___

  I followed Gunther through hallways I had never been to until we came to a set of wooden double doors. Larger than the ones I had seen, these doors seemed to tower over us, even Gunther.

  “Now,” Gunther spoke softly as he pressed on the door. “It is not just Adrian that you’re seeing...”

  I gasped as the doors opened.

  ___

  The door opened to a semi-circle table with every chair filled and their gaze on the two of us. Gunther led me through the doors, leaving me to face them. With a quick count, I noticed there were thirteen chairs, with a lady I recognized in the middle: Terra Edem herself.

  I had seen Terra before, but it always surprised me how average she looked. The only notable thing was that she had brown curly hair that she kept long and loose - odd, for an assassin. But she also seemed to radiate power, even wearing the standard clothes of a thief. A uniform of black pants, shirts, boots, and gloves. If you didn’t know better, I suppose you could mistake her as one of the normal members, instead of their leader.

  Gunther led me into the middle of the room, keeping behind me so I couldn’t run. The walls here were stone, and so were the floors. Torches were lit on either side of the room, with small windows behind the table only letting in a little bit of light.

  Gunther took a small bow beside me and left, giving me one last glance before he disappeared through the doors we had entered from, and closed them quietly behind him. I thought Gunther’s gaze looked sad. I turned and faced the people in front of me, with the room in complete silence. Terra spoke first.

  “You must be, Izzie.” Her voice was light and welcoming, not what I had expected. I felt my hands twitch awkwardly at my sides. I didn’t know what to do with them.

  “It’s Isabel, actually.” She nodded at my response. Having Terra use my nickname bothered me, but I didn’t know why.

  “Okay,” she raised her voice as she spoke, announcing her authority almost effortlessly. The same guild mark was easily spotted on the inside of her forearm, taking up most of the space. Larger than what most people would have, and somehow in this world of secrets, she had somehow made sure that everyone knew her. Even the ones not part of a guild at all, like me. I tried hard not to be impressed.

  Glancing awkwardly at the other faces around the table, I spotted Adrian immediately. He was hunched over with his forearms on the top of the table, fidgeting with his hands. He looked uncomfortable. Many of the faces I hadn’t seen before, or only briefly remembered from the other times I had been here. I also spotted someone that took me a moment to place. I had only seen his face in the darkness, but I recognized him.

  Mark wasn’t sitting at the table, instead, he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He smirked when I noticed him. She stood up from her seat to address the rest of the room. A total that I counted as fifteen, with me and Mark included.

  “Now,” her voice seemed to echo impossibly in such a small space. “Although most of us know her already, this is Isabel.” Everyone’s gaze landed on me, but Adrian’s eyes didn’t raise from the tabletop. “She grew up alone in the streets, and lives in a room in an abandoned tower in one of the poorer districts.”

  Terra looked directly at me as she spoke the last sentence, and I felt frozen. I didn’t know how she had gotten that information. Had she sent people to spy on me? And if so, how long had she been watching me? I shifted back and forth, exchanging weight from what foot to another, clenching and unclenching my hands.

  “Would you like to say something, Isabel?” Her voice that I had at first thought was welcoming, now sounded overly sweet to my ears. Though she kept her voice soft, it was far from comforting. I watched Adrian instead, his injuries looking slightly better than I remembered. His jaw still held patches that were an odd yellow, and his nose was bruised and bandaged from where I had hit him last night. Part of me felt bad for doing that, and part of me wished I had broken more than just his nose. I returned my gaze to Terra.

  “Yes,” my voice came out quietly, barely even a whisper. I took a breath, stood up straighter, and thought of how Terra’s voice commanded the attention of the room, and spoke again. “Yes.” Now that people were watching me more intently, heat rushed to my cheeks, but I couldn’t back down now. Terra waved her hand at me, as if giving me permission to continue.

  I tried taking another breath again, but it was like my lungs had stopped working. All I could think of was the feeling of Adrian grabbing me the night before, and the threatening smirk of Mark-

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” I had taken a few steps forward as I yelled, so I stood directly in front of Adrian.

