Leo was the first to leave, carefully descending the ladder and disappearing again through the trap door.

If Leo was handling West, Alison, and Daemeon, that left…. Rael, Rose Lily, The Twins, BiBi, Sam, Crystal, Tyson, Julian and Lizzy. Although out of all these people, I had only met BiBi and Crystal in person, I knew about everyone’s background as we shared information about each other in the private chat group where we discussed our plans of escape.

Rael, Tyson, and Julian didn’t need help, as they had already informed us that their parents were okay with them pursuing an apprenticeship. That left the rest. Now it was known that Rose Lily was smitten with Nelson, and if Nelson had defected, that meant she would, too.

Lizzy was fine, being a bird, and she was probably the first of us all at the job fair.

So that left the Twins, Sam, Crystal, and Bibi. Wait…And Apple gave us exactly 10 extra devices between us? How did Apple know just how many flightless people were in need?  Apple Bloom was really good at her job as an admin. I wonder if she had made these deductions based on the intel she gathered from being an admin on the High Breaker Website.

I peered over the ledge at the houses below. The closest house was the Twins' place, which was just a street away. As I squinted at the window on the second level, I was sure I could see some movement there, so I could at least confirm a first stop at the Twins' room.

Then, from there, they had a trap door that led to the sewers in their outhouse, which was thankfully connected to the second level via an escape ladder, so I could hit the sewers and make a beeline for Sam, the baker’s boy, who usually was hiding out in the cellar as it was the best temperature for reptilian folk.

Next, after checking on Sam, I’ll pop over to BiBi, who lives on a farm near the baker’s place. The farm supplied the Bakery with wheat flour and milk, amongst many other products that the Leviathans produced in their fields and pastures.

For Crystal, I wasn’t quite sure how I’d find her as she was a feisty creature, who was probably on the run. I would probably need to already be in flight to seek her out and see if she needed help, however, a good bet would be the route through the woods from her house, which was a block away from the Bakers, so I’d keep heading towards the job fair’s direction after I made sure BiBi was safe and on his way over as well.

Satisfied with my plan of action, I made my descent down the ladder as well. Halfway down I saw a small window that led out onto the main roof. From there, it looked like a straight jump to the adjacent house, so instead of going all the way down, I pushed open the small window and squeezed through the narrow opening to tumble out onto the surface of the hot roof tiles.

I jumped up, the rough surface of the tiles scrapping my hands and snagging on my outfit. However, I pushed that pain to the back of my mind as I took in my surroundings. No one had noticed me yet, so I needed to move quickly if I was going to make it in and out of the Twin’s compound without being detected.

Scanning around, I saw some assassins walking down the street and turning the corner, giving me a few seconds of undetected freedom.

 Once I was sure the last assassin had rounded the corner, I made a mad dash, and propelled myself off the roof, throwing another two daggers to the wall that surrounded the adjacent house, and as they struck rock, I grabbed hold of them, using them to propel myself over the edge, and yanked them out as I flew over, leaving no trace behind.

I landed on soft grass and took a moment to breathe in before checking my blind spots to see if there was anyone in pursuit that I didn’t know of.

Across from me, sliding doors of the lover floor open, and what looked to be the lady of the house stood holding a cup of wine, staring me down.

“Oh! Your colleagues were just here, did they leave you behind? The job is already done, do you need a tip?” She sniffed.

I had learned from a young age that clients prefer to do all the talking, so I simply bowed my head, acted like a good assassin, and waited for the client to leave first.

A few gold pieces rolled into view as the lady tossed them and closed the sliding door behind her. I guess she expected that was what I came for.

I scooped up the pieces and tucked them into my pocket. Then, I ran to the side of the wall, grabbed hold of the drainpipe that ran up to the second story, passed the Twin’s bedroom, and started climbing up to the second story.

Once I had scaled the wall, I slipped a foot onto the window ledge, and peered into the room I had seen movement in.

There, sitting on the floor, tied up and looking very disgruntled, were two identical-looking mice girls. Their tails twitched in annoyance as they seemed to be trying to figure out how to get out of their predicament.

I used one of my knives to wedge into the gap in the window and flipped up the latch. The window opened smoothly, and I slipped into the room, closing the window behind me.

“Oh brother, you just caught us and tied us up, what do you want now?” One of the twins sulked as they noticed us enter their room.

“I’m GHB2010, real name Alaina, I’m just passing through. I’m trying my best to check on all those who don’t have wings, to see if they need assistance,” I said and walked over as quietly as possible, trying not to alert anyone that someone was walking around up here.

I bent down and used my knives to slice open the ropes, and then I took out the gold pieces their foster parent had thrown at me.

“Your foster parent thought I was here to get a tip, so you can either return this,” I said, showing them the gold pieces, “or keep it, I don’t really care,” I said and placed it on the floor for them to get when they were free from the ropes.

 “And then Admin gave me these to give to those who can’t fly,” I explained. I took out two of the flying devices, placed them in the little pile along with the pieces of gold, and then went to work cutting the ropes that bound the twins’ legs. “Press the red button at the back, and it will activate the device,” I explained.

“I’m Tella,” The Twin on the left with blue crystal earpieces and large blue eyes said.

“I’m Novella,” The Twin on the right said with a big pink bow tied around their neck and large green eyes, immediately pushing the ropes away and picking up the device I had left on the ground for the twins.

“Oh, cool!” Novella said a bit too loud, which was rewarded by a smack from Tella. “Not too loud; she went out of her way to save us. Let’s not ruin this,” she hissed.

“Thank you,” Novella said sheepishly. She looked up at me and then back at the device in her hand.

I smiled and nodded “Which way to the escape hatch?” I asked.

“It's right at the corner of our room, hidden under that toy box,” Tella said as they tried as quietly as possible to stand up and remove the ropes from themselves and their twin, who was really absorbed in inspecting the tiny flight device.

“Well, I can see which of you is bound for the galactic engineering route,” I snickered, and Tella rolls her eyes.

“Unfortunately for me, both of us are. If I don’t keep an eye on this airhead, she’ll be floating out in space without an oxygen supply,” Tella retorted and snatched the device out of their sister’s hand, “Escape the ropes now, activate the device later!” She snapped and Novella pouted but finally started separating herself from the mess of ropes she was still entangled in.

“Alright see ya!” I said and took my leave, tiptoeing over to the toy box, which I pushed aside and lifted the trap door, to the escape hatch.

As I pulled the escape hatch over my head, the sound of a machine starting up could be heard. Despite their better judgment, it sounded like the twins were so delighted with their new device that they started shrieking in delight as they got it working.

I shook my head and hoped that they at least locked the door before they started their nonsense, and I quickly made my descent down, needing to put as much distance as I could between this place and myself now that I had successfully given the twins their way out.

The escape hatch led to a door that opened out to the backyard of the house, but a loose wallboard also led to the attached outhouse, so I slipped into there and stomped around to find the hollow area that hid the trap door to the sewers.

“YAHOOOOOO!!!!” Suddenly, I heard it somewhere high above me, and I couldn't help but laugh as I tried to picture the twins shooting off into the sky, with their foster parents staring at them in shock, her wine glass falling from her fingers.

It suddenly stopped being a laughing matter when gunshots were fired. As shouting began and heavy footsteps started running through the house, my foot finally stomped down on a hollow area of the floor, and I bent down and pulled up the secret trap door. A familiar ladder disappeared down to nowhere, and this time, I didn’t bother to climb, jumping down and pulling down the trapdoor behind me.