It was on the third stone throw that Helena finally awoke. She sat up, thin limbs tangled up in the ratty fabric of her blanket, and squinted at the clunky old grandfather clock leaning slightly against the wall beside her brother's bed. It was the only thing of value in the entire household and Helena still questioned why they haven't sold the dumb thing for a week's worth of dinner. Of course, Mother insisted so strongly of them keeping it, that it had been her parents, which had been her Mom's parents', and so on and so forth.
Helena rose slowly, creeping close to the window and peeking through the cracked glass. The sudden sound had put her on edge, and she grabbed the makeshift bat from beneath her bed. You could never be too careful, especially in this part of the Seam. The world beyond the frame was broken apart into several fragments. With the web of cracks not quite making the figure outside to fit together, it took the seventeen year old a moment to realize it was her friend, Bruce, bathed in the light of a small flashlight in his hand. She sighed outwardly and jerked her window up.
"Finally, it awakens," he said, his voice hushed. Helena rolled her gray eyes, narrowing them onto the boy.
"What do you think you're doing?" she whispered back. In his bed not too far away, Malcolm stirred in his sleep and Helena held her breath until he settled once again.
Bruce stuck the flashlight beneath his face. The angle of light cast menacing shadows across his face and he grinned devilishly. "Oh, we're going on a magical adventure."
Helena quickly translated that in her head; "We may be doing something illegal." Yes, that may be jumping to conclusions way too soon. But you didn't know Bruce.
Malcolm snored softly. Helena cringed at the sound. The last thing she needed was her little brother ratting her out to their mother. She silently regretted poking so much fun at his newfound crush, some merchant girl he denied ogling over. The boy would be out for blood. Or worse; You-owe-me's.
"We as in…?" I said. I laid my elbow on the sill and pressed my cheek to my palm.
Bruce swept the small beam of light around. Helena counted at least three other pairs of feet before he held the flashlight up in her face. She groaned at its brightness, shielding her eyes. The group chuckled.
"Come on, Hel," what sounded like Tick said. He didn't bother to at least try to quiet. "Join us. Join uuuuus."
"Hey, cool your jets," Helena said. "I never said no here, did I?" A silent cheer went up, with varying levels of whoops. She turned back to dress. Helena pulled a pair of pants on that was haphazardly tossed onto the floor and shoved shoes on her feet. As quietly as humanly possible, Helena hauled herself up and out the window, the few two feet to the ground assisted by the Gang. Bruce, being the tallest, yanked the window closed and gave them the thumbs up. The girl grinned. Her escape had been a success. It wasn't much different from every other evening.
"Am I being let in on your plans now?" Helena asked sarcastically. The five teens formed a circle without realizing it but have joined in such a manner so many times that they didn't think much of it. Bruce's giddy smile broadened.
"Oh, not quite yet."
"He hasn't told any of us," Seerie's sickeningly sweet soprano voice said. Helena never liked the girl too much. She was so…out of it. So creepy. Her eyes were so wide and her hair laid dead straight down to her waist on either side of her head. Helena could barely say her actual name, Saoirse, which was you pronounced as "Seer-sha". The only reason she hung out with them was because Bruce thought she was cool in an eerie sort of way. He was always going for the theatrics and felt she added a mystified aura to the group. Helena thought it was pretty bull. But hey, she mastered the five finger discount better than any of them and so she was a valuable asset in that sense.
Bruce waved the flashlight teasingly about. Its white light lit up the withered leaves upon the ground and the dead branches of the trees overhead. "Oh, you'll see. Trust me; do my magical adventures ever lead you wrong?"
In unison, they all said, "Yes." The light bobbed as Bruce shrugged.
"All the time," a bespectacled boy named Todd said. He looked much like his younger brother, Tick, but was taller and leaner. Todd was built like a runner where Tick could easily match, and even beat him, in strength. Tick also refused to wear glasses. He insisted he only needed them to read.
"Just get on with it," Helena said. "Before the Peacekeepers come and catch us wandering around. We cut it close last time and my mother would cut my tongue out herself if she had to pay one of those fines." The Gang laughed. Honestly, the Peacekeepers didn't bother them. The teens knew their patterns better than the back of their hands. Helena thought, You'd expect them to, though. They couldn't exactly see the back of their hands in the dark.
Bruce swung the light about, totally unfazed by Helena's warning. "Follow me, ladies and gents." Certain they were all rolling their eyes together, they went with the boy.
