I go for the door as quickly as my shrunken foot will allow me. The longer I stay here, the more likely it is that I will somehow end up dead. I'm not looking forward to passing the drunken assassins on the way out, but I should be fine so long as I have Rhys with me.

"Protect the kid and lock up the book. I don't require you assistance," I say, the light drag of my bad foot blunting the crispness of my stride.

"What? No, I'm coming with you," Ama intercepts, and I freeze in my tracks. "He wanted me dead, and I want him to see my face before he dies."

No, no, no, no, echoes in my head as I turn and stare at her in shock. This complicates everything. I cannot sneak inside Dolan's mansion with a deadly assassin at my back. This mission would require me to shift into a snake, just to get inside. If she can't shift like I can, then my progress would be hindered, and we'd move too slowly. And if she turns against me at the crucial moment, then I'll be in a situation I won't be able to crawl out of.

I'm hardly listening anymore when the stranger speaks again.

"Alrighty, then," he says as he resumes his reading. His next words come out as a matter that fails to escape my ears. "That... was weird."

"On the contrary, mister... Anubis, was it?" My mind goes blank with panic, and my voice leaps a higher octave. "It is well within her honor to do so."

I can't even tell what I'm saying anymore. Panic rises in me like a tidal wave, and I feel Rhys's tight grip around my neck start to bruise my skin. The full weight of the situation I'm currently in strikes me without mercy. I'm surrounded by witches and assassins. I'm about to go on what may be the deadliest betrayal mission I've ever gone on. And an assassin wants to go with me.

While I have my panic attack, Ama and Anubis(?) resume the conversation as if nothing's wrong.

"Yeah, Anubis Jr., I can go."

"Yeah, that's fine," he says. I think he's looking at me, and I try to regain control over myself. "I believe you misinterpreted what I said, and it's Abasi. Anubis is my father."

"Just call him Anubis Jr.," Ama cuts in.

"It's Abasi," he growls.

Rhys loosens his grip from around my throat, and I inhale sharply. I snap out of my daze, glad that the long sleeves of my cloak hide my shaking hands. 

"Whatever your name is, it doesn't matter whether or not it's strange," I say firmly. "Miss Keymaker is not coming, even if she is entitled to it."

"What? Why?" Ama exclaims.

He sighs, closing his book. As if that's more important. Keawalk wishes to kill a boy and take his blood for a profane ritual, but gods forbid we interrupt his blasted reading. "She is entitled, thus she will go if she wishes. Simple as that."

No, not simple at all. How can he be so lax about something like this?

"I am not an assassin," I begin as patiently as I can, "I specialize in infiltration. I can get in and out without making too much of a fuss. If Fox would lend me some Witch Hazel, I can make it look like Dolan died in his sleep."

Abasi shrugs at Ama. "You might as well. It's more efficient that way."

"I wanna see it happen, though!"

"You would just get in the way," I respond.

"How the hell would I get in the way?"

Abasi glances at Ama, deep in thought, and Ama glares at him.

"Are you thinking of reasons I would get in her way?!"

She is too excitable, I conclude as I watch her yell. I cannot, under any circumstances, take someone like that on such a delicate mission as this one. If there is any slight chance of her turning against me, which would be unsurprising, then I can't afford to take it.

"Blood makes too much of a mess. You would attract more attention than needed if it came to fighting," I tell her.

"Well, what if I just watch?" she asks, crossing her arms.

I am suddenly struck by an image of her hiding in the bushes, watching me through a set of binoculars while I poison Dolan. It fails to reassure me.

"If it came to fighting, we would help immensely. We are assassins, not mercenaries. We know how to avoid major conflict," Abasi points out.

Ama nods, jumping onto his argument. "I mean, I get reckless now and then, but I'm not dumb enough to kill anyone I come upon."

