Andvari

It was interesting watching Kai's reaction to everything in the Maggums, both the good and the bad. I assumed she had never been in the Maggums before. I saw her wince at some old woman throwing bottles at her husband, but smile when she saw little kids playing maggot ball down the street. She analyzed each mural and each graffiti art with the same intensity she might have had analyzing a masterpiece. I found myself going slower as we flew past them, just so she could get a better look.

But at the very edge, just outside the limits of the neighborhood, was the Admiral's Ice Cream Parlor. I pulled up to the front, letting her step off the sailor before locking it in one of the lock boxes outside the parlor.

Jumping off, Kai's eyes landed on something just past my shoulder. "Someone's watching us."

I followed her gaze behind us. She was right. We were at the edge of Purple territory, where the Mechanics operated.

"Yeah, you go inside. I'll make sure they're not looking for any trouble."

Hesitantly, she nodded. "Okay." I found her about as convincing as my little sister.

"Really, it's nothing. Just some—" I forced myself to say it "—old friends. I'll meet you inside, go on."

I didn't move until she had walked through the front door. Turning on my heel, I walked over to a little alleyway between two of the nicer houses the Maggums had to offer. One of the earlier, sturdier, more house-shaped houses they built before giving up.

"Well, well, well," Mario crowed, "isn't this a surprise. Little Andi's all grown up. Man, you're taller than me now. Last time you was here, you must've been—"

I crossed my arms. "What do you want?"

Mario was the head of the Mechanics, a group of largely boys that operated the Purple sector of the Maggums. They were carjackers, mostly, but a few had unnatural aqua colored rings around their irises, eluding to the use of the blue lotus narcotic. It was found in most drugs these days. I even caught Lou with it a few times.

"Want?" He laughed. "Want?" He looked back toward the rest of his crew, who chuckled. "No, we don't want nothing man, but you know the rules of the Maggums. And that girl over there, she seems to be a violation."

"But we could take her off your hands for you," said a tall boy in the back.

I almost smiled. Even if they could tell she wasn't from around here, they hadn't recognized her yet.

"Yeah, no thanks. I only came over here to make sure you weren't going to bother us."

"Aw, poor little Andi's embarrassed of us. Doesn't want us to ruin his date."

I rolled my eyes. It was no use trying to correct him. "Just don't—"

"Hey, Andi?"

I swore to myself. Kai was standing just behind me, easily discernible thanks to her white and purple hair streaks.

Whistling, Mario stepped forward, swinging his arm around my shoulder. He started sputtering then laughed like a maniac. "You've gotta—you gotta be kidding me, kid. The Princess? The Princess? You've gotta be kidding me."

"What's going on here?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, honey." The idiot let a knife slide down his sleeve, holding it against my throat. It was only a joke. "What's going on with you?"

Unfortunately for him, she didn't laugh. Her eyes widened and just when I was afraid she was going to scream, she untucked her loose shirt and pulled a small gun out of a belt concealed under it, aiming it straight at his forehead. I could have sworn I saw a shark carved in neon blue on its side. "Philyra, please contact the second precinct police station and start recording."

"What the crap, man." Mario raised his hands in the air. The knife fell to the ground with a clatter. "I wasn't actually going to cut him."

"So, you—so you admit you threatened to?" her voice squeaked.

"What, no I—I was just messing around, you descended—"

"Disarm yourself of any other weaponry, please."

Very slowly, he crouched down pulling a second, much larger knife out of his jacket and placing it beside the one from his sleeve.

"You really expect me to believe that's your only weapon?"

"Whoa, man. Is she serious?" He looked back to me.

I nodded, raising my hands in case she decided to turn the gun on me. "I think so."

Mario pulled out a third knife and a plastic gun, laying them on the ground.

"Now, uh, the rest of you."

Noises of complaint raced through the group and, adjusting her aim, she fired a warning shot into the dumpster.

"Okay, okay." The rest of them crouched down, pulling weaponry out of their bags, jackets, and pant pockets.

Kai didn't put her gun back in her waistband until they finished. Seeing we were out of immediate danger, her posture seemed to relax slightly and she talked more calmly than before. "The police are going to be here in about five minutes, so..."

