I kept a lookout around us as V tried to soothe the boy. The young man was making a lot of noise, and I was afraid he was going to draw attention we weren’t ready for.
This part of the city was different from where we’d been dropped. That had appeared to be more of a downtown region. Here, there were a number of what appeared to be smaller stores and businesses, and the buildings weren’t as tall as we had seen earlier. It was still very overgrown: the greenery forcing its way through the concrete. Vines wended their way up the buildings. Some building roofs had fallen in, and you could see the sunlight shining through the empty windows of the storefronts.
From time to time we would see animals make their way through the city. Small ground squirrels and birds abounded. Their music and calls sometimes created a cacophonous chatter that was hard to hear over. Thinking of Hel and how sharp his hearing must be, it made me wonder how he stood the noise.
Ignoring V’s conversation I kept looking around and a few blocks down from where the boy was trapped, I saw movement. I watched for a few seconds, then saw someone dash across analleyway. It was too far away to get a good look at them, but I figured our time was running out.
“V, we don’t have time for this,” I turned back to my brother and our target. V looked over at me and sighed.
“Look, kid,” I walked over to where the boy hung in the net. “If we wanted you dead, you’d have died before you even knew we were here.”
I focused my power and tugged on the net, forcing a wall of Air under the boy, lifting him up and out of the trap and dropping him to the ground. He twisted at the last minute and fell off the wall of Air I had created and landed hard on his bad ankle. He scrambled back until he hit the alley wall.
“S-stay away!” he said, shaking in terror, one hand sinking into the earth beneath him.
V walked over to me and punched me in the arm.
“Way to go, asshole.”
“What!? It’s not my fault he wiggled,” I complained, rubbing my arm.
“Like you couldn’t have anticipated it? Or made a bigger Air platform?” V snorted at me.
“Now is not the time, V.”
“Don’t mind him, he’s a jerk,” V turned his attention back to our captive. The boy was flashing his gaze back and forth as if he was at a tennis match. The kid was skinny, even by Legion standards. He had short brown hair and brown eyes.
“My name is V. Vlakas, thanks to this asshole,” V said, punching my arm again.
“Knock it off!” I said, rubbing my shoulder.
“I’m Earth Mageia. He’s Kat, Air Mageia. Kataramenos. Unfortunately, ‘Asshole’ was already taken,” V teased. “You hungry?”
V held out some packaged food Hel had given us, some bread and cheese. I saw the boy eye it hungrily, but there was also suspicion in his eyes.
“Go on, it’s okay,” V said, taking a moment to take a bite from the corner of each before handing them over to the boy. Once the boy saw him chew and swallow with no apparent ill effects, he grabbed the food and began shoving it in his mouth.
I hadn’t seen his backpack around anywhere, so he had either lost it, or someone had stolen it.
I handed V my canteen and he took a sip before handing it to the boy as well. The boy took a long drink from the canteen.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
I kept watching the area, alert for any movement. I knew Hel was out there keeping an eye out for us, but I felt unfriendly eyes on us. We needed to move.
“What’s your name?” V crouched down in front of the kid.
At first, I didn’t think the boy was going to answer, but eventually he whispered, “Pontiki. But everyone calls me Tik.”
V smiled.
“Pontiki. Mouse. I like it,” V smiled at him.
The boy looked at him in surprise.
“Mice are smart. If they really wanted to, I think they’d overwhelm the world, but they’d rather just live and let live,” my brother said.
Tik started to lose the look of absolute terror that had been on his face since he’d seen us approach, but suspicion still haunted him.
