Chasing Freedom

VIII

Myles didn't crowd her, but he was cutting it close. He remained ahead of her, guiding, but in sync with her every step. When she slowed to take in a new building, or sped up to cross the street, he did the same. She noted that he out-skirted around the places others were. If others were looking at them, she didn't notice. She was busy maintaining a balance between taking the sights in and hiding from view. Having Myles as one big, intimidating shadow helped.

She wondered if he could feel the awkwardness stranded between them. He didn't give any outward indication of it, if he did. Was it worth clearing the air, at risk of making it worse? Was there even a point?

"Where are we going?" Mira asked, glancing behind her. They'd taken so many turns she'd lost track of where they started walking ten minutes ago. Old houses were boarded up sporadically, set in between warehouse-type business. Some advertised car parts, while others were furniture stores. This was the type of area her and her father would pick to stay, if they had no other option.

"The main district," came his voice from ahead. "It's not far."

There were cars parked only metres from them, so why had he left his so far away?

Myles turned right at the end of a T-intersection. Mira followed, tugging on the sleeves of Myles' jacket, she tried to cover her wrists, in an attempt to ward off the sudden wind chill. Where it had come from, she didn't know. Myles didn't seem to be affected, but he wouldn't given his body temperature ran warmer than hers did.

One more corner and their backdrop shifted. Cars disappeared out of sight. In the distance, there was a fountain, with LED lights that flicked through each colour of the rainbow. The buildings either side were all glass fronted shops. The crowds from before were nothing on what she saw now.

A group to the left caught her attention. Huddled together, there was nothing out of place about the the six of them—yet there was something Mira couldn't pinpoint, drawing her to them. She'd guess they were around her age, if not younger. An even mix of women and men. One of them turned—

All at once, Mira couldn't breathe. It was like being hit by a current and sucked under the waves. No, she thought, willing it to be true. Yet, nothing changed. No. The group began to distort. Or maybe it was her vision wavering. She blinked. The same pointed ears remained. The same interweaving ink on their necks, the lines following to their foreheads.

Someone called her name, but she heard them like she'd re-surfaced under a tunnel.

This wasn't the first she'd seen fae. Many times, they passed some when transitioning between places. Always from afar. If they were getting to close, they would alter their course to avoid any fae. To see her father so after of them was always enough reason not to question why.

She found out anyway, a few months prior to turning twenty. If shifters were ruthless, the fae fell into a league of their own. One night, they'd found an old hut in the mountains. Empty, or so they'd thought. As it turned out, it was the hideout of another: an elderly fae who hadn't taken kindly to them being there. For days, he kept them chained in a room. The silver cuffs inhibited her father shifting to free them both. Without a single touch, she learned how cruel one could be. A springboard for testing his magic—that's what they became. If it wasn't being electrocuted, it was being suffocated or drowned. To this day, she didn't know the specifics of how they were let out alive. What she did know, was that every so often her father would leave her for days at a time, returning to that hut to fulfil his end of the deal that was struck.

Until that moment, Mira hadn't realised just how dangerous the conflict between fae and shifter was. Regardless of the fact that humans were hunting them both down, neither side could let go of centuries old discrimination.