The Grace

[Quane]

Quane sat in a quiet coffee shop, her face leaning on her right hand, while she ran the index finger of her left hand on the rim of her empty cup. Her blue eyes stared at the large television screen hung on the wall, news broadcasting another battle that had happened downtown, causing expensive damages to the city, more debate on the nature of mutants, good or evil, right or wrong. Sigh. Since that fateful day in 1997, this city has gone downhill, she thought to herself. Suddenly, her cup disappeared under her hand. Her eyes widened in surprise for a second, but were quickly replaced with embarassment.

Running her hand nervously through her blonde hair, she snapped out of it and dug into her purse to find some money. Leaving enough for the cup and the coffee on the table, she stood up and left the tiny shop, stepping into the crowded street without looking at the staff. Damn it, she gritted her teeth, not again. In fact, she had just recently discovered that something was wrong with her. That something abnormal was taking over her. She could make objects appear invisible, but had no idea how to turn them visible again. It was too much to handle, as of right now.

Freshly unemployed, Quane could take her time to bum around. She had quit her job unexpectedly, due to the discovery of her "condition." Since then, she hasn't contacted family nor friends, except to tell them that she was leaving on vacation and that she'd let them know what was going on. That is, if she ever found the courage to. She was ultimately terrified at the idea of being a mutant. As she paced down the street, she stared at the people around her. Some of them were surely mutants, but she couldn't understand how they dealt with it.

That was when she accidentally bumped into someone.

[Verde]

"Su perdón!" Carlos Selva-Mar cried as his crash into the woman set his books sailing.

He barely gave her the time of day as his mind plummetted into dread at the sight of the loaned books haphazardly resting in puddles along the street and sidewalk. The Metropolitan Library wouldn't easily forgive this incident. It would be the first time he'd returned with ruined or stained books. All because some woman dazing...

"Señorita..." He grimaced. "You watch next time."

He bent over and picked up the largest of the books with a fresh print from some suit's shoes. Ruined, utterly ruined. Then the next one, an illustration book no less, with pages soaked to the binding. That was the problem with this city, no one cares to look outside their own little world. No one is conscious of the other worlds bumping and...

"Eh?" He said curiously as he glanced from the street to the sidewalk to the woman. "Where is the other one?"

He turned around, perhaps he missed it. No. Someone stole it. Some filthy, rotton, son of a... who steals a book? Especially a wet, dirty art history book lying on the side of the road. Perhaps it fell. He stuck his head out to look at where the curb meets the street. Nada.

"Where did it go?"

[Quane]

Quane swallowed her saliva, wipping her slightly wet hand on the side of her jeans discretly, after dropping the book into her purse, as the man looked around for it. What he might have missed was that as she went to pick up the book in the puddle, she made it vanish accidentally. Much like she did to her cup of coffee. "I ..." She uttered. "I'm sorry."

Her cheeks felt blushed, obviously embarassed. Then her previous thought hit her again - could he be a mutant ? How would she ever know the difference ? Noticing the Metropolitan Library logo on the ruined books, she approached him, lifting a hand slowly in surrender. "I'm terribly clumsy." She tried to explain. "If you want, we could go to the library and I'll pay the fine for ruining those books."

Her blue eyes tried to look for a bit of sympathy, biting on her lower lip nervously.

[Verde]

He frowned. Not at her, but the situation. Still, had she been looking...

"I- That, ah, would be nice." He said as he made a short eye contact, then looking around again for the lost book. Wiping the dirt from the cover of the illustration book, he tucked them under his arms.

"It's only around the corner." He said, as if she didn't know. It should only take a minute. And he didn't have that much money to spare on damaged book fines, so her offer was welcome. Still, if she'd just watched where she was going...

They started walking, like salmon against the current of businessmen and others with agendas of their own. He felt awkward walking side by side with this woman he'd never met. Most of his anger had subsided by now, he should say something.

