AN: Sorry for the long wait on this chapter! If it makes up for it, the next one will be out much sooner. If you like the chapter please leave a review!

I exited our house, a mug of coffee in my right hand and a glass of orange juice in the left. Nathaniel sat at the patio table, watching the city. The sun had risen only an hour ago, washing the buildings in warm morning light. Inside, the others were still cemented in bed, fighting off their hangovers.

I sat across from Nathaniel and held out the glass. He accepted it with both hands but he didn't meet my eyes.

"So," I said, bracing myself for the next few minutes, "what happened in Elpedite?"

Nathaniel must have used magic to get to the feather. And he must have known how to use it once he had it. He had to have gotten help. Someone had been talking to my brother, maybe days or weeks before the incident. Who was it? Why hadn't Nathaniel told me? What had they asked for in return?

Nathaniel looked at his socks. He was still in his pajamas. "Does it matter? It's over, isn't it?"

"Of course it still matters. Everything has consequences," I said. "Tell me."

Nathaniel leaned back, still not looking at me.

"Who helped you?" I asked, my tone hard.

Nathaniel glanced at me. "What makes you think someone helped me?"

I kept my tone firm, but my breath caught on the unease building in me. "Why don't you think you can tell me?"

Nathaniel leaned back and was quiet for several seconds. "A man helped me. But it's done. He's gone and we're away from Elpedite."

"Do I know this person?" I ran through the list of men in Adrian's council. I'd thought they were all trained to nod along to whatever he said, but maybe one of them had grown a spine.

Nathaniel shook his head, cutting my thoughts short. "He wasn't—" He cut himself off with a frustrated groan and rubbed his eyes. "He wasn't from Elpedite."

"He was from Yetz?" It was possible an infiltrator had made it into Elpedite. But I couldn't think of why they would speak with my brother. He would have been difficult to contact and what could Nathaniel have done that a trained spy couldn't?

"No."

"Then where?"

"He wasn't from our world. I don't think he was, anyway." Nathaniel crossed his arms and set his gaze on the horizon. "He appeared in our house and told me he could set us free."

"He used a portal?" I asked, recalling the strange tear in reality Nathaniel had stepped out of to get to the lab.

"Yes. A portal opened in our living room, and there was a man in it. He didn't step out of it. He just stayed there. He said he could send me to a strong power, and I could use it to get away."

"And you believed him?" I asked. Why? Who would benefit from Nathaniel's and my escape, and who didn't come from our world? They'd separated me from Adrian, but that hardly crippled him. Sure, I was a nice piece of weaponry, but I wasn't vital to Adrian's empire. And Nathaniel was precious to me and Adrian. No one else knew of his existence. Adrian used Nathaniel to control me, so his disappearance was about as problematic as mine. And either way, why would another world care about the workings of ours?

"Not really," Nathaniel said, staring at his feet with an empty look, "but I thought it was worth a try."

"And the risks?" I asked, smothering my rising anger. "What did you promise him? What guarantee did you have that he would send you to the lab and not kidnap you?" Images of Yuuko flashed through my head: her peeling the ink from Fai's back, ripping the memories from Sakura's head.

"I could see the lab through the portal," Nathaniel said, flashing me an irritated look. "And the deal wasn't a bad one."

"Then tell me what it was."

"He would send me to the feather, but I could only wish for us to leave this world." Nathaniel took a gulp of orange juice and grimaced.

"That's it?" I asked. So the goal had been to get us out of Elpedite. But that still didn't explain what the point had been. The obvious was to weaken Adrian, but it seemed like a roundabout way to weaken him relatively little. Perhaps after we'd left Adrian had been assaulted with other problems from this same man. Or the purpose of sending us away from Elpedite was to take me and Nathaniel somewhere. But then why not just portal us directly there? Why send us into random worlds by wishing on the feather?

"See?" Nathaniel finally met my eyes with a small smile. "It's done! We don't have to worry about it anymore. Any of it."

I knew he was saying it to himself as much as to me. The little furrow in his brow told me his doubt still lingered. I had no idea who this man was, what his motivations were, or how to find him. "What did he look like?" It was the last thing I could think of, and if it led nowhere then I'd try to let it go. Or at least I'd tell Nathaniel I would.

The furrow in Nathaniel's brow smoothed away. "He was tall. Really tall. He wore a monocle, and a weird black robe."

"Age?"

"Maybe in his fifties?"

"Any distinctive features? Tattoos or scars?"

Nathaniel gave me a half smile. "He had bushy sideburns."

I stared at the city, smothering my confusion before it could reach my expression. I couldn't think of anyone who fit that description, in Elpedite or any world I'd been to since. But something waved desperately at the back of my mind. It was like a flash of silver in the corner of my eye. I ran back over the description for several seconds, trying to place what was bothering me. But there was nothing. The sensation slipped away.

"Okay," I said. "He doesn't sound familiar. I suppose there isn't a point to worrying." I made a show of relaxing my shoulders and sitting back. Internally, it itched at me. It wasn't a problem I could solve. I couldn't investigate it because I had no place to start, and I couldn't confront the unknown man for the same reason. I'd just have to hope he'd wanted us out of Elpedite and that was the end of it.

