A Hacker with a Secret

An Invitation

The bed felt like a new home since I must've spent more time lying in it than I had anywhere else on this ship. I woke to a light shining down on me and a tail poking me. I sat up as the door opened. Bix must've heard Castor as he was walking towards my room. "Finally you're up. This is like the fifth time I've come to check on you. How's the headache?"

"Gone, I'm fine." Bix crawled up my arm and onto my shoulder once again.

He sat at the foot of the bed and looking flustered he asked, "I hate to ask this of you, but I need a favor."

"Name it." I was glad to be of some use since I hadn't done anything helpful for them yet.

"Would you go to a ball with me?" He ran his hand through slicked back hair, returning a stray hair strand back to its proper place.

"What ball?" I didn't understand why he wanted me to go or why we were going anyways.

"It's Marshal Gudrun's Ball and I need to steal something from his vault, but it will be suspicious if I don't have a date."

"What about Blaze and Val? I don't know how much help I'd be." This seemed like a situation where I'd be more trouble than help.

He shook his head. "I need your skills breaking into the vault."

I nodded, "If you're sure you want me then I'll go."

"Good, I'll let Val know you're better." He got up and walked to the door, "She'll be in in just a minute." He stepped out. "By the way, I like the haircut." I thanked him quickly while my cheeks burned.

He shut the heavy door softly and walked off whilst Bix ran towards my bag. He pulled out the speaker and I turned it on for him, the same square from yesterday still inside. Bix started doing his little paw waving and tail wagging dance, happy to have some normalcy in his life.

I walked to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. When I finished, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a wreck, my hair was in disarray from sleeping and when I peeled a bandage off my forehead, I saw a deep cut which had been clearly been cleaned carefully. It must've been Castor and I made a mental note to thank him later.

I barely managed to finish cleaning myself up before there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" I called as I packed up my stuff once again.

"Boo! How you feeling?" Val walked into the room, checking the cut on my head.

"I'm feeling much better." I smiled at her as she walked to the closet.

"Have you seen the stuff I got you yet?" Val asked while opening the closet doors. Several bags laid at the bottom.

"Not yet," I said, "I've been sleeping. Thank you though."

"Well you can look later, for now put this on," she tossed me small black spandex shorts and a matching camisole before pointing to the bathroom door. "You can put the dirty clothes in the hamper. The waterdancers will get them later."

I did as she said, enjoying the music that flooded past the bathroom. When I got out she was watching Bix's dance in amusement. "Put on the dress." She pointed to a blue silk halter top dress with a black chiffon asymmetrical skirt that was longer in the back. I picked up the beautiful dress and admired the well made dress before putting it on slowly, not wanting to wreck the delicate material. The cut went too low and the front went to almost my knees.

Valkyrie turned away from Bix just then to look at me and smile. "I can work with this." She opened a small box covered in many cloth scraps. She pulled out a small silver chain and tied it into the knot that held the dress up before pulling the chain down and the top up. Val clipped the chain and, pulling out a needle an thread, sewed the last link into the top of the skirt's slip. Though the skirt had already risen up a little, she hemmed the skirt higher so that the bottom of the front fell mid-thigh and the back fell mid-calf.

Stepping back, she motioned me to turn and when I did so she sighed. "Perfect! Now to check on Cast's suit." Groaning she packed her things, "That thing has been through way to many fights." She waved good-bye to Bix and me before shutting the door. Only a second later it reopened and she pointed to the closet. "Shoes are in there."

Walking over to the closet, I opened the first of three boxes of shoes. Inside lay tall suede black wedges. As beautiful as they were, dread filled me. I'd only worn heels once when I was very young and I had constantly struggled.

I looked over at Bix after setting the dress and shoes down on the foot of the bed. I flopped down onto the bed and he hopped up onto my stomach continuing his dance. Smiling, I looked over at the machine playing an old jazz music and gave Bix my finger, spinning him around and around.