by Hugo Damas
“Short chance of that happening,” the teen said with a sigh. “The bishop took his own life, apparently. Poisoned himself before doing the deed.”
Jamie gasped. “That’s crazy, I hadn’t heard!”
“Really? Need to pay more attention, the guards were yelling about it all over the place,” Jordan said, chuckling.
Jamie threw him a ravenous glance before looking back at the teenager with concern. “Oh my gosh, I really can’t wait to get home. It’s been so busy, and then so unsafe?”
“Oh, I feel ya. I wasn’t even supposed to work today… but I still need to tend to Lord Byron over there.” He pointed and groaned, “he’s being super stubborn about making sure the Lady of Light makes it. And of course, on keeping his stupid teacup filled.”
Jamie hummed, considering it. Maybe he’s making sure she’s actually dead. But then gasped and grabbed the teenager’s arm in worry. “Oh crap, sorry to make him wait, you better go before you get into trouble.”
“Yeah, good point,” the page said a bit embarrassed, glancing down at her hand. He looked back up with a bit of a blush. “Hope to see you guys around. See ya.” He hurried off, and she just walked along without even gloating.
One has no need to gloat when the achievement is obvious enough. Plus, the physical contact would have made Jordan jealous, most likely.
“Arright,” Jordan conceded, “that was amazing. You found out what I knew and then some. You think Byron is with whoever that Bishop was with?”
“Shaddap, Jordan,” Jamie said without slowing her pace, “I’m thinking.”
As soon as the Chancellor sent for Sarah, or sent someone to check on Sarah, he would then know she was indeed the Scavenger, and at that point, the whole place would be searching for her. Jamie considered going back since she could, as Sarah, look into the guests who were waiting to learn of the Holy Lady’s death or survival, and find out their true intentions
Her job was done, though. With Sarah having been uncovered, metaphorically and literally, she had to disappear. However, as they were walking down the corridor, her pondering gaze caught upon something that alerted her ever-present suspicions.
Jamie stopped. “Keep going, I need to look into something.”
“What?” Jordan looked around, simply out of habit, to make sure no one was close enough to hear and understand the context of their exchange. “They’re on to you, aren’t they? We need to leave before they start a search.”
“I don’t have time to argue, Jordan,” Jamie said, catching sight of yet another teenager walking towards the room she wanted to infiltrate. The girl was not only dressed like Jamie, but she was carrying a platter with cookies and coffee and a piece of pastry, and that was the type of cake Rachel really liked. It was Rachel and her aunt who were inside. “Thanks for checking up on me, go ahead and give Andy your report, I’ll show up later.”
“You’re pushing it, Jamie,” Jordan warned, but Jamie didn’t much care about his opinion.
The Street Rat didn’t really care what anyone thought other than to manipulate them. In the case of Jordan, he was a potential supporter for her future bid to become a Teen. For that reason, Jamie turned around and gave him a confident smile.
“Shows what you know about me.” And a wink.
She turned and gave Jordan no more thought. He wasn’t incompetent, he wouldn’t cost her whatever she was trying to do, so she didn’t really care what he did beyond that.
The Street Rat approached the girl just as she was coming to the door.
“Hey.”
“Oh, hey.” The tanned girl had tied her hair into three bows, it looked cute but was actually probably hiding the fact it hadn’t been washed or combed in days. She had dark rings around her eyes which were discernible even against her almond complexion.
“What’s your name?” Jamie asked.
“Uh.” She seemed to shake her head, poor thing looked empty, or full of nothing but a microscopic whisper that was pleading for sleep. “Inês?”
“Right, that’s you then, you’re lucky,” Jamie told her, smiling warmly. “I’m supposed to cover for you while you take a rest.”
“What?” Inês asked, at a loss.
“Lord Byron left and freed me up,” the Street Rat said, helpful and yet tired. While talking, she took the tray off the sleepy girl’s hands. “Who’s this for?”
“Hm? Byron? Oh, for lady Pointstree.” If one kept ahead of a mind, it was easy to lead it by the nose. “She’s in that room.”
