Chapter 28 Fool House

APRIL

Today was the biggest of huge deals. Uncle Joe had finally entrusted me with taking the last month's earnings from the restaurant to be deposited at the bank! Of course, my elation was tempered by the fact that he had to rely on me because he'd thrown out his hip while cleaning up the night before. Normally I would walk (or run) anywhere I needed to go but, as an added measure of security, today I was taking a yellow cab. While I understood the point was to lower my chances of being mugged while carrying so much cash, I still really disliked being inside a vehicle.

After nearly forty-five minutes of riding in the backseat with the windows rolled down so I didn't slow broil the driver, I finally arrived at the bank. An unexpected gust of wind whipped my hair around, and suddenly there was a girl standing in front of me. She was around my height, maybe a hair shorter (which is saying something!), with chin length brown hair that curled at the ends and bright, blue eyes.

"Hi, there," She said, glancing from my face to the deposit bag then back with a grin. "Thanks, bye!"

Before I could blink, she snatched the bag from my hands and vanished with another gust of wind.

"What the f-..." I trailed off, my brain finally catching on to what had just happened. "No. No!"

I wheeled around, frantically looking to see if anybody had seen what had just happened. Of course, this was New York. The only time someone notices something happening around them is when it's happening to them! A feeling of hopelessness fell over me. I had lost all the money for the restaurant. Uncle Joe would have to close the doors for good. He might even lose his apartment. He would never trust me again. He might even kick me out. I shook my head.

"No," I repeated. "I just have to get it back. I will get it back!"

Dimly, I recalled something in Elena's book about super speed being an uncommon power for certain demigods - specifically the children of Hermes. Blinking on my Aura vision, I glanced around before noticing a fading streak of vivid green stretching off down the street in the same direction the wind had just blown.

"Got you," I growled, running off in pursuit of the thief.

Humans are considered Apex Predators not because we're particularly strong or fast, but because we have a greater level of endurance than any other beast in the animal kingdom. Hunters in the Savannah, for instance, can chase down their prey over the course of days or even weeks, eventually wearing it down until it collapses from exhaustion. Unfortunately in this case, my chosen prey combined speed of a cheetah and the endurance of a human. If not for my active ability to see the traces of her aura, I would have lost her trail back at the bank.

The trail led me across the Lower and Upper East Sides of Manhattan, across the East River into Queens and all the way down to Brooklyn. More than once I almost lost the trail as the thief had apparently run up and along the walls of a building instead of the sidewalk or street. By the time the trail ended, I was beyond exhausted. If it wasn't for the fact that this was uncle Joe's money, I might have been tempted to just let her have it and cut my losses.

The building stood out vividly as a solid black and purple mass against the greyscale backdrop of the city. Strangely, I couldn't see through the walls with my Sight like I had done with the werewolf hideout. I slowly crept closer, approaching cautiously and hoping proximity might change my outlook. Still nothing. Still winded from my run, and breathing heavily as a result, I walked back toward the street - giving a cautious glance at the boarded off windows.

"Ari..." I panted. "Ari, I need your help."

After a couple minutes, a familiar warm breeze ruffled my hair as Ari appeared before me, still in cloud form.

"What're ya doin' in th' Heights?" she asked. "I could'a sworn ya were takin' th' money t' be deposited."

"I was," I said. "But there was this girl..."

"Hey, now you should know better than t' be chasin' some girl," Ari blustered, her breezy wind picking up. "Or is it tha' An~dro~me~da girl again? This her place?"

"It's not like that," I argued. "She came out of nowhere and took the money right as I got to the bank. Then she zipped off, fast as the wind. I had to use my Sight in order to even stand a chance of tracking her, and this is where the trail ends."

"Oh," she said, calming down. "Well, why didn' ya say so in th' first place?"

"I just need to know if she's in there with the money," I said. "And if she is in there, is she alone? There could be a whole gang in there for all I know, and the place is heavily enchanted that I can't see through the walls. That tells me there's at least one other person around, and that they're a powerful magic user - probably even stronger than that werewolf woman that Zoë fought."

Ari frowned, uncharacteristically serious, before breezing away toward the townhouse. I leaned against a nearby tree and waited for her to get back. I was starting to get a small headache from using my ability for so long, but there was no way I wanted to drop it yet. No, it was worth the mild discomfort if it meant not being caught unaware by a powerful stregone.

"Do ya want th' good news first, or th' bad news?" Ari asked, startling me as she fully materialized behind me. "Or th' even worse news?"

I sighed, "How about descending order good to worse?"

