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"Hello, Lex," Jameel said as he opened his eyes and focused on the boy seated beside him, fingers stroking his head, dressed in a pair of baggy, black sweats and a loose white T-shirt. "Why am I on the floor again?"

"Hello, Jameel. You rolled again." Lex smiled. "I took the liberty of raiding your closet, too."

"That I can see." Jameel stood and popped his back, sighing, only to flop back down on the couch again. "Let's see what our endeavors last night had to say." Lex moved onto the seat next to him and leaned his head into his side as the recorded news came on. He picked some wet sand the shower had failed to rid him of from under his fingernails as he listened.

"What did the thief look like?" asked whichever reporter it was talking.

"I don't know," said the voice of the guard that had yelled to the Journeyman when he'd taken the ankh. "He was small, I know that. Medium, kind of average."

"What about skin color?"

"White, I think. Maybe Middle Eastern. Or Hispanic. Yeah, Middle Eastern or Hispanic, but with more of a white nose." The Sparrow felt his nose, looking at Jameel's. He went cross-eyed in an attempt to view his own nose, then shook his head. "He had on a uniform, too, like a Navy Seal. Took my partner down, too."

"Took him down?"

"Yeah, knocked him out," the man clarified. "Poor guy doesn't remember a thing." He paused, eyes wide. "I know what that guy has to be. It's the only thing that makes sense with the way he got in and out." He leaned in. The reporter did likewise, brows raised. The camera zoomed in on the guard's face so that every blood-filled vessel stood out on his eyes and every pore was seen in stunning clarity. "He's a ninja."

The Journeyman was giggling like a madman.

"What...the ********..."

His laughter was dwarfed by Jameel, who was doubled up where he sat, clutching at his sides. A ninja? Seriously?! Oh, God, this is too rich! For the third time, he fell off something. Eventually, he dragged himself back onto the couch and patted Lex's back.

"Well done, Lex!" he rasped, chuckling. "I've trained you so well."

Lex grinned and nodded, gasping, "The cops'll--the cops'll be looking for a white-nosed Middle Eastern Latino guy dressed in black silk pajamas."

Jameel rubbed a watering eye. "Oh, how funny. Society these days..." So funny... He chuckled again and shut off the TV, dropping back against the couch. Reaching over, he poked Lex's belly. "Are you going to continue with the broke college student disguise?"

"Why?"

"Well," Jameel began, but was interrupted by a ringtone. Frowning, he held up a finger and pulled out a touchscreen cellphone. Putting in a password, he checked the message. "Hmph." Turning the phone back off after deleting the message, he looked at Lex once again. "Are you afraid of planes?"

"No. Why?"

"Are you afraid of anything involving flying in general?" Jameel looked over at him, one hand hooked into his pocket.

"What, like insane Somali terrorists carrying bombs in their drawers or something? Man, if they see you getting onto the plane they'd s**t bricks and the bomb and walk on home." Lex stood and folded his arms. "Why all the questions about flying?"

"Oh, we're going to bother Desmond after I get you some new clothes."

"Why do we have to fly to Desmond?" Lex asked, following after Jameel as the man once more took up his car keys.

"Oh, he's in Italy."

"Italy. Okay, that's fine. I can speak passable Italian." The tall man looked down at him as he started up the car, his skeptic-o-meter going off.

"Say something."

"In Italian?"

"No, in Arabic. Yes, Italian."

"Gelato. Spaghetti. Linguini. Pasta. Futtiti. Stronzo." Lex opened his mouth to continue when Jameel said, "Wait, wait, wait. Where the hell did you learn those last two?"

"We had an Italian exchange student in my class once." He put on an Italian accent. "He thought the girl's breasts were very fine and told them so to their faces."

"That's one of the things this age is missing. Straightforwardness." Jameel parked the car and walked into the store with him. Lex sighed, running a hand through his hair as he looked around at the clothes, picking out a few shirts and and T-shirts. Jameel held out a pair of jeans to him. Lex stared at the thin-legged pants. "Try them on."

Lex sighed and went to the changing room, coming back out walking like a penguin. Jameel looked him up and down as Lex stood wheezing.

"Hey, I hope you know I can't breathe in these things." No answer. "Hello!"

"Hmm?" Jameel looked up at his face. "Sorry, I was busy staring at your balls through those skinny jeans. What were you saying?"

Lex shook his head and returned to the changing room.



Jameel settled onto the seat of the plane, sighing in relief after the arduous trial of getting into the plane. Security had been on them like a plague of lice until they'd passed through all the check points and gotten on board.

Lex reached over and touched his hand, twining their fingers together as the plane began to taxi. Jameel smiled over at him, bracing himself as the ground was left behind.

"Get some sleep, little bird. It's going to be a long flight."



The man pushed up his glasses as his fingers clacked on the keyboard of the laptop. He typed up emails as quickly as they came, plans being formed and reformed to include whatever variables would arise. He paused as a message sprang up on the screen:

ShadowThief says
We're coming to you.

The man pursed his lips and responded:

GuyFawkes says
Give me the time and the place. I'll be there.

ShadowThief says
Delete the message once it's been received and read. Safety and peace be upon you.

GuyFawkes says
Safety and peace upon you as well.