Beep. Beep. Beep.

“It’s time already?” I mumbled. I instinctively stretched out my hand and slammed it on my alarm clock. I felt my hand go lower than it was supposed to, paired with the sound of crunching plastic. “Oh shit.” I forced myself awake, realizing what I did. Mental note to buy a new alarm clock tomorrow, check.

I didn’t need an alarm to wake myself up in the morning; I always got up at five in the morning on the dot no matter what time I fell asleep. But when I took a nap, I needed my trusty alarm clock to wake me at a specific time. And now, it was busted.

I jumped to my feet and prepared for my first solo ‘mission’.

Well, it wasn’t exactly a mission. A tour, more like. No shenanigans, no putting myself in danger. I was just going to check out what happened to Vanessa’s body; that was it. She was my friend after all.

Just being a good friend.

If I found an entrance to the tunnels, that would be a pleasant surprise.

And if I found something to eat in said tunnels, then that would be an even more pleasant surprise. Pleasanter? Was pleasanter a word?

Anyway, I fucking swear, if there were any police or BID, or a hint of the 2Ms, or even Corebrings, I was going back home like a good girl. I promised under Rule #9, the Rule that temporarily made something into a Rule. I only used it in situations where I felt I was about to do something stupid because it was fun, and I needed to control myself.

I wore the new clothes and sneakers I bought, including the reversible hoodie. And I stowed one anti-dust cloth mask in my pocket.

“Let’s see how I look,” I said, standing in front of the mirror. The grey color of the hoodie wasn’t fashionably offensive; I was reserving its dark blue side for later. Just a normal girl with no illegal intent, no need to be wary of me.

Before going out, I checked if I placed my leftover pizza in the fridge; I wasn’t going to repeat that mistake from last time.

Outside, along the corridor, the disgusting smell was no longer here. Good thing they cleaned it up. I pressed the down button and waited for the elevator.

“Ten forty-three,” I said, checking my watch. I rarely wore a watch, but I had to now because I left my phone behind to avoid getting my location traced in case the BID was monitoring phone signals. The subway operated until 2:30 a.m. and I had to ride a train to get to and back from Clover Heights where Rob’s burnt garage was located.

The elevator arrived and the doors opened.

There was someone else inside. A balding, middle-aged man wearing a business suit, maybe just coming home late from work. He didn’t greet me like other residents usually did, so I also didn’t say anything to him. I would’ve preferred it if I didn’t meet anyone on the way out, but I guess it was still kind of early for this bustling city. I just hummed to the tune of the elevator music as we went down.

Hold on, if we were going down, then this guy beside me wasn’t returning to his unit. He had work this late at night?

Upon reaching the ground floor, I didn’t immediately step out of the elevator, waiting for the man to go out. But he didn’t. Did he want me to go out first as a sign of being a gentleman?

Sure. I stepped out then slowly walked so he would eventually get ahead of me. I looked back, confused. He still didn’t go out of the elevator. The doors closed and it went up again.

“Another weirdo,” I said under my breath.

I didn’t meet anyone else except for the guard at the lobby who was watching a Mexican soap opera on his small TV. He waved to greet me. And I waved back, explaining, “Going to jog at the park.”

I crossed the street, looking left and right. After I was certain no one was around, I entered the narrow alleyway beside West Limmons Apartment. Continuing on the winding footpath starting from the back of the old apartment building, I eventually came to Lowen Park. I started jogging to not look out of place. Many people from the surrounding condominiums and apartments exercised in this park at night…among other things. Thankfully, I didn’t meet anyone doing those ‘among other things.’

Instead of using my normal route to the train station, I chose this path that Ramello and I took the day we got kidnapped. This was shorter, but I couldn’t ride my bike throughout except for the short part passing the bike bridge, so I usually took the longer but smoother route when I went to Eloyce University.

After nearly getting lost a few times navigating alleyways in the shadows of buildings, jumping over some fences, and avoiding a drunk dude vomiting behind a dumpster, I emerged from behind the QualityMart right across Riano train station. This was only my second time passing through here, and although I remembered the route from last time, it was like a different place at night. Fortunately, the moon, while not a complete circle, still gave off the light comparable to that of a full moon.

