His eyes flicked to mine, a perfect red that matched his hair. He wasn’t human, no way he could be. I stilled my backwards progress like a caught animal, holding my breath. His eyes widened in shock, his mouth popping open slightly. He looked like he knew me and that he was surprised to see me. It made no sense. I felt electricity burn across my skin and the taste of something sweet and spicy coated my tongue. The air grew thick.

I turned, rushing in the opposite direction until I was stumbling behind the red curtain and into the kitchen. I could feel the man behind me like a tiger chasing me through the jungle, his presence bearing down on me.

Luck was a strange thing, an abstract concept. Subtle but fierce and all-consuming. I listened to my instincts. Let my own gut guide me and right now I felt like my god friend, a rabbit…being chased.

“What are you doing back here?” The waitress from before snapped. I avoided her, darting right and weaving through line cooks and prep workers filling containers full of sauces and ladling bowls of soup.

It felt like fire lapped at my back and I envisioned the red-haired man chasing me, gaining on me, his clutch just behind me. Cooks shouted at servers as they shook woks over flames. It looked like I was going to get trapped in the overcrowded mix of the back as I kept sliding between bodies deftly, breathing heavily as sweat began to collect at my hairline. The temperature back here was at least fifteen degrees hotter than the dining room.

Just as I thought my progress would be halted, a large tub of powdered chili fell from a counter and exploded in a great cloud of red that had everyone shouting and covering their eyes, darting from the room. It gave me a clear shot to the door, which I took swiftly before the powder could touch my eyes. I coughed as it tickled my throat then pushed open the door and quickly rounded the building to my bike.

I swung my leg over it and sat on it for a moment, waiting for the red-haired man to show up. I wanted to see him again but he never came. Had I imagined being chased?

The loud cry of a bird caught my attention. I looked up to see an amazingly large black bird. If I had to guess it was a raven. Its black feathers shone a deep blue when the dying evening sun hit it. I sucked in a breath when suddenly, it swept down and landed on my bike handle. It tilted its head and looked at me with yellow eyes…golden eyes. I swallowed, my gut squirming like something was very wrong.

“Fuck off,” I snapped, shooing it before firing up my bike and getting out of there. I was losing it.

4