“Alright, thanks. Have a nice rest, the Light knows I envy you!” Rolling her eyes, Jamie turned around.
Inês chuckled and nodded, turning around half-dazed without any protest. “Okay then. Thank yoou…”
Worst case scenario, the girl was actually bright and would check with her supervisor about the replacement before taking a nap. That would still give the Street Rat more than enough time.
Jamie had to make sure not to give Rachel a good look of her. She wouldn’t recognize the Street Rat, but the servant she was now acting as didn’t look different enough from Sarah that Rachel wouldn’t see the resemblance.
That wasn’t hard. They were nobility, they didn’t really look closely at servants. Plus, they weren’t even there when she opened the door. She saw a tray with an empty coffee mug. She put down hers and picked that one up, all while regarding the two doors which were opened, albeit not all the way.
One had light, the other didn’t. With steps that were hard to hear, but not that quiet -- in the event the person inside suddenly decided to walk out -- Jamie headed to the dark room.
Rachel was sleeping.
Jamie couldn’t help herself from smiling. Her friend was deep under thick heavy covers, and they went up to her nose. Her hair was a neat sheet of straw under her head, and her small fingers peered out over the edge next to each cheek. She looked like any other doll she used to put to sleep. Jamie wondered if Rachel still played with dolls. Jamie mocked the habit until she picked it up to befriend her, only to find it was a pretty good way to visualize her plans.
At least, Jamie felt, without really wording it in her thoughts, I saw her one last time.
As far as goodbyes were concerned, that wasn’t that bad. Rachel liked Sarah anyway, not Jamie. And Sarah was never coming back again now that her cover was blown.
The Street Rat stepped out and headed to the other room, finding Rachel’s aunt.
Lady Pointstree seemed to be muttering to herself over a letter she was writing. Like any good thief, Jamie had a keen sense of hearing, but because of the Scavenger training, that was especially true when it came to eavesdropping.
“…she is still in critical condic…’ll be suspicious if I…can’t stay much longer….my sister’s daughter…they think it’s LBA…”
The Street Rat’s mind went through what was being heard analytically, filling in the gaps.
They think it’s LBA, which means it isn’t. They’ll be suspicious…if she stays too long. Rachel’s mother especially won’t understand what’s the holdup. After all, Pointstree has never really cared about The Light. That was exactly the thing that had alerted Jamie earlier when she caught sight of Rachel’s aunt.
Why would she have remained behind if she had no close relationship with Amara? The answer, of course, was to make sure of her condition. Whatever it ended up being.
The conclusion was that Lady Pointstree was clearly writing to the ones behind the attack. She was with them, in some way or another.
Boom, The Street Rat thought, smirking with pure pride. She didn’t like to agree with Jordan but he was right, she was amazing. At long last, for the first time since Jamie had awaken, the Street Rat felt back to her full form.
Jamie needed that letter, but it was very unlikely that she could get it without Pointstree noticing. She was facing the door, the woman had simply not yet looked up to notice the Street Rat.
Hmm…
Jamie could simply try. She went back to the table
and replaced trays again, and now that she was carrying the one with the requested food an drink, she knocked on the door and opened it.
“’’Xcuse me, lady.” Jamie used a voice with a much less cultured pang to it. If one were prejudiced enough, they would assume that voice to mean a severe lack of education as well as an inclination for simple thinking.
The woman shook, properly startled.
“What are you doing!” She reflexively slapped the letter with her hand and faced Edy with a start. “You can’t just barge in here! Who are you?”
“’m Edy, m’am. Gotch’ur stuff?”
The lady looked at the tray with an undignified look. “Stuff?” Egocentric superiority complexes were so easy to rattle. The old lady was offended because she had described their tea and cake as stuff. “Where is Inês?”
Edy clicked her tongue. “Takin’ a break, mam. Been a long night for everyone, hasn’t it?”
“It’s lady, girl, not m’am,” she said, in mild insult.
