I slowly made my way to the mall making sure to stay out of sight of anyone looking for me. It was easier than I had originally thought since I just seemed to know when someone in the area was looking for me. I guessed that it was an offshoot of my being able to enter minds. I saw plenty of cops and other people looking for me but no Quondams. This bothered me as I was sure they would be looking for me. Maybe they were only I didn't recognize them. I had just seen two of them before in robes so maybe there were some out in plain clothes. I didn't have time to dwell on it however as I needed to find what Kit had been placed into. I decided that if she was placed in an inanimate object that the best place to start would be the mall. It was a safe bet to assume they would place an inanimate object with a soul somewhere that it would be lost among all the other objects in the stores.
I finally get to the mall and start to head toward one of the stores. However I almost ran into a Quondam. Fortunately she didn't see me and I was able to get out of sight. As I passed the food court I saw a Quondam talking to a janitor. I caught a little bit of the conversation.
"Are you sure you haven't seen her?" the Quondam asked.
"I'm sorry but I haven't," the janitor said with a sigh. "Lori and Bill must be so worried about her."
Upon hearing that I decided I'd better make myself scarce before he spotted me. As I did I heard the Quondam mention another kid they were looking for. I had to wonder if it was the other person I was suppose to hook up with.
A couple times throughout the morning I came close to being spotted. Once while I was looking in a clothing store I saw the male Quondam and thinking fast I took a dress into the changing room. Once there I looked at the dress and wondered if it could contain Kit's soul. Taking a breath I entered the "mind" of the dress like I had so many other objects before. To my disappointment all I found was the simple "mind" of clothing. Well as long as I was in the changing room I figured I should try the dress on.
I continued to dodge the Quondams and anyone else that was looking for me through lunch. I was hungry but anytime I got near the food court I would sense someone looking for me and end up going in another direction. It was during one of the times that I was walking away that I heard a female voice call out, "Are you Ariel?"
I froze at the mention of my other name. There were a couple possibilities of who it could be. One was a Quondam who knows about that reality and the other was the boy who wasn't a boy. I was relieved to see what looked like a girl. I doubted that a girl would be a Quondam given their view that children should be seen and not heard. Of course I could be wrong and they could be using this girl to capture me. I decided to take a chance and said, "That's me." I looked around and said, "I think we should go someplace else."