On the Streets
by jilla kala
a/n: ok, here's chapter three, this one brings in a couple of Tammy's characters that we all know and love… this chapter also tells us a little bit about Jon's past, key word being "little". Well, review and, as always, enjoy…. Don't worry everyone… the plot is coming… It will just take a little bit more…
also for those of you who were wondering how to post a fic: log in, then click on UPLOAD, then go down to the bottom of the page to where it says category and pick your category (ie: BOOKS), down where you clicked on your category click on your subcategory (ie: TAMORA PIERCE) then pick your genre and "secondary genre" then your language, then type in your title, then your rating, then type in your little couple sentence summary, then click browse, find your saved file on your computer and click upload, if you want more then one chapter go to EDIT/UPLOAD CHAPTERS after uploading the first chapter and go to upload chapter… ( I don't know how detailed you needed the instructions… so I made it *hopefully* as easy to understand as possible… just in case)
Disclaimer: what you recognize belongs to Tamora Pierce… I only own the plot, Jua, her housemates, Mr. Fishes and umm… that's it so far…
Chapter Three
The next morning no one mentioned his nightmare. For this Jon was grateful. He felt foolish and weak for screaming over a silly dream. He wondered what it meant, but right then was not the time to ponder the meaning of his bad dream. He and Jua were trying to find some place to thieve some breakfast from before heading off to meet a friend of hers.
"There is a man just down here that sells fish. Do you like fish? I do. These fish are the best fish. It's also easy to take the fish from him without him knowing it. He's half-blind you see so as long as we don't make sudden moveme…"
Jon clamped a hand over Jua's mouth, "Jua, as much as I love to hear you talk… shut up."
Jua laughed when he removed his hand, "Sorry, I get like this sometimes if I was up late the night before."
"That's alright. And yes, I like fish. So lets go see this Mr. Fishes."
"Mr. Fishes?"
"Yes. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, I love it!" Jua said with a laugh.
"Mithros, I can smell it all the way down here."
"That's 'cause he's right down here, kid, two carts after this one."
"Makes sense."
When they reached him Jua told Jon to go distract him , because, although Mr. Fishes was practically blind, he could hear very well.
Jon walked up to the man while Jua sneaked behind him. "Excuse me, kind sir?"
The man looked in his direction, "'eh?"
"Did you happen to see a cat come this way? He is black and white with a little pink nose."
"No, I 'ave 'ot seen no cat. I be ha' blin' so I no be da man to as'."
Jua grabbed two fishes and gave him the thumbs up sign.
"thank you anyway."
Mr. Fishes smiled as Jon walked off.
Jua ran up to him and handed him a small fish. "This is for you."
"Why thank you."
They walked in silence while they ate their fish. Jon wondered where they were going. As if reading his mind Jua broke the silence, "We are going to visit a friend of mine, a proper thief, like us. If you are going to work with me you better meet him, he is kind of… well… in charge… so to speak."
"that wasn't at all vague."
His only answer was a grin and laughs.
~*~
The Dancing Dove was a rowdy little inn where the thieves and prostitutes of Corus liked to hang out. Jua walked in without hesitation, she came there often. She looked around the room, "Come on Jon, His Majesty isn't down here, he must be up in his room, we'll go surprise him."
"His Majesty? Who are we seeing?"
"You'll see."
They walked up a flight of stairs to a large wooden door. I hope he's not busy, Jua thought to herself, as she opened the door. She looked inside; a man was standing near the bed in the middle of the room. Jua put her finger to her lips to signal for Jon to be quiet and she ran and pounced, knocking the man backward onto the bed. He let out a cry of surprise as she landed on his chest. "Hey Hon," Jua said as she bit the end of his crooked nose playfully, "Miss me?"
The man glared up at her trying to look stern, "If I hadn't realized it was you, I could have killed you." He had barely finished his sentence before his face cracked into a smile.
"No you couldn't," she told him with a smirk. He laughed as she climbed off of his chest, "Jon, come here," she said.
Jon walked over to where the two were sitting.
"I'd like you to meet my friend, George Cooper, the King of Thieves."