"My name is Carlos, by the way." He said and leaned towards her so that she might hear over the noise of the streets. Then his eyes noticed a distinct corner poking from within her bag. He wasn't going to say anything yet, but he suspected his lost book was being hidden from him. He didn't glance long enough for her to notice, but just met her eyes as she turned to answer.

[Quane]

A sense of relief emerged when he broke the awkward silence between them, introducing himself. She looked at him quickly, forcing a little smile before pulling her blue eyes away. "Call me Quane." In fact, her first name was Charlize, but she was never a fan of it, so Quane always insisted that everybody call her by her last name.

They had arrived at the Metropolitain Library. A busy place, she noticed. The two of them stopped at the giant glass door entrance, as if taking a moment before stepping in. She lifted a hand and invited him to go in. "You first ?"

[Verde]

"Ah, thanks." He said and as he passed he glanced at her purse again, the corner taunting him as it jut out from her purse. Why is she hiding that book from me? He thought.

He opened the following door and held it for her, "And you next?" He smiled. He followed behind her, and then came alongside.

"So why is it that the corner of my missing book happens to be sticking out of your purse?" He asked passively as they walked to the circulation desk.

[Quane]

"What ?" Quane felt her cheeks flushed again, stammering. "What are you talking about ?" Unconsciously, she squeezed her purse a bit tighter against her, hesitant about how to react. After a good thirty seconds, she grabbed Carlos by the arm and dragged him to the side of the hall, as other people came in and out of the entrance of the Library.

"Why would I take your stupid book ?" She began, confident that if she were to open her purse, he wouldn't even be able to see since it had become invisible. "Here." In one swift movement (to strengthen her fake annoyance), she opened her purse but held it close, so that he wouldn't poke around inside. "Do you see it anywhere ? No." And then she closed it, waiting for his response. Dumbfounded, she hoped.

[Verde]

The next minute happened almost too fast for him to keep up. She was definitely angry. Somewhere in the back of his head he believed that maybe she'd been saving it for a surprise, found it where he hadn't looked. He'd just dug a hole that he really didn't want to dig out of.

She showed him her purse and sure enough, there was nothing there. Damn. Then what was the corner sticking out of her purse, if not the book? He'd better explain.

"I thought I saw the corner sticking out of your purse." He said and raised his hands defensively. "Don't get so mad!"

The lady at the circulation desk was leaning out of her chair staring at them through dated glasses. He could only imagine what other people might be thinking at the moment. They should mind their own business.

She adjusted the purse against her body and the corner seemed to reappear in from the inside pushing out. "See, right there." He pointed. "It looks just like a book corner. Could you really blame me for thinking it was not?"

[Quane]

Quane gulped. Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

She looked over to the desk lady, glaring at them as they made a scene. Then her eyes followed where he pointed and she felt her cheeks flush some more. "All right." She mumbled, grabbing his hand. She led him outside of the library, to the park right across it.

"Listen, listen ..." She stuttered. "Hmm ... Look, don't freak out, okay ?" She continued, as they crossed the street. Finally, she sat down on a bench, pulling him with her. She waved her hands nervously, in attempt of explaining her situation. "Don't freak, okay ? I'm ... one of them."

She waited for a moment, looking at Carlos more closely. "I'm one of them, and I only discovered this recently and I don't know how to deal with this !" Ironically, she was the one who freaked out.

[Verde]

One of who? Discovered what? He was confused and growing angry, what was she on about? Perhaps she was crazy, he'd dared to cause trouble with and he'd dared to accept her offer of help. Of course she's crazy. Who offers HELP any more?

He said, "Look, señorita, I just want my book. I'm sorry about your problemas, but... I got problemas of my own."


Then it dawned on him. She wasn't an average person he'd met by chance. She was after him, more or less. The feds, both American and Argentinian, would love to get ahold of him. She was a scout of some sorts, or an investigator. Perhaps she was related to one of the gangs... He didn't know what to think. His situation was always precarious and going to the library with someone he'd never met before was taking too much of a chance.

"And one of what?" He asked rather loudly. "You're talking crazy!"