Bone Diggers - Chapter Twenty Seven

Loading... Chapter Twenty Seven

Sitting with the thieves gave Amilia hope. It didn't matter that it was a small group. Just being invited to a guild meeting showed she was accepted.

After going over old missions, Gael spoke about new business. "You might have noticed some...drama recently," he said. "In an effort to avoid favoritism, it's been decided Daniel will no longer be Miss Le Russo's mentor."

"That's ridiculous," Daniel said out of turn.

Gael shot him a patient look, telling him wordlessly not to interrupt again. "Trust is huge in our line of work," Gael continued. "Instead of pairing Miss Le'Russo with a stranger, Monsieur Tarlé will take over."

"What?" Lance blurted, "Me?"

"It avoids a conflict of interest, and you have already proven the ability to work together." His tone grew annoyed, as if tired of discussing the subject.

Amilia swallowed hard, mouth nearly too dry to do so. "I would be happy to work with Lance," she said. "Learning from multiple teachers is always prudent." The boys might be taken aback, but these sort of politics weren't new, or objectionable, to her.

Daniel, however, was so tense it radiated off of him. It wasn't that he didn't trust the replacement, more so the public slap on the hand. The surprise always hurt the most.

"It shall be done," Lance said, finding that edge of professionalism needed.

"Good. Meeting adjourned," Gael said. He gathered his papers from a small writing desk, and when he left to go back to his office Abel followed.

"Well, that was something," Lucas said. He glanced around to his friends who hung back in the library.

"Indeed." Lance broke into a wide grin. "What a most interesting turn of events. Just when I was starting to feel like the third wheel, too. I even know what my first official order is going to be."

"Oh?" Amilia asked.

Lance stood up and moved in front of Amilia. The amusement in his voice vanished to give an authoritative tone. "Make out with me."

Daniel's face went pale as Lucas started cracking up. Or at least, they laughed until Daniel shot him a look.

"Quoi?" Lance asked, unable to hide his enjoyment. "Is that not how you did it?"

"Not exactly," Daniel grumbled.

"Amilia." Lance gingerly drew one of her hands between his. "We need to address this underlying sexual tension between us. It must be assured that we won't be a distraction to each other."

She stood. Eliminating much of the space between them. She smiled faintly, examining his face for a moment as she tilted her chin up. "I'd rather quit," she whispered only inches from his mouth. After a glance to the others she stepped away. "Now that we've addressed that, I hope to see you again soon for training."

Lance's eyes followed Amilia out, losing sight as she slipped into the hallway.

"Is your curiosity satisfied?" Daniel said, rougher than he intended.

"Yes, it's clear where we stand. But you, on the other hand..." Lance's words trailed off as their eyes met. His hands rose, fingers twitching over Daniel's biceps. "Have you been working out?"

"I hate you right now."

"Liar," Lance laughed, and Lucas cracked up again too.

Daniel looked over to Lucas again, but sighed this time. "You're right," he said, glancing back to Lance. "I'm sorry for my recent behavior."

***

The next day, when the sun rose, it threatened to bleach the city with its golden light. Lance waited, turning when he the heard footsteps of his new apprentice.

"Hey, frog," Amilia said, trying to cover her tiredness with an easy joke.

Lance tilted his head at the jab. Unsure how he felt about it. "Frog?" he repeated. "Does Daniel take such sass from you, taureau?"

"No, I save all my remarks for you. You should consider yourself honored." Amilia smiled a little nervously. The boldness on display died down as she shuffled her feet. Spanish she could do. French? Not so much. "What is tau—What did you call me?"

"Ah, maybe you shouldn't be so quick to call your peers names." Lance started walking, and Amilia followed, assuming she was meant to. "Would you like to go on an adventure?" He looked over to Amilia, who stared ahead in confusion. "Oh, you expected me to demand hurdles or push-ups. Maybe even pick-pocketing practice until you either get arrested or the sun goes down."

"Well, yeah, actually."

Lance let out a hum before he started walking again. "Maybe your Spanish blood isn't up for such an adventure."

Amilia stopped short. Upon her silent refusal to take another step, Lance turned around and waited with a stubbornness that rivaled hers.

"What is your problem?" she asked.

"You don't like me," Lance said. Amilia opened her mouth, but he raised a hand to stop her. "That wasn't a question. I don't know what your issue with me is. Maybe my untimely non-death got you in trouble, or maybe you think I'm stealing someone from you. Maybe you just think I'll let you get away with anything because of our shared fondness. Frankly, I don't care anymore. It is your defect, not mine."

