Silas should have by now gotten used to ending up in embarrassing situations like that one. Yet he still couldn't help but feel dejected after those five children had broken in through the windows of the house, and with a speed worthy of a pack of foxes surrounded him with ropes until they left him completely immobilized.

The bait had been one of the little girls who had knocked on the door to eagerly ask for food. The bait had been one of the little girls who had knocked on the door to beg for food in such an persistent manner that she even got down on her knees. Tired of listening to her he went to get some bread so she would leave him alone for once and didn't notice anything weird until it was too late.

Moreover, that timing reminded him of his life with the pack when the elders taught the youngsters hunting techniques in which each member collaborated with a particular task. Naturally, in his first form, he had never managed to do anything useful. The same thing that was happening now.

Without taking his eyes off the ground he listened as Olivia let out a nervous laugh that surely didn't convince anyone.

“Lady Olivia? Me? I'm extremely flattered but you couldn't be more wrong! Do I really look like a real lady to you? Just look at me! Besides... Shadow what? I haven't the faintest idea where that place is!”

“So... explain this,” Rufus' words forced Silas to raise his head to watch as the gang leader took out a piece of parchment and spread it out in front of them.

Two faces quite similar to them had been drawn on it. Though Silas' face was badly disfigured-his nose couldn't be that big!

“What's that?” asked Olivia even though the answer was obvious.

“Finn stole it from the pocket of one of the messengers who arrived this morning. They must have made more copies.”

“It must be a coincidence... I have nothing to do with the nobility,” despite her short time as an actress, the girl had not learned to answer without hesitation.

“You're a Lady?” Milo was astonished. “Well, that... explains a lot of things...”

“I...” Olivia tried to say something but was interrupted by Rufus.

“You are a very important person, Lady Olivia,” Rufus' cold gaze fell on Silas. “But you... it seems you are even more important... The funny thing is that you don't have any title, not even a last name... Silas... the chimera.”

“A chimera? What is that?” asked Milo.

“Ha! And you dare to tell me to go to school,” Rufus gestured and two of the other children moved to Silas' side to start removing the bandages covering the bear paw.

“Don't do that, he's hurt!” Olivia shrieked but the other two children held her back.

Silas tried to shake himself free. He didn't want to hurt any of them but if he was forced to use his claws he'd have no choice but to...

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a gust of wind that enveloped the entire room. The soft light of the candles extinguished and everything went dark. As Silas was catapulted backwards he heard the screams and blows coming from the children who must have been flying off in all directions. Then he felt the wood of the chair crack as it slammed against the wall and the ropes that held him prisoner loosened. He rolled his body, covering his head with both hands to avoid being hurt by the objects flying in circle around him.

The blasts did not stop until several seconds later and as soon as the chimera was sure that there was no more danger he got up. Around him there was only silence and there seemed to be no movement from outside the house either. So the only one who could have done that was Olivia.

He next heard a whimper from the girl and jumped in her direction. As he groped in the darkness he almost tripped over her body lying on the floor.

“Olivia?”

The girl was breathing heavily as he carefully tried to lift her up.

“I thought... had... enough... energy...” she spoke as if every word required an enormous effort. “But... already... feeling... pretty... tired...”

“It's because you still haven't fully recovered,” Silas scolded her. “See, you shouldn't have gone out to work with Milo.”

“I didn't... want... to... do this... it was... it was... an impulse... I was... angry...”

“And you couldn't help it... I never saw you use your own power like this.”

She huffed in offense.

“You... forget that... before... knew... that I was... a witch... I was... a... an... apprentice... wizard. I... can... still... summon... seals...”

Silas pulled her close to one of the windows and made her sit on a chair that still kept its four legs. He studied her body up and down looking for wounds until he reached her blue eyes that shone as bright as the sea under the silver moonlight streaming through the window.

“You're a weird creature, Olivia of Shadowrock.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Look who's... talking.”

