Hawk Heart

21. A Stranger's Shadow

I debated for a long time on whether I should find Zeph or now. A discussion started among the Hawks, I couldn't pay attention to it. From the looks of it, almost everyone had the same thought process as Zia. And Zeph surely needed me more. 

I slipped out of the room, unsurprisingly, without catching anyone's attention. He would be on the roof. Unless he had decided to simply wander out in the streets. 

I walked up the staircase and onto the pathetic excuse of a 'rooftop.' Just the barren top of the warehouse. My heart sunk however, when I saw that it was empty. There was no way he would be found if he didn't want to be. He could slip in and out of shadows like a ghost. What chance was there for me to find him even?

I went back downstairs and stepped out into the filth covered streets. Where could he be? I couldn't possibly search for him all over the savage town. He couldn't have gone that far, could he?

I walked around aimlessly for a while, trying my hardest to avoid the shady alleyways and ruffians loitering around in the streets. A few of them glanced my way, making me pick up my pace immediately. 

"Zeph," I muttered to myself. "Please be close." 

In my desperation to find him, I broke into a run. Although my frantic movement did catch a few eyes, no one seemed to be interested whatsoever. I soon reached a part of the underbelly that I had never been to. The rundown buildings and occasionally open sewers were an even more common sight. The Light forsaken place seemed to emanate an almost unearthly smell. A nauseating, eclectic blend of alcohol, garbage and something else I was trying hard to ignore. Although, through my walk in the town I had mostly been unbothered, save for a few whistles and a few toothless, scarred men beckoning me towards them from under dirty hoods. Here however, things were different. 

People of all genders seemed to flock on either side of the alleyway I was in. Dressed in contrastingly bright, skimpy clothing that seemed vastly out of place. A few people even called endearing terms at me, and it was then that I realized I had come to what I could only imagine to be the red light area. 

My stomach turned nervously, a strange, unexplainable fear finding root in my belly. The Capital city had always looked down on people who sold their bodies for monetary gain, however, they merely did it because they had been condemned to. Being such a frequent visitor of the underbelly, I was mildly surprised to have never come across a sex worked before. Although I had spend years trying to desensitize myself to everything in here, I couldn't help but feel sick to my stomach. 

Just as I turned to leave however, an unfamiliar hand grabbed me and I quickly shrugged it off, scalded. It was a woman, three of them in fact, leering at me. 

"Hi, sweetheart," one of them said, batting her clumpy, artificially long lashes at me. "Are you here to pay us a visit?"

I took a step back, my heart rampaging as sweat broke out on my forehead. "Er...no, I was just...looking for someone."

"Maybe we can help?" another woman purred, reaching for my arm again.

I took another step back, hyperventilating. What the fuck had I got myself into?

"I'll...I'll just go," I turned to leave, but the grip on my arm tightened as another woman cooed. 

"Don't be scared, sweetie," she said. Then she leaned forward with a leer, her voice low, "It's always scary the first time." 

Before  I could say anything, a familiar voice called my name and relief washed through me. 

"Aster?" 

The woman let my arm go immediately and we turned to see Zeph, standing a few feet away from us. He was accompanied by another woman in identical, vibrant, scarce clothing. My heart dropped to my stomach.