They ran off.

"Philyra, stop recording. Please forward to the second precinct, please." She ran her fingers through her hair, staring at me. "Friends of yours, huh?"

Squatting down, she started collecting the knives and guns, inspecting them before tossing them into a paper bag on the ground.

I just stared at her for a moment, completely stunned.

"They're all plastic," she said.

I shook myself out of it, crouching down to help her. "So?"

"Why?"

I shrugged. "Easy enough to print, even on a cheap 3D printer. Can be sharpened to a point and easily broken after stabbed with. When you break them, they fragment, so just think about all those little pieces swimming around inside of somebody."

She cringed.

"Exactly. It's one of the reason the police aren't able to stop them from making weapons because owning a 3D printer isn't illegal. Some of them save up for the more expensive ones and print plastic guns with plastic bullets. Works nearly as well as the real thing."

Sighing, she stood, stuffing the bag in the dumpster. "Phil, please send a message to the police that the knives and guns are in the garbage."

"Whocs Phil, anyway."

"Philyra's my PAA."

I gave her an odd look.

"Personal Artificial Assistant. She lives in my headphones and my contacts. Basically, she does whatever I tell her to do."

"So, she just helps you with stuff?"

"Basically. She's connected to the collective and all the computers at the palace so I can pretty much do anything with her."

"But can she help you get ice cream?"

"Yes."

"Okay, but can she help you get ice cream better than the kind we're about to eat?"

"Probably."

I jumped to my feet. "Well, we're about to find out."

"I guess." She sounded unconvinced, looking down at her feet. "Infinite, I'm a mess. Will I even be allowed in like this?"

I looked her up and down. Her pants were a little stained from crawling on the ground, but they were dark, and her hands were dirty, but they had napkins inside. I shrugged. "I dunno. If you looked any nicer, people would probably be suspicious."

She shook her head, walking out the alley and toward the parlor. Sighing, I followed her. Every time I thought I might have been actually talking to her, she just turned around and walked away again. It was so frustrating. It was a lot easier when I could just pretend she was a rich, royal brat, but now I didn't know who she was.

The inside of the parlor was painted bright white and smelled faintly of mildew. The wall adjacent to the counter was covered in autographs of the various celebrities that had supposedly gone there, including forgeries of the King and Queen's signatures.

But the first thing I saw was the pasty faced boy working the counter, mostly because he was carrying two full sized sundaes and gazing at us in fear. "If there's anything else, please, just ask," he said, putting them on a table before running off.

I glanced over at Kai but she didn't give the ice cream a second look before grabbing a spoon and sitting down in front of them.

"I have a question," I asked, sitting down. "Do you always carry around a gun?"

She shrugged. "No, but I'm technically supposed to when I'm not with an armed escort."

"I see... do you get attacked often?"

"No." She shook her head. "But I have military training, and my bones are more flexible than normal."

"What do mean?"

"I..." She shrugged. "My bones aren't going to break as easily as a normal person's."

"You say that like you're not—please tell me you're not an alien or something."

She smiled, slightly. "I am not an alien."

"Good." I took a bite of the ice cream had to look away from her, staring in shock at the bowl. Holy infinite, this is delicious.

She laughed. "You don't get to treat yourself often, do you? Not a lot of money in the blackmail business?"

"Not a lot of money in the mechanic's business, especially when you're unlicensed," I said, taking another bite. "But back to the alien thing, I guess it wouldn't explain the breathing underwater."

"Andi..." she warned.

"Now a mermaid, that would be something."

Her head snapped to me.

My eyes popped. "What?! But—"

"Don't even start, Andi." She pointed the spoon at me as if threatening to stab it in my throat.

"But you can't just say something like that and—"

"I didn't say anything. You're the one making assumptions."

"Just, please. Can I ask one thing. Please."

She gave me a small glance, then stared back down at her ice cream. "I may not answer."

"That's okay, but, magic—the Dark Sorcerer." I looked around at the mostly empty ice cream parlor and to where the pasty skinned guy had disappeared into the back. "It's real?"

She paused, shoveling a couple spoonfuls in her mouth, but she nodded.

