“It’s getting crowded,” Lilith commented as they weaved their way through the growing crowd. After a few days of deliveries, she learned a few of the streets, so she knew where they were going, but at least the times she visited, there weren’t this many people. Gabriel came to an abrupt stop, causing Lilith to bump into him. “What was that for-” her voice trailed off as she followed Gabriel’s sight.

Gabriel frowned. “It’s way too early,” he mumbled as Lilith stared, unable to focus on anything else. “You need to go hide, too,” Gabriel said, turning his attention to Lilith, who couldn’t hear a single word.

Her gaze was fixated on each individual lined up. Their arms and legs were bound by rope and their faces were a mixture of fear and a loss of hope. Some of them Lilith recognized as they were the ones she had deliveries to, while others she had never seen before. Her eyes scanned through the line, her heart sinking with each person she recognized until she came across Jade. Her worries became founded and she could feel as if her heart had left her body.

Lilith staggered back while following the direction in which the majority were looking at. Some faces were faces of joy, happy to see who the church had caught, while others were scared and worried that they would be next. It was a surprisingly mixed amount alongside some of them attempting to keep their cool.

With his head hung low, blood dripped down from the palm of his hands. Nailed into a plank of wood supported by two stakes, Theo was put on display for the entire world to see. On a pedestal. Ghastly white face and whip marks all over his body, he seemed to be on the verge of death and unable to see as blood dripped from a black blindfold covering his eyes. The image of the young boy burned into a part of Lilith’s mind, taking up permanent residence.

“Lilith!” Gabriel’s voice grew louder as he shook her to attention. “It’s time to go.”

Her vision snapped to Gabriel and, although she couldn’t tell the face she was making, she could tell from Gabriel’s own reaction that it wasn’t pretty. “Ok,” she mumbled.

Grabbing her hood, she lowered it as much as possible, and using her feet and the floor beneath her, she guided her way through the crowd, pushing and maneuvering her way through. She couldn’t think of much, her mind was blank, and whenever she bumped into someone, she would simply say “sorry,” and continued to move on. According to what Gabriel told her, some people gave her some looks and there was a high chance she was reported, but since her face was covered, it wouldn't have mattered.

When they reached the mailroom and made it back to Gabriel’s office, he sat her down, poured her a cup of tea. Gabriel paced around the room, calling in one person after another. Although he wasn’t there in person, he had eyes everywhere, and after sending the people he needed to out, he turned his attention back to Lilith, who was sitting at the table silently.

“Hand over the rest of your packages,” Gabriel demanded in a gentle voice.

Hunched over at the table, Lilith stared at the now lukewarm tea. Her mind was elsewhere, and only when Gabriel shook her did she come to. “W-what?”

“Your packages. Hand them over,” he repeated.

“Why?” Lilith asked.

“We’ll finish the deliveries when things cool down, but you need to leave right away,” Gabriel responded.

He wasn’t wrong, and although it tickled her pride, she couldn’t help but agree. However, it was a bit too difficult to leave so suddenly. From what she gathered from her conversation with Gabriel, leaving now could cause issues. When the church gathers, everywhere becomes high alert. They use this time to scout out more people to target and catch anyone trying to weasel their way out of the city. This meant that Lilith had to lie low. He was positive they didn’t know of Lilith yet, but someone would let it slip eventually. First, it will be because of the illegal mail, then when they find out that Lilith is cursed. She shuttered to think of what would happen after seeing Theo.

“Theo…” she mumbled while lifting the cold cup of tea to her mouth.

While lost in thought, Gabriel pushed the topic for a bit later. To him, it looked as if she needed more time to herself, so he waited a bit longer, and as he waited, he shuffled through papers, marking the ones that he remembered seeing and documenting what had happened. Then, after a few minutes had passed, the worker from earlier came through the door explaining the situation.

“That’s good, I think. We’ll have to double check with Lilith.” Gabriel said with a nod, while turning his attention to the one in question.

“I’m sorry?” Lilith said, raising her head after hearing her name. “Check about what?”

“Something happened.”

“What do you mean?” Lilith asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“The boy. He vanished. A similar void that you’ve shown encompassed the boy's body, then suddenly, he was nowhere to be seen.”

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Lilith’s eyes widen, and a sudden relief washed through her body. Although she was still worried about the others and she knew what would happen to them, there was a kind of attachment she had with Theo, even though she barely knew the kid.

“He should be fine,” Lilith confirmed. “But only time will tell.”

“So it’s better than dying,” Gabriel said.

“If anything, he now has a chance… unlike before,” Lilith said.

Gabriel nodded his head. “If that’s the case, then it’s your turn. You can’t stay in the city anymore, but you can’t leave right away. You can stay here for a bit longer, but they will definitely come and check sooner rather than later, so that said, it would be better to go somewhere else as soon as possible.”

