Love is patient, love is kind. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I repeat that inside my head as I'm pulled by Kai through the dark streets—where exactly I don't yet know—and try to convince myself it's worth losing my job and the little dignity I have left.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask him.

"You'll see."

"And it's within a mile away?"

"Yep," Kai grins at me and quickens his pace.

"You have twenty minutes. After that, you'll have to find a better excuse." I'm actually impressed they believed we were just going out for some air. How lazy have they grown? It's getting embarrassing.

We walk in silence. It is the kind of night even a feather would fall without drifting one way or the other. The trees watch us straight and silent, the leaves dangle more as if they have been hammered there. If a person was able to feel the beating of the birds' wings – that would be the only breeze. It is still, utterly still. Despite the stillness of the night, I feel the chill in my blood, coldness bringing my brain to a stand still. It does nothing to calm my nerves.

Kai comes to an abrupt stop, causing me to bump onto him.

I look around. We are in an almost empty alley, grey and filthy, and in the shadows, I see a woman hunched on the floor, wrapped in thick blankets. Kai approaches her.

"Make sure everything's back in place," he tells the woman in a strong tone I haven't heard him use before. Then, he walks further in the shadows and with precise movements, he starts pushing away the boxes lying on the concrete.

I come to stand behind him and quietly watch him, wondering what the hell has got into him. After a minute of pushing and grunting, he steps aside and points to the ground, where a hatch is barely visible in the dark.

"What?" I raise my eyebrows at him.

He shakes his head impatiently and lifts up the lid himself. "Go," he nods, and I swear he enjoys ordering me around. And I might like it too.