"Kianna, wake up!"

I groaned, rolling over and lightly smacking Tessa with my pillow. I was never a morning person like my sister, so getting up at six in the morning was the worst thing I've ever had to do. You think I'd be used to it by now, seeing as I do it every morning? No. Definitely not.

While Tessa hurried to wash up and get dressed, I dragged myself out of bed and clothed myself. By the time I was out of the room, she was already gone. I slipped on my shoes and made my way out into the small hallway of the Beast Pit.

Trash and random useful items (pots, children's toys, etc.) were spread out around the place. I kicked them aside as I made my way to Dead End Armory. As I opened the door to the undersized shop, the man who seemed to be too large for the size of the room smiled at me.

When my father died, I was given his job out of pity (at least, I think it was pity). Lunbar, the shopkeeper, had been a friend of his since before I was born, so it was passed down to me. I didn't complain, though. Working two jobs kept me busy and produced enough Dagols for Tessa and me to live comfortably. Well, she was comfortable.

I grabbed my broom from the corner and swept it on the brick floor, being mindful of the pieces of armor and sharp blades that cluttered the store. I dusted the armor carefully, taking extra time on my favorite piece of protection. It was my favorite simply because it was my favorite color: purple.

Once all the merchandise were dusted, I returned the broom to it's original spot and sat next to Lunbar behind the counter. I'd only been working for an hour and I had to stay until five.

The store hardly ever had any customers. Not many people in Radiata bought weapons or armor; they made their own or used hand-me-downs that were said to have some "magical power" or whatever. The only faithful customers we really had were wandering traders and a few people from Theater Vancoor. They usually just needed their weapons fixed, though.

"I'm going to go make a food run. Want anything?" Lunbar asked, placing his huge feet on the ground. I snapped myself out of my daydreaming state and lifted my chin from my palm, shaking my head.

"No, thanks."

"Okay, you're in charge. Remember: emerg-"

I cut him off before he could continue. "Emergency weapons are under the counter. Feel free to use them if anyone comes in startin' stuff." I smiled at him, knowing the routine by heart. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

He gave me a "don't-be-too-cocky" look before opening the door and walking out. I looked at the clock and groaned. Noon.

I folded my arms on the top of the counter and hid my face in them. I hated the days when seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. My mind wandered to Tessa. I wondered if her day was going by as slow as mine.

:-:-:-:

Tessarae's notes and books were scattered across the circular table. "Where did it go?" she whispered to herself. She looked at the clock, staring at it for a moment.

When the big and little hands meet at the very top, its twelve. Half of a half hour is fifteen. The book she'd checked out two weeks ago was due by 12:30.

"Okay," Tessa mumbled out loud. "Its twelve right now so I have…" She raised her hand to the clock, using her fingers to count the minutes between noon and 12:30. With sudden realization, her eyes widened and a horrified gasp escaped her mouth. "I only have six minutes!"

:-:-:-:

I didn't hear the door open or the sound of any feet, so my body jolted in surprise when a hand tapped on my shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss?"

My head shot up out of my arms and I locked gazes with a pair of brown eyes. The same brown eyes I'd stared into before. A quick glance at the clock indicated that I had fallen asleep. It was nearly four in the afternoon. One more hour, and I was off to my other job.

"Um, y-yes?" I stuttered, trying to get my head together. "Can I help you with something?"

He placed a heavy sword, plain on the counter and smiled. Dimples? "How much for this?" he asked.

I inspected it closely, trying to remember the list of prices Lunbar had told me. Prices matched with the company that made the weapon or armor. "Um, okay let's see. This was made by Unilogrin Company, so…4,800 Dagols."

A frustrated grimace took the place of his smile. "Hm…That's pretty expensive."

I nodded in agreement. "Well, how much Dagols do you have on you?"

He fished in a small bag that was tied to a piece of rope around his waist. I studied his clothes. They weren't what people in Radiata Kingdom wore, even though the variety was large. Everyone wore different things, but there was something about his clothes that told me he wasn't from Radiata, which would explain why he was shopping here.

"I have 8,000." The assortment of coins was spread around the counter.

I leaned back in the chair, thinking hard. Lunbar wasn't back yet (where was he, anyway?) so nobody would hear me, and this kid did teach my drunken uncle a lesson in being…well, annoying.

