In a while, I reached the area of well-shaded private houses and backyards. My luck was quite good and this area was not unreasonably packed by the infamous London CCTV. That way I could avoid shops and ATMs with their security cameras without arousing too much suspicion from the rare passersby.

Choosing the moments when I was out of the windows’ and people’s sight, I occasionally used my top speed to rush into the backyards and snatch a shirt or a pair of pants that were left to dry and seemed to be my size. While doing that, I kept wondering about British logic, which prompted locals to attempt to dry their clothes outdoors in early February. While my speed now was a lot lower than before, it still took less than five seconds each time, so I was not too worried about being noticed.

This February in London was windy, damp and chilly, but without snow. Thanks to that, the dark grey weather discouraged most people from staying outside, so the chances that I could be tracked were close to zero.

Soon I reached a larger expanse of grassland with trees and thick shrubs, which according to surrounding signs was Victoria Park. There I spotted a shady part of greenery covered in brown branches, wilted leaves and car-sized bushes, which considering the lack of visitors was a perfect place to change my attire.

---

At least a third of my attention had to be diverted to quickly withdraw my armor and form a skin-hugging layer that resembled a thick wetsuit before I could try the clothes on. Thanks to that I was also not flashing my naked butt in the thickets. Soon I was wearing a dark grey hoodie and a bit too baggy bleached jeans without belt.

The hoodie was a lucky find, as it helped me to hide my eyecatchingly long hair, although it was rather uncomfortable to have hair stuffed inside the hoodie. The jeans, however, were kept up using a string of leather, as I still did not have a proper belt.

After I had rolled up the massive spirdhide cloak to carry it under my arm, I looked like some teenage student returning from a supermarket sale. Or at least, I hoped I looked like one - as long as one did not pay close attention to my feet. I was still wearing sabatons merged with boots, which further up took the shape of greaves, now luckily covered up with jeans. I also discarded the contacts, regaining the fairly unnoticeable dark eyes. Although the combination of unnaturally pale face and black irises could easily cause some interest from police, but that was a risk I could not avoid.

***

“For fanden!” - I cursed in Danish as I carefully pulled myself up onto the pier of the Thames’ southern bank. After a moment, a paper-thin blood red layer that had covered my whole body, slowly returned under my clothes. The water and mud were simultaneously rolled down towards the soles of my feet, so I ended up dry and clean even after a quite long trek over the riverbed.

I had previously spent quite a bit of time in Victoria Park, staring at the public Map of London display while slowly formulating plans for my next steps.

First and foremost, I had to remain invisible for official government, as I was unsure about their attitude towards paranormal entities like the one I had become. Also, appearing and disappearing on my own would give me initiative in our future interactions.

Second issue was fairly simple - money and some sort of base. I also needed untraceable access to Internet and a phone.

Third was checking to what happened to my original body I had left behind. And contacting my family in case it was safe to do so.

Fourth thing I was facing was to rapidly obtain as much relevant information on supernatural and mythological topics as possible. My international cultures degree was clearly not enough to deal with the unknown possibilities I was facing now.

Having ended up with these four main points, I decided to make use of the River Lea which flowed just next to the park and move towards the southern districts. I even spent so much time on turning my armor into a thin waterproof suit that it was pitch black night by the time I entered the water. I had also found out that even a paper-thin layer of my armor was opaque, so when it covered my face, I had to rely only on my combined magical perception to feel the surroundings.

And to make things worse, my extremely dense body tissues turned out to be far from buoyant, so as soon as I had jumped into the water, I sunk straight down towards the bottom. In addition, I still had several bags with me, which even if safely isolated from the water, remained bulky and tended to get stuck behind old logs, boards, rusty bicycles, washing machines and just old plain mounds of mud and weeds. I was really thankful to my physique which still managed to somehow remain untiring and unreliant on oxygen and allowed me to simply plough through the riverbed under the cover of the night.

---

I did not stay long by the river. Instead, I quickly found another public map and followed the directions to the nearby Greenwich Park. There, I waited through the night, avoiding CCTV and rare people who hurried along their own business.

During early morning hours, I exited the park and confirmed the location of a small electronics shop. I still had to wait until 9am, so I spent my time searching for cameras and ensuring surveillance-free directions. Unfortunately, with the density of surveillance in London reaching unholy levels, I was forced to let my back get captured in a few places.

I forced myself to wait until it was 10am before I entered the shop and purchased a cheap smartphone with pay-as-you-go prepaid SIM card, casually mentioning that I had lost my phone while being on a student competition trip. Unexpectedly, it took a while for me to explain that I also wanted to top up the phone balance. An elderly Hindu clerk grumbled something unintelligible in response, and completed the transaction without paying any attention to me at all. That freed me of the last money I had, but at least I had a phone now.

After a short, heavily accented dialogue, I was allowed to charge my phone near the counter, so I spent time observing and training how to fidget in a naturally human way. Crack finger joints, scratch nose, blink, twist a strand of beard - shop clerk was not very busy, sitting and listening to some Hindi radio station, completely oblivious to the fact that he had just sold a phone to a person who could potentially flip over cars with one hand.

---

I was almost bored out of my mind by the time my new phone shone the “battery-is-full” green light. I grabbed my phone and with a “Bye!” towards the clerk (that earned an “Mrpr” in response), I rushed out.

I returned into the park, where I safely blended in with all sorts of usual joggers and other fans of fresh air, who seemed to sincerely believe into the positive health impact of the damp and chilly February London air.

Unnoticed by others, I quickly crushed in my fist the phone I had stolen on Game Con, leaving behind only an unrecognizable lump of plastic shards. I kept the battery though, intending to dispose of it in an environmentally responsible way.

Now that I had disposed of the last possible direct lead, I felt myself to subconsciously relax a bit.

I pulled out my new phone, and after a series of quick taps to dismiss all sorts of prompts to register the phone, myself and seemingly everything up to my grandmother’s childhood friend’s third cousin, I could finally put it into use.

One of my highest priorities was getting funds. While my family was well-off and I had gotten significant support despite earning enough myself for the last few years, I was unsure about the current situation with my bank credentials. Also, an electronic money transfer into Great Britain from abroad would leave a way too noticeable document trail.

Because of that, I pulled out the search engine and typed “dangerous area london”. After browsing a few articles, notes about gangs, gunfights and rampant crime caught my eye. After checking the map, I now knew my next stop - Peckham, a real London ghetto, straight to the west from my current location.