• “How could they even consider this? The families of the ones he killed will start a riot when they find out. Not only that but that’s countless lives you will be endangering” she said, her voice was infused with her frustration.
    “You know as well as I do that all of those people were Hunters, Janice” said he, trying to be reasonable but this woman was so hardheaded.
    “That was never proven and our job is to follow the evidence, Taub. And that kid was quite the trouble maker in there. They had to move him to solitary confinement” Janice reminded him, once again. It was her job to keep that monster locked up and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure she succeeded. But this argument was starting to wear her down. It had been ongoing for the past year.
    “Yea, because when you put a child in an adult facility bad things are going to happen. Anytime he hurt someone it was in self defense. He was put in solitary confinement for his own safety. He was a star inmate and deserves a second chance. And the psychologists have said he is mentally stable and shows no sign of bloodlust. Even you can’t argue this down” Janice faltered, trying to find a hole in the logic but there wasn’t one.
    “Fine; But when this blows up, then it‘s on you.” She said getting up and walking out.
    *****
    Commander Werat put the phone down. He was chewing on his lip in frustration. They were letting a murderer loose. He picked up Valos’s box of belongings and told one of his officers to go get the ex prisoner and take him to the visitation room.

    Taub waited patiently until Valos was brought in, his face painted with a sneer of superiority. Valos’s mandatory façade of tough guy faded as soon as the door shut behind him. If he showed even a shred of weakness, then that’s what he’s get ripped too: Shreds.
    “What did they say?” he asked eagerly. This had been the 5th appeal, and Taub said that there was a good chance of it succeeding since Valos had agreed to talk to a shrink.
    “They’re letting you out.” Taub said “but you‘ll be on probation”
    “Probation? How long?” Valos asked, his Smile faltering slightly
    “A year; you‘ll be wearing an ankle monitor to make sure you‘re where you‘re supposed to be” Valos forced himself to keep smiling.
    “At least I’m getting out.”
    Taub had known Valos long enough to know when he was faking something. But he also knew Valos had good cause to be angry. Being imprisoned for 4 years for self defense must be tolling. And to find out that he would still be imprisoned in a schedule must be aggravating at the very least. Taub pulled out the keys to Valos’s handcuffs and unlocked them. Valos rubbed his wrists for a moment. The imprint from the cuffs left a red mark where they had chafed. “Finally”

    Valos stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. Home. This is where it had all began. Valos was almost surprised at how little had changed. It was still as quiet as ever. It still smelled like the pine trees that populated the yards of the houses that were all probably designed by the person. Tomorrow was when his strict Schedule was to begin. Today he was being showed to his house, his school and a store where he would work and get anything he needed. His job started in a week; School the next day. And he had to call to ask permission to go anywhere but home and school. He had to walk a specific way to school and work every day. Any Deviance from this would send him back to prison. He sighed and twisted his Change ring absentmindedly. It felt a little odd to be wearing it after 4 years of not. It was an ornate ring, passed down through his family. It was gold with a not tiny ruby set in it. It wasn’t really his style or thing to wear, but he had no choice. If he didn’t wear it the Hunters would descend in a matter of hours. It was a lot of trouble to keep up the illusion of freedom. But he was really still in jail; on a false charge. He went through his doorway and kicked the door shut, letting a scowl cross his face for the first time since his “good” news.
    *****

