Tender

Adina means tender, delicate. She is anything but that. She has spent her whole life fighting. And when she fights, she doesn’t like to lose. She is a witch who was never excepted her as one of their own. But no more, now she is in a place which recognizes her as one of them.

I rounded the corner and caught my breath. It had been a long run and I think I had eluded him because I didn’t see him following me for the past 10 minutes. But still I felt like something was really wrong. I just couldn’t get that feeling out of me.

I was standing in a dark corner, completely hidden, just for good measure. I heard whispers from the other end of the alley. The voices came near and I shivered when I recognised whose voice it was.

“I thought she would stop if she would think no one was following her but she kept running.” Torin, the man who had been following me for the past half an hour said.

“Where did you last see her?” another voice said whom I did not recognize.

“I last saw her running near that closed Chinese restaurant over there before you called me.”

“Then she wouldn’t have gone far. Keep quite, she might hear us. She must be hiding somewhere.”

Too late, I had already heard them. I moved closer to the damp wall to keep out of their steps. They were about to pass by me and I wished to lord that they would not notice me.

They kept walking and were about to turn the corner and leave when a street cat near my feet whined. The sound made them turn around. Doomed.

They were startled when they saw me. I took that as an advantage and quickly turned around to run. That’s when I saw the wall at the end of the alley. Shit.

“You have nowhere to run. Just give us the envelope.” The one I didn’t know spoke.

I didn’t turn around. I was calculating. Looking for anything to use as a weapon. That’s what I had learned in my latest class. The one Torin hadn’t attended yet. But I didn’t know about the other guy. And that could be a problem.

I looked up and saw a partially pulled down fire-escape stairs. If I could pull it down and run up really quick, maybe they can miss me again. Well maybe not again.

I peeked behind me and saw the new guy tense. His eyes connected with mine and I smirked. His eyes panicked at my expression.

I turned my head back, stretched my hand up, dragged the stairs down a few inches, grabbed the railing and launched myself on the first landing before they could even realise what I was doing. All done in seconds.

The other guy was faster than I had thought and soon he was at my tail. But I ran too fast to be caught that easily.

I turned back when I was on a balcony of an apartment and saw that both guys were on the stairs almost about to reach. I again locked eyes with the other guy and muttered “Bub bye.”

He cursed and ran faster to catch me.

Just as he reached the balcony I jumped off it, rolled and ran like crazy. Soon I was mixed up in the crowd on the main street.

I relaxed when I had reached the metal gates and checked my pocket. The envelope was still there. All safe and secure. I put my ID chip in front of the sensor and it beeped green. The metal doors slid open and I walked in.

The rule was that once we were inside the building, we could not attack each other. So the envelope was safe now.

I stood in the large corridor with metal walls. There was only one person here other than me. The usual.

Miss. Green sat behind her desk with her glasses on. I always wondered if she ever got bored but there was no sign of it when we talked to her. She seemed to like it.

I walked up to her and slammed the envelope on her desk.

“Delivery to Mr. Crispy Bone.” I read the name written on the envelope. The code names were the funniest part of my job. Wonder who thought of them.

“And I’m done.” I saluted to her with two fingers and turned back around to walk out.

“Wait.” Miss. Green called out. I had barely ever heard her voice and it turned out to be rough and thick. Not what I had imagined with her pink sweater and glasses look.

“What? New job?”

“Seems like it.” she bent down and opened a drawer. “Mr. Noah told me give you this.”

I walked forward and took the blue envelope in her hand. Blue envelopes meant case. I was given my first case. My eyes were so wide I thought they would break out of their socket. This felt wrong. I was yet not old enough to be given a case. We had to be at least 20 to complete our classes and graduate to become a complete detective. There had been only few exceptions. And let’s just say I had broken enough rules to not be one of those exceptions.

“Mr. Noah wants to meet you in his cabin.” Miss. Green snapped me out of my thoughts.

I had only met this man once in my life. He was the one who had brought me here. The Secret Agency Against Dark Forces (SAADF). Since I had no family and was a perfect match for a new recruit. Well a new trainee until now.

But since then I hadn’t heard anything from him. And no one here knew anything other than once in a while rising rumours.

I tried to act confident while I walked to his cabin’s door. The building was filled with long empty metal corridors. If it weren’t for our mental trainings and tours, I would’ve gotten lost like I had in my first few days. Okay months.

At last I reached his door. I knocked and heard a muffled ‘come in’ from inside.

I kept my hand on the doorknob, took a long breath in, turned it, pushed it inside and forgot to release the breath as I saw what was inside.

A room with pink wallpapers, with toys loitering the floor. There was a child’s cradle in the middle of the room.

The room quickly faded to grey with a large mahogany table, a big cushioned chair behind it and two smaller version of the larger cushioned chair for visitors. There was a cupboard filled with files in a corner.

“Sorry for the disturbance Miss. Adina. It was an illusion. I was investigating a case.” Mr. Noah came out from under the table. “Please, take a seat.”

Shocked I did what he said. I raised the blue envelope in the air with raised eyebrows. He just smiled.

“I guess this was a mistake, sir” sighing I kept the envelope on the table and slid it towards him. He gripped my hand really tightly. I looked up, shocked. What was the matter with this guy?

He breathed in calmly and removed his hand. I did the same. “This is for you Adina.”

“But I’m not old enough to get a case and...” I looked at the envelope, “and my training is not complete either.”

Noah stood up and walked towards the cupboard. He stood in a way which hid my view of what he was doing.

“Adina, your training is enough for this case. And you fill all our requirements.” He turned around with an antique cup in his hand. “Plus you’ll need to use your powers for this one.”

I kept tapping my right leg in a restless beat. This case needed magic, what else could I want? He gave a stern look towards my leg and I stopped.

“The envelope consists all the instructions and details about the case that you need to know.” He again took his seat. “So go home, read it, pack your bags and get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” usually a first timer was given a week to prepare for a case.

“I’m sorry Adina but its an urgent case. It’d be better if you start working on it quickly.”

“But where am I going?”

“You’ll know tomorrow.”

Its getting better and better every moment. I wanted to slam my head on the table because of his suspense.

“And what’s with the cup?”

“It’d be better if you ask less questions.” he gave me a look that told me to shut up.

“If its related to the case then I have a right to know.”

His face was boiling with anger now. But it disappeared as soon as it had come, replaced by his calm expression.

“No you don’t. Adina please show yourself out.” he extended his left hand to gesture toward the door. “I’m quite busy” The last words came out through clenched teeth.

I nodded and walked out without any word.

As I closed the door behind me I heaved a huge sigh. This man was creepy and there was something severely wrong with him.

I looked at the envelope with excitement, nervousness and confusion all mixed up.

I sighed again. “Packing, right.” I nodded to myself and walked towards the most stressful work for me.