Besides, I was going to have plenty of other things to worry about. I'd need to learn how to read, write, and speak the language of this world before Mokona and the others left. I'd need to find a job that required no references, proof of education, or serious background checks, and paid enough to live on. And I'd need to get Nathaniel enrolled in a school that didn't require transcripts, or I'd need to learn how to fake some. Or buy them. I groaned and ran a hand down my face.

A set of small arms looped around my shoulders. I opened my eyes to see Nathaniel's smile. "We're gonna be okay."

I relaxed, genuinely this time, and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, we will. You want to decide where we go today? We have a map of the city."

Nathaniel bounced onto his toes. "Yes!"

I rose, and we went inside. I handed Nathaniel the map, a notepad, and a pen. "Just write down anywhere you want to go." He nodded, sat at the kitchen counter, and leaned over the map with a serious expression.

Smiling, I checked my watch. It was nearing eleven am, which meant the others would probably be up soon. I eyed the fridge. Fai usually made most of our meals, or at least ordered food, but Nathaniel and I hadn't eaten yet, and I'd have to learn sooner or later.

I could make scrambled eggs. I'd done it plenty of times in Outo, so I decided that it would do. I opened the fridge to find a half full carton of milk, an apple, and a bottle of blue sauce. I frowned.

"Nathaniel, pick a grocery store to visit."

"'Kay."

Abandoning the fridge, I checked the pantry. There were three boxes. One was some kind of pasta, another was a box of either sugar or salt, and the final one had bright pictures of what I thought was pancakes. I picked up the pancake box and checked the back. I couldn't read the writing but there were a few pictures of liquid filled measuring cups, and picture of an egg. I shrugged ripped open the top. The instructions seemed to suggest an egg should be added, but a lack of one probably wouldn't ruin it. I'd just add water to the mix until it looked right.

I dumped the powder into a mixing bowl and turned on the sink. I added a few cups of water and mixed it. It seemed to clumpy, so I added more water. Then more. After the next mix, I wondered if it was too watery now. Well, the water would evaporate some, right?

Lighting the stove, I selected our only pan and set it on the burner. I gripped the knob that controlled the heat of the stove and paused. I had no idea what temperature this needed, so I set in on the middle level.

Once the pan had heated I poured in the batter. It spread to cover the entire bottom of the pan and I winced. That would be Kurogane's then. I watched the pancake until it steamed, then realized I didn't have a spatula. I wrenched open different drawers. Spoons, cups, a lonely screwdriver, a dead spider, and finally a spatula. I whipped it out of the drawer, catching a glimpse of Nathaniel staring at me, and ran back to the pan.

The batter was hissing and the steam had turned to smoke when I returned. Wedging the spatula under the batter, I managed to get an inch, then it stuck.

I glared and tried again. It stuck again, and I caught sight of black on the underside. I wasn't sure what to do, so I decided to scrape what I could and flip the whole mess. The batter folded and tore as I forced the spatula under and flipped.

It held. Until I was halfway through the motion. Then it tore apart midair. Half of it landed in the pan, and the other on the stove. This side of the pancake matched the blackened residue in the bottom of the pan. Then the batter burst into flames just as the smoke detector started blaring.

Nathaniel stood on the counter and used the map to fan the detector, but it wouldn't shut up. I turned off the stove and hesitated. The fire was still burning on the stove. Could I put that out with water? I didn't know if I could just pour water on it, and I wouldn't be able to cover it with a pot lid—th angle of the stove grate would prevent it.

"It's not stopping!" Nathaniel said.

Deciding the fire wouldn't spread where it was, I leapt onto the counter next to him and reached for the detector. A quick twist and I pulled it from the ceiling, it red light blinking at me angrily. I flipped it over, tugged on the case, then saw the screw that held the battery case shut. I dropped down, wrenched open the kitchen window and threw the thing out onto the patio. It shut up a few moments later.

The sound of the sink turning on and the hiss of steam behind me caused me to turn. Fai stood at the sink with the water running. A glance at the stove showed he'd scraped the whole burning mess into the pan, then dumped it into the sink.

He slumped against the counter and blinked at us with bags under his eyes. "Good morning. Why fire?"

I felt my cheeks grow hot and turned away to look out the window. "I tried to make pancakes."

"Ah. Maybe we should just go out for breakfast—" A yawn cut him off. "Once everyone is awake."

"Right," I said. Having straightened my expression, I turned back around. I was just in time to see Kurogane stalk down the stairs, followed shortly by Sakura and Syaoran. Mokona sat on Sakura's shoulder, and they both peered into the sink.

"You think anyone slept through that?" Kurogane asked, taking a seat next to my brother. Nathaniel stiffened and leaned further over his map. I repositioned myself to sit directly across the counter from him, and he relaxed.

"What was that?" Syaoran asked, shooting a look at the ceiling.

"A smoke detector." I pointed to the place on the ceiling it used to be. "They're supposed to alert you when there's a fire in the house."

The sleep in Syaoran's eyes vanished. "Really? How does it do that?" He frowned at the space I'd indicated. "And where is it?"

"No idea on the first one. As for the second one, it's out there." I pointed to the window, and stomped down my embarrassment. Syaoran went to the window, glanced at me, and went outside to retrieve it.

"So where are we eating?" Kurogane asked, glancing at Nathaniel's map.

