“But it’s my idea! I’m going!” Little Anea booms.

“No. It’s too dangerous and you’re not ready.” Touch replies.

“You can’t stop me. If we don’t do this together, I’ll just sneak out!”

“That’s why Rachel is going to stay and keep an eye on you.”

Anea whips her head over to Rachel.

“And what? Hit me? Tie me up? No, you aren’t like that. You need me to identify the kinds of people we are looking for. I need the practice. I have an idea what their aura should look like, and I need to test my theory for myself.”

Rachel cuts in gently. “These are all perfectly valid points, Anea. But Touch is right. There’s no getting around it. We care about you. We can’t involve you in hunting these dangerous people directly.”

“If we all go together, you, me, Touch, and Arch, then I couldn’t be safer. You two watch each other’s back, and Arch watches my back.”

“Then we have no one to watch out gear.” Touch points out. “We can’t afford to leave it unsupervised. Dill can’t fight.”

“I haven’t sensed anyone who would steal.”

“Maybe they just weren’t on shift, or maybe an outsider comes in when they are tipped off. We can’t risk it.”

“You’re being paranoid and you know it! This hotel is secure. When I was looking up hang out spots for the travelers, I researched the hotel. Their record’s clean. They take security very seriously here, or else no one would go out and spend money at the festivals!

With or without you, I’m going!”

Touch and Rachel look at one another…

Touchstone pushes past the huge tent flaps and enters a crowded bar, the squeaking and groaning of the filthy tarp beneath his feet is drowned out by the din of plastic dishes clacking on cheap plastic fold up tables, roaring laughter, and conversation shouted over ambient party beats. His flowing robe trails behind him, and luckily stops at the ankles so it doesn’t drag across the floor.

Touch finds an unoccupied table along the wall of the round circus tent and sets his pack on the table. Even though he cut the eyes wider, the edges of his peripheral vision were still cut off by the glaring white mask.

He takes a moment to collect himself and take in the scene. Black clad stage hands, colorful costumed partiers, and rugged looking travelers clustered together in loose groups around the edges of the tent, lit up by multiple openings leading to grills and food stalls outside in the lamp-lit dark, the groups intermixing around the island bar in the middle.

This is no place for a child.

Touchstone pulls out his tablet and sends a text. A minute later, Rachel and Anea enter the tent in their respective costumes and look around. Touch waves them over and they cross the cramped scene to him and take their seats.

The only thing scarier than bringing her along was leaving her behind and wondering if she would be there when he got back.

“Spot anyone interesting?” Rachel takes Anea's arm after the girl looks down and grows a shade paler in her make-up.

“Most people are interesting, if you see them like I do. I’m still readapting to the crowds.” Her lips tremble slightly. “I need to concentrate.”

“Look at me.” Touch says.

Anea looks up, brows arched and drawn together.

“Take a deep breath in.” He demonstrates. The girl closes her eyes and follows.

“Focus on the breath. The feel of it in your throat. The cold on the way in, and the heat on the way out. Feel you stomach expand and contract.”

“Stomach? You mean my chest.”

“No. Watch.” His chest is still as his belly swells. “Out through the mouth.”

Rachel makes a look at Touch, then she steps out to order food. This part of town is loud with drunken revelers. People shout over each other and make a competition over who can laugh the loudest over stupid jokes. As she picks her way through the party-goers, Rachel takes a moment to really gauge the crowd. Most people were huddled together, talking normally as they walk down the venues or sit on the benches in the middle of the lanes.

The few that were loud really stood out and really made Rachel want to crawl back inside and go to bed. Rachel waits in line and casts a glance behind her. No one of interest, no one shadowing her, no one stands out.

Rachel reenters the tent with arm-fulls of quinoa, veggie stir-fry, and funnel cake. She plops down and starts setting the food on the table.

“Feeling better?”

“Thank you.” Touch says.

“Yeah. A lot. It feels like a drug.”

Rachel whips to Touch with wide-eyes, lips parted.

“No-No. In a good way. I mean the meditation really cleared my head. I didn’t expect it to.”

“That’s because your brain works on three basic networks. Meditation reroutes the traffic from your lizard brain to your pre-”

“Got someone.”

Touch and Rachel lean in.

“To your right, Touch. She’s moved closer since we came in. She lights up when you talk, think she’s eavesdropping. She was having fun, now she’s serious...

She’s moving.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Rachel doesn’t twitch as someone passes through the corner of her eye and behind them, leaving a floral and spicy aroma in her wake. Looking around now might draw the attention of her friends.

“Stay here.” Touch rises after the spice girl passes and follows as Rachel catches a glimpse of sandy blonde hair tied back in a ponytail exit through the tent flap they entered from.

Touchstone exits the tent and follows the faintest whiff of the woman around an alley of crates and building supplies running in-between the tent and the vendor shacks.

He barely has time to turn the corner before having the wind knocked out of him as he doubles over a gloved palm delivered straight to his gut. He looks up just in time to see beautifully furious hazel eyes-

Touchstone wakes up on his back. He raises his sore head and sees the blond-haired woman darting past the straggling vendors, toward the dark silhouette of the treeline. Touchstone doesn’t bother getting up to chase her. He takes in all the details he can now; calf high leather boots, stained Persian blue leggings. Some kind of riveted leather harness over a dark green shirt and white undershirt. He takes in all the curves and shape her athletic silhouette.

Purely for the purposes of finding her later.

“You okay?” Rachel follows the eyes of the stunned bystanders, to the woman fading in the darkness, then back to her friend, who is rubbing his head.

