Sea of Secrets

Chapter 7 - Mira

Mira and Nikolai could see the bright crimson curls just ahead, the dim candlelight lighting their way as they ran.

"Cillian the Clown," Nikolai wheezed as he barreled down the tunnel, his voice echoing, "Boy, we've got you now!"

The thief turned around, and at the sight of the scary, cloaked giant, his eyes went wide, and the hunters became worryingly closer, he bolted away to the tunnel's exit.

"Just make it easy, please!" Nikolai laughed, choking as he gasped for air. "We are nice people, I promise!"

Mira edged in front of him, "Faster, Nikolai."

"I'm going as fast as this body can handle."

"Stop talking to conserve your breath," she suggested.

"You just want me to keep quiet!"

"Gods." She muttered and stretched the distance between them, and soon Nikolai had nothing left to catch up.

Legs turning, throat burning, Mira kept her eyes forward, staring at the back of Cillian's bright curls.

No, she realized, I'm not fast enough. She glanced back for Nikolai, who had fallen far behind. If she didn't hurry, their target would get away.

She willed her legs further, arms pumping, and Cillian's lead was becoming shorter by the second. If Mira tried to grab a hold of his tunic, she could.

That was the only way to catch him. Mira sprung forward and lept for the end of his tunic's hem, but just as an unwary buyer exited out of a shop's storefront, colliding with her and knocking her to the ground.

Her head hit first, the immediate throb leaving her dazed as she struggled to see straight. Her hand pressed to her forehead, her glassy eyes blinking to find Cillian. A foggy voice came, yelling, "What's the matter with you? Don't you look where you're going?"

Mira staggered to her feet, turning to the fuming man. He was pointing at her, jabbing a finger into her shoulder, mouth wide from scolding her, but she couldn't make out most of what he said. Her head was still in a daze.

She looked past the man to the rest of the tunnel. In the distance, red hair. Cillian was just at the exit's stairs. Mira hadn't lost him yet.

But just as her hands pushed the man aside to reach him, another bump came from behind her, nearly laying her out on the ground again.

She turned, but whoever it was long gone, sprinting down the tunnel. So fast she could barely recognize the cloak he wore. The pearly revolvers at his side.

"Kai." She breathed, just as Nikolai gripped her by both her shoulders.

"C'mon, Kid." He nudged her forward, her body still disoriented from the fall.

The whiny man tapped Nikolai's shoulder, face red as he continued to scold her, "That one just ran into me!"

Nikolai pushed him into the tunnel wall, and the man's face went white with fear.

"You best be going now," Nikolai growled, and the man scurried off.

Mira was guided forward, her hand gripped around Nikolai's wrist as they hurried to the tunnel's exit.

"No way that clown's getting away from Pirate Boy." Nikolai glanced back to her, "Did you see how fast he was?"

She had been close to getting that bounty. So close she had nearly felt the wind from Cillian as he ran. So close she had held the end of his tunic. "Yeah," Mira managed, "I did."