Shattered Pages

Chapter 1

I'm overheating in the sun combined with my black outfit that I always wear. It also doesn't help that I had to wrap my knees and ankles today after I fell while I was out hunting a few days ago. My knees and ankles have been threatening to pop out, not doing the one thing they are meant to do, be joint. It also doesn't help that my joints are already loose because of my condition. I debate with myself as to why I wore black today when I knew it was going to be hot, but I know it's mostly because it's the only good thing I own that won't stand out in a bad way in the town of Bruft. Even though most wear white so that they don't overheat while working in the fields – the main way people can make money when you're this low on the social scale – I choose to wear black so I can hide in the shadows. That is the way of a thief. I'm not a thief right now though; I'm just a normal girl walking through the market trying to buy food, with the money I stole, so I think that still makes me a thief. So does the fact that I see a very handsome very tall man sticking out about the crowd, by the way he dresses he has some coins to spare.

Also, Lesson 1: A thief is always a thief. I learned that the hard way in the orphanage. When the little kids didn't understand the concept of what's yours is yours, and don't touch other people's stuff unless you want a broken bone. And yes the broken bone part was my fault and I don't regret it at all; that kid got on my nerves one too many times.

I decide that I could use a few more coins and start to make my way through the swarm of people to where I last saw the tall handsome man. I walk about ten feet before I see him again and get ready to quickly lighten this man's pockets because they seem to be weighing him down.

I get to where I need to be so I can walk right into him. Looking down at the ground, I act like the head-in-the-clouds girl that is the stereotype, but really I'm watching everything play out in my head thanks to my psychic abilities. Then just as planned we bump into each other and my hands immediately go to his pocket. His hands wrap around my waist to keep me from falling. Just like I planned, in his pocket is where I feel the familiar weight of six coins, because that is the most I've ever held in my life, even from all my years of stealing. I decide quickly that two coins will get me through what I need for a while, plus whatever else I've saved up back at the abandoned fabric store I call my home. I don't know why it was abandoned, but I'm not complaining because I can use the fabric to make my own clothes – something I learned from the orphanage. The heavier fabrics also make really good blankets in the winter. Not that it gets that cold considering how close we are to the Phaedra Desert; but nonetheless it helps with the no – heat situation.

I quickly recover from my mental wandering and remember that I am currently stealing from someone and... I can't get caught. I fall into the familiar rhythm of darting into the victim's pocket then right back out. I grab the coins but brush a piece of paper; being the curious person I am, I grab it, and quickly hide my stolen treasures away in the bag I'm holding, a dragon guarding their gold. I look up and lock eyes with the stranger and I can't look away. His eyes are a dark blue that almost looks gray. It's like I'm in the ocean during a storm that is going to drag me under.

I finally notice how close we are, his chest is up against mine and his face is, what looks like, an inch away, but still so, so, so, so far. If I move a little bit up we would – No, no do not finish that thought, I tell myself. You do not like him, you just like his money. He starts to move away the same moment I do and I decide a few steps away is a good idea before I get any more bad ones.

"Are you always oblivious to what is happening around you?" He asks coolly.

"No, I'm actually really perceptive," I force myself to bite back the retort rising in my throat.

"Not perceptive enough evidently," he bites back.
I eye him and decide to show him just how perceptive I am. I tap into my power like I have so many times before. I go back to the familiar darkness where I always start, then I reach out with my mind feeling for anything I can about him. It's not the same as being a Telepath because they can see memories and thoughts. I can only see imprints. Parts of who a person is. Eventually, I feel it, the unmistakable heat of a person with fire powers. I reach further still and finally come up with his name.