Chapter 88About Telling Tales

Isabel... How did she manage to get two people through a glass roof. Stronger than her, faster than her... And yet... She managed to stay alive through so many things it seems. She manage to escape from that orphanage and definitely knew what she was doing with the Brotherhood. I decided to let Khuna tell what had happened.

A deep breath. "Alright, I believe you. What happened?"

Khuna looked at me, blinking twice and then nodded. "Alright. I'll tell you."

We started walking slowly toward the hotel. Both of us feeling calm for the moment being and I was ready to listen. To picture everything and feel what she'd gone through.

Khuna began. "When you were gone with Kai I went to look for Isabel. Val was safely in bed and didn't move so I reckoned I didn't have to babysit her. After all the standard stuff I took the keys with me that Val usually keeps and went outside." She smiled. "I won't have to tell you the bit where I drank some blood first I gather?"

I shook my head. "Naw, go on.."

Khuna smiled. "I went straight for the safe house where Isabel was staying and to my surprise she was waiting outside, expecting me. 'Come', she said, in that mysterious voice of hers and I followed. We went to a cemetery and she told me to wait with her in a tree, hidden from sight."

"It didn't take long for a man to walk in with nondescript clothing and dark glasses, which was odd at this time of night. Another man, dressed more normal and middle aged, arrived a few minutes later. They spoke very softly to each other and I was curious if Isabel could even understand them. To me it was no problem though."

"The hidden man spoke first. 'When is the next meeting?' - 'I'm not sure, there was word of her escape.' - 'What?! That's the second one I give to you that gets away, don't you have locks?' - 'Eh... That's the strange thing, they seem to have opened without breaking.' - 'No matter. Was the experiment a success?' - 'It was and there will be talks on it.' - 'Good it's a start. You'll hear from me again.'"

Khuna took a breath. "I didn't know what it was about, I could guess a few things but it was hard to tell. What happened afterwards was even stranger. There was a small crypt on the graveyard and Isabel suggested we go in. But..."

Khuna looked ashamed. "I don't know why but I almost fainted as soon as I stepped in. I don't know what came over me, but it felt like the coming of dawn, but so much stronger. Just dragging me into sleep. Only just did I manage to lay down nicely but as soon as my head hit the stone I was out."

I looked at her intensely, urging her to continue with my attention alone.

"Eh... Well Valerie came for me yesterday, waking me as she found me. She told me how Isabel had called her there, helping her to find me. The crypt had been closed properly and proved quite difficult to open for her. She was quite sure no one else ever saw me. Of course it made sense. You didn't want any homeless in here during bad times. So the stone slab was quite heavy."

"Anyway, we let Isabel lead us, she never explained why I fainted like that. We went to the top of the hospital near the pool and she asked us to stand on the roof. The most curious experience overcame both of us. We heard voices, so many voices. LIke choirs of thoughts of the whole city. It overwhelmed us and made us forget about our surroundings. When we came to we were already falling. As soon as we hit the glass we lost consciousness and the loss of blood afterward kept it that way."

She sighed. "If you didn't rescue us that neatly, cleaning up after us, we would have been caught easily. The only nice extra is the lack of security in those kinds of small pools." She gave me a big hug.

She held me tight. "You did well in there. I wouldn't have thought of all that, just putting the shards in the pool and all the clothes so they wouldn't miss the ones we took. Thanks sweety." And she kissed me.

While the kiss reminded me of that intense one with Anka, this was different. It was warm, caring, open. Her tongue played with me slow and deliberate, letting me know it was alright. Letting me know she cared for me.

We had walked all the way to the hotel and saw the building site nearby. Hard to miss really, there was an enormous office being build. I knew Janus would want me alone and I had a feeling I'd better honor that request. Even if it was not stated. I didn't feel in peril and though I did not trust Janus, so far all he had done is keep people safe. If he wanted to do harm he could have done many times.

"Khuna, will you leave?" I asked softly.

"Yes. I expected you might ask that." She smiled and kissed my cheek, walking back from where we came.

Time to head in.

Time to face this mysterious Janus.