January's white night.
Lily puts her gloves on. It’s already late in the night, but she has to join the other side of the city to get papers. They’re important papers, and Minerva told her she’s the only one trained enough that is available to get them quickly and discreetly. It’s not a big deal, her mentor told her. So Lily agreed.
She knows she’s one of the most experienced agents of the Order. Her length of service speaks for her, and she knows it. Sometimes it makes her a bit uncomfortable, because Lily thinks people always bragging about how she’s talented and skilled might make other agents feel bad about their own skills. She thinks anyone who’s in the Order deserves acknowledgment. Even the ones she doesn’t speak to a lot. Because every one here has a dark story behind them. Everyone who belongs with the Order is here for the sake of second chances. Lily knows better than anyone, she’s here since she’s six. After her whole family died in a house fire. She’s the only one who escaped. By the window. It’s the only detail she remembers, because somehow her brain erased the files of the rest of the story.
And everyone learns at their own rhythm; Lily learns since she’s fourteen. It’s been eight years she does that. Lily is twenty-two tomorrow, and it does absolutely nothing to her. Because it’s her life. She knows only the Order, they’re her family.
Plus Mary and Marlene. Marlene joined when she was sixteen, and Mary earlier in the year. At first Lily slept in a room alone, despite the bunk beds around her being empty. Then when Marlene came she was assigned in her bedroom. Marlene escaped her abusive home, and was homeless for a while, when she was targeted by some sort of wannabe-gang of stupid people. It’s Sirius who rescued her. He kicked those boys’ asses, and took her with him. She took the job, and as she used to do boxing, she became soon good with hand-to-hand fight. Her and Sirius get along well. Lily doesn’t speak to Sirius a lot, but he’s a nice dude. He makes Remus smile — and Remus is her precious boy. She helped him cope during his first months pre-mission. She was there for him, and strangely enough, he was there for her too, even though Lily never expected to need help at this moment. So if Sirius makes him smile she’s glad. And he also makes Marlene smiles. So she’s even more glad. She regrets they’re not closer. Maybe time lacks them.
Mary joined they bedroom last February. It’s almost been a year. She’s a uni student. Being in the Order is… her part-time job? Lily thinks it’s funny. She studies physics, but despite being a good student in her classes, what she excels at — and Lily saw it herself — is manipulating people into her ways. Mary is however unable to manipulate her friends. She probably loves them too dearly, and it never misses to make Lily smile.
She joined their dorms, and together, they are a trio. They always go on mission together, a bit like a new version of the Totally Spies. Marlene would be Clover. She’s blonde, but she has the same taste for fashion, without really doing it on purpose. She has a unique style that makes you go “yup, that’s Marlz”. Mary would be Alex, of course. She has more thick and longer hair than her, but her favourite colour is also yellow. And she loves her friends to no bound. She brings her brilliant jokes too. And Lily would be Sam. Lily is probably the less talkative of them three, and she has an analytic mind. Lily’s favourite colour isn’t green, but she has the ginger hair at least. It’s Marlene who came up with the Totally Spies the other day, and it made them have a good laugh.
They’re like sisters to Lily. The close family she never really had. Of course there is Minerva, who is probably what is the closest to a mother figure — and probably to many of the Order’s agents, thinking about it —, and a few people who saw her grow. But nobody really gets her like those two do. They’re the dearest she has. They fight for each other, and it’s all for one, three for all.
But Lily still, gets why Minerva told her she had to go alone, tonight. It’s a quick one-shot thing, and it is not really dangerous in itself. Lily can manage it alone. It’s the best option, since they have the choice. Lily experienced missions when she was the only one available, and she almost died because doing it alone was almost impossible. However, tonight’s mission is getting a folder with papers in it. Confidential ones. They archive the fraud a politician organized. Nothing too shady, for once. She doesn’t have to kill anyone, and she is not going to be killed. With years of service, Lily saw the worse and the worser, but tonight is an easy night. She’s glad. Maybe she’ll be back early enough to get home, to their dorm, and she’ll have a late night with the girls. Maybe have a little party for her birthday. Nothing too fancy, but maybe she could bake for her friends. Cupcakes. That’s a good idea. Mary and Marlene love her cupcakes. She could put chocolate in it, so Remus would enjoy them too.
Thinking about her supposed future baking, Lily puts on her crash helmet. She has one earphone in one of her ears, and it’s a The Weeknd playlist playing. She’s more fond of Taylor Swift, usually, but for work, she changes. It helps her dissociate. And The Weeknd has a vibe that makes her do her work quick and efficiently. So it’s motivational.
She climbs on her motorbike, and she turns on the engine, before pushing the pedal, and going off. The road is full of people, but not as much as during the rushing hour. City lights pave the way, and when she accelerates, them lights become horizontal, like life lines around her, in blue and red. Party Monster is playing. The electric guitar harmonizes with the roaring of the engine, and it’s pleasing to her ears.
She’ll get there quickly, take those papers, and go home right after. She’ll bake cupcakes for tomorrow morning before going to bed. Maybe she can use the kitchen on the first floor. The oven is bigger downstairs than the one they have in their room. Plus if she bakes on the first floor’s kitchen, it’ll be a surprise for tomorrow morning. Nice. Lily decides that’s what she’s going to do.
Lily’s moto dodges cars like it’s nothing, and she is just under the speed limit, but never above. She’s responsible. For an assassin with too many deaths on her list.
“I just need a girl who’s gon’ really understand, and I’ve seen her get richer in the pole”
She stops at a red light.
“I’ve seen her, I knew she had to know”
Cars stops next to her.
“And I’ve seen her, take down that tequila, down by the litter”
Lily hears the siren of an ambulance in the background.
“I knew I had to meet her”
The light transitions from red to greenish-blue, and she’s the first to accelerate. The whole crossroad is empty of cars, because they were all waiting at the red light. So she has the boulevard when the next lyrics resonate in her ears, and she hums, liking how she’s driving in sync with the song. It’s empowering.
“Ooh she mine, ooh girl, bump a line”
Soon she gets close to where her GPS is supposed to lead her, and that side of the city is not much different then hers. It’s all big buildings, metal towers and reflective windows, lightened advertising panels, and high street lamps. Blue lights reflect on the body of her black motorbike. James got it for her 21st birthday. It is still looking like it’s new. Lily cherishes it. She named it Domino. It’s completely black, and it shines at night, when Lily has to go somewhere in the city. Like tonight.
