We headed toward the ornate facade of the main building. Tanya looked around.
'You seem to know this place well.'
'Yeah.'
'Are you a student?'
I gave her a look and smiled.
'Do I look like a student?'
'Not really. That's why I'm asking.'
I opened the door and moved aside to let her in.
'I'm friends with some university people. We have a band.'
Tanya stopped and looked at me, bemused.
'You have a what now?'
'A band. It's called Coffee Bandit. What? Why are you looking at me like that?'
She shook her head.
'It's just... like, of course you do. You're a barista, and you're in a band. And you hunt insane wraiths in your spare time. Why not?'
'Hey, it's a hobby.'
I led her into a random hallway, not knowing really where I was going.
'How far is he?'
She closed her eyes for a second.
'He's... close. But not here yet. Soon, though. How long until the PA finds us?'
Good question. Like on cue, Mickey said in my ear:
'They're entering the campus. Three of them, like you said. One's going west, the other east. The last one is heading straight, to the main building.'
Damn.
'Get your ass here, Mickey.'
'On my way.'
Tanya raised an eyebrow.
'Mickey's here?'
'Yes. He's watching us through the security cameras.'
'How is he doing that? Here and back in my neighborhood, too?'
'What can I say? He may not look bright, but when it comes to breaking the law, Mickey's hacker extraordinaire.'
Where to go? I was kind of hoping that Zero will magically appear on the campus territory before the Protectors, but now they were here and searching for me, and he was running late. I needed to buy some time.
'Okay, here.'
We entered the cafeteria.
The music hall I visited to rehearse with the guys was in another building, and its cafeteria was small and cozy. This one was a lot bigger, and much more crowded. There must have been hundreds of students inside, standing in line or eating their lunches at the tables. It wasn't a perfect place to hide, but I couldn't think of a better one.
We sat down at one of the tables. Tanya put her hands down, tense. Her shoulders were defensively cast forward.
'He's getting closer. Still some distance away from the campus, though.'
I nodded.
'Good.'
She looked around, taking in the cafeteria.
'... Are you really in a band?'
I guess she needed something to distract her from the pressure of Zero's approaching madness.
'Yes. Why is it so hard to believe?'
Tanya smiled apologetically.
'Sorry. It's just that I have never actually thought about you as a... as a normal person, with, you know, mundane life. I know it's stupid.'
How did she think about me? As a threat at first, perhaps. A sinister stranger stalking her for some strange reason. Then, after we talked in the library, she was too fascinated by the extent of my Ability to consider that, really, my life wasn't that different from hers.
'That's funny. Because I thought about the normalcy of your life a lot. Like, every day for the past month. It was almost the only thing I could think about.'
She raised her eyebrows, surprised.
'Why?'
Did she really not see why?
'Do you know many wraiths?'
She shook her head.
'No. I've always avoided them, actually.'
'Ah. Then you really don't know how unusual you are.'
'Unusual? In what sense?'
Mickey, with his net of connections, would explain it better, but I knew enough.
'You are... incredibly well adjusted, I guess. Wraiths usually follow the same pattern. They're the outliers. The quiet kid in the class who doesn't have any friends. The guy at work who's friendly and well regarded, but mostly keeps to himself. No one gives him a second though. One day they're gone, and people don't even notice. The kind of work we do is pretty consistent, too. Nothing too glamorous, nothing noteworthy. We keep to the shadows of the lower middle class, at best, doing jobs that usually are reserved for first-generation immigrants and people with bad habits. One day we're there, the other day we had moved on to the next thing. Always on the move, keeping our heads down, and our hopes low.'
I shrugged.
'I mean, at least that's what I've seen. But you are the opposite of that. When you enter a room, heads turn. You practically demand attention. And you're comfortable with it, too, like it's your birthright. That's something only humans have, you know? That... assurance that they are born to rule the world. Like there's no one higher than them on the food chain. You have a prestigious job, and you're good at it. We researched your law firm, so I know how hard it is to get a position there. And you're not just some junior attorney, either. And on top of that, somehow you manage to be, or at least seem, actually happy. A loving marriage, beautiful house. Wedding gifts, pictures in custom-made frames. Wraiths just don't have that. If I didn't know any better, I would have been sure that you're a human.
Tanya listened to me very carefully, a strange expression on her face.
'That's how you see me?'
I opened my mouth to answer, but at that moment Mickey spoke in my headphone.
'I hate to interrupt, but where the hell are you?'
'Cafeteria.'
'... Right. See you. Get the fuck out of there, Matt, like right now. You're going to have a PA visitor in something like twenty seconds. He's coming from your six, so use the door on your twelve.'
Damn it.
'We need to move.'
