Starfall

Chapter 12 - Ben

Leola will not stop swearing.

I stay silent beside her and try to keep myself calm. I'd be less freaked out if she weren't so freaked out in the first place, but she's throwing me off.

Usually I'm great at following people. It's literally my job. Which is partly why I was so spooked when Elyse told me I'm good at watching—because that's true. It's the complete and utter truth. It's why I was such a good worker for Rose: because I could watch without being seen.

But I'm not thinking about Rose right now. Not quite.

Right now, I am completely and utterly lost.

In the fifteen minutes we've been walking, Parlem City has not treated Leola and I well. Not at all. The second we lose sight of Elyse and Kamal, we're hit with a group of civilian salespeople. After about two minutes of them shaking drinks and foods in our faces, telling us to buy this, buy that, we manage to get out of there. Now we've managed to hide away in the same alleyway that we saw Elyse and Kamal take, and we've spent about ten minutes looking for them in this maze of a city.

Leola's profane exclamations somehow grow more vulgar by the second. It comes to the point where she's whisper-screaming at a wall that leads to nowhere.

I stand idly by, waiting for her energy to run out. It feels almost ridiculous—her throwing a swear-ridden tantrum, with me standing there in complete silence like a parent forced into patience.

Soon she's leaned over, hands on her knees, panting as if she's just run a marathon.

"Are you done?" I deadpan. "Because if you are, I'd love to continue looking for them."

She gives me the nastiest scowl I've ever seen from a human face. It's a twisted expression full of hatred and loathing. Somehow, I manage to maintain eye contact while keeping a straight face.

When her glare doesn't give her the reaction she was looking for, she flips me off as she straightens into a stand.

"Look, we just have to keep going," I tell her, walking into one of the cross-sections and scanning the area. We're still in an alleyway section of town, near the steep mountain wall. I look up at the valley that lifts further up in front of us. "Elyse said her guy was somewhere up there," I say, pointing in the same general direction. "So that's where we'll go."

"Thanks, dad," Leola spits, shoving past me. Really, actually, she shoves me out of her path, sending me into a stumble.

"What is your problem, Leola?" I practically shout as a wave of irritation and anger shudders through me.

She whips around and faces me with her signature glare permanently glued onto her expression. "What do you want me to say? Want me to apologize? Because I'm not going to."

I just scoff. She turns around and keeps going. Something in me urges me to let her go, to leave her to get even more lost.

But against my better judgment, I break into a jog in order to catch up with her. "Leola, I—"

"You want to get left here, Ben?" she snaps, turning and shoving her palms into my chest. "Because you're asking for it."

Stumbling backward, I shake my head and hold my hands up in defense. "I'm just trying to help," I say, doing my best to keep my tone level. "I made a deal with you and your captain. I'm just trying to be a good crew member."

Her eyes narrow and her lips press together. "I don't trust you. Not one bit. And not only because you beat me at my own game last night."

My jaw drops. "Are you kidding me? That's what this is about?"