Part 2

What can I say, I am a coward.  I looked at our surroundings.  We were amongst a large pile of crates, my mark etched upon the floor.  It was simple, a pair of rectangles stacked akimbo, an S in the top one and a C in the bottom.

She sagged against me.  "What happened?"

"We shifted."  I told her.  "Hold on, we're going to do it again."  I turned the orb that was still in my hand.  We shifted again.  That was the problem with shifting blindly.  You always went somewhere...

"This'll work."  We were in a long forgotten stone room off of one of the abandoned subway lines.  My sign occupied a position on the wall to my left.  So were those of a few of the others.  I kicked a metal box and it whirred to life, lighting a string of white Christmas lights that hung around the eight foot ceiling.

She leaned against the wall.  Sank to the cold floor.  "What?  How?  Where are we?"

"Safe."

"But how did you do that?"

I pulled the glass sphere from beneath the pile of rags on my cart.  The orb reflected the meager light, chasing the shadows back into the very corners of the room.

"This is a Sigil Sphere.  With it, I can move between places bearing my mark."

"Oh."  She did not understand, and would not without the full explanation.  "Does he have one of those... things?"

"Yes."

She rose, looking for the door.  Panicked when she did not see it.

I waved toward a stack of cardboard boxes.  "It's behind there.  But sit, you are safe I said."

"How do you know, I mean he could pop in here just like we did..."

"No he can't.  His..."

"How do you know?  He's following me."

I reached in to my cart again, pulling out the hotdog.  I ate it slowly, arranging the words in my mind.  "Look Mary."  I said, sterner than I meant.  Lightening my tone, I continued, "His mark is not in this room, it's nowhere near here.  There's some chips in that box over there."  I pointed towards a wooden crate against the far wall.

Surprisingly, she crossed the room and retrieved them, like a puppy, bringing them back to me.

"No, you eat them."

"Why?  What does he want from me?"

"Why?  To keep your mouth busy so you stop asking questions.  As to Cyrus?  He wants you to be Queen."