I cursed, quickly stuffing my stuff back in the small bag I carried, and opened the door, looking back and forth, making sure it was clear before hurrying down the hallway, past the front desk, and straight at a frozen boy. I stopped quickly.

He had beautiful brown hair, with dark curls atop his head. His eyes were stunning, glittering emeralds that had a depth I could not decipher. His intricate face was twisted in fear and alarm. His mouth opened to yell.

I quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. Ignoring the way his lips touched my palm, I pulled him by his collar, around a corner in the inn. In the knick of time too.

Keepers of Peace thundered past us, their bald and bearded leader barking orders and sharing enough germs with his flying spit for it to be long past disgusting.

"Keep struggling and you'll see what happens." I said in the boy's ear, my voice a low growl. He stopped squirming almost immediately.

The Keepers of Peace stomped upstairs, most likely up to the room I stayed in, where I knew all they'd find was a completely clean place and not a trace of my existence.

I signified for the boy to continue to be quiet with my pointer finger on my lips and he nodded slowly. I removed my hand, feeling weird, warm tingles from where his mouth was.

I grabbed his wrist, leading him out of the inn, forcing myself to smile and walk calmly and naturally. Out of view, I dug my fingernails into the boy's arm, warning him to copy me. He did, not as well but it was good enough.

When we finally walked through the wooden double doors, I shoved him right into an alley.

He stumbled, but still remained upright as he whipped around to face me. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I-I asked you first!"

"Yeah but," I slid a dagger in my hand and tilted it so the moonlight caught on it. The boy's gaze went directly towards it, "you're not the one with the weapon."

His eyes hardened, but he made the wise choice, surrendering with his hands up defensively.

"That's what I thought."

But suddenly he made a move towards me, grabbing my wrist of the hand that held my dagger. He was surprisingly strong as he knocked it out of my hand. It skittered into a corner of the alley way.

Faintly, I noticed the dark figures slowly approaching. But I had no time to process, because the boy was making another move. I defended myself as a fist came flying, grabbing both of his wrists and yanking them behind his back. He winced, but kept struggling. Finally, I had enough and kicked the back of his leg, forcing his knee to bend so he kneeled on the paved, dirt blanketed ground.

I grabbed my dagger from the corner. A slicing sound pierced the air as I quickly held the dagger to the boy's throat.

He instinctively raised his hands defensively, and there was defeat in his eyes, unlike the first time I had thought I had bested him.

"Let's go," I said.

I grabbed his arm roughly, ignoring the tightened muscles underneath, and forced him to move farther down the alleyway. When we met a stone wall, he turned his back to me, probably wondering how I was going to get over it as he examined it subtly.

I took that to my advantage, and slammed the bottom of my dagger's handle atop his head, knocking him out cold.

He grunted, landing to the ground with a thud.

I grabbed his arm, holding it around my shoulders and making him lean all his weight on me. I gritted my teeth as strikes of pain snakes through my body as weight was beared on my injured arm. But I still held him.

I had a past companion living not far from here. I could make it there. I absolutely could. But unsureness began to lay quietly, like a perturbed damsel in a prison of perfection.

Black and red dotted my vision as I hauled the boy out. It didn't help that he was all muscle.

When we finally arrived, I unintentionally banged the door open.

That familiar bright red hair and lightly freckled face appeared. Those big brown eyes widened. "Lina?"

Amania blinked, recovering from her shock as she rushed towards me. "You can't be here! If my brother sees you..." she trailed off as she noticed the boy beside me. "Why do you have an unconscious Kacen Elrod?"

I raised my eyebrows and looked down at the boy, finally recognizing him for who he is. Violetta and Charity's brother. And the son of Rose and Helmer Elrod. An interesting family he had.

A question rose in my mind.

What could he have been possibly doing at that inn? The place had a bad reputation and most of the people who stayed there were Low Ranks or the few of the Outcasts who could manage enough money to stay off the streets. High Ranks would never soil their hands with places like that.

