The Last Saint

7: Calm

The sun was soothing and warm as Ryan lead Adam, Eve, Liz and Beth through the mall doors. Escorting the teens, Garamond followed along, the last in line. Though they were to begin training in weapons, first they had to deal with an increasingly apparent problem; Eve had no clothes of her own to speak of. 

The group sauntered into a casual clothing shop, almost everyone relaxed and happy, except for Adam. Adam remained down, constantly mulling things over. despite that, Eve stayed by his side. She tried on many outfits, each time she made especially sure to get Adam's opinion.

Adam found it hard to continue sulking, when Eve's constant smile was so warm and infectious. He sighed. He'd been depressed, but he had started to count himself lucky. After all, his friends were all risking their lives just for his sake. And then there was Eve. Right from day one, she had been nothing but fiercely loyal and supportive.  And not two weeks after his dad's death, she was already able to make him smile again.

Everyone, including Garamond, was kind enough to chip in for Eve's entire wardrobe. From there, it was off to the shoe store. The girls helped Eve out, while Adam and Ryan went with Garamond to get food from the cafeteria.

They grabbed burgers for everyone and picked a round table right in the middle, Ryan sitting across from the detective and Adam. Finally, Garamond, with a fry in hand, broke the silence.

"Look, I know you kids are up to something, don't think I haven't noticed you all scheming. Spill it."

Adam and Ryan both stared at their burgers, awkwardly silent, so Garamond continued. "Well alright, since I can't guarantee the safety of Adam under these conditions, I guess he's going to have to go into protective custody, and since Eve is a suspect in the murder of Adam's mother, I should probably go into the shoe store and cuff her right now."

Adam slammed his fist down. "She didn't have anything to do with that!"

"Calm down," Ryan warned him, looking around at the busy mall cafeteria.

Garamond shrugged. "If you can't tell me what you're planning I can't guarantee your safety to my superiors. And if I don't know what you kids are up to, I can't watch Eve either, who like it or not is considered a murder suspect by my fellow investigators. The way I see it, I can either help you or put a stop to whatever it is you're doing. So you get to choose. Am I your friend? Or your enemy?"

Adam scowled. "Right now you're making yourself the enemy."

"Adam, wait. I think we can trust him. Think about it, he was the first one to burst into the gym to save you. He's also the one who kept you and Eve out of police custody," Ryan said.

Adam sighed. "You saw that the woman from the gym had magical powers, right?" Garamond nodded. "Well she's just one of 13 saints. And Eve says if we don't kill all of them, they'll kill us and destroy the world. I don't know if I believe that last part, but I do know for a fact they will not stop hunting me down."

"If you tell me who and where they are, I can draw up warrants for their arrests. Maybe something could uhh, go wrong during the arresting process, if you catch my drift."

"No," Adam said, shaking his head. "They're all in their own little worlds, as far as I know, you need a portal to get there."

The girls returned, with Eve sitting down right beside Adam, happily stealing one of his fries. "We decided on a pair of runners, to make things easier. They're pretty lame, but what to you think?"

He looked down, while Beth and Liz began talking to Ryan. They were girly shoes for sure, a white and pink pair of sporty runners. They didn't really fit in with the image of her he had grown used to; this idea of her as a cloaked, sword-wielding badass. Still he looked back up, and saw her expectant face, and wisely decided to keep that observation to himself. Instead, he simply told her they were cute.

Her face lit up, and she thanked him, bringing a smile to his face as well. A thought occurred to Adam, and he decided to ask how old she was. To his surprise, she was 17, only a year older than he was. After lunch, the gang split up, agreeing to meet up on the weekend at the park for sword training. Garamond walked Ryan, Adam and Eve to Ryan's house, and went on home.

Within an hour, a police car had parked across from Ryan's house; Adam and Eve were under guard from either Garamond or someone else from the police at all times. That night, long after Ryan had gone to sleep, Adam decided to go up and knock on Eve's door.

She answered in a pair of girly pajamas; an image Adam was getting more and more used to. He asked to talk to her for a moment, and she let him in the spare room, looking unusually timid.

He sat on the edge of the bed, and she sat beside him. He looked around the room, searching for some courage. Finally, he found the words.

"I wanted to thank you Eve." She looked at him as he spoke. "For everything. From the first day I met you, you've done nothing but help and protect me, even if it put you in danger. And more than anything and anyone else, you've made it a lot easier for me to deal with losing my parents. So yeah, thank you so much."

She rested her head on his shoulder and grabbed his hand. "Oh Adam, I'm just happy I can be useful to you."

They stayed like that for a long time before Adam began nodding off and excused himself. At the door, there was a lingering moment when he said goodnight, where they both just looked into each others eyes. Adam felt his heart race, and Eve's cheeks went red. But he snapped out of it, far too quickly.

"Goodnight Eve," he said, smiling warmly.

"Goodnight," she replied cutely.