Lily parks her moto, before taking off the crash helmet, and shaking her head. Her hair got stuck in her shirt collar, and it’s uncomfortable. She’s wearing a suit as her undercover outfit. Peter, the accessory maker, said even if she had to enter the building at night — most missions are done at night —, it was safer if she wore a suit. Like all the people working there, whether they are politicians or staff. So here she is, wearing this uncomfortable white shirt and black suit vest, and those too basic black trousers. In fact, she feels not so bad in this, but only because Peter assured her it was full of gadgets, and it reassures her. Lily could deal with the mission without gadgets; but it helps to get it done quicker.
She gets her hair out of it quickly, and pauses her music, before replacing her earphone with an earpiece. She turns it on, then puts her finger on it to speak.
“Mary, can you hear me?”
“Damn, Lily, it’s about time.”
“I guess you hear me,” Lily replies with a smile, before getting off Domino. “I’m here.”
“Alright. Nothing to signal for the moment?”
“No,” Lily says, looking around. The streets are animated, with people living their lives like on a normal evening.
Mary is the one doing that night shift. Marlene is already sleeping. Today, Mary is working, because her midterms are over. She passed them with success, of course. And she’s been helping for missions these last weeks. Since Lily is alone for this mission, she has a helper that can help her through the earpiece; the Order set this up a few month ago, after a few agents had issues on alone-missions like this. Lily is glad Mary is her personal helper since the last weeks.
Lily ties her curly ginger hair in a low ponytail, and takes her briefcase from the back of Domino.
“Perfect. You can go inside. There’s a magnetic card on your trousers’ right pocket,” Mary says, and Lily starts to walk towards the building. She parked her moto ahead of it, not directly next to the entrance. As she walks, she reaches into her pocket, and indeed, she finds a white magnetic card. “It’s a key. With that, you can open all the doors inside the building.”
Lily nods slightly, even though there is no one to see her answer. No one pays attention to her anyway.
“However,” Mary starts, and Lily scrunches her nose. “You’ll have to get inside the building by yourself. The card only opens the magnetic doors inside the building. Peter told me we weren’t able to get a key for the entrance’s door.”
“Okay,” Lily says soberly. As she is in public, the less she speaks, the shorter her answers are, the better it is. People around don’t need to eavesdrop. But it’s all reflexes now, because she’s been doing this for a while.
“Are you feeling good?” Mary asks, and the end of her sentence sizzles a bit in Lily’s ear.
“Yeah,” Lily says, and she smiles without realizing it.
“Good,” Mary replies, and Lily can hear her smile in her voice. She hears another sizzling at the end of Mary’s word, and then she knows the communication is temporarily cut.
She’s glad to have her on the line.
When she reaches the building, she stops, pretending to look at her watch. From the corner of her eye, she sees people getting inside the building. She lifts her head, and walks confidently. She has to try anyway, and since she doesn’t risk nothing yet, she goes for it. Someone clicks on the interphone, and the door open itself. Lily tightens the button of her suit vest with her free hand in a tensed gest, and she heads inside with the people as if she was here for an important rendez-vous too. Easy.
When she’s inside, she walks to the lift, and she’s the only one waiting for it. But people walking past her in the huge hallway don’t question her presence at all.
The hall is a big room with no walls. There is a desk, with a lady, on the phone, that is supposedly where you’re supposed to present yourself when you enter. But Lily walked past it. The walls are covered in an off-white colour paint, and there are impersonal paintings hanged on it. White neon lights are lighting the place. It looks like a random office hall. In a random office building. And for once — Lily has been on missions where it was buildings like that, which were just covers for nefarious activities —, it might be just a random building. With nothing hiding inside of it. No human trafficking, no drug hub, no nothing like that.
James told her about that one time, when he went on a mission with Regulus and Sirius, and he was held hostage by a messed up organisation who had activities on the dark net. Their building was “hidden” in the middle of a city, among other buildings. And they disguised their first floors as normal offices, in case they were checked by institutions for the verification of the correct application of laws in companies. Such as the tax authorities, or those concerned with the welfare of employees. James told her how fucked up it was, how Regulus told him what kind of mails he found in a desk drawer, or how Sirius told him he had to destroy an alarm on the third floor. An alarm made in case said institutions came to check, so the first floor could alarm the top floors, for them to hide… all the nasty stuff. Lily wanted to throw up, when he told her about it. James said he did too, with a smile, because of course, it’s James Potter. He even joked about how he almost died that day. Then Regulus hit him on his head to make him shut up.
Lily smiled at that moment. They had fucked up existences, it had to be said. They joked about fucked up things, and they did fucked up things. However, no fucked up buildings today, it seemed. Lily was just supposed to steal some papers, to prove a politician was corrupted.
Frank told Lily he stole more than 500 000$ of public money, and it allowed him to finance his campaign. And a pricey Rolls-Royce. For “functions”. That’s the reason he put on the papers, as Frank informed her. It was almost cute. Compared to other missions.
Lily represses a smile, as she steps in the lift, which doors just opened. It has silver walls, and a silver button panel. There’s a few posters sticked on a frame. Lily waits for the lift’s doors to close, before clicking on her earpiece.
“Mary?” she whispers, as she clicks on a random floor number. “You hear me?”
Three long seconds pass.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Which floor do I need to get to?” she promptly asks. “I’m on the lift.”
“Perfect. You need to go to the third floor,” Mary says, and Lily hears some paper noises in the background.
“Alright,” Lily says, pressing the third floor button.
Unfortunately, she pressed the 17th button, and she already passed the 3rd floor. She would have to wait for the lift to get down again.
“I’m heading to 17th floor, for the moment, but I’ll get to the 3rd one as soon as possible,” Lily adds, her finger pressed on her ear. “I pressed the wrong butto—” she can’t get to finish her sentence, because the doors open. There’s a little silence, and Lily is about to finish that sentence, but someone enters the lift cabin in a rush, right before the door closes.
“Catch him! Catch him!” Some voices yell, and it is all Lily hears, from people she don’t get to see the face. Those people stay stuck in the hallway, in the 17th floor, behind the doors. And Lily is now stuck with the person they expected to catch.