"Downtown will have a lot of restaurants," Nathaniel said. His voice was neutral, but he leaned away from Kurogane. "We could go there, find one that looks good, and then do the rest of our shopping." He glanced at me, eyebrow raised.

"It sounds like a plan to me," I said, flashing him a smile.

The others made general sounds of agreement just as Syaoran stepped back inside. In one hand he held the smoke detector, and in the other, a large duffel bag. He held it up. "This was on the front step."

I opened my mouth to tell him to put it down. We didn't know who'd delivered it, but Nathaniel beat me to it. "That's my bag!" He jumped off the stool and took the bag from Syaoran with both arms.

He ran back to the counter and tried to lift it up with wobbling arms. I ended up grabbing the handle and hauling it up the rest of the way for him. He clambered back onto his chair and unzipped the bag. "Tomoyo must have dropped it off." Briefly, I wondered why she hadn't left a note, but remembered we couldn't have read it.

Inside the duffel bag were clothes, rolled and packed together, a small plastic case, a toothbrush, papers, and a hairbrush. Nathaniel took out the plastic case before zipping the bag up again. He opened the case and withdrew a mess of wires, ports, an ear piece, and two familiar computer chips. "Mika and Ruetile?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," he said, weaving a few wires together and plugging one into the earpiece. "I've been working on a way to charge the earpiece, since the outlets and ports are different here." I noticed Syaoran had forgotten the smoke detector and watched my brother work with a curious gaze.

I looked inside the case and caught sight of two dolls. They were about nine inches tall, with smooth limbs and features. There were tiny gaps in their joints, and through them I saw wires and metal bones. Their eyes were black lenses, and the rest of their faces were featureless. "What are those?" I asked. I looked up to see Nathaniel plug his improvised charger into the wall. The little green light came on.

"I'm trying to make bodies for them. Tomoyo had a lot of spare parts, and since they're for toys, they're about the right size. If I can manage to get their chips into bodies with cameras, mics, and such, they'll be able to walk around and interact with stuff."

From Sakura's direction I heard a soft whisper in Mokona's voice. "They're Mokona sized!"

"Well it looks like a pretty good start," I said, keeping my voice upbeat. But this was a reminder of how Nathaniel wasn't telling me everything. He'd broken through Mika's AI cap, and I'd only found out because Mika had told me. Now he was rigging wires, making ports, and creating bodies for his AI. But he'd never expressed any interest in electronics to me.

He stepped down from the stool. "It should be charged when we get back. I'm gonna change." He took his clothes and bag and ran up the stairs.

I watched him go with growing unease. Nathaniel had made a deal with a stranger, and now handled electronics with ease. What else had I missed? I pushed my nerves aside."Will everyone be ready to go in a minute?" I asked.

Kurogane grunted and headed for the door. Fai stared at me for a few seconds, startled awake, and nodded. Both Sakura and Syaoran said "yes" in unison and blushed.

Before leaving the kitchen I went through the drawers and found a pencil and notepad. I threw on my jacket, put on my sunglasses, and waited for Nathaniel at the bottom of the stairs.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

We ended up in a café with a menu that had lots of pictures. The hum of voices and clatter of silverware and dishes reminded me of working in the Cat's Eye. Anxiety rose in my stomach at the memories of crowds and choas. We found a table in the outdoor section, and I took a seat with my back to the shop, facing the street. Nathaniel sat next to me and I held a menu between us to look over. Fai, upon sitting, slumped face down on the table and stayed there. Sakura patted his back and ordered him a glass of water when the waiter came to take our drink order. I'd ordered coffee. Kurogane focused on his menu, pushing Mokona out of the way each time they stood in front of a picture he wanted to see while Syaoran conferred with Sakura on what to get.

"What do you think that is?" Nathaniel asked, pointing at a picture. It looked like a pile of orange berries piled on a rounded pastry with syrup over the entire thing.

"Maybe like a waffle?" I speculated. "Or a weird donut."

Nathaniel grinned. "I'm gonna try it."

I smirked. "You sure you don't want that?" I asked, pointing to picture depicting some kind of fried meat on a pancake.

Nathaniel wrinkled his nose. "Meat on pancakes is just wrong."

I snorted.

When the waiter returned, we placed our orders. I ended up choosing a plate of eggs, bacon, and something that resembled a squared muffin. Kurogane, to Nathaniel's silent horror, ordered the meat-pastry-thing.

When the waiter grimaced and asked the facedown Fai for his order, he received a groan in response.

"Ignore him," Kurogane said. "Consider it punishment for last night."

Sakura laughed but turned to the waiter and pointed to her menu. "He'll have one of these."

As the waiter left, I took out my notepad and pencil. I wrote Language at the top and beneath it in bullet points children's books, papers, pencils and dictionary. Skipping a line, I wrote Job—me. I tapped the pencil on the edge of the pad, skipped several lines and wrote School—Nathaniel. Beneath that I wrote medical or grade? Find out. Age limits? Immunizations and papers. Mokona must protect us from foreign diseases, otherwise at least one of us should have caught something by now. And my and Nathaniel's immune systems would be vulnerable to the illnesses here. I circled immunizations. I didn't know if we'd need some kind of ID to get the shots, so that should be first.

