They finally moved out of the overcrowded airport, onto the equally, if not more so, overcrowded streets. John lifted up a hand to shield his eyes from the suddenly blinding sun. Six stopped abruptly in front of him, and he nearly bumped into her. She was looking back over her shoulder at the others, beckoning that they could join them now.
She cast a contemptuous glance at John, apparently warning him that he was invading her personal bubble. The next second, her glare was on the second offender – Bernie, who was panting around her ankles. She eyed him critically for a second or two.
"Don't they eat dogs here?" She asked.
"Occasionally, but it's not too common." Tyler said. "I don't think you have to worry about Bernie, they aren't going to go grabbing tourists' dogs."
"Hmph." Six grunted, nudging Bernie away from her with her foot. "Pity." John didn't bother arguing, there was no point when she was in a mood.
"Ella," He said. "Can you tell where Eight is?"
"I should be able to." She replied. Her eyes fluttered shut. They stood there, watching and waiting. Her eyes flicked back open again. "If you guys could all just move together," She said with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it's easier if you're all in one spot, . . . easier to spot the non-human that's not one of you . . ." Her eyes were closed again. A moment or two later she opened them with a smile. "Got it." She said.
"Great." Said Six. "You're sure?"
"I'm positive that there is a Lorien in Beijing about two miles from here." Ella said, pointing somewhere off the John's left. "I'm guessing that has to be Eight."
"Alright." Said Patrick, stepping back. "Lead the way."
They caught a bus, heading further into the heart of Beijing. It rambled off through the packed streets as they settled themselves in – or at least as settled as one could ever be when packed among hordes of tourists and commuters.
"I was wondering," Daniel said, leaning across a pack of Americans, who were arguing loudly while consulting numerous maps and gps'. "How we were going to approach Eight. With all due respect, I don't think that the way you introduced yourselves to us was necessarily the best method. And I knew I don't want to get on the wrong side of Eight's cepan."
"Well, it'll help that we're doing it in daylight now." John pointed out.
Six nodded along, not really seeming to be paying attention.
"That's true," Ella said "But we should still probably have a plan for how we're going to do this, in hopefully a better way than you did for us. Because, well, we kind of thought you were Mogs or something."
"Yeah, we got that." Six said, leaning her head back.
"Did you approach Five that way too?" Daniel asked curiously, turning to Tyler and Patrick.
The edge of Patrick's mouth twitched and Tyler closed his eyes briefly. "Our experience was none too good either." He said.
"What happened?" Ella asked.
Six grimaced. "In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best plan." She admitted.
Ella and Daniel were watching expectantly, waiting for the story. John sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well," He started. "We got to the town they were in, and figured out generally where he was. We started – observing – people who we thought might be Lorien. After a day or two, we narrowed it down to Tyler." He stopped again, staring at his knees.
"Then what?" Daniel prompted.
"It was the middle of the day, outside of their house. We had followed him home from school, and were going to go and talk to him."
Tyler shook his head, but also appeared to be barely containing laughter.
"Apparently, they had known we were tailing them for some time, and we walked right into a trap they had set for us." From the grimace Six's mouth was set in, they could assume it had been none too pleasant. "It took . . . quite a while for us to sort things out and explain."
"In our defense," Tyler said "You had us scared out of our wits. We thought you were Mogs or something."
"How about not scaring Eight into thinking were Mogs for a change then?" Ella said, her eyes glinting.
"It's not our fault." Six said. "All the numbers and their cepans are bound to be edgy. It's what's kept them alive."
"That is true," Patrick conceded. "But being a Lorien, having lived with a cepan for most of your lives, you should have guessed that's how we would have reacted."
"Hey!" Six said, throwing up her hands. "If any of you have a better way to do it, by all means! But we didn't have all day to sit around coming up with a plan!"
"Well, not sneaking into her house in the dead of night might be a start." Ella said dryly.
"Yeah," Sam said with a laugh. "Hey, wait – her? So, Eight's a girl?"
"Oh, um, I think so." Ella said. "I can't say with complete certainty, but her spirit feels like a girl, if that makes sense."