That was all it took to plunge us back into silence. My mind was whirling. I stared at the sundae in front of me, almost unable to bring myself to eat it. Almost.

Taking the biggest spoonful I could just to get to the ice cream under the chocolate goop, I stuffed it in my mouth. It was the best thing I had eaten in months.

Kai was still picking at hers, lost in thought.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's better than I thought it'd be. I can't actually figure out what it is, though."

Pushing up on the table, I leaned over and looked in her bowl. "Looks like orange and chocolate." I sat back down. "What kind do you usually get?"

"Strawberry and chocolate, and sometimes with sliced bananas just—" she waved her fingers over the sundae "—all over."

"I've never liked strawberry ice cream."

"That' only because you've never had actual strawberries."

"Not true. I have a very vivid memory of my dad giving me one to try and just pinching my mouth because it was so sour."

She smiled, shaking her head.

"I can't picture a bunch of nobles eating ice cream around a big dinner table, though. That seems like such a normal person thing to do."

She stared at me. I realized I was currently watching her eat ice cream at a table like a normal person. Sort of like a normal person. I wasn't sure how she got chocolate sauce on her nose.

"This is the first time I've had a ball for my birthday since I was little. Usually my friends and family just come over and eat ice cream, cake, and pastries. My mom would—" she stopped herself. Looking away, she started rubbing her ring. "You said you eat ice cream every year, too. We all have our traditions."

"Um." Leaning back, I rubbed the back of my neck. "You know, every year, my little sister always sings me the 'Youth is Dying' song."

She looked up, brows cinched. "What's that?"

My eyes popped. "What? You've never heard it? You know..." I looked back to make sure the pasty face guy hadn't come back yet. "Hey, your youth is dying and we all know you'd be lying if you said you were not crying that it's been another year. You've really never heard of it?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. It kinda sounds familiar. What's the next line?"

"Great Infinity," I mumbled, shaking my head. What did I do to myself? I looked down at my ice cream and continued singing softly, "And you may be getting older, giving death the colder shoulder, but your friends are getting bolder and they're waiting over here.

"So go on, read your birthday card and if it's starting to get hard it's just your old vision getting marred and you can't see what is near."

She burst out laughing.

I balled up a napkin and tossed it at her. "You have heard that song, haven't you?"

She raised her arm to defend, still laughing. "No, I—I swear."

I crossed my arms, trying to fight a smile. "Yeah, yeah."

"What about your parents? Would they approve of you shirking of you shirking your mechanic's duties to have ice cream with me?"

I looked down, tightening the grip around my chest. "No, they... my dad died when I was about ten and my mom has the Sleeping Flu."

She stopped eating. Looking up from her ice cream, she stared at me weirdly. Not in a bad way, or even in a pitiful way. "Your mom has the Sleeping Flu? Like Hermia Dios?"

"Yeah. How do you know about her?"

"I did my research, plus, my brother goes on about her all the time. She's his idol. He has copies of her original blueprints of the Talaria framed in his bedroom."

I laughed. "No way. I do too. They're not framed, but I have them hung up in my garage. Which brother?"

"My little brother, Blayne. He wants to go into engineering."

"I'm sure he'd be good at it. I'd love to design hover sailors."

"You could probably make a fortune patenting that design you used to make your sailor hover over water." She paused. "Why do you want to find the treasure so much?"

I cringed, shaking my head. It wasn't exactly a question I wanted to answer. "Because of my dad. He was an amateur treasure hunter, and he never found anything, but the Pegasus Bounty was the last thing he looked for before he died. I thought that if I found it I'd, I dunno, that I'd finish what he started." We took a few more bites of our ice cream before she started twisting her ring again. "What's the ring for?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"The ring?" I pointed toward it. I didn't recognize the gemstone, only that it was purple, but I thought I recognized the band as meteorite. I also noticed it was on her left ring finger. "Is it an engagement ring, or something?"

She shook her head. "You have to be engaged to have an engagement ring."

I shrugged. "I dunno. A lot of royalty are betrothed or something, aren't they?"

"Yes, but my parents promised never to force me or my brothers into an engagement."