Malak hurried down the cobbled street, xir head bowed down against the thundering raindrops falling from the purple sky. The rain sang to xem in the crashing wind, thrashing the tall palm trees imported here by the rich. Malak never knew what it was to be rich. Never knew what it was to rub two coins between xir caramel brown fingers. All xe ever had were the clothes on xir back and the incomplete deck of playing cards in xir coat pocket.
The city never noticed Malak until it was too late. Xe kept xir head down, shoulders hunched into xir rusty brown coat, xir strides confident and swift, though quiet, making xem easy to miss. Abruptly, xe turned a corner, heels clicking softly on the rain soaked cobbles as xe left the familiar riverside boardwalk and headed down an alley. It was the longest in the vast city of Bardo and had more branches than xe cared to count. Xe could walk anywhere from there and xe knew all the places to go. Every street, river, shop, alley, and boulevard; every nook and cranny memorized better than the back of xir hand. Bardo lay before xem in endless possibilities.
Feeling a little cold and a little restless, Malak lit a hand-rolled cigarette as xe walked, moving with the shifting bends, the dark stairwells, and sloping downgrades. The city transformed around xem from crammed slums of climate refugees to underpass-protected encampments of the innumerable unhoused to grand, gated estates and pristine boutiques. A soccer ball hit Malak’s leg and xe kicked it back to the group of skinny, sallow faced children who were playing unsupervised in the unpaved streets with bare feet. In the nicer parts of town people avoided xem, eyes only watching from the corners and from under the brims of handmade hats, their disapproval obvious in the set of their shoulders and the upturned nature of their noses. But Malak ignored them as xe ignored everyone.
The rain stopped. The world seems quieter than the velvety blackness of outer space as it always did after a good downpour. An occasional drop would drip with a soft chirp from the edge of a roof or slip of a leaf.
Finally xe took a steep flight of stairs up, xir gloved hand skimming over the rickety railing. Rust and moss had devoured most of the once sturdy metal. The stairs led to a wide open boulevard with grand houses set far from the street. Sunlight poured like honey over everything making the fragmented droplets of leftover music sparkle in a million rainbows. Tall hedges and elegant wrought iron gates made it so xe could barely glimpse the houses from the impeccable sidewalks. The palm trees guarded the homes, one at each of the front two corners of every mansion, their huge leaves blowing gently in the wind and casting long slender shadows on the cool gray of the road. Not a single soul was out today. Not a single car drove by. Everything was big, quiet and bright, and Malak was alone.
But that was how Malak liked it. People were messy beings and xe needed to concentrate. Xe put out xir cigarette before the patrol caught xem; such delinquency was not acceptable in these parts. Not from the likes of xem, anyway. Xe fingered the playing cards in xir pocket, shuffling through them one handed, feeling their worn edges and soft surfaces. Without looking xe could easily tell which card was which and xe spent a few breaths searching, flipping the cards over from purple backing to white face till xe found the ace of hearts. It blushed soothingly under xir cold fingers. Malak tugged at it, eyes unfocused and wearing a hole in the toe of xir boot as xe ground it into the permeable concrete sidewalk. Slowly, xe felt its power seep over xem and then quite suddenly it had xem, dripping down xir shoulders and spine, wrapping around xir legs till xe was nothing more than a shadow. With easier breaths xe continued down the sweeping boulevard, now invisible and safe from prying cameras.
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The estate Malak was looking for was the farthest from the street and rose the highest, looking like some fortress from a fairy tale. Xir thin frame slid easily between a tall hedge and a gate, allowing xem to slink through the side garden and down a lengthy, leafy driveway. Xe was not there to break and enter. Merely to observe. So although the glittering chandelier and shimmering candlesticks made xir fingers itch from habit, xe kept xir feet firmly on the damp graveled path just outside the velvet curtained windows.
Whipping out a notebook, Malak began to sketch and jot down the location of doors, windows, what types of locks they had and whether the rooms beyond were likely to be parlors, libraries, or empty spares. Xe marked how many floors there were and which sections were wood and which were stone. As xe went xe began a rough sketch of the estate that xe would fill in with details later.
The entire procedure took less than half an hour. Xe was just doing one last lap to double check xe hadn’t missed anything when xir cell phone rang.
“Hello?” Malak answered, tucking xir notebook and pen back into xir pocket as xe exited the property.
“Where are you?” came the reply. The voice was raspy and familiar.
“Estelle, alway so polite,” Malak teased, a smile spreading across xir face.
“You’re late,” Estelle snapped. “We’re on the food run today.”
“Shit.” Malak threw xir head back, xir eyes closed. “I forgot.”
“Clearly. The whole Order would starve if it weren’t for me.”
“Where are we hitting today?”
“The Bardo Market on North Boulevard. The police are concentrated on the south since we hit those spots last month. I’m hoping today will be an easy raid.”
Malak sprinted to catch a cab and gave the driver hurried directions. “I’ll be there in seven minutes. Meet you there?”
“See you, loser,” Estelle laughed.
“Love you too.”
The cab ride, while luxuriously expensive, gave Malak plenty of time to think and catch xir breath before the raid. Xe pulled the oval locket xe kept around xir neck out from under xir shirt and rubbed the face with xir thumb letting the smooth silver soothe xem.
The last few weeks had been a flurry of research as xe drew closer to finding the last cards of the deck. After finding nearly ten in a museum of Curious Artifacts in a neighboring town off the coast of the mainland all xe had left were the two jokers, a few royal cards except for the spades, (xe had all of those) and a few heart number cards. Malak, who already slept little, was hardly sleeping at all now, the taste of freedom so close xe could not think of anything else, including today’s food run which had been part of xir routine for years. Xe had to stay focused. Xe could not get kicked out of The Order now when xe was so close.
Outside, the rain began to fall again, in earnest this time, but not even the weather could dampen Malak’s mood today.