“Adriana!” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, flowing from the immense crowd and then quickly being sucked back into it. If one had not been apparently applied to the voice, it would never have been identified from the other various mumbles of the mob. A girl of about average stature, with straight dark hair that curled minutely at the edges, however, turned back at the alert in the voice. Her eyes, which had previously been focused intently on the large, gothic structure in front of them all, quietly narrowed in an attempt to identify the source of the sound. Light brown eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and rosy lips tightened in a measure of uncertainty.

“Over here! Our group is leaving!” The voice called out again this time, aware that it had the attention of the girl in question. With a greater awareness focused on the apparent attempt to get her notice, the girl quickly located the source of the words. They had sprouted from another girl with light bleached blonde hair, standing only a few meters away, yet bordered by at least five other tourists. The girl with light hair raised a thin hand into the air to signal to the one called Adriana, waving it with difficulty over the heads of the engaged people.

Adriana quickly abandoned her post at the front of the group, and edged her way back through the mob with the use of her elbows. People were wary to let her pass, completely enthralled and immersed in taking photos of the large cathedral. However, finally, she was free at last, and let her bent arms fall free at her sides. The girl with blonde hair stood beside her, eyes intent on ensuring their departure.

“Come on, our group went that way,” she said in an overtly loud tone, eager to have her voice heard over the mumbling of the hundreds of people present. With a nod, Adrianna took one last glance at the Cologne Cathedral, and then followed the blonde girl’s eager exodus.

“Sorry I took so long there, it’s just so beautiful,” said Adrianna, focusing her gaze on the blonde one. However, her attention was focused across the way of the crowded square, on a group that stood at the edge of the window of another large building.

“It’s no problem, I just don’t wanna lose the rest of our group. I don’t exactly remember how to get back.” Even though her face gave away no emotion, her voice held a tone of slight annoyance. This girl, in Adrianna’s opinion, was unable to understand the artistic integrity of the Cathedral. Or rather, perhaps, anything on this trip. Adrianna liked the girl, but she just didn’t apparent her cultural ignorance.

The two hustled over the cobblestone pavement until they reached the rest of their group, which stood next to a glass window. Looking into the window, Adrianna could see a mosaic tile of some sort.

“Yes, have a look, it’s the wine god Dionysus,” began their tour guide and art history professor, Dr. Till Tusse. Although he was German, he spoke with a British accent that Adrianna quiet enjoyed. Even though they hadn’t started classes yet, Adrianna was quite sure she would benefit from his class. He seemed to be a fountain of information, streaming a plethora of valuable knowledge. “This mosaic was uncovered by accident when they began to dig the foundation for a new building. This is its original resting place, a true treasure, yes?” And with that, he led the group elsewhere. Adrianna, however, felt the urge to have a closer look. With the extra time she had taken in front of the Cathedral, she had missed some of the moments provided for glancing at the tile.

“Come on, we’re going,” whispered the blonde, now more quietly since they had passed through the crowds. Adrianna could see she was beginning to tire of trying to field her forward after every exhibition.

“Don’t worry about me, Kaitlyn, I’ll catch up. You go on ahead.” Adrianna tried to smile brightly with these words, but her white teeth refused to glimmer. Kaitlyn, however, didn’t take note of the pressed tone, and parted with a slight wave.

Finally free of her ever-strident guardian, Adrianna peered closer down through the glass. The mosaic was actually housed in a museum; however, since they would not be going to it today, this would be the closest she would get to seeing the artwork. Adrianna pressed a long fingered hand against the glass, and let her emotions take her away. This mosaic tile, it had to be hundreds of years old. She could nearly imagine through the webs of the past, could nearly see Roman figures clothed in togas gently placing each individual tile into its place. For Adrianna, the past was a very intriguing subject, her utmost favorite. It was her chosen college major, and the only thing she had ever wanted to study. For some reason, the actions and ideas of those who had lived and thrived before her gave her a great pleasure. She liked to know how to better prepare for the future.

A sudden flash in the window in front of her broke her near trance state. She glanced up, and turned from the window to spot the source of the reflection. At first, she couldn’t see what could have possible caused such a glare, but then her eyes focused on a man about ten meters from her. He was just at the edge of the massive throng; however, instead of being turned to face the glowering Cathedral, he was turned… directly to her. In his hands was a camera, and that camera was pointed directly at her. She stared into it with confusion until it flashed again, this time capturing her face front on. Quickly, she did a double take. Perhaps he was just taking a picture of the building she was standing by. She turned her face to inspect the museum, however, she found that it was nothing extraordinary. It lacked the typical German style she had seen of many of the restored places, and just appeared to be a modern structure.

