For a moment, it was so peaceful, up there on the roof. I could see the entire town, all the way to the Job Fair compound where the job fair Satellite Spaceship had docked. The Satellite Spaceship was much bigger than I had imagined it to be. It was a towering building at least the size of two malls, which had large talon-like spikes that seemed to be anchoring the Spaceship into place.

If I hadn’t grown up seeing a huge empty plain where the ship now stood, I would never have known that such a formidable building had always been there, however at 5 pm that afternoon, it would disappear, only opening up from 8 am to 5 pm, to cater to the 18-year-old job applicants who wanted to sign up in the area for an apprenticeship.

There was only a record of 20 people who either had already turned 18 or were going to turn 18 that year, so the job fair didn’t need to extend the time for too long, as they were only taking applications from a handful of us.

However, this also meant that we all only got one shot. After this, we had to wait until we were 35 to apply again, and if you came from this town, you did not want to do that.

The reverie broke as a hand clamped down on the roof.

A hyper-sped version of Plastic Love by Mariya Takeuchi started playing and I allowed myself to sway to it. I put it on single-track replay and took a step to the side. I always had an issue with my core strength, so to make the jump, I needed to start out running. It would have been easier to use my wings, but since I refused to play ball and agreed to stay home instead of going to the job fair, they were still stapled to my back with the magnetic lock that my mother had placed on them when I was ten. It was genetically coded to my mother’s handprint, so those weren’t coming in hand any time soon, or even for the rest of my life.

An assassin pulled themself up and I started to see the familiar sniper dots travelling across the roof, trying to get a good shot at me, however, they had been positioned to aim at my room and not at the roof, so they were all scrambling to get to a better vantage point.

“Alaina Winters, you come down here this minute!” I heard my mother’s voice, which meant that she was in flight with her huge moth wings, and would be bearing down on me at any moment.

It was now or never.

“Dance to the plastic beat, Another morning comes”,  the song played in my ear and I started to run.

“I'm just playing games, I know that's plastic love”,  the song went on and I took that final step off my foster parents' roof, and into my future.

The jump propelled me straight off the roof and as I sailed over the main house’s courtyard, I took out the first two concealed daggers and threw them in front of me.

They struck solid into the top of the inner gate that divided the courtyard from the exterior courtyard, and as I landed smack into the top of the gate’s covered roof, I managed to get a foot grip by standing on the anchored daggers.

I could feel my entire body burning and smarting from the impact of such a hard landing, however, that was a number of bruises to worry about after I had registered at the job fair.

I could hear my mother’s high-pitched scream as I scrambled over the top of the roof, but there was no looking back. Although my mother was terrifying, my foster father was far worse, and he was probably only seconds away from reaching me.

To get away from Father Fangs, my only hope was to escape through a house that he had never been invited to, and guess where he had never been invited?

The Outhouse.

I gingerly walked off the top of the roof and as I glanced back for a second I saw said demonic force marching down the courtyard, wielding his favourite spiked ball on a re-enforce chain, just waiting to get near enough to pull me down and give me a stern talking to.

Well thankfully for me the outhouse was just outside the exterior gate and as I jumped down, I slipped into the outhouse and pushed open the loose panel at the back and entered the empty space in the wooden fence that surrounded the Winter Manor’s exterior.

I could hear my father banging on the door and I wanted so badly to snicker at the thought of such a tall and intimidating man staring down the closed door of an outdoor toilet, however, I steeled myself and crept as carefully as I could towards the other loose panel that I had loosed a year ago, under the guise of “throwing a tantrum” while going to the toilet before heading out to town.

I could hear my mother’s voice as I pushed open another loose side panel and had to bit back a laugh as I exited the narrow space into the woods beyond the manor with the sound of my mother opening the door and then saying “Come in” so that my father could enter the outhouse with her. Sadly that amusement was short-lived as a guttural roar was heard as my father realised I was nowhere to be found.

The Winter Manor was built into the side of a mountain, so there was only woodland flanking it on either side. I had found the fastest way down during all our woodland training sessions was to purposefully send myself rolling down the hill, despite my instructions and best efforts at catching my limp body as I sent myself careening down into the ravine that ran along the base of the mountain.

I braced myself and once I saw the exact spot, I threw myself down the side of the mountain as I had done many times before. The bag acted like a kind of cushion, and I could hear whatever extra thing someone had snuck in there shatter and some kind of substance started to ooze out.

The substance burnt to the touch so I threw off the bag and let it fall away from me while I continued to roll down the mountain. So much for my disguise for when I was in town, but then again the tracker had gone with it as well, so that would at least buy me some time in that respect.

I couldn’t see or hear anything aside from the breaking branches and the scenery rushing past me. Just as I was about to worry, I burst out of the bushes and was thrown into the rushing current, which carried me down the river, towards the town water catchment and water reservoir.

