Chapter 5 Shelter

Iris ran into a tree. She held up her hands to keep her head from bumping into it. She was partly leaning on the tree trunk in the middle of the forest, trying to catch her breath. Her stomach churned. The only meal she'd had yesterday was last night's dinner and that alone could not make up for the rest of the meals she'd skipped. Drops of sweat were visible at her temples and part of her front hair was damp.

She had been running ever since she escaped from that suffocating prison cell last night and only stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath. Her feet wobbled and she let herself fall limply on the ground. The leaves crumpled underneath her. They felt so soft all of a sudden, so much that Iris could just nap here for a while.

As she lay her head on the ground, sleep overtook the hunger and she was out within seconds.

The morning rays shone on her face and arm. The shards glowed dimly in the sunlight. It was like they were absorbing energy from the light as they shone brighter.

Half an hour later…

Iris's fingers twitched and she half opened her eyes to witness her entire body radiating a golden aura. She bolted up straight.

.

I felt a queer sensation that my jacket pocket was heating up. I looked just in time to notice the dim light through the black cloth. The shard was glowing again. Why now of all times? As if I wasn't in enough trouble already. I had to break out of here somehow because I had no intentions of revealing something like this to the night force now.

"It is clear in the girl's eyes that she does not mean well. We must keep her under supervision as well."

"No, she's just a child. She doesn't realize what she's saying. Forget she said anything," Jonathan spoke, although his nervousness could eat him alive at this point. He pulled her arm to get her to sit down again and I sighed in relief.

'Thanks.' I mouthed the word.

"That is true. Cheryl can't possibly know Dixon, she just joined recently." The coach added. I gave him a grim look.

'Thanks a lot to you too,' I thought sarcastically.

"Very well then," Claude said with a nod, "I shall let her be for now but if she tries to defend him again, she will be kept under supervision. Your honor, your conclusion?"

"As I was saying before being rudely interrupted," the judge continued, "I declare Dixon to be kept under supervision for a month. The court will resume after that. You are all dismissed."

I couldn't stop the sinking feeling that nothing was going in my favor right now. What will they get by locking me up in some interrogation room for a month? The more I thought about it, the more painful my headache got.

To make things worse, Cheryl snatched her arm back from Jonathan and stood up again.

'N–'

Jonathan clapped a hand on her mouth before she could continue. He tried to get her to sit down again when something shoved him back to his own seat. Everybody's eyes fell on the two.

I let out a painful sigh, placing my hand on my forehead. I looked at Cheryl with narrowed eyes. Jonathan seemed to be too astonished to move. I could detect faint sparks around her. It was like an enraged aura of electricity that was probably what frightened Jon. He must've gotten shocked.

"She's working with the criminal. Cease her!" Claude ordered and two guards from either side of the room marched towards her.

'And here we go again,' I thought, 'No way to undo this now.'

Black wings sprouted from my back. Before I knew it, I was flying towards her in haste. Folders and documents flew all across the polished wooden floor as I passed. People started to disperse away from the courtroom. Some even screamed at the top of their lungs.

"He's getting away!" I heard Claude shout.

I wrapped an arm around Cheryl's waist and lifted her in the air. The sparked aura around her ceased as she looked at me, shocked.

"Why are you-"

"Shhh," I said, my eyes scanning for the number of guards chasing us. I leaped over the rows of chairs and threw myself out the exit door. I could sense havoc in the courtroom behind me. The judge was shouting at the top of his lungs to dispatch the rest of the night guards.

'This is bad,' I thought but nothing could be done about it. There was no way they would just innocently keep me locked up. Once you're in there, you never get out. Whatever the reason was for all things to point to me, I was going to find out later. However, at the moment, I just had to make sure to get out of the institute quickly before all the exits would be sealed.

The alarm went off five seconds after I'd rampaged out of the courtroom. Purple light's turned to red and started blinking rapidly. One second, the hallway would be red, the next, pitch black. The pattern repeated itself as I made a turn at one point. I flew straight into the open elevator door. I let go of Cheryl and breathed out heavily while ramming my fist onto the common ground button.

My cell phone rang while we were still inside. I took it out. It was Jonathan.

"What's the situation right now?" I asked immediately, knowing that I could trust him.