"Lance, I—"

"I don't care to hear it." He interrupted. "I can fulfill my vow and train you the conventional way. But if you decide to show a little respect, and learn to trust me, we can explore places lost to mankind for hundreds of years."

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She'd been trying to just fit into the thief mold, just be one of them already, that forgot that Daniel and Lance hadn't ever demanded anything in the first place. "Let's go on an adventure."

***

Since Owen didn't have work today, or need to play mentor for anyone, his day was pretty open. The Saturday might have been spent with Andreah if she hadn't been so hot and cold lately. Instead, he decided to hang out with Charlie.

Owen was holding a table in a busy Starbucks cafe while Charlie was up at the counter retrieving their drinks. The time off should have thrilled Owen, but it didn't. Instead, it felt like everyone had everything handled without him.

"You need to learn to smile more," Charlie said. They leaned over the table, placing Owen's coffee down first before unwrapping a straw for their own frappuccino.

Owen pulled the lid off of the steaming drink. "I'm smiling now." And to his credit, he was.

"Good." Charlie's straw was in their drink for mere seconds before they pulled it out to get some whip cream. Once the drink was reassembled they went on. "Now, tell me why you weren't in the first place."

"I don't feel like the guild trusts me anymore," Owen sighed.

"As they shouldn't," Charlie said, as they took a sip.

Owen scoffed and sat up straight at the insult, but Charlie continued.

"Daniel is a man in love. Men in love should never be trusted. They are unpredictable. Their loyalties get pulled and stretched thin."

Owen took a drink, and instantly regretted it as it burned his tongue. Seemed this conversation was no safe harbor either. "So what? I just forget everything and go back to business? That will make everyone trust me again?"

"I didn't say that." Charlie's phone went off with a happy text tone, but they ignored it for the time being. "You know Lucas has your back. And I know you love the guild, but sometimes one needs more than an idea to fight for."

Charlie's phone went off again, and Owen watched as they checked their texts. A large crack ran through the back of the phone's blue case. "You're never going to replace that, are you?"

Charlie turned the phone over in their hands. "Sometimes you just want to hold onto things, no matter how broken they are. You know?"

Owen let out a little cough of a laugh at the answer. "I'm starting to."

***

"You should be flattered," Lance said, as he crouched down to pick at a lock. The worn door appeared to be the only thing still holding crumbling walls in place. "I generally don't bring people on these little adventures."

The ruins were untouched. After opening the door, his hands were covered in dust. A foyer extended only a few yards before the wood rotted away to a gaping hole in the ground. The shadows living inside seemed it suggest a passageway hidden below.

"Oh yes," Amilia said, giving the pit a wary look. "Very flattered that you brought me to a dark, wet cave. Let's hope there aren't any bears." More of the building existed beyond this, but the chasm hardly left any room to make it through. Definitely something she didn't want to test.

"Bears," Lance repeated in amusement. He moved to the edge, and kicked a colored tile down into the darkness. In no time, he heard the tile shatter against the ground. "Jump down."

"What?" Amilia's voice raised high enough that it echoed down the forgotten hall. "You've got to be kidding me."

"My darling Amilia, I would never jeopardize your safety. Come on, bull." Lance prodded at her with two fingers which mirrored horns.

Taureau. Bull. "That's what you called me before," Amilia said, as she resisted his nudging.

"Congratulations. You've learned your first French word," Lance said, sounding wholly uninterested for once. "Might I suggest you jump before I push you?"

Amilia shot him a dirty look and readied an insult. In the end, she kept it to herself. It did make them even. Which meant her biggest concern should be Lance poking her again. She breathed in, and stepped off.

The fall wasn't as far as she expected. She landed on her feet, but had too much momentum and fell forward on her hands. Her wrist took the majority of her weight, and she winced as she pulled herself up.

Lance jumped down a moment later, landing on the balls of his feet, and rolled forward. He popped back up with a grace that only added to Amilia's annoyance. "Ready to continue on?"

"I don't know how you expect me to explore if I get injured right away." Amilia held her wrist with a scowl on her face. "Unless I'm meant to stand here and glare for the rest of the day."

"Maybe your hate can light the way."

There was that tone again. It sounded like Lance, but the music in his voice was missing. Amilia frowned, feeling like a fire that was smothering the carefree air. "Could you..." she hesitated, "look at it for me?"

His eyes looked darker as they worked to capture rays of light from the broken floorboards above. His lips parted as if she were a curiosity. Amilia held out her wrist before he asked, and Lance moved closer. His cool fingers caressed her wrist. A touch that could have a much different meaning if it wasn't for his clinical expression. "I'm no doctor, but I think you've just pulled something. Likely because you were tense when you landed."