"Okay, look," I said, leaning closer to him. I felt like a high-paid boss. Yeah, I wish. "I'm not supposed to do this, but its part of my job to compare prices with other stores and look into how much damage and protection the items offer." I pushed the sword back toward him. "Put this back, and grab that purple suit over there. I'll sell it to you for half price, then I want you to go to Verontier Armory in Town Square and buy a Steel Axe. Tell the short man that runs that store that you're a friend of Kianna and he'll sell that to you for half price, too."

The boy was silent for a moment before slowly grabbing the sword and putting it back. He pointed to the Wind Garb and I nodded, counting out 3,900 of his Dagols to take.

"Can I also get your name?" I asked while counting. "Its for a customer appreciation thi-"

I stopped talking mid-word when I looked up. He was holding the garb up to his body, looking to see if it would fit. I wondered if I should tell him that one size fits all, but that would mean he would put it down. I didn't want that. I liked seeing a male actually look good in purple. Never mind. "Good" was an understatement.

"My name's Jack Russell."

I tried not to smile too widely. "All right, Jack. Here's the rest of your money. Remember everything I told you. That armor and the Steel Axe are the best merchandise made by humans that you can buy."

"Thanks, um…Kianna, right?" Jack asked, putting his money back in the bag.

"Yeah," I replied, scooping the coins off the table and into the store's vault under the counter. My heart dropped into my stomach when the door opened the Lunbar walked in. I looked at Jack, tilted my head slightly, and smiled the way I was told to do when handling someone who just bought from the store. "Have a nice evening, sir."

Jack nodded. I knew he knew that my rehearsed line was fake. "You too, ma'am," he said in the same tone I did. He patted the top of the counter twice and walked out, nodding his head as he passed Lunbar.

"Where have you been?" I asked accusingly, glancing back at the clock. 4:30. Half an hour more.

He had an embarrassed tone in his laugh. "I uh, got lost."

"Of course you did."

:-:-:-:

"Hi, Kianna!" Servia, the "head waitress" at Club Vampire greeted me as I walked in. I waved to her and took a seat on one of the stools. Without turning his back to me, Dan, the cook, waved.

"The usual, Kianna?"

"Yeah."

My stomach growled loudly as I watched him cook. Not having eaten all day, I was starving and could eat anything.

As I waited for my food, I heard the door that I'd walked in through open. I didn't lift my head to look, but I felt the tension arise.

I already knew who it was: Nocturne and his "men," Joaquel, Eon, and Elmo. I heard him order Joaquel to sit in a spot and not move while he and Elmo went upstairs. The stool next to me became occupied with a man dressed in purple. I thought of Jack.

"Hey," Eon said. He was the only one from that group who I could still tolerate. Besides, he had been my best friend growing up, before Nocturne found him and took him from me.

I could still remember it clearly. Eon and I had been playing with a pack of rats just outside the entrance to the Beast Pit when we were ten. Nocturne swooped in like a shadow and promised Eon that he could teach him how to heal sick animals, and that was it.

From that point on, Eon's communication with me almost stopped and his personality changed. He was no longer interested in the childish things we used to do. All he cared about were animals and making Nocturne happy. I didn't really care for the ways of making Nocturne happy, which is why I turned the group down when they tried to recruit me. Stealing, beating people, and committing other crimes weren't really my thing.

Although, when Tessa was born and I'd lost my mother, he did somewhat come back to the "light side." He had talked Joaquel into being his "Tessa watch-out" partner. They checked in on her day without her noticing to make sure she was okay and played with her when Cody was sick and couldn't leave the house.

"Hey," I replied. Dan placed the large sandwich in front of me and I took a small bite. I had to save some for Tessa.

Dan pointed to Eon, mentally asking if he wanted anything to eat. Eon raised a hand and shook his head, then looked at me. "Its been a while. How've you been?" he asked, propping his body up on the counter with his elbow.

"I've been okay. Just working all the time. I would ask you how you've been, but I know the answer. You've been amazing, what with stealing things from people and selling them to make a profit." I rolled my eyes, hoping that this time I got onto him about his "lifestyle," he would see my point of view and stop doing what he did.

"Kianna, have we stolen from you?"

"Not yet."

"We won't. So stop nagging me."

"EON!" Nocturne's booming voice echoed from upstairs. I sighed and lowered my head, disappointed that my time with my best friend was so short.

Eon hopped off the stool and patted my shoulder before making a beeline to his boss. I quickly finished my part of the sandwich and gave it to Dan to wrap up.

"I want you out of here by eight," he told me as I grabbed the damp rag to wipe down the counters. "I don't want any perverted guys hitting on you."