    Maygan was stuck doing office hours again. When she decided she wanted to join the guard. She didn’t know about the required amount of office hours. It was easy, but tedious work; nothing but filing and taking phone calls. She would much prefer to be in the field, but she was sure everyone would, so required office hours is a good idea. Why didn’t they just hire a secretary? Her thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing.
    “Earth police sector 15, this is Officer Maygan. Is there a problem?”
    “Tell Commander Xander That they‘re letting Valos out.” said a man’s voice
    “May I ask-” Maygan began but he interrupted
    “It’s Werat. Go tell him.” he said and hung up abruptly
    Maygan hesitated for a moment before getting up and going to knock on her commanding officer’s door.
    “What do you want?” commander Xander’s voice said
    Maygan opened the door.
    “A man called Werat just called, he told me to tell you that they‘re letting Valos go”
    Maygan had seen the commander at his angriest and this was nothing like that. Instead of shouting, he suddenly got very quiet. It was somehow more frightening then the shouting. He looked at her for a moment in silence. Maygan averted her eyes, choosing instead to focus on the clutter of her boss’s desk. It was covered in the cases that the Aeros Fay guard was working on. The Fay guard was the Police force of the Sacred Cities and earth. There was a localized office for each city and earth sector, but the office in Aeros was also the centralized office that oversaw every other office. Maygan had joined 5 years ago and slowly worked her way up the ranks until she was finally just one step away from having her own unit. She was pretty much just waiting for another unit chief to retire.
    “Did you tell anyone else?” he finally asked, speaking so low she almost couldn’t hear him. Maygan shook her head, looking back up at the commander. “Good. I need you to tail this guy and keep a sharp eye on him. Avoid contact if possible. I’ll call the commander over there and let them know that you will be coming over there.” That caught Maygan off guard. She was not even in a detailing unit, she was in drug trafficking.
    “Over there?”
    “They would have let him go in his earth home town I‘d imagine. That’s over in sector 39”
    “Are you sure you want to send me? I’ve never done any work like this before.”
    “I don’t want more people than necessary knowing about this. You’ll go.”
    Maygan hid her Curiosity. Why were they getting involved in something way over there? What was going on here??
    “You need to leave as soon as possible. I‘ll have an apartment set up for you. Take whatever you need to. You‘re dismissed”
    As Maygan left the office, her mind was reeling. This was obviously something big. She immediately went home to pack. This is the sort of thing she signed up for.
    *****
    Commander Xander watched her leave. He knew she must be confused but maybe the less she knew the better. Anyways she’d do her research if she was good at her job, which all the reposts he’d read on her said she was. He couldn’t believe they were letting that b*****d go. He jeopardized a lot of Fay with what he did. Xander mused that Valos should have been sent to The Asylum. No normal being can envision doing that much harm at that age. Much less actually do it
    *****
    Leon slid into his seat at school and scowled slightly. The back to his seat had a big crack on the back that pinched him if he sat back. The class was abuzz about some new kid they were supposed to be getting today. The rumors going around were a bit outrageous, but the most commonly believed was that he was in some sort of institution; Jail, or an asylum, or something like that. It seemed strange to put him in school with a week until summer vacation, but he had probably had some education in the loony bin. Leon shrugged. It didn’t matter much to him; it would be back to normal in a day or 2, maybe sooner. The teacher quickly took role and dove in to the math lesson. When the door opened, half an hour later, the entire room froze. The stranger walked in, he held the entire Class’s attention, a feat the teacher had never accomplished. It had to be the new kid, but he looked like a model. His deep green eyes scanned the room quickly, like he was checking to make sure someone was there, before landing on the teacher. The teacher met the new kid’s eyes before diverting to the class. His face was framed in smooth brownish black hair that made his skin look paler than it actually was. He was sort of tall and built like a gymnast. He looked neither crazy, nor like a criminal. In fact many of the girls in the class were whispering to each other behind their hands about the end of the year dance and who they now wanted to ask.
    “Um, Class, this is Valos. He‘s our new student” The teacher said lamely: Valos was seated in the back of the class and the lesson continued on. Every now and then someone would look around to see if he was doing anything interesting, but he just took notes without looking up.
    .
    By the end of the day, Leon had completely forgotten about the new kid. He hurried home, hoping his mother was asleep. He grabbed the mail and then tip-toed up to her door and peeked in before letting out a sigh of relief. After he opened the door the rest of the way and crept in, he put his mother’s medication in her I.V. bag and wiped a smudge off of her cheek and examined her face. If he looked beneath the wrinkles he could still see the laughing and smiling woman that used to light up the rooms of the house. Everyone used to say that he favored his mother, but Leon never saw it. He had her wavy blonde hair and crystal blue eyes but that was it really. He had his father’s slim nose and face, he knew him through the picture album in his mom’s nightstand drawer. He watched her for a moment more before leaving the room. He opened the mail and it was mostly bills. There was also the weekly check from the government. Apparently his dad had been a very high ranking officer when he was killed on the job, so now his family got compensation. He checked the number to make sure it was correct before putting it down and moving to do his homework.