Elone dashed down another corridor, praying to whatever gods or idols were watching that there wasn’t another patrol of Inquisitors lurking around the corner: she was lucky not to have been caught by the ones chasing after her already! Why they were so aggressive all of a sudden, she didn’t know. It’d been a breeze slipping over the wall and into the manor, even for someone like Joel! Elone threw herself into an empty room – she’d leave the paranoid stuff to those geeks in the newspaper team.

The room – one of the manor’s many lounges – was a brief reprieve. From its third-storey windows, Elone could see the escalating commotion in the courtyard outside and shied away before anyone could notice her. Even if she’d kept Godhand’s robes on, her dyed hair was a dead give-away: none of these religious nobodies had her fashion sense!

To think she was going to all this trouble for Shelley Edwards, the weak point in their tight-knit gang of Hawks, a girl who’d come to them from the Ravens after being dumped by her boyfriend and betrayed by her best-friend. Even Elone – who was no expert at reading motives in other people – could tell Shelley was only there because she wanted approval! Vincent was the first one who noticed that – and he was an expert at reading people – and had always kept Shelley at arms length, as she lowered the group’s kudos among the other Hawks whenever she was around. Some questioned why they continued to let her loiter with them. The truth was it was Elone’s fault because, for all of Shelley’s mistakes and faults, Elone couldn’t help but think of her as a little sister. If Vincent ever found out, he’d disown both of them. It was risky stuff for a would-be idol and up-coming fashion designer to get involved with.

There was a banging at the door, followed by shouts of “Is anyone in there?” Elone looked around for an escape, but the only non-door options were the windows. With a burst of inspiration, she dived for some of the velvet curtains and slipped herself behind them. Her trim figure would surely go unnoticed?

“It won’t work. They’re quite thorough, you know?”

Elone froze at the sound of the girl’s voice. No one was in the room – a quick glance at the motion detector told her that – and the door hadn’t been opened…

The door clicked as its  handle turned, followed by a gentle creek that turned into a sudden crash as the door swung open at speed and smashed into the wall.

“Who’s in here?” asked a gruff voice.

“Hey!” replied the mysterious female voice, “Do you mind? I was trying to study!”

“I’m sorry, Miss,” said the guard, “You should be careful, there are dangerous terrorists loose in the cathedral.”

“Then you’re obviously not doing your job, are you?”

There was a moment’s silence, and Elone imagined a strong-willed girl like herself staring down a giant brute of a man with steely determination. A moment later, she heard the voice again.

“They’ve gone; you can come out now,”

Chapter 19
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