My friend’s call me Zac. My enemies don’t call me anything. Not because I don’t have enemies, but because all my enemies are the kinds of people who don’t care about a kid who decided to leave his family at the age of six.
Most people who know my story think I’m nuts. I guess I am. I was the kid who couldn’t learn anything, no matter how simple it was. I guess it makes sense I would think it was a good idea to leave home at six, and to still be on the road years later because someone like me will never learn their lesson, no matter how often it’s spelled out for them.
I can’t even remember why it was I left to begin with. I think it had something to do with looking for my real parents. See, even though my mom and dad were alive, still are as far as I know, they didn’t like me at all. I think I had some brothers and sisters, and I remember them getting the lions share of my parents’ attention, but I don’t remember it clearly. The only thing I remember about my birth family clearly was the day I brought a report card home from school with a note saying I needed to be held back. I left the day after that.
I can’t remember what they said that made me leave, all I remember is sitting in the closet in my room bawling my eyes out. I remember seeing a book belonging to one of my brothers or sisters, about a kid who got left on someone’s doorstep and was on a journey to find their birth family. I remember thinking “maybe I’m like that kid. Maybe my real mommy and daddy are out there missing me.”
I don’t know if that’s why I left. I do know that if I thought that, I didn’t look very hard. I just wandered from place to place, leaving when local residents drove me out. A few people tried to put me in an orphanage, but I just broke my way out. Nobody tried to find my birth parents.
But one day I found something special. I was walking one a road going somewhere, I’m not sure where, and I found a ring lying on the ground. It wasn’t anything special, just a silver band, but written on it were the words, “I will love you forever, Maggie.” When I saw it, my heart just started beating like crazy. I thought “This is it. This is how I find my family.”
That was about two years ago. I haven’t found who, if anyone, it belongs to.
***
The nice thing about traveling with royalty is that nobody suspects you’re a thief. I’ve been stealing to get by ever since I left home. Jessica keeps telling me that I shouldn’t steal things because she can make charms that’ll let us get by. I say dream on. Charms are going the way of magic artifacts these days.
I don’t steal anything from people who’ll be ruined. I look at people and guess how rich they are and how much of jerk they are, and if I think they’re mean I swipe their wallet when they aren’t paying attention. I told Jessica this and she asked me “How do you know for sure they weren’t just having a bad day when you met them?” I said, “I don’t know, but I don’t have to look to see where they keep their wallets, so I’m willing to bet I can judge character pretty well.”
I don’t think Jessica’s comfortable with me stealing. Why she hasn’t left I don’t know. It’s not like she has to put up with me. From what she’s told me, she left her family the same way that I did.
Maybe she doesn’t think she can make it on her own. She did say she comes from a high-class family from someplace called “The Citadel”. She might just need me to take care of her. Or she’s just looking to take advantage of me.
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