"Dude, it's gotten pretty nasty. They've lined up almost all the best night guards to track you down. Right now, they're letting them in on the situation. Pretty soon you'll be a wanted criminal if this case isn't solved."

"Forget about the case, I just need to get Cheryl and me out of here."

"Did you get into the elevator which I left open for you?"

"Yeah, thanks, by the way." I felt at ease knowing Jonathan had my back. Cheryl seemed to have gone extremely quiet for some reason. Who knew what she was thinking. Even without her little outburst, I would've still rushed out like that. Just this time, she was stuck with me.

"So what's the plan?" Jon asked urgently.

"I'll try to get to a safe point and call you then. We'll see where to go from there."

"Alright, good luck."

The elevator doors opened inside the ground floor of a building and I breathed out finally. Without another second's delay, I grabbed Cheryl's hand and darted out of there. I could feel her pulse beating hard against her skin. People on the street walked by casually, which meant that the news hadn't reached them yet. We still had a few minutes until the official announcement would be made.

I guided her into a dark alley where we could be hidden from the crowd. I let go of her hand and crouched down to catch my breath.

"I'm sorry about all this. I was just trying to help but it made things worse. None of this would have happened if-" She started but I held up a hand.

"Let's just focus on getting somewhere safe first," I breathed some more and continued, "Preferably another town or some distant part of this town where the news won't reach us. Until this misunderstanding is cleared, you will have to remain hidden, understood? They'll be patrolling day and night." I could see her tensing up.

"Be honest with me, do you have anywhere you can go?"

She slowly shook her head. I held out a hand.

"Come with me, then. It'll be alright, trust me."

She looked at me with apologetic eyes but still took my hand. I guided her through the streets, taking turns at places that felt right to me. I was heading towards the slum areas of the town. The scorching heat of the sun met my eyes and I had to squint while passing through a crowd of people. I bumped into a few of them who simply ignored me and carried on with their lives. Every now and then, I would hear the beep of a night guard's phone.

We made it out of the residential areas while avoiding all the beeping noises. We stood in the middle of a crowded street. It was the marketplace that had previously been closed off. Among the many people I spotted a night guard. He was walking around shops, showing something on his phone to the shop keepers. I had a strong hunch that it was my photo that was being flashed around. The guard began to turn towards us. I pulled Cheryl inside a shop with me.

"What is it?" she breathed out. Her face looked white as a sheep. Her bangs were mostly glued to her forehead with sweat. I knew it wasn't the running that got her tired. Her mind was probably going crazy trying to unravel everything.

"You need to rest." I told her and made her sit down on a nearby plastic chair. In the meantime, I managed to glance around the shop. It was a small room with four bookshelves lined parallel to each other. The counter was on one side, behind which an old man sat smoking a cigar.

My eyes stopped at him. His face was wrinkled around the eyes and a mass of white hair occupied his head. He seemed to be in a daze, staring up at the wall.

"Did you want anything in particular and seek my assistance?" The voice was thin and belonged to a skinny boy with spectacles, who seemed about my age. His eyes fell on the red head who was gasping hard on the chair and then back at me.

"No. We're just looking around."

The boy eyed me for a long silent second after nodding and going back to shuffling some old books in the corner.

I sighed with relief and then looked out the window. The night guard seemed to have gone elsewhere, which was good. My eye caught sight of a jar of water and a glass on the counter. I poured some in the empty glass, not caring to ask the old man for permission. The man didn't even glance at me.

I brought the glass of water to Cheryl and kneeled down to give it to her. I waited beside her, in a sitting position, while mustering up a plan in my mind. Suddenly, the shop door opened behind me. I knew who it was just by looking at Cheryl's face as she stopped drinking. The glass almost slipped from her fingers. I half turned and saw the person showing his cell phone to the shopkeeper.

For the first time since I came here, the old man blinked and his eyes fell on the screen of the phone. He slightly shook his head. The night guard apologized for barging in here like that and began to leave. I started to breathe out when, all of a sudden, the boy with the spectacles stopped him.

"Hey, wait," he called, to which the night guard stopped and turned.

My heart was at my lungs, pounding so hard that it felt like it would explode. I tried to back up further behind the bookshelf. The guard hadn't spotted us yet but he was going to when the boy would tell him where we were. There was a pause after he saw the photo.

