Soul Streets

Mi Familia

"Who are you?"

The blonde haired boy stood over me now, glowing red like the deepest of flames.

"Shane."

"Well Shane, from the looks of it I did you a favor. Run off now and don't tell anyone what you saw here."

And then he dissapeared.

That was when I started to feel it all.

Trent Casadin had appeared before me and burned my friend to a crisp, and now I felt invincible.

Life flowed around me.

That was what I felt at first when I moved away from the wall and exited the alley, but outside the alley was a different story.

People walked in crowds around me, that much I knew. But all I could see outside the ally was blinding blurs of color. Reds, blues, greens, golds, the occaisional silver and almost every color imaginable flowed around me. I was blind in a street I had walked down almost all my life.

Whatever had happened in that alleyway, I had changed.

The boy I hadn't known at the time who had saved me was the one who had changed me.

I stumbled through the streets, clinging to the walls of buildings.

"Hey man, you alright?"

Another teen maybe a year older than me put his hand on my shoulder. He was a shade of light green but I could vaguely see white hair and pale skin.

"I think, maybe, I can't see anything. Everything is so bright, all the people are just colors walking around."

I couldn't see the other boy's face but I could feel something...it felt like concern. But I wasn't the one concerned. Why did I feel concerned? Was the guy touching me concerned? If so...why could I feel what he felt?

"Where do you live?" He asked.

"Outer west block."

"That's a little far, and in dangerous territory. I know a place you can stay. Follow me. Can you do that?"

I looked at the boy. As far as I knew if I actually was able to make it back home then I would have to tell my foster parents I was kicked out of school. I had no where to go now, and the boy told me he had somewhere I could stay.

"I should be able to. You're brighter than the rest of the people here."

"Alright, the place isn't too far from here. Just make sure you stay behind me."

I followed him through the crowd. Fifth street was in the comercial district of the city. At lunch time on a week day it was full of people on break.

We had only made it a few blocks towards the North block before the boy that was covered in light green light stopped on 9th street. He had stopped as another shape made their way towards us through the crowd.

The other shape was a dark pervasive brown color, like the kind you think dirt would look like if you were being buried alive.

"Get behind me." The green boy said.

I moved behind him, putting him between me and the brown colored person.

"Well, isn't it the Casadin heir's right hand knight? You know, I hear you are doing pretty well these days while the Casadins play king." The brown boy said.

"I don't want any trouble with the Traveno family today. I am kinda busy."

"Eh," to this the other boy looked around the green boy at him. "Looks like a pretty weak initiate you have there. Are you sure he is even one of us?"

I could feel the green boy becoming uncomfortable with the situation. Whatever they were talking about, I didn't know how it was supposed to connect to me.

"He has nothing to do with our world. He isn't feeling well and I am simply taking him home."

"To your home or his?"

"That's none of your business dog of the Traveno."

"Haha, your lucky I have to finish up an errand for the boss. Who knows what would happen if I discovered the Casadin base of operations."

With that, the brown guy walked past them, bumping my shoulder as he passed.

"Who was that guy?" I asked.

"Just another tool." He said before continuing on into the crowd.

A few more blocks north we ducked into an alleyway behind an Italian cafe. The boy walked up to the backdoor of the cafe and pulled out a key from his pocket on a chain. The key glowed a low purple light that shifted and swirled around the key as if it was a living thing.

"Why are we going into a cafe?" I asked.

"Who said this was just a cafe?" He said, and I could feel a mischievous smile spread across his face.

The other boy put his key into the door and the frame of the door glowed the same purple as the key as he turned the doorknob and opened the door.

"Welcome to Mi Familia della Casadin."

What waited behind that door, I didn't know at the time, would change my life forever.