Chapter 34: Need to Know Basis

"It's really weird," Shadow said to Salia, who'd dropped in for another unannounced visit, this time in the middle of the day. "I went to sleep the other night after I got back from the doctor, and when I woke up, the burn was just... gone. I mean, yeah, it's still bald right there, but it just looks like I trimmed it or something."

"It does, doesn't it?" Salia said. "I wonder why Dave never told me that it had done that."

"He's still hanging around, huh?" Shadow asked. "Why does he never show up with you anymore?"

"He has to sleep too, you know," Salia said. "We've been taking turns watching you from a distance."

"Remind me why you've been doing that," Shadow said.

"We can't have you talking about what you've seen," Salia said. "You saw the device and what it can do. Think how many people would kill for something like that."

"I'm sure they would," Shadow said, standing up. "If you'll excuse me, I still have six Emeralds to find." He strode over to the door and pulled it open. Salia stepped out first, and as she walked past Shadow, a very small glint caught his eye. Normally he wouldn't have paid any attention, but the fact that it came from INSIDE Salia's ear intrigued him. He grabbed her upper arm so that she'd know not to go anywhere just yet, then stepped out behind her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"What's that in your ear?" Shadow asked.

"It's nothing," she said a little too quickly.

"Yeah, and in the movies they say it's nothing when they get shot," Shadow said. This time he asked more firmly, "What it is?"

"It's a miniature one-way radio," Salia said after a moment's hesitation. "In case something happens to me."

"I'm sure that's partlywhat it's for," Shadow said. "But I'm sure there's something else, too. You were a little too hesitant to talk about it as if it were just your insurance policy. What's it REALLY for?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that, Shadow," Salia said nervously, as though she were expecting something. "Maybe when your task is complete, but not now. I'm on a rather short leash, so to speak."

"You mean I'm on a need to know basis, and I don't need to know," Shadow said. "What's the matter, afraid your boss will fire you if you say too much, or something?"

"More than you know, Shadow," Salia said. She turned her head slightly, and looked down. "I should go. Someone could see us together, and I'm sure you don't want rumors about you flying around."

"Not really," Shadow said, letting go of Salia.

"You should get going," she said. "My employer is patient, but like anyone else, his patience will run thin if you take too long."

"Right," Shadow said. He pulled his door shut and locked it, then stuckthe key inside of his gloveand skated off toward town.

"Something doesn't add up," Shadow was later saying to himself in the public library. "If they're watching so closely, why does she need some kind of radio for them to know what we're doing? I can understand that they wouldn't be able to hear, but if I was trying to kill her, rape her, or scare her into telling me what I want to know, they'd be able to see that in a big damn hurry. And why does she never use a name when she talks about her employer?" He turned his gaze to the next shelf, where he found what he was looking for: a book about the Emeralds. He took it down from the shelf, then he turned and headed toward the tables a few rows down. As he passed by, he reached out and took the C encyclopedia off another shelf. He stepped up to a chair he'd already pulled out and set the books down, then he sat down himself. He opened the encyclopedia first and searched for Chaos Emeralds. He didn't find that subject anywhere in the reference book, so he set it aside and picked up the smaller of the two books. He opened it and began to look over the table of contents. He noticed something he found interesting rather quickly: a chapter titled "The Chaos World." At this point, someone tapped Shadow on the shoulder. He turned his head and looked up. It was one of the librarians, carrying several books.

"Find everything you were looking for, sir?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you," Shadow said with a nod. The librarian nodded and headed over to return the books to their shelves. Shadow looked back at his book, and looked at the chapter title he'd seen. "The Chaos World... I THOUGHT I'd heard that somewhere before. Guess that's what it's really called, and I didn't realize it." He turned to it, then began reading.

Interesting, Shadow thought. The Chaos World changes its layout when this world is threatened. Seems a little odd, though. This book doesn't say how the world knows when to change. I wonder who would know that, though... Maybe Rouge would know. If she doesn't know every single detail of every single rumor about every single famous jewel on the planet, no one does. How convenient, I was planning to go see her pretty soon anyway. Shadow stood up and stretched, his back popping in six places at once.He picked up the book he'd been reading and the encyclopedia, then returned them to their shelves. He decided to go grab a bite to eat before he went to see if Rouge was home, so once he was outside, he skated off in the direction of a nearby burger stand. He had to stop at a crosswalk on the way, and he happened to glance off to one side while he waited for the light to turn red. His eyes went wide as he saw one of the old Missing Person posters hanging up. The picture on the poster was Salia's picture.

Sorry about the much shorter chapter, but there really wasn't too much for me to put into this one. It's basically here to show that Shadow's alive and kicking, and that he's begun to notice some really odd shit. Too bad he doesn't watch the news more often, otherwise he'd be loaded down with weirdness. Well, enjoy, and lemme know what you think(besides that it's too short).