After a couple of hours, she began to feel hungry. No matter how much she held on, the emptiness in her stomach only grew and gave her less room to think. She had to eat something, anything. She began to wander around the city, trying to find some way to get food. But she had never needed to do that in her world, not without money or friends. In that world of nonis she was alone and helpless, without access to basic resources.

Suddenly, she stumbled upon a fair. There were hundreds of stalls lined up next to each other, with all kinds of food; fruits, vegetables, tubers, meats from a dozen different species of animals, legumes, pastas, sweets, fried foods, drinks of all colors and smells, and even forms of food she had never seen in her life. The smell wafted through the surrounding streets and people squeezed as they tried to move forward to get to the next stall, their carts full of food.

Hiding her desperation, she approached one of the stalls farthest away from the rest and the crowd, one that sold big patties, filled with whatever it was the nonis threw in. They looked delicious and big, with just one Liliana could have kept herself going until the afternoon of the next day.

—If only I had money to buy one...— she thought.

But she didn't have any, and begging was forbidden in that city, precisely to prevent escaped slaves from being able to support themselves.

She was nervous, but she had no choice but to try. She avoided thinking about what would happen if she was caught and noticed the owner: a pot-bellied, long-haired noni, probably more than twice Liliana's weight. He looked focused on making more patties; there were a few freshly made ones on the counter, ready to take and run.

"Take and run." It sounded almost acceptable, but she was only fooling herself. She was planning to steal them, that was it. Guilty, she held her hands to her head. She never thought she would go and steal from anyone. She didn't want to, it was wrong... but she was hungry. She was very hungry and needed to survive.

—I can do it— Liliana said to herself.

So she hurried, trying to hide from the noni's gaze. She grabbed a patty and ran away from the stall. However, the vendor noticed her immediately, even though the counter was higher than the girl's head, and ran after her at full speed. Being robbed by another noni was bad news, but being robbed by a human was a mockery and he did not intend to go through such humiliation.

Liliana, inexperienced, started running down the less populated street, not realizing that this gave the noni less obstacles to catch up with her. She moved her skinny legs as fast as she could, but that was not enough to get away from the vendor. Liliana realized, as she ran, that she had no chance of fleeing. In a short time the noni would grab her and beat her with all his strength, perhaps to death. She was about to burst into tears.

At that moment, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her tightly. It took her out of the way and then another hand held her behind her back. For a moment she thought it was all over, until she heard the noni stop noisily a few steps away from her. The girl held her breath, terrified. She expected him to point his finger and yell at her, but he did nothing of the sort. The salesman looked all around, as if he couldn't see her. For an instant he even ran his eyes in the general direction she was standing, but still failed to find her. It was as if she had turned invisible.

—Damn huma!— roared the noni, as he stomped his huge foot on the ground.

To the girl's surprise, the noni turned around and retraced its steps, saddened. Liliana did not understand what had happened, but it was certainly a good thing.

The mysterious hands let go of her body. Liliana turned around, puzzled, and looked at the person standing next to her: it was a man, a human like her. He was an adult of indefinite age, he could have been 30 or 50. His light smile emanated a vast wisdom, his gestures were slow, but graceful. His face was beautiful, covered by a light make-up, enough to make the ladies he looked at feel nervous, like Liliana at that moment.

—You can eat that in peace— said the man, patting her head as if she were a delicate pet.

Liliana was very confused, as well as anxious in case the noni decided to return, but more than anything she was hungry. First, she eagerly devoured the patty.

—Oh!— she exclaimed ecstatically, after swallowing the last bite— I was so hungry!

The man smiled.

—Poor thing. You must be one of the humans they took from that new world, aren't you?

He spoke of Mother as if he had never been there. That man wasn't like her, but he was human all the same. Liliana nodded, however she had more pressing questions.

—What did you do?— she wanted to know —How come that noni didn't see us?

She looked in all directions. In that street there were only the two of them and a few other nonis. There were no hiding places nearby. It was impossible that the seller had not seen them.

The man continued smiling, his parsimony invitingly calm.

—Are you satisfied with that patty?— he asked her in reply.

Liliana wanted to argue that he had not answered her question, that they did not know each other, but she was not used to contradict her elders, and more importantly: she was still hungry. She let her arms and head hang as any response.

The man laughed softly. Then he turned around and started walking towards the same street where the patty stand was located.

—Come with me, I'll buy you lunch.

Liliana stood still, skeptical. She wanted to believe that the man had no hidden intentions, but she was not so stupid. The man stopped and turned around, noticing that she was not following him. He understood what she was thinking and smiled at her again to let her understand that he wasn't trying to do anything wrong.

—I'm meeting a friend of mine for lunch, but he's already late, and I don't like to eat alone, are you up for it?

Liliana knew she had to say no, but that could be her last meal for a while, if she ate again. That man had had the decency to save her from the noni vendor... yes, she supposed she could give him the benefit of the doubt, or at least that's what she thought as her guts twisted in agony.

The man offered her his arm. Liliana shook her head vigorously. The man stared at her for a while, then disappeared. Just like that, he was suddenly gone.

