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The morning after the dinner with the priest, Anastasiya rose early. The sun had only reached its gentle rays out to the treetops and the gravelled bottom of the driveway was still cast in a shadowed darkness known only in the night. Even the tree line still seemed to quiver in the coldness of the icy English nights.
She had expected to be the only one up at such an early time, especially since her sister often stayed up so late that when she would finally sleep, it was closer to daylight. But, to her surprise, as she stepped quietly down the stairs, rounding the banister of the long hallway, she stopped in front of Tatiana, her eyes level with her own and staring back. She looked at her with a raised brow and squinting eyes, almost as if she was picking her apart and silently interrogating her.
"What are you doing?" Tatiana asked, her voice teasing the fact that she had been caught.
"I am going for a walk." Ana replied as she snaked around her, retrieving her coat from the peg and pulling it over her shoulders.
"At this time?"
"This may be hard to believe, sister, but some people don't sleep during the day and wake in the night." Ana said slyly, picking her hat up lastly and checking it the mirror.
"Be careful, Ana. They're different to us." Tatiana suddenly said, and she stopped shortly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ana insisted, as she looked at her from in the mirror.
"Yes you do." Tatiana pushed, her usually emotionless face showing a hint of worry.
"I don't know what you're thinking. But," she began, shaking her head. "Stay out of my way, baby sister, this is not for you."
Anastasiya nodded, pausing a moment before walking out of the house. What did Tatiana mean? It seemed that everyone had taken to speaking in riddles while around her, making no sense and confusing her further. Anastasiya was suspicious of the priest and no ones words or actions would be able to stop her from thinking so.
It was completely light by the time that Ana had made it to Small Heath, though the thick smog that rose from the sooty buildings wouldn't allow her to see so. A black cloud hung permanently and lowly across the sky, looking like a thunder cloud that threatened to spill at any moment. The streets were empty as Ana walked along them, while pulling the paper from her coat pocket and glancing at the address that was scribbled on it.
5 watery lane. She was in the right place. As she walked up the street, she came to a dead stop, as she watched a man emerge from the very house that she was heading for, a cigarette in his lips and a gleaming razor blade in his flat cap. He must have been a Shelby.
