Xania burst in the door of her apartment, and then paused. She couldn’t stay here for long. Should she wait for Enero’s man? There was no telling what he would do to her or where he would take her. Where could she go on her own? She closed the door and flung her coat in the general direction of the closet.

What time was it?  She glanced at her watch. 2000. What day? She couldn’t tell how long she’d been asleep or how long everything had taken. She wasn’t sure what had happened. It was like a computer had turned on inside her.

That was impossible.

She jogged up the stairs, the beginnings of the fear stirring in her gut. What if someone else was already here? Click. Beep. Initiating command sequence 83645. Scanning. She hit the top of the stairs. Bathroom door on the left, she flung it open. Empty. Beep. Reading room on the right. Empty. Scanning. Beep. Next door, guest bedroom. Not that she ever had guests. Empty. Scanning. Beep. Her bed room. Empty. Scanning. Beep. Everything was empty! She breathed deeply, trying to slow her heart beat.

She wasn’t sure who she was expecting to come after her, but she knew that someone would be. The Guntai at the very least, but this felt bigger then just them. Her heart thudded harder as the other questions dawned upon her. Where had Carner gotten her? She'd been brought into the palace as a personal servant to Enero. They were raised together. She'd always been told that it was so that he wouldn't be lonely, but was that true? 

Gathering her hair up in her hands, she worked it into a long braid while she thought. Enero hadn't seemed really surprised. In fact, he had been prepared to handle the situation. Why was that? Had he known that she had powers? If so, what did that mean?

She couldn't remember her life before coming to the palace. It was just a gaping void. There could be anything there. Carner had found her somewhere and he had put her in a position that he could ensure that she was always monitored without suspicion, without people asking many questions about who she was. After all, people expected there to be armed guards around the prince.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Xania muttered to herself.

She stood at the door a moment longer, then stepped out of the room and looked down the hall. The doors still flung open like hungry mouths. Xania closed the door, still dazed. What now? She slowly walked to the top of the stairs. She heard the front door close, soft. She froze.  Was it Enero’s man? It could be someone else. There could be others coming. She blinked. 

She slipped into the reading room, quiet.  She needed a weapon. But what? She looked at the shelves. Only books. Scanning. Beep. She heard the quiet creek of the fourth step, the only time she was glad to hear it. She knew someone was coming, but whom?  The desk. Nothing. Wait!  A letter opener. It was sharp, but small. She’d have to surprise them…  She went beside the door, so she would be behind it when it opened.

Scanning. Beep. She waited. Silence. She strained to hear any clue as to the other person’s location. Silence. What now? Should she go investigate? It felt like she’d been waiting there forever, with the letter opener gripped too tightly. Scanning. Beep. Should she wait longer? Surely they had time to climb the stairs. Wouldn’t they look here first? Or maybe the bathroom… Scanning. Beep. She started to move, then froze as the door handle began to slowly turn. The door swung towards her; hard, pressing against her body.

Initiating command sequence 98365. Her vision sharpened. She could smell his skin and taste him. She was suddenly sure it was a human male on the other side of the door and that she didn’t know him.

“Alright, come out.  Or I’ll simply shoot through the door.” A man’s voice.

Shoving at the door, she easily moved his weight back and stepped around the door. Bringing her foot up in an arch, she brought it crashing down on the man’s shoulder. He fell to his knee. His rifle clattered to the floor.

“Fuck!” he gasped.

She punched him, snapping his head to the side. He fell.

“Enero sent me,” he panted.

“Prove it,” she said.

Spitting out blood, he wiped at his mouth.

“I’m not sure why Enero thinks you need any help getting out of the city though,” he growled as he flipped a coin at her.

She caught it. She knew it at once. There had only been ten of these made. He had them crafted by hand as a symbol. Something that would prove they were his agent. Stuffing it in her pocket, she backed up and gave him room to rise.

“I just need a guide,” she said.

“Well, you sure as fuck don’t need a body guard,” he groaned.