Mental note to buy a small flashlight.

I peered from the side of the convenience store, surveying the station across the street. The yellowing light of the decrepit but miraculously still working lamppost flickered from the corner. Other than a few people exiting the station and some cars passing by, everything was relatively peaceful in this part of the city.

“Here goes.” I held up my hand and summoned my Blanchette face. The liquid rising out of the crystals on my palm lit the dark alley in gold, and then in red as the face solidified. I brought the red snout to my mouth.

I let out a low growl of satisfaction as I savored the addicting power. It was still awesome, but I was getting used to it. I immediately noticed the chilly air caressing my exposed skin. Maybe I should’ve also bought clothes for my transformation.

Why didn’t I think of that when I was shopping? Another mental note.

I didn’t want to enter the station as Erind. The cameras and people who’d see me would contradict my alibi of jogging in the park. Of course, I also wasn’t going to enter with my Blanchette form either.

But I needed to ride the train…just not in it…

On it.

Most of La Esperanza’s train system was underground, but there were portions of the tracks that were street level or on elevated railways. The tracks going out of Riano Station ran through the middle of the road and descended underground right before the intersection of Riano and Mendez Sts.

That was my ticket.

So here I was, in the middle of the road, looking over the concrete barrier that separated the tracks from the rest of the traffic, checking for the perfect place to jump down to the train. The tracks in this part were already below street level, sloping down into the opening of the tunnel.

I estimated there was about a fifteen-foot drop from the top of the concrete barrier down to the tracks, but if the train was here, it would be just a few feet down to its roof. The train would also start slowly from the station, and only picked up speed after it went underground, so I was confident I could land safely. People did this in movies, right?

A few minutes after, a train left the station, rumbling towards me. I leaped on top of the concrete barrier and waited for it. One wrong move and I might slip off the train and get squished. The danger and the exhilarating prospect of riding on top of the train would’ve filled a normal person with adrenaline, but it did not affect me.

This was nothing compared to fighting monsters.

The earth shook, the train rolling below. After about half of it had passed, I held my breath and jumped down. It was only a short drop as I correctly guessed, and I landed squarely on my two feet, bending down to maintain balance.

Yes!

Then the train accelerated.

Fuck.

I tittered a few steps back, trying to stop myself from losing balance, but I stepped on some slimy grime and lost my footing. I rolled backward just as the train entered the tunnel. I stretched out my claws and hung on, flattening myself on the roof to avoid the ceiling of the tunnel.

Phew.

See, no problemo.

Oh, my claws! I buried them too deep into the train’s roof in a moment of panic. Hopefully, they didn’t go through the ceiling. If they did, the passengers probably wouldn’t even notice anyway, too tired from a day’s work and wanting to just get home. I also hoped that all the clanking of this aging train masked the ruckus of my landing.

No screaming yet?

Okay, yeah, no problemo.

What was that slime that nearly made me fall off? Yuck!

I also noticed my abs and legs were covered with dirt and other repulsive stuff I’d rather not know about from laying down on the roof. I shuddered as I tried to wipe them off with one hand while my other kept holding on. I’ve been in way more disgusting situations but I just found this too icky.

There was enough clearance between the top of the train and the ceiling of the tunnel that I could probably sit straight, but I decided not to risk it, settling on a weird crouching position, making sure I kept as much of my skin off the dirty fucking roof. I held still, enjoying the rushing wind sweeping over me as the train sped to its destination.

Getting on the train was the first hurdle.

Several minutes passed and the train slowed down as it approached the next station. This was the next hurdle.

I dropped down the side of the train not facing the station platform, hanging from the roof while waiting for some passengers to disembark and new ones to get on. With this, I avoided getting spotted by the cameras on the station platform as well as by the people waiting for the train. I only waited for a minute and then climbed back on top as the train left the station.

This was an easy way to roam the city since I had no car. And even if I had a car, it would be risky to use it.

Hold on…I did have a car!

Technically, it was Rob’s getaway car, but he’s dead so it was kind of mine. Too bad I told Bianca to help me get rid of it, including other evidence that could be traced back to me that she could find.