Lance's hands fell back to his side as he finished playing nurse. But his eyes never met hers, despite that fact that Amilia studied his face the whole time. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she blurted. The confession was what caught his attention.

"If it makes you feel better, I broke my ankle the first time I went exploring."

Somehow it did, but she didn't voice it since it would have sounded cruel. Amilia followed behind him as he ventured farther into the tunnel. "Did Daniel have to carry you out?"

He chuckled. "No, this was long before I met Daniel."

Amilia nodded, trying to keep her manners about her. It was a pointless gesture, since Lance was walking in front of her. When her eyes adjusted to the low light, she noticed the floor had a shine to it. She crouched down so her fingers could touch the stone floor and they came back damp. "It's water."

"Begs the questions of where it's coming from."

"This isn't why we came down here?"

"No. Just imagine though, Lance Tarlé: Water Raider. What a dreadful title that would be." He thought she might take his joke as further argument, but instead Amilia laughed.

The deeper they went into the cave, the less it felt like a cave. The stones had telltale signs that humans had carved into them to make a path. The ground was too smooth. Amilia took a glance behind them. The tunnel wasn't getting tighter, but it felt like it.

They fell silent aside from the slight echo of their steps. When the emptiness was too much, he turned around. "You know, I don't understand the whole..."

Amilia's eyes darted around to the side walls which now appeared to have the same shine. She didn't even notice he had stopped until she had to pull up short or bump into him.

"Oh," he breathed. "You look like you need some fresh air."

"Yeah, I just...need to regroup a little."

"Try not to sweat it. I'm pretty sure the light up ahead signals that the tunnel will open up soon."

And it did, just not in the fashion he imagined. Lance's attention fell to the floor, and the odd way the stones swirled around in a pattern that made him think of the rings of a tree. "What a strange place."

Amilia, however, looked up. The sun peeked through the vaulted ceiling. The circular room seemed to spin dizzyingly. Amilia stepped back, and found the edge of a statue broken beyond recognition to sit on.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, but it was one of the least believable things he had ever seen. "It's just..." She tried to answer, but her words seemed to lag on their way from her thoughts to her mouth. "I don't like bears much."

"I think I'm starting to understand your charm," Lance chuckled. "You can rest here. I'll scout ahead and find the best exit for you."

He stepped away to check a nearby hallway, but stopped as something scraped under his boot. Lance lifted a single foot to see an imperfect circle of gold shine up at him. He bent down to pick it up and realized it was a coin. An old one, at that. Lance flipped it between his fingers. The words appeared to be Greek, but he didn't have the slightest clue beyond that.

"Here," Lance said, returning to Amilia's side. "You can use this as a worry token."

"Thank you," she meekly replied. The coin sat in her palm and shimmered unnaturally in the low light. "Lance, wait. Why are you so nice to me?"

Lance raised a brow. "I thought that answer would be obvious."

The thought made her stomach double down on its nausea. She had rescued him from literal torture, and then what, ignored his concerns afterward? Amilia closed her eyes, and held tightly onto the coin. She thought he had left, but his voice drew her attention again.

"You have endeared yourself to Daniel," he said. "And me."

***

"Do you have your headset with you?" Owen asked.

"Yeah." Charlie followed Owen into his apartment, and closed the door before gesturing to their backpack.

"Sweet," Owen said in singsong as he sent off a text.

Charlie started unloading their backpack, then glanced up as Owen continued to text. "Something up?"

"Em's due date is soon, so we're all on alert if she needs anything." He looked up to find a questioning expression on his friend's face. "It's fine. I'm ready."

"Thinking he for Lucas today."

"Okay."

Charlie was one of those people who had a similar game boot up to Owen. For them, it started out in the chest, with a warmth that spread out to the palms of their hands and sparked to life like a flame. Catching the world before it rendered fully was rare, but to Charlie it looked like ribbons of bright color.

The game loaded into the safety of Daniel's home. Lucas glanced around Daniel's museum-quality inventory. He had some of the plot items, but most had been sold off afterwards.

Daniel walked into his room to equip his gear. He smiled over to Amilia's side of the bed, remembering the days when the bed didn't have sides.

"When did you get this?" Lucas called, from the other room.

"Get what?" Daniel asked, as he returned. Lucas held up a small coin that had a blocky gold shimmer as if the game glitched on the effects. "Why is it doing that?"

Lucas turned the coin over in his hand. "It looks like a quest item."

"It's not mine," Daniel said, holding his hand out. "I've been with you all day."

"Then whose is it?"

"Good question."