Fortune Favors the Bold

45

A bright ray of sunlight shone through the tree branches of the forestry. Kalani groaned, turning onto her side on the soft ground while sliding her hand beneath the pillow under her head. The blanket climbed her shoulder to cover her jaw and lower ear. She reached out to the man beside her, the one whose warmth she'd spent the entire night in, because the light breeze left her shivering.

But no matter how far she extended her arm forward, her fingers never made contact with anything except tall grass and the occasional twig. Oh, that's right. They were in the woods.

"Adrian...," she mumbled sleepily, only catching her mistake after a moment of silence. Kalani gasped, realizing two things at once: first, she'd called him by the name he'd told her not to search for, and second, there was no pillow or blanket in the woods.

Her eyes shot open, already regretting having let his name slip through. She expected to be met with the sight of him sitting on the log in front of her with his arms on his knees, waiting in silence, fuming with the same anger he'd had that one time.

She was wrong.

Adrian wasn't watching her in silent rage. He wasn't even there.

Kalani lifted her head off the backpack he'd placed beneath her head, feeling the oversized jacket slide down her arm as she rose. The girl's tired eyes scanned the woodland around her for any sign of the man whose place next to hear had been left empty.

"Not-Castiel?" She called out, but he didn't answer. Kalani sat in silence and continued to look around, wondering where he would run off to while she was still asleep, neglecting to tell-.

Her heart dropped. "No," Kalani's head spun toward the bags left with her. She grabbed his backpack, tearing it open and pulling everything within onto the grass beside her. A folded piece of brown paper dropped onto the grass. "No, no," she panicked, not finding any of his weapons in their usual place tucked in the very bottom of the pack he had never let out of his sight.

She cursed him, realizing the ex-soldier had done exactly what she'd told him to never do again: he'd left her. But he'd left her to protect her. At least that's the reasoning Kalani assumed he'd use to justify abandoning her while he carried out the mission alone –the plan of which he'd never even told her.

Kalani shouted in frustration, kicking the backpack against a nearby tree. A few birds quickly flew away from its branches, their wings fluttering against the wind to rustle the nearby leaves.

The sun in the sky gave the girl a sudden warning: Thysía was probably beginning any moment now. Adrian had planned to carry out his plan prior to its initiation to keep ten more innocents from falling victim to the twisted individuals in power.

Leaving her belongings in the woods, Kalani strapped the only dagger he'd left against her thigh. She pulled herself onto the nearest tree to peer above the others until her eyes caught sight of the tall building to the east.

That's where he'd gone.

Devising her plan during her sprint toward the Intermediacy, Kalani remained unable to force down the anger she felt. How could he leave her after she told him not to do just that? He'd promised not to.

"Stupid liar," she breathed, her feet pounding against dirt beneath her. Adrian had told her it'd be dangerous, but she'd made the decision to continue on her own. So why would he strip her of the one chance to avenge all her friends? "Stupid, stupid liar." Even though she asked herself the question time after another in her mind, the girl was already aware of why he'd done something so stupid.

His blurred image formed in her memory. His words seemed to whisper in the whistling wind, blowing hair away from her ear to make sure each word was perfectly heard. "I can't risk you getting hurt."