:-:-:-:

7:45. My shift was over in 15 minutes, then I could go home to Tessa, go to sleep, wake up, and do this all over again.

People were starting to fill the seats. Groups of people sat with each other in parts of the room, upstairs, and in the casino. Servia and I were so busy carrying drinks, food, and empty plates and cups back and forth that I didn't notice the person sit at an empty table until Dan shouted at me.

"Kianna! Take his order!"

My head snapped up from filling glasses of water and moved to the now-occupied seat. I couldn't help but smile as I made my way to his table.

"Are you stalking me?" I asked, receiving a confused look in return.

"I thought you worked at the armory?"

"I do. This is my second job." Within seconds, I had my pencil and paper ready to write down his order. "So, what can I get you, um…"

"Jack." He almost looked disappointed, which made me feel terrible. I wanted to smack my forehead with my palm, but that would seem weird.

"Right, Jack. I'm just really bad with remembering names. I'm sorry. Anyway, what can I get you, Jack?" My pencil was already pressed to the paper.

"Water."

I glanced up and tilted my head. "Water? That's it?" I looked at the clock. Almost eight. Seven to eight was the normal time people came in for dinner. "You don't want any solid food?"

He shook his head forlornly. "I don't have much Dagols. I did what you told me to with the armor and weapon, and I had enough to buy them both, but it left me with close to nothing."

Suddenly, it felt as if my heart had dropped into my stomach. I hated seeing people go hungry because they didn't have food. I thought of Tessa before I had two good-paying jobs, and how she had to go days without eating.

"Water's free," I lied. "You should spend your money on actual food."

Jack smiled at me and I knew I'd won. "All right. I'll have a sandwich."

I wrote down his order and slipped away through the crowd of men who were watching an arm-wrestling match happen. After setting the piece of paper near Dan's area, I sneakily filled a glass with water and returned it to Jack.

It wasn't really stealing, right? I mean, water was water. You could get it anywhere, and technically I wasn't stealing from my job because it was going to a good cause.

"Here's your water and I'll bring your sandwich to you shortly."

Just as I set the glass on the table, it fell over. I must've placed it down too hard. Luckily, he stood up before any of the water spilled over the edge of the table and onto his lap.

I gasped and instantly reached for a cluster of paper towels in a nearby container. "Oh my gosh, Jack. I'm so sorry! That's never happened before! I'm so sorry," I nearly yelled. I wasn't even sure if he understood me. I think I talked too fast.

Jack only laughed, though, and grabbed the towels from my hands. I could feel everyone in the room staring at us. "Kianna, calm down. Its just water. No big deal."

"But, I-"

"Kianna, come here!" Dan yelled. I flinched and lowered my head.

That's it. I was going to be fired. I would go back to having one job and supporting Tessa and myself on half my usual income. I wouldn't be able to bring her home dinner anymore.

"Yes?" I meekly asked, my head still down. I stared at the cup rings that were stained in the counter.

"What happened?"

Before I could answer, someone nudged my arm with an elbow. Jack was standing next to me. "I'm really sorry," he apologized. I was confused. When I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing, he surreptitiously flicked my palm with his fingers. "Kianna went to give me my water, and I accidentally knocked it out of her hand. It was my fault."

Dan didn't even doubt that Jack was lying. Instantly, he smiled. "No apologies needed. I was just going to ask Kianna if she was distracted today. She seems a little on edge."

I shook my head. "No, I'm okay," I lied. Of course I was distracted. My mind was all over the place and I couldn't focus on just one thing.

He turned his back to us for a moment, then handed me a plate with Jack's sandwich on it. He gave Jack an amused smirk. "Now let her put this on the table before you reach for it."

Jack looked pleased. "All right."

We returned to the table, which was now completely dry thanks to Servia, and I carefully placed the plate on the table. "Don't worry about paying," I told him. "I'll pay it out of my check. It's the least I can do for you lying for me." Before he could answer, I forced a smile onto my face. "Have a good night, sir."

I was a little annoyed. I hated when people took the blame for things I did. Jack really had no right to lie to my boss like that.

I checked in with Dan, reminding him that my shift was over. He told me to be safe, and naturally I told him I would. Jack met me near the door.

"Can I walk you home?" he asked. I walked past him.

"No. I don't live far."

He kept pace with me. "Its pretty cold outside. Do you need a jacket?"

I stopped, turned around, and glared at him as fiercely as I could. "Look Jack, I appreciate your kindness, but I'm fine on my own. I live in this complex, so I don't need to go outside." Like before, I walked away without giving him the chance to say anything.