Getting fake IDs would be difficult, but not impossible. Even in Elpedite, where citizens were recorded and monitored constantly, there were dark corners where drugs, identification, and other things could be bought. But they were expensive. We had a decent amount of money, but we'd spent most of it on the house and dragonflies. I didn't think we had enough left over to buy two identities, so I'd have to get a job to get money, and I couldn't get a job without an ID. Well, not a regular, well-paying job. Maybe I could do odd jobs, or find a place that wasn't too concerned with paperwork. I grimaced at the thought of those. I couldn't get involved with anything shady here. If I got caught up with the wrong people, or got caught by police, it could come back to Nathaniel, or get us separated.

A good job would have to be my first priority. It would be the hardest to find, and money was necessary for every other step. No—wait—language was first.

I stared at the list. I knew I was forgetting something, but it already seemed like too much. Living under Adrian had been tough, but I didn't have to worry about a job, money, food, or school. My job was listening to Adrian, and there was no quitting that. Money wasn't a problem, food was provided before we needed it, and Nathaniel got whatever schooling I requested. And now I didn't know how to do any of it. I couldn't even make pancakes.

Nathaniel poked my arm. "Are you gonna eat?"

I looked down to see him munching on his pastry. My plate sat in front of me on the table. I closed the pad and tucked it in my jacket. "How's your food?" I asked.

He smiled. "Good. Tastes a little like pound cake." He frowned. "And oranges, I think."

I snorted and we ate our food in a relaxed silence. Fai even managed to raise his head to poke at his food. People passed by, holding hands, walking dogs, and chatting on their phones. No one looked at us. But the notepad burned against my ribs.

In what seemed like seconds, everyone had scarfed down their food. We paid and were off. Nathaniel and I led the group. I held his hand as he raised the map in front of his face like a shield. When someone passed us a little too closely he'd shrink against my side, but then he'd lower the map and gaze around with glittering eyes. He had a strange mix of apprehension and excitement. I decided he was doing well, considering he'd been shut away most of his life.

There was a tug on my arm and Nathaniel towed me into a nearby shop. The others followed behind us as we passed by the shelves of books and magazines that flanked the doorway. Inside the smell of paper wafted over me. The tiny bookstore used every space available. Books were stacked on top of shelves and each other. Several people wandered the maze, occasionally pausing to flick through a book.

"Why are we here?" Kurogane asked. He picked a magazine off a nearby shelf and flipped through it, frowning at the alien text.

"We'll need to learn the language," I said, scanning the shelves for something brightly colored and kid friendly. A man passed us wearing a nametag. "Excuse me," I said, "we're looking for some books to learn—" I froze. I didn't know the name of the language here.

"Lareli," Nathaniel said.

"Lareli. Our cousin needs to learn."

The man gave us an odd look, but led us to a shelf of thick colorful books. With his help, we picked out a dictionary, plus ten books that were good for beginners. Several came with a code that would access audio over our phones.

We paid, our books were loaded into a big paper bag, and then we were back on the street. Nathaniel held my right hand, and I held the bag with my left. As a couple of kids ran thundering up behind, then past us, I realized I wanted one hand free. I'd have to get a backpack.

The grocery store was our next stop. Kurogane ended up steering the cart while the rest of us pulled various food off the shelves and threw them in. Fai attempted to smuggle a bottle into the cart when Kurogane yanked it out of his hands. "You are not getting more alcohol. You just got over your hangover three minutes ago. What the hell are you thinking?"

As Kurogane chewed out a nodding Fai, Mokona stood on a nearby shelf and sneaked three bottles into the cart, out of Kurogane's view. In the sweets aisle, Nathaniel managed to convince me to get four different kinds of cookies before I had to drag him from the section. Syaoran and Sakura ended up being the only two actually making sure we were getting the necessities like milk, eggs, and such.

By the time we made it to checkout, food and boxes had overflowed our cart and kept falling to the floor. We were walking out the door, each of us holding a couple of bags while Kurogane held the remaining eight, when Mokona chirped up. "Doesn't the milk have to stay cold?"

We stopped. Nathaniel and I still wanted to visit a clothing store, and I needed to scope out a few job locations.

Fai looked over his shoulder at the bus stop across the street. "Kuro-puu and I can take these home, if that sounds all right?" The question was directed at us, not Kurogane.

Kurogane grumbled assent as Sakura, Syaoran, and I nodded. Kurogane held out his hands for the rest of the bags. Kurogane shot Fai a glare. "You gonna help?"

"Oh, fine, only because it's you, Kuro-pin," Fai said, accepting a bag of bread from Sakura as Mokona leapt onto his shoulder. Kurogane's glare darkened, but Fai was already walking toward the bus stop. "You kids have fun. Be home by midnight!" Kurogane nodded to us and followed him.

"Bye," Sakura waved goodbye.

Syaoran, Sakura, Nathaniel, and I started down the street.

Nathaniel squinted at his map. "I think there's a mall a few blocks away. There should be lots of clothing stores there." And lots of potential jobs I could check out. Many of them wouldn't work for me, I was sure, but it might give me an idea of what would.

Nathaniel led us across a few blocks before pausing. He glanced down an alley to our left. "I think we can use this as a shortcut."

Syaoran leaned over his shoulder and scanned the map. "Looks like you're right."

