Chapter Seven: Kai
No sooner was the ring secured in Kai’s fist, when a deep voice shouted, “Thief. Stop him!”
Kai froze. His whole body broke out into a sweat. He could even taste the salt in his mouth. The red-bearded man stopped too and turned around. For a moment the man’s attention was on the source of the voice somewhere behind Kai. He should run now before they turned on him, but somehow the message his brain flashed wasn’t connecting with his firmly planted feet. Kai’s head, however, managed to turn around and he saw a young boy, maybe nine years old, wide-eyed and zigzagging through the crowd toward them with a bundle tucked under one arm.
Kai’s moist palm and fingers tightened around the ring. They hadn’t seen him. He was safe. He took a step to the right, just as the boy darted that way. Kai tried to correct his course by stepping back to the left, but the boy had made the same move. Only this time the boy was too close for Kai to get out of his way and they collided. The boy ran into Kai with one hand outstretched and he used it to push Kai back, all the while keeping himself erect. Kai felt his body spinning uncontrollably backward and he threw out his arms for anything that would keep him from falling. He felt his arm brush against some cloth and wrapped his fingers around it. Whatever was connected with the cloth moved with him and was going to fall too. Then, to Kai’s horror, he saw that his fingers had grabbed the red bearded man’s shirt--and his fingers were empty. He had dropped the ring.
Kai’s head slammed into the pavement hitting the same knot from earlier that morning and knocking the air out of his lungs. The man landed on top of Kai, but Kai didn’t have any air left inside so nothing came out when the added weight crushed his chest. There was nothing Kai could do. He lay there, unable to breath. Somewhere, off to the left he heard a metallic chink as the ring hit the pavement and rattled to a stop.
A woman in the crowd gasped an “Oh my.” Even in his oxygen deprived state Kai noticed she didn’t move to help them. The man next to her stepped closer and with an accent asked, “You gentlemen are all right?”
The red bearded man groaned and leaned to Kai’s left. Seizing the opportunity, Kai used what little strength he had to push the man off and roll out from under him. Oxygen had never tasted so sweet. He closed his eyes and breathed. His head throbbed, but it seemed to be the only injured part, now that his lungs could work again.
“You not hurt anywhere?” the man asked.
Kai slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the man’s clean white shirt and dark skin.
“I’m fine,” Kai said.
“You are brave to take on criminal,” the man said as he bent down and touched Kai’s shoulder.
“I didn’t....” Kai started to say, but then he saw the mixed thoughts of the crowd. Most of the people were concerned, yet a few carried their suspicion in their straight shoulders and narrowed eyes. “I didn’t want him to get away,” Kai said instead. “Did we catch him?”
“The thief escaped,” a woman said. She sniffed into a silk handkerchief with the logo of one of the tourist shops down the street stitched in the corner.
“I’m fine,” Kai said again, ignoring the man’s outstretched hand. He squinted and managed to sit up on his own. Then his eyelids flew open as he remembered the ring. He rapidly covered the pavement near him with his eyes and then searched near the red bearded man who was struggling to sit up. The ground was clean. He started to panic. What if some else picked the ring up? Or worse what if it was kicked into a gutter?
He moved his feet under him to stand and that was when he found it. The ring was lying between the red bearded man’s legs. He hadn’t noticed it, but the man with the accent was pointing to it. Kai’s body temperature dropped two degrees and the sweat on his back chilled against his shirt.
“That ring, it is possessed by you?” the man asked, still pointing.
“Yes.” The red bearded man looked down and scooped up the ring. He twisted it onto his finger and shook his hand once to make certain it was secure. Then he glanced at Kai, his lips tightened and his brow wrinkled as he saw Kai’s worn shirt and dirty jeans.
Kai turned away. All the pain he had been able to ignore came rushing back on him. He stood, wove his way through the gathered crowd and ducked into the nearest alley. A dumpster provided a shield between him and prying eyes and he ducked his head waiting for the crowds to disperse. If his body wasn’t already aching, he would have kicked himself. He was so close. What was wrong with him? Why did he freeze like that?
