Dangerous Territory

Sixteen

Rain pelted against the pavement, pellets splattering on the tops of car roofs, flower petals and the expensive umbrella that Malandra held over her head.

The sound was cathartic, a premonition of what was to come.

A liberating stream to finish the sequence of events- out from imprisonment and into the real world.

She hoped.

First, she had to get through this meeting though.

All through her class, she had been antsy, hardly able to concentrate since she knew what would be happening in the evening. She had already sent her roomie a text letting her know that she would be home late.

Staying at the library, she had said.

There was no room for stirring suspicion with the fellow Irongate employee. Being thought to be in the library was safe, leaving her location open to interpretation was not.

Jon had given her a messily scrawled address, some location so nondescript that even the app on her phone didn't know what to think of it.

Knowing how important the meeting could be, how detrimental it could turn out to the rest of her life if it went well, she made sure that she was there on time- seven o'clock on the dot.

She had thought that Tanya lived in a dodgy place but Jon's apartment block took the cake.

Mala was raised in painfully middle class neighbourhood, so crudely graphited houses, cracked asphalt littered with drug paraphernalia and tall, ugly buildings that blocked out the light of day were not in her comfort zone.

It was perfect.

Trashy, dingy and totally under the radar.

A mind your own business section of the city where all dirty deeds could be buried undercover.

Out of all the people stood around on the street, none but a group of human teenage boys paid her any attention, and even then it was only a look up and down and a whistle of appreciation.

Inappropriate, yes, but she would take their inappropriate stares over the attention of the law any day.

The door opened and Jon beckoned her in, grey sweatpants hanging low on his hips, a plain blue shirt half way over his head, "come in and close it behind you."

She did.

Mattheus was in the living room, looking the most relaxed she had ever seen him. He nodded when she entered, the wary angle to his gaze completely gone. Instead, he was looking at her like he was seeing the girl in a new light.

"You go first."

Mala was surprised and shook her head at the dark haired man, "it's only fair that you go first, you invited me after all."

He rolled his eyes and took a seat, shirt completely covering his chest now. "My theory is that you found out that Ovilio was your mate the first time you came to Irongate, somehow got a job here and now you're planning to break him out."

She sighed, not deeming the assumption as being worth her denial. "Fine. Yes, you're right."

He smiled smugly, happy at his deduction before the small gesture slipped off his face. "Blake is my mate."

"Yeah, that wasn't hard to guess either."

He looked out the window, the dim evening light filtering through, casting the room in a strangely depressing orange glow. It was like they were in a furnace, only a matter of time before the fire came ablaze and stripped them of the last of their hope.