9 Chapter Nine: Service With a Smile (2/2)

”Guess you have to flex your sneaking abilities” Siran says to Finn.

”I can only do so much with magic before I get worn out” Finn says.

”That's why I give people this” Siran says as he holds out his hand once again, as that blackish smoke pours out from his palm.

”Is this that power you were talkin' about?” Finn asks. ”That power that you give to people? And here I thought you were talking about spiritual power or something obscure like that”

”I chose my words carefully” Siran says.

”Guess it's now or never” Finn says and he gives Siran a firm handshake, and the smoke envelopes Finn momentarily before suddenly disappearing. Finn stares at his hand for a short moment before checking his entire body in panic. ”I kinda expected something bad to happen” he says.

”I'm not THAT kind of person” Siran says. ”Are you guys ready?”

”Ready when you are” Alex responds.

”That's a stupid question, of course I'm ready” Zia replies.

”Hey!” Siran replies.

Zia shrugs her shoulders and says ”Ask stupid questions; get stupid answers, Siran”

”I'm good to go” Finn says, not acknowledging the overly playful tone between the rest of them.

They all silently slip closer to the warehouse. A couple guards walk by in pairs and Finn tries to react as fast as possible. One of the guards sees them in the corner of his eye for a split moment, and when he shines a light towards them, he could not see anything out of the ordinary.

”You see something?” One guard asks the other.

”Guess not” the other guard replies.

As the two guards leave, the four of them seem to reappear out of thin air.

”Good thinking with that wall” Siran replies.

”It was close, but somehow easier to cast such a large-scale illusion so quick” Finn says. ”Is that the power you gave me?”

”Yep” Siran replies, ”it's a source of magic that replenishes itself, kinda like your natural flow of magic. It won't run out, so you'll have it forever. It basically just increases your capacity to use magic by a lot more. So much more, that depending on the amount of magic you use, you basically have infinite magic capabilities”

”Well isn't that handy?” Finn says to himself.

They find a truck right around the corner with no guards around. Finn manages to get the driver's side door open as Siran casted a digital sound barrier to prevent any guards from hearing the alarm. As the alarm goes off, Finn begins to panic.

”Shit shit shit shit shit!” Finn shouts, ”I forgot about the alarms!”

”Don't worry” Siran says, ”I'm blocking the sounds waves from reaching anyone else's ears. They can't hear it right now”

”Why didn't you tell me that SOONER!?” Finn yells.

Siran just shrugs and says ”I forgot I guess”

”You guess?” Finn asks. ”YOU GUESS!? I outta slug you!”

Siran sits in the seat of the truck and envelopes his hand in electricity. He touches the console of the truck and the alarms turned off. Next, Finn pops open the compartment below the steering wheel of the truck to expose wires.

”All you gotta do is hotwire the truck to get it started” Finn says.

Siran stares at the wires. There were a lot of wires, too many for Siran to even care to count before realizing that it's hopeless for him to try. ”Uhh” Siran says, ”why don't you try it?”

”It can't be that hard” Finn says, ”you just have to split the red wire and-”

”All of the wires are red” Siran interrupts.

”Let me see” Finn says as he looks inside. ”Shit! Uh... okay! Try doing your shock thing again to start the truck!”

Siran just shrugs as he shocks the truck again, only for the alarm to go off again. He shuts the alarms off once more and looks at Finn. Finn begins pounding his fists on the truck, while mumbling to himself. Just then, another two guards came by.

”We've got company” Alex says as he points his thumb over his shoulder at the two guards. All of them hid under, behind and inside of the truck. Zia sat in the passenger seat as Siran sat in the driver seat, both of them with their heads low so they wouldn't get spotted through the windshield. Alex hid under the tail of the truck, and Finn hid behind. As the guards got closer to the truck, shining a flashlight at the still open door of the truck, Finn snuck around the other side of the truck. One picked up his walkie-talkie and just before he could press a single button to talk, Finn smacked them over the head, knocking both of them out.

”That was too close!” Finn said as the rest came out of hiding. ”What are we gonna do about this truck?”

Zia points to the ground, next to the unconscious body of one of the guards. ”Look, one of them dropped a key” she says.

”Well, that's awfully convenient” Finn says. ”It's our lucky day!”

Finn takes the key and inserts it into the truck and turns it, but nothing happens. He tries again, and again, and again before getting pissed again and pounding his fists on the steering wheel.

”Guess it goes to another truck then” Siran says. Siran then turns around to find another truck parked next to this one, and they open the door, this time with the key. They hear it unlock and Finn and Siran look at each other and nod as if proud that it all worked out somehow. Before they board the truck, Siran goes up to the two guards and shock their walkie-talkies. Smoke emits from the walkie-talkies and then Siran casts another digital sound barrier around the other truck.

”I'm going to have to stay very focused in order to keep this sound barrier up and move the barrier at the same time, so drive steady” Siran says as he sits in the long bed of the truck. They take off without giving off a sound, avoiding the line of sight of any and every guard. As they leave, the two guards wake up. They panic and pick up their walkie-talkies and try to talk but both of their walkie-talkies short circuit and refuse to work. So the other guard pulls a different key and turns on the first truck that they tried to steal, only for that to short circuit too and give off smoke.

”You gotta be kidding me!” Finn says. The other guard had the right key the WHOLE DAMN TIME!?”

”It's a good thing we didn't take that truck” Alex says.

They arrive back at the abandoned house and start getting everyone onto the truck. The kids were asleep and Siran helped carry Isabelle out since her mother could only carry one child at a time, and put her down gently in the bed on the truck, leaning her head against her mother's lap for comfort. Isabelle briefly wakes up, opens her eyes to see Zia and Siran sitting in the back of the truck with everyone else before she says ”thanks, Zia and Syr” and she closes her eyes again and goes back to sleep.

”We don't have much time before they start figuring out where we are” Siran says, ”let's get a move on!”

The truck starts driving off as Zia stares at Isabelle with a smile on her face then looks at Siran and laughs.

”Ha ha” Zia says, ”Syr... I like that name”

”I think it sounds weird” Siran says quietly.

”I think it suits your childish nature” Zia replies.