“Him” didn’t notice Lily yet, it seems. His back is turned to Lily, and all she can see is his long white locks, tied in a bun. They look soft. He’s wearing black large pants, and black boots. And a tight-fitting black t-shirt. It looks like the Order uniform, when they don’t have custom outfits. Lily is sure no other Order’s agents were sent on this mission at the same time as her. She notices he has a knife in his gloved hands, but it seems he did not use it yet, because the blade is clean. Reassuring, indeed.
“Lily?” she hears in her ear. She hopes it’s not too loud, and that he didn’t hear it.
Lily doesn’t have time to process the whole thing, because he turns toward her, and he is not expecting to see him, it seems, because he gasps, before pointing his knife to her throat. He’s the same height as Lily, and so, she wouldn’t have any issue if she needed to fight him, but she doesn’t move, not trying to get killed on something as dumb as this.
The person has a mask on. Not a chirurgical mask, but a strange one, with a face on it. To hide his face. If a knife wasn’t pointed at her, Lily would have smiled. She stays focus.
The lift choses this moment to start its descent to the third floor.
“Lily?” she hears again, but can’t answer right now.
“I’m not working here,” Lily starts, and she sees light-coloured eyes through the mask. She has her free hand lifted, as to prove she has no aggressive intentions. “I’m not supposed to be here either.”
And with a very calm and very slow movement, she takes her earpiece out of her ear, and lets it dangle on her chest. The person watches every movement with attentive eyes. He seems rather calm. Lily squeezes her eyes shut at the decision she just made nonetheless. Mary will have to wait a bit.
What she just says; that’s true.
That man doesn’t seem to work here, and nor does Lily, even if she wears a suit, like 99% of the people working here. She doesn’t know what are the intentions of the man in front of her, but she has nothing to lose by negotiating with them.
“What are you doing here, then?” The man asks, and his voice is higher than Lily would have expected. She starts to wonder if it is really a man, threatening her.
“Can’t say,” Lily says, pursing her lips. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to run after you, or rat you out. I have no business in doing that.”
The person stares in Lily’s eyes for a few seconds — they have amazing light blue eyes, even though they’re black —, before letting their arm fall back on their side. Lily doesn’t see how their grip loosens on the knife, because she is way too busy staring into their ocean eyes. They’re mesmerizing.
They stay like this for a few more seconds, and Lily wonders who they are, what they are doing here. Lily’s here to steal a paper, but what are they doing here. At the same place, at the same time. Then a “ting” rings, announcing they reached floor 3, the doors open behind the person, and they walk backwards, before disappearing in the hallway. Lily steps out of the lift, and, still astonished by what just happened, she tries to look at them running away, but they’re not here anymore.
She then walks on the opposite direction, regaining her composure. Whatever.
“LILY! CAN YOU HEAR ME, LILY!” she hears, Mary is screaming in the earpiece she took off earlier.
Lily quickly clicks on it, without putting it back on her ear, and she speaks.
“Mary! Mary, I’m fine,” And Lily puts it back on her ear.
“Oh, Lily! God!” she hears Mary sighing of relief, and she feels a bit sorry. “Never do this to me again, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, ‘promise,” Lily swears, and she sighs with her nose. “Something weird just happened,” she says, as she walks toward the direction she’s supposed to go to. “It’s the room 377, right?”
She knows the room number, in theory, but she has a doubt.
“Yes,” Mary replies. “377. What happened?” Mary asks, interested.
Lily whispers, in case she meets someone. “I was in the lift, and someone ran into it before the doors closed. They threatened me with a knife,” Lily says lowly, and she hears Mary’s surprised breath.
“Are you hurt?” she asks.
“No, I’m not,” Lily answers, and she looks left and right when the hallway goes four ways. Then she takes the right path. “They looked like a mercenary. And I talked to them.”
“Alright…” Mary’s voice seems a bit wary. “Uh. What did they say?” she asks.
Lily’s steps resonate in the empty hallway.
That person is probably distracting the security guards, and Lily intends to take advantage of it. Thanks to them, she’s going to be able to do her business without getting disturbed. And run away discreetly without anyone noticing. Perfect in sum.
“Well, I said that they didn’t need to threaten me, since I’m not here to catch them,” Lily says, as she looks at the room numbers, at the top of the doors.
Room 320, room 321, room 322. Lily walks fast.
“What.”
Lily pictures her raising one eyebrow. She smiles at the picture.
“Ah, yes, did I mention they was being chased by security guards, before joining me in the lift?”
“No, you didn’t. So you’re telling me, there is someone else in the building, right now, that is chased by security guards.”
“Yes,” Lily says, and she smiles.
“But why? It’s not us. It’s not the Order,” Mary says, and Lily hears paper noises again, as if Mary was searching through notes or memos.
“Yeah, I know,” Lily answers.
“…” Lily hears Mary’s silence.
Room 343, room 344, room 345. Lily turns left. She’s almost there, but god, these hallways are infinite, or what?
“Damn, how many rooms are in there,” Lily lets out, forgetting she has Mary in her ear. Then she remembers. “Mary? You’re still with me?” she asks.
“Yes,” Mary answers. “Well, it will give you time and space. People are even less likely to notice you’re here, then.”
Lily smiles at that. “That’s also what I thought.”
She knows Mary smiles right now. One of her kind smiles. She doesn’t want to hang up, but she has to.
Room 369, room 370, room 371. She’s almost there. She can see the door of the 377th room.
“Mary?”
“Yes?”
“I’m here. To be quicker, I’ll have to hang u—”
Mary cuts her in her sentence. “You’ll have to hang up. Yes, of course. Be quick. Tell me if you have a question, I’m still here,” she says kindly.
Lily hums positively, nodding, and then there is the familiar sizzling in her ear, telling her Mary cut the communication. Lily stops in front of the right door, and she eyes the card lector at the right of the door knob. She takes the magnetic card from out of her pocket with her free hand, and at this exact moment, she hears people approaching. She doesn’t see them yet, but she guesses they’re at least two.
“He went this way?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s go!”
So Lily hurries, and passes the card on the lector. The doors clicks, and the card reader lights slightly in green. Lily opens the door, and closes it quietly behind her.
She knows there isn’t anyone in this office. It’s almost 11 pm. The said politician doesn’t work anymore. Lily would have expected him to have a bigger office, though. She looks around, curious.
The room is dark, but Lily can see the outlines of the furniture and the walls. The office is generically decorated, and it looks like a miniature version of the hall and the hallways. The walls are off-white, there are neon lights on the ceiling, and even though Lily didn’t turn the light on, she knows it’s probably a white blinding light. The sort of light that keeps you awake when you want to fall asleep, and the kind to give headaches.
