"Thank you, Cinder Girl." The old police deputy stood before me, fixing me with that rather bored stare the police officers usually gave me. Then he lowered his voice and spoke directly to me, "But we've made it clear before. The police are here for backup whenever you need it. All you need to do is leave such minor crimes in our hands and we'll take care of them by ourselves."

I shifted on my feet, trying not to show my discomfort at the several reporters who had shown up outside the now trashed grocery store.

"Of course, deputy." I nodded quickly. "But I've sworn to protect this city--"

"So have we," he cut me off.

"--and I protect it even if the crime is as minor as a grocery shop robbery."

He didn't look happy. I couldn't blame him either. As the chief deputy, it must nag him that a puny teenager like me, and masked on top of it all, was going around saving the city (trashing it too) and acting like some big hero. Doing their job. The Agency had its peace with the government, but the police department of this town sometimes got a little...ticked off at me.

"I should get going. Have a safe night, deputy." I nodded at him.

He sighed and squared his shoulders. "You too."

The moment I left the glass doors of the grocery store, hundreds of camera flashes were in my face, blinding me from almost every direction. I winced, even though I had been expecting this, and tried not to touch the mask over my eyes, scared that it might fall off and hundreds of people might see the real me.

"Cinder Girl! What do you have to say about the thieves?"

"Do you think this was related to the apartment building that caught on fire weeks ago?"

"About that building on fire! What does the Agency have to say about it?"

"Is it true that you are soon retiring from being a vigilante?"

I tried breathing evenly, but it felt like something was stuck in my throat, in my lungs, squeezing my airway. I pressed my back against the concrete wall.

"I...I'm sorry. Can I get some space?" I asked. But it came out rather pathetic amidst the loud voices around me and the blinding camera lights. They were flashing, taking pictures, ready to print them over newspapers to every little town of this city. It was horrible because I didn't know which way to look. I wished Penny could see it now, how horrible it was to be facing cameramen and their reporters.

"Where's Ice Phantom? Do you think he pulled off this little act?"

"No...I..." I faltered again when I tried squeezing past the first two reporters only to be pushed back by their cameras.

Perhaps I should've worked on a better relationship with the police officers. At least that way someone would've helped me past these swarming reporters. But working all alone came with a price. This was my price.

It was just lights that I could see, burning my eyes. And loud voices, asking and asking and asking and hoping for answers. I didn't have any answers. And then another anxious thought hit me: Why did these people always thought they could demand any sort of answers from me?

"Cinder Girl, an anonymous tip showed up saying you're a current high schooler. Is that true?"

My stomach knotted in a sick way. I tried inhaling but couldn't. I tried stepping away but I couldn't. My ears rang. My chest felt too tight. And my eyes were wide, darting from one person to another. It felt like I was just seconds away from passing out.

And I knew, deep down, how much Orias despised this about me. You have people looking up to you, people of this city who adore you, he'd once said, and yet you can't even pretend like you care about their views.

I did care. I always cared about these people. But their questions and the judgement in their eyes frightened me. Orias didn't understand where my anxiety came from. I didn't either sometimes.

I was nearly about to run back inside the grocery store, since that seemed to be my only escape, when a loud crackling noise broke apart the reporters from around me.

"What was that?" Someone spoke near me.

"Sounded like a cracker bomb." Another person said.

Now that I had no one shouting words at my face, I took in two deep, encouraging breaths and started pushing past the reporters. They were too stunned trying to find where the voice had come from to pay me much attention.

"I'll check that out. Be safe, guys." I managed the words out in a strained voice.

Soon enough, I was out and running down the empty alleyway behind the grocery store. Away and away and away.

When I could hear no one around me, I leaned back against a damp alley wall, heaving. Then I closed my eyes, tipping my head back, with just the sound of my thudding heartbeat in my ears.

"Still shying away from cameras, love?"

My breath hitched and I opened my eyes, staring at Ice Phantom who was standing just a few feet away from me. And I hadn't even heard him nearing me.

"You!" I spoke up, gritting my teeth.

He rolled something in between his fingers, tossing it into the air and catching it in the same gloved hand. "Yes, me, still the same."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He stared at me and the grey in his eyes looked darker, almost like the dark blue sky above. "I take that you didn't miss me?"

I scoffed in disbelief.

Ice Phantom laughed and threw the object at the far corner of the alley. I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing, but was interrupted by loud crackling noises. The same ones I'd heard back near those reporters.

"Ow! What the hell?" I exclaimed, pressing my palms flat against my ears as the noise slowly died off.

"That," he looked at me again, "is a cracker bomb. You must already know that. 'Oh, Ice Phantom's gonna plant that cracker bomb. Oh, he's gonna destroy everything'. Remember, something along those lines?"