~*~
The man, George Cooper, smiled as he shook Jon's hand. Jon looked him over, he seemed to be about Jua's age, and he appeared to be very friendly. Jon grinned back.
"See George, you aren't the only one who can pick up stray thieves," Jua told him.
"I can see that, so how'd you two find each other?"
~*~
George watched the boy's face as Jua told him the story. There was something oddly familiar about him that he could not place. Suddenly he realized Jua had stopped talking, he nodded to show he had been paying attention to her before turning to Jon, "Do you have the Gift?"
"Why?"
"Well, I have the Sight, and normally I can sense whenever someone new comes in, unless they have the gift, but I didn't sense you…"
"Oh, in that case, yeah, I have the gift."
"Do you know how to use it?" Jua asked.
"Sort of," a bright blue flame of magic appeared in Jon's open palm, "I've been taught a little now and then, from some Doi women and a Bazhir shaman, but I've never had any proper training." He closed his hand and the light went out.
"The Gift can be very useful to a thief, I'll see if I can find someone to show you how to use it properly," George offered.
"Thank you, that would be great."
~*~
"So how do you know him?" Jon asked Jua as they walked through the market looking for something to steal, which, naturally, could be of some use to them.
Jua grabbed the purse of someone walking by before she answered; quietly she said, "He saved my life."
She didn't say anything more on the subject and Jon didn't press her, he had the feeling she would tell him if she ever wanted to.
~*~
They stayed out for the rest of the day, thieving purses and goods from passersby. When the sun went down they went back to the house and split the day's takings equally, Jua took half of the money and half of the goods and Jon took the other half. All in all it was a very good day. Jua had gotten more with Jon than she had ever gotten with anyone else, well, except for George.
~*~
It was dark and cold. He didn't know where he was. Suddenly he heard a woman's voice, "Come. Come. Come to me." He walked in the direction of the voice, his arms outstretched to keep him from running into anything.
"Come. Come. Come to me." He walked for what seemed like hours. The more he walked the warmer it became.
"Come. Come. Come to me." The voice was more urgent this time. He tried to reply and tell the girl, the voice, that he was coming, but his own voice wouldn't work.
"Come! Come! Come to me!" the girl was getting louder and much more urgent now. He put his arms down and started to run blindly in the direction of the voice. He had the feeling that if he didn't hurry something horrible would happen.
"COME! COME! COME TO ME!" the voice was now a loud shout that hurt his ears. It was now very hot.
"COME! COME! COME TO…" the voice was cut off with a strangled gasp. He stopped short and listened. Everything was silent. Then, softly at first but louder as time went on, he heard a man start laughing, an evil sound, and he knew he was too late. A cold hand gripped his arm. It squeezed tighter and tighter; its long nails scratching his arm. He felt blood trickle down his forearm. Then a voice whispered in his ear, "I'll get you…"
Jon woke up. He didn't scream this time, for which he was thankful, but he knew he couldn't go back to sleep. He got out of bed and opened his pack; he pulled on one of his old tunics and a pair of dirty, torn breeches. He went downstairs and out the door into the cold, dark night.
As he walked through the dark streets, the only sound was his feet on the cobblestone. It was a lonely, hollow sound; and it made him think about his dead parents. Mythros, he missed them. He thought about the times that he spent with them in the islands when he was young, as he walked. His eyes filled with tears but he brushed them away defiantly, "I will not cry," he told himself fiercely.
He wandered through the streets trying not to cry; he wasn't real sure where he was going. He passed the Dancing Dove and ended up at a garden and sat down on a bench and eventually fell asleep.
He woke up a couple of hours later with a stiff neck. He decided he should probably go back to the house before everyone else got up. As he was walking through the deserted streets he was distracted with thoughts of his parents and wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone who was walking in the opposite direction. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. The stranger, a boy of about twelve with red hair and violet eyes, looked at him, "It's alright," and continued down the road in the direction Jon had come from.
a/n: sorry this chapter ended so weird and didn't get as much into the plot as I wanted it too, but I had some trouble with part of it so I ended it here and will fix the rest for the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review! Also, if you have any suggestions please email them to me at insane_fairy_chica@hotmail.com thanx