Smoke burned in my nose as I shot up off the ground and coughed out water from my lungs. "Glad to see your doing okay. I was afraid I'd have to bury you too." Senjore prodded a stick into the campfire next to me.

"Where are we?" I looked around into the everlasting forest.

"Don't worry. Lay back down." Senjore pushed me back to the ground. "You've been out for three days. After we jumped into the current you kind of broke your neck but now it's only a brief concussion, but you took your time. I carried you out of the water, and shall I say you aren't as light as you look?"

"Did anyone else make it out?" I saw his clouded eyes full of grief and sadness.

"Not alive, I found a few other bodies in the river, I guess they didn't survive long enough. We should get going through, people are bound to notice the graves and go searching for an explanation. I don't want to be here when they find out." Senjore blinked as he turned away.

"And Madame Alsika?" I sat back up as he stamped out the last of the fire embers.

"Didn't make it out" His messy black hair was plastered to his face with his sweat acting like glue. His fearless dark brown eyes were light, weak, and held onto the years trying to escape. Senjore had lost his mother, though she never acted like one to him. His oval skin was tarnished and covered with ash and soot.

Following his lead I walked three feet behind him, knowing that he's been here longer so he was more respected. "Our home is gone, no more assassin, no more following the code." His monotone voice looked back at me. "We are on our own. No more rules, no more codes. We are equals." Looking through his eyes I saw how defeated he felt for the first time. He was lost, and nothing he did would cover it. He tried to act brave though we both knew it wasn't working.

For hours we trudged through forests hoping to find some safe place to camp, as an assassin you can't go for the first place you look. You have to observe everything and have multiple points to run, but be completely covered. Finding both was hard, and having two people to hide was even harder.

Senjore took the lead as I followed behind. We both had nothing left to live for, though I constantly questioned what that man meant. He called me their puppet and said they had something planned for me. What could it have been?

"Ter stop thinking about that, it doesn't matter anymore." Senjore spoke without looking away from the path ahead.

Senjore had mind reading, he always knows what I'm thinking. Even now. Sometimes I still wonder what it was like when his mother put him through that. Oops, sorry didn't mean to think that out loud. He just kept walking full of silence.

"Ter, climb to the top of this tree, there's a natural crows nest we can use as shelter for now." Senjore pointed up.

Without a knapsack to carry with me, I climbed up the tree with ease. Not much later I was at the top looking out. The sun was just starting to rise in the sky. The glorious red, oranges, and yellows fixed together in a spark of beauty. You could just see the tips of a mountain range right where the sun was rising. The colors danced across the sky warming everything. The sweet calming wind carried the last of the morning dew which blue easily through my knotted black hair. My leather clothes were torn and had burnt patches in some spots. Just like Senjore, my skin was covered in ash and soot. My black hair was all in knots as the silliness was overcome with a rat's nest.

About a mile away I briefly saw a small stream we could easily wash up at. Our clothes though would be difficult to deal with.

"Hey," Senjore sat next to me. "So I say for now we get some rest. At night fall we can go wash up in that stream and search for some food."

I honestly hated when he read my mind.

"I heard that." Senjore laughed as he laid down.

The crow's nest was kind of big, you'd think if it was natural it would be smaller. Something just didn't seem right, "Senjore, we should keep looking." My voice shook.

"Why, we need to rest and this is a perfect spot to escape and see everywhere."

"By escape you mean jump from the top of the tree! Trust me there's something off here." My heart raced.

"Ter just settle down, your thoughts are going a mile a minute and it's hard for me to sleep."

"Hard for you! You can hear anything around you! If someone's coming you can pick them off just through their thoughts! I'm useless!"

"Ter! You're not useless! Just because you're gift is different doesn't mean you're useless. You think that all the time. Do you see everything you've done? You're a natural assassin with the greatest stealth skills I've ever seen! You have to stop putting yourself down."

"I never wanted to be an assassin." I mumbled.

"None of us did. We were all chosen at birth, you're not the only one who has been there since birth. You're brought here and they accepted you instead of choosing you."

"You know something about what Madame Alsika was talking about don't you? I can tell with the way you speak."

"I'm not hiding anything I'm ...

"You're what?"

"SHHH!" Senjore covered my mouth while tackling me until I was laying down at the bottom of the crows nest with his hand covering my mouth. "We should have left when you said. They're coming from everywhere."

"Who is?" I whispered once he lifted his hand.

"Over twenty men, they are all meeting right here in this nest. You were right, something wasn't right. You always know and I ignored your warning. There's no way to get out. I chose the worst place to hide." He beat himself up.

"If you want me to stop putting myself down, stop putting yourself down. You work the best under pressure, what can we do?"

Senjore looked around for anything, though he was holding himself back. Fear still lingered in his eyes, he needed to be fearless. "The vines." I pointed to a nearby tree. "All we have to do is be able to jump to those vines and we can swing out of this tree before they get up here."

"And if we don't grab them or don't jump far enough ..."

His fear was consuming him. Usually at this second he would just jump off not worrying about if the bones were there or not. "I know you're scared to die again, but we would have more of a chance if we go now. We have to go now!"

As I yelled I felt the tree shaking, they were climbing faster. They heard me. Instantly Senjore sucked up the fear and just jumped without stopping for a small breathe. He was able to grab one of the vines and swing to the next tree. Once he was there he looked back. His fear was gone for now.

Well I guess it's my turn. I know I had motivated Senjore and I should jump right after him like he did, but I can't. I slightly looked over the edge and my heart sunk. I felt like I was going to puke and I was shaking terribly. The tree seemed like it was growing higher and farther away from the ground. The air became thin around me as I was panting. "Forget about the height!" Senjore yelled.

He knew better than anyone about my fear of heights. Why had I climbed up here in the first place! The tree shook rapidly as they got closer and closer. The world was closing in on me as I sunk down to the center of the crows nest. I couldn't jump, why had I made Senjore if I wasn't going to?

Taking a deep breathe I finally decided jumping was better than dying here. Getting to my feet I started to run for the edge to jump. I jumped over the edge without a second thought. I had jumped too early though. As I went to reach for a vine they were too far away. I saw myself hurtling towards the ground and my heart stopped.

Why did I even bother to jump? Just as I closed my eyes to welcome defeat, something ran right into me grabbing my waist. Still afraid to open my eyes I felt the relief of life spreading through my veins.

When we finally reached solid ground I agreed to open my eyes. It wasn't Senjore who had caught me.