As she and Anea help the big guy up, Rachel looks over and sees a few boards on the crates between chest and waist level split and caved in. Through the gaps in the board, she can see the slight glimmer of worn and scuffed metal as they all turn and head back to the hotel.

As soon as they get out of the temporary district, Rachel sits Touch down and starts prodding his temples and sides of his head with her fingers. Touch barley winces, the knot isn’t nearly as big as it should be.

“Shouldn’t we find a doctor?” Anea says as they near downtown.

“Accelerated healing. Most divs have it to some degree.” Touch says.

Rachel whips out her phone and slowly waves the flashlight in Touch’s face.

“No,” Touch says, “no sensitivity to light, no dizziness, nausea, headaches, no changes in mood.”

Rachel puts her phone up and looks at her friend.

“That girl knew what she was doing.” Touch rises and continues toward the hotel. “The one-two knockout was impressive. Efficient. It’s like she knew just how to take me down. She knew exactly when she’d been made…”

“Touch, what are you thinking about right now?” Anea asks slowly, narrowing her little eyes at him.

The stone man hesitates before replying too quickly, “Just-”

“You’re lying.” Anea smiles.

“Just how to track her down, later.”

“You like herrr!”

“Focus. She’s our only lead. Can you find her again?”

“So you can ask her out? She likes you too.”

“So she can lead- wait what?”

Rachel grins and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry Touch, finding this girl is our top priority from now on.”

Touch groans. “I acknowledge that I find her attractive. That’s not the same as liking her.”

“You lie. You were just thinking about how attractive she is. That’s not what you were feeling a minute ago. I know the difference.”

“I can respect her ability to fight, to look out for herself.”

“Nope. Go fish. You acknowledge Rachel’s attractiveness and you respect her abilities, so why don’t you feel that way about her? This is something else! I won’t stop until I know what.”

Touch opens the door to the hotel and Rachel steps inside.

Rachel and Touch look back to see Anea paused just outside the doorway. She suddenly looks up.

“It has to do with sex, doesn’t it!”

“Get inside.” Touch says.

Touch doesn’t notice Rachel turning away, bright red and smiling behind her mask as half a dozen heads swivel to the ninja and the princess caught in their own oblivious conversation.

Later that night, Rachel wakes from a small noise on the balcony. She is right next to the window, and looks out to see Anea’s silhouette hunching over the rail, shaking.

Rachel looks around the dark room as she carefully makes her way over the side of the bed. Touch and Arch lay sleeping across the room, toward the door to the hall. Dill is peering out the glass balcony door. He turns his big sad eyes on Rachel as she approaches and slowly turns the well-oiled mechanisms of the door handle, and slides onto the balcony.

Dill squeezes after her and Rachel closes the door with the slightest click, amplified by the ambient silence.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Anea croaks, rubbing her glistening eyes.

Rachel squeezes the girl’s shoulder. “Want to talk about it?”

Anea looks up...

“Richard and Jacob. The ones that took me in. I didn’t know them very long. But still… they loved me. They cared for me. They wanted me as their daughter. And now…” Anea starts choking on her own tears, “I can’t stop thinking about them. I don’t even know what’s happened to them. Are they dead? Working to death in a labor camp? Because of me, because I couldn’t hide my powers well enough?”

Before Rachel can speak, Anea looks up, eyes hard and narrow.

“I’ve tried to distract myself, but… I wish you never saved me! If I had gone with those enforcers, maybe that would have been enough!" She says, waving her hands around, chopping them through the air.

"Maybe they would have left Richard and Jacob alone! Who knows what’s being done to them now! Because of me! And what about everyone else who’s getting punished in retaliation! Just to make a fucking point!” Anea’s voice is ragged, raw as she brings her hands down on the rail.

Rachel looks down at the girl, her body stiff, shaking, knuckles clenched tight. Rachel takes a knee, slowly reaches up and cups the girl’s soft, wet face in her hand, wiping away tears with her thumb.

“We can’t control what other people do. You, can’t, control, what other people do. They might just as easily, even more likely, punished Richard and Jacob for harboring a fugitive.”

“If those two love you like you say, then it doesn’t matter where they are, alive or dead. They would die happy knowing you got away, knowing you’re safe, knowing you’re free. They wouldn’t change a thing.” Rachel continues, voice rising to a tremble and a timbre. Hot tears stream down her own face. She knows its true because it's exactly how she feels about her own children.

“You did nothing wrong. The only people to blame are the ones who do the bad things. Not you. Not anyone else. And there is nothing we can do now. We all made our choices. You, me, Jacob, Richard, Touch, all the people in the city. And I’m fucking glad we chose you. I know your dads are, too.

The only way through now is forward. You understand? You can’t dwell on a past that will eat you up inside.”

Instead of responding, Anea breaks down and squeezes Rachel tight in a fit of convulsive sobs.

Touchstone listens from behind the door frame. Crying his own selfish tears, hidden by a length of drywall between the door and the window. It had been so long since he’d been that shoulder to cry on, he knew he could never be that person again. He didn’t know what to say anymore, how to act. He was too far gone, too broken. Just like everyone else he never gave up on until he had nothing left to give.

He could never be there for Rachel and Anea. Not like this, not like they needed. He was an idiot to ever think he could be there for Anea. She needs Rachel.

They needed his knowledge, his skills, but they would never need him.

Sticking to the shadows, he makes his way over to his tablet. There was still one thing he could get.

Lying on the ground, he sends out a single message: ‘Hey Fay, I need a favor.’ then he rolls over and pretends to sleep.