We turned and entered the alley. I took Nathaniel's hand. We stepped around a dumpster and startled a few rats into hiding. Smells long baked into the cement wafted up occasionally, stinking of rot and decay. The worst I expected in an alley was an attempted mugging, but it was midday, and I could knockout any thug with a knife faster than they could regret it, so I wasn't worried.

Until five figures blocked the end of the alley. I pulled Nathaniel to a stop and heard the others freeze behind us.

"Erin-san," Syaoran muttered. I glanced back to see three more people walking up the alley behind us. They all wore matching dark blue jackets, goggles, with bandanas pulled over the bottom half of their faces.

"Mind coming with us?" Asked one of the men ahead of us in a voice that was more command than question. His voice sounded familiar, and after a moment I recognized it as Shougo's. Of course he was a gang member in this world, too. But he wouldn't have kudan here.

I glanced over him and his thugs and found they each hand the handle of something tucked into their boots. The shape was wrong for a gun, but they might be knives. Their belts were empty, and their jackets were thin enough that and weapons would be visible, but the fabric lay flat against them. Their faces were covered with scarfs and goggles.

"Why?" I asked. The way ahead and back was blocked, and I couldn't see any ladders or fire escapes nearby. Syaoran and I might have had a chance climbing window frames, but not Nathaniel and Sakura. There was a dumpster next to us with the lid open and two bags inside. I had my gun, but I didn't want to use it unless I had to. The sound of gunshots would bring the police and I didn't want to be arrested. I shifted to grip the back of Nathaniel's shirt.

"Just want to ask some questions," Shougo said. "Are you gonna come nicely?"

I didn't look away from Shougo, but I spoke over my shoulder back at Syaoran and Sakura. "We can't go with them," I said in a near whisper. They wanted to control our environment, which meant whatever they had planned had to happen away from the public. We were surrounded, but if they moved us to another location, the consequences would be even worse. "We're going to have to fight."

"Right," Syaoran said, voice clipped. I had to trust he and Sakura could take the rear.

"Enough of that," Shougo said, voice raised. "Come on, last warning."

I made sure my sunglasses were in place before kicking The System into combat mode. I set it to track each thug in the alley and avoid lethal damage if possible. Blue lights traced their figures, highlighting the handles of their weapons and tracking their audible vitals.

"No," I said. I Nudged Nathaniel towards the empty dumpster. "Hide in there." . Shougo waved a hand. The thugs ripped their weapons from their holders and rushed forward. They were batons, short but bulky. Their odd design, a little thicker than was needed, made me wary. The System identified their reach as one foot five inches.

The first man who reached me wound up for a horizontal strike to my stomach. I would have stepped back, but we were surrounded and I had to hold the ground I could. I stepped into the swing, raising my arm to catch the blow at the elbow, killing his momentum and impact. As I did, I smashed an elbow into their jaw. He stumbled, and I pushed him back into one of the two thugs behind them.

They tripped over themselves and the second one weaved around them. Behind them, two more advanced. I needed to start knockouts or they were going to pile up on me.

I moved forward as the next thug approached. The woman tried an overhead strike. I pivoted, letting the baton pass inches from my face. As it did, I heard a faint buzzing that reminded me of the hum of an electric fence. Once the baton was passed my arms I gripped the woman's shoulder and pulled her into a knee strike, right to the stomach.

She folded and coughed as I yanked the hilt of the baton from her hand. I spun it into a front-facing grip and brought it down onto the back of her head. There was a pop and spark. She fell to the ground, unconscious. A stun baton. I hadn't seen that before.

The next two came at me together. One reached out to grab my jacket. I batted his hand away and sidestepped the second's baton, aimed for my ribs.

A third man jabbed his baton at my upper arm.

Sparks of pain ran up to my shoulder, my muscled tensed. One of the thugs wound up for a punch, and even though The System detected it, my arm didn't respond to its signals.

His fist cracked off my cheek.

I stumbled back, leading them into the narrowed space between the alley wall and the dumpster. My arm had gone numb where the baton had hit. I shook it out, trying to restore some sensation.

One of them swung at me again. I ducked and came up in time to catch their arm and slam them head first into the brick alley wall. Their skull bounced off the brickwork with a crack. He crumpled and didn't get up. I snapped out a front kick into the sternum of the figure behind him, pushing them back into the second.

Before they could regain their balance I jabbed my baton into the closest one's ribs. He yelped but stayed upright. Forgetting his baton, he swung a punch at my face. I sidestepped it and uppercut him to the jaw. This time he fell.

The last thug besides Shougo, who'd hung back this whole time, hesitated.

"Enough!" Shougo shouted.

The woman in front of me ran back to his side. I looked back to see three figures on the ground before Syaoran and Sakura. He glanced back at me. He had a red mark on the side of his face, but seemed fine otherwise. Sakura's hand hovered over her pocket, where her revolver was. The blood had drained form her face and her knuckles were red, but she seemed fine otherwise.

Nathaniel's head poked out over the top of the dumpster. He had a bit of dirt smeared on his face and a glare angled at Shougo.

"Let's go," I said to them. I reached up and helped Nathaniel scramble out of the dumpster. When he stood on the pavement I looked at Sakura. "Stay close to him."