You would think that my earphones and MP3 player would be gone, however, they had survived much worse, and as I floated downstream, I was glad I had chosen the waterproof versions of each because it was kind of peaceful floating on my back with Plastic Love playing on X2.

Just as I getting comfortable floating downstream I started hearing the sound of rushing water and I knew I had to get out of the water before I ended up at the bottom of the upcoming waterfall, which I hadn’t trained for.

I quickly backstroked my way to the edge of the river bank and as I hit shallow water, I sat up and brushed out the twigs and leaves in my hair, before standing up to brush off other items from my clothes. Assassin attire was very tough, able to withstand fire, freezing temperatures, bullets and even short blades, and it dried off fast, so I knew that overall my body was fine, however by cleaning off any bits of nature and styling my hair, I would look less odd when I entered the town, and that might buy me some time before the assassins stationed in town picked up that there was something wrong, and I shouldn’t have been there at all.

Once I checked myself and was satisfied that I had cleaned of most of it, I started a light jog towards the town. I could hear the central clock tower chime 7 times, which meant that it was 7 am. I had one hour to reach, and be within the compounds of the job fair, if not I was as good as dead.

I kept my eyes peeled for abandoned houses or dark rooms that I could slip into that I could perhaps lay low for a while in order to get my bearings.

“Pssst,” I heard someone say from above me.

I looked up to see a moth girl huddled up on a branch, looking down at me. She couldn’t have been more than 17 at the most. She had the longest lashes, and her feelers were yellow like the sun, twitching in curiousity as she observed me from above. Her coat was a soft pink and yellow, as she spoke, I could see her wings twitch and bristle as she was subconsciously ever alert for possible danger in the area.

I felt myself blush slightly, moth girls were the prettiest...

“High Break?” She asked, turning her head to the side to observe me with her many lenses.

I nodded. Even her tone of voice was so pleasant to listen to. I shook my head, I had to focus, I was trying to get my first apprenticeship, not my first girlfriend~!

She beckoned me up and I scaled the tree. I was running out of time but the girl had wings, and maybe if I could strike a deal, we could cover more ground via her wings.

“I saw you, rolling through the woods, are you ok?” She asked, sticking out a claw amicably.

I shook it firmly, touched by the concern, and low-key more smitten than ever, “ Yeah, I did that for five years on purpose, and before that for five years by accident, so I’m fine. Could do with a bit of salve but I’m gonna worry about that after we get to the job fair”

“Right well, I don’t see any wings on you, how are you gonna get over the wall?” She asked, gesturing to the concrete wall that separated the town from the job fair site.

“I err…I hadn’t thought of it that far, I was hoping to at least get to it and then maybe figure it out as I went along” I replied sheepishly.

“I’m Apple,” The moth girl said and sniffed at me. Her feelers twitched as she looked me up and down “ But you are half butterfly, why don’t you just use your wings?” She asked.

I froze. How did she? Right, I’m talking to another moth…like my foster mom…I sighed and rubbed the space between my eyes. Beautiful and intelligent, she was out of my league.

“My wings are….magnetically locked. I can’t….” I started and Apple started making clicking sounds with her proboscis.

“Butterfly discrimination,” she said disapprovingly and stood up “ I’ll kill them”

“My parents? You’ll kill my foster parents?” I asked, still crouched as I looked up at Apple, standing in her full glory, with her pink and yellow wings spread out in full.

“No, whoever invented those stinking clamps. Light enough to remain suspended on insect wing tissue, unbreakable to prevent those apprehended from flying away. Absolutely horrible form of restraint. They should all have their arms clamped to their side and see how they like walking around without the use of their appendage. It’s because engineers like that embolden people like your parents to use and abuse such contraptions. I’m reporting the illegal use of security weaponry on a minor when we reach the job fair” Apple snapped.

“Yeah but, they are gene-locked to my mom, even if you report it, they are still locked” I explained wryly.

Apple looked down at me like she was looking at some poor lost ladybug. She patted me on the head “ Don’t worry, I got you. Anyway let’s get you to the fair first, then we can worry about silly old mom and her power trip”

Apple touched a hand-stitched pouch at her side and it opened, and several items levitated out of it.

“I’ve been an admin on the High Break website for three years, so I’m out here assisting those who do not possess flying devices. I think this one will help you once you get to the wall. I know that scaling the wall might be quick, but since no one is expecting you to fly, then fly you must! It will be faster and more effective at shaking off whoever is tracking you” Apple said and with a flick of her wrist, a miniature jet pack flew into my open hands.

“I’ll make a move first, click the red button at the back when you are in a safe place near the wall, and the jet pack will de-shrink and be ready to use,” Apple explained and winked, “ See you on the other side, mountain roller,” she said and with one mighty flap of her wings, gracefully took flight and slipped through the canopy above, disappearing out of sight.

“It’s Alaina!” I shouted after her but she was already out of sight and out of hearing range.