Chapter 29 - What Do They Want?

'Aurelia.' Falcon said.

They were sitting at the edge of the lake, dangling their feet in the icy water, a soothing numbness spreading from the tip of his toes and going directly to his brain. Aurelia was weaving the grass into a thin bracelet, each blade the size of a small snake. She looked at peace, but Falcon knew inside a turmoil was raging through her, her quiet anger was seeping out of her composure and making the air around them infected with fury.

'He taught me this.' She said quietly, hands still working at the blades of grass. 'He used to say tasks are not limited to gender, every person must know how to do everything.'

'Teach me, then.'

'Learn it yourself.' She jerked her head.

Falcon sighed deeply. It was fruitless to try and maintain a conversation with her now, and even more difficult to actually distract her mind from the danger until she came up with what to do next.

He sat back onto his elbows, resting his lower back against the soft bed of grass and breathing deeply in the scent of flowers and mud. Though the ground was damp, he welcomed the cold like a blanket of sedative by way of a chilly distraction.

'That's what he said to me.' She continued, and Falcon understood. 'He handed me the blades and told me to figure it out myself. Ari, you have learnt to breed huskies at the age of four, surely you can manage to weave knots in grass. That's what he said.'

'What did you do, then?'

'I went home and asked my mother to teach it to me.' She let out a small laugh which ended quickly.

Falcon grinned. He let his head fall back, letting the wind caress his hair. The cold breeze played with the black strands, blowing them in his face and nuzzling his neck in the quietest of comfort.

'Then let's go back to your house and ask your mom to teach me the art of weaving knots.'

'That was a bad attempt to distract me, if I am being honest.' She started picking at the grass again, breaking off the blades viciously. Falcon saw her hands shaking as she tore up the grass bed, pulling up several flowers and crushing them to a pulp, and something inside Falcon felt a sting of pain as each petal colored her fingers.

'That was how much he trusted in you.' Falcon said quietly. 'He knew you would work things out by yourself and won't rest until you do.'

'But I didn't.'

'But you could have. Though you were very young, he knew what Aurelia was capable of and he let you show him.'

Aurelia's head dropped as she let go of the ground. She ran her hands down her face, some of the color from her finger tips staining her cheekbones in a fine line. Falcon was thankful no more flowers were being plucked, but Aurelia had taken to pull at her hair instead and he barely fought an urge to seize her hands and hold them tight, lest she pulled out clumps of her curls.

'I feel mentally handicapped, Falcon.' She sighed after a while, her voice quivering with the effort it was taking her to express what she was feeling. 'It's like there's a naked sword dangling over my head by a string, screaming danger in my ear. Anything can happen to him and I can't think clearly because I am so scared, no, terrified of what he must be going through.' A single tear danced on her eyelash before slipping down gracefully and clinging to her chin. Falcon stared, entranced, the moisture had mixed with the red of the flower and stained her cheeks pink.

'He's a demon slayer, Aurelia. Don't you think he can face an abduction?'

She looked so vulnerable. This was the first time she had let slip of the arrogant, careless façade she kept wrapped around herself and showed what she really was feeling, and Falcon knew the trust it took to do so. Something inside him broke when she let out a wretched sob, which quietened at once as she tried to pull herself under control, but still he held back, not approaching her and stared at the rosy hue on her cheek, courtesy of the flowers.

'This person is everywhere. First Cyan, then Grandpa. He's one step ahead of us in this struggle for the stone, Falcon, and this is terrifying.' She lifted her lashes and peeked at him through watery eyes.

'Which makes we wonder, how is he so aware of our every move?' Falcon tore his gaze away and spoke to the air.

Before she could respond, there was a whooping sound from behind them, and Falcon jerked up so fast that a choked sound tore through him when his neck cricked. Aurelia looked up startled, then she let out a shriek so high, his skin quivered from the pitch.

Falcon was on his feet in an instant, pulling her along with him and shoving her behind his body as he grabbed his pistol.

Two people in gear were running towards them like the wind was carrying their feet, hands waving in the air and cheeks split into wide smiles he could see even from the distance. In his daze, he knew he could never manage to run that fast even when he was being chased by wolf-beasts twice the size of Alaska.

'What are you doing, Falcon?' he heard Aurelia ask in confusion from behind him, where she was gripping his jacket. 'They are my friends.'

Embarrassment flushed to his cheeks faster than the slayers, he could feel the heat coming off his face in waves and he grumbled incoherently before lowering his weapon and complaining, not meeting her eyes. 'Why did you scream like a banshee? You scared the birds.'

'Yeah, I scared a bird; a Falcon.' She laughed.

Falcon was glad for the happy sound, even if it was at his expense. The tears had vanished from her eyes and for the first time since they had stepped in the lake, she looked genuinely happy. He stared in alarm as she ran over to the slayers with just as much enthusiasm, the trio hugging as if their life depended on it. They were talking and laughing loudly and Falcon felt something akin to a loss as he saw Aurelia clutch her sides at something one of them said, the same kind of feeling when Aurelia was talking to her parents at the cottage, but much worse.

He sat back down slowly, dipping his feet in the cold water and waiting for the icy numbness to claim his senses again.