There is a single window, overlooking the street. She sees the buildings on the opposite side of the road, and their lights. The city looks cinematic from where she stands. She looks away, and then she walks to the desk, passing by a coat rack, a clock hang to the wall, and a sad plant that also looks generic. Lily bets everyone has the same sad basic plant in their office. The 376 and 378 rooms probably have it too.
Lily loves plants. But it makes her sad to see how plants are often just considered as decoration, that need as much attention as a couch does. Some people don’t really care for plants, yet, they chose to put some in their workplaces, just so it looks less pathetic.
Sometimes, Lily truly hates this society.
Some people are truly unhappy, and they sometimes work in offices and building like this, next to each other without seeing each other. No need to work in a James’ mission type of building to sounds damning. Lily could never imagine herself working in that sort of place. It’s too white, too neat, too boring. Too sad.
On the other hand, she’s doing that job; she has to do missions like that. Working for the Order isn’t the best case scenario either, and she’s not only doing good to this world either, so she abstains from making comments. She keeps them in her head instead.
Some people might call it a dream job. Being a secret agent. Lily loves watching spy movies with the girls and Remus, in their dorm, with a few biscuits and hot chocolate. However, it is nothing like in the movies. Being a spy has its perks, Lily can admit it gladly. She travels all around the world for missions, and she gets to meet interesting people. It’s always exciting, and never boring, and it’s always different. She develops new skills, she constantly learns, and all of this is fantastic, but there is always a but.
If working for the Order was all fun and games, more people would want to work there. Of course it’s not hell. But it’s all the same. It just doesn’t look like it.
When you’re a spy you always have to watch yourself. See and try to guess when you’re going to slip; to turn crazy. Because you can’t. Slip, or turn crazy. You’re always under pressure, you always have to keep your blood cold, you always have to stay the master of your emotions. You never breathe, or it’s a disguised breath; your brain tricks you, and make you believe it’s all right, when in fact, it never is. Sometimes, Lily is relaxing with her friends and she’s startled suddenly, by the thought that she might be sent on a mission from one minute to the next. Sometimes, Lily is catching her breath on a mission, and there’s always a reminder that she cannot, in fact, catch her breath. Even when the mission is planned, nothing always goes like it’s planned.
And all that, without mentioning that she has to kill people sometimes. They all have to. Some of them slip. Some agents are completely unable to do it; they either get killed then, or they compromise the mission, and they become useless. Some others become crazy, and lose the sense of life. They become outright killers.
The Order checks them every year, to avoid this. Plus the reports are highly analysed. By people like Frank Longbottom.
Frank is James’ friend; well, Lily doesn’t really get their dynamics, but she knows Frank thanks to James. James knows almost everyone, anyway. He mostly teases Frank with his analyses and numbers and estimations. But it’s his job. He jokes back with James, so Lily guesses they’re friends. He’s a bit introverted, but he’s an absolute adorable person.
It’s him who gave Lily all the information she needed for this mission. He helps Mary, these days, when she has to be Lily’s helper.
When she gets behind the desk, Lily starts to look at what’s on it. She puts her briefcase on the floor, next to the desk. But suddenly, voices on the hallway pass through the door, and Lily can hear them. Her heart is beating fast and hard in her chest, it’s almost like she can feel her blood circulating in her body. She promptly crouches behind the desk, listening attentively.
“Maybe it’s this way.”
“What if he hides in one of the offices?”
“Impossible, he doesn’t have a card.”
“Does he?”
“I don’t have mine on me, right now.”
“What a lack of professionalism.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“I have mine. But it’s going to take a while…”
Lily eyes at the window. It’s an anti-suicide window.
Shitty society, she thinks, and it almost brings a smile to her face. That’s fucked up that this building has to have anti-suicide windows; there’s an inherent problem somewhere, for sure, and it seems the hierarchy didn’t really get in deeper detail to find an answer.
She cannot open anti-suicide windows, unless she kicks it. And she doesn’t have the uniform boots on, made for that sort of situation. She regrets not having them. Her other option, if those people get inside the office 377 is to hope they’re not more than two, so she can deal with them. If they’re 3 or more, Lily will not be able to manage them. And they have to have no weapon on them, or it’s the end.
Lily still has her briefcase, with a gun and a silencer inside of it, but taking the gun out of it makes noise, and it takes a few seconds. A few seconds is still enough for three or more people to keep her under control and impeach her from fighting back.
Suddenly, Lily realizes how it can turn sour quickly.
Easy mission? See, there is never an easy mission.
Lily doesn’t take the risk to talk to Mary about it. The voices are too close.
“Let’s go this way,” one of the voices says.
“Yeah… We’ll ask Genny.”
“Genny ain’t going to say shit.”
“You need to stop talking like….”
Lily doesn’t hear them anymore, their voices are too far, and she knows they walked away. She sighs of relief. Her heart is still beating in her rib cage, but it’s starting to slow down. She clicks the earpiece with her index.
“Mary?”
Two seconds pass. Then she hears Mary’s voice.
“Yeah?”
“Ok, I’m in the office. But there are people lurking around, searching for that other person I saw earlier. They said they were maybe going to check inside the offices. So you’re aware.”
“You might get in trouble?” Mary asks.
“Yes. Maybe. I’ll be quick,” and she hears Mary nodding. Lily cuts the communication.
She stands up, and she looks at the desk.
There is a framed photo on the right, next to a white desk lamp. Lily looks at the picture. It’s a random family picture. She recognizes the politician. He’s with his wife, a little boy, and a slightly older boy. The two boys are probably their sons. They’re holding both parent’s hands. They’re outside, maybe in a garden, maybe their garden. They look happy. They also look rich.
Lily never knew that.
Living in the Order, since she was six, she never experienced what she has in front of her eyes. The Order and the room she has in the headquarters with Marlene and Mary is not ugly, nor miserable. Quite the opposite. It’s her only home, and she would never let someone insult it. But seeing the picture, she feels a strange and foreign feeling in her stomach. It’s like the picture fills a hole she didn’t knew was there. Like it fills that hole with questions.