I stood up and dragged Tanya toward the exit. The hallway we entered was mostly empty, with a few students walking to or from their classes.
'Mickey?'
'Shit! Don't move!'
I froze.
'Why? What's happening?'
'There's another Protector moving towards you. Turn left, start walking.'
I did as he told me to, motioning Tanya to follow.
'Pick up the pace!'
We barely managed to turn the corner in time. As soon as we did, I leaned on the wall and looked at the trophy case standing near the opposite wall, attacking it with my Ability to make the glass show me what I needed to see. In a pale reflection, I saw the woman from my surveillance team -- the one I first saw a month ago -- step into the hallway we had just left. She was wearing a leather jacket and stylish glasses with a dark plastic rim. Today her hair was dark and long. She walked slowly toward us, subtly scanning the students.
I turned away from the trophy case and pulled Tanya forward, walking away from the woman. The corridor ran parallel to the cafeteria, which meant that the other Protector was now somewhere in front of us.
'Mickey? Where's the second one?'
'Shit. He's leaving the cafeteria.'
The corridor was about to take a turn left, which would lead us to the door the bastard was currently opening. His partner was on our heels, about to make a turn and see us.
I stopped in my tracks. How long until she reaches the end of a hallway?
'Mickey, I need you to tell me which side he's turning as soon as he does.'
If he starts walking right, he'll stumble right into us. If he starts walking left, we'll have a window of opportunity to pass behind his back and avoid being seen by the woman with dark hair.
'Right.'
Fuck!
I looked around, noticed a door, opened it and pushed Tanya inside. As soon as I stepped in and closed it behind us, someone stepped into the corridor.
I was afraid that we would stumble into a lecture hall full of students, but, luckily, it was empty with the exception of a young man writing something on the blackboard with a piece of chalk. She glanced at us and smiled:
'Sorry guys, the lecture doesn't start until eleven.'
At the same time, Mickey's voice hit me through the headphone.
'They're checking the rooms, man!'
I smiled, and thrown all of my Ability into the door, making it as heavy as I could.
'Uh, sorry. Is this the Advanced Linguistics? History of hate speech and extinction of intolerant words in the late XX century?'
Tanya gave an amused look. Behind my back, someone turned the handle and pulled the door. The door, weighted down with sixteen Affects I encumbered it with, didn't move.
'Oh, no! This is Physics 101. You must be looking for professor Howard.'
The Protector pulled the door again, putting more strength into it, and the door moved a centimeter or two. I had to double my concentration to prevent it from flying wide open.
'Yeah, that's right. I thought I got the number of the lecture hall right.'
I could feel the Protector scowling behind the door, getting ready to give it a real pull. I wasn't sure that I could hold it in place this time.
'Sorry to tell you this, but you're in a completely wrong building. The linguistics department is in the Human Studies Center, which is on the other side of the campus.'
Something crashed with a thunderous rumble in the corridor outside. I heard metal rolling on the floor and looked to the door. Mickey said quietly:
'Get your asses away from that room NOW.'
And then, louder:
'Oh shit, oh man! I'm so terribly sorry! Here, let me... oh crap, are you okay?'
I released the Affects from the door and opened it. We walked into the corridor and saw the back of the Protector, who was walking away from us to the source of that loud noise. The source was Mickey, who somehow managed to crash the janitor's cart into the trophy case I had used earlier to spy on the female Protector, blowing it to smithereens. Glass shards and various trophies littered the floor, and in the middle of all that stood the woman with black hair. Mickey, wearing a janitor's uniform, was fussing over her.
'Oh man, they're going to fire me for that. Shit! Uh, sorry. Are you sure you're okay?'
She looked at him with distaste and said, deadly cold in her voice:
'I'm fine.'
'You're sure, like really? Oh, there's glass on your jacket!'
He produced a dirty cloth and picked something from her shoulder, leaving an oily stain behind.
'Here! All better!'
Now there was murder in her eyes.
'I said I'm fine...'
Mickey's performance drew the attention of both Protectors away from us, so we used that opportunity to walk away, leaving them both behind.
For now, at least, we were clear.
'Where the hell is Zero?'
Tanya shook her head.
'He is coming. We need to wait.'
In my ear, Mickey was saying:
'Get lost? Yeah, sure. I can do that, of course. Sorry again!'
I looked around, thinking. We were safe for now because this part of the main building had just been searched by the Protectors. They would probably circle back in ten minutes or so, but until then, no one should...
'Matt?'
I froze in place, petrified by the sound of that voice. No, no, no. This was not supposed to happen.
'Matt, is that you?'
I slowly turned around, cold thoughts racing through my mind, and tried to smile.
'Hi, Claire.'