Imagination 1: Into the Necklace

Chapter 4: Grey Haper

 I dove through the small opening in the wall of the medical shop. Without stopping, I ran through the alley behind it, nodding to a small boy I spotted looking through the window of his home. He smiled, and opened the window.

I could hear guards chasing me. They yelled, "Come back, you little thief!"

Looking at the small vial in my palm, I grinned. There was no way that they were going to get this back.

Suddenly, I heard a splash as the boy dumped a wash bin full of hot water on the guards. They screamed in shock and outrage as they desperately tried to cool the water down.

As I reached the end of the alley, I ducked into a hole that already had it's grate pulled off. Replacing it behind me, I sat still, trying not to make a sound.

Footsteps sounded above me. The guards.

"He must have turned into the next alley," one said. "It's the only exit from here."

"Unless he climbed the wall," another countered.

"He didn't," the first insisted. "That scrawny kid couldn't have climbed a one-foot-high wall."

Despite the insult, I couldn't help but grin as they began to argue. Trinisulans. They couldn't ever agree.

"Look, how about I check on top of the buildings and you check the alleys," a guard decided.

"Fine." They both stomped off.

I waited a few more minutes to make sure that they were gone. Then, I slid the grate away and climbed out of the hole. Turning back to the house I saw, I suddenly noticed the sun. It was almost down.

Cursing myself, I walked back to the building as fast as I dared. If I looked suspicious, then a guard might demand a search. Or worse, a Chromapexi would.

Shoving the horrifying thought out of my mind, I slid in the door.

The one-room house was dark, the large family not being able to afford candles. I would have to get them some of that next. I spotted figures surrounding the only cot in the room. If I didn't know better, I would think that they were mourning.

Or were they? The new thought pushing me to hurry, I quickly arrived at Monsa's beside.

"How is she?" I asked her plentiful children.

"Not the goodest," one of the youngest admitted. Because they hadn't ever been to school or had an education of any kind, their grammar needed help.

"Give this to her," I told Parki, Monsa's oldest daughter. "I got it from the medical shop."

Nodding, she took it. She unstopped the bottle and poured it down Monsa's throat.

I watched, my breath gone, hoping that I had made it in time. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, the color returned to her cheeks.

The tension seeped out of the room. Some of the younger children cried out in joy, and Monsa's two eldest daughters hugged each other gleefully.

"All right," I told them. "I need to be going. Give these to her each day, and she'll be back to normal in no time."

As I handed them two more glass vials, one of the younger children gripped my leg. "Please don't go, Grey," he pleaded. "Mama isn't well yet. We need your help."

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I can't stay here. But I promise that I'll be back tomorrow."

He grinned. "Okay, see you."

As I walked out of the celebrating household, I sincerely hoped that Darin would let me keep that promise.

. . .

"Where have you been?!" Darin roared as soon as I walked in the door. Our small training area consisted of only a few old, rusty swords, but we didn't need them. Being an assassin, spy, or even a shopkeeper consisted of more than that.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I told him. "I just had to, um, run a few errands."

"You need to work on your lies, boy," he told me. "Nobody is ever going to believe you like that. Especially with the 'um' you put in there."

"Right." I straightened my jacket. "I didn't mean to be past curfew, but some guards on patrol thought that I was acting suspiciously. They can put up quite a chase." Technically, I wasn't lying.

"Much better." Darin sat down on the only chair in the room. "Now, tell me what really happened."

I sat down on the floor and began to explain. As I did, I glanced around the dreary room. It wasn't much, consisting of a table, a chair, and a few bedrolls in the corner. There was a small area set aside for training, which I almost always lost in. Kivan was great in the fighting circle, but I didn't think that I would ever get up to his level.

"So, Darin said when I finished. "You went out to help Monsa's family again."

"Yes," I answered cautiously.

"Don't you realize, Grey, how much danger that puts us in?" He demanded. "If you get caught after stealing something, then the Chromapexi can follow your trail back here. Then guess what? You've exposed me, Kivan, Matim, even yourself."

"But Darin-"

"Don't 'but Darin' me, boy." The mentor stood up and turned his back on me to look at the wall. "I can't have you endangering my facility. You are not allowed to visit their family again."

"What?" I jumped to my feet. "You can't do that!"

"Yes I can." Darin wouldn't look at me. He instead stared at the wall like somebody else might gaze at a window. "This is the only way."

"They need me!" I shouted. "I haven't been caught yet! Why do you think that they would suddenly get me?"

"Because you just aren't good enough!" He finally met my eyes. In them I didn't see regret, or annoyance, or even anger. Just disappointment.

"You know, boy, when Stakr first brought you to me, I thought that you looked strong enough. Smart enough. But I was so wrong. You aren't as good as Matim, and you certainly aren't at Kivan's level. If you go out there again, you will be caught. They'll bring you to the Chromapexi, and they will find us. We will all die, and it will be on you."

This new statement had shocked me into silence. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"The only way to keep you safe, to keep all of us safe, is to send you back," Darin decided. "Stakr will find a place for you at his camp, even if it isn't as an assassin."

I sank to the ground, defeated. I knew that I wasn't as good as the other two prodigies, but I hadn't realized that it was at this level.

"Pack up," I heard from behind me. Was Darin still talking? "You leave at first light."

I didn't get up. This was probably because I knew something that I had never wanted to.

I wasn't an assassin, or a fighter, or even a worthy prodigy for Darin.

I was a failure.