What it’s like to grow up with your parents? With a brother? With a big house, and a garden, and going out in family outings and trips? Lily tilts her head, studying the picture. It’s weird. She doesn’t know if she’s jealous, or just wondering stuff she never wondered too deeply before. She was trained not to dwell on the past too much. But sometimes it’s like life gives her reminder shots.
She doesn’t have time for that.
She shakes her head, and realizes she took the frame in her hands. She puts it back on the desk, and it makes a soft sound. She quietly moves toward the drawers. The paper she’s searching for is probably in there.
She opens them, slowly, to not make too much noise, and she starts her research. The first drawer is filled with boring papers and files. And a few paper clips and post-its. It only takes a minute for Lily to decide it’s not what she’s searching for. She opens the second one. The few folders in this one contain confidential information, but it says nothing about the corruption Lily is searching for, and since she has no interest in politics, she doesn’t stop on it. When she closes that second drawer, she fears that Minerva, Frank and Mary were wrong, and that the papers they asked her to retrieve are not here in the end. Maybe the politician took them home with him, or hides them somewhere more safe. Like, in a safe-deposit box, or something.
In the end, who would be dumb enough to keep something so compromising in a so not secured place such as this office? Yes, you need a magnetic card to open it, but Lily has one. She doesn’t know if it’s easy to make one, but she guesses it mustn’t be that complicated, knowing that the security guards she heard earlier said they had badges too, to open all of these doors.
With that in mind, Lily opens the last drawer.
It’s much more filled with papers than the two first ones. Lily sighs, before taking the first papers out of the drawer. It’s not what she’s searching for, she notices it as soon as she reads it. She takes the next one. Same. And the next folder. Idem.
It takes Lily a few minutes to go through most of it; but at some point, when she almost lost hope, she finds a light pink cardboard folder, with the intitle written with a black marker, on the cover: Campaign & Money transfers. The handwriting is dry yet decisive. But perfectly readable. And Lily knows, immediately, that it’s the folder she’s been searching for.
She opens it, and she sees the bank account statements, and a few photocopied mails. It’s exactly what Frank charged her to find. Lily smiles to herself. She slowly takes her finger to her ear, like a reflex.
“Mary? I got it.”
She doesn’t wait for Mary’s answer to start putting all the papers back to their place, in their exact order. She took care not to mix it all, so he wouldn’t notice anything, at least not right away.
“Oh? Perfect,” she hears, and Lily also hears the pride in Mary’s voice, and she knows she’s smiling too, right now. “No one came to disturb you?” she asks.
“No,” Lily replies, still busy putting all the papers and cardboard sleeves back in their places with one hand, the other still at her ear. “No one entered this office. At least not yet,” she adds, fastening her movements.
“Alright,” Mary says, and Lily hears the serious in her voice. “You need to get out of here as fast as possible.”
“Yes,” Lily says, and she unclicks to cut the communication again.
Quickly, she has put all of the papers back to their places, apart from the cardboard sleeve she kept on the desk. She picks her briefcase from the floor, where she left it earlier, and she opens it. There is still the gun and the silencer inside of it. She doesn’t pick them. Maybe she’ll need them, but she doesn’t want to use them weapons tonight. She feels like she could go the pacific way tonight. She’s a bit tired, and she doesn’t want any bloodbath tonight. There is no need, and she knows it very much.
Lily is probably one of the most pacific agents. Marlene likes to kick asses, Mary doesn’t bother thinking too much when she estimates she’s in danger, or if any of them are. Remus is… Remus. James is frivolous, but it’s just a cover; he’s probably the most serious of them all. Yet he knows how to fight very well, and he is a bit hot headed. Sirius and Regulus, well, when they see red, there is no backing away or re-thinking a situation; they run forward. Dorcas is probably the one she knows the least. Barty is absolutely not pacific, even if Evan is cooling him down a bit. Besides Evan is not pacific either.
They’re all from the same generation. There’s also some staff people that have the same age as her; like Peter, the accessorist, or Frank, who’s a tiny bit older. She often thinks it’s cool to have people her age with her in the Order. Even if she doesn’t speak to every single one of them. Still, the Order is a big organisation, and a lot of agents work for it. It’s a bit less overwhelming to see people her age. Even if she was here first, Lily guesses it’s maybe less scary if you can make friends.
Even if it’s a completely messed up context to make friends.
“Hi, how was your last mission?” “I almost got killed! And yours?” “Oh, I my partner died, shot in the head by some drug traffickers!”
Yay.
Lily puts the light pink cardboard folder in the briefcase. The light pink colour is unusual, but it’s almost cute. She closes the briefcase quietly, and clicks it close. Then she takes it in her hand, and she walks to the door again. Time to get rid of this mission, get home, and bake for her friends. Lily can’t wait for this mission to be over.
She stops at the door, and she puts her ear next to it, to listen to the hallway’s noises. Nothing. Lily opens the door slowly, and there is nobody in the hallway. She promptly gets out of the room 377, and she closes the door softly behind her. And then, she walks away, to the lift, as if nothing happened. As if she was just a random woman, walking in those hallways. With her outfit, she blends in the scenery. She looks like a working girl. Not her usual type of clothing, but it’s a costume anyway.
She reaches the same corridor she took earlier, and when she reaches the moment the corridor is going in four different ways, she hears noises, from afar. Some people are yelling stuff Lily can’t quite comprehend.
So Lily walks faster to the lift. She presses the button, and she feels like it takes an eternity to arrive. She almost taps her foot. The lift makes a “ding” sound, the doors open, and she turns her head, to look behind her.
Because she hears quick steps, as if someone was running toward her, and indeed, the person with the white hair from earlier is running toward her; Lily opens wide eyes. It’s not a man. They don’t have their mask on anymore, and Lily don’t have enough time to realize how handsome they are, because they reach Lily’s level quickly, quicklier than Lily expects.
They catch Lily’s wrist, and they shove her inside the lift’s cabin, before pressing several times the “closing doors” button on the panel. The doors close on the security guards again, as Lily can only see their dumbfounded and slightly horrified expressions, before the lift’s doors close, and without them security guards being able to catch that person, once again.
Lily feels the warmness on her wrist. Their hands are warm and it’s making Lily’s heart beat faster; she knows it isn’t because she’s scared, and contrary to them, it’s not because Lily is out of breath, because she ran. That person, on the other hand, is completely breathless. Their chest is rising quickly, before deflating. They lift their face to the ceiling. Lily observes them.