"No." Six answered. "But we'll take your word for it."
"I feel like we're talking about having a baby." Daniel said, leaning back in his seat. "Is it a boy or a girl? What are we going to name it?"
"Go ahead, Daddy." Sam said, elbowing John.
"Hey, how come I'm the dad?"
"Well, Sam's already the mom," Six said, only halfway succeeding at hiding her smile.
Sam spluttered as John laughed, saying "Alright, how about Spike?"
"Spike?" Six repeated in a dead pan.
"Seriously, that's the best you come up with? I should so have gotten to name her," Sam muttered.
"For a girl?" Ella asked.
"How about Spikette?" Tyler suggested, grinning.
"I always wanted to have a dog named Spike." John said in explanation.
"Dude, you kind of have a dog now." Sam pointed out, but Six was turning to look at John, aghast.
"Eight is not your –"
"Children!" Patrick interrupted, standing up. "I think this is our stop."
It was indeed. Their conversation abruptly stopped as they forced their way through the throngs of the overpopulated bus out onto the just as overcrowded streets.
"Hope no one's claustrophobic." Sam muttered, rubbing his shoulder where a passing stranger had elbowed him. Patrick and Daniel appeared so uneasy that John almost wondered if they were. Six didn't seem too happy about it either.
"Okay," Ella said, closing her eyes. Daniel had to pull her out of the way of a few kids on skateboards barreling down the sidewalk. "She's a few streets over." Ella said, opening her eyes again.
"Should we split up?" John asked.
"We can't really do that, since Ella's the only one who'll be able to spot her." Six said.
"Ella, lead the way." Patrick said. "We'll all try to follow. Once you can really see her, point her out to us."
Ella nodded, slipping through the crowd with Daniel at her side. It wasn't easy to follow her in the bustling streets, but John had a few inches over the majority of the crowd, which helped. Bernie had disappeared again, undoubtedly having exchanged his beagle form for a more convenient one. John wondered what it was, and whether it had been because of the difficulty of navigating the streets, or of Six's dog comment.
There were so many distractions here, John thought he would have a difficult time tailing Eight even when he did know what he – she – whatever, looked like. Not only were there people everywhere, but they were all talking, people shouting at one another, vendors yelling simply to be heard, and cars honking and stopping and screeching, shouting at bicyclists. A waft of exhaust from one such car hit John full in the face, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust – something had smelled good before then too, like dumplings, and he had been trying to figure out where it had been coming from.
But now Six was gesturing at him. There she was, indeed a she, Number Eight. She was walking quickly through the crowd, her back to them. She blended in well with the crowd. She appeared to be of Chinese descent, although John knew that she couldn't be, with pale skin and long dark hair. She was wearing a blazer and dress pants, appearing to be several years older than him.
John took his eyes away from her and glanced around, looking for anyone who appeared to be sticking close, heading in the same direction, or who was watching her as they were. He didn't spot anyone, but of course, that far from ruled out the possibility that they were there.
However, Ella's next words accorded with his observations. "I don't sense any other Lorien around besides us and her. I don't feel a cepan."
John wondered if that meant that her cepan had died too. Unfortunately, that did seem to be the norm.
"Okay," Six said, clasping her hands together. "I say, now's the time to split up. Even if she doesn't have a cepan watching her back, she'd have to be blind not to notice a group of seven trailing her."
Patrick nodded. "Three groups. But we keep one another in sight."
There was no need to discuss what the three groups would be. Easily splintering off into their three factions, they continued to follow her, watching, waiting for an opportunity. John had lost track of Bernie, but trusted that he could take care of himself and would rejoin them soon enough. Six was all business, walking several paces ahead of him, not bothering to acknowledge either him or Sam.
It was hard to tell whether Eight was suspicious or not – she didn't appear to be so, but that didn't mean anything. John wondered idly what her legacies were, hopefully they would be something useful against the Mogs.
Eight entered into what appeared to be a small boutique. Tyler and Patrick, who were close on her tail, quickly followed. After delaying a minute or two across the street, John, Six, and Sam went in as well.
