Although I didn't realize it right away as we took a different street out of Imperial Square than the one I came in, this was undoubtedly the street Timmy wanted to take me to the shoe shop. Coincidence? Could be, but there were too many things that didn't add up.

Lieutenant Blaine picked the worst time to take a time off. Seriously, the guy's gaze usually didn't break even when I went to the outhouse. And then there was the whole thing with Vara and Elira taking me to see a back alley I'd never seen in my life.

'Why would anyone give them such orders?' The answer to that question sent a shiver down my spine. 'Because no one did. Because these two either worked for the mind mages or the bastards got to them and shackled their minds.' The two guardswomen most likely weren't even aware of it. 'Was that why they were so friendly with me?Introducing themselves and such... but then what was the whole gateguard thing all about?’

‘Was it the gateguard, then? Did they get to him like they got to Timmy?’

‘Timmy! Shit!’

No doubt in my mind now, the young guide was under the influence of mind mages urged to get me to the alley, or more likely somewhere out of sight. ‘Since when though? He seemed fine at City Hall and most of the way. Only after… shit! Shit, shit, shit! That lost bitch. She…’ Timmy's remark about her boots ‘Why didn't she buy the same laces?’ sprung to mind, and I broke out in a cold sweat. 'It couldn't have been her, could it? It couldn't have been the shoelace bitch, could it? I'd recognise her. I'm sure.'

"What's the matter with you, Grey? You look like you've seen a dragon," Vara said, taking one last look at the lane leading to the ivy-covered house. "There's nothing there. Speaking of, if there's nothing in that alley, I'm really gonna rip Elias' balls off."

"I'm telling you, Vara, Elias wouldn't do this. He takes his job seriously."

"And I'm telling you, you got some serious brother issues. Tits, El, the way you always jump in to defend his ass is..."

"W-why?"

They both looked at me, confused. "Why, what, Grey? Why is El like that? Let me tell you why..."

"N-no! No, why him?” I asked, unable to stop my voice from shaking, doing my best to think about it rationally. “Why was he the one who sent you those orders? He is a gate guard, isn't he? He shouldn't have anything to do with the investigation of my mugging."

"Oh, that. That's... actually a good question. El?"

"He's a sergeant, ranked above us. He..." Elira tried to explain, failing. Either she really didn't know, or the lies planted in her head by the mind mages started to crumble. "What are you trying to say, Grey?"

'Yeah, what did I? Uh, you might be brainwashed. Or: Sorry, but your brother may work for mind mages?' Neither of them would believe me, and saying that could only make things worse. 'Think, Korra, think...!'

"J-just that... that he may not have been the one who sent you the order."

The blue-eyed guardswoman frowned, not liking at all what I was implying. "And who else would send it? It was written in his hand, branded with his seal."

'Shit! So it was him.' Whether he worked for the mind bitch willingly or not didn't matter that much right now.

"I d-don't know," I stammered truthfully, racking my brain desperately on how to convince the two not to take me to the alley - that was what mattered. "Just, just take me to the barracks. Arrest me, but take me there, please. I'll tell them whatever you want. That you did a good job, treated me nicely, but take me there."

That as bait, I should not give away my cooperation with the city guards? Fuck that. I couldn't care less about acting as normal as possible. Not to mention that in my books, it was quite alright for a frightened citizen to seek safety with the city guards. And I was very frightened.

"That's a first," Vara said, thinking about it - much to my relief. "If we play it right, they might cancel the pay cut. Look, Grey, would you be willing to..."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I'll go to the gate," Elira declared out of the blue.

"Huh? What? El, that's..."

"What if something happened there, Vara?"

They both looked towards the Esulmor Gate, and I followed their gaze, praying that I was wrong, that my fears were unfounded. At first glance, it seemed so. There was no smoke billowing over the roofs of the houses, nor was there any shouting or sounds of fighting coming from that direction.

"See, nothing," Vara said with a smirk, finding Elira's concern for her brother ridiculous.

"Yeah, I see that," Elira breathed, her concerns about her brother obviously not allayed. "But that doesn't mean..."

"Oh, come on, El. You know better than I do what he's like; he'd raise the alarm at the first sign of trouble. Besides, everyone knows that nothing ever happens at the Esulmor Gate. The reason why Elias had himself reassigned there, no?"