"I didn't know who he was." I replied, shrugging.

"Lina! Why is he here?!! Not to mention unconscious!"

"Hey..." I grabbed her arm, then softened my grip, tracing circles on the inside of her wrist to calm her. "I ran into a bit of trouble, but managed it. He saw me, and I had to take him with me." I said soothingly.

She tensed, but closed her eyes, slowly relaxing, But her eyes ripped back open again when there was a knock at the door.

"Crap," she muttered.

Another voice came from outside. "Amania! Let me in please!"

She clutched my arm, "it's my brother. You need to leave."

"Ama, I can't. It's almost sunset, and I won't make the night with the weight of carrying around someone, not to mention an Elrod. The rest of the Outcasts will attack me like vultures and dead meat. Because that's what I'll be! Dead!"

"Well you can't stay here." she whispered furiously. "My brother will kill you."

"I have a better chance of surviving here than out there." I nodded to the small window to my left.

"Amania! Open the door!"

"Coming," she called, her voice sounding impressively nonchalant.

She turned back to me, "fine. You can stay. But we're telling my brother."

I bit back a protest. It was a miracle she was agreeing after all. The past was painful enough.

Amania opened the door, and suddenly I was face to face with her alarmed brother.

___

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Tolin - Amania's brother - muttered outside my door.

"It's important. She didn't have anywhere to go," Amania whispered back.

They thought I was asleep. They didn't know that I haven't slept peacefully in a long time.

"And so we had to take her in? Sister, she can take care of herself. She's the infamous White Shadow. Don't tell me you're letting your feelings cloud your judgement."

"Of course not!" she snapped. "Those feelings faded a long time ago, pushed out by heartbreak and betrayal. I only am fighting on her behalf because of the Elrod. He is not safe in her hands, if we had angered her."

And while Tolin believed her, I acknowledged the almost nonexistent wavers of guilt in her voices, the only things that revealed her lying.

Her brother left for bed, but Amania stayed. She slowly slipped into my room. I rolled over, and she smiled.

"I should have known you were awake. Nothing could ever seem like it could get past you."

"I couldn't sleep," was all I said.

"Let me help." She sat on the bed of the simple room.

Only gray and dim colors surrounded us in the room. The only window was small, the curtains were dull, and the bed was creaky. But the deja-vu it brought back made it feel like home.

Amania touched my forehead and I watched her carefully. She trailed her pointer and middle finger down the side of my face, across my left temple, until she reached the bottom of my left ear. She repeated the movement, again and again until I felt my eyelids begin to droop and my body begin to feel heavy.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, as her warmth spread across me all the way to my toes.

"Why.. do you ask that?" I said, eyes closed

She hesitated, "You seem... fragile."

"Just tired. Years of running does that to a person."

"Not physically. You're nice and strong there. I meant mentally. Emotionally, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," I replied, a soft smile on my lips. "Just doing the best I can."

"I suppose that's all anyone can do," she said.

She didn't speak again. But I knew she was there. I counted on the soft touches along my temple.

Soon the small moment of us faded into darkness.

___

We left first thing that morning. I didn't let myself dwell long on the past as I abandoned Amania once again. I left her a note, one I spent hours that morning agonizing on.

I tried to explain. In so many ways. But eventually, I realized it didn't matter. Nothing would soothe the sting of my betrayal and nothing would change how it was and how it wasn't. So I left five words. Only five. Nothing more, nothing less. And I knew it would never be enough. But it was all I could say.

Ama,

I'm sorry...

Love,

Lina

After that, I didn't let myself think of Amania any longer.

___

It was only after I had carried him about a mile and made it to a small motel, paying for the room with some of his pocket money, when Kacen woke up.

He sat up quickly, immediately looking dizzy and disoriented as he fell back upon his stiff pillow.