"Well, we can't all go, can we?" I motion everywhere with my hands, my arms waving around as if I were trying to fly off the ground. "I'm sure you'd all love to help, but this job needs to be done in the most efficient way possible. And unless there's some way we can test which option would bring the most favorable outcome, I'm not all too inclined to allow anyone else to do a job I've planned for the past ten days."

"Well, adjust those plans. Slightly," Abasi says calmly before turning to Ama. "You just want to see it, correct? If so, then I have a way."

Ama cocks an eyebrow. "Why are you even defending me, anyway?"

"Because you are right, and she is wrong," he responds.

"Hey!" I complain.

"And I trust you more," he adds, ignoring me.

"Yeah, right," Ama scoffs. "A moment ago, when we were walking to our jobs, you acted like I was something on the bottom of your shoe."

"You were purposely being annoying to me," he defends himself.

"I'm always trying to purposely annoy everyone! I thought you knew that."

Well, that certainly explains much. I thought I had completely lost it. My grasp on my emotions, that is. I reassure myself that once I get back into my field of expertise, everything would go back to normal. My patience--and sanity--would remain intact. There would be no more of this cavorting around with dangerous killing machines. I would just disappear.

Abasi pinches the bridge of his nose. "Do you want me to help you, or not?"

"Alright." Ama crosses her arm over her chest and leans an elbow on it before propping her chin up on her palm. "What's your idea, AJ?"

Abasi sighs at her attempt at being annoying. "You remember Kane, right? He can tap into someone's eyesight and see what they are seeing. He can also let other people see if he allows them to. He can try with you."

"Oh, I remember him." A dark look comes over Ama's face, and I feel a twinge of uneasiness. Hopefully, I will never live to see that glare aimed at me.

"Yeah, I'm sure I can convince him to help. And what's with the look?"

"He spilled the guild's location to every single kingdom and injected me with something to make me drunk."

"Oh... That would explain it. Okay, I will let you kick him in the balls while he's here, too, if you don't kill him. Okay?" He repeats the statement for good measure, but Ama gives no sign that she's in accordance.

"I don't know this Kane," I interrupt. "Who is he?"

"He's a piece of (please insert obscenity of choice) I met a week ago," snarls Ama. Then, to Abasi, she growls, "And I'll go with you if you let me punch him once. Just once."

I carefully run through what I have heard in the past few minutes. If this Kane knew where the guild was, he knew where the child was. If he gave that information out...

"Oh, is he the one who told Dolan where to find the kid?" I ask, feigning nonchalance.

Abasi shakes his head energetically. "No. Kane would never put an innocent life on the line. Never."

Right. I don't hide the doubt on my face, and I cross my arms. And Rhys said that I was a naive kid. I can't see how people can trust so blindly. I trust Rhys, but I wouldn't put it past him to sell out children. There are always hidden sides to people, sides that they never expose to you. One must find out for themselves.

"Rhys and I received intel about an infiltrator. I guess we didn't have to look too far to find him," I say snidely.

Ama turns to me. "Look, Severin, you do what you need to do. And I'll kick him in the balls for you and me, 'kay?"

"Understood, Miss Keymaker," I reply with a curt nod. Perhaps the arrival of this 'Kane' would wane her excitement down to the point where I can do my job without distraction. And, if Abasi speaks true about Kane's strange abilities, would also convince her to keep out of my way.

"Kane is a good man..." Abasi protests. "...most of the time. Sometimes he makes stupid decisions, but he wouldn't do that. He simply wouldn't have, no matter how much gold was put in front of him. But he can allow Ama to watch Dolan die without an extra person in the way."

I have to hold back a snort. I've seen people rob their mother's graves for gold and sift through the ashes of their cremated relatives, just to find a ring or necklace that could be sold for their own benefit. The poor want gold because they're desperate. The wealthy want more because they're addicted. And the ones in between want to become the wealthy.

That's just how worlds work, no matter which one it is or how good or bad you are.

Ama concedes, "Well, you know him better than I do. And Severin, just call me 'Ama'."