Grabbing his rifle, he rose and laughed. He gave her a crooked grin and raised an eyebrow at her before giving her a quick up and down look over.

Beep. Stop sequence 83645. Beep. Beep. Stop sequence 98365. Beep. Beep.

She rubbed at her eyes. It felt like something was crawling inside her skull.

Pulling the black wig back into place, he shouldered the rifle. There were a few places where the brown makeup on his face was a little thin. With a quick look up and down her, he shook his head. He dropped to one knee, put down his rifle, flung his pack to the floor and produced a cloak.

“Put that on,” he said. “Your clothing will attract attention.”

Then the rifle was in the pack which was quickly on his back, looking much smaller than it just had. Xania wrapped the cloak about herself, saying nothing about the strange appearance of her new companion or his strange belongings. He didn’t seem like the type of person that Enero would send to help her, but she needed someone and this person was as good as anyone. And he’d had Enero’s token.

“Let’s go," he said.

She followed him out.

He held Xania’s hand tightly, so as not to lose her in the thick crowd. He wove through people, pausing and stopping only when Xania failed to keep up.  She scanned the crowd for familiar faces, but saw none. She felt like she stood out in this busy crowd of rushing people.  He had been right that the market square would offer a cover of people, but she didn’t feel very hidden. Her long red hair marked her.  It wasn’t the first time that she cursed her distinct appearance.

He tugged her arm and she followed him into a dark side street. It was dank and dirty there, echoing with the sounds of the market.  He pulled her to a stop and knocked on a small door. They waited. He knocked again. They waited. After a few minutes, the door swung open to reveal a large man. His grey locks hung around his unwashed face and his clothes sagged over his large stomach.  Xania wrinkled her nose at the smell of him.

“Followed?” the man asked.

“No.” He dragged Xania in through the door and shut it behind them.

“Glad you made it.”

The large, dirty man stepped aside to let the other two pass. Xania was careful to avoid touching him. She felt soiled just smelling him.

“Boss here?” her escort asked.

“Upstairs,” the dirty man tipped his head in the direction of a door.

Her escort sighed and patted his wig.

The man rubbed his dirty hands over his stomach.  He watched Xania closely.

“Is this really her?” the man asked.

Her escort let go of her hand and moved to the door.

“What do I know?”

Xania looked between them, confused. Feeling annoyed, she wanted to slap both of them. Hello! Standing right here. Seemed rude to be talking about her and around her like she wasn’t even here. Did they think she was some kind of package? Well, she wasn’t.

The man went to the door, “I’ll tell Boss you’re here.” He pushed past her escort, almost in a hurry to leave the room. Then they were alone again.  Xania watched her escort, feeling uncertain that she made the right choice. She could have gone it alone, but she wasn’t confident that she could have made it out of the city which seemed important.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“My name is Derrex. Boss will explain the rest.”

“Who is Boss?” Xania sneered. The ambiguity was annoying.

“My Boss,” Derrex shrugged off his backpack and coat. He tucked the coat into the pack and out it back on. 

“Right," she said with a nod.

She wasn’t sure what she had expected.

Derrex pulled off the curly black wig to reveal silvery white fluff. Xania wondered if it was as soft and silky as it looked. He pulled a rag from his pocket and wiped the dark streaks off his skin to reveal a pale gray tone, the color of ash. His eyes remained their icy blue but the rest had been utterly transformed. Xania wondered how old he was. Before, she would have guessed him about twenty five. But now he looked older. He no longer looked human. Was he fey?

And she was staring, and he knew it. She blushed and murmured an apology. He smiled. What did he think of her? Clearly, she could kick his ass and now she was a foolish girl ogling him. Now that she thought about it, how had she kicked his ass? At the time she had just been happy to have survived. Now it was unsettling to think about. More unsettling were the strange voices that she kept hearing in her head. Was she going fucking mad?

“Boss is waiting,” Derrex said.

He touched her shoulder lightly and she flinched. She shrugged his touch away and sighed. Why had all this happened to her? And where was he taking her?

