“Now’s your time to shine, Alexei,” Milo remarked. They were standing in front of the town’s church—it was small, but well maintained. It was almost surprising that there was no one there, at least from the looks of it from outside. “The door to the far left of the sanctuary should be open. The box should be on the table right beside where you enter. It’s just a regular wooden box, doesn’t even have any markings on it or anything.”

  Alexei forced a nod. “What if I run into somebody?”

  “You won’t. Everyone’s busy this time of day.”

  “I know a bit better than to immediately take you for your word.”

  “Alright, fine. If anyone asks, just say you’re heading to the priest’s office. It won’t be a lie. Hell, they might even show you there. But if they try to bring you to him, tell them you’re just dropping something off. He’s just going to cause more trouble if he gets involved in all of this.”

  “So… whatever I’m getting is in the priest’s office?”

  “Yeah, but he definitely shouldn’t be in there. We were told he’d be away helping a new pastor of a nearby village or something. On the very, very off chance he’s there, just say you’re wandering around and then head back out. Don’t mention a single thing that you came in there for. Alright?”

  “I know I’m going to regret this…” But the mumble was enough of a confirmation. He stared right at the church’s double doors and acknowledged that the only thing he was going to be able to get himself to do was move forward.

  But before he stepped towards it, Milo gave him a pat on the back and a grin. “Good luck. We’ll be a couple of streets down from here—where that bakery was. And then we can all head home and get some ice cream.”

  Alexei couldn’t believe he was doing this. Yet, he gave another nod, then went inside. He could’ve sworn Milo and his friends started talking about something as he walked in, but they were already quiet and soon muffled by the door. Given the laugh one of them gave, though, he assumed it wasn’t anything bad. Just friends being friends.

  Moderately creepy and almost certainly not good influence friends, but friends nonetheless.

  As he wandered through the church, he kept repeating Milo’s instructions. Though confronted with a couple of doors when he came in, Alexei used the knowledge of his own church to guess which one was the sanctuary; he gave a quiet prayer of forgiveness as he weaved through the pews and found the door on the far right. Milo was right, it was open, and a regular box was nearby.

  He made sure no one was around—gods, he felt like he was a wanted criminal—before taking the box. It wasn’t quite as heavy as he was imagining, and it wasn’t all that big, either. He decided to hold it a bit like a book—it was around the size and shape of it, and would fool people from a distance—before quickly stepping back and walking out. He tried not to make his glances around too suspicious-looking but, well, there certainly wasn’t a better way to describe the whole scenario.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Nearly panicking when he didn’t see Milo outside, Alexei forced himself to remember that they were meeting somewhere else. But… he didn’t immediately start walking to the bakery.

  Instead, he stepped aside into an alley, where he thought he might not seem as obvious. He looked at the box and carefully weighed his options. There was always the option of returning it and telling Milo he never got it. There was something else he thought of, though, that somehow appealed to him more. It would, at least, give him more answers than anything Milo or anyone else would be willing to tell him.

  He was going to try to open it.

  Alexei first held the box closer to eye level, trying to see how it opened. There didn’t seem to be a lock on it, just a small latch that was easy to open once he freed a hand to do it. Carefully lifting the lid—cringing when it squeaked, even though no one was around to hear it nor think it suspicious—he found…

  Papers.

  Just papers.

  He thought he saw a small section of a drawing of some sort, but he didn’t get a good look at it or what any of the papers said. Someone walked past the alley he was in, causing him to quickly close the box again and pulling it close to his chest. Knowing he’d been staying here too long anyway, he started walking towards the bakery.

  Milo and his friends were talking—no, it looked a little more like arguing—when Alexei got close. He was expecting to have to interrupt them, since they seemed too busy to notice him, but then Milo looked over. And once Milo looked over and waved at Alexei to come closer, all his friends shut up, too.

  “Is that it?” Milo seemed so excited, it was easy to forget something bad might be involved. In fact, Alexei even felt happy. Proud.

  But then he remembered exactly what he was handing over, and he was nervous all over again. Still, as he handed the box over to his cousin, he nodded. “Is… that everything, then? There’s nothing else left to do…”

  “Yeah! This’ll be everything that we need.” He turned back to his friends and showed them the box, too. He even opened it a little and let them all look inside like it was full of treasure. But after a moment, he must’ve realized why Alexei’s tone has sounded so sad, and he turned back to his cousin. “We’ve still got to get ice cream, though, remember? Things aren’t over.”

  “They’re going to be, though, aren’t they?” The thought had finally had time to come to Alexei: what happened now that the mission was over. And that meant saying goodbye to Milo. Again. Made worse by it yet again likely not even being a proper goodbye. A bit quieter, Alexei managed, “I don’t want to be apart from you again.”

  He tried not to shrink when he looked up and saw how absolutely uninterested all of Milo’s friends were in the situation. Alexei just had to remind himself that they didn’t matter—just him and Milo did. Everyone else wasn’t a part of this, so he shouldn’t care about their opinions.

  Frankly, he probably shouldn’t be caring for Milo’s, either, given his reputation, but that was a different story.

  Milo placed a hand on Alexei’s shoulder, but it wasn’t nearly as reassuring as he hoped it would be. Not when it really didn’t mean much more than any of what he said. “Remember what we talked about? Things are a bit different now, and we’re on different paths. I don’t want you to get involved in what I’m doing, and I don’t think you want me everywhere in your life, either. But… I don’t see why there can’t be a messenger that goes between us. It might not be very often, but I’ll check in on you every now and gain—whenever I can. Just promise me you’ll stay safe and not look too deeply into things you’re not supposed to in the meantime, okay? I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Alexei forced himself to nod.

  The pigtailed friend scoffed. “Can we go yet? We’re all pretty much waiting for one thing. You can have your emotional cousin heart-to-heart or whatever after we’ve all eaten. Or at least we’ve gotten far enough away we don’t have to hear all your mushy talk.”

  “What do you say, Alexei?” Milo prompted. “Are you ready to call this a mission well done?”