And it was gone. Stellar's wings shot out in surprise as she looked left to right before approaching the store carefully and as quietly as she could, lifting herself off the ground slightly and gliding across the empty street, conscious of the noise her armoured boots made. She spied around the corner of the shop. There it was, flickering and flitting. The light emerged from a space between the shop and the next building on the block. Then it disappeared again, retreating farther into the back alley. Alarm bells rang in her head, and she took to the air, hovering above the roofs of the buildings below, scanning the maze of small side streets and narrow thoroughfares from above.