She took his hand, wiped the fear from her face and smiled at him. He gave her a wobbly one in return.

I turned to face Shougo and advanced. "Move."

"Wait!" He took a step back, then straightened. "We really do just want to talk."

"Well, we don't." I'd nearly reached him when three more people appeared behind him. They wore suits, and I recognized the one in the middle as the racer who'd beaten me: the Silver Rose. His expression was the model of polite surprise.

"Really, Shougo-san," he said, sweeping back his blond hair back, "what did I tell you?"

Shougo spluttered before settling on a silent glare as Silver Rose sidestepped him.

Silver Rose approached us, his two companions close behind. When I raised my baton, he stopped.

He flashed us a sculpted smile. "Sorry, let me introduce myself. I am Nokoru Imonoyama. I sincerely apologize. My companion should never have attacked such lovely women and their companions."

Next to me, Sakura's hand moved to cover her blush. My expression didn't change. "What do you want?" My tone was clipped. "You have three second to explain before I break your nose, too."

If he was put off by my tone, he didn't show it. "We want to discuss the results of the preliminary race. As I'm sure you noticed, something rather dubious occurred towards the end of the race. Shougo-san and I are investigating the matter. Now, could we move our talk to a more comfortable location?"

I was going to say no, but then Syaoran stepped passed me. "Something dubious? You think someone interfered in the race?"

"I suspect so," Nokoru said. "I would be happy to show you the evidence we have compiled."

There had been an explosion on the track. It hadn't affected my performance during the race, and I'd found Nathaniel shortly after, so I hadn't thought much about it. But it was strange. And with the final race coming up in a few days, we should be aware of any dangers that may arise. If they had information that would affect Sakura's chances of recovering a memory, it wouldn't be fair to stop them. Syaoran shot me a look that told me he thought the same.

"It's your decision," I told Syaoran.

He frowned at the pavement before speaking. "We'll listen."

Nokoru's smile brightened. "Wonderful. We can go—"

"We'll decide where," I said. I wasn't following this guy anywhere he wanted to lead us. We would talk in a public location with several exits.

He wilted a bit. "Ah, right."

I pointed toward the end of the alley. "Walk that way. We'll tell you where to turn."

"All right." Nokoru and his two companions did as instructed, but Shougo and his thug took a step closer.

I pointed my baton at him, and he held up his hands. "I just want to collect my guys." He eyed the thugs still slumped in the alley behind us. Syaoran's opponents were on their feet and eyed us warily, but mine were still on the ground.

"Fine." I waved him past. He sidestepped me, and through his goggles I thought he glared at me. And then he was jogging to his thugs. We followed after Nokoru.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I directed Nokoru and his two silent friends to a café with outdoor seating. We all took a seat at one of the larger tables, his group facing ours. I grabbed a cloth napkin off the table and dipped it in my water glass. Nathaniel glared Nokoru and I had to turn him to face me before wiping the dirt from his chin. "You okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he said. He seemed more angry than nervous, so I let it go.

Once everyone was settled, Syaoran leaned forward. "So, your investigating the race?"

Nokoru pulled a tablet from his jacket pocket. "We believe than the explosion near the end of the race was caused by one of the racers. We've had the footage analyzed by a few different experts, and they agree that the particles visible in the cloud were likely the cause. It's a combustible powder that one of the racers must have released onto the track. When it entered the engine of a dragonfly, it detonated." He turned his screen to face us. It showed a snapshot of the smoke cloud, with tiny sparkling particles caught in the plume.

"Who is we?" I asked. I wasn't that surprised to find out someone was trying to cheat. The prize was a limitless power source, which made it invaluable. Several people would be trying to win it though underhanded means.

Nokoru withdrew the screen. "The team includes myself, Shougo-san, and my colleagues." He gestured to the silent boys at his side. During our conversation they'd regarded us with unreadable expressions. But they watched us at all time, ignoring by the people on the street.

"Why are you investigating it?" I asked.

Nokoru shrugged. "I'm one of the racers. I'd like to prevent this happening to me or anyone else in the finals. That being said, I'd like to ask to inspect each of your dragonflies."

Syaoran's expression relaxed. "Sure. We don't have—" I put a hand on Syaoran's shoulder.

"No," I said. Syaoran shot me a confused look. "We don't know you. And you just tried to kidnap us."

"The police should be investigating it," Nathaniel said, his tone sharp. "You're an interested party. You shouldn't be part of the investigation."

Nokoru folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. "I understand why you would be hesitant to work with us after all that, but we would perform the inspection under your observation." His eyes met mine. "If you're innocent, then we'll find nothing and be on our way."

The scrape of a chair announced Shougo's arrival. He dropped into his seat and pushed his goggles onto his forehead. "Sorry about the wait, Nokoru-san. Had to make sure Sean made it to the hospital." He glowered at me. "Seems he has a concussion."

My anger flared and I clenched my jaw. "He's lucky that's all he has, after ambushing three teenagers and a child in an alley."

Shougo had the decency to look away, but didn't apologize.

"Mistakes were made," Nokoru said, sending Shougo a reproachful glance. "But we still have to investigate this."

To my surprise, Sakura stood up and looked at Syaoran and I, her expression firm. "I think we should go. To me, this isn't worth it." She leveled her gaze at Shougo and Nokoru. "You haven't given us any reason to stay, or an apology."

