Kyle:

A building nearby was actually unoccupied and inside we waited for Xao to come back down. I was certain that if Darius had won their conflict, we would have known.

In time Xao did come down, looking around outside the building, trying to avoid calling attention to himself as a crowd was actually gathering around the wreckage. Jessica waved to him from an open window and he quickly walked over. He walked in through the open door to the open space over a worn-down hardwood floor.

The building itself was basically abandoned, overturned tables and broken windows all around.

Jessica and I both stood there waiting for him. The boy gave us a grin. "Well, that was different, but let's get going right?" he asked.

I shook my head at him. "You think we're not going to ask what happened with Darius?" I asked.

"He won't be a problem anymore."

"So he's dead?" I asked. Xao hesitated, "He's not, is he? What stops him from just coming after us again?"

Xao shook his head. "You didn't see how that fight ended. I'm betting I did brain damage, even tricksters have a hard time remedying that, supposing they try to help him, which they won't without a deal. Trust me, we have years before that boy is back on his feet."

"Yeah and a few years is so long in our lives isn't it?" I asked folding my arms.

"Kyle we're not killers!" Jessica almost shouted at me.

"Not like it's not an option," I pointed out, receiving two glares for the comment. "I'm sorry, I don't like killing any more than either of you, but given what that boy is, is it so hard to imagine he'll be a problem again? All he has to do is practically wave a magic wand and he'll find us again."

Xao shook his head. "Kyle are you really still that afraid of us? Tricksters still scare you that much? I thought we had this out on the ship. Our power is limited just like everyone else."

"Really?" I asked. "Is it so limited? Am I so unjustified in fearing it?" I pointed at a window overlooking our fight. "Look out that window, what do you see?"

"A battlefield I guess. Honestly kinda figured you guys could have handled this with less problems than it looks like you had I'll admit."

"Problems?" I asked. "You have any idea what that is out there? It was a sheer fluke we even survived what happened out there. That's what happens when two people get just whatever they want." I pointed out the window at the corpse of Gregory, which police were currently surrounding. "That child was nearly invincible and the things he could have done with the power Darius gave him... I shudder to think. As bad as that kid was, you think he just started out that twisted in the mind, at TWELVE? That's what happens when you just take and give as you please. You don't have to work for what you get, so when you're evil nothing slows it down, and when you're good, there's no time to think when you've stepped off the path."

"So just an absence of work is evil to you then?" Xao asked. "Should we give up technology altogether then?"

I shook my head. "Technology is what it is. It's not evil, but it shouldn't be used to avoid taking time to think, study and even work. What if I gave a young human child whatever he asked for? I'm sure it would be within my power somehow, but what would that do to him? He would have no concept of patience and would never take the time to think if he even should have certain things. He'll lose any sense of morality and think the world just revolves around him. So now, as you're older, do you really think that if you can just have whatever you want, that somehow the same thing won't happen to you?"

Xao looked out over the field of battle we had torn through the street. "I can't change what I am," he said.

"Yes you can," I held out my hand. "I'm done having patience with you on this or trying to teach you lessons. The more I see of what your power does to people, the less I want to do with it. I think Jessica will back me up just fine on this. Either you swear to me right now, that so long as you live, you will never make another deal, or leave and never return to us."

Xao turned to Jessica, but the girl just shook her head and looked away saying, "you're gonna have to choose Xao. Neither one of us is going to be your Gregory."

Xao kept looking over the battlefield. He then leaned against the wall looking back to the two of us. "Think of all the good I can do like this," he defended. I glared, slightly raising my folded arms. "I don't have to do evil, I don't have to hurt people..." He looked at his hands and almost whispered. "But it would be so easy... and what could stop me?" He stepped forward, still whispering, "Someone help me... I don't want to end up like Darius." He swallowed, glaring down at the ground, and then up at me. "I will NOT end up like him. I am a trickster. I will always have the power, it will always be part of me, but I swear, I will never use it again." He took my hand and shook.

(***)

The streets remained occupied by police, but they were easy enough to avoid by simply going around back of the building we were in. The part of the city we were in was rather run-down, but when I looked into the distance I could easily tell that wasn't the norm for the city. Not but a few blocks away was a much richer part of town. This must have been London's underprivileged area. Xao said something about many of the buildings we passed being part of government projects, but I wasn't sure just the same why anyone would want to live in them. Xao also told me such places existed in the states, not much better in condition.

The brickwork of many of the buildings was giving in, windows were broken, there was graffiti everywhere, and most of the "homes" I saw, looked long abandoned. There were also wooden shacks here and there and broken-down fences. It was all a far cry from the city of Portland that I had left behind.

I realized our world wasn't much better on the issue of the poor though. On Triad the government actually had very little power and a limited budget. The poor on my world were mostly left to either find help from their neighbors or likely starve. Sad thing was, from the looks of things, that rule wasn't much different on earth, even with large governments trying to interfere.

I heard sirens blaring and Xao told me they were just from emergency vehicles. I supposed that sounded appropriate, but I swore they weren't headed for where we had just come from.

Still walking, I finally almost shouted, "Seriously, how can it be... like this? Really, how much would it take for folks to just help each other out?"

We continued walking, Xao scratching his head. "I already told you the government was supposed to help these people."

"Yeah, looks like that really went somewhere," I replied snidely.