He shoved some moldy paper bags closer to the dumpster, leaned against the concrete wall, and sank to the ground. He sat for a moment before his stomach rumbled. Maybe that was why he froze. Not eating must have slowed his responses, which made finding food his next priority. He leaned the paper bags closer and sniffed, if they did have food inside them, it was no longer edible. The dumpster held more promise, if the newly dried tomato sauce on its side was any indication of what might be in it.
Kai peeked at the street and saw a steady stream of people moving. He’d wait five minutes before going back out and use that time to check the dumpster. He stood and as he opened the dumpster’s right lid the scent of fresh bread and tomatoes filled the alley. A rumpled box of pizza lay on the top of a garbage bag, but as Kai reached for the box two hands from inside the dumpster snatched it away.
“Hey,” Kai said. He flipped the other dumpster lid open revealing the boy who had pushed him and made him lose the ring. The boy squinted up at Kai, his arms wrapped around the box, squeezing it. Something inside rattled with each movement.
“You’re the kid....” Kai stopped himself from jumping into the dumpster and grabbing the kid’s shirt. Instead he clamped his mouth shut and forced a smile. “Is there enough for two in that box?”
“Yes,” the boy said and he stuck his jaw out. “But I need all of it.”
“You can’t need all of the pizza. I’m sure if you really thought about it you could spare one slice.” Kai leaned closer and held out a hand, but the boy scooted to the back of the dumpster.
“These aren’t for me. I have a kid depending on me.”
“You’re not old enough to have kids.”
“I am too.”
Kai rolled his eyes. “I’m sure your family will be just fine with one less slice of pizza, kid.”
“My name is Tommy, not kid. And I remember you from the orphanage.”
“Look, I don’t care what your name is or where we know each other. Wait, is that a bag of bread?” Kai pointed to a brown sack, half hidden behind Tommy.
“I need this too,” Tommy said, moving one arm to push the sack behind him.
An image of Tommy running toward him flashed before Kai’s eyes, only this time Kai saw a loaf of bread sticking out of the bundle under the boy’s arm. His stomach rumbled.
“And what if I yelled that I found the thief?” Kai asked.
Tommy’s face paled and he scooted farther back.
“But I’m sure you could spare something and keep my mouth too full to say anything.”
“You’re mean.” Tommy glared up at him. “And Father Merrick always said you were nice. He said you wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
“Well, he never told me that. Maybe if he had we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Are you going to give me some food or not?” Kai raised one eyebrow and waved his open palm.
Tommy didn’t answer and continued to glare.
“Come on,” Kai said.
Tommy tilted his head to one side. “If you tell on me then you won’t get anything to eat, and you’d be the thief for taking food from my kid, besides the baker gave me this bread. He always leaves me a bag of bread outside his door every Monday. Somebody saw me pick it up and they thought I was stealing it. I only ran ‘cause I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”
Kai’s hand sagged. Was he really going to believe this boy’s story? Tommy’s eyes had stared straight into his the whole time, but the streets raised superior liars.
&nb
sp; “If you can prove I don’t know you and I’m lying I’ll split this. Fifty/fifty.”
“If I can prove you’re lying I’m taking all of it. What room did you sleep in at the orphanage?” Kai asked.
“I slept in the same room you did, only I was in the corner where the rafters met the floor and there was a leak every time it rained,” Tommy said, his eyes never wavered.
Kai snorted, but he withdrew his hand. “All the rooms leaked when it rained.”
“The older guys would push you in the rain barrel and shut the lid on you.” Tommy leaned closer. “Once, after they left I pulled the lid off. You were inside for so long I thought you died, but you didn’t. You were always trying to get Father Merrick to tell you more about your mom, but he never did. And I saw you break into his office once when he was gone.”
“Okay,” Kai said. He took a step back and shook his head to clear the old memories. “You win. You can keep all your food. It’s probably stale anyway.”