It was a small and busy store, though not nearly as crowded as the street outside. John didn't see Eight anywhere, but Tyler and Patrick were hovering over a circular table with a long red tablecloth, littered with bracelets and bangles. They slowly made their way over to them, trying not to appear too deliberate.
"Where is she?" Six demanded out of the corner of her mouth.
"Dressing room." Patrick muttered back.
Six gave a curt nod, and wandered over to a rack of necklaces, pretending to examine them.
Ella and Daniel came into the shop now, positioning themselves near the door. John watched the door Eight had gone through, keeping his eye on the steady stream of people passing from one room to the other. He wondered if this was it, if they were going to be able to get to talk to her now. It was crowded here, yes, but it was everywhere, and it was a pretty small building.
After a few minutes, John had to start moving around the store, to avoid appearing to be suspiciously staring at the door to the dressing rooms, which admittedly was exactly what he had been doing. He examined the racks of clothes, feeling a bit awkward doing so, as he was quite obviously far from their targeted customer.
Sam tugged at John's arm, quickly bringing his attention away. "Something's up." Sam said, nodding his head towards their group, standing clustered near the door.
"Are you sure?" John heard Patrick ask as they approached. "I haven't seen her leave yet."
"Yes, I'm certain." Ella said, though her brow was furrowed, darting towards the door. The sun glared in John's eyes as the exited the shop, returning to the throngs of the streets. Ella began weaving through the crowd, Daniel stuck to her side and the rest close on their heels.
"There she is." Ella said, pointing.
John looked. Then he looked back at Ella. He may not have had Ella's powers, but he had eyes. And that was definitely not the same girl she had pointed to earlier.
"Ella," Daniel said slowly.
"I know!" She snapped. "I know, but – it's her!"
Her conviction was enough to make John looked again, but he came to the same conclusion. That was definitely not the same girl. The one she was pointing to now was shorter, had shorter hair too, hair that was a dark brown with red streaks. She was wearing jeans, not the clean cut suit, and had a pair of sunglasses perched on her head.
"I'm going back to watch the dressing room." Six said flatly.
"No!" Ella exclaimed. "It's definitely her, I know it is!"
"It's okay, we all make mistakes." Six said calmly, though her mouth was pursed in irritation.
"This isn't a mistake! I know it's weird, and I don't know how – but it's her."
"Maybe we were wrong. Maybe there's more than one Lorien here." Tyler suggested. "Maybe two of them are here, and that's what's throwing you off?"
"No," Ella said, shaking her head, not taking her eye off the girl she was insisting was Eight. "It's not just that she's Lorien, she's the same person I saw earlier, the same one who went into that store. And the one who went into that store isn't there anymore."
"Ella," Six said, somewhat impatiently. "You do realize that that is not the same girl, right?"
"I know." Ella repeated. "But it's her, I know. It's her same soul, essence, whatever. I haven't gone crazy, it's pretty hard to mistake a Lorien spirit on Earth."
"Someone should go back and check the dressing rooms." Patrick said. Six immediately set out back into the store. "Just in case." He added, pacifyingly to Ella.
"Alright," she said. "But even if that first girl is still in there, she's not Eight anymore. That girl is. And if we don't hurry, she's going to lose us." With that, Ella set off into the crowd, along with Daniel in her shadow.
Patrick heaved a sigh, closing his eyes briefly. John guessed he was wondering how he had gotten stuck as the chaperone of a group of super-powered teenagers. "Okay," he said. "Tyler, Sam, you wait here for Six, follow the first girl if you can find her. John, come with me, we'd better stick with those two."
John dutifully followed Patrick into the crowd, feeling a bit honored that he had been picked to come along. It was relatively easy to follow them, even though John was certain that they stuck out like sore thumbs, far from ideal when trying to track someone. He thought he saw the girl turn her head a few times, maybe look at their reflections in shop windows – but he could just as easily have been imagining it.
The shop now quite entirely out of sight, Eight turned a corner. John saw Ella and Daniel round it as well, and less than a minute later he and Patrick reached it too.
The three were standing, facing one another, arms crossed. John and Patrick quickly joined the group, and the girl bestowed her glare on them as well.