As the person doesn’t have that face-mask thing on their face anymore, she is able to see their face. And they are, indeed, very pretty. And handsome. And they’re not a man, but Lily wonders if it’s really a girl. There is definitely something feminine in their expression. But the way they stand is intriguing, and she can see something masculine too. The femininity takes over, but Lily is not without intrigue. Yet, Lily doesn’t notice how she stares herself, and she certainly doesn’t think of how possibly rude it might be. Because she’s just admiring her.
Long lashes, and still those light blue eyes, that look like ice. Throat exposed in a strangely alluring way. Her skin is glowing a bit with the sweat and her lips are parted, as if trying to catch every bit of air they can. Lily finds herself blushing realizing she stares at her lips with greed. To her defence, she has kissable lips, and she is still holding Lily’s hand. That person seems to be out of somewhere that isn’t real life.
The long white locks, icing blue eyes and yet dark skin might be the cause, but Lily doesn’t question it at all. She just. Admires.
She is genuinely enthralled. She surprises herself to smile, without thinking. A very tiny smile.
“What’s your name?” Lily asks.
She wants to asks so many other questions. What are you doing here. Who are you. Are you working for the Order. Are you working for someone. How did you get inside. Why are you here. Are you a bad person. Are you a serial killer or are you just someone weird I am meeting completely randomly, because somehow fate chose today would be the day.
The person finally gazes at her. Lily likes her eyes on her.
It looks like she thinks before answering. “Ghost,” she replies.
It struck Lily; indeed, she looks like a ghost, with her white hair, and her unreal aura, so strange it’s hypnotizing.
“Do you plan on running away now, or you’re not finished with your business here, yet?” she asks Lily, in return.
Lily smiles a bit harder; what a strange name. Definitely not a real name. “No, I’m done.”
Ghost looks to the little screen that indicates what floor they’re on. Lily follows her gaze, and at this exact moment, the lift tings, telling them they’re reaching the first floor.
“I’m going to need your help to run away. Can you help?”
Lily nods, smirking. She’s funny. “Yes.”
She went from threatening Lily with a knife, to asking her awkwardly for help, and they’re now sticking together like old friends. It’s quite a comical situation, and Lily, in all her years of experience and missions, never met someone like that, this way. She likes it.
As soon as she says that, the doors open again. This time, Lily runs ahead, and she pulls Ghost with her. But there are many security guards waiting for them. Lily stops running immediately, and she drops Ghost’s hand, to still have one hand free to fight, and that, as soon as she notices they’re encircled. They don’t have guns, fortunately, but they have truncheons instead, and Lily doesn’t think it’s better this way.
She still has her gun in her briefcase. But she really doesn’t want to use it.
“Do you know how to fight?” Lily says, whispering, to Ghost, without looking at her.
“I know a few things,” she says, running ahead, and instead of hitting anyone, she just slides, feet first, one hand on the floor, and her knees touching the floor too. And she passes through the wall of security guards like that. Because the guards, afraid they’ll get tackled on the legs, dodge her. Which is not how security guards should react, but Lily understands, because it is quite an unexpected way to fight.
Lily smiles even harder. She never met someone like that and she doesn’t think she ever will.
“Alright,” she says, lowly, for herself, taking a little breathe.
Guards are now mostly focused on Ghost. Maybe it was on purpose that she has done this weird slide on the floor; to distract the security?
The guards don’t really pay attention to Lily anymore; it’s like they haven’t realized Lily is not one of the workers here. Lily quickly runs to the side, where the guards left a whole in their defence.
However one guard sees her and tries to catch her. Lily dodges him, and with a quick gest, she throws her briefcase in the guard’s face, and he backs away, wobbling. Then she turns away with a wide movement of the arm, and she hits another one who tried to catch her from behind. And then, she runs, and she joins Ghost, who’s already running to the exit.
“You know how to fight,” Ghost notes, as if it was an interesting fact.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Lily lets out, as they both pass the main door Lily entered earlier with a group of employees.
Lily regrets it. She’s not going to understand why “unfortunately”, and it’s not the right moment nor right place to explain her whole past to that stranger.
“Oh, I understand,” Ghost says. “This world would be better if there was just peace.”
Lily stares at her, as she continues to run to her motorbike. She feels Ghost right behind her.
“It’s unfortunate we always have to fight, even when we don’t want to.”
Lily sees Domino, still parked where she left it, but she is genuinely so surprised by what Ghost just said. She doesn’t answer, and she instantly knows silence is the right answer, because Ghost smiles at her. Her smile warms the little candle of light in Lily’s heart.
They both reach the motorbike, and Lily realises she only has one crash helmet.
“Take it,” Lily says, shoving it in Ghost’s hands.
Then she climbs on the moto, before kicking the pedal. The engine roars, and she turns her head to see they already have guards running toward them. Lily sighs. She’ll have to change her plate number, with all this fuss. If she doesn’t, she’ll be in trouble for very little thing, and she doesn’t want the police to take her wonderful motorbike away because she saved a weird yet pretty stranger during a mission.
“Come on, hurry up,” she says, and Ghost sits promptly behind her, and puts her hands on Lily’s waist. She smiles at that. She doesn’t wait for anything else, and she makes her moto accelerate with a wrist movement.
Domino reaches the road, and Lily dodges a few cars that go too slow. She’s usually a responsible person, that never take inconsiderate risks on the road, but now, she feels like going fast. There isn’t a lot of people on the road this late in the night. All this boldness, it’s probably the adrenaline’s fault. And Ghost’s hands on her waist. That tightens when Lily accelerate even more, her hair floating in the wind. Lily isn’t even cold, even though she only wears a shirt and a suit vest, and even though they’re in the end of January. Nights are cold, but Lily only feels warmness. From Ghost’s hands.
Lily mindlessly dodges some other few cars, and she even pass the red lights, not stopping like the other cars. It gives her an euphoric sensation, tinted by a very, very tiny bit of guilt, to have the full crossroad for them both. There isn’t a lot of people this late, anyway.
Quickly enough, she realizes she can’t bring Ghost to the Order’s headquarters. It’s a confidential place. They’re not authorized to bring friends outside of the Order there. But Lily ignores everything about Ghost, and she didn’t say a word since they left the political party’s building. Ghost didn’t tell Lily anything about where she lives, or where she’s headed.
She decides to stop in a district of the city she likes. She knows a place here. Lily will stop there, and then ask her about where she wants Lily to take her.