Jamie nodded a bit dismissively. “’Xcuse me, m’lady. Here ya go, anyways, will you be wan-waaahh!” Edy tripped over herself -- the most classic move of all -- and the woman acted as expected, jumping out of the way. The last thing the lady wanted was to be hurt, or worse, dirty. After all, she was the most important thing in the world, let alone the room.
The chair toppled over as Edy violently hit the table, bouncing back while flipping the tray over and away, disgracefully and out of control.
It was violent and chaotic, and the letter found its way into the Street Rat’s pocket in the middle of it all.
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!??!?!?”
Now, an amateur would act all sorry. They had the letter, so now they would be sheepish, apologetic and freaking out. But that, Jamie knew, would be breaking character.
“Ooowwww!” Edy moaned. She massaged her chest, the point of contact with the desk. “Holy glow, that hurt.”
“Look at the mess you made, you little urchin!” The woman heavily accused, as if murder had occurred.
“It was’n accident,” Edy protested. “I’m hurting here -- I mean I’m sorry and all, I’ll fetch ya more o’ the stuff, don’t worry.”
The woman’s head was red with rage.
“YES! YES, YOU WILL!” She breathed in, collecting herself, “and tell them to send someone else. I see you ever again, little girl, the only place you’ll be able to serve will be at the whorehouses of Hallandia.
Wow. The woman really didn’t like a mess. But that was a threat for Edy to be appropriately afraid of.
“Okay o’ay,” Edy muttered, hurrying to grab the tray, avoiding eye contact and sweating fear. She was startling herself in her attempts to collect the pieces of the shattered teacup.
“Just go!” The lady yelled in a whisper, seemingly remembering Rachel was in the room nearby. “Tell someone to come and clean this up. I just want you out of my sight this instant.”
Edy raised her hands in agreement and walked off in a hurry. “I’m sorry, ma--”
“JUST!”
Edy jolted in fright and sped up. She threw a last glance at Rachel’s room as she left the place.
Goodbye, Rachel. You’re a nicer person than most.
Jamie skipped out the door, turned and sped up the march. She couldn’t be seen running, that would be suspicious, especially while carrying that tray with an obvious mess on it. But that didn’t mean she was going slow, not by a long shot.
The Street Rat had around three to five minutes before the old woman realized the letter had been taken. She would then pop a blood vessel and wake up the whole penthouse.
That, in turn, reminded Jamie that she was still on the top of a very tall building. Which was about to get locked down and chase her down.
Alarm bloated her nervous system.
I need to change!
Jamie threw the tray aside and ran. If the Street Rat weren’t a boy soon, she would most likely be caught. Jamie tried finding a dressing room without any luck. She was sort of lost and quickly beginning to wish she had kept Jordan around. He had staked out the place and would know where to go.
“Alright! Spread out and find this thieving girl!”
The voice had come from the end of the hall. Reacting quickly, Jamie opened the nearest door. Inside was no dressing room but an ordinary room -- well, ordinary from the point of view of someone rich, it could easily house two families -- and inside, to her surprise, she found a thief.
The young woman, barely out of her teens, turned back from the crouch she was holding over a small jewelry chest, looking straight at Jamie. The room was a bit smoky, and a couple of nobles were sleeping soundly on a sofa. She had on a make-shift mask which seemed made out of aviator goggles and a hand towel wrapped around her mouth and nose, tied behind her neck.
The Street Rat immediately held her breath, but the thief stood up and set for a run towards the window. By watching the movement, and noticing the tiny backpacks across her back, especially the one that was clearly opened and empty, Jamie was able to guess what was going on.
“Wait wait please wait!” Jamie let her voice sound as young as it was.
Yelling was coming from the halls behind her as the figure stopped near the window, looking back at her.
“Hummingbird, right?” Jamie asked, scared.
“Thieving Magpie,” the woman corrected.
“Right.” Whatever. “Listen, that’s not for you,” Jamie said, pointing back at the noise outside. “That’s for me. I stole proof of who tried to kill the Holy Lady. I’m -- I need to get out. I’ll die otherwise.”