Abasi pulls out a statue of a hawk, carved from golden brown wood and glossed so that it shines in the light from the window. Its tiny, sharp eyes are little beads of gold embedded deeply into the delicately carved sockets. Hieroglyphics painted on the wings in silver ink march across every wooden feather like ants, so small that I couldn't read them even if I understood what they meant.

"Here, let me contact him," he says before he starts talking to the wooden bird. I can neither hear nor understand the words he's whispering, but the fact that he's talking to a statue is what unnerves me the most.

He finishes his conversation with the statue and looks up. "He is coming."

"He better, I gotta kick him in the balls," Ama says as she leans against the wall.

"Abasi," I intercede, though his foreign name feels so strange in my mouth. "May I ask how you know we can trust this man, if he seemingly gave out this location to so many kingdoms?"

He ignores me, turning his back to me as he swings open the door to the library and walks out.

"Let's go outside. That will be where he's arriving," he states as he leaves, and I run to catch the door before it swings shut, quickly slipping through.

He walks fast, and Ama and I have to jog over to him just to catch up. He doesn't slow his pace, breezing past the drunks without a glance.

"Yeah, AJ." Ama doesn't take his silence as an answer. "Give me one good reason not to slit his throat."

"He is a good man with strict morals. Please don't attack him, he has fought against evil on many occasions, for the people."

I trip twice in my haste to go up the stairs after them, but I scramble to my feet and catch up. I've put up with my foot for years, and I've had harder falls.

"Morals," I pipe up as we exit the guild door. I might as well be optimistic. "Morals are honorable."

"Sure, he has good morals," Ama says sarcastically.

Abasi ignores us both, staring at the sky intently. I look at him and then in the direction he's staring, covering my eyes to block the sun. I don't see anything. What in Midgard is he looking for?

A black blip in the sky grows bigger, and turns into the silhouette of a large bird. As it grows ever nearer, I recognize it to be a hawk. The hawk circles us once before landing in front of Abasi and turning into a man. 

"Hello, Abasi," he says fondly. He has dark skin and hair, and one of his eyes is covered in bandages (missing, most likely). He towers over us, about a foot taller than I am. Unlike Abasi, he wears no hood or cloak, instead sporting holsters around his shoulders and waist that strap a spear to his back. He's wearing dark clothing, mostly brown and black.

Ama looks at Kane. Kane looks at Ama.

"Oh. Um. Sorry about, you know, revealing your guild and all. Hope it's okay."

"No, actually, you've endangered the entire country. Congratulations," I say as I sarcastically clap my hands. 

Ama simply runs up to him and kicks him in the balls.

"Um, how?" Kane groans, doubling over in pain. "I was trying to stop a gold-hungry guild of murderers from killing innocent people."

Abasi holds up his hands. "Let's calm down, please."

Ama doesn't calm down.

"Oh, you say the people we kill is innocent, when you have no idea who we kill!" she spits at him.

"You said you killed whoever, so long as you were paid!"

Not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, I decide that perhaps Abasi may be right this time. If things get out of hand, I may never get to my mission.

"Um, I'm actually not part of the guild," I begin, slightly stepping in between the dangerous individuals with arguable intentions. "And I think we're getting off-topic, here. Kane, we need your help. There is a man who needs to die, and Miss Ama wishes to watch."

Kane looks at me thoughtfully. "Very well." He looks at Abasi with scrutiny. "I suppose you have joined this guild?"

Abasi's answering  nod causes him to shake his head in disbelief. 

"I will inform the kingdoms that the guild moved to the desert. For your sake. Now, let's get to the task at hand, shall we?" he says as he stretches his hands.

"Alright, Candy Man," Ama spits out another demeaning nickname. "What do I have to do?"

He merely waves his hand in my direction. I blink, not feeling anything. I'm wondering if I should say something when the area around his eyes glow a golden yellow color. He taps Ama on the shoulder, and the same thing happens to her eyes.

