Rune found himself standing in front of the abandoned bakery once more, with Elsie on his back. Nilu had dropped by in the morning, telling him Bane had gathered others to meet at the place where he'd stashed the crystals.
"Elsie, duck your head."
Rune went through the broken window where he stood on the ledge. He didn't know if he could make a safe jump from the ledge with his sister on his back. Putting her down on the ledge, he hopped down first, reaching his arms towards Elsie, who carefully slid to the edge and grasped his arms.
As he turned to the place where the crystal sacks had been, he found familiar faces sitting on the floor, with some leaning against the walls.
He found a stool tucked in the corner. Grabbing it, he put Elsie down, making sure she was comfortable before he took a seat on the ground by her.
As he looked at the three other kids who were there, Rune's curiosity sparked as he wondered why Bane had gathered them. All of them were part of the Reapers, well known within the group for their expertise. The girl with the clipped red hair was Carla, responsible for infiltrating the group's enemies. Quin stood beside her, an assassin in training, despite being 10 years old. He had short black hair that fell across his face, obstructing his eyes.
Rune couldn't believe Bane the first time he told him Quin's role. He didn't know it was even possible to become an assassin's apprentice at such a young age. It made him wonder what he had to go through to become one. Elsie, only one year younger, was still a child in his eyes. He couldn't imagine how high his anxiety level would be if she followed a killer all day.
He shivered as he thought about the situations she would come across.
Quin had his eyes covered by his hair for most of the time. He'd only seen the boy's eyes once when Bane had decided to bug the poor boy at the annual light show before Quin stopped his hand in mid-air, his milk eyes peering at Bane with the promise of death.
When he'd seen them, Rune's first thought of the boy's ghoul eyes to be fitting for an assassin.
Those same eyes were now trained on him, watching him in turn. Rune ripped his gaze from the boy, moving on to the next person who stood beside him, Oak.
Oak was quiet. The boy was the same age as Rune and was a couple of centimeters taller compared to him. Like Quin, he also had ghoul eyes but kept his eyes lowered from the faces of others as if eye contact was the plague.
Once, while Caster and Rune were out inspecting crystals, Rune came across them. Caster introduced Oak, who looked everywhere but at Rune's face.
Oak seemed as if he wanted to be anywhere else but in a room full of people.
Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't want to be here.
The sound of boots hitting the ledge and a girl shouting drew the attention of those already gathered.
There, Caster stood on the ledge, preparing to jump down, Vilda right at his heels by the window's opening, staring down to where they assembled.
Carla sneered in the wealthy girl's direction. "Why did you drag her here?"
I think we all hate her, Carla.
Resignation lined every part of Caster's face. "I told her to leave, but she followed me."
"I can go anywhere I want to." Vilda proclaimed, lifting her chin.
The rich girl had her brown hair braided in one long braid, elegantly tied off with a white ribbon. Her dark eyes scanned the room, taking in the appearances of each of them as disgust laced her face.
Rune could tell the girl didn't want to be in their midst as much as they didn't want her around.
She carefully stepped onto the ledge and raised her hand towards Caster, who had his back turned to her.
"Hey, pretty boy, you forgot to give her the proper princess treatment." Carla's remark dragged Caster's face back to Vilda, who shamelessly kept her hand out waiting.
Rune could tell Caster wanted nothing to do with his newest companion. The slight twitch in his upper lift didn't go unnoticed by them, causing a snort to come out from Quin.
Bringing Vilda down, Caster quickly put distance between them as he took a spot in the middle of Clara and Quin.
Seeing him settled, Vilda looked expectantly at Carla, who had hatred sprawled across her face as the rich girl stood waiting.
"If you think I'll get up just because you look my way, I'm sorry to disappoint, but nothing will come out of it. You may be queen on the upside, but here, we don't care if you're rich or poor."
Vilda then looked at Quin, who avoided her eyes.
Huffing in frustration, she found a stool where Rune had found Elsie's seat and sat by Quin, her arms folded across her chest.
Bane and Nilu were last to arrive. Bane had taken a seat next to Oak, who looked extremely uneasy at the new arrival's proximity, while Nilu's gaze looked for Elsie.