When Lily pulls up at Vanity’s, Ghost raises her face from Lily’s back. She nudged their face in here in the meantime, for most of the journey, as if she was ready to sleep here, hugging Lily. The thought made her melt a bit, to be honest. That person looks very soft, despite the first impression Lily had of her — of being threatened by her with a knife. She is not really talkative, but every time she speaks, Lily finds herself endeared and surprised.
“We’re arrived.”
“Where?” Ghost asks, raising her nose. “This place looks like a place I’ve dreamt of,” she quickly adds, after looking around.
Unexpected thing to say, yet, Lily smiles. “We’re at Vanity’s. It’s a coffee shop. I know it’s late, but it’s always open late here. If you’re hungry or thirsty, it’s a cool place,” Lily replies, looking at the shop. Through the big windows, that take the whole front wall, she can see the inside of the coffee shop, and she even recognizes Emma, the bartender. “Are you?” she asks.
Ghost is already staring at the inside of it, as it was all very fascinating. It almost looks like she has stars in her eyes. Wonderful.
“Yes,” is all she answers.
Lily nods, still smiling. “Stay here, I’ll be back,” and she walks away without thinking for a single second Ghost could run away with Domino. Or steal her briefcase, with the precious folder in it, plus the gun. Lily weirdly trusts them.
She takes two hot coffees, one with cream and sugar, the second one without. Lily prefers hers with cream and sugar, but if Ghosts choses the sugared one, she’ll drink the black one. She doesn’t mind it like that either. Lily thought about taking something to eat too, but it will not be practical if they have to eat on the motorbike. She walks outside, with her two coffees in hand, suddenly a bit scared Ghost really ran away with her moto, or stole her stuff, but she’s still here, lying on her back on Lily’s moto, stargazing, her hands on her pockets. Her white locks are falling graciously on the moto’s body, and Lily finds the urge to take a picture.
But 1), her hands are taken, by the two coffees, and 2), Lily left her photo camera in her room, of course. Why would she take it during a mission? It’s not like she meets pretty and weird strangers she finds so fascinating she wants to take a picture on every mission.
“Here,” Lily says. It takes Ghost out of her daydreaming, and she sits. Lily continues. “Pick one. This one has sugar and cream, and this one doesn’t. I don’t know which one you pref—”
“Thanks,” Ghost cuts her, taking the cup Lily indicated containing black coffee. “I like it like that,” she adds after taking a sip, lifting her eyes to meet Lily’s.
“Well,” Lily says. She doesn’t know if knowing will be helpful anyway. Will they ever see each other again? “Alright,” and she takes a sip of her coffee.
They drink their coffee, and none of them talk about who they are, what happened, what they were doing or what motives they have. They drink their coffee in a comfortable silence, and that is it. There’s a wisp of smoke floating on top of each’s coffee cup, and it warms Lily. Now that Ghost isn’t wrapped around her, she feels oddly cold. She finishes quickly her coffee. When she throws her cup in the nearest bin, Ghost does the same.
“Are you going somewhere specific?” Lily asks, finally, after minutes of silence. She’s still standing in front of Ghost, who’s sitting on her moto. The sight is… fascinating to Lily. “I can take you somewhere.”
“No. I think I’ll walk a bit.”
“Walk?” Lily genuinely asks. “But it’s cold, outside. You’re only wearing a t-shirt.”
“That’s fine. I’m used to it.”
Lily shake her head. “Are you sure? I really don’t mind—”
Ghost lifts her hand to wave Lily off.
“That’s fine. The stars are too pretty tonight for me to miss. I don’t live too far, anyway.”
Lily wonders if the last thing she said is a lie or not, but she doesn’t insist. What follows is a silence, where Ghost looks at Lily, very intensely, as if they were trying to find the answer to an enigma. Lily doesn’t blush at it, for once, but her gaze on her warms her instantly. She holds her gaze.
“May I know your real name, then?” Lily asks, out of the blue. She doesn’t even know why she asked, because she doesn’t even know if she’s going to get an answer.
“No,” Ghost says, and even though there is no sign of aggressivity or meanness in her tone, she looks at the floor, breaking the long eye contact. Her hands are on her trousers’ pockets. She shrugs but doesn’t add nothing.
Then she stands up, under the scrutinizing look of Lily.
“I’m going to head out.”
“Alright,” Lily says, and when she meets her eyes again, she sees her eyes are shining again. Ghost’s eyes have a spark that’d truly make the stars blush of shame. To hide her urge to hug her, Lily tries to put her hands on her suit vest’s pockets, but they’re false pockets.
Something mischievous glints in Ghost’s eyes. Just like when she was chased by those security guards. Lily truly wonders what she did, in the same building as her. She genuinely hopes she’s not hanging out with a big criminal, disguised under the trait of a weird twenty years old person.
“See you soon,” Ghost says, and Lily feels like there’s some sort of joke hidden in that catchphrase, as if she was giving another meaning to basic words, as if she had a power over all the others, simple mortals. Ghost looks powerful, as she walks away, hands in her pockets, almost jumping and dancing around, looking up to the sky, oddly clear for a winter night.
She looks like a witch, and she probably gave Lily a love potion, because Lily might be in love with her.
Lily shudders, and realizes she’s been looking at where Ghost disappeared mindlessly for the past minute. A smoke cloud escape her mouth, and she’s cold suddenly.
“Mary?” she asks, her hand to her ear. “I’m safe, I’m at Vanity’s. I have the folder.”
“Ooh,” Mary starts, as if she has been waiting for Lily to give her news for a moment now. “I though you disappeared again.”
Lily smiles. “And you didn’t bother checking on me! What a good helper you make,” she jokes.
“Eh!” Mary playfully snorts. “You’re the one forgetting about me, every time. You always leave me hanging, worried.”
“It’s ‘cause I don’t need a helper, most of the time,” Lily retorts with a smirk she knows Mary can’t see. She knows Mary will get the tone. Lily leans on her motorbike.
Mary snorts again. “Lily, who’s here to give you small talk when you have to wait, then?”
Lily cackles. Mary continues.
“Who’s telling you dumb stuff you forget to remember, like… for example, I don’t know, I take that as a random example of course,” Mary’s tone is hilarious, and Lily’s giggling. “The room number of the office you have to go in, like today’s, huh?”
“For my defence,” Lily said, “I just had a strange interaction with someone who threatened me with a knife.”