Curious, I raise my hand. Golden light reflects on my palm, and I stare at it in fascination before lowering it. I take several steps back to give myself room. It has been about a week since I last shifted.

"Thank you, Kane," I say before addressing Ama. "I should go now. Enjoy the show, Miss Ama."

There is no struggle between the side of me that is snake and the side that is human. I have long since accepted my role as a lying, cheating snake and a weak human girl. There are two mindsets. One tells me to survive, and the other tells me to live. I erase the human girl from my mind, casting to the side the pain of the past and focusing on the fear of the now.

Survive.

My hands grow scales that climb up my arms and spread, and I start to convulse in spasms. My limbs merge with my body, and I shrink until I am a small black snake, Rhys at my side.

I crawl away, heading for the guild. I still remember Fox's scent; if I find him, I can ask him for the Witch Hazel that I need. If not, I could always bite him. My life would come to a quick end, but at least I'd have the satisfaction to placate me in the afterlife.

I find him in the hallway past the bar. I shift back into a human, moving the toes on my good foot to get the feeling back into them.

"Fox, I'm going to need that Witch Hazel. Can you provide me with some, please?"

I regard him with caution. Not only is he a witch, but he's an intelligent witch who knows what I'm going to do before it is done. People like that are dangerous.

As if he sensed my thoughts, he smirks at me and answers, "I'll go easy on you this time. I think I've messed with you enough."

I nod in relief, pocketing the herbs and turning to leave. "I'll be on my way to Dolan's mansion, then."

He raises a hand and waves in farewell. "Good luck, Dirt Girl."

For the first time in a long while, my lips turn up into a grim smile.

"I don't believe in luck," I answer before shifting back into a snake.

Finally, I am doing what I was always meant to do.

--

I taste the air with my tongue when Rhys and I arrive at Dolan's mansion. We are both snakes in the grass, waiting to strike at the opportune moment.

"Good, he's home," I mutter to Rhys. This makes it easier, but not by much.

I've studied the area carefully, ever since I first took the job. Zero cracks in the foundation. Guards at the front, guards at the rear, guards hidden in the bushes at the sides. Monitors at the windows, probably wards in the back kitchen entrance.

But no one bothers to guard the rain gutter.

It is cool and dark when I crawl through it, which I am glad for. Had the sun been out earlier today, the metal would have heated up and burned me. And I detest burns.

Rhys and I reach the roof, which is where we first start facing problems. The slant is too smooth for us to balance, as we are lacking the necessary limbs and claws for climbing. As I roll off, I am forced to shift back into a human.

I try to become human again, and I fail.

A moment of panic costs me a precious half-second before I cast it away. I am Severin. Now is not the time to be ruled by serpentine instincts. The side of me that is a slithering snake is of no more use to me, and I turn into the fleeing human in the forest. Arms that are cut by reaching branches and legs whipped by long wild grasses. Hands that clench, a foot that drags. 

Live.

And I am a snake no longer.

I jab my dagger into the roof with all of the human strength I can muster, sinking the blade in as deep as I can. My lower half dangles dangerously over the side of the roof, and I grip the handle with both hands. The strain of shifting means that I can't feel my palms burn from the strain of holding my body fifty feet high. My limbs tingle as if they had fallen asleep, and the pins and needles on my bad foot turn to fire.

Rhys complicates matters by falling on my head.

I let out a muffled yelp, twisting to get him off my face. Rhys finds his balance and crawls off, wrapping himself up in his usual spot around my neck.

The hit he gave me snaps me out of my stupor, and I grit my teeth and fight to pull myself up. I kick against the numbness in my legs, determined to scramble up and perhaps claw myself away from the fatal fall. I feel the fabric of my cloak, as well as the skin on my hands, tear as I climb up.

Whatever happens, I will not fail.

Because if I don't, then I will die when Dolan realizes what I've done.