His sister had gone still beside him when Nilu looked at her. Rune saw the smile Nilu gave Elsie was wavering after seeing no reciprocal smile on his sister's face.
Nilu didn't give up. She stepped toward Elsie, but Rune watched his sister turn her head sharply away from her close friend.
Hurt flared across Nilu's face, which she quickly hid, sitting by Carla with her head bowed to the floor.
Rune lightly poked Elsie's arm. "You good?"
In a curt voice, his sister responded, "I'm fine."
"You don't seem fine."
"Is something up between you and Nilu?"
"I told you there is nothing."
"Don't think I haven't noticed how little you talk about her."
"Ru, I don't want to talk about it."
"Now, that is something I don't hear every day." Carla, the eldest, spoke loudly and clearly, capturing everyone's attention as she recounted her near-mistaken identity as a night worker at the brothel. Rune had missed the retelling of her encounter, having focused on the interaction between Elsie and Nilu.
"If they thought they'd catch my head in that dank place, they must've been drunk on booze. No way will a single strand of my hair be in a place filled with filth."
"And there goes Carla," mumbled Bane under his breath as the 14-year-old ranted her disbelief to Caster, who looked amused at her ordeal.
"I thought you'd fallen ill in bed after your latest encounter with a merchant from Rovkin the Reapers had you infiltrate."
"And where did you hear such rumours, princess?"
At Carla's mockery, Vilda's face turned bright red.
Quin interjected, shrugging as he came to the rich girl's defence. "You thought wrong. No one falls ill around these parts. It's not your fault that you fell for the rumours flooding the street. What you and many from the upside don't understand is that we tend to gossip more falsely than truthfully to cover certain things we don't want people to hear about."
Carla frowned, not pleased Quin had answered. "Why are you even trying to explain to this rich snob?"
"Like what, crime?" Vilda asked jokingly, ignoring Carla's comment.
"Yes, like crime," Quin said with all seriousness. Vilda's breath hitched, realizing the people around her were not simple Driftwood kids from the streets.
Why are you even here?
"Where's Mira?" Oak spoke up for the first time since he'd arrived.
"I thought she was with Rune?"
Me? Why would I have anything to do with her?
Like Caster and Vilda, Mira lived in Upper Alta. She sometimes followed Caster or Rune for reasons unknown to him.
He once confronted the girl about it after delivering a sketch to Silus, but she had said, "I'm looking at the merchant's goods."
It was such a blatant lie that Rune openly gaped at her. She was an oddity among them, with blond hair kept in a bun at her neck and blue eyes that stared fearlessly at everyone and everything.
Liar.
You've been following me this whole time. Since the minute I stepped out of my home, you've kept a good five paces behind me. I'm not stupid.
Mira shamelessly looked back at him, then blurted out, without her stoic expression changing, "I like you."
Lies.
"Excuse me?"
"I like you."
Why the heck would you lie that you like me?
She then walked off without looking back at him.
"Why would you think she was with me?"
"Because Rune, everyone knows she has a crush on you," Bane replied, smirking in his direction.
"Mira likes Rune?" Elsie turned to look at him questioningly, hurt flashing through her eyes that everyone but her knew of it.
"No, she doesn't, Elsie. She says she does, but she doesn't, I swear it." His sister didn't seem to trust him.
Bane rolled his eyes. "What do you know about her feelings? She confessed I was there when she said it. Rune is just in denial."
"I'm not denying anything! She follows me for a reason only Terra knows."
"If you're going to say anything about liking anyone, she follows Caster way more than she follows me."
Vilda snapped her head so fast in Caster's direction that Rune was surprised it hadn't detached.
Caster's eyes widened at Rune's comment, his hands raised as he shook his head. "She only follows me because she sometimes works at the apothecary. Her work was to see if there was a connection between crystal quality and Rye gas produced during the crystal purification process."
Carla clapped her hands together. "Anyways, anyone know where she went?"
"Something probably came up at the apothecary, but the way I heard West Nythos has been flooding lower-class streets the last couple of weeks." Quin piqued, bringing Rune's attention.
They were likely in Alta to investigate the murders.
You heard correctly.
"What about the cause behind their sudden interest in Driftwood?"