"First off, do you know how much money we have left?" Marella pulled me to the back of the crowded bus.

   "I—" I paused, sticking my hand into my pocket, and pulling the paper out of my pocket. We sat down. "Enough to write a book on?" To tell the truth, I was a bit embarrassed that I couldn't identify the symbols of the bills. I cursed my former self for neglecting the study of human writing.

   "Very funny," she said in a no-nonsense tone. "What would you do if we walk into one of those human sleeping places, and we can't pay for it. Don't you think that'd would be a little suspicious?" she asked, laying the sarcasm on thick, on the word 'little'.

   "Fine. I'll get more at the next place we stop." I hoped that would comfort her, but she wasn't satisfied.

   "And you should at least figure out how to read it." I sighed, though I had already known she was going to say that.

   "Fine," I said again.

   "And, we need to make up fake names. If the Neverseen are following our tracks, they might ask some of the people that we meet. If anyone we talk to knows our true identities, then the Neverseen might question them. Also, if we end up getting ambushed, the Neverseen members that we don't know so well, might not think it is us. If that makes any sense." Her expression showed that it didn't matter if I understood, or not.

   I was about roll my eyes, when the bus halted sharply.

   "What's going on?" someone called.

   I looked over at Marella, and saw that her face was a mask of worry.

   A person in a cloak and hood walked up to the front of the aisle. Their face was completely out of view.

   "Everyone stay completely silent." The person, who I could now tell was a man, raised his hands in the air like a conductor of a choir. Everyone shut up.

   "We are looking for a select few people. Please stay calm as we search the bus."

   I looked around, and it seemed that the other people thought that the guy was from the government, or something. He spoke with authority, as three other figures climbed on the bus, clad in hoods and cloaks. They made everyone stand up, and remove their jackets.

   No one questioned the hooded people, and no one could identify them. But Marella and I knew who the guy at the front of the bus was was. The man commanding it all.

   The voice belonged Alvar. Alvar Vacker.