Cameo the Assassin by Dawn McCullough-White

dear boy.”
    “What?! Jealousy?!” His hazel eye met with Bel’s. Opal straightened the black duster that he was wearing, “Certainly not.”
    Cameo walked past the two of them.
    Bellamy turned to observe Opal as he watched her saunter down the hill behind the lad.
    “Mmm hmm,” Bellamy said rolling his eyes.

Chapter Five
     
    “T HIS IS A LOVELY SETUP ,” Opal bemoaned as he slid onto a roughly hewn stool.
    His voice amused Bel, who looked up from the half-stupor he had been in. “Yes, it’s a bit dreary. I suppose that’s what one gets when he goes looking for abandoned buildings to hold up in.”
    Opal pulled the ribbon from his hair and ran a hand through his ashen locks. “Where did Cameo go?”
    “Oh, I think she’s upstairs.”
    “With that little letch I suppose?” Opal said.
    Bellamy gnawed on the end of a pencil for a moment. “Of course. At least he’s not down here bothering us with his incessant questions.”
    “What...questions?”
    “Oh, how many people have you killed, Bel? If Cameo and Black Opal had a duel, who would win? Is that really Opal’s hair or some sort of cheap wig? You know, the usual.”
    Opal fixed him with exasperated look.
    Bel ran the pencil through his hair as if he finally had a good verse and was longing to write it out.
    “Cheap wig indeed,” Opal muttered. “If I ever needed a wig it certainly would not be inexpensive.”
    Bellamy continued to run the pencil through his hair, hoping whatever it was he had been about to write would come back and hoping if he continued to run that pencil through his hair, Opal would stop talking so he could concentrate.
    “Why didn’t she just find someplace that was fully furnished? Someplace with food for goodness sake?” He ran a finger over the rickety table that they were seated at and came up with brown dust. “She is an assassin after all.”
    “I suspect she wanted to slip into Kings Basin quietly, and not with guns blaring.”
    Opal stood up and wandered about the pantry, looking for something to eat again. “How are we supposed to keep up our strength?” He set his hands on his hips.
    “Opal, have I told you I’m working on a play?” Bel asked.
    The dandy overturned several more dishes.
    “You are in it.”
    “Oh, really? Well then, it must be marvelous. When do I get to hear it?”
    “When you shut up and let me write it.”
    “If you haven’t written it, then why do you get my hopes up? What am I supposed to do in here with nothing to eat, nothing to do? I was rather hoping to read your delightful tale of Black Opal.”
    Bel glanced up at him blurry-eyed, “Yes, well...I think I shall try to get some sleep.”
    Opal touched Bel’s crimson sleeve, “So early, dear boy? Wouldn’t you rather...uhh, read me some of your poetry?”
    Bellamy could see the clear distaste in Opal’s eye as he suggested it. “Tempting, Opal, but I did escape from an assassin prior to running into you lot, so I think I really need some sleep.”
    “Oh, yes, that’s true.” Opal said grudgingly.
    “Why don’t you get some rest yourself?”
    “Ah ...” he lifted his gaze to the ceiling, “I think I’ll bid you goodnight.”
    * * * * *
    “I win.”
    “Hmm,” Kyrian looked at his cards despairingly. “I don’t think I’ve got the rules straight.”
    Cameo raised an eyebrow, collected her deck, and said, “We could play something else. There’s always dice or perhaps drinking games.” She checked her flask, which was empty. “Well, perhaps another time when I have some alcohol.”
    “I don’t know any games for dice either,” he said, a bit bewildered. “How did you learn to play all these games?”
    She smiled knowingly.
    “Hang out in enough taverns,” Opal interrupted as he mounted the last couple steps.
    Both Cameo and Kyrian turned to look at him.
    “Oh, so you must know even more diversions than Cameo does,” Kyrian said.
    Opal met her eyes. “No other diversions lately.”
    The second floor was a