Two weeks passed since they had last seen Devante, and the interaction faded in the back of Zain’s mind. He fell into a routine, finally, after being in this new world for about three weeks: going to school in the beginning of the week, working for the rest of the week, then resting up on the weekend. It was like he had regained some semblance of normalcy in his day to day, and now, he was thinking about what extracurricular and career focused classes he should be taking.
Currently, Brayden was taking teaching courses on Fridays (or Venuday - as they called it there) and Zain was now considering what he would do for a career himself.
The construction job he was part of was hard work but the people were nice and it paid well if you went up with different trade skills. In all honesty, Zain didn’t really have any interest in education-heavy jobs, he just couldn’t see himself sitting around at a desk job. He wanted to use his hands to do or make stuff, maybe help people if he could.
There was still a lot of research he needed to do before he felt comfortable making a decision on what his future career would be. How was it so easy for people like Brayden to just…know? Would he know if there was something that he needed to do with his life? He was only 16 now, so would his feelings now be the same later in life?
He continued to ask these questions to himself as he walked home from work alone; while Brayden took his classes, Zain figured that he might as well work while he was figuring out what he would be doing with his life.
A firefighter? Hmm…would magic make that easier or harder? EMT? No…I don’t think I could deal with other people bleeding and stuff, I don’t have the stomach for that…
Maybe it was childish of him to cling to the idea of having a career helping people, but he was raised to value kindness above all. Perhaps in an attempt to not completely discard his previous life, he remained stubborn on this one point.
As the college began to come into view, he passed a particularly well dressed woman, leaning against an empty building that was open for lease. Her vibrant red afro and leather jacket made her hard to miss, and as he passed, he tried not to openly glance at her.
Zain continued to walk after his momentary distraction before he heard the woman speak.
“Are you Zain McArthur?”
The sudden question stopped him in his tracks, and his only response was to slowly turn towards the mysterious woman.
She remained in her initial position, with Zain unsure if she was looking at him as the sunglasses she wore obscured her eyes. The woman sighed with slight impatience as he hesitated to answer, then used her hand to push herself off the wall. Her leather boots crunched slightly as she stood upright to face him; she was much taller than him, towering over him a bit as she spoke again.
“Answer me, boy. You ARE Zain McArthur, right?”
He nodded silently in response, slightly intimidated into keeping silent. As past experiences had taught him, keeping quiet in order to prevent himself from saying stupid shit was probably smart.
Except the woman seemed to disagree as annoyance began to reflect in her voice, “Boy. I know you can speak. Answer me.”
Zain swallowed hard and straightened up, “Yes, ma’am. That’s my name…”
She let out a quick air of displeasure as she placed her hands on her hips. “Good. I’ve been tasked with retrieving your dumb ass-”
“What?! Why?! I don’t know who-”
“DO NOT INTERRUPT ME, CHILD.” She shouted, vexation now apparent. In one swift motion she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lit it, then huffed on the fumes for a few seconds. Smoke flowed out of her mouth as she let out a drawn out sigh of impatience, “Don’t get paid enough to babysit fucking children….”
Zain drew his lips together, unsure whether or not to say anything; it really was a heads or tails flip on whether or not he would piss her off. Luckily, after a few puffs, she turned towards him again and continued on calmly with her business. “All I know is that your dumbass said something to another dumbass. Now, this other dumbass got some dangerous ideas going through his mind. I was supposed to keep an eye on him, make sure that no one said anything that would make him get any ideas. I had done a good job too, told everyone ahead of time not to go against the mistress. But then, this little shit comes out of nowhere and says shit. Now, its my goddamn problem.” She flicked the cigarette stub to the floor, then proceeded to grind it into the ground with her heel, lowering her voice in a spiteful manner, “Well, now I’m gonna make it your problem too since it is your fault. Devante sent me to find you, and after all this time, I finally did.”
There was the dreaded name popping up like a hurricane, coming to uproot his whole life once again. Zain’s stomach churned with anxiety and he could’ve sworn that he had three ulcers form right there and then. In spite of the distressing declaration, he tried to remain composed.
“Ummm….as much as I would like to, I have work and classes so I can’t-”
“Zain McArthur: arrived in Merverre approximately three weeks ago. Currently has mandated classes on Monday, no career or extracurricular classes. Works as a cleaner at the research facility Marsday and Merciday, then a construction company Juperday and Venuday. Off on the weekends.” She leaned forward, grabbing Zain by the collar as she continued, “It is now the weekend, and you are coming with me.”