  He didn’t flinch or acknowledge me in the slightest. Without hesitation, I reached across the table and jerked his chin upwards, hard. He winced, and I saw up close now that his face was a mixture of yellow, purples, and greens . Bruises spreading from his nose, eyes, and jaw. His left eye was almost swollen shut, but he still wouldn’t look at me. “Look at me, you--”

  Hands circled under my arms and hauled me back to the center of the room, cursing under my breath as the hands pressed against my stitches. I didn’t bother resisting. Once I was away from the table again, I turned and saw Mark behind me, arms crossed over his chest again, that same smirk on his face.

  I had turned to my left to look at him, and when I saw his smirk, I followed through with my right fist. My punch only hit his cheek, and he moved back too quickly for any actual damage to be done. But I was glad to see that he wasn’t smirking anymore as he held his hand to his face.

  Turning back to the table, almost certain Mark would retaliate. And I was going to be ready if he did. Terra had sat back down when I had approached Adrian a few moments ago, but she stood up again to address me. Leaning forward and setting her hands on the desk in front of her.

  “Thank you, Mark. That was helpful, and a good job of keeping your hands up.” Her use of sarcasm surprised me slightly. She looked at me as she spoke, smiling. I didn’t understand what was happening. “And Izzie, not a bad punch, though with some training--”

  “No.” I crossed my arms over her chest, and was surprised by how clear my voice had sounded, despite the tumult of emotions running through me. The anger at being tricked, and the fear of being trapped. Keeping my anger controlled, at least I could guess why I was here now. “Was this all just a test?” This time Adrian met my gaze. His injuries did not make him look stronger. Instead, he looked almost fragile. I couldn’t read the look he gave me, but Terra’s next words held my attention.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Yes.” She held up her hands in a waiting motion towards me, and continued. “When Adrian first brought you here, we already knew who you were. We tracked you after you left until I told Adrian to start your testing-”

  “What did you mean when Adrian brought me here?” My arms fell back to my sides, and I could feel my blood rushing to my fingertips. “You mean when-” I shook my head and met Adrian’s eyes this time. “It wasn’t an accident that you ran into me.” It wasn’t really a question. I knew the answer already, and his eyes revealed more of the truth than I wanted.

  It was all a setup. Ever since I met him, everything... I couldn’t take it. I had years of instincts built up, of mapping out exits and getting out of places, and so I ran. Throwing open the doors, I ran past Gunther, who glanced sorrowfully at me from where he leaned against the wall. I didn’t stop. I backtracked the route I remembered to the main room and climbed out of Terra Edem for what I thought again would be the last time.

  It was still daylight out, which was dangerous. I had woken up a few hours ago, but I couldn’t be certain of the exact time. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious for. And it wasn’t until I was a few blocks away that I remembered I had left all my clothes there, and my new gloves.

  Disappointment shot through me, but I wasn’t going back. I knew a few spots in the city where you could stay if you were caught outside when the sun was up. I scrambled into a hideout nearby; a hatch in someone’s attic. I had used it before, and no one ever seemed to be there. Luckily, today was no different.

  Once hidden, I sat in the low light. There was a small window, but it was covered, and uncovering it meant possibly being found. I didn’t bother with the matches, or lighting a small fire. I didn’t want to. I needed the silence, and the darkness, to sort through everything that had happened.

  Moving to the far corner away from the window, I placed my back against the wall and drew my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. My side ached from running and moving so much, but I was pretty sure my stitches were still intact, and I didn’t feel like checking right now, anyway. I used to sit like this on nights when I couldn’t find any safe place to sleep. It made me small and harder to find. And sitting like this now made me feel more calm.

  My head hurt, either from injury or from the stress of everything I had been through lately. My main thoughts were wondering how all of this happened. I was usually so careful... And now none of it matters. The guild had kept an eye on me, and I had made more enemies than friends there. But there were still things I didn’t understand, and things that didn’t add up. How had Adrian gotten his injuries? He wouldn’t have done that just to play a part. So then maybe he had actually been to jail. But then—it all just seemed too convenient.

  I sat for an hour or so, only bothering to move when my muscles got sore. There were too many unanswered pieces to make sense of anything. Too many things didn’t add up. And then I realized I felt very alone. I was accustomed to the feeling, but after an hour of thinking, the betrayal and loneliness struck me harder than it had before.

