Knife in the Dark

Exchange

We all rose on the morning of the exchange early, all of us moving into our positions before the sun had risen. I had gone as far as to offer my services as a waiter to the café, and started my shift at 7:00, when the first people started to wander in. I have never been a people person, but I had a way of appearing like I did, which meant that I was alright at drama and public speaking as well, although I avoided it whenever possible. Guisarme was doing the drop, with Loch sitting on the table behind her, and I even made him an espresso, which I had learnt how to make the day before, just so he didn't look too suspicious. Katana was in the bookstore across the road, always keeping a careful eye on the events unfolding in the café. Sling was on the roof above the bookstore, not only as our eye in the sky, but also as our sniper in case we needed one. Voulge and Rapier, accompanied by Raven and Glaive were in the coffee shop acting like totally stereotypical teenagers, with textbooks and false assignments in tow. They sat over the other side of the room to Guisarme and Loch, but in no way did that mean that they were out of the fight, from where they were, they would be able to effectively assist in the exit of civilians, on top of the fact that their table was less than five metres from Guisarme, as it was a tiny café, even by township standards, meaning that they would be able to quickly move into the fray should a fight break out.

We all waited in place for about an hour, which meant that all of us, except for Sling and myself, got strange looks from shopkeepers and customers, although, Voulge's group had less of a problem, as they constantly pulled out more homework whenever they completed their page, which they did agonizingly slow. Katana had probably read all of the blurbs of all the books in the bookstore by now, and probably finished reading half of them, and ready to write a thesis about each one, as he was an amazingly quick reader and had a photographic memory. Sling was doing school work while listening to music, as she found that made her work better, but in no way did this mean she wasn't paying attention to what was happening in the coffee store. As for Guisarme and Loch, the less said the better. They were giving off the impression of important business people, with half drunk espresso's to their right, while apparently engrossed in a newspaper, which didn't even fool the four year old boy in the store, who pointed at Loch and said.

"Mummy, that boy has been reading the same page for the time we had our brekkie in." He was obviously trying to get everyone's attention, but barely even got his mother's.

"Hush Malcolm, don't be rude, this young boy is probably doing an assignment of some sort and needs to memorize the paper, don't simply start accusing him." Her swift and blunt manner made me sigh with relief, fortunately I was clearing Voulge, Raven, Glaive and Rapier's table, so no one gave me a peculiar look for it, but Rapier still shot me a warning look, which I replied with by going and giving the child a lollipop which I had a packet of for such problems. The mother was reluctant to part without giving me money for it, but I waved it off explaining that my little brother was just the same.

The wait continued for another half an hour until finally Bianca walked in. I had never seen Bianca before in my life, but she bore starch resemblance to Glaive, so I remained quite sure that it was her. Bianca knew who she was meeting, but as code of conduct, I still had to ask where she was sitting, she explained that she was meeting an old friend of her's and sat down facing Guisarme, I asked if she wanted anything, but she replied that she was in a hurry and wouldn't have a chance to catch anything to drink. Now it was my part of the plan. As I was clearing up, I knocked a glass onto the floor, it smashed on impact, making everyone turn their attention to me for a split second, and in that second, Guisarme and Bianca switched bags, then went back    to chatting, as if nothing had happened, part two of the plan was a success. Guisarme started wrapping up the conversation, saying that Bianca should be going, which Bianca played along with, checking her watch and exclaiming that she would be late, she took off, but as she was in the process of leaving, a big man blocked the door, in response, she opened Guisarme's original case, which had a swarm of bees in a jar inside. With a smash, the jar hit the floor, allowing the bees to escape, they flew towards the closest available light, the sun, which was out the door, which was where the man was standing, the bees swarmed at him, taking him by surprise, and making him stumble back, out of the doorway, giving Bianca just enough space to weasel through and escape. She wasn't going back to C.L.O.U.D. that was for sure, she clambered into her car and took off before anyone could call out her name. She took off, heading in the direction of the big city, where Glaive had explained they had extended family living, who would no doubt take her in, as they were a family with a great sense of community.