"Looking great," Todd elbowed Helena through the dark, appearing beside her. She jabbed an elbow back, lodging the bony tip between his ribs. His suddenness had startled her but she managed to stifle the gasp of surprise to be emitted from her lips. She hated to admit it but Helena was skittish.
"I rock the bed head a whole lot better than you." Helena's black hair only came down to her shoulders and no strand of hair was the same length. The Gang was already moving ahead.
"I'd like to argue further but I believe we are falling behind," Todd whispered. Helena grabbed Todd's hand and hauled him along to catch up with the group.
"So," Helena chimed. "Since we're all here, now will you tell us?"
"Ah, ah," Bruce tut-tutted. "Not everyone."
The girl furrowed her eyebrows. The rest of the Gang exchanged equally confused expressions. Bruce kept the smirk on his face.
"You wouldn't mean-" Tick said.
"That girl?" Helena grumbled. Seerie stiffened. No one took any notice.
Bruce remained silent. Helena opened her mouth to argue but both Tick and Todd gripped her shoulder, holding Helena back. There was no point with arguing with Bruce. Bruce always got what he wanted, as far as they knew. He had been the one to set the very structure of the Gang.
They had reached the main path and began to follow it to the center of the District Twelve. Helena wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. They often moved to the back roads to avoid Peacekeepers on duty. It made the dark seem even darker and the imagination tended to wander. Trees creaked and swayed and the nocturnal creatures of the night called to one another in greeting. Paranoia setting in, Helena edged closer to the heart of the group.
"You're a heavy sleeper," Tick finally mentioned. It was a small attempt at making chitchat. Helena gritted her teeth.
"I'm sorry I can't hear a damn pebble hit a window." Tick chuckled. His favorite pass time was bothering Helena. He threw his arm around the girl and pulled her close to his side. There was no point to this, only the fact that she did not enjoy being touched. Well, more specifically, being touched by people named Tick. Tick slid his arm around Helena's neck and rammed his knuckles across her skull and mussed up her hair. He didn't worry about being heard as he laughed aloud, head tilted to the sky.
"Give up, Hel?" he chortled. Todd pressed him lips together, eyes narrowing on his brother, one and a half years his junior. Tick winked but in that moment it was enough of a distraction. Helena twisted her head around and bit down on the side of Tick's body. He whimpered in pain, hold now slackened, and Helena bucked from his grip. Once free, she stuck her tongue at him. Tick pouted. Todd chuckled. The two guys were her best friends.
Looking past her two friends, Helena grimaced at Seerie. She stood perfectly still, perfectly straight, with her hands clasped behind her back. The gray hooded sweatshirt she wore was two sizes too big and hung low enough to look like a dress. She was paler than the typical Seam complexion. Her nose was small and rounded and her face thin. Those goddamn eyes were staring at them now. Helena wrinkled her nose in disdain. She didn't have anything against Seerie. She just thought the girl was so damn weird. She was like a ghost, silently following along in their endeavors.
"Hey," Bruce called. The interruption dragged her attention away from hating Seerie, just for the moment. "Stop the commotion." The boy slowed and finally stopped and turned to face his friends. "Y'all stay here while I get her from her house, alright?" Not like the others had much of a choice. Bruce darted down the main road and the remainder of the Gang remained in the darkness of a back alley.
"What's he planning?" Helena asked. Bruce was way out of earshot now. Seerie stood by the alley's entryway, watching him, until he dissolved in the shadows.
"Something stupid," Tick shrugged. "Would you expect any less from dear old Brucey?"
Helena straightened her back, jutting her angular chin in the direction of the main road. "It better be good. If we're caught one more time, my mom is going to nail me by my fingertips to the wall. And if that happens, I'm going to murder Bruce."
"Well," Todd said. He glanced sidelong to his brother. A silent joke passed between them that caused them both to smother smiles.
"That's going to be difficult with your fingers nailed to the wall," Tick finished. The duo chuckled together and Helena glared profusely at them. It made them laugh harder, Tick especially, and Helena walloped both of them simultaneously in the back of the head. They grunted in pain and in the light of the moon, Tick's face looked downright wicked.
"Psst!" Seerie suddenly piped up. "Peacekeeper!" The small group went silent at her warning. Without a word spoken between them, they all scattered. It was a common warning. Fortunately, they were standing beneath the emergency staircase of the bakery. Pulling the ladder down all the way would cause too much of a racket but Tick and Todd managed to haul themselves onto the platform both quickly and silently. Their shadows travelled onto the roof and, unless you knew they were they, became invisible against the night sky. Helena wasn't nearly tall or strong enough to hide there and she glanced about for a spot. Seerie was already out of sight.
