Chapter 4

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AJ stepped quietly through the forest around him as he peeled his eyes for any cops around him. The chill of the night, climbed up his spine and stiffened his movements. Clamping his jaw harshly as the wind blew over his body, sending his body shivering. His feet were ice cold from when he accidentally slipped into a ditch filled with mud until his ankles, his toes were so cold they started to feel hot.

Hissing as he took a step forward his foot landed on a fallen branch crunching it.

"Who's there!"

The light of a torch moved over the trees surrounding AJ as he quickly ducked down and pressed his back to a tree.

"Damnit." He cursed quietly, closing his eyes like a child and hoping that would make them go away. His heart thundered as their footsteps became louder and louder, the closer they came, the more nervous he got.

But then there was the sound of another branch crunching and the sound of voices whispering. AJ opened his eyes and saw the light disappear as the person ran in the other direction, looking to his right, crouching behind a tree a couple away from his own were two people.

One was much smaller in frame than the other, they both signalled him to stay low and keep quiet. But after a couple seconds the larger one stood and the smaller one followed. AJ scrambled up and walked quickly towards them, having to stand less than a meter away in order to even remotely see anything through the night's veil of darkness.

And as he stood close he realized that the taller one was a girl who just carried muscle mass. He saw her hair, it was black, thick and frizzy, it was thrown in a pathetic ponytail in an attempt to tame it but did little to. She was looking around them cautiously, soaking up every detail her eyes could see, but he looked behind him and wondered what she was looking at in the darkness you could barely see through.

"Why are you alone?" The smaller girl whispered.

"None of the people i know were robbers." he whispered back.

"Oh."

This girl was different from the taller one. She had pin straight hair, it seemed to be a light shade of brown. But her eyes, her eyes were upturned and blue. He didn't know how he could tell but he knew they were blue, so blue.

"I'm AJ." he whispered to the girl who looked at him with mild amusement.

"I'm Xenia, this is my si... my best friend Callisto." Blue eyes said and AJ just nodded.

"Let's move." Callisto's voice cut through the air, it was as cold as the night and it sent shivers through his spine.

"You can come with us." Xenia said as she looked from her friend to him.

"I didn't say-"

"Ok." AJ cut off Callisto, who only frowned but turned away and moved.

And with the assumption of her silence, he followed after them.

~

"I'm so sure we're going the wrong way." Xenia whispered.

"No." Callisto replied, her voice even colder than before.

Callisto moved like a cat, her body was agile and her feet were silent on the ground. Her eyes were observing everything and by how often she turned her head at the sound of rustling, of distant speaking. AJ wasn't sure if she was superhuman or just... just different.

"Callisto." Xenia exclaimed as her friend continued to move almost in a trance, away from the sound of whispers and the sound of people.

They were definitely in the wrong place. The air seemed fresher yet as they stepped over some sticks, a cold strong wind knocked into their bodies.

It was strong and never ending. Their hands lifted to shield their faces, and to see if Callisto was far in front of them but she continued as if nothing was there. Like there was nothing pushing against her.

"Calli!!!" Xenia shouted desperate now.

Her friend was walking away, completely unaware of everything.

'How was this even possible? Maybe the food messed with her head, maybe she was tired. Maybe I should have listened to her earlier.' Xenia thought as she finally was pushed back a step and the wind stopped.

Blinking in surprise, she stepped forward. The wind greeted her yet again so she backtracked.

"Found you wanderers!" A voice shouted and Callisto suddenly turned around as Willem smiled at them with a laugh.

"You guys wandered far. You've been caught so let's head back to camp." He said and AJ nodded following while Xeni waited for Callisto to come next to her.

"Xen. When did we get here? I thought we were playing Cops and robbers?" Callisto asked her friend who only stared at her in horror.

"You don't remember." It was more a statement than a question.

"Xen. I- I'm scared. I don't know what's going on." Callisto was shivering in fear, nothing felt right. She felt like an imposter to her own skin again.

She felt that if she looked into a mirror right now, she wouldn't be able to tell you who stared back at her.

The vessel of a person who was destined for this body. And not the orphan girl who used to look to the night sky for comfort.

When was the last time she did-

"Come on!" Willems' voice called to them and Xenia grabbed Callisto's arm and pulled her along.

"We'll speak when we get back." Was all she said as they walked back behind the males who talked between themselves.

~

AJ carried the conversation but knew he'd much rather be speaking to the girl walking behind him. Yet the girl was talking quietly to the taller girl who suddenly didn't seem as tall as before, she seemed softer, less cold and it seemed that he was the only one who could see it.

The moonlight broke through the trees as they trudged through the forest, illuminating the ground through the leaves of the trees. Callisto rubbed her head, it pulsed like someone was sending radiofrequency waves directly at her skull. And as they came to the clearing where some of her classmates talked while others laughed, the pulsing disappeared, but the nagging feeling of someone watching her didn't.

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