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It was a normal afternoon in the city, cars usually driving, kids at a park or two, people late rushing to work. It's the usual type of day you would have, although there was still school and kids would have to go to it including me. I always thought school was a waste of time and i still think it is because you can look anything up on the internet very easily, but i'm forced to because of my parents saying they want me to have an education. As I walked down the long street crowded with multiple people rushing past it was like you couldn't see anything if you were short, as I was getting near my school I went to a coffee shop but got a donut instead of coffee. I always thought coffee was disgusting because of the taste, once I left the shop I was right around the corner from my school, one of the worst schools you could possibly go to. People would either ditch school or wouldn't do anything or the work given. As i sat down at my chair while the amount of people in the halls started to shorten and disappear the bell rang and school begun with the long torture ahead of it. As i started to fall asleep it got darker like i was fading away of some sort, but until i noticed the lights were out and there was a weird feeling going through my head, it felt like i was pushed by someone- no something. Everyone started panicking and running around and pushing each other, some were calm some weren't. Everything was chaotic until multiple crashing noises started to happen outside, i thought it was cars most likely which it was of course. So many things started to happen at once it was hard to actually understand what was going on. As I started to make my way out of the school the teachers tried to stop me but I disobeyed what they said and moved straight ahead trying to get to the exit. There were barricaded and blocked by purpose but some on accident from the roof. I found a way out up to a roof and see what was outside and get out of the school and finally see what was going on. Once I got to the roof it was like an apocalypse had started, or some type of virus got out. Although there was still light outside, it was cloudy and everything was destroyed, buildings had shattered glass in them, some seemed like they were going to fall apart, people were running away from something or someone as more cars started to crash. It felt like an outbreak had started which is what I thought, but it was no outbreak people said. There was no sort of communication, not even my phone would work, maybe it was a shockwave possibly, or even a government EMP. i didn't know what was going on until jets started to fly around the city, until a jet crashed into a building, my building. As it started to fall over it hit my school and i almost got caught with the collision. I started to head home as the sun started to set down. I didn't want to be stuck out at night where anything can happen at a time like this. As i ran to my house i forgot that i had to use an elevator to go up, i was hoping the building was fine so i wouldn't get crushed. since the whole city power was out i knew that i can't use it so i went up the stairs. As I walked I felt like I was being showered with thoughts: why did this happen, why here, my mom ok, what's going on, so many things I couldn't think straight. I finally arrived at my house but no one was there. Well no one should be here because we don't have a dog, i'm guessing that my mom is still at work but i could never know. I lived up a bit on the 4th floor which was not as high but good enough where I can get down to the first floor easily. I looked outside and there was no sun, it was pitch black dark, not a single thing to be seen. For about an hour or more i didn't look at the time but nothing serious has happened in a while well not that i sought of. There was still no power on my phone, it was like living in the dark because I couldn't see the news, any stories, I couldn't contact anyone. it was a matter of time before something else happened. I couldn't think of anything else to do, i was about to go to sleep but i had a thought, what if everyone evacuated but i didn't go with them, what if this all happened on purpose, maybe someone was targeting this place maybe i should leave. As i packed some things getting ready to leave i started having some last thoughts before i left. Once i went down the stairs to the first floor there was something moving on the street, with all of the cars crashing into each other i was surprised, i tried to catch up with them but they disappeared into the darkness nowhere to be seen. I thought to myself this was the best choice I had, maybe the emp had shockwaves in the city still so maybe if i left the area my phone would work. I wanted to find answers about why this would happen, it may sound dumb but maybe this was a test, maybe this is all fake, what if it is? I started walking down the street away from the city hoping for help or something. Until then i never knew what was ahead of me and what was going to happen, i guess i just had to give it a try, before i fully left i found a stick on the ground. I decided to use it and put a sleeve on it like some type of grip on a sword just in case something happened, I walked off ready for anything that came into my way, i'll find my mom soon?.