Perplexed, she turned back to see what the man was now doing. To her surprise, he was no longer standing in the same spot. Adrianna scanned the crowd with a now perplexed interest – who exactly was this man, and why would he be photographing her? However, the crowd before her created a perfect hiding ground; the man had vanished as quickly as she had identified him. Her hazel eyes searched in vain.

Trying to ignore the fact that she felt her privacy had been invited, Adrianna hurried off in the direction the rest of the group had trodden. She hadn’t quite seen where they had gone, but she knew it was somewhere behind the building of the museum. Sticking her hands in the pockets of her blue jeans, she scurried along until she spotted the short frame of Till along with the rest of her classmates.

She reached the group just as Till was uttering something about being quiet. She thought, for a moment, that she had disturbed the peace of the group, but then realized he was talking about the monument.

“That’s right, yes, every footfall on this square here can be heard underneath in the Philharmonic, yes? Have a look at these signs, they bring them out for every performance so that people don’t tread on the square.” Till pointed to a sign that he had been standing next to, which Adrianna was relatively sure said something about stepping in German. However, as she glanced at the sign, her eyes caught the flicker of movement from the roof of the building they were standing next to. Letting her eyes drift away from the sign and up to the top of the structure, she could see a figure clothed in all black standing on the roof.

In her head, she briefly wondered why a man would be on the roof of such a building. However, it was when she caught sight of the black photo apparatus clutched in his hands that she began to feel trepidation swell in her bones. This man, too, had a camera. And this man, too, had it pointed at her.

Instantly, she turned her back, unwilling to let the stalker photograph her face. What was this? Another stalker? One, she could except, perhaps even understand. Perhaps the man had just been a pedophile of sorts, a creeper. But two within the span of five minutes?

“Adrianna,” came a monotone British voice from behind her. Professor Till. “Please have a look. This may not be for a class, but I’d still like you to learn it, yes?”

Not wanting to disobey her teacher’s orders, Adrianna cautiously turned around to glance at the sign. She felt bad for disrupting his knowledgeable monologue; however, the men with the cameras were all too a pressing matter. Being careful not to let her eyes glance up at the roof, Adrianna turned her attention back to her professor.

Till Tusse began to speak again, and his attention was diverted away from her straying thoughts. Perhaps the men with the cameras weren’t even photographing her. It was vain to think that she could be such the center of attention, wasn’t it? But yet, as the memory played into her mind, she could see the eye of the camera staring at her with an immense hungriness. No, there was no other option. The men had both been photographing her. But why?

“Come along, we’re headed to the Altstadt next,” cried Till in a teacher’s command, and the group obliging followed. Most of the students were on autopilot at this point, so none of them could really notice Adrianna’s stupor. Most of the students, that is, with the exception of Kaitlyn and another small framed girl with light brown hair. These two were instead chatting incessantly, completely unaware of the teacher’s comments around them.

“Glad to see you’re finally bored with this tour too,” muttered Kaitlyn into the ear of Adrianna as their group strutted down a flight of stairs toward the river. “Me and Sarah thought you were super human or something.”

“Yeah,” echoed the girl called Sarah, who had joined the flank of Adrianna’s other side. “We were just saying how boring this guy was. I mean, we’ve already been in this city for three days, and he acts like we don’t know anything about it.”

However much Adrianna wished to argue these statements, she held her tongue merely from shock. The mystery of the photography still intrigued and frightened her.

“Yeah,” muttered Adrianna nonchalantly, trying to brush off their attention. However, now that the girls had locked on to a fellow non-listener, they were unwilling to let go.

“So, a group of us were thinking about going out drinking tonight.” Sarah’s voice was low and thin, and seemed to match the side of her personality that Adrianna had seen so far. “It’s Geoff’s 21st birthday, and even though it’s still legal to drink here before then, we thought we would celebrate. You wanna come?”

The invitation surprised her. Adrianna was most certainly not a loner; however, on this trip she had yet to make any real connections with her fellow peers. True, they had only arrived in Cologne a mere three days before, but it still seemed to Adrianna as if she were being excluded. This invitation therefore gave her a thrill of excitement – she was finally going to become a part of the group.

“Sure,” Adrianna replied brightly, her alto voice thick and sweet with gratitude. “What time were you guys thinking of leaving the hostel tonight?”

“We thought we might start out at 8, and see what’s happening around town.” Sarah seemed happy that she had accepted the invitation.

“Great,” whispered Adrianna, then turned her attention back to the tour. They were now walking along the Rhine River, which gently creased every so often with the rumble of the current and the strike of the wind. As Adrianna stared harder, she could see that it seemed to glimmer with the possibilities of the night ahead of her.