Wall of Shadows

Chapter 3

 I blinked. Another mistake, because that made me disoriented enough to allow everything that happened next. Before I knew it, I was pinned against Ezra, who had his back to the wall of a neighboring building. It was a good hiding place, wreathed in shadows.

 "Quiet." He muttered.

 I squirmed, tugging at the arm he had wrapped around my waist. "Let me go!" I grabbed for my daggers.

 "I said quiet. It'll hear you."

 "It?! What the hell is it?" I hissed under my breath.

 "No time. Just shut up, will you?"

 Every time I thought this guy might be okay, I was proved otherwise. What was wrong with him? "What is wrong--" The rest of my reply was muffled, due to the hand he'd clamped over my mouth.

 I would have kept on retorting and struggling were it not for the blade impaling itself mere inches above my head, scraping Ezra's cheek. I glanced up slowly, not believing my eyes when I saw the still quivering dagger impaled in the brick wall behind me. A blade that pierced stone.

 A thin trail of blood trickled down Ezra's face; his grip had loosened without him noticing, his hand falling away from my mouth as I followed his gaze to where he stared out at a rooftop in the distance to where a hooded figure was almost out of sight. I only caught a glimpse of red hair before they disappeared into the shadows.

 "What the—"

 "Fuck." Ezra finished.

 "What was— what— how—?" My heart was pounding. Someone was targeting me. Someone who could throw with an insane accuracy and had knives that could impale brick. But why?! I rounded on Ezra. "Who was that?"

 He took a deep breath. "Not who— what."

 "What's that supposed to mean?"

 Ezra just shook his head, clenching his jaw. His grey eyes had lost any hint of humor.

 "Who are you?"

 "I'm Ezra." He stated, as if it were obvious

 "No, but who are you?"

 "Nobody really," He slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Jus a guy who gets really bored and stupid when I have a lot of free time, which unfortunately I have too much of, along with enough bad luck to end up here."

 "I'm... sorry?"

 He chuckled bitterly. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "You shouldn't be apologizing. I'm my own undoing, after all," he quoted, as if someone had told that to him before. I wouldn't be surprised.

 "Why are you helping me?"

 "You know, I'm asking myself that exact same thing."

 I elbowed him in the ribs, and he poked me. "Alright, Ember, it's getting late."

 "Ember?"

 "Easier than Emberwood." He shrugged. "Besides, it suits you. You're like a little ember."

 "Uh huh."

 "Emphasis on little," teased Ezra, making me snort.

 "Right..." I stood there awkwardly. "I assume I'll be seeing you again?"

 "Good assumption, though I doubt you'll see me."

 I was too tense to react more with more than an unsettling shiver; I was still trying to figure out why someone would want me dead... But maybe they weren't targeting me. Maybe they were after Ezra... That still didn't explain the whole stone-slicing-knives thing. I frowned. "How about we don't do that. Maybe we could actually, you know, meet like normal people."