The Species of Power [Draft 1]

Chapter 19

They waited, they waited for hours. In that time Samia, Margaret and Hero joined them. Ruth kept a close eye on Miranda, taking note of everything about her; she was incredibly hard to read. The only pattern Ruth noticed was how Miranda fiddled with a bracelet that was hidden under the sleeve of her coat. The bracelet was a ruby snake that was wrapped tightly around her wrist, it almost reached her elbow. Miranda would look at her bracelet with concentration, like she was operating a machine.

"Why do you keep poking at that thing?" Ruth said.

"Reasons," Miranda said. Suddenly the snake's eyes glowed red. Miranda held up her wrist with a smirk. "We'll begin soon."

"What does that thing do?" Margaret said. 

"It calls for reinforcements," said Miranda, with an impatient tone to her voice. She seemed to respond better to members of her own kind. 

"We won't pay them," said Ruth.

"No need," said Miranda. "This one owes me a favour."

Minutes went by in silence as they waited for whoever Miranda called. Ruth wondered how her bracelet summoned whoever was coming. Did she pay a Child of Peace to enchant it for her? That would be a fortune for just one enchantment, how many bracelets did she have? All these questions danced in Ruth's head, until the distant sound of footsteps shattered her thoughts. She could hear them, a group of people, maybe seven or eight of them, all running to their location.

"I can hear people coming," Ruth said. “Six or seven.”

“That’s them," said Miranda.

They arrived minutes after Ruth had heard them. Their faces were hidden beneath the hoods of the black sweaters they all wore. Miranda smirked as she saw them. Ruth sensed that they were members of the Under Species. Definitely not Humans, they had to be Shape Shifters, all of them were male Shape Shifters.

"Well," said Miranda. "Thanks for coming."

"You did call," said one of the men.

The man who spoke stepped forward and revealed a ruby bracelet identical to Miranda's on his right wrist. He pulled down his hood, as he did the rest of his group did so as well. Ruth felt a strange sense of comfort as she realised it was the Savages who Miranda had summoned to help them, with their leader Xavier. 

"I can take that back," said Miranda, gesturing towards the bracelet. 

"I'll keep it for a while," said Xavier. "If you'll let me."

"Whatever," Miranda said. "Alright, let's get to work."

The plan was that Ruth and Miranda would retrieve the compass in the museum. Xavier's men and Margaret were in charge of the security cameras. Hero was the lookout. She could travel ahead with her reflection and tell them if someone was coming, through a mirror that Ruth was given for the mission, or anything else that gave a reflection. She couldn't use her voice when she was a reflection, but hand signals were perfect. Xavier, Samia, Hero and Mark were on the roof of the building next to the museum. Ruth and Miranda were to wait for Xavier's signal, they were ready to start.

"Ruth," said Miranda, with authority. "Don't fuck this up. You can't rage. If you rage we are all dead, got it?"

"Don't you worry," Ruth said, with sass. "Children of Rage are trained to maintain concentration in situations like these."

"I think you need to learn respect," said Miranda.

"I've never been good at respect."

"Neither have I."