For a moment they stared at each other so earnestly that Silas' body began to lean into her. Suddenly he felt capable to dive into that pristine blue. But why was it just now, even though he had gazed into those eyes so many times, that he felt as if he were seeing them for the first time?

She brought one hand up to his face and when her delicate fingers rested on his temple it was as if lightning rushed from that point to his stomach. When she withdrew them he noticed that they were covered in red.

“You are... bleeding...” said she.

He brought his hand to the wound but felt only a slight burning. The cut must have been very small. He turned around to briefly survey the damage and could only see a dark mountain of boxes, barrels, nets and pottery that had been piled up by the whirlwind. The table and the rest of the furniture had been overturned with their legs in splinters.

“How many times have you saved me already?” he asked returning his eyes to Olivia.

A stifled laugh escaped her lips.

“I... I... I... lost... count,” even in the gloom he was able to see the blush flaring on her cheeks.

“I must be careful or you'll end up saving me a hundred times like you said. What will happen to me next?”

“I... I... don't... I... always...”

As she tried to answer Silas wondered why he suddenly felt so hot when he was about to sink into that icy sea that threatened to devour him whole.

Their faces were inches apart when a childish voice interrupted them.

“Kiss her already!” shouted one of the girls, who immediately began to moan in pain.

She was followed by the voices of the others who sounded as if they were crawling across the floor, clinking shards of pottery and broken furniture.

“Oh, no, gross!”

“Just now? Really?”

“Unbelievable!”

“They're teenagers! They only think with their...!”

“Olivia, no!” moaned Milo as if he had been betrayed.

A shrill scream flooded the darkened room. It was Rufus.

“Boss, I'm coming!” shouted Finn.

“You idiot! When were you going to tell me she was a wizard?” despite his authoritative tone, Rufus' voice reflected intense pain.

“Are you really a wizard, Olivia?” Milo scolded her again as if discovering that fact was much worse.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Boss!” Finn whined. “The wizards never said anything about that! They talked about her as if she was a helpless spoiled girl! They said the chimera was holding her hostage!”

As always, there was no end to the wizards' lies.

While the boys kept arguing, Silas slipped an arm under the girl's shoulders.

“Olivia, let's go. They'll take a while to recover.”

She resisted.

“But... I... Did I... hurt them?” her lips trembled with regret.

“They can manage on their own. They're thieves, Children of the Port, they don't need us.”

“Exactly... they're... just... children!”

“They tried to capture us for... I don't know what for, nothing good for sure!”

“There's a reward for you!” said one of the girls.

“A trunk full of gold!” followed the other one.

“You see?” snorted Silas, trying to drag Olivia away without hurting her, but she kept stopping him.

“We can't leave them like this!”

“Have you already forgotten what happened with Deema and Gorwan? Do you want to repeat the same mistake?”

“They're children, Silas!”

“Children can be dangerous too!” Silas still remembered in detail the abuses of his brothers transformed into animals and away from the adults' sight. He had been chased and beaten like the ball the servants' children kicked on the courtyard of Shadowrock Castle. He had never told anyone because he couldn't live with the shame of feeling helpless against chimera cubs much younger than him.

And there was no way he was going to go through that again.

“Fuck!” he finished removing the bandages covering the bear paw and brought it closer to the window. His sharp claws glittered like little silver daggers. “You see this, you damned bastards? One false step and I won't hesitate to rip off your skins and slit your bellies to decorate the walls with your guts! And after that the wizard will blow up your corpses and let them sink to the bottom of the sea!”

“Silas!” Olivia complained, but he ignored her and advanced menacingly towards the children, squinting his eyes.

“Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” they all exclaimed, Milo included.

The chimera nodded and began to grope around in search of elements to make a fire. When he managed to light a small flame in the stove, he looked for a candle and with it he moved through the chaos of the room to see how wounded they really were.

He found the two girls in each other's arms. One of them, the smaller, short-haired one, who had so innocently begged him for food, had a face wet with tears. If it weren't for the way they had tied him up, Silas would have even felt tenderness for them. They had several cuts that stained their gray clothes red, but nothing serious.

