The Zodiac Cycle

1.7 The Next Two Are Where Now?

"This-" I started, "This looks dangerous."

Following the tracker had led us into the not-so-nice part of town. We were now in front of a large storage building with thick metal doors.

"It'll be fine." Keith tried to assure me "I doubt theres anything too dangerous in there. It's not like it's going to be a mafia or anything."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "dont jinx it."

"What's jinxing?" He asked as I pushed the door open to reveal a large group of angry faces.

Nope, not a Mafia.

But a gang is still trouble isnt it?

I groaned. Most every person in there had a firearm or blade, and all their eyes were trained on us. I was about ready to step back out, when a guy stepped forward. He looked to me like a wolf fey.

"You lost?"

I laughed awkwardly "ha, no, not lost. We are actually looking for some people."

"You want info?" He asked "'at's not cheap 'round 'ere." I could hardly make out what he had said, but I understood well enough.

He was trying to shake us.

Thats what Mum had called it anyways. When someone wanted to get money off someone else without some kind of official bussiness.

"Uh, actually. We dont really know who we are looking for. We just know they're here." The way some of these people were seizing me up made me stiffen. "We dont want any trouble."

"Ell, troubles all y'all askin' for." He pointed out. "Y'all could prob'ly ask the boss." He turned and started heading toward the back, motioning us to follow.

We ended up in a small conference room where the last of a group of people were trickling out. Sitting at the head of the table, silently glaring while two others argued, was a man.

He had dark, caramel-like skin and dark brown hair that was buzzed on the sides and hung to the tops of his ears. He was human. His eyes were a dark red color and he was wearing a matching red muscle shirt. He also had on black pants with rips in the knees. His legs were crossed over one another, his arms the same.

He was intimidating, that was for sure. What was worse, I thought, was the way he was quietly observing, thoughtful. I could tell he was analyzing, he was smart.

"'Ey boss." The man that had led us here called out to the man.

The boss looked up, looking Keith and I a hasty once-over before standing. He rose to about 5'7", not too tall at all.

"Diar, who did you bring in now?" He scowled at us, tense.

"They lookin' for somebody, sir." He laughed "but they dont know who theys lookin' for."

The boss narrowed his eyes, and walked around us, assessing yet again. "Last person that came here said the same thing." He stopped in front of me and lowered his chin "then he attacked us."

"Oh dont worry about that. We mean you no harm." Keith started. He pulled out a slip of paper then wandered closer to him and handed it to him. "We are simply looking for two people with these signs somewhere on their bodies." He unfolded the paper and pointed to spots with the signs we were looking for.

The man scowled again, stiffening, then nearly glared a hole through Keith, making him take a step back. he still had his arms crossed.

"I'm not some informant that looks for tattoos, look somewhere else."

"Well actually, they're not tattoos per se." Keith started.

"Did I ask? That wasn't a request, get out." He shoved his left hand into his pants pocket and his right one pointed the way to the door.

"Well we know they're here somewhere if we could just." Keith started to panic a bit, fumbling for the tracking device that he had forgotten he had given me.

"NO." his voice grew louder and more agitated.

"Ash?" A small voice mumbled from behind us. "Why are you yelling?"

I turned around to find a small merman that looked similar to ash in skin tone and hair color. His eyes were slitted and grey and he had on a black hoodie that looked more Ash's (guessing that was the name of the yelling boss man) size than his own. His hair was long and tangled in large curls and he had spiky, grey, finned flaps instead of ears that poked through his hair. He also wore a pair of shorts and no shoes and had a scaly tail that split into two flaps at the end, barely touching the ground. He looked to be only 5'3" or 4".

He blinked at us slowly, then yawned and lifted his right hand to rub his eye. The sweater sleeve slipped down his skinny arm to reveal a sign on his wrist. Like a sideways 69, the Cancer.

Keith got a little too excited.

"There! That's one of them. You're the Cancer!"

The small male looked startled and pulled his sleeve back down and in one fell swoop, Ash had pulled him beside him and pulled out a knife, pointing it at us.

Needless to say I rolled my eyes.

"Jeez yall are skittish. We are not here to hurt him, we want his help. And you," I pointed accusingly at Keith "seriously need to calm down."

"I dont trust you." Ash had the knife in his left hand. His other hand was holding the other boy behind him.

The merman held onto Ashs arm and peeked at us, but didnt say a word.

"That's fair, you dont have to." I argued. "But I'm in the same boat as him." I pulled up the shirt I was wearing and showed them the sign on my hip. "We need him and the person with the Scorpio sign, we know they're both here and were looking to ask them to help us."

The merman looked at the sign on my hip, then up at Ash, before shifting and setting a hand on the arm holding the knife. Ash looked at him and they spoke quietly to each other.

"How did you know we were here?" The merman spoke, looking directly at me.

"We used this." I pulled out the Tracker and showed them. Ash scowled once again.

"There was a man before. He came in here with one of those and spat the same lies you have." Ash growled. "And then he attacked Nolan, he tried to kill him." He motioned his head toward the fish. "How do we know you're not with him?"

"Theres another tracker?" Keith looked worried. "That's not good. Perhaps we should go back to Iris and Brianna and check on them."

"One thing at a time bird brain." I looked at him pointedly, then sighed. "Look, the only way to lose the sign is death, you get some kind of ancient power, and you're needed to save the world." I checked off on my hands. "Did I leave anything out?"

"What about destiny?" Keith suggested.

"I am not spouting about destiny." I groaned.

"I'll help." Nolan interrupted our jabber loudly. Then he finished quieter again "if Ash can come too."

"Its far too dangerous to bring extra people."

Keith was quieted when Ash switched the knife to his right hand and revealed the M shaped mark on the palm of his left hand.

The Scorpio.