'A damn good reason to pick this exact gate to attack,' flashed through my mind, but I swallowed the words rushing to my tongue. As much as I wanted to, saying that the mind mages were after my tail might do more harm than good. To them, I was just an ordinary half-Terr chick, albeit a bit unusual looking - someone who should raise the attention of a few horny dudes at most, as opposed to the mind mages who were a thing of the past in most people's minds.

"Still..." Elira spoke, her gaze drifting once more to a gate somewhere in the distance.

"C-can we go, please?" I asked, unable to put as much urgency in my voice as I'd like as a whimper almost escaped my lips. Right now, I'd rather be anywhere else than here, and worse, I couldn't put my finger on why. 'Was it knowing that mind mages were out there somewhere, coming after me? Or was it the stares piercing my back?'

"For tits' sake, stop it, you two!" growled Vara, nudging Elira in the shoulder and giving me a little smack on the head. "Hear a little more of your whining, and I'll start to think the thralls are going to come rushing out of these empty streets at us."

'Thralls!' Hearing that word sent a shiver down my spine. The auburn-haired guardswoman had no idea how close she was to the truth. It wasn't, however, what caught my attention. 'Empty streets?'

"You and your obsession with the thralls," Elira snorted, some of that previous worry of her brother gone. "You never met one."

"I've heard enough stories from those who have. And I'm telling you, it's not an obsession, but a healthy fear. They say the motherfuckers won't stop until they're dead."

"Good thing then that we are so far from the southern border..."

"I...s-sorry, but..." I stammered, pressing my wings to my body. "Is it normal for the streets to be this empty?"

Sure, we weren't on one of the six main streets, yet I had never seen the streets of Castiana as soulless as the streets around us. My beast instincts might have been silent, but I simply couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't natural. After all, I could still hear the bustle coming from a few blocks away. Worse yet, someone's gaze kept boring into my back.

'Where is it coming from? Is it her? Please don't let it be her.'

"It's getting late, and the lamps should lit any moment now, but..." Elira said, looking around, obviously not liking what she was seeing. "Fu… fine, barracks it is. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can report this and - and get to Esulmor Gate."

"Oh, fuck you two! Now I'm about to piss my undies, too."

Not exactly what one wants to hear from the city's protectors in a situation like this, nevertheless, we finally got moving - towards the barracks, and not the alley, nonetheless.

"Thank you." The words of gratitude slipped from my lips as the guardswomen's decisions came as more of a relief than I thought. The reason was simple. The fact that they didn't insist on obeying this dubious order meant that they weren't actually under the influence of the mages - they were just caught in their web of devious plans, like me. The web that I couldn't shake the feeling of closing in around us. As such, I pushed to step up our stride and hold back my farts just in case. A little late, unfortunately, but better late than never.

"All right, now I'm getting goosebumps," Vara muttered, looking around in unease as the emptiness of the streets seemed to haunt us. "I know I complain a lot that nothing exciting ever happens to me on street patrols, but this is not what I had in mind as fun. And don't give me that ‘I told you so’ bullshit, El."

"I didn't even intend to."

"Sure, you did. If I were you, I'd be dying to rub it in my face."

"But I am not you..."

'What was that? Was it her? The shoelace bitch?! Her thralls?'

We all froze in our tracks as a strange whine broke the eerie stillness of the night the second time. In an instant, spears appeared in the hands of the two guardswomen, just like me, ready for an attack, looking around. The streets were as empty as before, though.

Then, just as Vara dropped her fighting stance, my ears perked up at a scratching sound high above me. When I lifted my head to look, a furball landed in my face, almost making me stumble.

"What the fuck...?!"

"Don't move, Grey," Elira shouted, her intent way too obvious. As such, I did the opposite of what she wanted me to do and got in the way of her spear, barking: "It's just a cat."

'Not just any cat, though,' I thought to myself, my heart sinking as I scanned the blood-stained Alley through my domain. Obviously, it wasn't her blood, but there was a lot of it, staining both my face and the hands I was now holding the cat in. Not the worst, though. My own blood ran cold as she dropped a small scroll from her mouth into my palm, and I gleaned its contents via my domain.

│Bait taken.

│Run.