"No, I'm sorry but I haven't seen those two around this place."

"It's alright. Thank you for your time. I'll be leaving now but if you see them, be sure to notify the night force."

The guard left and the door closed. Cheryl and I stood there dumbfounded when the boy approached us with a slight smile.

"You guys are free to stay here as long as you like. That guard was looking for you. He's the third one who's been here today."

Cheryl swallowed the rest of the water and somewhat slammed the glass down on the shelf, ignoring everything that was going on. She just stared at it, as if summing something up in her head. I chose not to ask.

The nightforce worked faster than I thought. They must have contacted the night guards in other areas to spread the word. Chances of hiding away were looking pretty slim by the minute.

"Why are you helping us?" Cheryl asked in a troubled voice without even looking up from the empty glass.

The boy smiled pleasantly at her, a small dimple appeared on the side of his cheek.

"You don't look like criminals, just two kids who lost their way," he answered in a gentle tone which I mistook as an offense.

"Kids? Exactly how old are you?" My tone wasn't exactly pleasant or gentle.

"Twenty three."

"You don't look twenty three to me…" I trailed off and was going to let it go when his sudden reply ticked me off.

"Well you don't look like a criminal to me."

I turned and frowned at him, "What, so you're calling us criminals?"

"One of you, maybe..." he said in such a low voice it sounded as if he was talking to himself.

Cheryl watched him silently with her head turned slightly to the side. He caught her glance.

"You guys should stay the night here."

"Why?" Cheryl retorted suspiciously.

"It's no trouble. I'm Ricky by the way. It's nice to meet you." He held out a hand towards her. She eyed him with uncertainty for a few seconds, then shook it lightly but he had a firm grip. He held her hand for a moment too long after the shake. Cheryl awkwardly retrieved her hand.

It was the first time I felt something about the two of them. Standing like that, looking at each other with their dark eyes. Both had the same red, silky hair. Ricky's hair was a bunch of short curls.

"Is there a problem?" Ricky asked, one eyebrow raised at me.

I just shook my head. Cheryl glanced at me worriedly but I had no choice in the matter. We needed help, fast.

"Come on, I'll show you around," He was talking to Cheryl and obviously ignoring me as I tagged along behind the two. She kept turning around to make sure I was still there.

We entered a door to the back of the shop that led into his house. It turned out that he had quite a nice apartment. It had a heater, kitchen, several rooms, a basement and what surprised me was that he had it all to himself.

He led us straight through the hallway, towards the very end of the room.

"You can sleep here for the night," he told Cheryl, walking into a room with light pink painted walls and a few stuffed animals on a shelf. There were a few picture books on the lower shelf. A study table with a mirror attached to it. Cheryl froze for a moment.

"Too pink for you?" I joked.

"No… it's… it's fine," she whispered back, carefully walking in as if anything she touched would break. I slowly tip-toed after her. The minute I walked past the wooden doorway, something beeped in my ear. I stopped halfway and backed up a few steps. The beeping stopped.

I heard Ricky shuffle behind me.

"Dixon, was it? It's the name those guards keep repeating," he said. "Come with me. I need to talk to you, alone."

He left the room leading me to who knows where.

"So you live here all by yourself and work at a small bookshop on the side. What do you really do for a living?" I asked as he led me downstairs to the basement. I frowned at the lack of lighting in that room.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You ask too many questions," Ricky answered. There was a click and the lights flickered on.

My mouth slightly dropped open at the sight.

"What is this?" The words escaped my mouth without my conscience.

I stood at the very entrance of what looked like an underground lab. It was a room full of technical equipment, monitors covered the walls. Heat sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, all labeled alongside a pillar.

"To answer your question earlier, this is my real job."

"Night guard?"

"Night researcher," he replied.

He walked over to a metal chair in front of the main monitor in the middle of the room and sat down, urging me to do the same.

"Why bring me here?" I asked, more suspicious than I wanted to sound, walking over to the empty seat beside him.

"My sensor went off. Either it's you, or something dangerous is stuck to you," he said while putting on white, rubber gloves. "Did you get those injuries checked by a nightforce doctor, as per protocol?"

I just stared at him.

"You could die if you ignore this."