Chapter 58Where Nothing is Expected

The woman closed herself off to us and the man from before stood behind us. Even the music had stopped somehow, the whole park eerily silent with everyone watching us. It felt very awkward.

"Now is a good time to leave." His voice was not unkind, but pressing.

Khuna got up and bowed to him. "I apologize."

She took me by my arm and pulled me up. Without another word we walked back to the trees again. The silence was eerie but respectful in a way. They didn't want us there but thanked us for our proper response. It was like they all said 'this isn't your fault, but neither is this your place.' And we complied, it was the simplest path to take.

We stayed silent until we arrived at the tree, the music behind us started again and the laughter, dancing and talking returned. It filled the darkness with their light and I thanked them for it. For it filled the darkness in my head with their light as well.

Khuna turned around and looked at me. "There are a few things that worry me."

"Which are?"

"It sounds as if you see things in your dreams... like me and Valerie and I think Kai too."

I nodded. "I do, and I knew. I talked about that with Valerie as well."

Khuna looked surprised and, it was odd, a bit sad. As if she didn't like for Valerie to talk to me. She continued. "Also, it sounded as if you're going to see the sun, which would kill you." Her voice as grave and serious as I ever heard her.

I couldn't do anything else but nod slowly. "I'll remember. I do know who the daughter of Ba'al is, it's Isabel."

"Yeah, I wonder if she really is dangerous. She has helped us... I think."

"Something weird happened earlier tonight though." I tried to remember properly. "She looked like she was attacked mentally. But she didn't elaborate."

Khuna looked surprised. "But.. you don't have the key to the safe-house, do you?"

"No, but she let herself out. I've seen her pick locks." I shrugged.

Khuna looked thoughtful. "I wonder why she is able to do that. It's not a common skill. It's a pity we don't know more about her. You asked Kai to figure it out, right?"

Nodding, I smiled. "Of course."

Khuna giggled. "Poor Kai, we keep him very busy these days."

"I'm sure he likes it though." I laughed a little. "He likes challenges, and that is certainly what we give him."

It was odd but I only just noticed Khuna fiddling with herself. Like she wanted to say something but didn't feel comfortable to. It made me remember what the woman had said. 'two you love'. Who were they. Why was it such a conflict? I decided to ask, but only once.

"Khuna, about what the woman said..."

She interrupted me. "Another time. We've got more ... pressing matters to attend to."

I nodded and left it at that. "Go home?"

She nodded and reached out to take my hand. She hesitated however and walked away. I followed her in silence until I finally had a good idea. I gave her a hug from behind.

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." I gave her a simple kiss on her cheek and felt her relax.

"Okay." She sounded relieved.

We started walking all the way back to our home, through the busy though mostly sleeping city. No one bothered us somehow. It wasn't just that we were two, but we closed ourselves to the outside world for a moment. It was nice to be left alone. It didn't take us that long to get back to our street.

The truck was there, again. I mentally smiled as it returned today when I hadn't spend a single thought on it. However, it did start to worry me.

"You've been here longer, were there trucks often?"

Khuna shook her head. "No, never."

"Different people each time." I said to myself. "What do you think they're doing?" I looked at them intensely.

"I don't know, let's ask." She winked at me and pulled me over to them. "Hey guys, working hard?"

One of them looked at Khuna, the other just continuing his work, simply shrugged and went back to work.

I pulled Khuna back. "Let's leave them alone for now."

She nodded and walked back with me into the alley. We jumped up as silently as we could, which was very silent indeed, and stood on the roof. In an unspoken moment we looked at each-other in the soft light of the city and the moon. The moment lasted until we heard a voice. It surprised us to the point of shock. It wasn't supposed to be here.

"Did you have fun with that Gypsie?" It was the voice of a young girl.

We turned around and saw her standing on the roof, as innocent looking as ever.

It was Isabel.