She followed him from the back of the building, through several other storage rooms and out into a large main room. This was a tavern and they were standing behind the bar. A few people looked, but no one seemed to take a real notice. Everyone seemed more interested in their drinks. They move through the room, dodging tables, customers, and waitresses. They went to the side of the room and up the stairs. Derrex ushered her into a small room and closed the door behind them. There were two small beds and two small dressers. No other furniture, it was an inexpensive room. A man sat on the edge of one of the beds. Derrex went over and sat next to him, leaving the other bed open for her to sit on.

The other man looked young, but a little worn around the edges. He carried an air of power that suggested experience. Perhaps he was older than he looked. Xania realized that she didn’t care. She was tired of meeting new people. Getting out of the city was her priority and she thought it would have happened already.

“Please, sit. Forgive the poor accommodations. Wealth attracts attention that we cannot afford.”

The man gestured to the bed across from them. She sat, silent and waited; cautious.

“I’m Joban. I’m the leader of this cell of the Faithful of the Eternal,” the man said.

The Faithful of the Eternal? She stared at them, looking at one man and then the other. These two were dangerous rebels trying to take down the government? 

Pain shot through her head and she raised her hand to her face, making a small sound. There were people screaming and pressing around her. The image flashed in her mind for only a moment. But with the image came a flood of fear and anger. Then it was followed by hate. Deep hate that was rooted down into her bones. She swallowed. It was like nothing she had ever known. What the fuck was that?

"You alright?" Derex asked.

“And why are you helping me?” Xania asked.

She wished her voice hadn’t trembled. They would assume it had something to do with this conversation.

“That’s complicated and I don’t think that we have the time to waste,” Joban said.

There were so many people, marching in silence. She was carrying the dead and putting the bodies into the water. She could feel the rage as she smeared blood across a small blond boy's face. She would protect him with her life, with her flesh, with her soul. Everything. He was all that was left to her now.

She pressed her index finger to her right temple and rubbed in a small circle. A slight throb had started there, a threat of a migraine. It’s how they always started. And now she was seeing shit rather then hearing things. Great. It was nicer than the metallic voice and the beeping, but was still unsettling. In some ways, seeing things was worse. It made it hard to pay attention to what was going on in the room she was sitting in.

She was in a room, right? She looked up at the two men.

“You alright?” Derrek asked. “You’re pale.”

“I’m tired,” she answered.

Getting out of the city seemed important. Everything inside her kept telling her that she had to leave. She needed to go somewhere. Getting out of the city put her away from the high concentration of people that knew her on sight. There would be people looking for her. That was something she was certain of. But she needed information. There were things going on that she didn’t understand.

“Take the time to explain,” she demanded in a low voice.

“Magic isn’t well accepted in this city. Carner tends to kill Mages. One of our main jobs is to get Mages out of the city,” he explained.

“I’m not a mage," she said.

“No. Not yet. But your latent powers are strong and have put you in opposition with the law,” Joban stated.

“I don’t have magic!” she snapped.

Xania started to stand up, but sat back down. She thought back to what happened. Everything was so unclear in her mind. Had her arm been melted off? She looked down at her hand and flexed her fingers. Staring at the new skin she realized that she was missing the scare from falling out of the tree and cutting her hand. 

“But how do you explain you’re now whole limbs?” Joban asked.

“How do you know what happened?” Xania asked.

So, they have been watching her. How long? How much did they know? Hell, she didn’t even know what there was to know. Enero had helped her. Were they really with him? Had they killed the man he had sent? She put her head down in her hands and rubbed her face. There was just no way for her to know the truth of anything.

 Joban stared at Xania a long time and with an intent gaze. But he said nothing.

“How do you know what happened?” Xania asked again. Her voice had a hard edge.

“Did you think that your level of power would go unnoticed?” he asked.

She looked at him, silent.

"When your powers woke it was like a nuclear bomb of mana went off in the city. There isn't a person within miles of here that has any capacity for sensing magic that doesn't have some sense of what happened in that room. And for those of us with the gift of sight, we got a front row seat," he explained.