Olivia, having caught her breath, went over to start bandaging them with shreds of clothes lying on the floor.

“I'm so sorry,” she whispered as she wiped away the little girl's tears. “What's your name?”

“My name is Katty.”

“And I'm Vinnie,” replied the older girl as she tried to tie back her messy hair, now loose.

“I didn't mean to hurt you... I was just protecting my... friend.”

“Ah... So he's not your boyfriend?” Vinnie asked.

“Of course not!”

“Well, then he'll be mine.”

“No! He's mine!” Katty punched Vinnie's shoulder which made Vinnie groan in pain and in response she tried to cinch her hair.

“What are you doing?” Olivia was trying to keep them from hurting each other even more.

Silas cleared his throat uncomfortably as he continued his inspection. Milo had suffered a heavy blow to the chest when a barrel had gone over him but although he was breathing heavily it appeared that he hadn't broken any ribs. As for the other two boys, Finn and Penn, who by their close resemblance were probably brothers, the former had a few small cuts and the latter was only limping a little.

The one who had gotten the worst of it, much to Silas' delight, was Rufus whom he found leaning against the wall and with his right arm twisted at an unnatural angle. His now pale face matched his gray eyes and he gritted his teeth trying not to cry out in pain.

Silas didn't bother to hide his smile.

“This is what happens to you when you mess with someone more powerful than you, asshole.”

Rufus glared at him but said nothing.

“Silas, don't bully him,” Olivia scolded him, coming closer. “Poor little guy.”

“Poor little guy?” exclaimed both Silas and Rufus.

“Let me see that,” Olivia approached the boy to study his arm.

“He's the bully!” Silas protested.

“I'm the leader of the Port Ghosts, you smug wizard!” exclaimed Rufus who tried to pull away from her only to feel a stab of pain that made him burst into howls.

“There, there,” Olivia's voice reminded Silas of his own mother when as a child he was frightened by the thunder whose deafening echoes made the mountain peaks tremble.

“This is your fault! But it's nothing! I've had much worse injuries!” Rufus shouted, trying to hide his pain with a furious tone, “I was once attacked by a smuggler with a dagger! I have a huge scar on my chest!”

“Of course it's my fault and I'll make up for it,” said Olivia softly. “I see... I think I know how to fix this...”

“Don't you dare touch me, you filthy wizard!”

“Do you really know how to fix it?” Silas asked suspiciously.

Olivia cleared her throat.

“We need to get his arm back in place before it gets worse. I saw Barthra do it a couple of times.”

“A couple of times?”

“Several times maybe. To soldiers or peasants who had suffered accidents. It's not very complicated but... maybe I'm not strong enough,” she raised her eyebrows looking at him.

“First you attack us and now you want to torture us!”, Rufus shouted. “Typical evil wizards! Guys, do something!”

But the rest didn't move. Silas wasn't sure if it was out of fear or because they really believed Olivia could heal him.

The chimera sighed.

“What do I have to do?”

“No!” cried Rufus but Silas grabbed him tightly by his good arm.

“It won't be pleasant but you'll feel much better in no time, I promise,” said Olivia. “Finn, look for something he can bite.”

While she was giving Silas the instructions, the boy found a leather belt that he handed to the girl and she put it in Rufus' mouth, who, already surrendered, began to chew hard in anticipation of the great pain that was about to be inflicted on him.

Silas took a deep breath. It amused him to get back at the Ghosts' leader that way, but on the other hand he didn't want to fail Olivia either. He brought his right hand to Rufus' crooked arm, and rested the heavy bear paw on his shoulder to steady him. He counted to three and with a quick, precise motion he twisted and pulled the arm back into its proper position.

A click echoed through the room. Penn ran out the front door and shortly after they heard his retching. Finn came out after him. The two girls hugged again and watched with terrified eyes unable to move. Milo stood still with his hands clenched into fists and as pale as Rufus as he could feel the same pain.

