I'll Track You Down

Well past midnight

When Vivana leaves to let me eat by myself, I decide to explore the mansion instead. I add every new room to my internal map, eventually I come across a great big library, with tall windows stretching to reach the ceiling , shire green bookshelves line the wooden walls, and a great big fireplace rages illuminating the room in the evening light.

I roll my wheelchair to one of the couches and scoot onto it. I wrap my hands in my hair as I lay down into the soft cushions.

"Ugh, what a day." Although I risked everything when Caspian saw me whilst I was having my panic attack, it felt good after I let it out. It's as if I've been drained of anger, and only my thoughts are left.

Maybe I should theorize what I'm doing here. Caspian is obviously a frequent visitor here, but I'm sure it doesn't belong to him, because I have no idea how he would afford all of it.

At least we get our funds from the government, even though people might pay Caspian for his work it's unreliable, he doesn't know we jobs will come.

But as he said before, he knows many important people, maybe he doesn't even assassinate people as his main source of income.

Caspian mentioned being an expert in hacking, it wouldn't be hard for him to embezzle funds into his own bank account.

If only I had my laptop, then I could look into the matter. I let out an annoyed sigh, and turn over on my stomach.

I pace my face in my crossed arms. "Maybe I could just stay like this. I can go back to my room later." I bask in the warmth of the fire, listening to it crackle.

I close my eyes hoping to fall asleep quickly, I'm granted this small favor and fall asleep almost instantly.

I wake up in a sweat in the middle of the night from a raging nightmare of Nye's death, playing back over and over on a loop. I sit up and find myself to still be in the library, except there's a
blanket draped over me.

I rub my eyes, and do my best to sit up. I look around the room, to see Caspian sitting on the couch opposite from me, his dark hair hangs over his face and his blue eyes jump all over the page of the book he's reading.

"Caspian?" I call through a yawn.

"You should've eaten your dinner, Kali." He says, not even bothering to look up.

"Why are you here?" He closes his book and his eyes flicker from me to my wheelchair.

"You left without saying anything and Viv couldn't find you. You were fast asleep when I discovered you in my library. You were shivering so I . . ." I see no need for a response so I don't give one.

I stretch my arms and attempt to stand up, to my surprise I start walking with no problems at all.

"Shit, that's a relief I thought I was going to be stuck in that thing forever." I turn back around to face Caspian. "How's your shoulder?"

"It's fine, I popped it back in place a long time ago, and I had someone attend to my ribs today in case you were worried."

"I'm not worried." I say firmly. "I can't have an injured man as a partner, that's all. Do you have nowhere else to be?"

"Do you want me to leave?" He asks precariously.

"Well I don't exactly want you to stay."

"Kali, even though you try to hide it I know you're never fully going to trust me or like me, or even tolerate me. But don't let that interfere with our partnership."

"My personal opinions will never get in the way of my work, I can assure you that much."

"Fine. Do you want to head back to your room? Or perhaps eat something for the first time in seven days."

"I can manage, and all food sounds disgusting right now- not to say that the food you had prepared was bad." I add quickly.

"It's funny to see you like this, refusing all kinds of help for absolutely no apparent reason."

"Well get used to it, because I usually work alone."

"It's going to take some getting used to for the both of us."

"Yeah." I walk back over to the couch and perch myself near the fire. "Did you find out when the funeral was?" I say not bothering to glance at him.

"Yep, it's in three days, I'll fly you in." Capsian sighs. "And come back to get you when it's over, I imagine you'll want your peace and quiet during it." I look down.

"Thank you." Just then I feel a buzzing in my pocket. "Oh, it's Apollo." I decline the call, "I'll call him back later." Why was he calling this late at night? Maybe he was just really worried about me.

"Kali, you should distance yourself from that guy, I have a bad feeling about him."

"Whatever you say, you forget I could kill him with my eyes closed." Caspian laughs and I hate how I missed the familiar sound.

I don't want to stay here any longer, I should be focusing on Malgrave not socializing. Wait, I check my phone it's well past midnight, which means, "Tell me what I'm doing here, how long I'm staying and what I have to do." Caspian raises an eyebrow. "If I'm not mistaken you told Vivana that you'd tell me everything tomorrow, it's tomorrow." I grin. "So you gonna answer my questions or what?" Caspian chuckles to himself.

"You are a quick one." He places his palms on his knees. "Okay Kali, you're here on a different mission, I know your target is Malgrave but I'm a part of a bigger operation."

"But you work alone-"

"No, I fulfill my jobs alone. How do you think I can live in a place like this?" I groan. "I'm one of the heads of a large crime abolition organization."

"How has my agency not heard of you?"

"Although your assassins league works in secret, your detectives are open to the public, we prefer to keep our alliances to fully concealed networks."

"So then why am I here, I work for a non-fully concealed agency."

"Well, you were technically kidnapped, and you were technically desperate for information about your case, so technically you decided to temporarily leave your organization and work for us." Caspian winks at me.

"So I'm technically a bribed hostage?" I ask with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

"Technically?" Caspian shrugs, I laugh, it's not the best plan but it'll do for now. "As of your other questions, I don't know how long you'll stay with me, but I know we'll only be here for a little while, at least until we accomplish what we're trying to finish."

"Right, which is?"

"You'll be attending a meeting later today that will explain everything. Including what part you have to play in our mission."

"Okay, well seems annoying because this isn't what I was thinking when we agreed to a partnership. But it works, as long as we're helping someone."

"That's my job."

"I should get back." I say while standing up.

"If you get lost-"

"I won't."

"Jeez." He laughs. "So much for trying to help."

"I hope that we can both start fresh tomorrow, and even though you don't want my apology just know that I'm sincerely disappointed in my behavior today, and it will not be repeated."

"It's okay Kali, don't be so hard on yourself."

"But Caspian," I start while pushing open the door. "It's how I become better every day." I shut the door behind me and find my room in no time.