The Exiles

Chapter 5) Moss

        “Stay still and don’t say anything,” a familiar voice breathed in her ear. Leto squinted into the darkness to try and make out the face.

            “Moss?”

            “Shut up,” he hissed.

She could feel his heart beating a mile a minute against her arm. A second later, she understood why. Light spilled through the cracks in the door, and she could hear the black car idling not far away.

            “What is it?” a guard called from outside.

            “I thought I saw something in the alley,” another guard answered.

            “There’s nothing there,” the first man said, “Probably just a cat.”

            Leto held her breath as footsteps crossed in front of the door. She could see the black fabric of a guard uniform shift as the footsteps stopped.

            “It didn’t look like a cat,” the second guard said. He had to be less than ten feet from where Leto and Moss were standing.

            “Well I don’t see anything,” the other replied, “Get back in the car.”

            For a long minute, the guard stood just outside the door. The glow of the flashlight flicked around the walls of the alley.

            “Fine,” he said at last.

The light went out and the footsteps echoed all the way back to the street. Still, Leto did not breathe until she heard the car drive away. She waited in absolute silence, feeling Moss’s body tense and alert next to her. Where were they? There were walls close on either side of them, like some sort of closet, but she could see nothing in the darkness.

            Moss’s arm reached out and shoved her back against the wall.

            “What in the hell are you doing here?” he spat. His forearm was pressed into her throat. Leto gasped for air, still too disoriented from his attack to think.

            “If you want me to answer, I have to breathe first,” she managed to get out.

The pressure on her throat released, but she could feel his arms on either side of her head, cornering her into the wall.

            “Well?” he said. She could just make out his thick eyebrows raised in annoyance.

            “I… I,” she stammered. What was she doing here? The goal had always been to get to this point, and now that she was at it, she realized she didn’t know what to do.

“I wanted to know the truth,” she said at last. She tried to make her voice sound brave and strong, but she wasn’t sure she succeeded.

            “The truth about what?”

            “You helped Daniel, why can’t you help me?” she said, folding her arms and glaring up at him. Her eyes had started to adjust to the darkness, and she could see Moss’s own green-brown eyes staring dangerously at her.

            “What do you want to know?” he said. His arms dropped to his sides.

            “I want to know what happened to Daniel,” she said, “And so far, you’re the best lead I’ve got.”

            To her surprise, Moss threw his head back and laughed. It was hollow and cold, almost maniacal, and Leto felt for the first time like she ought to be afraid of him.