Gold, Fire & Ash

Chapter IV: The Network

[Dedicated to ]

IV

The Network:

“Nothing is hidden that will not be known, nothing is secret that will not come to light.”

- Dan Brown

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          The lights flickered, causing strange images to crawl against the walls as Quinn walked through the narrow passageway. The more he walked the more the passage widened, and after about five minutes his feet came off the last step and onto flat dusty earth. The path now branched off to the left and to the right, with sure steps he turned right. There were no torches here so he had to follow the faint glow that was up ahead.

          As he got closer to the light source his ears picked up on the sound of faint chattering. He quickened his pace. Due to his encounter with Rosa he had been delayed and he was a bit late, so when he stepped into the meeting room all talking ceased and a dozen pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

          “You’re late.” Said one woman standing in the center of the room, her voice accusing.

          “You’ll have to forgive me, you see I was otherwise caught up.”

          “Yeah, caught up in Rosa’s bed. You got a little something right here Quinn.” The youth who sat perched on some crates at the back of the room gave Quinn a knowing grin as he pointed to his lips.

          Quinn raised his hand to his mouth and sure enough, Rosa’s pink lipstick came away with his fingers. If he had been someone else he would have surely blushed crimson, but he wasn’t. He was Quincy Everdan and a situation such as this only caused his eyes to flash a devious glint as he returned the boy’s grin.

          However, not everyone was happy about this new development. The woman who had first spoken snapped her gaze to the boy and gave him a furious glare. The boy’s grin widened at this and a chuckle escaped his chest. “Oh my, is the little kitten getting jealous?”

          “Shut your mouth you lying little rat!” the woman’s face was the embodiment of fury.

          Hearing these words the boy held his chest, where his heart was, a pained expression on his face. “Darling you wound me,” the hurt façade quickly dissipated though and a mischievous glint passed through his eyes as his lips formed a wicked grin. “But seeing as how you were calling me something totally different last night, you’re forgiven.” The boy sent a wink her way.

          But just as his eye blinked, a dagger came flying right past his cheek. The woman’s chest heaved up and down and the arm that threw the dagger still remained hanging in the air. Her eyes which were opened wide held both anger and shock.

          Few wisps of his hair fluttered before his face but the boy only burst out laughing. The others in the room, who were used to seeing them act this way only rolled their eyes, with faint hints of smiles pulling at the corner of their lips.

          Quinn chuckled at their banter but then he quickly dropped the smile and got serious. “Okay, that’s enough, we have business to get down to.”