Swan Song

Chapter Two

With a loud cracking noise, the ground split open, and Sophie landed in her apartment. It was small, ugly, falling apart, and her rent was way too high, but yet, her stomach twisted at the thought of having to leave. She could either take the offer, pay Forkle the money she owed, and move far away, but risk the death penalty if she got caught, or she could turn it down, not pay him back, and allow him to expose her secrets and get the death penalty as well. 

Which was better? Possibly dying if she was captured on her mission, or possibly dying and being on the run? You're more likely to get caught if you don't do it. She let out a deep sigh, taking the paper from her pocket and laying it flat on her kitchen counter. 

Client name: N/A

Member assigned: The Moonlark

Task: Assassinate the Vacker prince of Everglen. 

Alden Vacker was easily the most powerful man in the kingdom, considering he was the ruler of it. The only people with more power than him were the Councillors, who only ever addressed the public if it was absolutely necessary. Which attempting to kill the heir to the throne would be. But if she got away with it... she would be rich. And she was the best hitman in the Black Swan. If anyone could do it, it was the Moonlark. She looked up from the paper, staring at herself in the mirror by her front door. She could do this. And Fitzroy Vacker would be the last person she ever had to kill. 

The Moonlark usually had a pretty easy time finishing her jobs. Her timeline usually went along the lines of: get information, isolate the victim, finish the job. The last time a job went off the rails was when she was hired to kill Fintan Pyren two years ago, who her client had failed to mention was a pyrokinetic. That probably should have been common knowledge, but it wasn't like she had been alive back when he was a Councillor, and after he left he became irrelevant.  

She heard a faint tapping on the window, and, glancing over to the other side of the room, she saw a bird knocking its beak on the glass. Walking the five steps it took to cross her living room, which was really just a broken couch and a plastic tea table for toddlers, she opened the window to see the bird. It was gray, with creepy red eyes and a rolled-up paper tied around its neck with a black ribbon. "Really, birdie? They're sending you to do their dirty work now? And I thought hiring a teenager was bad," she said, rolling her eyes and untying the paper. 

Do you have an answer? The sheet read in smudged black ink. "Wow. It's been, what, twenty minutes?" Sophie sighed, shooing the bird off the roof. The rain had calmed down, so, throwing on a black hood and grabbing the assignment paper, she crawled out her open window onto the broken roof. Her fourth-story apartment windows all looked out onto the same deserted alleyway, offering her a prime location for teleporting. Closing her eyes and picturing the Black Swan headquarters, she jumped.  

When she landed on the path in front of the main building, the first thing that caught her eye was how crowded it was. Normally, she would see a few people outside, but the majority of members would be indoors, in one of the many buildings. Today, it looked like the doors were all shut. Genius observation, Sophie. But why would they be shut?

"They're meeting with a client," a bodiless voice murmured, causing Sophie to jump. She turned over her shoulder to see the Neverseen, who, like his name, was completely invisible except for a black cloak he always wore. He, like Sophie, was a prodigy, an elf with an ability. "Very secretive. Very important. Only the best one of us can work for him." She could easily detect the suspicion in his voice. It wasn't necessarily a secret that she was the best killer in the organization, but it wasn't like she went around screaming about it. To be honest, nobody cared. The nice thing about the Black Swan was that people were only in it for themselves, and so, they all minded their own business. Except the Neverseen.