two of them, if only for a few seconds. Athena turned slowly, one hand running up his chest, giving the impression they had stopped for an intimate interlude. The movement would have usually kicked his heart into a mad dash, but since the girl doing it hated him there was no misinterpretation. Jax was beginning to learn that Athena was a far better actress than he had originally been led to believe.
"The one who kind of looks like a little bird?" She whispered back.
Jax followed her line of sight to a dark-skinned little girl checking out a table full of broken pieces of machinery. Her hair was a dirty brown, whether naturally or from actual dirt he couldn't tell, and it hung in jagged pieces around her neck. Her clothing was strange - not as dirty as many of the things surrounding her, but over-sized and clearly not originally intended for the scrawny girl wearing them.
"Yeah," He let his gaze drift away, his hand on Athena's back urging her closer as someone bumped into them, "She's been following us since we got here. I doubt she's working for my father. Any chance she's part of the rebellion?"
He looked down just in time to see Athena roll her eyes and murmur, "Jeez - do I look like I memorized the faces of everyone in the rebellion? I was there for a couple of months and I kept to myself."
"Of course you did." Jax sighed, stepping farther under the overhang of a vendor's booth and pulling Athena with him. He was about to ask another question when her elbow crashed into his ribs, forcing out his breath on a hiss.
"What was that for?!" He snarled.
"Will you stop manhandling me? I'm not a small child!" She growled back, using the arm he didn't have a grip on to shove him farther away.
"For the gods sake - I'm not manhandling you, I'm just trying to make sure we stay inconspicuous, which you're not helping with!" Jax said, shaking her in an attempt to get Athena to focus.
"Do you usually fight like this?" A breezy voice asked from behind Athena.
She stiffened, but before she could turn Jax yanked her behind him and used his free hand to pull the gun from where it was tucked in the waistband of his jeans. Releasing Athena, he reached out to pull the young girl closer by her sweatshirt. He didn't have the time to process her lack of resistance before he pressed the gun into her stomach where it couldn't been seen by the crowd walking right outside the booth.
"One scream, and I'll shoot." He murmured low enough for only their ears.
"Oh for gods sake, Jax, you're not going to shoot her in a crowed area."
"Can you wait to undermine my authority until later? I'm trying to make sure you stay alive."
"By threatening a ten-year-old."
"Can you just be on my side for once?"
"As cute as this little act is," The girl said, shoving away the hand gripping her sweatshirt, "We really don't have time for this."
A stray curl fell over one eye, and with impatience she flicked it away. Jax tensed, his concentration torn between the young girl and Athena. He was so focused, he barely reacted when the she yanked the gun from his hand, clicked the safety into place and slid it into the waistband under her sweatshirt.
"I'm Iris." She said, extending one hand.
Jax stared at the limb, mouth hanging open in shock. Athena nudged him aside, hoping to get a better look at the girl. When he finally consented to move, she openly stared at the girl, green eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Let's cut to the chase. You have us, but the question is, who has you?" Athena asked, reaching up to pull her hood further down in an attempt to remain inconspicuous.
Jax shifted closer to her out of habit, his wide shoulders blocking her from the crowded market streets.
Iris sighed, her expression drifting from boredom to acute pain, as if she couldn't believe that such a stupid question could have been asked.
"Gee, I don't know. What color are my eyes? When have you known the King to hire a twelve-year-old girl?" She sighed, her head swinging in disappointment, "They say you're supposed to save us, but you barely have the skills to save yourself. Follow me."
Iris promptly spun around and made her way into the crowd, leaving the two stunned in silence behind her. It was broken by a snort from Jax.
"That little girl really told you," He snickered, threading his arm through hers as they began following after her. "I can't believe the rebellion would send a little girl to get us...its a little insulting."
"I'm not the one who had their gun taken from their hand by a twelve-year-old girl." Athena retorted, ducking close to Jax as they got closer to the crowd. "And it's not that surprising. The rebellion barely has any adult members considering most of them were killed during the raids."
"She had the element of surprise!" He argued, "I'm not ashamed to admit she caught me off my guard."
"Jax, you were on your guard. You couldn't have been more on your guard!"
"Children! Please don't draw any more attention to the two of you than there needs to be..." Iris said in exasperation, appearing before them in the dense crowd.
She waved to a stone building that looked to be carved from the wall. The windows were shattered, leaving empty spaces that sat like eyes watching the market below.