“…stole from who?” The voice didn’t sound very bright. It sounded bright, but not in the smart kind of way. She was stealing even while the world was crumbling before a supernatural invasion, so she was obviously bright-eyed, that much was certain.
“Spies, infiltrators, I dunno, I haven’t read it. Please, help me get out of here,” Jamie pleaded.
The Thieving Magpie thought to herself for a quick though extremely long minute. Then she shrugged and untied one of her small rucksacks.
“Sure, why not? I already made enough to buy a dozen more of these.” She tossed the pack over to Jamie. “Jump and pull that cord that’s peeking out there. You won’t be able to guide it, but you’ll get to the ground pretty safe. A bit fast, but safe.”
Jamie eyed the thing with a tiny shred of relief. “Uhh, how fast, exactly?”
The Thieving Magpie giggled. “Not that fast, don’t worry. You gotta put it on, though.”
“Right, uhm, ’preciated,” Jamie hesitantly said, scurrying to put it on. It was heavier than it looked, and it certainly didn’t make her any lighter. How was that going to work, exactly?
“No worries. No harm looking out for each other when it comes at no cost, right? Eh, maybe not, maybe you wouldn’t do the same for me.” She looked away and smiled at something outside, “what do I care, though? Remember the Thieving Magpie saved your butt, yeah?”
The Street Rat nodded. Jamie wasn’t honorable at all, but like the Magpie was saying, she would definitely return the favor given the opportunity and, key factor, absence of cost. “You bet I will.”
The girl laughed and jumped out headfirst.
Jamie walked fast to the window and looked down. An arch of tissue, considerably wide and long, was opened. It was carrying the Thieving Magpie away in a slow fall. Or at least, apparently slow.
Jamie breathed out.
“Right. Well.” She moaned in protest. “This is pretty crazy.”
The yells outside got closer. They would be reaching her soon. Unfortunately, they would assume she was responsible for what Thieving Magpie stole, which would make it easy for lady Pointstree to claim she had just stolen some of her valuables as well. The chances the Chancellor would even read the letter before arresting Jamie were very slim.
The Street Rat breathed in. Jamie breathed out. She tried to accept that she was about to jump off a building that was so tall
she could hardly discern the ground. She couldn’t accept it.
Luckily, she characterized personalities for a living, so she dealt with the fear by acting it away.
Jamie shook herself, feeling her hair flowing to the cold wind coming in through the window she was about to jump out of. The Street Rat looked ahead instead of down.
“I’ll prolly enjoy it, that’s the scary thing,” Jamie said, nervous.
It wasn’t. The scary thing was falling.
With what many would consider a misstep, the Street Rat stepped out into the void and, unable to keep her eyes open before the rush of the fall, blindly pulled the cord.
* * *
The first few seconds of her fall were lost to her. The abrupt pull of the contraption to make her body somewhat suspend its own fall caused a sensation Jamie had never experienced, and so, her senses shut down.
It took an extra few seconds for Jamie to half-believe the contraption was indeed working, after which she contemplated just how high she was and how fast she was falling.
“Well.”
The Street Rat could not tell very well, seeing as it was night-time, she could only hear the remarkable amount of silence around her.
There was air struggling against the piece of hard fabric slowing her descent, but everything else was far away and silent. Jamie didn’t like it much, the Street Rat was most comfortable amidst noise, particularly crowd noise.
The Street Rat noticed then that the thing was taking her right down an alley -- and for the first time in her life, that was literal -- but one that was very narrow. Looking up, Jamie regarded that the arch of fabric was going to hit one of the walls.
“Crap!” Jamie yelled, concerned. “Oh man, oh man, oh man.”
Luckily, her forward speed wasn’t at all high. The thing scraped against the building’s corner, sort of bouncing while starting a spin. Jamie held on for dear life, too out of it to notice her descending speed was still stable.
Going slightly dizzy, Jamie was still able to notice she was about to hit the ground. She held her breath and, in a moment of revelation, remembered she was wounded in her leg. She lifted them both up in reaction and landed on her butt.