"Th' good news is there's a girl in there with th' money like you said, an' it's all there," the wind nymph said. "Th' bad news is she isn' alone. There're two other demigods in there with her. Both of 'em are boys. They all look pretty skinny, so you might be able to take 'em, though yer still pretty skinny too. Ha! Skinny Penny."

"Yeah, I expected she might have back up," I said, cutting her off and trying to get back on point. "So, what's the worse news?"

"Tha's no' really a house," Ari said. "It's a ventilation buildin' tha' also serves as a 'mergency exit to th' subway runnin' below yer feet. Jus' a big open room with stairs leadin' down."

I groaned. That really was the worst news. If it was a normal house, the boarded up windows would mean the only exit would be the door. If I ran in there fire blazing, they'd be able to escape into the subway tunnels and, sight or no sight, I'd never find them. Especially if they split up and someone other than the speedster girl took the cash.

"Okay," I said, after a minute. "Okay, I think I've got an idea. I'll need your help for this."

"Sure thing," she agreed. "Nobody steals from Giuseppe an' gets away with it. No' if I can help it."

"Great. I don't want to hurt actual people, y'know? So I figure I can burst in through the front door fire blazing," I said. "I'll set fire to the emergency access stairs as if to cut off their escape. It probably wont stop the magic user or the speedster, but it should buy some time as a distraction. I know that Hunter mentioned demigods having powers was pretty rare, but given that there's already two of them, I can't discount the possibility of the third one having some kind of trick up his sleeve as well.

"Hell, for all I know maybe he's a mage too. Actually, I'm not sure if that would be a good or bad thing. On the one hand, if there are two mages, that would explain the power output that I'm seeing. On the other hand, having to focus on two spellcasters with any sort of tactical coordination just screams dangerous in my mind. What?" I blinked when Ari irritably blasted me with a gust of wind. "Oh, I'm rambling, sorry. Right, either way, once they're distracted, I just need you to breeze in, grab the cash, and get out."

"Okay, that is... definitely a plan," Ari said. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Of course," I said. "Now, let's do this!"

Ari dropped her mortal appearance, drifting back into vapor form as I strode up the steps to the townhouse. Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I called on my inner fire, igniting my hands and arms up to my shoulders before kicking the door in. With a crash of splintering wood, the door flew open under the force of my kick - walking or running everywhere really builds up strong muscles. Remember kids, never skip leg day. As soon as I stepped inside I threw my gathered fireball toward the stairs at the back of the room, causing a wall of flames to erupt and abruptly cut off the already fleeing speedster.

The girl was a vivid green, the same color as the streak I had followed here. One of the boys, the mage judging from his dark, purple aura, had shaggy hair and seemed covered in bandages like he had just gotten out of a losing fight. His aura seemed oddly concentrated around his throat for some reason. The other boy also had shaggy hair, but kept it held back with a bandana around his forehead. His aura shone gold and bright like the sun compared to the mage, making it almost hurt to look at him.

"Hi there," I said, mimicking the shorter girl's earlier greeting. Her eyes widened when she saw me, then narrowed dangerously.

The next thing I knew, I felt like a canon ball had hit me in the chest as I flew backward out the door. I briefly caught a glimpse of the green girl streaking out after me at top speed. Instead of sticking around to hit me again, however, she instead ran off. I sat up with a groan as the two boys ran out of the building. The mage shook his head as I started to get to my feet and, with a sharp gesture of his hands, sent me flying back and away from them. The golden boy shot me an apologetic look as he joined his friend, holding a squirming dark purple mass that I only realized was a puppy when it let out a whining bark.

I let my flames extinguish as I lay on the sidewalk staring at the blue sky overhead. A couple of passersby gave me a strange look, but kept walking - clearly subscribing to the 'not my problem' mantra that dominated in the boroughs.

"Did the plan work?" I asked when I felt Ari's warm breeze ruffle my hair, but I ached too much to even open my eyes.

"Yup," she said, popping the p. "Got th' money no problem. Yer a real good distraction, y'know?"

"Glad to be of help," I mumbled.

"Now ya just gotta get it back to th' bank 'fore they close," Ari said, causing me to sit up abruptly.

"Oh, shi-..."

Thankfully, Ari had offered to carry the cash overhead in vapor form while I ran. Fortunately, I was able to take a more straight-forward route getting back to the bank rather than following the trail of someone who didn't want to be followed, and I was able to get to the bank and make the deposit with ten minutes to spare before they closed. As much as I valued the extra level of trust he had placed in me, I also really hoped uncle Joe got better before next month. Who knew being responsible would be exhausting!

Thankfully, Summer was fast approaching. Maybe I'd get another chance to hang out with the Hunt again.