Chapter Two

Ivy Animosity, with her past of living in Washington State, was quite used to the stormy rain clouds that poured down in what seemed like a million tiny bullets of rain. However, that never made her like the rain any more so than when she had first experienced it. But she had to deal with it, once again, because she had been hired to kill someone by her old friend Thrust Ominous, and the person soon to be dead just so happened to be in a rainy area at the moment. And killing was her job. She couldn't chicken out because of some annoying weather patterns.

Ivy reached the door of Miss Jubilance Glee's house, debating on whether or not to just kick the door in or open it quietly. She chose quietly for the occasion. No need to get into a fight when she could just get the job done quickly and over with. Placing her hand on the door, she applied a small amount of magic into unlocking the door soundlessly. It swung open silently, without even a creepy old creak.

Stepping inside, she made sure to close the door making the least amount of noise possible. Needless to say, Ivy managed to trip on the rug inside and tumble to the floor, nearly breaking a hole in the wall with her foot because of her combat boots. Silently swearing, she nudged the door shut the rest of the way, got to her feet, and relocked it. Being careful not to trip on anything again, she made her way through the house, coming to the door of what was seemingly a bedroom. She got out her knife, ready to kill.

* * *

Once the victim was dead and the body no longer had a head, the door was off its hinges, and “STAY OUT” was written on the door in blood, Ivy pulled out a sheet of spotless white paper from her pocket and wrote “Ivy” in her small handwriting with a black Sharpie. She was going to add a smiley face, just to make things funny, but when she heard the quiet clacking of boots in the hallway, she froze.

Who would be in the house at this hour? It was practically two in the morning. There was always the chance that it was someone Glee had known, but if that were the case they wouldn't sound like they were trying to be sneaky. She heard the footsteps coming into the hallway and stop, possibly to read the message on the door.

Ivy set the paper down, put the lid on her Sharpie, which she stuffed into her jacket pocket, and used this opportunity to sneak away. She had planned to just go out the window, but she only had time to duck down when she heard the other person walk into the room. She had barely squirmed under the bed before the footsteps were nearing ever so slightly closer, closer, and stopped. They were probably reading Ivy's note.

Ivy frowned. She recognized those boots that the intruder was wearing. However, she wasn't planning on giving herself away because she knows someone with the same shoes. That would be silly.

It had already been a few minutes that the person had been standing there. It was making Ivy impatient. She had been here first, why was she the one who had to wait to leave? It was unfair. Besides, a little fight couldn't be too bad...

She stuck her hand out from under the bed and grabbed their ankle. After a hearing a girl cry out in surprise, Ivy barely had time to yank her arm back under the bed before it was sliced off by a sword.

Rolling out from under the bed on the opposite side, Ivy came up and launched a kick into the other girl's side, who gasped and smacked Ivy hard with the hilt of one of her swords. Ivy had whipped out her knife and pressed it to the girl's throat at the same moment she felt a blade pressed to hers. She looked up from the sword, her black hair in her face, and frowned when she saw who was holding the weapon.

“Kestrel?” she asked.

Kestrel LeStarre blinked. “Ivy?”

“Er... hi,” Ivy answered with an awkward smile. She didn't usually run into people. “This is, well, an unusual situation, to say the least.”

“I couldn't disagree,” Kestrel replied. “Would you like to move your knife away from my throat?”

Ivy sounded wary. “Only when you move your sword.”

They both lowered and sheathed their weapons. There was a moment of silence before Kestrel got back into the conversation. “Why are you even here?” she asked, a slight edge to her voice.

Ivy pulled an envelope with her name on it out of her pocket. “I was hired to.”

She could see the surprised look on Kestrel's face. “So was I.”

They stood there, confused, trying to come up with some sort of reasoning behind this. All they achieved was some short-answer conversation.

“Were you told to come at this exact time?”

“Yes.”

“You were a little late.”

“I was busy.”

"I wasn't."

"I can tell."

“Who sent you?”

“Thrust Ominous.”

“Same here.”

“Weird.”

Ivy was quiet for about a minute, then she shrugged, walked over to the window sill, and opened the window. Kestrel stayed where she was and gave Ivy an odd look. “What are you doing?”

“Finding out why we were both sent here,” Ivy answered, climbing out the window. Once she had gotten all the way out, she stood on a tree branch just outside. She poked her head back in. “Coming?”

There was only a slight hesitation. “Yep.”