Great. Just what she needed. She really did need to get out of the city.

“I want out of the city,” she stated.

Joban nodded.

“You need some sleep and we need to work on changing your appearance,” he said.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

What else was there for her to say? She didn’t trust him but that didn’t keep her from being polite. Xania stood and offered Joban a hand.

“I’m sorry, I don’t shake hands.”

He looked at her hand as if it were poisonous. His fear put strain around his eyes.

“Oh, sorry.” Xania’s hand fell to her side.

“No offense, I pray. I shake hands with no one.” With that, Joban crossed the room to the door.

“And Xania, will you please accept the protection of Derrex?” Joban asked.

“And who will be at your side?” Derrex asked.

“I will find another. Your duty now lies with her.”

Joban left, closing the door firmly behind him.

“And I thought we decided that I didn’t need protection,” Xania said.

“He doesn’t know that.” He paused. “I will protect you. It is what he wants.” Derrex looked down at his hands and frowned. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” she said.

The headache was getting worse, creeping in behind her eyes.

“We’ve made sleeping arrangements for you. But before I take you over there, we need to change our appearance.”

He went to the door without looking back.

“Alright.”

She felt like a stray puppy that needed to be led about to have her basic needs met. It was worse than when she was with Enero. At least when she was with him she had an illusion of some freedoms.

Derrex led her down the hall and into an identical room. A woman sat on the bed closest to the door, watching them enter. She stood and crossed the room to greet them. She offered her hand.

“Xania, I presume,” the woman said.

“Yes.”

Xania shook her hand. The woman broke the shake after one firm squeeze. At least someone here shakes hands. Good to know that she didn’t look like she had plague.

“I’m also assuming you’re here for a makeover.”

“Guess so.”

“Well, let me look at you.” She walked slowly around Xania.  “Can you fight?”

“No.”

Derrex snorted. They both looked over at him. Xania flinched and the woman raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Do you have a trade?”

“No.”

“Any tattoos?”

“No.”

“Hmm.”

The woman touched her hair and then poked her, “modest?”

“No.”

“Nice fair skin. Hair has got to change. I think we should cut and dye it. Does that bother you?”

“No.”

“Good. I think I can do something.”

The woman went back to the bed and dragged a large trunk from underneath it.

“Let’s see what I’ve got…”

She shuffled through the trunk’s contents.

“Who did Joban assign to protect you?”

“Him,” Xania answered.

Xania jerked her thumb towards Derrex.

“Him?” the woman asked.

The woman turned, eyebrows raised to the point of disappearing into her hairline.

“That true?”

“It is,” Derrex said.

“Well, that's interesting,” she said.

She returned to her trunk. She muttered while she continued to shuffle through her things.

“Ok, first things first. Her hair has to go!” the woman declared, pulling out a small bag from the trunk. She patted the bed and added, “come on over, sweet heart and I’ll get you fixed up.”

Xania went over and sat on the bed. The woman opened her kit and busied herself with Xania’s hair. Xania watched as locks of hair fell around her. The process was long. Starting with cutting, then dying, and styling… Xania was thoroughly bored.

“Ok. You want to look?”

The woman held up a mirror for her to see. Xania was surprised.

“Wow.”

Xania took the mirror. He hair was much shorter now, only about shoulder length and in rows of small braids. It was also brown.

The woman hauled some clothing from the trunk and laid them out on the bed. They were a very bright blue and trimmed with a vivid orange. She would look exotic. Both the girls turned and looked at Derrex.

“I’ll wait outside.” He smiled then left.

Xania changed into the new clothing. The outfit was simple. Pants, vest, dress shirt and tie. With the chest binder beneath, she looked like a young man. Xania loved it. She smiled thinking of how Enero would have exploded in anger if she had gone out in public in this. 

“I think you’ve out-done yourself,” he whispered.

Xania ran her hands over the rows of braids, feeling like something inside her was slipping away at the same time that something else was beginning to open inside her. What did all of this mean? She looked up at the ceiling, as if she could face the gods.