Built on smoke and mirrors

Chapter 28

"I already got sight of the Motherwealth employees," Ezra says as soon as he walks out of the bakery. He points towards the town hall.

It still stands, white and bright. A stark contrast between everything else in this town.

Memories flood my mind from when I was last in there. I signed an agreement to go to Regal, unaware of the danger is was. Town hall was clean, neat, perfect. I thought all of the Motherwealth was like that. I now know it to be a lie. Only Regal holds that kind of wealth.

"They are all there. I've thought about what I'll say to them and I'm just going to say I brought you home to pick up some herbs that only grow here that you need for your training." He pulls out a small bottle of dried leaves that I recognized as kannabis.

"Do you know what that is?" I ask cautiously. I know a lot of towns, Hell included, did not take kindly to this kind of leaf.

He shrugs and places it back in his pocket. "It looked important. Found it deep under the sink in your house. So I thought why not?"

"I don't know if your plan will work. That stuff is illegal in the Commonwealth."

His eyes widen. "Then why do you have it?"

He doesn't deserve an explanation. There is so much that I never got from him. Call this even. He doesn't need to know that Kol used it more than I did or that he kept more in his room.

He looks back towards the direction of my home. I know what he is thinking. But I don't want to waste any more time. I push him forward.

"If you didn't recognize it, other Capital folk won't. We should be fine," I say in the most confident voice I could muster.

With my head held high, I continue my path on the uneven sidewalk towards the town hall. After a moment, I turn to see if Ezra is following me. He isn't. He is frozen in place with a look of distraught on his face.

"Come on, Ezra."

"What other things do you participate in that are illegal?"

I roll my eyes although I want to slap him. He is not one to judge being from the Motherwealth and knowing what the training program was for. He is no saint. Out of all the things he can be hung up on, it was this?

"You really think this is the time for that?"

He nods.

"Walter, Ezra. You have lost your mind. You want to talk about illegal? You broke me out of the capital and ran away with me."

He frowns then kicks a rock with his leather brown shoes. "I didn't think about that."

"Of course you didn't. Because it seems like you don't think of much. Now, come, we have to continue on." I glance at the town hall, hoping that the small scene isn't as dramatic as I think it to be. Hopefully no one notices us.

"It's just- I never broke the law before."

"That's obvious," I say a little too quickly. He clearly followed everything anyone said. That was his downfall.

"You clearly have."

I nod. "I live in Hell. We need to break laws to survive."

There were so many times that I stole or worked a shift unregistered just to get a little bit more. The laws for the Motherwealth are not sustainable for the Commonwealths.

"But Ezra, can we talk about this another time? We need to get back."

He sighs as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Do you think the people will know what the bottle of leaves are?"