Syaoran and I shot each other surprised looks before we all moved to rise.

"I apologize. But the culprit has to be one of the finalists," Shougo said, his voice raised. "I'm a part of the police's investigation team, and if you leave now we'll have to consider you suspects."

I turned to glare at him, but I'm not sure he saw it through my sunglasses. He raised his hands. "It's just a few questions, I swear. If you agree to a search of your vehicles and a polygraph, that will look even better for you." He pulled a silver badge from his jacket and held it out. It could have been a fake, and I'd try to look it up later, but if he was the real thing it would be bad to walk away. That, and I had no idea how the legal system here worked. Did he need a warrant? Was his attack on us legal? If I refused and reported the attack, would that look suspicious?

My hands curled into fists. I shouldn't have to do anything for this man. I should beat him unconscious for what he'd done. "Give me a moment," I said in a professional tone. He nodded and I pulled everyone a few feet away.

We automatically formed a circle, leaning into the center. "Should we agree?" Sakura asked, brows furrowed in worry.

"I think so," Syaoran said, then glanced at me. "But what's a polygraph?"

"A lie detector machine," I said. "I don't want to, but I think we should too. Once we get the chance we should call Tomoyo and ask her about this." As the hostess of the race, Tomoyo would likely be near the head of the investigation. If this was real, we could ask her. "Do you know her number?" I asked Nathaniel.

"I do."

"Right. Everyone ready?" I asked. They nodded and we broke circle.

"We agree to be investigated," I said.

"Wonderful," Nokoru said. "For the sake of the investigation, we should go to your dragonflies now."

"Fine," I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. I started walking towards home with the others. I didn't bother to make sure the investigators were following, but the scrape of two chairs and their footfalls told me they were.

I withdrew my phone, intending to call Kurogane and let him know what was coming. A hand closed over my phone and I wrenched my hand back. Shougo looked down on me. "Sorry, but we can't let you make any phone calls right now."

I sneered at him but put my phone away. If I made it to the house without breaking someone's arm, it would be proof of my patience.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

We reached the house and our dragonflies parked outside. I stopped long enough to point at mine. "That's mine. Search it and go away."

"Of course," Nokoru said, giving me a glowing smile. His two shadows put on gloves and moved towards the house. "Could we come inside first? I'd like to speak to the other two racers."

"No." I opened the door, ushered Nathaniel inside, and slammed it behind me. Syaoran and Sakura stayed outside to show them to their dragonflies.

At the kitchen counter, Kurogane looked up from his magazine. Mokona sat on his shoulder, peering down at the paper. Seeing my expression, Kurogane's eyebrow rose. "What happened?"

Nathaniel watched the door, occasionally glancing at me. I realized my anger was setting him on edge, so I took a deep breath and turned to him.

"You should take a shower," I said with a smile. "You kind of stink."

He smirked. "Yeah, who's fault is that?" He nudged me with an elbow before disappearing upstairs.

Once I heard the bathroom door close, I faced Kurogane. "The race was sabotaged, and we're under investigation. The men outside want to interview you and Fai and search your dragonflies."

"What?" Kurogane's expression went from irritated to pissed. "Why?"

I shrugged. "They suspect us. If we refuse, it'll look bad."

"Fine. The mage is asleep upstairs." He set his magazine on the counter and marched outside.

I went upstairs and knocked on Fai's door. When I got no answer, I banged on the door. "Fai, get up now."

The door creaked open and a bleary-eyed Fai leaned against the doorway. "Wah?"

"Wake up. We're under investigation." I gripped his elbow and towed him down the stairs, explaining what was going on as I did. When we reached the bottom of the stairs he looked significantly more alert.

"Got all that?" I asked.

He stepped around the counter to gaze out of the window. "Well, it was rude of them to drop in unannounced."

I snorted, but didn't mention the attack. It would be better if he wasn't worried about it right now. If he looked nervous, he'd look suspicious, and while I thought Fai could hide it, there was no reason to risk it.

"Guess they won't go away on their own," Fai said, stretching and walking out the door. I followed him, locking the door behind us.

The team was still working on my dragonfly. They hovered around it, checking under the wings and in the engine, all the while taking pictures. By one corner of the house, Syaoran spoke with Shougo; at the other, Nokoru interviewed Kurogane.

I crossed my arms and waited for Shougo to waved Syaoran off. Then he walked over to me. "Ready for your interview?"

"Yes," I said, biting down any sign of anger. I followed him to the same corner of the house.

"Okay." He drew a thick silver bracelet from his pocket. "This is a standard polygraph and recorder. While I ask you questions, this will record your response, verbal and physical. Do you understand and agree to this?"

"Yes," I said. I took the bracelet and hesitated. I didn't have any way of knowing what it really did, but Syaoran had worn it and he hadn't tried to signal me any warnings. But I didn't know what effect, if any, The System would have on the readings. As far as I knew, The System didn't interfere with my vitals except for combat and life sustaining situations, but I wasn't sure of its exact workings. I sighed and slipped it on.

Shougo tapped a button on the side of the bracelet and a blue light turned on. "Are you Erin-san, fourth place contestant of the Piffle race?"

"I am."

