The Phantom's Princess.

Ch. 7

In the dimly lit confines of the small warehouse, Alexis found herself caught between the mundane and the mysterious. They were indeed sent out to clean, just not the broomstick and mop type of cleaning, which she was, of course, happy about.

Geoffrey had driven them out to a small warehouse almost an hour away from where they resided where both she and Geoffrey kitted themselves up with the overalls and mask that he had packed into their rucksacks. The atmosphere, as well as the get-up, had a very clandestine feel to it and sent a buzz of excitement through Alexis when she caught a glimpse of herself in the window as they passed through the warehouse to retrieve three black bags filled with documents and clothing.

"What are they?" she asked after Geoffrey instructed her on the fact that they were to shred and burn them.

"We don't ask questions, princess," was his reply.

Alexis nodded, that was fair enough. "The less I know the less I can say, ey?" she joked.

"Got it," he said with a wink and handed her a bag of papers to work on while he started on the bag of clothes.

As the shredder hummed and the papers turned into confetti, Alexis couldn't resist stealing a few glances. The contents were a jumble of numbers and names, an enigma which, if she'd had more time she was certain she could decipher. However, remembering Geoffrey's warning, she allowed her focus to dwell elsewhere and not pry too deeply on what didn't concern her. Meanwhile, Geoffrey, with a subtle air of secrecy, attacked the clothing that hinted at a darker narrative than the documents, one marked by bloodstains that Alexis noticed.

Alexis made a small sound as she cleared her throat unable to withhold the curiousity that bit at her.

"Whose blood is it?" she whispered.

Geoffrey gave a nonchalant shrug. "Not any of ours."

"But it was someone bad, right?" she continued.

Geoffrey paused for a moment as he thought.

"Good and bad can have a pretty grey border, do you know that?"

Alexis shook her head. "Good is good and bad is bad."

"That's true," Geoffrey nodded. "But then there's the in-between and in that area, it can be hard to tell."

The in-between? she thought, wondering what kind of issues would fall into an in-between.

"It's like this Alexis," he said as he continued with the clothing. "Our loyalty is to our family, Blackthorn. Sometimes we have to do 'bad' things to protect our family, but that's good. Do you understand?"

Alexis nodded. "I think so," she muttered.

In Alexis' mind, such an explanation made complete sense and encapsulated the essence of the Blackthorn men perfectly. They weren't saints, far from it, but to her, they were her safety, and regardless of whatever 'bad' they did, they were her definition of good.

Without any further questions, she resumed her task of shredding the papers, and then when they were done, the remains were moved to three large burner barrels and set alight.

The two sat and joked for the next thirty minutes as they waited for the items to burn into nothing but ashes, and in a meticulous process, bagged the remnants and disposed of them behind the warehouse in small, inconspicuous holes which Geoffrey himself dug.

"I dug, you can fill," Geoffrey said, throwing the shovel to Alexis, who began shovelling piles of dirt back into the holes.

It was probably the most strenuous part of the whole mission, but easy enough for her to complete without complaining, and as the last shovelfuls of dirt settled, Alexis gave herself a proud smile for having been Geoffrey's faithful accomplice in a mission that blurred the lines between routine and intrigue.