Remi ducked her head, allowing her strawberry blonde hair to fall across her face, obscuring her features and mostly covering her small horns, and instantly, sweet peace washed over her.

Now, there were far less people looking her way. Now, she was just another person who didn't matter.

Still, she was walking beside her strawberry blonde haired cousins who got a lot of looks—their horns giving them away, but at least the attention had left her. All she got were a couple curious glances, but without her face out there for everyone to see, Remi no longer felt the overwhelming irritation that normally clung tightly to her whenever she was in a crowd.

Now if only she could rid her poor ears of the incessant chattering of the crowd, perhaps they would stop throbbing.

Killure walked beside her, his hands shoved into his pockets and his eyes half open. He'd been annoyed with her ever since he woke up this morning, and had barely spoken more than two words to her. Whenever she'd tried to get more out of him, he'd curl his lips into a icy grin that chilled her to the bone. It was anything but friendly, and there was no warmth behind it, only bitterness.

Remi couldn't figure out what he was so irritated about. He didn't seem that way last night.

Blue glanced back at her. "Cousin, you really are quite antisocial."

Remi shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't like crowds. They bother me.

He eyed Remi coolly. Bliss shook her head at him, but didn't try to intervene. "You don't like crowds, because they're full of people. That's called being antisocial, and it's a character flaw. You need to work on that."

Bliss mouthed something, and Remi scowled in return, though they couldn't see it. "I don't need to see a shrink, Bliss."

"Oh, good idea," Blue commented, nodding in approval to his sister, who only giggled in reply.

A strong gust of wind blew past them, bringing welcome relief to their sweating bodies.

Unfortunately, it also blew off Remi's hood. She stopped walking, pausing to try get it back on her head.

A hand grabbed Remi's wrist, spinning her around and yanking her backwards. She had to do a lot of fancy footwork in order to keep herself from losing her balance and falling on her knees.

She found herself only a couple inches away from a bald man with rank breath and yellow teeth. He hissed at her like a snake when her hair fell back to reveal her horns. "Designer. Gonna take ya and make ya my whore, and I gon' live forever."

He tried to pull her into the chaos of the crowd, but Blue stepped in and grabbed the man's chubby arm.

With a hard look in his eyes, he instantly disintegrated the arm the man was using to latch onto Remi, then pulled skin over the bleeding stub left behind near his shoulder so that he wouldn't bleed out.

Remi fell stumbling back, trying to get away from the man as quickly as possible.

She watched with wide, terrified eyes as the man screamed and wailed in pain, staring in horror at where his arm used to be, and then glancing at the small pile of sparkling dust on the ground beneath him.

"My arm, ya snoot!" he bellowed, trying to grab Blue by the neck, but Blue sidestepped him. "I'll kill ya! Skin ya alive and hang yer guts out on a close-line to rot!"

The Designer regarded the man with an air of disgust. "Go ahead, try and grab me. But keep in mind that it only takes one touch and the rest of you will disintegrate into dust, just like your arm did. Your remains will become dirt on the street, on which people will kick, step, spit, and bleed. You will be nothing."

The man stepped back, and the wretched smell followed him. Remi allowed herself to let out the breath she'd been holding, and breathe in fresh air.

Blue took a step forward, unwilling to let him get away that easily. "Also, the girl you just put your filthy hands on is my cousin, and if you ever attempt to do so again, I'll give you a painful death."

Blue's words shocked the terrified man into action. He quickly spun around and dashed back into the crowd, disappearing from view.

With a blank stare Blue turned to Killure, who had been watching the exchange in mild amusement. "You. That was your job."

Killure only raised an eyebrow. He didn't bother to give an answer, as if he didn't care whether she lived or died. Realistically, Remi thought, he probably didn't.

Blue turned around and began walking again, setting the pace as they all followed behind him.

"Remi," he called without stopping, almost absentmindedly.

"Hmm?" she responded, after taking a deep breath and moving closer to her cousins so that no more hands would try to snatch her up again. Her hood was back in place once more.

"Can I kill your pathetic excuse for a body guard?"

Remi sighed and shook her head. "No, Blue."

"I could make it a quick death. Actually, I probably wouldn't. That would require a lot more self control than I possess."

Remi parted her lips to speak, but Killure beat her to the punch.

"Perhaps I'll kill you in your sleep tonight. Tear you limb from limb and then eat you," Killure replied indignantly, biting into a bright red, crispy apple that he'd snatched off some produce stand. His next words were slightly muffled by the food in his mouth, but they were still fairly easy to make out. "Supposedly a Designer can't heal themselves, so once I decapitate and burn you, there'd be no hope."

