The Silk Moth Dream (Season 1 Complete)

EPISODE 12: GREEN-EYED WITCH

Abin's missions get more frequent and more impromptu as the weeks go by — there are no more hours of discussion or heated debate. The sighs of relief when he returns begin to disappear, because everyone knows he'll return eventually. He is good at his job — so much so that Samantha and Andre have been largely taking a backseat in ops. But Fiona never stops holding her breath. She can't help but feel like she dragged him into this world, just like her mother did to her all those years ago.

She can tell he feels bad that he brushed her off that night of his celebration, although she's still not sure why. All she knows is that someone had left a fresh banana on her door handle the next morning. Later that day, she found out that there'd been a dozen of fresh bananas at one of Abin's raids and he'd brought them back for the base. Eleven of them sat in the canteen, shiny and ready for anyone to take.

"Are we rich yet?" Shailene asks as she leans against the table, taking a bite of the banana in a way that would terrify (or entice, if you're into that) any male onlookers.

Fiona's eyes are watering from the glow of the device in Left Behind's main operations room. She always thought she hated stealing from aristocrats to fund her school. Turns out what she really hates is stealing money to fund Left Behind. "Stop rushing me," she says, a little snippier than she means to.

"Jeez," Shailene says, slinging an arm around Fiona's shoulder. "Your boyfriend's safe, don't worry. His mission should be over in no time. It's an easy one today."

Fiona shrugs Shailene's arm off, a little more aggressively than she wanted to. "This isn't about Abin, who isn't my boyfriend, by the way. It's about you rushing me to get through heavily-encrypted servers where any one wrong move can land me in federal prison and completely blow our cover."

Shailene giggles. "I'd love to see you in prison. I wonder what your prison name would be. A green-eyed witch?"

Fiona cuts her with the strongest green-eyed glare she can muster while continuing to breach the national bank's servers. "You're distracting me. Don't you have better things to do?"

Shailene tucks a braid behind her ear, looking impish as always. "No. Just keeping you company while you pine after your not-boyfriend." Her expression suddenly changes mischievously. "Wait, can I take a stab at our angel if you're not interested?"

It takes some superhuman will to steady her senses and not grace Shailene's jab with a response. Shailene always says things like this to get under her skin. But she can't help but think back to the party and the way that Shailene held Abin's arm. Or how Shailene's lips parted next to his ear, revealing the perfect white teeth. Fiona can't help but remember their high school days, when her crushes were all infatuated with Shailene. Abin and Shailene would make a handsome couple. She feels her chest tightening a little bit.

Fiona doesn't respond to a single word of Shailene's after that. When Abin returns, out of breath but unscathed, she does her best to school her features into the most emotionless nod one could muster.

***

Today's one of Abin's few off days while the rest of Left Behind meets with prospective members at all sorts of clandestine locations in Boulder, usually at some of the Asian gang hangout spots.

Due to the illicit nature of Left Behind's dealings, it's usually easier to recruit career criminals, especially those who live on the fringes of the government's rule. So Shailene and others often venture out to the satellite offices of the Four Asian Houses of Sacramento. Like Samantha was hired from the League of the White Tiger, Sanjay, the leader of the explosives unit, was recruited from the Vermilion Wings Clan. Left Behind has always kept the Four Houses at arm's length, due to their tenuous relationships, but the Houses don't seem to mind the recruiting. After all, Left Behind's disruption of the government supply chains only increases the government's secret, but growing, reliance on the gangs for help.