The truth was I had actually only occasionally got a meal from the boys. But I pretended I had been getting one every day. I really was eating too little, even by my standards. So eating with them would probably be a bright idea.

  Most people had already gone home for the day, so the people out at this time would be limited to guards, adventures, and deviants. I suppose as a homeless, jobless person, I fit into that last category too. Even if I wasn’t the same kind of troublemaker. Guards had spotted me a few times and found it weird that I liked to just walk around, but they were happy I wasn’t doing anything they had to address and let me alone.

  I sat down near the fountain in the town square. I was tired. Was it cuz I used magic? Or maybe I really had starved myself too much?

  “Help!” someone screamed. I shot up. Looking around, the vendors didn’t notice or care. Hmm, my hearing may just be sharp. I decided to investigate. If worst comes to worst, I could abandon the idea of helping if it didn’t work out.

  Peering into the alleyway, I saw Bethany on the ground with a few men near her. One kicked her. “Hey, what the heck!”

  The three men turned to me. “This is none of your business bitch,” the lead guy said.

  “Well, I think I just made it my business,” I said.

  He slapped me, and I dropped to the ground. It didn’t hurt that badly, but my goal wasn’t to win this fight. In all honesty, that would probably be the worst thing I could do.

  “You got a pretty face; I’d rather not mess it up,” he said as he spit on me.

  Yeah, wish I could say this was the first time someone spit on me. First for my new life I guess. I stood up. “Sorry, but my momma said not to back down to bullies.”

  He punched me in the stomach, and I made a wheezing noise as I fell to my knees.

  “How about now?” he asked.

  “No, no, you make a point. Bullies can at least hit harder,” I said as I held my side, which he promptly kicked.

  “Stop it,” Bethany shouted.

  “Edgar, shut her up,” the lead man said, but I reached out and grabbed his hand.

  “No, Edgar. I wanna play more, or are you guys scared?” I asked.

  They all started kicking me. As I took the onslaught, I did my best to roll into a ball. It was rough, but well, again, not my first time.

  Eventually, they were all breathing heavily. At which point they walked away without a further word. I just laid limp until Bethany came over to me.

  “Why would you do that?” she asked.

  “You were in trouble,” I said. “What happened anyway.”

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  “It was my fault. I tried to pickpocket them. I figured if I can’t get a legit job, I might as well try.”

  “You have a reason, I presume?” I asked as I slowly slid up and sat against the building’s wall. “You don’t strike me as the kind of idiot to do that unless it was important.”

  “Brandon, my son. He is sick,” she said.

  “I see; well, do you know what he has?” I asked.

  She shook her head. Figures. Doctors, even for a diagnosis, were expensive. I raised my hand and showed her a satchel. “I managed to nab it.”

  “What! How?” she asked as she looked inside.

  “Sticky fingers. But I’d prefer you keep that a secret. So how much did we make?”

  “Six hundred Geld,” she said, looking a bit sad. Yeah, barely enough for two items from a vendor.

  I looked up at the orange sky. We definitely missed dinner. “How about you buy two meals with it and bring one back to me? I’m famished.”

  “Why? Why would you do that for me?” she asked.

  I just shook my head. “They will close soon. I can’t really move that well. We can discuss all that stuff later, okay?”

  She nodded. “Right.”

  How bothersome. In all honesty, I could stand just fine. But I didn’t want her asking questions just yet. I didn’t expect to move up this part of my plan so quickly. Yet if I didn’t, her son would likely die, and I didn’t like doing nothing in that case.

  She came back with two wraps.

  “Here is yours,” she said as she handed it to me. I took a bite but noticed she wasn’t eating hers.

  “Planning to save it for Brandon?”

  She nodded.

  Well, here we go. “You willing to trust me? I think I can save his life.”

  “What?” she said as she jumped back to her feet. “How?”

  “My mother, she lives outside of town,” I said. “A few miles south of here. She, well, I think she can heal anything.”

  “Why would she live in the wilderness,” Bethany asked.

  “That isn’t my secret to share.”

  “We could make arrangements for travel in a few days?” she asked.

  “Honestly, I’m scared my mom will be disappointed in me for sharing this much without asking her first. I’m not comfortable letting others know. If we hurry. We can make it to her home before she goes to bed.”

  “You're asking me to go with you in the woods at night? You're beat up?” she asked.

  “I know it’s crazy, and you’d be completely right to ignore me and forget it, but Bethany, the mother that pick-pocketed today, I feel like she’d gamble on this. I mean, do you have a better chance?”

  “If I could just get a job-”

  I shook my head. “If you had a diagnosis, maybe that would be a good hope. But I mean.”

  She gripped her arm uncomfortably. “How can I trust you?”

  I slowly stood up, staggering a bit. It was funny to be lying about my injuries when I was making my case why I was trustworthy. Just my life now. But what I wanted to say was true enough. “My mother, she saved me. I love that about her, and it's a trait you share with her. Up to you, though.”

  “Okay, but he is back at the shelter; we have to get him,” she said as she turned toward the shelter’s general direction.

  “No, let me get him. You eat,” I said as I touched her shaking hands.

  “I want to save it-”

  I shook my head. “He can’t walk well I take it? I won’t be able to carry him because of my injuries. At least not uphill. You need your strength.”

  She slid down the building wall and took a bite of the wrap. I knew that was hard, but I was proud of her strength. I smiled as I began walking towards the shelter to get her son.