Tonight I run.
I turn down the first alley I find, zigzagging between dumpsters and abandoned boxes. I hear her footsteps behind me, surprisingly fast for someone her size.
“Wait! I'm not going to hurt you.” It's a female voice, deep and with an accent I don't recognize.
I don't stop. I've heard that lie too many times.
The alley narrows, ends at a chain-link fence about six feet high. For most people, it would be a dead end. For me,it's an opportunity. Without breaking stride, I jump onto a dumpster, use the momentum to grab the fence, and scale it with an agility I've never had to practice. It's just there, like my body knows exactly what it should do.
On the other side, I spot a fire escape and head toward it. I grab the first rung and pull myself up. Behind me, my pursuer curses in a language I don't understand.
I climb to the roof. The wind blows hard now, battering my body like it wants to tear me off the building. Below, the city looks like a labyrinth of lights and shadows.
I jump to the adjacent roof, rolling to absorb the impact. I move from rooftop to rooftop, zigzagging to confuse anyone trying to follow me.
When I arrive, my apartment is dark and silent, exactly as I left it this morning.
By the window, hidden in the shadows, I scan the street. Nothing. No movement. No figure lurking.
I smile.
The necklace remains safe in my pocket. I pull it out and hold it under the weak ray of light filtering through the window. The diamonds flash like frozen water droplets. Beautiful, cold, valuable. Looks like someone's willing to chase them down. But how could they even know I have it?
Something doesn't add up.
An almost imperceptible creak makes the hair on my neck stand up. I'm not alone.
I turn, but it's too late. A slender figure emerges from the shadows. Tall, ethereal, with a brief flash of pale blonde hair and a greenish braid on one side.
Before I can react, I see the metallic gleam of a taser. I try to dodge it, but the space is too confined. The electrodes hit me in the chest as a current of agony rips through my entire body. My muscles contract involuntarily, violently, and I fall to my knees, struggling to maintain control.
Two figures enter. One of them, the large woman who chased me, is trying to catch her breath. The other is shorter, with a strange glow in her green eyes.
“Damn, I can't run that fast,” the big woman mutters, approaching me.
“Don't you dare hurt her, Althea,” the blonde who hit me with the taser warns. “Kaelisar would kill all three of us.”
I try to get to my feet, resist somehow, but my muscles barely respond. The shorter woman approaches. I could swear her hands emit a soft greenish glow.
“Don't resist. It's easier if you don't fight,” she murmurs. Her voice has a musical tone, almost hypnotic.
She touches my temple, and a strange sensation invades me, like I'm floating in the sea. Then, almost without realizing it, darkness claims me.
The last thing I see is my pursuer's face, Althea, I think they called her. There's no cruelty in her expression; it's more something strangely similar to compassion. Like she feels sorry for me.
“I'm sorry, wind whisperer,” she mutters.
And then, nothing.
Chapter 2
Nell
My head pounds like an army of tiny miners is drilling tunnels through my brain. I try to open my eyes, but the light stabs through my pupils. I don't know what the green-eyed girl did to me, but the pain is unbearable.
“About time you woke up,” a male voice growls.
I blink several times as I try to focus. I'm sprawled on something soft, judging by the feel, maybe a leather couch. A strange smell, like sandalwood, saturates the air. Once my vision clears, I see a man sitting across from me. He's attractive in an unsettling way, with slightly dark skin and a perfectly trimmed beard, peppered with premature gray. His long hair falls in waves over his shoulders. He wears a dark suit that probably costs more than everything I've stolen in a year.