All Zain could do was comply; how this terrifying woman knew all of this information was beyond him, but all that told him was that he would not be able to run. Returning a defeated nod, he submitted and accepted that he would have to go with her for now.
Seeing this, the woman let go of him, then reached into her hair for some reason. Out, following her finger as if guided, was a fish made from water; it glided down as she opened her palm, holding it close to her mouth as she spoke to it.
“I have located the kid. Escorting to the meeting place. Approximately 20 minutes to completion of the task. Over.” The fish rippled as it heard the message, then, with the wave of her hand, darted off at breakneck speed to a particular direction.
The woman grabbed Zain’s hoodie, then pushed him in front of her. They both walked at a brisk pace for about a minute before the fish returned. It hovered in her hands, undulating like a wave as it relayed a message:
“Understood. Thank you, Cherry. Over.”
It was hard to make out, but Zain could tell that it was Devante at the other end. Slight frustration ate away at him; why did this man have to drag him into this? Why couldn’t he just let Zain be? Sure he had said some stuff, but it's not like he should be held at his word for one thing…
But what was done was done. There was no way to weasel out of it now, so all he could hope for was to survive this ordeal.
Brayden’s class did not let off until later in the day, at nine, so his roommate wouldn’t notice his absence until then. If this could be resolved before then, then Zain could rest easy. However, he felt that it would not be that simple.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
They walked in complete silence, until they rounded a corner into a parking lot. Parked nearby was a nice looking car that lit up slightly as they approached. Cherry pointed to it then began to command him. “Get in. Don’t touch anything, don’t make it dirty, or you die.”
And Zain did exactly that, sitting with his hands in his lap, taking up as little space as he could. The serious woman pulled out of the parking lot, then began to take Zain to an undisclosed location. They traveled on the road, through tunnels and back alleys that Zain had never seen before.
The fear that he would never make it back home made him want to vomit, but he kept his mouth shut for now. Angering the woman did not seem like a smart idea, something in his gut told him that.
The entire car ride was silent, she didn’t even put on the radio or anything. Zain wasn’t sure if it was an intimidation tactic or anything, but the tension in the air was palpable.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, they pulled into a store front. The car doors opened again, and the woman got out, with Zain following reluctantly behind.
Instead of heading through the front, they made their way to the back, where the employee entrance was.
Cherry reached into her hair again, taking out a smaller fish and cupping it in her hands. She appeared to whisper something to it as it diffused into a thin stream of water and slipped through the doors.
After waiting a minute or two, the door was opened by a tall, brutish man. He looked at the two with a silent, empty gaze, then pointed to the back of the store.
Without flinching Cherry stepped around him, wordlessly commanding Zain to follow with a wave of her hand. Zain did as commanded, with his eyes nervously tracking the man; he was intently watching him, as if silently communicating to him that he shouldn’t try to run.
Keeping close to Cherry, Zain followed her down some stairs. Whatever was down these steps was obviously unrelated to the store they were in as, instead of inventory boxes that were near where they had entered, there was now an assortment of equipment related to camping and hunting. The simple store tiling was replaced with polished marbling and crystal displays decorating the space.
At the center of the room was a circular table, sprawled out with different papers ranging from maps to financial reports.
Zain tried not to let his eyes wander too much, because he did not want to see something he shouldn’t.
Of course, at this table was Devante, who looked at the two with a happy grin.
“Zain! It’s good to see you again!”
Not good for me, dick!
He tried not to let it show on his face, but he was not so enthused by their reunion.
Next to Devante was another man, who looked to be possibly eighteen to twenty years of age. The man glanced at Zain with a slightly raised brow, then back at Devante. He shook his head in response, placing a hand on his head as he came to his own conclusion. Cherry just stoically walked to the table, sitting down in one of the unused chairs.
Devante was bouncing in place, ecstatic that Zain was now here. “Sorry man, I wished I coulda done this by myself, but I couldn’t come up with a good enough reason by myself. I just need your help convincing my wife to let me go back on an expedition to retrieve my friend. Simple right?”
It’s not gonna be that simple, right?
Zain glanced at the other two within the room, who gave looks that confirmed his suspicion. Internally, he sighed, and wished that he could just go home.
“So…how are we supposed to do that?” Zain asked, giving in to the whims of this maelstrom of disaster.
“Good question. You see, all I have to do is get her approval to set off again. She has final say in shipments and voyages, so I can’t go unless she gives her approval. Last time I tried to convince her…well, we got into a huge argument. I haven’t been able to face her again…” He looked to the side, confliction in his eyes as he recounted this. “Apparently, just going back and saying that I can’t give up on my friend is not a ‘sound argument’. So that’s where you come in. Help me brainstorm so I can convince her!”