"Finally, you're awake. Drink up." I handed him a wooden cup full of water.

He took it, drinking gratefully, before handing it back and looking at me suspiciously.

"Why haven't you killed me yet? You're an assassin."

"So, you've figured out who I am?"

"You're the White Shadow, the murderer." he said, arrogance thick on his damned tongue.

I took a deep breath and tried to ignore his snarky tone. "Kacen-"

"How do you know my name?" he demanded.

"Well, it's not exactly hard to figure it out," I suddenly snapped. "Your name and pictures are everywhere. Besides, plenty of people are bound to recognize the City's Heir." I spat the title.

He flinched. "I suppose that's true. And where am I?" he asked, a hint of a spoiled child's tone in his voice.

"A motel."

"It looks like it's for the poor." he said, wrinkling his nose.

I scoffed. "Well, not all of us can afford to stay at those over-the-top, fancy hotels, complete with satin pillows and canopy beds."

He looked alarmed, "I'm aware of that." he said defensively.

"If you were aware of that, you'd actually do something," I muttered.

"What?"

I ignored him begrudgingly. "I'll go get some food. Stay. Here."

I had just passed the doorway when gun shots sounded in the air.

"Release Kacen Elrod or face serious consequences!" an authoritative voice called.

Damn. I guess I wasn't as careful as I had thought.

Hope bloomed on Kacen's face. I cursed, and grabbed his wrist. His hopeful expression faded quickly.

"Are you going to kill me now?" he asked softly, suddenly solemn.

I stared at him. "Wha - No!"

"You're... not?"

"No, but I need a favor."

He jerked away, "Why would I help you? How do I know this favor won't hurt anyone and anything?" 

The remorseful feeling I had for him faded. At least he cared. About people's lives, and their deaths.

"Kacen, the Outca- the people who choose not to belong to a Rank. We're not always bad people. Stubborn, maybe. But not always bad. The reason we become criminals is," I sighed, "we don't really have a choice. We can't get jobs. We'll be arrested. We can't trust anyone. They'll stab us in the back. Sometimes literally.

"'You're lucky. You've been fortunate. You have both parents, plenty of siblings, no need to bother worrying about money, a huge inheritance, including a famous company. You got the many chances we didn't."

Guilt sprung in his eyes. It surprised me. I suppose I was thinking he would reply with an arrogant reaction or a denial. Apparently, I was wrong.

I said quickly, "And it's not your fault you've been much luckier than others. But it is, at least partly, your fault that we're still living like this. It'll make such a difference if you start to fight. I realize you have a lot to lose. But do you really want to become like the monsters that take up most of the High Ranks? They're sketchy, and cruel."

He snapped, "And how do I know you're not the same?"

I sighed, "You don't. But maybe if you knew me better you would."

His eyes clouded with thought, but I shook my head. "I need to deliver you to the Keepers of Peace without being seen."

He hesitated. "I can... go down myself and distract them long enough for you to get out of here."

I'd hate to lay my trust in someone I just met, but it didn't look like I had much of a choice.

Another authoritative yell came from below. "You have 5 minutes before I give the order to fire at will!"

I watched as Kacen swallowed his fear. Pretty brave for a guy who has lived his whole life in comfort and complete safety.

"Alright," I said. "Let's go."

___

The plan was simple. Kacen would reveal himself to the authorities. He would look bruised and beat up from the few punches I had landed on his face. The rest of his body would be unharmed and healthy. But what the soldiers didn't see, didn't know.

He would distract the Keepers of Peace, drugging them up with trauma stories and horrifying tales, peaking the Keepers interests long enough that I had time to head down into the underground pipes.

I would head about a mile away before emerging. I would have given a note to Kacen, one placed in one of the many hidden pockets in his elegant outfit. The person the letter was for would receive it mysteriously, and my life would go on like normal. Well, normal enough.

But that was just the plan. When it was time to actually do it, it couldn't have gone more wrong.