"Course... maybe that's the problem ya know?" Xao came back with. "Maybe if folks realized helping the poor is not the government's job, things would turn out better."

"Who's job is it?" I asked, staring off at several more broken windows.

"Everyone's." Jessica put simply. Jessica waved for us to stop, "We're not going to solve the problems of the world walking through the slums of London, boys." She pointed out. "Besides," she pointed at a small wooden house with a collapsing roof. "The scanner says Thomas is in there."

(***)

Xao:

It was the basement of that house that Thomas was in more specifically. Jessica seemed almost jubilant, but Kyle more leery as we descended down the stairs. Kyle confided in me his fear that we didn't hear anything when we entered the home. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I had to admit, things weren't looking good for Thomas from the start here.

The whole house was run down. As we descended a series of rickety stairs I was surprised to see Jessica not run ahead. Instead, she stuck very close to Kyle. We all had mixed reactions, but one reaction was consistent nervousness. Someone, no doubt a bad someone, had put Thomas here and there was no telling where that person now was or when they would be back.

The stairs creaked under our feet, cobwebs hanging over them and getting in our faces and hair. I swear even a spider or two crawled down my back and I almost jumped a few times. Finally, we reached the concrete foundation of the house. The basement was nearly pitch black and smelled terrible. We all tried to look around for a few seconds, getting nowhere until Kyle tapped Jessica on the shoulder. Jessica raised her hand, bolts of electric energy swarming around it and providing flashes of light. It was helpful as long as you didn't look directly at her hand, which I did, so all I saw were a bunch of splotches for the next few moments, even after Kyle apparently found a candle in the room to light.

I couldn't see very well, but I could hear Jessica's panicked voice. "NO!" she almost screamed as the room started to become brighter. I rubbed my eyes a little, blinking a few times until the splotches finally went away. I first looked at Jessica and Kyle, Jessica crying on the boy, him holding her gently and slowly letting her slouch to the floor. "After all that," she sobbed. "How can we just be too late?"

I looked away from the two and saw what was going on. There in the middle of the room, was the body of a young boy strapped tightly to a chair. The boy wasn't moving at all and looked very well beat up. He just hung on the bonds, not twitching at all, his eyes actually open yet not looking at anything.

I closed my eyes, reaching into my pocket for my small pocket knife. "Well," I sighed, "We can't just leave him like this even if he is dead." I walked over to him and started cutting into his bonds with my knife.

As I started cutting into the bonds on the boy's left arm, I felt something on my neck. I assumed at first it was Kyle or Jessica breathing over my shoulder, but as I looked back, I realized they hadn't moved. I quickly looked back at the boy, realizing his chest was moving, though the breathing was shallow through the bindings. My breath caught in my throat and my hands moved quickly. The bonds snapped against my well-sharpened knife and I slowly eased the body of young Thomas to the ground. I shook him several times.

"What are you doing?" Kyle almost demanded behind me. "He's dead, don't mess with the corpse."

"No, he's not, he just sleeps with his eyes open," I replied. I looked back at the two of them as they seemed to pause, then slowly rise to their feet looking at me. Jessica walked over to me as I rolled the dark brown-haired boy onto his back. "See his chest? He's breathing."

"Creepy," Kyle said behind me.

Looking at the boy's open eyes I had to admit he was most definitely right on that point. There was neither thought nor purpose behind those eyes. I wanted to force them shut, but I wasn't sure what purpose that would have served. "Well, I guess I can carry him," I said, looking around the room for something to help with this. The boy was small, but really, so was I.

Jessica pushed me aside saying, "I got this." She first seemed to check his sides for wounds, and then upon finding none, dug her fingers into the boy's flanks with a grin on her face. The boy finally stirred and rolled over grabbing her hands and giggling.

Finally, we all heard Thomas's voice and laughter for the first time. "Mercy!" he said as his eyes started to tear up almost immediately.

"Not sure what that word means, how about you Kyle?" Jessica said, continuing her tickle assault on the boy, now squirming on the floor and laughing quietly. Kyle just shrugged. His shoulders and a small smile crept onto his face showing a good amount of relief. I decided the situation needed an adult attitude and forced Jessica to let Thomas up.

Jessica stood up, smiling down at him. The boy pushed himself up on the cold floor looking around. "So it wasn't all somehow a dream was it?" he asked. "The tickling threw me off... haven't really been played within a while." He looked at the bruises on his body as well as the rope marks. "Well, now what?"

"Now what?" asked Jessica. "You," she pointed at him, "you are going home, young man."

Thomas stared at her for a few seconds. "You... who... what?"

"Just get up, we're getting out of here," Kyle said, waving at the child to get to his feet.

"Wait... you guys really are here to rescue me?" the boy asked. He pulled back and suddenly threw himself at Jessica in a huge bear hug. I chuckled at the two of them as Kyle moved around them, Jessica waving him off when he offered a hand. The boy rolled off Jessica, still holding her hand. "You... you're real? I... I don't know who you are and I don't care, but if you really can get me out of here, THANKYOU!" he shouted.

Kyle ducked a little looking around. "Can we save the cheerful hellos and introductions for when we're not in the home of a psychotic child stealing- can we just go before another creep shows up we have to fight?"

"Can you walk?" I asked.

The boy shook his head. "My legs are working, but they're pretty stiff... can you help me?"

"We'll have to save helping you get your land legs back for later, jump on my back, and let's go," I said, kneeling down so the boy could grab on.