The man pleaded with eyes, but Zain felt at odds. If he helped, then he would just be pulled in further into his world and never be rid of him. There was no real benefit for him to help Devante, but he needed to make it seem like he was trying. If he could just pretend as if he was of no use, then maybe he could get out of here scot free.
And so, Zain launched his desperate plan into motion.
“Oh. I’m not really good with that kind of stuff. I don’t understand why you can’t just tell her about how important this is to you…That’s usually what I do when I tried to convince my mom to let me do things she disapproved of…”
The man sitting next to Devante snickered, then crossed his arms. “See? I told you the kid wouldn’t be able to help. It's probably best we keep him out of this, even if he did help you once.”
Devante made a difficult face with his brows knitting in contemplation, “I mean, he is still a kid…but I’m sure that he has some ideas that can help me. Even if it is just a little. What about you, Cherry? What do you think?”
The stoic woman looked up, appearing as if she had not been listening. “I don’t really care but…” She placed a hand on her chin and flashed a chilling smile, almost certainly directed at Zain. “If it's a smart kid you want, I know that the kid’s roommate is pretty clever. Maybe bring him here.”
Zain could feel his blood freeze over. It was one thing if his own stupidity caused himself problems, but he could never forgive himself if Brayden got dragged in too. He could feel himself start to sweat, and his heart began to pick up pace.
“Hmmm…really?” The dumbass was actually considering asking another child for his opinion. Why he needed the input of children was beyond Zain’s understanding, but he needed to stop it there.
“No, Brayden’s too busy at the moment, so I don’t think he’ll be able to help for a while. I’ll try to help so we don’t have to wait on him.” Hopefully, that would be the end of that. If he couldn’t save himself, he hoped he could at least help Brayden escape this man’s grasp.
“Hmmm….Okay, makes sense to me.”
Thank god
Now, came the hard part: Actually thinking of something that could convince a woman to let her husband go into danger. First, he needed the facts.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why was she against sending a voyage or shipment back there? Isn’t there business that you could do around there that is unrelated? Did she stop everything going there?”
Devante ruminated for a bit, before he answered Zain’s question. “Well, she said something about rising tensions with the government making it difficult for normal trading, let alone voyaging. Any explicit shipments or voyaging ships wouldn’t make it there or something like that, I can’t really remember…”
Listen better, dammit!
The man was not really explaining that well, so Zain tried to work with what little knowledge he had.
The other man in the room unfurled a map, then pointed at several continents. “This is where we are, and this is where we need to go. The main body of government near where we need to go has several bases nearby which make it difficult to pass without explicit permission. Due to rising tensions between our government, and this one, passage has been barred to voyaging companies in particular.”
So his wife had good reason not to approve of this mission even without his friend being held hostage.
“Due to my friend being lost in uncharted territory, the government will not step in to help him. So, no one else but us can help him…” Devante added to the complexity of the problem.
Zain was losing confidence that he would be able to add anything of note to this conversation, but he had to try. He looked around, thinking about the businesses Devante owned.
“So, what other businesses do you own? I know you do real estate, but what else do you have?”
The man looked a little bit confused by the random question, but he answered truthfully, “Well, me and my wife own a trading company, a voyaging company, a disbursement company, and a hospitality chain.” He puffed out his chest as he boasted, “Me and my wife worked hard to get this far, you see!”
Zain held in the urge to roll his eyes but he continued his questioning. “Is it just voyaging that has been barred?”
“Voyaging and certain trading has been restricted.” The man next to Devante answered, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Zain.
“Well, do you own any other businesses near this place you need to go to? Maybe you don’t need to take a lot of people with you, maybe just a few.”
Devante’s eyes widened a tad with that suggestion, then he looked at the map again to look for anything that would work. A deranged smile spread across his lips as he pressed his finger to a fixed point.
“We have an island not too far, one that handles hospitality for voyaging crews that travel in the area!”
It was with this small suggestion that Devante began to run all around the room, looking for documents related to this island. He pulled references off the walls and looked at information on a nearby tablet.
The man who had been next to him ran off with him, looking back for a brief second before thanking Zain for his input.
The men began to work like mad, driven by a new found lead. Zain watched as they mumbled to each other, formulating a plan to themselves.
Cherry, in contrast, reclined back in her chair. She took out a cigarette and chuckled a bit to herself. “Boy, you screwed now. They ain’t never letting you go.”
She didn’t need to state the obvious, Zain thought sadly to himself.