Helena ran down the alley, opposite of the direction to a dirt path they used to travel there. She took another step and sank to her ankle in mud. She could hear the snorts and snuffles of the pigs the baker kept behind the building.
"Gross!" she shrieked in a whisper.
Down the path, a white figure appeared. Helena knew it to be a Peacekeeper. Wrinkling her nose, but having no other option, she threw herself into the mud amongst the pigs. They shifted around her and their snouts sniffed at Helena's neck, acknowledging the intruder. Helena could only pray the vile creatures didn't give her away. She didn't dare look up, in case the Peacekeeper saw her bobbing head.
Bruce owed her one. Big time.
What seemed like forever passed but still, Helena didn't budge. Finally she heard someone whispering her name.
"Over here." She sat up, much to the annoyance of the pigs. A beam of light struck her in the eyes, blinding her. Hands grabbed her by the wrists and helped her to her feet. Looking up, Helena wished she had just stayed in the mud, for the person whose hands now held her wrists was the one and only Lisbette.
A. K. A. the mayor's daughter.
"Nice hiding spot," Bruce commented from behind. He still had the flashlight shining in Helena's eyes. She scowled fiercely in his direction.
"Your little adventure better be fucking worth it," she muttered. Lisbette offered a small, apologetic smile. Helena tore her wrists away from the girl without as much as a thank you.
"Oh trust me," Bruce grinned. "It will be."
They had all regrouped and now followed Bruce in the direction of the mines. Helena had earned herself some jests regarding her muddy appearance, of course from all the guys. Seerie merely raised an eyebrow and gave Helena a ghost of smile, one which no one paid any mind to.
Lisbette's hand was sitting comfortably in Todd's and her head lulled against his shoulder. Tick winked at his brother. Todd rolled his eyes in response.
Todd was dating the daughter of the mayor. It was a ruse, really, something the Gang knew. In fact, Todd had been hesitant to pull such a ploy but Bruce had encouraged it. When you were dating the mayor's daughter, you tended to get free stuff which all of the Gang benefitted from.
Helena despised the girl with a passion.
It's not like Lisbette was a bitch; she was actually a really sweet person. Todd was a generally nice guy and Bruce had noticed how Lisbette watched him from behind whatever book she happened to be reading that day. When Todd did ask the poor girl out, she eagerly agreed, completely and utterly clueless.
Lisbette didn't belong in the group. She certainly stuck out; a blue-eyed blonde amongst a group of teens with the classic Seam features. Helena just didn't like her. And the fact Bruce had brought her along pissed Helena off to no end.
They went farther and farther, beyond the mine entrances Helena recognized. The Gang (plus Lisbette) stayed close to Bruce's flickering beam of light. So far away from the town part of the district, and so much closer to the wild outside, the air was frigid. Helena wouldn't be surprised if it would begin to snow. Shadows danced and shifted away from them and Helena felt her heart pounding faster.
Don't be such a baby, she thought to herself. Bruce is just being stupid Bruce.
Up ahead, two figures stood. Bruce grinned at the sight of them.
"Hey," he called. "I thought you said you couldn't make it."
"And miss this?" a male voice said. He had an arm around his companion. "No way."
Helena grinned in spite of herself. Gordy was the sixth and final official member of The Gang. On his arm was his friend Wren, a curvy girl with long eyelashes. When she smiled, she revealed two front teeth with a triangle shaped chip where they met. Her hand rested on Gordy's hip.
Their guide turned to the group, wicked smile lighting up his face. With a theatrical wave of his arms, he gestured towards the all too familiar entrance of a mine quarry. However, pieces of wood that had obviously been used to seal the entrance shut laid haphazardly about.
"Everyone, prepare yourselves," he said dramatically. His voice had dropped an octave and he added a husky undertone to it. "For we have reached our destination."
"Wait," Tick said. "Isn't this-?"
"Ladies and gentlemen," Bruce boomed, cutting him off. "The tale I'm about to tell you is horrifying and not for the weak of heart, or of stomach. I present to you, not just an ordinary mine-"
"Looks like an ordinary mine to me," Helena quipped.
"-but the mine of…" he paused dramatically "…Harry Warden. The Bloody Victor."
A/N: So here's my first go at a chapter. Thanks for making it to here. I'm working hard on chapter two so stay tuned. The action hasn't even begun. (insert winky face here)