He decided he wasn’t hungry anymore, as he turned and walked back to the street. What he wanted to do was find Red, or the T-Man, and give him a swift punch in the face. Maybe break the nose or knock out a tooth. A smirk touched Kai’s mouth, but his heart was too heavy to enjoy it. He retraced his way back to the tourist sections of Old Highton until he noticed the gates of an official building were left open and the courtyard was crowded with well-dressed men and women.
There was a sensor on the gate checking for the card level of each person that passed under it. A card Kai didn’t have, but that didn’t concern him. He waited out of the camera range as a heavy-set man approached the gate. Then using the man as a shield for the cameras he timed his steps to match the man so they both hit the sensors at the same time. An alarm blared and the man jerked in surprise and waited for the gate to scan him again, but Kai was already weaving through the crowd.
Everyone seemed to be waiting for something and they kept looking to the front of the courtyard where a large set of closed doors were guarded by two men. Kai didn’t recognize their uniforms, but they weren’t from the local police or military and they didn’t seem interested in the crowd, which was perfect for Kai. He took his time moving around the groups of people and he spotted several rubies, no dark centers, but he still had half of the crowd to check.
There was an echoing click as one of the doors opened. Everyone around Kai shifted their attention to the front and stepped closer. Kai’s view was completely blocked but he could move without drawing attention to himself.
“I would like to thank all of you for being so patient,” said a man through a loudspeaker. “Our companion positions are still available and we would like--”
Kai couldn’t hear the rest because the people around him began talking all at once, half of them were asking, “What does he want us to do?”
Someone stepped on Kai’s foot and a woman backed into his chest, almost knocking him down. He scrambled back to his feet, trying to move against the crowd, but no one would let him squeeze past. A red ring flashed in the corner of Kai’s eye and he turned, going with the crowd to get a closer look. He had to push around a large man dressed in silk to catch up with the ring, but when he got a second look the ring didn’t even have a jewel and the whole thing was red silver.
Kai spotted a woman wearing hair jewelry and inched closer to check them out. The crowd was moving slowly to the front and Kai moved with them going from person to person until he found himself going up the steps and through the large doors into an enormous room. Kai pushed against the back of the person in front of him and tried to turn, but he only succeeded in getting dirty looks from the people around him. One woman wrinkled her nose and sniffed at him. She tugged at the sleeve of the woman next to her and they both stared at him with frowns on their faces.
Before they could bring attention to his presence, Kai ducked under the arm of the nearest person and kept going. The stream of people thinned as they spread out into the open room and suddenly Kai was standing apart from the human line out in the open. The room was made out of marble with tall ceilings and ornately framed mirrors along the walls. All the people were lining up against the one side and at the front there stood a girl with blond hair. She was surrounded by older men and women who were waving their hands and pointing at the crowd. Then she must have said something because those surrounding her stopped, the circle parted and she walked out with her shoulders straight. He wondered who she was and why there were so many people here.
“Get out of my way,” someone said and Kai was pushed from behind. He looked up and saw a young man leaving. There was something familiar about his face, but Kai didn’t have time to think about it because he was pushed from behind again. This time by a woman dressed in hot pink, she stomped by muttering under her breath. Kai watched them leave a moment and then sensing he was exposed out in the open he did his best to blend back in with the crowd.
He should leave. Entering the building wasn’t part of his plan and he had checked out enough people to know he wouldn’t find a ruby there. He took one last look around the room just to be sure and he pushed against the crowd back toward the door. The people were too distracted by the room and what was in it to notice him.
Kai glanced over his shoulder and saw two men walking in his direction. His breath stopped and his first thought was to leap into the crowd and fight his way out, but he hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t even attempted to steal something and they couldn’t know that was the real reason he was there. The worst they could do was to kick him out and that was what he wanted, so he faced them and let his face go blank.
“Young man, we would like you to accompany us,” said the older of the two.
“Fine,” Kai said.
But they didn’t turn him toward the door.