I was about ninety-nine percent certain Bianca would be on my side for the foreseeable future.

While I did have more to lose if both of us got caught—I was no longer a human compared to her, plus she had the money and resources to wiggle out of tight spots—that wasn’t how our minds worked. We always had more to lose in our own view since we didn’t care shit about other people. Unless we specifically want someone to lose. In that case, we wouldn’t care how much we would lose to bring down our target.

I was sure Bianca had nothing against me, she just wanted to use me to achieve her goals. Which meant she valued not getting caught, which included me not getting caught. I was sure she was going to help me until she got what she wanted. Whatever it really is.

I just rode this train until I got as near as I could to Clover Heights. Onto my third hurdle—getting off the train.

I made my way to the end of the train, crawling carefully on its roof, making sure my claws had a secure hold before moving forward. An easy enough job with my strength and agility.

Just a single dude sleeping, I thought, checking the last train car through the back window. I slowly lowered myself to the back of the train.

I focused my attention on the walls of the tunnel, waiting for an exit sign. Subway tunnels have an exit spaced out along its length for people to use in case of emergency. Obviously, I wasn’t going to exit through the station.

There!

I jumped off the train, diving onto the rough ground, making sure to stay in between the tracks. My sensei would be proud of my perfect judo roll. Then I leaped on the walkway running the length of the tunnel and headed to the exit I spotted. Movies taught me that the metal tracks had an electric current running through them. Not sure exactly which of these were electrified, but better not to touch any of them.

I emerged above the street in the outskirts of Clover Heights. I couldn’t believe I just went through all of that and everything went splendidly well.

Perhaps I had a knack for sneaking around.

Now for the last hurdle in my pilgrimage to Vanessa’s resting place—I had to pass through the bustling southern area of Clover Heights before reaching its northern part, the semi-ghost town area of the neighborhood.

Of course, I also had a plan for this.

I transformed back to my original body, turned my hoodie inside out, and put on my mask. Voila! I looked like some skinny wannabe gangster kid or something. I made sure the hoodie I bought was at least a size larger so it wasn’t easy to tell I was a woman.

After aimlessly roaming Clover Heights, avoiding people as much as could, I eventually found the street I drove on when I left Rob’s burning garage last Saturday. Oh wait, that was already early morning Sunday. I just had to follow this road and I’ll be at my goal soon!

Fuck.

There were a couple of police cruisers waiting further down the road parked on either side of a barricade in the middle of the street. They were clearly intent on blocking people from going into the northern part of Clover Heights.

I could guess why.

I sighed, watching them from behind a telephone pole a block away.

Did I need to turn back now? I looked around for a good vantage point so I could see if there was another way I could take and if there was any other sign of danger. The highest building near me stood at just three floors tall. I snuck in the small space between it and the neighboring pawnshop, both of which were already closed at this hour.

Behind the dumpster, I pulled my mask down and put on my Blanchette face. I climbed the wall as fast as I could before anyone passed by. It was a breeze scaling the building with my claws that easily bit into the bricks; as easy as swimming with flippers. I bet I could actually do this with my original body. Next time, I'll try.

From the top of the building, I spotted red and blue lights in the distance. I exhaled in disappointment. More cops were roaming the neighborhood where Rob’s garage was located. The very definition of danger. No matter what mental gymnastics I did, there was no way I could win an argument in court that it was safe for me to try and enter that area.

My shoulders slumped down. Fine! I was going home. The temporary Rule #9 had to be followed.

I turned around, walking slowly with a frown—or as much as a frown that I could manage with a snout and a mouth full of fangs, which turned to be more of a snarl—and wondered if I should just finish the rest of the pizza and put myself in a food coma so I would immediately fall asleep and not think of doing any other stupid things to do with my power tonight.

“You’re already leaving?”

I spun around, my claws extended, ready to attack whoever it was that spoke or instantly flee if needed.

It was a guy sitting behind the water tank. My eyes caught a glint of the moonlight off the bladed end of the long pole he was holding that poked out from the shadows.

Just a guy…

…with a spear.

A guy with a spear?!

Stay or run? Decide quickly!