Calli narrowed her eyes against the setting sun, squinting up at the manor houses which sat preening smugly on the streets here. The shadows lingered darkly in the doorways, deep enough to smother her in her sleep. The trees lined up like sentries down the cobblestones. Calli felt her fingers twitching at her sides, itching for the knife that was no longer sheathed at her side. She felt naked without it, despite the acres of stiff, heavy fabric she was draped in tonight.
Hastra had laughed herself sick when Calli came out of the chambers they shared dressed in this finery, until Gregyr had told her quietly to stop being a fool.
?You look very pretty, Calli,? he'd said, even as Hastra wiped her eyes. Gregyr, the second in command in the Rat's Nest gang, was always the peacemaker. Calli had squinted at him, trying to work out whether he was patronising her or not. Never, in all her fourteen years of life, had she been called ?pretty' before. But then, never had she worn such copious amounts of fabric before. The endless white pleats bulked out her scrawny frame, adding a suggestion of curves where there definitely weren't any. Her red hair was piled up on her head and pinned with pearls, leaving her neck exposed. She hated it. She couldn't help but imagine the cold kiss of a knife up against her skin.
But then neither had she been invited to a party before. Not that she was exactly 'invited' now...
She wasn't nervous--she wasn't--but all the same...
I wanted this assignment, she reminded herself. I wanted to prove myself, and do more than petty pick-pocketing, tailing the marks and distraction detail. I wanted to be a real player at last.
And yet, she hadn't thought that Dryvus would send her to the infamous Earl Adderforth's annual masquerade ball either ?
She reached up to adjust her mask, making sure the white lace still hid her face. It was curved up into feathers, like angel wings, and matched the pearls and the dress. We want people to think you are innocent, Calli, Dryvus had said as he had handed everything to her, and that made Hastra laugh, too. ?Innocent' was another description that had never been applied to Calli before.
?A bit young for such a potent drink, aren't we, my lady?? A voice breathed in her ear.
He hid behind a large, black beaked mask, with a tumble of thick brown hair escaping over the top. His clothes were well-tailored, but hung off of him in those dishevelled billows and he did not seem that much older than Calli was, despite his words.
She snatched the glass back out of his hand, which only made him laugh. She took a second, defiant mouthful of iris wine. She couldn't say that she liked it any better than the first, but at least it proved her point.
?I think I can handle it, lord??? But he did not supply a name for her. He just leant against the pillar next to her, surveying the crowd.
?Quite a turn-out tonight, but I don't see Adderforth here yet. He likes to make an entrance, so they say.?
She didn't quite know why this stranger was talking to her as if she knew him, so she took another sip of iris wine to cover her confusion. She was almost halfway through the glass now. She needed to be more careful. She could not afford to ruin everything by being drunk, but there was something about this arrogant stranger that got under her skin.
?Even the balconies are bursting,? this stranger continued, staring up at them. She followed his gaze and saw that he was right. Everybody who was anybody was here tonight.
Nobody knew her name was Callietta. Not even Dryvus. She only ever introduced herself as Calli.
She tried to follow the bird-man's progress across the dance floor, but he swam through the crowds with a graceful ease and she soon lost him in the press of bodies.
Who was he? How did he know my name? How did he know I was with Dryvus?
She tried to stumble after him, but her limbs were sluggish now. She frowned behind her mask. She longed to rip it off, but she knew that was foolish. Three mouthfuls of iris wine should not have affected her so much, however potent it was.
A cold chill spread through her. Poison. That bird-man must have slipped poison into her glass when he took it from her?and like a fool she had guzzled it down, simply because he had told her not to.
Panic spread through her, and the noise of the ball ratcheted louder. The colours burnt brighter as they swirled about in noisy, echoing hues, the music reverberated like demonic laughter, the crowds whirling manically and she was drowning in the midst of it all.
?Would you honour me with a dance before your nursemaid trundles you off to bed?? he asked, pulling her far too close, and again the crowd howled with mocking laughter.
Calli felt her temper flaring but she reined it under control, as he started whirling her around the dance floor. Her stumbling feet would not obey her. Blackness swam up towards her and the world tipped sideways. When she awoke she was on the floor of the ballroom, a crowd of anxious guards and Adderforth himself still crowded around her, the stunned eyes of the crowd whispering gleefully, everybody staring at her and the scene she was making.