  At least, after I had met Adrian, I knew he was out there. It felt like some kind of connection. An anchor to at least have in the back of my mind that I knew someone else in this city, in this world. Now I knew he was still out there, but the entire dynamic had changed. He tricked me, and tried to get me to join the guild with him, which he already knew I didn’t want.

  Finally, I tried to sleep. My head and side still hurt from the night before, but it didn’t matter. I was exhausted from everything.

  When I woke up, I wasn’t alone. Footsteps from the roof startled me awake. I was on my feet and had a knife in my hand before the hatch opened and a shadow dropped. Acting quickly, I had the figure pinned against the nearest wall with a knife to their throat. Immediately, recognition ran through me — of course, Adrian. I felt him swallow against the knife, driving the blade deeper.

  “Again, Izzie?” His voice was muffled by the fabric covering the lower half of his face. He was cloaked entirely in black, complete with a hood. Revealing nothing but his eyes. Hearing Adrian speak made me hesitate for a moment too long, leaving enough time for Adrian to get an arm between the knife and his throat.

  I grabbed and twisted his arm, trying to regain the advantage I had lost. But he deflected my movements and got a hold of my arm instead. We exchanged punches and kicks, both of us blocking most of the others’ hits. Until he took a sweeping kick at my feet that, with the dim light, I didn’t see in time.

  My breath left me as my back hit the floor loudly and I felt my side pull on the fresh stitches. Gladly, it wasn’t enough to tear it open again. Adrian had me pinned, his hands on my shoulders but his body hovered over me, intentionally not dropping his weight.

  We both hesitated, listening to the house below for movement. Nothing.

  “Would you—stop—fighting me, please?” Adrian’s breathing was heavy from the sparring, but mine was still steady. That made me feel better.

  “Are you going to kill me?” my voice whispered into the large room.

  “Of course not.” That was Adrian’s reply, but he didn’t remove his hands from my shoulders.

  “Then what?” I asked harshly, still keeping my voice low. “Trick me again? Let me risk my life for a trial to a guild I want no part of?” My voice turned bitter and grew louder as I spoke. I lifted my legs and stomach up, throwing Adrian off balance.

  As soon as his hands left my shoulders to catch himself, I raised my knee up and heard him groan. Rolling out from underneath him, I stood and looked down at him. Adrian’s voice was quiet, but I caught part of it that sounded like the word ‘unfair’.

  I spotted a bag on the ground beneath the hatch that opened up to the roof. Adrian must have dropped it when I pinned him against the wall. Grabbing the sack, I opened it. It held my clothes, with everything neatly folded. And at the bottom, once I had removed everything, were my gloves. I ran my hands over the smooth leather, taking in the delicate pattern again. From what I could see in the dim light, they looked as good as when I had stolen them, maybe even better.

  I pivoted to face him again as I heard him get up. Watching him, he dropped to his knees and put his hands up: a surrender. Gently, I placed the clothes back in the bag, careful not to unfold them, and looked at him again. I held out the bag towards him, gesturing to it. Adrian looked strange, as a dim surrendering outline in the low light. His shadow shrugged.

  “Have you met Karol? She’d actually kill me if I didn’t return your things back to you.” His hand drifted to his neck, placing his hand across the cut I had given him earlier. The fabric had been sliced through and I’m guessing I probably cut his skin again. “That’s part of the reason it took me so long to come after you.”

  Adrian slowly lowered his hands, and he raised one hand to where his lips would be if not covered by cloth. Hearing faint noises below, and glancing at the window, I could see that the sun had started to set, and people were just getting home from work. The shadow in front of me rose and approached silently. My hands stayed still at my sides and I felt his warm breath against the side of my face, though some of it was blocked from the fabric covering his mouth.

  “Follow me. Not to the guild, but I at least owe you answers.” He stood near me a moment longer, maybe waiting for a response. When he moved away, my ear, neck and cheek felt colder immediately. Adrian opened the hatch and disappeared.

  For a moment, I stood there, not moving. I didn’t know if I was still angry, or if I even wanted the answers he had. A noise startled me from below, and I made up my mind. It didn’t really matter, I supposed. I couldn’t stay here any longer.

  Grabbing the bag, I lifted the hatch and climbed out into the cold evening.