The Thief

easy, either?”

“No sword here,” Camille stated.

“Awesome,” he said, swinging at her.

Camille dodged, spinning around the pillar. In her periphery, she saw Jul duck behind the counter. Good, better that she stayed out of it. Gabriel wouldn’t like it if she smashed up the cafe, but he was also fond of saying that necessity was the mother of invention.

Camille kicked a chair at him, but he slid to one side. Was it just her imagination, or was he faster than before? He swept a kick and she blocked it, barely - he nearly knocked her off balance. He struck out with a fist and she caught it with her own, straining against the force. Stronger, too?

“This ain’t school,” he grinned, breath hot on her neck. “Don’t hold back on my account.”

With a shove, Camille broke the hold and twisted away, panting. Her blood pumped loud in her ears and the iron bracer pinched around her left arm. What she wouldn’t give to be rid of the uncomfortable thing.

She and Hyde paced a slow semicircle, each gauging the other.

“Where’s all the attitude from kendo?” he sneered. “Need a sword to feel safe? I’ll wait while you go fetch one. Just make sure it’s the iron one, no fakes now. Chop chop.”

The iron one? Something must have shown on her face, because Hyde lit on it.

“You do know where it is!” he crowed.

“No swords,” Camille snapped. “Lots of muffins. Want a muffin?”

“Should I call someone?” Jul’s voice warbled from behind the counter, peering over the edge.

“No,” Camille said sternly, eyes on Hyde. “He’s leaving.”

“Soon as you fetch me,” he snarled, “that sword!”

He grabbed Camille’s arm and threw her over his shoulder. She twisted in midair, vaulting off a table. She landed solid but stumbled over a chair just behind her. The metal legs scraped loud against the stone floor as she found her footing. He was on her in an instant - this time she curled, using his force to roll him over and get some distance. She was unafraid, yet her limbs trembled - something was wrong with her. Her vision wavered, and she fought to maintain focus. The bracer gripped her arm like a vise.

“Get out...” she rasped, “of my house.”

“This is so disappointing,” he said, stalking closer. “I thought I’d finally get a real fight out of someone, but underneath your fancy moves you’re just like everyone else.”

Her blood flushed in anger and she struck out, lightning quick. Her fist connected with his jaw and he reeled. Before he could recover she landed a kick to his back that collided him against a pillar. He dropped to avoid a second and caught her leg, swinging her against the pillar instead. Winded, she angled back, in a defensive sideways stance.

The dizziness was overwhelming her. The dark, spiky image of Hyde in front of her blurred. She stumbled, and that was all the opening Hyde needed. He swept a kick that knocked her into a table, and she slid to the floor, groaning. Pain flared through her midsection.

Hyde approached, standing over her with a grin. He pressed a foot down on her chest.

“Still don’t want to tell me where the sword is?” he asked, eyes bright.

Her breath became belabored as the bracer pinched tighter. “Go...to hell...” she said.

Hyde’s heel ground into her sternum. Blearily, she saw a shape rise up behind him.

Crash! Hyde stumbled disoriented. Jul stood holding the remnants of a broken jar. Camille curled up on her side, coughing.

Hyde cursed, shaking bits of glass and loose tea from his hair. “That was a bad move, Graham,” he snarled, as she backed up in terror. He tried to make a grab for her, but Camille managed to grab his foot and pull him off balance. He fell forward onto the stone floor, breath collapsing out of him.

The front door opened, chime ringing.

“What fresh hell is this?” Gabriel said. He was framed in the door with rain behind him.

Hyde took one look at him, scrambled to his feet and sprinted past him, out the door. Camille looked after him, baffled. Hyde was afraid, now?

Gabriel also took note of his retreating form, but swiftly crossed to Camille. He knelt beside her, taking up her arm with the bracer, inspecting it, then checking her pulse. Her skin froze while she sweat buckets. His face was grim, but he said, “You’re fine, kiddo. Calm down, you’ll be fine.” Her eyes focused on him, briefly. She took a deep breath, as muscles in her limbs spasmed.

“Calm is for losers,” she muttered, back to Japanese now that he was here. He chuckled, but the humor didn’t reach his eyes. He cleared her hair away where it stuck to her face.

“Is...is she alright?” Jul’s voice quavered. “She looks so pale...”

He glanced at Jul. “Ah. Yes, Camille will be fine. Excuse me a moment, I’ll be right back.” He picked up Camille gingerly and carried her up the stairs. This feeling of weakness was driving her insane.

“Hyde,” Camille said, as he laid her on her bed. “He wanted a sword, said he wouldn’t leave without it.” She could still smell him, that acid tobacco stench that hung in the air. Iron, he’d said. The iron one. Her left hand flexed. “Just like Tailor...”

Gabriel shushed her. “You need to rest, right now. Don’t think about that. Remember your lessons. Think about the ocean. Think about that nasty fish smell you like so much and how sand gets in literally everything.”

She coughed, certain her ribs would be black and blue tomorrow. “You mean the crisp ocean breeze and the calm waves.”

“Or that.” He checked her pulse one more time, and seemed satisfied. “I’ll check on you later, I need to go take care of your friend.”

Her friend. She had a friend. That had never mattered before. Suddenly it mattered a lot. Jul had smashed a guy over the head for her.

“Hey, Gabriel,” she asked, “do we really not have a sword?”

“I don’t,” he said. “Try to sleep,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

She couldn’t help but note his choice of pronoun. Tailor’s warning bobbed up in her mind, and she pushed it back down. Anything Gabriel did, he did for a reason. Still...

Instead of sleeping, she kept her ears open, hoping to catch the conversation downstairs, but she couldn’t hear a thing. It was just like when Tailor and Charlotte had come over - like someone had thrown a blanket over her senses. What was wrong with her?

Jul

I’d found a broom behind the counter and I was sweeping up the broken glass and tea leaves. I felt obligated - I’d broken it, after all. It still felt a bit unreal. Had I just participated in a fight?

The man I assumed was Camille’s guardian came back down the stairs. I don’t know what I’d expected, but he wasn’t it. He looked far too young to be her guardian. He couldn’t be more than thirty. He had a friendly, open expression and distinctly Asian features, reminding me distantly of Kei. I hoped he wasn’t actually anything like Kei. He tucked his chin-length ebony hair behind his ear and I noticed unusual scars at the base of his neck, peeking up from the collar of his shirt. They were puckered and shiny like old burns.

He saw me sweeping and gave a half-smile. “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” he said.

“I didn’t want anyone to step in the glass,” I said. Rhys could have just melted it away. I shook my head. No, not here, I remembered. This isn’t In Between. “I’m, um, sorry about the jar.”

“Don’t be, it went to a worthy cause,” he said. “Ah, my apologies, we haven’t met. I’m Gabriel Katsura, Camille’s guardian. You’re Juliet, of course. Please, have a seat. Can I get you something? Water, tea, hot chocolate? You look pale.”

I laughed shakily. I probably did. “Hot chocolate would be nice, thank you.”

He went behind the counter to make the drink and I gazed unfocused at my hands. What in the world had just happened? Hyde wanted a sword from this man? He’d assumed, because of my name, that I’d know something about it. Clearly, at least some of the things Rhys had told me were true. I wasn’t sure how much of it I could live up to, but...