"Now what?” Cece stared at Abe with a bored expression. The misty knight had vanished with Ava, and although the crows still occasionally cawed and fluffed their feathers, they had mostly calmed down. Cece made sure to keep a certain distance between herself and the birds, which made Abe grin. She could pretend to be as cool as she pleased, but he knew better. She was nervous.

"Now we wait,” he replied. “It takes one hour.” He glanced at his watch. About two minutes had passed.

“A whole hour?” There was just a hint of whining in her voice, and she still gazed at him. “What will we do for an entire sixty minutes, monsieur?” She was closer to him now, maybe three feet. He hadn’t noticed her move in the dark.

“Erm--” He involuntarily stepped backwards. “Just, um, wait, I suppose.” She stepped closer again, a smile playing at her lips, her eyes never leaving his. It made him exceedingly uncomfortable. “I suppose I might read something--or--”

"In this darkness?” There was now less than a foot between them. Abe’s throat felt tight. He tried to swallow.

"I have a flashlight.” She smiled again. He glanced over his shoulder. “We should probably keep an eye out for--” But then her hand was playing with his shirt buttons and he completely lost his voice. “Um, I--what--what’re you doing, Celine?”

She laughed. “What do you think, monsieur?” She leaned her face into his--her lips nearly brushed his own--he could feel her breath on his face and was irritated to find she smelled warm and sweet, like roses and saffron...

Then she left. She just walked away. And when Abe finally caught his breath, cursed his idiocy and shook himself back alert--he realized his gun was missing.