Silver Shadow (Maven x Mare)

Chapter 31: MARE

The night envelopes the sky as it does every day, but it has me worried. Kilorn and the others were not yet back.

I paced around the warm fire that Cal was building. He looked filthy from gathering firewood to last us tonight. I can smell the soup that Ada, one of our recruits, has made from potatoes we have from stolen goods. Her power was perfect memory and intelligence, and she has been really valuable with us, helping Cal around with repairs due to knowledge.

"Why don't you sit down, Mare, the soup will be ready soon," Ada offers, but I cannot shake the feeling that the others were in danger.

"It's late.. why aren't they back?" I say, coming unconsciously close to the fire, the heat suddenly awakening my senses.

Cal looks into me. I can see in his eyes that he, too, had been calculating the hours they were away, noting the fact that to take this long, something must have caused them delay.

I shiver. "We should find them,"

"It not wise, Mare, we need to wait," Cal says, looking at the forest around us. "Farrah has made sure our camp's sounds are concealed,"

Farrah, the newblood whose ability is to manipulate sound.

Still, I can feel Cal getting uneasy. Hours passed by, and still no sign from the others.

"Where were they headed to?" I ask Shade who was resting on one of the logs we used as chairs, noting that he was at least starting to recover. His tired eyes mirror my concern.

"To the market, just the South of here. I trust Diana, but for her to even be this late.."

I kneeled downed and put my hand on his knee. "I'll find them. Maybe they just have too many things to carry and need a hand," I urge my brother to relax, although we both have the same thinking. Nothing delays Farley- nothing except dangerous delays.

He sighs. "Let's go,"

"No," I say with conviction. "You've been teleporting endlessly. You need rest or you'll be useless later."

"I am useless now if they're in trouble,"

"We need you for bigger things. I'll take Cal with me," I said firmly. The nighttime will hide our faces.

Shade is ready to argue, but he knows that I have won this. "I'll gather everyone. We'll wait together, just in case."

I smile. "You do that."

************************

I almost got lost in the sea of cloaks.

Too many hooded people are in the market with us in similar dark clothes concealing their faces, so we don't appear to be out of place. But my instinct is working overtime. Hidden faces mean they are either of the law or out of the law.

Cal takes my hand to guide me. We cannot afford to lose each other in the town square. Our heads hung low, but our eyes scan our surroundings.

"If they're stealing, they wouldn't be here," Cal whispers.

I huff. As a girl who spent her childhood as a thief, I know that it is actually much easier to do crimes on times least expected. But if they were taking things in bulk, they would indeed go to storages and not market places.

"Let's continue down the street. I bet the warehouses are there."

The noise subdues as we walk into the village. Most of the businesses and houses still have their lights on, but they aren't much people outside. Cal is still holding my hand even when it is unnecessary, but I let him. I am beginning to shake thinking what might have happened to the others.