The young gang leader was biting so hard on his belt it looked as if his teeth were going to shoot out and his face had become damp with sweat. He emitted only hoarse grunts that intensified during those brief seconds as Silas adjusted his arm.

The maneuver done, Rufus' moans ceased, the belt dropped to the floor and his breathing began to normalize.

“Fuck.”

“Boss!” Finn poked his head through the door. “How are you feeling?”

“Better but no thanks to you.”

“Boss...” whimpered the boy begging for forgiveness.

“Well done, Silas!” Olivia patted his shoulder and Silas' chest swelled with pride.

Rufus cupped his hand on his own shoulder.

“It better be good...” he glared at the chimera. “Because if it doesn't, I'll make sure it hurts you twice as much.”

Silas raised his bear claws.

“Be thankful I haven't killed you yet. Now we're even. You ambushed us and got a taste of what we can do to you.”

“Silas, stop it,” Olivia rubbed her eyes. “Really... I don't recognize you.”

“But...!”

“You're being so childish! You know they're weaker than you.”

“But they...!”

She didn't let him continue.

“Now that we know everyone is okay it's time to go.”

“Do you think the wizards can track your magic?”

“My magic is very weak compared to... our friends... but just in case we should look for another hiding place,” she turned to the side. “Milo, thank you very much for your help.”

“No, I'm going with you!” the boy objected.

Olivia looked at him in surprise.

“Even now that you know who we really are?”

“You may be a wizard but you are very different from the others. I've seen it with my own eyes. As for the chimeras... I know almost nothing about them really.”

“Chimeras were hunted down and killed by wizards over a hundred years ago,” Rufus rolled his eyes as if it was something the other should know.

“You people hate wizards,” said Silas.

“Every single person in Stormbrace hates wizards.”

“But you were willing to deliver us to them.”

Rufus wrinkled his lips.

“I didn't like the idea very much, but the reward was worth it.”

“Even for you that's shameful,” Milo pointed out. “I thought at least thieves had their codes too.”

“Perhaps, boss...” agreed Vinnie, stepping forward. “We were a little rash...”

Rufus sighed.

“In a matter of hours, capture notices will start circulating.”

“How can you know all that?” Olivia asked.

“Finn is the Ear of the group. He has a great ability to hide and get information. He's not very adept at stealing but every once in a while he gets something like that scroll I showed you.”

“Boss...” Finn looked at the floor in embarrassment.

“What made you change your mind?” Silas folded his arms.

“I don't like Milo very much but he's right. Your friend is different. Another wizard would have left me to my own fate. Why did you heal me after I tried to capture you?” he asked Olivia.

“I was the one who healed you,” Silas growled.

Olivia shrugged.

“Because it was the right thing to do.”

Rufus snorted as he straightened up with help from Vinnie and Finn.

“I can tell you're a noblewoman. That's easy for you to say. You don't know what it's like to survive on the streets. I'm afraid you'll be caught in no time. Good luck to you.”

Rufus was already approaching the door to leave when Katty started jumping up and down.

“Boss! What about our hideout?”

The boy sighed and paused on the threshold.

“It's the safest place in the port!” Vinnie seconded her.

Finn and Penn, the latter now recovered from his indigestion, agreed with the idea.

“Do you understand that we're dealing with wizards?” asked the leader.

The others protested that they had no fear of wizards, even though Silas believed the opposite.

But Rufus surprised him next.

“Let's vote... all in favor?” his four minions raised their hands enthusiastically, but Rufus' hands remained in place.

Despite that, the arrogant boss respected the group's decision.

“Well, let's go then,” he looked at Silas and Olivia steadily before crossing the door. “We're moving fast so try not to fall behind.”

The rest of the gang followed him, including a hesitant Milo and then Olivia.

Silas grabbed her arm.

“What if it's just another trap?”

She only bit her lips.

“What's the matter, chimera? Scared of me all of a sudden?” Rufus boasted.

Damn kid. Silas grabbed Olivia's hand so as not to lose sight of her and together they advanced behind the group.