Beyond the Horizon

2. Control

Before she led them upstairs, Karan locked the bakery door. Nezumi didn't point out that the action was wasted since the windows of the bakery were blown out and an easy breeze wafted freely into the room. He recognized that she did it out of habit, or perhaps to wrest some kind of control out of the situation. Either way, it was her business.

          Once she finished, Karan directed the group quietly around the counter, through the kitchens, and up the staircase in the back room. The space upstairs was all the rooms in a house squished into one. A kitchenette and a table for two stood to the right of the doorway, and a makeshift storage space for clothes and odds and ends lay to the left. A neatly made bed rested against the wall in the far corner, and a faded brown couch was positioned opposite. The window at the back of the room let in as many sunbeams as it could manage through its pane; the small potted plant on the sill stretched its leaves to catch them.

          The condition of the room was worn, but well maintained. There were no luxuries, only the modest minimum of what was required to live. Still, Nezumi thought as he stepped into the middle of the room, it's more than a lot of other people have.

          "Would you like to sit?" Karan asked.

          She had closed the door, but the rest of the group hovered near it, as if ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. Nezumi couldn't help but smile.

          "No, thanks," he replied. "I prefer to stand."

          Karan nodded. "I'm Karan," she said after a lengthy silence.

          Nezumi turned his most pleasant smile on her. "Got that from the sign outside. And from the screaming match. Safu and Shion, right?" He looked at the girl and boy in turn.

          Safu bristled at once. "And you are?"

          Plucky. As someone who also channeled anger in uncomfortable situations, Nezumi appreciated her no-nonsense attitude, so he answered without his usual lip. "Nezumi."

          Safu's body angled to shield Shion—which was amusing. Her friend had just unleashed a concussive blast that blew out every bit of glass in the bakery, but yet it was he who needed protecting? Nezumi peered at the dark haired boy behind her. Then again, at the moment, Shion certainly didn't look like he was brimming with explosive energy. He was pale and shaken, and watching Nezumi back with large, worried eyes.

          "That's quite the power you have," Nezumi said to him. Shion swallowed and glanced at his mother.

          Safu apparently didn't like him interacting with her friend. She took a step forward, obstructing Nezumi's view. "Who are you, really?"

          "Safu...." Karan began, but Safu cut her an exasperated look.

          "Don't you think it's a little suspicious? He shows up, and all of a sudden someone tries to attack you!"

          "He saved us." The voice was Shion's. Karan and Safu glanced at him, but Shion's gaze was fixed on Nezumi. "Thank you for that."

          Nezumi shrugged. Honestly, he did it as much for himself as he did it for them. If Horizon Labs looked too closely at the incident, they'd be back on his trail, and he'd only just threw them off.

          "Don't forget you did some of the work," Nezumi said. "In fact, I bet you could have taken care of them yourself, if you wanted to. Although, I agree my methods are less messy. Maybe don't announce your location to everyone in a fifty-foot radius next time?"