"Why," she hissed. "Are you following me?"
"We just want to talk to you." Patrick said in a steady voice.
"Why?" she demanded.
"We're like you." John said, deciding to go out on a limb and trust that Ella was right, that this was Eight. "Don't worry, we're not Mogs, we're Lorien too."
She just stared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about." John sighed. Oh well, no real harm done. Just another person who thought they were crazy. Impressive that she had noticed them following her though. "Just stop following me, I'm not interested in becoming part of some government program. I'm not a weapon."
"No one said you were." Daniel said calmly.
"Then we're in agreement." She said, starting to back away. "So you can stop following me, and tell whoever you're working for to give it up – because there's no way I'd come to work for them, or anybody else."
"Wait," Ella said. The girl ignored her. "I said, please wait." Ella repeated, sending up a force field.
"Ella,"' Patrick said in a reproving voice.
"She's Lorien." Ella insisted. "She is."
The girl's face turned ghastly pale as she was stopped in her tracks, and she slammed her palms against the slightly shimmering air.
"You don't have to hide," Ella said. "We're all Lorien too."
But the girl didn't seem to have heard. She was still staring at the space in front of her, her hands pressed against the force field, a wild, caged animal look in her eye.
"What is this?" She asked, her voice quavering.
It was then that it happened. Only for an instant, like a tv show flickering out of focus, but it was unmistakable. The gaudy earrings, the sunglasses, completely disappeared, simply faded away, the floaty top replaced by a simple, worn t-shirt. Just as quickly, they re-appeared, along with a stricken look across the girl's face.
"What was that?" John asked, staring at her. There was no way he had imagined that.
"Illusion." Said Patrick. Then, to the girl, "You're Number Eight."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"It's okay. I am Number Five's cepan. You can trust me."
"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about." She started to back away, but was once again stopped by the force field.
"Eight," John said. "Really, it's okay, you can stop pretending. We're Lorien too."
"Where's your cepan?" Daniel asked. "Are they still alive?"
"How many times do I have to tell you?" she asked, her voice rising. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Guys," Ella said softly. "She's telling the truth. I think she actually doesn't know what we mean."
"What?" John asked, turning to Ella. How could she not know what they meant, they had hardly said anything yet.
"What, exactly, doesn't she know?" Patrick asked.
"Well – anything." Ella said. "About the Lorien."
"Thank you." The girl said quietly. There was silence for a minute.
"Someone needs to go get the others." Patrick said, his voice fainter than usual.
"No need." Came Six's voice, as she came into view, Sam and Tyler close behind. They came to stand with them, all staring at this new girl. "The girl we were following at first is gone."
"Because she's this girl." Ella said, nodding towards her. "She's an illusionist. Right?"
She nodded. "How did you know?"
"We have powers too."
"Is her cepan here?" Six asked briskly, taking the revelation in stride.
"She doesn't have one, apparently." John replied. "She doesn't know she's Lorien.
"What?"
"Look," the girl interrupted. "You must have the wrong person,"
"We don't." Ella insisted. "You are a Lorien, there's no mistaking that. The only one in Beijing."
"I don't even know what a Lorein is,"
"We will tell you." Patrick said. "I don't know how this happened, but we will explain everything, everything you ought to have known a long time ago."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"What's your name?" Tyler asked.
She hesitated for a moment. "Teresa."
"Teresa," he repeated. "Do you know of anyone else who can do the kinds of things you can? Who can change their appearance at will?" she slowly shook her head, and he nodded. "Right. We can. We're the only other ones on this planet who can, who are like you."
"You are?" she asked softly, looking again back at the shimmering air behind her, Ella's force field.
Tyler floated a few feet off the ground in answer, and Teresa stared at him. "At least hear us out." He said.
It took a few moments, but at last the girl – Teresa – responded. "Okay." She said. "We can talk. But that's all, just talk."
"Right, just talk." Tyler replied immediately. "That's all we want to do."
Teresa nodded, not breaking eye contact with him.
"Why don't we find somewhere to sit down?" Patrick suggested.
"Yes," Six seconded. "This might take a while."