She pushed herself up, throwing Adderforth's grasping hands off of her by force.
Get a grip on yourself, Calli, she chided herself firmly. The cold night air was cooling her panic now, too, and shame was beginning to wash over her instead. Hastra is never going to let me live this down.
And Dryvus, though he would not be cruel, would also never trust her with another assignment again. I had screwed everything up?He had told me to wait, to be ready, to be unobtrusive and I did none of those things.
She forced herself to her knees, steeling her nerve.
The night isn't over yet. I can still salvage it yet.
Somebody was already there. She froze, squinting against the candle-glow at the figure hesitating within and her drunken hand fumbled for her dagger but, of course, it was still missing.
It was the bird-man. He had pushed his mask up onto his head by now, the candle held in one hand, a lockpick in the other.
?You!? she hissed, fury flooding through her. She launched herself across the room hitting him hard. He fended her off carefully, still grinning that infuriating smile.
?Come on, Calli, we haven't got much time,? he said.
?Who are you? How do you know my name? What are you doing here??
?Micah. Dryvus sent me, and the same thing as you. Come on. We've got to find those papers.?
She glared at this Micah. Her brain was still being slow and uncooperative, but something about this didn't feel right.
?Dryvus sent you? He didn't tell me. You poisoned me!?
?Only a little bit,? he said apologetically. ?It'll wear off soon. Dryvus wanted your panic to seem real. You were never in any danger, we just needed a distraction so that I could break in.?
?But he sent me to get the paperwork.?
Micah huffed out an impatient sigh, pity crinkling in those dark eyes. ?Really? You really thought he would trust you with something like that? You're the distraction, Calli, nothing more.?
The words stung. She had thought Dryvus was trusting her at last. I had thought he had given me a real assignment. But, of course, he hadn't, she chided herself bitterly. How could he when I only screw everything up?
Micah placed the candle on the side table and began rummaging through Adderforth's bedchambers.
?Now, if I were a secret document, where would I hide?? mused Micah, as he disappeared underneath the bed and began pulling out boxes and chests, rifling through the folders of paperwork within them quickly.
?Why is there a hairbrush? Adderforth is bald.?
?I don't know. It came as part of the set, I imagine. Can you concentrate??
But she had already passed over to the dressing table. She picked up the hairbrush and pried the back off of it. It was hollow within, and hidden in the nook was a collection of small mage-witched purball stones in various shades.
Micah looked up quickly as she tipped them into the palm of her hand.
?Calli, you beautiful genius,? he whispered under his breath, hurrying over. He ran his hands over them, holding each one up to the light. They were translucent, like amber, and tiny reflections of words echoed deep within them. The perfect way to keep important documents safe and hidden.
?It's this one, I think, hang on.?
Micah placed the purball stone on the dressing table, fetched the ewer and jug from the bedside table and tentatively dripped a couple of water droplets on top of it until the charms trapping the papers within it dissolved, releasing the paper within. The document unfurled before their eyes. Calli could see Adderforth's scrawling signature there at the bottom of the document. It was legitimate.
They both reached for it at the same time, their fingers closing in unison over it. His hands were warm, and Calli could feel her cheeks burning.
?Who gets to take it to Dryvus?? he grinned. ?Want to flip for it??
But there was a sudden noise in the corridor outside. Micah's head whirled around at the sound and so did Calli's.
?Go. Quickly, back out of the window. We can't be found here now.?
He snatched at the papers and the remaining purball stones and secreted them within his tunic as he hurried her back to the window ledge on fleet feet and bundled her back over the edge. She tipped herself over the balcony, landing bent-kneed in the lawn beneath and Micah landed next to her. His hand grabbed at hers.
?Run!?
They sprinted for the perimeters, and Calli cursed the billowing dress that slowed her down.
?You were coming too?? she panted.
?Of course I was, I just had a few things to finish up here first. What happened? What went wrong??
She pushed herself up into a sitting position, still desperately gulping down air.
?Nothing. We got it, Dryvus. Don't worry. Is he back yet? Don't tell me he got caught??
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