A trill of laughter reached him and he knew they were coming close. He rested his weight on his palms and let his head fall back, closing his eyes, mouth slightly open to help the strange feeling inside him dissipate. He knew it was Aurelia when someone grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly, and he wished the hand would linger there a bit longer.

'Come on, get up. They have brought food.' Aurelia said loudly, flopping down beside him on the grass.

Her voice was laced with happiness, and he wondered how she could sound so cheerful when she had been shedding tears just a few minutes ago.

He opened his eyes with a groan, like it was a grueling task to greet her friends. He glared at the intruders, a boy and a girl around Aurelia's age, staring at him with the same judgmental look that he was giving them. The boy had startling blue eyes and he was sizing him up curiously, his gaze flitting all over his body, like he couldn't wait to beat him up. Falcon wondered why everybody in the valley had such interest in making him see the better of their combat abilities.

They had settled on the grass in a circle, picnic baskets already out, while Aurelia was rummaging inside a bag violently, looking for something she apparently couldn't find as she let out an anguished wail.

'Did you not bring a picnic blanket?'

'He can give us his shirt.' The girl gestured towards him, her waist long ash hair fluttering innocently.

Falcon spluttered. 'What….' He began, while Aurelia let out a loud laugh, and Falcon stared at the raucous girls in distressed alarm, which he didn't even try to hide. Suddenly, both of them were eyeing his body with a keen interest and he felt his face flush when Aurelia smirked in appreciation.

'Yeah, Jason could do that.' She went back to rummaging in the back pack.

The boy, however didn't look amused.

'What are you looking at, Zue?' he complained, placing a finger under the girl's chin and tilting her face towards him.

She smiled at him sweetly, fingers coming up to entwine with the boy's. 'Only you.'

'Stop it, you two.' Aurelia said, busy as she started pulling out containers from a picnic basket. 'You are making me cringe.'

'No one asked, Ari.' The boy rolled his eyes at her, a happy smile now playing along his lips.

Falcon, however, was looking at Zue. He knew from the way that slight smirk had appeared at the corner of her lips before disappearing just as quickly when Aurelia had called him Jason, that she was aware the person in front of her was someone else. And in that instant, Falcon had a clear idea who knew about him except Aurelia.

'So, Zue, how did you find me?' he said.

The very air stilled as the slayers grew quiet, a silence that stretched like thin fabric for a feeble eternity in which he could hear the wind tickling the grass as the flowers waited with bated breath. Aurelia had gone very quiet, like she couldn't believe Falcon had found out. He felt a twinge of annoyance, but she had just been trying to protect her friend, hadn't she? But, she was the one who kept going about trust, and...

Stop. Once again, the wary side of him was awake. Trust is a gamble we don't take.

'What?' Zue turned to him confused, one hand playing with her hair while the other wrapped in the boy's large ones.

'How did you find out I was Falcon? You told Aurelia about me at Teal Yarrow's engagement party.' He realized he had snapped.

Your anger is justified, the ugly side of him was back, and for one moment Falcon was grateful for it.

'Oh.' She laughed. 'It's true you have hidden yourself quite well, but nothing escapes Zue's eyes.'

'Do you mean pictures of my face exist as Falcon?' He rubbed a hand on his face, suddenly exhausted to the bone.

'They existed. I removed them all when Ari asked me to, a few days back. They were mug shots of you through a cheap disposable camera while you were perched high on the roof of the Yarrow house. I just ran a few searches underground and the result came up easily, because the pictures matched the ones from five years ago, you know, the Senator's murder.'

A chill ran through his entire body and he involuntarily wrapped his jacket around himself tighter. It seemed like that wretched night would continue to destroy his life, until all he was left with would be the anger in him turned to insanity.

Why did you do it then? Why did you kill the man and his family? His heart spoke up even when he tried to shut it down. Did you really think you wouldn't ever have to pay?

'Can you find out who took the pictures?' he whispered.

'Neptune already did.' Zue said, gesturing at her boyfriend. 'The East Kilani Police Department.'

The shiver that ran through him was so sudden, all his senses numbed for a second, like he had jumped right in the icy lake instead of just dipping his toes. The police know what I look like, he fisted a knot of grass without realizing, dizzy with fear.

However, Zue wasn't finished. 'But, we dug some more and no such police department exists. That was just a cover, while someone else operates from the shadows. Has anybody been on your tail recently?'

All Falcon could do was nod and bask in the relief that washed over him like a tide, so strong and so sweet, its grips of comfort like the warmth of Orchid's arms.

'I think they are threatening you.' Aurelia said. 'It's a stupid thing to do, if you ask me. Do they want something from you which you are not ready to give?'

Falcon nodded slowly. He didn't say anything further, though he knew Aurelia was looking at him expectantly, like he was about to launch into a whole explanation. He turned around, addressing Zue directly. 'Are you sure you took down every picture?'

'Yes I did, but they can always upload more. I think the best way would be to deal with them and find out why they are doing this?'

'No.' He shook his head, rather violently than he should've. 'Falcon doesn't give in. I already know what they want and I am not ready to give it.'

'Well, what do they want?' Aurelia asked impatiently.

'The want me back.'