“’Cuze me. Pardon me. Excuse me. Sorry.”

No matter what path Shade tried to follow, there was always someone in his way. Thus, each step was accompanied by some sort of apology.

Twila was the exact opposite. She weaved in and out of the crowd with easy, ahead of him, not bringing forth a comment or even a glance from the people she passed. Shade watched her for a moment, grunted, and tried again.

Maybe I should run out in the middle of the street… it’d probably be easier than this dang sidewalk…

But then he’d attract attention, which was the last thing Shade wanted.

Thus he was stuck pushing past people awkwardly, feeling like a complete idiot.

“You’re slow.”

Somehow, Twila had been able to walk against the crowd to see him. Shade shook his head a couple times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating; no, it was real, she was next to him.

“What’s wrong?” Twila asked, tilting her head to one side.

“Nothing…” Shade let the sentence trail off and looked around. He hadn’t seen a single anthromorph in this city besides Twila, Apollo, and himself, yet they failed to attract any sort of attention. “How come you’re able to move so fast?” It was the first question that stuck to his mind, and the moment he said it, he wanted to whack himself upside the head. But he couldn’t, because moving his arm would result in elbowing the teenager walking next to him.

“I’ve lived in Razel all my life. It’s not so hard when you get used to it.” Twila shrugged and grabbed his wrist. “Quit being so slow, and maybe you won’t run into so many people.”

”I’m just trying to be polite-“ He was cut off as Twila pulled on his arm, guiding him to the right-side of the sidewalk close to the buildings. She kept her free hand up against the brick and spoke. “Not many people care for people like us here. Think we’re freaks, you know, the whole ‘they’re-not-like-us-so-we-hate-them’ story. You have to learn to get around unnoticed.” She looked back at Shade and looked him up and down. “Especially you, clone. Whatever you’re a clone of; someone’s bound to recognize you.”

“Twi’ght!” Someone called from a building ahead.

Twila stopped walking for the first time since they’d started and jumped up to get a better look. “Ave! We’re comin’!”

“Who’s ‘Ave’?” Shade asked.

“Avril Gemini. She helps Apollo ‘n me get stuff we need, and her house is where Izzy stays.”

“Izzy?”

“The brains of almost every mission.”

“Twi, here!” A girl shouted, waving rapidly in front of a store. Twila ran ahead of Shade and skidded to a stop before the girl. “Hey, Ave.”

“Hi, Twila.” The girl pushed a lock of dark blond hair behind one ear and examined Shade, who caught up with Twila about five seconds later. “Who’s he?”

“Heard the news?”

Avril sighed, looking toward the ground. “Izzy said you had something to do with it, but… Twi, what did you do?”

”Met Mr. Clone here.”

Embarrassed, Shade tried his best at a friendly smile. “Shade the Hedgehog. Nice to meet you, Avril.”

“Call me Avie.” Avril returned the smile and tucked her hair again. She then turned her gaze back to Twila. “You didn’t answer my question, Twi.”

“Apollo and I had a little run-in with big-bad-Krystal and Mr. Clone. Don’t worry, nothin’ serious.” Twila shrugged nonchalantly, more than willing to drop the subject. “We need food. Cereal, ‘cause Apollo’s too lazy to get us some. Got any?”

“You’re lucky; mom just went shopping yesterday.” Avril grinned and spun on her heel. “C’mon, follow me. No one will care.” Shade hesitated for a moment then followed Twila into the building. A bell chimed the moment Avril opened the door.

It was a bookstore. Books and bookshelves covered every spare inch of the small building; the only inches of the room uncovered were so that people could walk around freely. There was a large desk, also covered in books, and Shade could just barely make out a book-covered staircase at the back of the room.

“Welcome to my mom’s bookstore.” Avril smiled a moment and ran to the back of the room, toward the stairs. “No one ever comes by here, so you don’t have to worry about anyone showing up. We’ve got some stuff upstairs for you, Twila.”

“Perfect.” Twila grabbed Sahde’s hand and followed Avril, skipping over the piles of books with ease; Shade tripped somewhere around two to five times, nearly bringing Twila down with him. How did she manage to get around here?

“Avie and her mom buy all the food and stuff we need so we don’t have to face down the anti-furry people. That and they keep tabs on what all the people say about us. Apollo, Izzy and I- and now you, too- are the only ones like us here in Razel. I think I said that before.”

”You did. Somewhat, I think.”

“Good. I thought so.”

The upstairs mirrored the downstairs: cluttered and full of books. There were two doors leading off to separate rooms, but otherwise it was the same. “I’ll be right back,” Avril told them, and disappeared into one of the rooms.

“Wow,” Shade remarked when she left. “It’s kind of… er…”

“Cluttered?” Twila guessed, looking around. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Not many people stop by here- not many wanna buy books, I guess. But we pay Ms. Gemini, so it all works out.”

“Oh.”

"Twila!" A high-pitched voice shrieked. Suddenly a creature appeared out of nowhere, latching itself on Twila's back; the hedgehog shrieked and fell to her knees. "Izzy!"

"Hi, Twila! Hi, person I don't know!" The creature shrieked. Shade finally recognized it as a single-tailed fox, her white muzzle and baggy t-shirt clashing against her auburn fur.

"Shade," Twila half-corrected, half-introduced.

"Hi, Shade!"

"Clone, I'd like you to meet the brains, Izzy Lynn."

"Erm... nice to meet you." How a little kid like Izzy could be in charge of everything, Shade didn't quite understand, but decided to play along anyway.

"Twila, is this the clone person Apollo was getting all ticked off about?"

"Yeah, basically. Now get off." Twila grinned and stood up, brushing off her jeans.

"Got it!" Avril returned, a brightly colored box of cereal in her hands. "Izzy, the 'puter's going haywire."

"Eeek!" Izzy shrieked, dashing from the room.

"'Haywire'?" Twila took the box from Avril's hands and looked at the human girl suspiciously.

"Yeah. I'm not a computer genius like Izzy or anything, but I think we've got another signal."

"From Krystal? Or Monikku?"

"Dunno; but it's probably an and-or situation. What, expect me to know everything?"

"Wait, what do you mean?" Shade inturrupted, more than a little confused.

"Izzy's computer tracks the appearance of magic-" Twila began.

"Or, at least the 'magic' Krystal and Monikku use." Avril put air quotes around the word.

"Whatever. So, the tracker records any magic used anywhere Razel-"

"Or anywhere near it-"

"So we can find our little friends much easier."

"Alright..." Shade nodded, "So... where are they?"

"What, do you wanna go with?"

"I don't know- I just-"

"Aw, come on, Shade. It'll be fun."

"I-"

"Hey, Izzy!" Twila ran from the room, probably headed to the one Izzy was in. "Where do we go? I wanna go!"

"Without Apollo?" Avril called.

"I got Shade with me. Who cares about that party pooper?"

Avril's answer was shaking her head slowly. "Twila..."

"Got the coordinates!" Twila ran back into the room, a piece of paper clasped in her fingerless-gloved fist. "Sweetness!"

"Twila..." Avril warned. Shade merely sighed.

"You comin' or what?"

"Huh?" Shade glanced up.

"You coming?"

"But..."

Twila blinked.

"Twila-"

"What?"

"Nothing. Never mind." Shade shook his head and grabbed the forgotten box of cereal, which had fallen to the floor. "Let's go, I guess."

"That's the spirit, clone!"