Author's Note: Brother's are so annoying. Although I'd like to think my brother would take more of an interest in where I was last night, rather than just pulling the girls.

Exploring the City

Boa was dragging her feet, she was sure she had never walked so far in her life, she swore she could feel the dirt sticking to her skin and all she could think of was the facial creams she would have to apply to get it off. It was safe to say that she wasn't enjoying herself. Her skin was already suffering, missing its daily dose of sunlight, and she knew she was getting paler by the minute.

"First chemist we see, I'm buying a chap-stick, my lips are going to crack in half," Boa said to her brother's turned back. He was leading the way down the seemingly empty street.

"Ok, I don't know what one of those is, but right-o," he replied. "Probably all that alcohol you drank."

Boa doubled her steps and walked beside him, she ignored his comment, and she refused to comment on what had happened last night.

"How come we've been walking for ages, and we haven't yet seen a single shop? What kind of place is this?"

"Well what do you call that?" Quiffin asked pointing behind her.

Boa looked at the building he was pointing at.

"That's a shoe shop, that doesn't count," Boa declared turning her back on it.

"Right, great logic."

"Exactly where are we again?"

Quiffin looked at the map, Boa had been moaning ever since they'd left that morning, secretly he thought she might have a bad hangover, but Boa wouldn't admit it.

"Well, I rather think we are in Gorgossium," he replied.

Boa scowled.

"Oh ha ha," she said snatching the street map from his hands. "I don't reckon you know where we're going. I think we've just been going around in circles!"

Quiffin sat down on the curb, his sister was right, he didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't about to let her win.

"I'll navigate," Boa decided, and then she frowned. "This map is really rubbish, there's even a hole in it, where'd you get it anyway?"

"From Lord Carrion's library, he said to take one."

"Yes, but did he say to take one that was printed fifty years ago? I bet some of these places don't even exist anymore," Boa mumbled trying to locate their position on the map. Quiffin looked down at the floor, ok, that was slightly embarrassing. "Hey, we're by the sea! I knew we had walked miles. I guess we should go to the beach then, at least we'll see something today."

The sea in the moonlight was an eerie sight to behold, it seemed to stretch into forever, and growing darker the further it got towards the horizon. In the sunshine, Boa would've seen thousands of colours in the water, but here there were only variations of the same one.

The only lights were those of fishing vessels bobbing in the water trying to get a good catch, and the moonlight creating a pathway across the water.

There were children on the beach, building sandcastles out of the dark ground pebbles. Once they had built their own, they went in search of the ones left by previous occupants and jumped on them until there was nothing left. Boa hurried down to the water's edge and peered into the water. So far, Midnight seemed like a pretty ordinary place, but of course she couldn't judge yet, since all she had seen was the inside of a bar and the sea..

"Ready?" she called to Quiffin.

"Ready for what?"

"Swimming!"

"Oh give over, you know I don't swim, besides, there's no sun to dry you off here."

Boa shrugged and pulled off her shoes.

"What are you doing?" Quiffin asked, catching her shoes as they were thrown at him.

"I'm going in the sea, come on!"

Boa kept stepping on hidden pebbles and broken shells as she walked through the surf, she was sure she'd cut her feet in more than one place. Quiffin followed behind, keeping well out of the water, he followed Boa until they came to a more populated area of the beach.

Most of the people here appeared to be teenagers, laughing and joking, trying to cook food over makeshift barbeques and not caring how it turned out. The smell of the cooking food made Boa hungry.

"There must be somewhere to eat around here."

Quiffin looked around, there was another entrance to the town at the top of the beach, and he surmised that they must have come across some sort of small harbour.

"Let's head that way," he said pointing to the lighted sign over the entrance. Boa nodded and dusted off her feet.

They didn't have to walk very far to find a place selling food, every other building was specialising in some sort of dish. Deciding on somewhere simple, the pair headed for an out of the way café on a side street. Although it was out of the way, it wasn't any less busy. First they had to share a table with another couple, and then when a table in the corner became free they moved.

Slowly the place began to empty as the rush subsided, and the atmosphere became more comfortable. They had started a tab at the bar, and so far had added on it a coke and a chocolate milkshake. They were about the place their food order when someone familiar arrived.

Boa spotted him first, and grabbed the menu.

"Are you hiding?" Quiffin asked smirking.

"No," Boa said quickly, "I'm reading the menu."

"Hey, over here!" Quiffin shouted over the babble of talking. Even though he was shouting, no one seemed to be paying him much attention; only the man at the door looked his way. "You can't hide anymore Boa."

"You're mean," she hissed setting the menu down, she was blushing, she could feel it. She gave Carrion a shy smile as he sat down next to her brother.

"You took your time," Quiffin complained, snatching the menu out of Boa's hands.

"Hey!"

"You were expecting me were you?" Carrion asked.

"No, but if you'd have come sooner I might have had some peace, nothing but moan, moan, moan," he directed at Boa.

Boa took the menu back, making Quiffin laugh.

"Only because you were leading us the wrong way, and I'm using this menu, because clearly you cannot read at all."

Quiffin ignored her.

"How'd you find us? We didn't exactly stick to the plan, in fact I don't even know where we are," Quiffin asked finishing his coke.

"Magic," Carrion replied.

"Really?" Boa asked interested.

"No."

Boa narrowed her eyes at him, they were both against her, and this wasn't going to be a friendly meal.