"Killure!" Remi growled in surprise, yanking on his arm. "Don't say things like that."

He merely flicked his eyes to her for a moment, then resumed staring straight ahead without a care in the world.

Blue glanced back as they walked. "Feisty. I like this one. He's amusing. Until I kill him, he should be entertaining to have around."

Remi rolled her eyes. Their horses should be here soon, and she couldn't wait until she was sat on the back of one so that the clopping of hooves could drown out some of the noise around her.

Suddenly Blue stopped walking, and Remi found herself face-first in his back. She winced and stepped back, rubbing at her lightly throbbing nose.

"Where's my sister?" Blue asked, his tone growing cold. He spun around in a circle, anxious eyes searching frantically for her.

Remi had never seen him show so much emotion before, but she hardly had any time to think about that.

Her heart, too, dropped out from beneath her, and she too began scanning the crowd for a short girl with a face framed by a strawberry-blonde bob cut.

Nothing.

Of course, even if she was around, there was a good chance that they wouldn't even be able to see Bliss. The multitude of people surrounding them was simply too large and the area too crowded.

Furiously, Blue dove into the crowd and began searching, knocking into everyone in his path. Some began to yell, until they caught sight of his hair and realized who he was, stopping short.

Remi ran after him, not wanting to become separated from Blue.

———

After more than twenty frustrating minutes of pushing through the crowd and scanning stalls and shops for Bliss, Blue finally stopped. He narrowed his eyes and looked around once more, before letting out an aggravated sigh.

Remi wasn't far behind him. She'd searched nearby book shops, fruit stands, and almost anything she came across, but hadn't seen her silent cousin anywhere.

Intense, potent worry was beginning to eat at her nerves. The city was an incredibly dangerous place, with deranged psychopaths and creeps at every turn.

Any multitude of terrible, unspeakable things could happen to a pretty girl alone in the city, and it would even worse if they found out Bliss was a Designer. Her hair and horns would be a dead giveaway, and Remi didn't think her cousin brought a hat.

Remi let out an exhausted, fearful breath of air. She turned to Killure, who didn't look the least bit concerned. He also hadn't even been pretending to look for Bliss.

"Killure," she snapped, grabbing his attention.

"Yes, master?" he replied tantalizingly, his dark blue eyes mocking her.

"Fly above and look for Bliss. Your eyes are better than ours, and you'll probably be able to sniff her out fairly quickly too. Blue and I will wait together until you bring her back," Remi told him seriously, quickly turning her back on him before he could quip a sarcastic reply. She wasn't in the mood for his attitude right now.

"I'm not going to sit around while my sister is all alone, lost," Blue stated, his voice sharp like a shard of ice.

"You won't be able to help very much right now," Remi protested, trying to get him to see reason.

"It's better than doing nothing," he replied stubbornly. "Besides, I don't trust your slave to protect her. It's not in his contract, so he has no obligation to look out for her well being."

"Fine," Remi huffed in exasperation. "We'll all go."

"No," Blue shook his head. "The Icix and I will go. You're too directionally challenged, and will just get lost—just like you have four times already in the past 20 minutes. If you end up getting lost and we find Bliss, we'll be no better off than when we started."

He was right, but Remi hated to admit it. She had always been quite bad with directions, and would only be a burden. Still, it took her a few moments to concede. The words felt like lead on her tongue.

She glared at him. "Fine. I'll wait in that tea and spice shop."

"I'm feeling a bit tired right now," Killure stated with a cold smile. "Don't really feel like flying."

Remi whipped around on him, eyes blazing. "Look, Killure! This is my cousin that we're talking about. My best friend. Get her back to me safely."

Killure stared at her hard, and for a moment she thought he was going to make up another obviously lame excuse just to make her even angrier.

But he didn't.

He finally nodded, stretched out his wings—knocking over four or five people in the process. With one powerful leap, he shot into the air in a blur like an arrow, and began circling overhead.

Remi craned her neck up at the sky and watched him in awe. His movement were so smooth and graceful—beautiful and free.

He probably wasn't allowed to fly in the past, as his previous owners wanted to break him and make him feel like he had no escape. At least, that's what Remi's father would have done, so she assumed others were the same way. That was probably why he hadn't protested too much about flying overhead.

Remi briefly wondered what it would be like having the ability to fly but rarely being allowed to do so.

She knew the answer: it would be torture.

Hoping he'd be able to spot Bliss, Remi turned to tell Blue to be careful, only to find that her cousin was already gone.