One Week.

Chapter Twenty-One.

"My name is Canarie." The yellow haired woman grinned. "Pronounced like the bird." I was silent for a second, wondering if that was why almost her entire body was a bright yellow.

"Can I get Lissette back from the soul takers?" I asked desperately after a brief pause, ignoring her previous sentance as I had much more important things to attend to.

"Oh, you're called Cade? Why, nice to meet you two." She smiled wryly, looking happy as always. I got the feeling she was always this infuriating.

"Can I?" I demanded impatiently, wriggling away from the men still holding my arms back.

The boy was glaring at me, standing straight and looking indignant. His neck was beginning to flame red and bruise violet. I honestly couldn't care less. He was a murderer, the scum of the streets and that was what I would always see him as. I vowed it to myself.

"It's a possibilty." Canarie sang, pacing slowly and teasingly with a giggle in her voice, as though this was just some hilarious joke.

"Tell me!" I hissed, jerking at the grips of the two men.

"Well," Canarie sighed, fluttering her yellow eyelashes and pretending to think, resting her plump behind against the wall across from me. "I suppose, theoretically, you could. I suppose, if they can steal souls, you can steal them back. But, if a thief steals something of yours, and you steal it back, does that not also make you a thief, hmm? Hmm? I suppose, for you to get your precious lady friend, you would have to become a thief yourself. Lower yourself to the soul takers standard. Damn your soul to save another, would you be willing to do that, hmm?"

I hesitated, she crept forward, that same playful gleam in her yellow- green eyes, like a kitten about to do something it was not supposed to do.

"Yes, if that is what it takes, so be it." I finally answered, voice flat and slightly defeated. Lissette had risked it all to save me; I would have to do same in repayment. It was only fair.

Canarie giggled and purred, leaning forward and stroking my chin affectionately. "I like you already. Welcome to the revolution Cade."

She switched her attention to the bald, authorative man who had being watching us with a shielded face. "Tell the men to release him, Blit. Please? Pretty please?"

"Shut up Canarie." He grunted, then nodded at the men to release me. The did so, grudgingly, and I rubbed the feeling back into my arms, glaring at both of them.

"My name is Blit, as you have probably assumed." Blit, the leader, sighed, running a hand over his face.

"I am the leader of this revolution. Our aim is to destroy the soul takers. That is our one and only aim so far. The soul takers steal souls and gain their powers."

"So the soul takers gained Lissette's fire power?" I frowned and, to my horror, Blit nodded. "Yes, they gained her skill."

"Hold on a second." The boy interupted, crossing his arms. "Do you think we should really be releasing him? I don't know if you noticed, but he tried to kill me!"

"Shut up Akamu." Blit snapped at him, looking bored as he sighed and glanced ou the window. The boy spluttered for a second then recovered himself, rising on the balls of his feet. "My name is Akamu, now you know Cade." He addressed me formally, stiff and uncomfortable.

"This is Chade and that is Jaxon." Blit pointed at the two men in turn, scratching his shiny scalp with far away eyes. They both remained expressionless as I stared at them with disgust and something close to mistrust.

"You have powers Cade." Canarie chuckled softly into my ear with her creaking voice, raising the tiny hairs on the back of my head. "Far past our understanding. Trust me. I know these things. Your power," she danced around me to where I couldn't see her, still whispering in my ear. Chade and Jaxon began to leave and Blit turned to a desk as Canarie whispered to me in her haunting voice. Akamu continued to watch me with his disgruntled look,

"Your power," she paused, eyes glinting as she thought. "Is like a gem." She giggled throatily, even though it wasn't funny, nor did it make sense. "Akamu saved you, hmm." She laughed into my ear. My eyes darted up to meet Akamu who still looked annoyed as he rubbed his sore neck. "The soul takers, they want you, hmm. Your powers, is their diomand, hmm."

I whirled to face Canarie, snatching her wrist to stop it brushing through my hair affectionately. Her eyes sparkled as I glared at her, trying to back away. "Their diomand." She mused, gazing behind me with a slightly insane look in her eyes. "Your their diomand Cade, hmm. We can't let them have that, hmm. Akamu saved you from them, they want your soul."

"What do you mean, he saved me? That murderer," I spat, not stopping when Akamu flinched, looking guilty again. "That murderer killed Lissette!"

"But he saved you. . ." Canarie whimpered earnestly into my ear, edging behind me again and leaning over to hiss in my ear. "He knocked you out, to save you from them. You cannot look past that. He doomed one dear to you, yet he saved you, hmm. What a predicament. What a predicament indeed. Whatever shall you do? How could you hate one who saved you? How can you not hate one who doomed your precious one? The soul takers, they are your true enemy, remember that. They want your soul Cade. You are their diomand, they want your power."

"I don't have a power." I snarled, confused and angry.

"Oh, but you do." Canarie chuckled softly, fueling my fury. "Hidden deep inside you, like a gem within a rock. Oh, how your parents missed out, cradling their fake jewel, missing the true diomand in their midsts."

"How do you know my parents?" I growled, grabbing her wandering hands to stop them stroking my hair again.

"It's a secret, diomand. I think that is quite suiting for you, diomand. Their diomand." She mused, brushing my hari back idly.

"I'll give you a little hint, your parents are not who them seem, at least to you." She chortled, looking humoured by her own private joke. I stared at her, bewildered by her rather. . . puzzling way of putting words together. Almost everything she said seemed to be a puzzle for me to work out,

Canarie grabbed my arm and lead me to a huge window I hadn't seen before. "Look." She whispered in my ear, tilting my head with a delicate, yellow tinted hand. I stared at the road and the city rolling beyond into the far distance. Dozens and dozens of bodies lay abandoned in the near empty streets.

"Look at the city. See the sleeping bodies, their souls gone, forever. Laid in the streets, like a mighty war has just swept upon us. We have an unseen war raging. Slowly defeating them. The soul takers. The true enemy we all unite against. The enemy everyone hates and fears.  Welcome. Welcome to the revolution, diomand."