Dex smiled confidently, and walked over to the bank teller. Apparently, humans had something called dollars, and they used it to buy things, just like our Birth Funds. I leaned against a bricked wall of one of the shops. I would wait for him to come back, and then we would start running.

   A voice behind me made me jump.

   "Hello." A girl who looked about my age, stood, wearing human clothes. She wore a dress, and the bottom, trimmed with lace, almost touched the floor. Her face was almost exactly like Bethani's, except for her golden-brown eyes, and kind facial features.

   I struggled to understand her English. I had practised in it, but it was a tedious language, and I always had trouble speaking it.

   "Hi."

   "What's your name?" The girl smiled at me. "I'm waiting for my mum to finish shopping. I figure she'll be awhile."

   "I am Marella. What is your name?" I hated how my English voice didn't sound natural.

   "I'm Kalila. I like your name." She looked around, and asked, "Why are you here? You don't sound like you're from Wales." I seemed to look confused, because she explained further. "You seem to have an American accent."

   "Oh, I learned English from someone from America. I didn't originally speak English." She though for a moment.

   "What's your original language?" I wasn't sure what to say.

   "The Enlighten Language. It's a language that only a small number of, um, humans speak. I would not be surprised if you had not ever heard of it." I realized that when my brain translated the English words I spoke, back to me, they sounded unnatural.

   "Well, you speak pretty good English." Kalila put it nicely. "Why are you here?" she asked again, as I had forgotten about her pending question.

   "I'm just waiting for my friend to get some dollars—or money." Kalila didn't seem to notice my little slip up. I remember Sophie telling me once before that different places in the human world, used different types of money, and human money weren't just called dollars. I vaguely remember her telling me about Euros, but I'm not sure.

   "Is he that cute boy over there?" Kalila asked, pointing to Dex. "The one with the strawberry-blonde hair?" I nodded, trying to hide my blush, after I translated the word 'cute.'

   "We are here in, uh, Wales, because we are having no school. We need money, and he will figure out how to get it." Just as I said that, I saw a man walking over to Dex. He wore a vest with human writing on it, over a white shirt, and jeans. I sincerely hoped that he was not a disguised Neverseen member. Come to think of it, Kalila might be too, but she seemed like a normal human.

   Just as she was about to reply a hand shot out of the shadows, and I felt someone clasp my mouth. I heard a muffled scream beside me. My first thought was that the Neverseen had caught us, and they were hurting Kalila, because they thought she was with me. I bit into the hand, and I heard a grunt from behind me. The muscled arms tugged us into the alley where Dex and I had come out of the sewer from. Kalila continued trying to scream.

   Finally they turned us around, and slammed us against the wall of the alley. That was when I saw that it wasn't Neverseen members that had caught us, only human muggers. I had read about these. They hurt you until you gave them your money. Already, one was trying wrest Kalila's purse from her.

   "What do you want," I demanded.

   "Money," the one holding me snarled.

   "Leave her alone," I told him. "We will be quiet if you don't try to do anything brash."

   "Stop," the guy holding me told the other guy, after a few seconds of hesitation.

   "We both have lots of money," I told them, trying to keep them distracted, while I shifted my fingers, trying to get ready to snap. "Loads. You'll be filthy rich."

   The man holding me looked confused, but then I snapped my fingers, and the front of his shirt was on fire. He screamed, and let go of me. The other guy dropped Kalila, and she stumbled. I helped her up, and we walked away together. She looked confused, but she held her tongue.

   When we got out of the alley, I saw Dex looking around frantically, in the place where I had been. When he saw me, relief flooded his face.

   "Who is this?" he asked in English, uncertainly. I knew that if we spoke in the Enlighten Language, it would sound like babbling to Kalila.

   "An acquaintance. We were mugged. By humans." I said the last part in the Enlighten Language, trying to make it sound like a mix of a giggle, a cough, and a hiccup. Dex looked even more relieved.

   "She caught the guy on fire," Kalila said, then looked confused. "How did you do that?"

   I wondered if I could make up a believable story. Behind his back, Dex handed me a clear piece of plastic, that magnified what was behind it. A magnifying glass. I wondered where he had gotten it. I realized what he wanted me to say.

   I held up plastic magnifying glass, and said, "I concentrated the sunlight onto the front of his shirt. It made it catch on fire."

   She nodded meekly, still shaken by the experience. "I have to go, I see my mum over there, looking for me." She waved as she walked away. Dex and I watched her walk over to a woman that looked a lot like her, and she started talking to her.

   "I'm sorry for taking so long. I had some trouble getting the money. I think I got enough." He discreetly showed me the little pile of paper that he had gotten from the teller.

   "I think we'd better get going. Someone in the Neverseen are bound to get up here soon."

   Dex agreed, and we started walking, trying to move quickly, but inconspicuously. Luckily, we were wearing simple tunics and pants. Our attire blended in quite well, with the other people wearing shirts and pants around us.

   Dex remembered vaguely, from his time in Watchward Heath, where an elvin residence was, on the coast of Wales. He estimated that it would take us ten days to get there, if we walked quickly, without many breaks.