He asked a few more simple questions, to gauge my responses, I guessed. He asked me what color the sky was, how old I was, and to specifically tell a few lies. I kept my answers short and to the point. Adrian had once told me the truth was simple. Long and complex explanations sounded desperate and like a lie. That's what most people thought, anyway.

"Did you notice anything odd on the day of the race?" he asked.

"Just the explosion," I said. That had been it. I'd been so focused on getting screen time and the race, I hadn't thought of much else.

"When was that?"

"I was close to the finish line."

"Did you have anything to do with it?"

"No."

"Do you know anyone who might have something to do with it?"

"No."

"Do you have any history or experience with explosive devices?"

I'd learned how to avoid them in Elpedite, but that wasn't what he meant. "No."

"How did you hear about the race?"

"I saw a poster."

"Where have you lived for the past year?"

I paused. I couldn't tell the truth, obviously. It occurred to me to say we'd lived here, but even a casual check of property records would show we'd shown up about a month ago. "The country," I said after a half second.

"Where in the country?"

"I don't think that information is relevant," I said.

Shougo's expression grew annoyed. "It's not a complex question."

"I'm not telling you. That information doesn't apply to this issue." He opened his mouth. I pushed on. "Especially after your treatment of me and my friends earlier today." I pointedly looked at the blinking light on my wrist. "Are we done?"

Shougo's mouth flattened into a line. "That will be enough for now."

I yanked off the bracelet and handed it to him before walking away. The others were all gathered by the front door and the investigators had stopped their examination of our dragonflies. A quick check of The System's clock showed Shougo had been interviewing me for ten minutes. Apparently enough time for Nokoru to finish interviewing everyone else.

I grit my teeth. It could be Shougo had a grudge against me, or was more thorough than Nokoru. Or maybe they considered me a suspect. I had nothing to do with the sabotage so they wouldn't find anything on me, so I wasn't worried about that. I was more concerned about my lack of history here.

"Thank you all for your cooperation," Nokoru said. "We want you all to know none of you are considered suspects. We just wanted to check you off the list."

Sure he did, I thought. Shougo handed Syaoran a business card. "We'll be in touch. Have a goodnight." They went to turn away, but I was sure they both glanced at me a bit longer than the others.

"Oh," Shougo stopped. "I'll take that back." He pointed to the stun baton I had tucked into my belt.

I stared him down for a second. Based on his reaction to my comment during the interview, I suspected he wasn't supposed to corner his suspects in a dark alley. "No. It's mine. I was thinking of taking it to the police." I flexed my gloves. "It won't have my fingerprints on it."

He stepped closer. "You little—"

I pulled my gun from its holster.

I kept it pointed at the ground, unmoving. I'd spent the last few hours entertaining thugs, and I was done. If they wanted to be rude and push us around, I was going to start pushing back.

He glared at me a moment longer before muttering under his breath and turning away. Once they were out of sight, I holstered my gun and turned to the house.

"What was that about?" Kurogane said, then squinted at Syaoran's darkening bruise.

I listened to Syaoran's soft confirmation and Kurogane's muffled swearing as I entered the house, closing the door and silencing them.

My arms felt heavy as I fell onto the couch and draped a hand over my eyes. I was probably a suspect. It would be my fault, with my behavior. It didn't matter that I wasn't guilty. An investigation would reveal that we had no history, which would raise some kind of trouble. The severity would depend on this worlds immigration laws, which I didn't know. It was different here, but in Elpedite, if you weren't registered you could be executed for failure to register.

Nathaniel and I could leave here along with the others, but we had no idea what the next worlds would be like. This was the safest, most technologically familiar world we'd been to. I'd have to drag Nathaniel through an unknown amount of dangerous and alien worlds before finding another potential home.

I pushed up my sunglasses and rubbed my palms into my eyes.

The front door slammed open and Kurogane came marching in, the others trailing behind him. Fai immediately flopped onto the couch next to me and started snoring.

"I think that went okay," Sakura said. "It sounds like they think we're telling the truth."

That had probably been to put us off our guard, but I didn't think they suspected her anyway. Sakura had finished last, which meant she was the least likely to have benefitted from the interference, aside from those who'd lost, anyway.

Kurogane entered the kitchen and snatched his magazine from the counter. "Whatever. They show up again and I'm chasing them off." His hands flexed like he was trying to grip his sword. "Obnoxious bastards."

I wasn't too worried about the investigation in the sense that I knew none of us were cheating. But I was a little worried that some of the racers were in charge of the investigation. That left too much opportunity to plant, or cover up, evidence. And then there was what they wouldn't find while researching us. A complete lack of history would look suspicious.

Either way, I'd have to wait until after the race to decide if Nathaniel and I should stay here. If nothing happened between now and the end of the race, and the nosy visitors went away, then we would stay. But if they found something and started stalking Nathaniel and I, we would have to leave. I couldn't risk the chance someone would discover The System. If that happened, I'd be taken and never see Nathaniel again.

But, in the worst case, if we had to leave, it would be easy to. Mokona could transport us all away to the next world, regardless of our distance from each other. We'd already handled dangerous worlds, even while Sakura was unconcious, and we'd all come out alive. There was some reassurance that even if we went to a dangerous world, I wouldn't have to protect Nathaniel alone.

AN: I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please leave a review! They always make my day.