"hare": In 500 words (or 100 words if you prefer), tell what happens when there is a hare

Will

I watched Dylan out of the corner of my eye as I cleaned up the kitchen. She lingered at the table, foot tucked up so she could rest her chin on her knee. She sipped her coffee as she watched the two hares in the backyard munch on clover. They were entertaining, and I wondered if they were permanent residents. If so, Dylan might like it if we got them some treats. I made a mental note.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked, trying to get the conversation going.

"Jan said to come by the office when I was ready, and she'd show me the job. I thought I might head that way."

I nodded, drying a dish. "Sounds good. I'll tag along. Maybe they have something for me, as well. If not, I can go back to the shops and start looking for something."

She scowled out the window, "Why would you need a job when you have the wallet?" She gulped the last of her coffee, and I fetched the mug from her.

"Because we'll be living here for a while, I'm guessing, and I need to fit in. Plus, working with people helps us blend in and keep an ear to the ground." I ran the mug under the hot water and washed it with the soapy sponge.

She turned to me. "How well are we hidden here, Will?"

I felt honesty was the best policy. "As long as they don't track the wallet, which should be just about impossible to do if that witch was worth her salt, we should be relatively safe. They'll assume we jumped location but not time."

She watched the hares hop out of sight before sighing. "I'm never really going to be safe, am I? He's always going to be looking for me."

I sat across from her and reached for her hand. Surprisingly, she let me hold it. "I don't know, Dylan. I don't want to promise you that you are safe with me. But I think you are about as safe as you can get. We won't use the wallet unless we have to from now on."

She nodded and chewed on her lip for a moment before pulling away. "Okay, I'm going to get dressed while you take a shower, then we'll head over."

In the bathroom, I turned on the hot water to get the shower warm, then added enough cold that I wasn't scorched when I got in. I washed absentmindedly, my thoughts focused on how to keep Dylan safe. Being self-sufficient would be a big step, but around the flat, I needed to set some wards. Perhaps we could do that together tonight. I'd bring it up over dinner.

In the meantime, I needed a job. I could do a wide variety of things, but probably the most useful to use for spying on our neighbors would be working on the maintenance crew for the rental company. Fortunately, I had experience. We'd see how the day went when I talked to them.

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Author's discussion: Why do you think it's important to Will that he spy on the neighbors?

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