“Oh, right. I forgot. This is a valid point. How are you by the way? Do you know who they are?”
“I’m fine. It all went well. And no, I completely ignore who she is,” Lily says first. She hears Mary whisper “she?” on the other side of the line. Then Lily adds. “Well, it’s not exact.”
“Hm-hm. Tell me more about it,” and Lily imagines Mary sitting back in her seat, ready for the tea. It makes her smile.
“I met her on my way out, too, on the lift.”
“Again?” Mary exclaims.
Lily nods. “Yes. She told me her name was Ghost. Does that sound familiar to you?” Lily asks, full of hope.
“Uh… Not really. But we’ll check the database, if it’s something you really want to know, I guess. No reason Minerva would disagree.”
“That’s true.”
“And then?” Mary asks, curious. “That’s it?”
“Negative,” Lily says, looking up at the stars. “Then she asked me for help.”
“No way!”
Lily smirks. “Yes it is! And then, to fight the few security guards, instead of using her fists or her legs, or whatever, she slid on the floor to dodge them all.”
“What,” Lily hears Mary cackling in turn.
“Then we ran away. She also held my hand. And we escaped with my motorbike. Of course.”
“Oh my god, Lils.”
Lilys smiles at the nickname. “What.”
“It sounds like a romantic movie, you know that?”
Silence follows. Lily smiles. Yes, it does sounds like it, indeed.
“Lily!” Mary laughs on the other side of the phone. “You’re a hopeless romantic.”
“I am,” Lily says, closing her eyes and nodding slowly, instead of trying to deny anything. Her friend knows her way too well. “I’ll take the road, so—”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll see you in a few dozen minutes anyway. Drive safe.”
“Thanks. See ya, Mary,” Lily says, before hearing a sizzling. She takes the earpiece off, and puts it inside her briefcase.
A smile lingers on her lips. She takes the crash helmet, and she puts it on her head. She starts the engine, and she slowly heads back home. She doesn’t put music on, this time. The only music is the sound of the cars around her, and the klaxons, and the ambulances sirens, and the rare ringing of a bus. It’s enough, because if her ears are empty, her mind is full.
The blue and red lights of the city don’t blind her anymore, and the lines on the road look continuous. Lily drives slower now that Ghost isn’t with her anymore. It feels empty to drive without her, to be fair, and Lily feels too light, where she was hugging her before; it’s like it lacks a weight on Lily’s back. She gets quickly to the Order’s headquarters anyway, and she goes inside the underground parking, to park her moto. She takes off her crash helmet, and she takes her briefcase, before walking to the building’s lift.
He’s different than the other lift. It makes Lily smile.
She gets to her dorm. Marlene is sleeping, and she doesn’t turn on the lights, to not wake her up. She takes off her vest. And she notices a piece of paper sticked to the vest as she throws it on her bed. So lily takes the vest back, and she takes the paper off the vest, before reading what’s written in it.
Thanks for helping me today. I’ll give that back. I know we’ll see each other again one day. Until then, I left a gift.
—P.
Lily re-reads it several times. She can’t believe it. Is it from Ghost? Why signing with “P”? Is it a hint of her real name? A gift? The hand writing is a bit sketchy, but it somehow sticks Ghost’s character.
Lily searches other pieces of paper, but her suit vest doesn’t hide other papers. She wonders what she meant by “gift”.
She shakes her head, trying to focus. She would search for her gift late. She had to give the folder with the papers she took to the analysts’ floor. Then she could go bake a bit, before it would be too late. So Lily takes the briefcase, and she quietly closes her bedroom’s door behind her, paying attention to not wake Marlene up. Mary wasn’t in their dorm, so maybe she was to the analysts floor too.
When she reaches the analysts’ floor, Lily searches for Frank. He’s the referent for most of her missions now. Since he’s almost her age, it’s funnier. Before, Lily had Slughorn as a referent, and it was not fun. He was an old man, with no hair, that didn’t talk a lot, and only answered questions when he judged them interesting enough. Slughorn was still in the analysts floor, but he was not Lily’s referent anymore, and she didn’t think he was anyone’s anymore.
As she walks through the few people still awake, Lily goes straight for the last office of the room, on the right. Frank’s office is far from being as empty and sad as the one of the politician. His has yellow walls, and plants are happily hanging from the ceiling. He’s often watering them, and he is in the middle of doing so when Lily knocks at his door.
“Yeah?” she hears, as she opens the door, and sees Frank, perched on a wood stool, with a duck shaped watering-can in hands, trying to reach for a pot hanged a bit too high.
The room is warm, and since Frank always drink tea, there’s a collection of cups and mugs on his desk. Plus a strong smell of chamomile and vanilla. Sometimes his girlfriend Alice comes here and sits in a corner with a book. She brings their cat, Socrates and it’s absolutely adorable.
“Oh, Lily,” Frank says, as if he’s surprised to see a friend.
Lily smiles back at him. “I got the papers Minerva sent me for.”
“Nice,” and Frank gets off his stool.
Lily closes the door behind her, before opening the briefcase on the stool. Frank goes sit at his desk, putting his glasses on. When she opens the briefcase, Lily takes the pink cardboard folder out, and something rolls off it. She opens wide eyes, surprised. Lily hands the folder to Frank, who’s also intrigued, but he doesn’t ask any questions, and simply takes a look at the few papers. While Lily is crouched, trying to find what rolled off her briefcase, when it was made to not let anything fall from it. Was it a screw, or something?
Then, Lily sees it, on the brown carpeting. On the floor lies a little pearl. Lily takes it, and in her hand, it looks like the pearls that can be found in oysters. Looking closer to it, it’s an earring. A pearl earring. Lily knows it’s Ghost’ gift. She doesn’t bother wonder how she got it here. Or how or where she got it. Like she didn’t bother wondering how she succeeded to stick a note on Lily’s back while they were riding on Lily’s motorbike, at full speed, in the wind, without Lily noticing anything. There is something magical about Ghost. Unreal. No wonder she chose such a nickname. She’s a bit unfathomable. Like a ghost would.
“What is it,” Frank asks, raised eyebrows, hands intertwined and leaning forward to see, curious.
Ghost might be unfathomable, but Lily isn’t scared of fantoms.
Lily shows him the pearl, with a smile. “A pearl. Someone named Ghost gave it to me. Would you mind doing research on that person for me?”