I grimaced. "Why are you throwing them around random alleyways?"

His eyes crinkled up around the corners and even though I couldn't see it, I could still hear the smile in his silvery voice. "How else was I supposed to get your attention?"

I pulled away from the dirty, damp wall. "Look, I don't really have time for this tonight. I've got some place to be." To my smoking hot roommate who was waiting for me in the bookshop I worked at.

"Yeah? And where would that be?" He was stepping towards me, I realised, like a predator slowly closing in on its prey, the sheer power a vibrating hum in the air around us.

"Nowhere you need to know." I scowled.

"What a shame."

"Why did you save me?" I asked him, still with the scowl in my voice. I couldn't not use that tone on him. Just the sight of him was enough to make my blood boil. Just the sight of his hooded face raised my guards. Because he was a danger to this city and any danger to this city was supposed to be an enemy of mine.

"From those reporters?" He laughed and a gentle icy breeze whipped across my hair, humming along my skin, buzzing. "It's painful seeing you embarrassing yourself, love. I thought that was plenty obvious."

I was grateful for the night when my cheeks heated up. "I was talking about the fire. You froze the whole building."

I didn't step back, I didn't have anywhere to step back with the wall right behind me, when Ice Phantom crossed the distance between us and stopped mere inches away from me.

Heart beating so wildly, I added in (perhaps just to rile him up this time), "It's a surprise you even came near the fire. Didn't you chicken out the last time?"

He just stared at me and I hated it. I hated the bristling inside me. Because we were supposed to fight. We never acted this civil.

I froze, however, when he slowly reached out and the tips of his fingers almost grazed the side of my face. A touch so feather-soft that I almost believed it didn't happen. Cold seeped through even when he had those leather gloves on. And it hurt.

"You're welcome." He whispered and pulled back with a piece of glass in between his fingers--the same fingers that had just touched my cheek--which must've been stuck in my hair.

"That doesn't...you...I wasn't thanking you!" I blurted out angrily, clenching my hands into fists. I wanted to punch him. I wanted to hurt him.

He flicked away the piece of glass from his fingers. "Well, you should."

"Why did you save me?" I repeated through my gritted teeth, glaring at him.

He stared at me with a look as cold as his touch had felt. Deathly cold.

"Your death is too precious to me to hand it over to someone else." He said, taking a step back. "It'll be me, love. I should be the one who rips it out of you."

• • •

"Sorry, I'm late." I breathed out in a rush, sliding behind the cash counter and looking over at a rather bored Jamie sitting across from me.

"I thought you said you work here till midnight on Saturdays." His hair was tousled in almost every direction. It would've been almost endearing if my heart wasn't still beating a little feverishly.

"I do."

"Where were you then?"

I stared at him and he stared back with those blue eyes that looked paler under the lights.

"I was...I got caught up with Penny." I lied, glancing down at the papers he must've spread out on the counter.

"Penny?"

"My friend," I answered, clearing my throat. "My best friend."

"The redhead."

I nodded with a tiny smile. He didn't smile back. Though when he leaned over the counter towards me, I did see one corner of his lips quirking upwards.

"And why is there a piece of glass in your hair?" He asked softly.

I stiffened. "What?"

He nudged his head at me, reached out a hand and plucked out a tiny piece of glass from my messy ponytail. I swallowed and gripped my knees.

"You're strange." He said it like that was the most normal thing about me, then looked down at the papers. "I've shortened down the list during the time you weren't here. Here are the names we should choose from."

I wasn't looking down at the papers. I was still idiotically staring at him.

"Psyche," I said. "What was her story again?"

"She fell in love with Cupid."

"Oh." I frowned. Then smiled lazily. "Wait, isn't this the one where she spilt hot wax in his eyes and Cupid became blind. Hence why love looks not from the eye but with the mind,"

"and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." Jamie finished it off, giving me that curious look that told me he had questions. And even though I was expecting him to, he didn't ask any.

"She broke Cupid's trust." I propped my elbow on the counter. "He asked her not to look at his face, but she didn't listen."

"Must've been hideous." He murmured. "His face."

A soft laugh escaped me. "We're taking this one. I've always loved this story."

Jamie didn't seem to agree. "There are plenty of interesting ones than this."

"No, no." I shook my head, rifling through the pages until I saw the one marked as Psyche and Cupid. "This one holds the deepest, most sad meaning."

"And what is that?"

"There is no love without trust. And breaking that trust got Psyche killed. It was Cupid's love that brought her back to life." I said. Jamie was staring at me with that curious look again.

"He was the god of love. And yet he wasn't immune to his own arrows," I said with wide eyes. "Cupid fell in love. If he got hit by his own weapon, what chance do we all have?"