“I know a place where they’ll never find,” Lilith responded quickly with determination. “I can leave right away too, but you want my packages, right?”

“Yes. We’ll have to hide them for now, but when we get the chance, we’ll deliver them ourselves. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Lilith stood up, and within moments, the remaining packages appeared on the floor with the bag of letters, which had thinned quite a lot. “This should be everything,” Lilith said, double checking what was in front of her.

Gabriel double checked as well, and in between looking at the packages, he snuck quick peeks at Lilith, who stood there. Silently. She seemed good enough was the best way he could describe it. Maybe she was holding it in, or maybe she was trying to hide it since she looked haggard, but it also looked as if she had her head on straight. As if Lilith knew what she had to do and crying, or being upset, could -had to wait until later. It was upsetting, after all. Gabriel understood that as well as anyone else, but when you're potentially the next target, you can't allow yourself to feel down, or at least until things were cleared.

“Everything seems to be here,” Gabriel confirmed. “Now then,” he said as he stood, staring directly into Lilith’s eyes. “Are you alright? Do you need any help?”

Lilith shook her head. “No, I should be fine. They don’t plan to do anything just yet, right?”

“No, not after the display they did,” Gabriel confirmed.

“Then I should have no issues if I keep low,” Lilith said, bitting the side of her nail as she thought of a plan. It would be fine, she knew it to be so, but it still worried her.

“You sure you don’t need any help?” Gabriel asked again.

“No, no… I’ll be fine,” Lilith waved the help away.

Gabriel stared at her, but let up after a few seconds. He couldn’t force her to do anything, nor did he plan to. “Just one thing… well, two. Avoid the church and avoid the plaza.”

Lilith opened her mouth, but held back after everything clicked. She was about to ask why, but after realizing what he meant, she lowered her head. “Thank you,” she softly said.

“Be quick. I would suggest waiting at least three or four days, and at most a week, to leave. I wouldn’t wait any longer than that.With the disappearance of Theo, it might be a little crazy for the next few days as they search for him, but it will calm down,” Gabriel said.

“And after it calms down, they’ll pivot their attention to me,” Lilith continued.

“There’s a high chance of it, yes. So don’t linger longer than needed.”

“Do you mind leaving the room for a quick moment?” Lilith asked, after thinking about her next plan. “I don’t think I should wear a uniform. I was thinking of wearing the robe, but it might be more suspicious.”

“No, you’re definitely right.” Gabriel agreed, and as he did, he walked over, opened the door, and after telling Lilith to come out when she was ready, closed it behind him.

It didn’t take too long for Lilith to change. Tossing on a rugged shirt and pants, she threw her uniform into the void and took out one of the hair dye vials she had prepared beforehand. “Well, let’s see what happens,” she said, and with a pop from the vial, she poured the liquid onto her hair and within moments, her dye’d red hair turned brown.

“That’s better,” Lilith nodded her head while looking into the mirror. She ruffled her hair, making sure it wasn’t as neat as it usually was. Her goal wasn’t to stand out, and the red hair would’ve done just that. So, instead, she decided that a lower-class look would be far better.

Grabbing the robe, Lilith slowly opened the door. “I’m ready,” she said after spotting Gabriel, who had borrowed a desk in view of the door. He was a busybody for sure, Lilith had thought. Even now, he was going through papers.

Gabriel raised his head, and after looking her over, he nodded his head in agreement. “Not too rich nor too poor. It’s good you dye’d your hair too. If you keep your head low, you won’t have any issues. Although normally your eye color wouldn’t have any heads turning, I can’t say with confidence that is the case right now.”

Lilith combed her hair with her fingers, covering as much of her eyes as she could. “This is as far as I can go,” she said.

“That’s better,” Gabriel remarked with a smile.

“You’re not as bad as I thought,” Lilith remarked.

“I’ve only been honest with you since the start,” Gabriel smiled. “I wouldn’t wear that robe, though.”

“Ah,” Lilith looked down at the robe wrapped around her arm. “I didn’t plan to wear it, but it wouldn’t hurt to have if I ever needed it.”

Putting the robe into the void, Lilith told Gabriel about her plans. Although she had no intention of going into the fine details, and where she was going at the behest of Gabriel himself, since it was better to know less, she said goodbye and left. It was getting late, and a lot fewer people compared to earlier in the day, but it seemed to be a lot safer. There were guards, but after a glance in Lilith’s direction, they simply kept on walking.

Taking up Scarlet’s advice from the day before, while she headed towards the shop's location, she reminded herself of the importance of meeting her. The need to find the shop. She ran it through her mind over and over, only thinking about Spellbound and its owner. Lilith wasn’t sure if this surface level of begging worked, as she assumed it was a deeper level of longing or need, but in the end, she stood in front of the steps leading down to the same glass door as before.