The girl looked in all directions without finding him, until she noticed a hand on her shoulder. She looked the other way. There he was, smiling placidly.

—I need you to stay close or the nonis will see you too— the man told her.

—How... What did you do?

The man laughed again.

—Come with me, I'll explain later.

Liliana would have felt much more cornered with someone else, but that man gave off an air of tranquility that was hard to ignore. She really wanted to trust him.

For the moment she took his arm. They both set off towards the most populated street, where all the food stalls were located. Some even had little tables and cooks for people to sit and gulp down what they were serving. The first thing they did was to go to the patty stand that Liliana had stolen earlier. The noni who made the patties looked focused on his work, perhaps he had already forgotten about it.

Liliana wanted to stop the man from approaching, but he calmed her down by patting her hand.

—Trust me— he whispered.

Finally, they both stood in front of the stall. The noni seemed to suddenly notice the man on the other side of the counter. He kept smiling.

—Hello— the man greeted.

The noni looked at him suspiciously and prepared to jump at him if he dared to take one of his patties, but that didn't happen.

—I noticed that a girl stole something that belonged to you— mentioned the man.

—Do you know her?— asked Noni angrily.

—She's an acquaintance— answered the man —She recently ran away from her parents' house, I'm looking for her. I came to pay for that patty she stole, and a little extra for the trouble.

The noni immediately relaxed his face.

—Well, it doesn't bother me as long as someone pays— he confessed —but I better not see her again, or she'll have to deal with me.

Liliana was surprised. She was right there, arm in arm with the man, but the noni didn't seem to be able to see her. Then the man next to her paid the noni, and with Liliana on his arm, he left for other stalls.

—Do you know why I paid him?— the man asked Liliana.

She gave it a thought.

—Because I robbed him?— she guessed. The man laughed.

—No, because you didn't rob him right. Look.

Soon they entered the populated aisles of the fair, where people were buying food of all kinds, to take home or to eat right there. The man approached one of the stalls, took a piece of fruit without even seeing where he put his hand and continued walking as if nothing had happened. Liliana thought that in a second they would have five nonis after them, but no one said anything. The nonis continued buying, selling and eating, and no one noticed the two humans walking past them.

—You see? Nobody saw me— assured the man, before passing the fruit to Liliana.

—How did you do it?— she asked —Did you become invisible? Don't tell me we're both invisible!

The man laughed at the girl's surprise.

—Patience, my child— and suddenly he gave her a sandwich taller than her mouth wide open.

—When did...?— she wanted to ask.

She turned to see where he had gotten it. Behind them, a seated noni took a loud bite out of the air before staring at his hands with a look of utter confusion on his face.

Liliana felt bad for being an accomplice, but she was very hungry, so she devoured it along with the fruit. With that and the patty, she had a good lunch.

—How did you do that?— she asked the man, as he looked inside a wrap in his hands.

—If you want to know, you'll have to become a ghost— he answered —But it's impossible for you to do it overnight, so I'll teach you some tricks at your level.

—What do you mean?— she said, marveling at the man's skills.

—I'll teach you how to steal— he explained —In exchange, I'll ask you to survive and then go and look for me. You will be a good ghost when the time comes.

Liliana wanted to ask him what he meant by "ghosts", how he could disappear from the sight of others and why he had helped her, but she did not see an opportunity to do so.

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The man explained to her what to do in general situations, what to look for and how to act. Everything he told her was logical, like taking advantage of her small body and running through areas with several obstacles to lose her pursuers if she was caught, directing her victims' attention to other places while she robbed them, studying escape routes before executing the robbery and never stuffing her pockets. Liliana heeded every word, guiltily amazed. They spent about an hour talking exclusively about the art of stealing.

—That should be enough for you— he said to the girl, as he finished —I'm sure you'll make it. You are a fine girl.

Liliana closed her eyes for a moment. Then she turned to him to ask his name, but saw nothing. She looked for him everywhere, stretched out her hands in case she could touch him, but he was already gone.

She felt somewhat frustrated, it wasn't every day that she met someone as charismatic and generous as that gentleman, but she ended up shrugging her shoulders and looking to the future. He had given her weapons to survive and find him again. That was what she intended to do.

She remembered his words, "you'll make a good ghost when the time comes". She didn't know what he had meant, but she could guess that "ghost" was some sort of roll or rank.

—Mr. Ghost...— she mumbled in remembrance.

Yes, that was good enough. She would ask his name when she found him again.

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Liliana survived the next few days by stealing food and using the techniques Mr. Ghost had taught her to avoid being discovered. The first few times she trembled with nerves, but as she practiced, she realized that it didn't require much science. It was nothing more than being attentive to people's perception, acting at the right moment and hiding in the crowd as quickly as possible.

For a few days she lived on the streets, eating whatever she could find. She had no toilets and could not brush her teeth, so she felt more disgusted with herself every day.

After a few days, she noticed something that caught her attention: in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city, a group of humans were standing next to a wall that delimited the land of a garbage dump. Liliana wanted to go and talk to them, she was dying to converse with someone of her own kind, but the men dug themselves into a hole in the wall before she could approach and covered it with a tin plate.

—A secret lair— she wondered.

Curious, she went to look.