“Current mission…Accomplished!”
The soft tap of Cat’s feet was muffled by her socks (she’d taken off her shoes to avoid making noise) as she slinked about the corridors of the Black Order. Barely a few minutes ago, the girl had unwittingly knocked out a guard and had fortunately been able to gain access to the stairwell. Now she was prowling the halls, jumping at every shadow and sound, praying that she wouldn’t be discovered. “Oh man. Oh man,” Cat shivered with adrenaline and her eyes darted vigorously as she watched for any sign of movement. Mentally, she slapped herself. Concentrate! If I’m all riled up when someone shows up, I’ll freak out, Cat thought grimly. Then it’s game over.
The girl shook her head and sighed deeply before, once again, digging in her trusty backpack for a help item. “Ha ha,” she chuckled humorously. “You’d think this was some sort of portal or something! Here it is!” Cat triumphantly drew out a small hand mirror. You’d think her an anomaly for a typical girl. At least some of the other young women she knew carried some form of cosmetic with them, but she had no interest in them at all. “Mirrors should have more practical uses,” she said with a sly grin. Cat crawled across the damp floor on her stomach until she reached the end of the hall. Carefully fingering the mirror, she slid it into the open at a slight angle so that it would reflect what was at the end of the adjacent passageway without revealing her presence. “Whew. Nothing.” Cat tiptoed across the hallway and ducked into a broom closet. “Ew!” She muttered pulling her shirt over her nose. “That’s one ripe stench! Like a sewage dump.” She edged a filthy looking bucket away with her foot as she sat down on a crate to rest. “Now that I’m here, I guess I should try to fit in.” Take heed that a super-secret, religious, notoriously dangerous organization wasn’t the place you’d normally see a 14-year old girl. Well, unless she was an exorcist. “Which I am, regretfully, not.” Crossing her arms, Cat furrowed her brow and thought. And thought. And thought some more.
After her run-in with Toma (poor finder), she had discovered something that was rather underhanded, but would defiantly forge a sufficient excuse for brashly running about the Order. Then it clicked. “THAT’S IT!!! Oops!” Cat clapped both hands over her mouth. Note to self: DO NOT shout victory exclamations, especially when hiding! Unraveling the scruffy-looking, white coat, Cat chuckled with quite an underhanded expression. She had taken Toma’s nice, albeit, war torn coat when she accidentally hushed him, and then bound him above a ceiling panel somewhere in the attic.
Pondering on the civility of that somewhat…unnecessary act, Cat shook her head and forced a smile. “Bah! He’ll be okay. I mean, he’s a strong fellow, right?” Giggling nervously, the teen slipped out of the closet in her newly acquired uniform and walked gingerly down the hallway.
“This is so stupid!” Cat’s eye’s twitched from the mental image that she had of the bulky, dirty coat that almost draped across her form. The heavy, metallic, communication radio was certainly no picnic to carry either! Ridiculous, she thought to herself. Simply, utterly, ridiculous!
Being incognito, however, had its benefits. While walking at a brisk pace, Cat turned the last corner and stopped abruptly at a cast iron banister. Leaning over the railing, Cat whistled as she took in the sight of the seemingly endless rows of doors. There were hundreds above her and even more below. The chasm that separated the circular rows of dwellings yawned with a musty, cold breeze that rose lazily from the darkness. Candle lamps faintly illuminated the descent, sending timid shadows slinking across the lower stonewalls. Despite the foreboding atmosphere, some might actually find beauty in such a still and lonely place.
“I must be in the dormitories,” Cat breathed. She had traveled with family and friends to various lands and had seen many fortresses, castles, and strongholds, but the Black Order had struck her like a bullet. Such splendor. Such peril. That was the call of adventure! The young girl let a somewhat babyish squeal of delight at the thought and rushed down a few more flights of stairs before making a U-turn –
KA-SLAM!
Right into a heavy oak door.
“Huh?” A gray-haired man blinked slowly and wiped the lenses of his glasses before giving a startled jump at the bleary-eyed, bloody-nosed figure that was shaking it’s head and whispering hushed vulgarities at the door.
“Oh! I’m terribly, terribly sorry about that! You’re not too injured, I hope?” The tall, stout man extended a hand to the white robed person. From his blurry vision (he had dropped his glasses when he jumped), he saw amazingly long, ebony hair fixed back with a simple, cream-hued tie. The face was feminine, although he couldn’t make assumptions since there were a plethora of fair-faced individuals in the Order. The person twitched and babbled an incoherent apology.
The man gave a warm chuckle and waved dismissively at the excuse. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just relieved to see that you’re alright.” He extended his hand, “I’m General Tiedoll. Are you new to the Order?” The finder shakily accepted the handshake and sighed.
“Um. Y-yeah. I’m new.” The finder nodded excitedly and before the General could speak again said, “Hey, weren’t you wearing glasses? Did you drop them?”
Tiedoll blinked a few times before realizing that the short, jittery worker was right. Where were his glasses? He set down his portfolio jam-packed with art supplies and patted the floor, gently. “Did you happen to see them fall? I hope they didn’t drop over the railings.”
Craaaaaap! Cat screamed in her head, inwardly cursing her horrible luck. She had broken into a nervous sweat and was slowly backing away from the exorcist, who was still prattling on about him always losing his glasses. A General! And right in the beginning, too! A delicate crunch brought her back to reality as she tentatively lifted her shoe to reveal the shattered remnants of the missing bifocals.
“Huh?” The General froze and glanced around the floor looking for the sound of the broken glasses. Thinking fast, the charlatan finder softly kicked the ruined spectacles across the flooring to where the old man’s boots were.
“Ooooh! That was a bit of bad chance there. I’d say you found them.” Cat sidestepped away from the half-blind gentleman as he sighed and began to pick up the twisted frames of his eyeglasses. “Wow! Would you look at the time?” She glanced down at her non-existent watch and scurried down the hall. “So sorry, but I have to leave! Duty calls, you know! Hope you get some new specs!” The dazed man blinked in confusion at the dust cloud that was left in place of the finder’s tracks. “Hmm.” He shook his head and smiled. “Young people…Always in a hurry!”