"Who came to get us? Fiona? One of the other members?" Athena asked, her eyes flicking nervously from the windows to Iris.
Who shrugged, small shoulders bobbing up and down with an air of disinterest.
"Dunno, but I suspect you'll be grateful to see any friendly faces." Iris said, parting from the crowd to stand in front of the plain metal door. She grasped the handle firmly, tugging until it slid away to reveal a black cavern in which she stepped.
"They didn't say anything about letting a boy down with you..." Iris began, her violet eyes peering from the darkness.
"I go with her."
"He comes with me."
They both spoke at the same time and both stopped in surprise. Jax looked down into a pair of wide green eyes, knowing his own expression was the same. After a brief hesitation, he smiled, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Who'd have thought that we would actually come to rely on each other?" Jax chuckled, "Maybe we'll start actually liking each other next."
"Please hold your breath," Athena snorted, letting go of his arm and stepping after Iris.
Jax followed after her, a smile still curving his lips. Iris led them through a complicated series of hallways that seemed to extend downward as well as deeper. Just when Jax was beginning to lose track, he saw Athena flick back her hand, palm facing him. He kept the same pace, but stretched his long arms forward and snatched the small knife from her hand. Impractical as it was, Jax began making small slashes on the wall when they would turn, figuring something was bound to be better than nothing.
Finally the trio reached another metal door, this one more ornate and a lot easier to move. Iris swung it open with a simple push, stepping back as a thin layer of smoke floated out of the room. As if on cue, slow piano music began drifting from the doorway, bringing with it an eeriness that make the hair on Jax's skin stand up.
"What the hell kind of person is this?" He asked, walking up to stand next to Athena. He looked over to her when she didn't respond, surprised when her expression showed nothing but annoyance.
"Oh come on - this is so over dramatic, I can't believe he would -" She complained, stopping abruptly when hollow, sinister footsteps began echoing from the room, making their way right toward them.
Jax frowned, moving so his body partially blocked Athena from the door.
He looked at Iris, "I'd really appreciate getting my gun back right now, so you know, we don't die in case this whole operation has been compromised...or you're the bad guys. Either way, I'd like my gun back."
Iris rolled her eyes, slipping into the darkness and smoke without answering Jax.
"Well that went well." Athena said dryly.
Jax shot her a brief glare before turning his attention back to the echoing footsteps. As they drew closer he straightened, doing his best to block as much of Athena as he could. At some point during their long travel across the poverty-stricken rings, it had become first nature to protect her. She still bothered the hell out of him, but she was their salvation.
The footsteps stopped abruptly, close enough for Jax to see the tips of a pair of black combat boots and the flaps of a trench coat, but nothing else.
"My, my, my," A gravelly voice rumbled from the darkness, "it seems we meet again Miss Messiah."
Jax shifted uncomfortably, his eyes flicking from the darkness to Athena, who stood completely still, her eyes narrowed at the figure.
"Come with me." The figure began dramatically, one arm sweeping forward in a gesture to follow.
"Grayson, is that you?" Athena half-shouted, leaping from around Jax and reaching into the darkness. She must have snagged something, because he watched in stunned silence as Athena dragged a tall, dark-haired boy from the gloom.
"Oh geez, Athena" he grumbled, his expression pained, "Why'd you go and have to ruin the moment? I was on a roll!"
"Grayson, I am not in the mood to listen to one of your melodramatic rambles! We have been traveling for a month now." Athena snarled, yet Jax watched as her grip on Grayson changed. She went from pulling him, to holding onto him tightly.
Grayson pulled her into a one-armed hug, "I know. Trust me, you've had us all running up the wall in worry. What in the hell happened? It was supposed to be a simple grab and go."
Jax watched as Athena's expression hardened.
"I can tell you when we get back to camp. Just please get us out of here." She said, shaking Grayson's arm.
"Okay, okay. Who is this guy anyway?" he asked, pointed to Jax.
"His name's - Jack. He, uh, helped me escape." Athena lied smoothly, reaching out to thread her arm through his.
Jax smiled, patting her on the head with his free hand.
"You know me, always around to help damsels in distress."
Athena snorted.
"Oookay. Well, let's get going. You've been gone for what, three months? Things have changed a helluva lot." Grayson said, backing into the mist.
"Changed? Good or bad?" Athena asked, a note of panic in her voice as she followed after him, dragging Jax with her.
"Bad. Really bad."