Extracts

A Piece Of Home

The next morning the four take off. James had handed all of them a bag with food and the necessary medical kit. Will's bag was bigger, filled with papers, books, and tools he will need to find the way. James and Athedem wished them a good trip but said their farewell in front of the store. James never leaves the store. It was early in the morning, the grass still had dew on it. The forest was as big as its trees and it took a long time for them to reach the ground. On the ground, the trees were getting smaller and smaller and at some point, they were back to normal size. They decide to set up camp and stay there for the night.

None of them spoke to each other. That feeling of belongingness they felt in the market was gone. Now it just felt like they were a bunch of strangers. They haven't talked about what had happened, they know nothing about each other, not even what their powers truly are.

"Should we talk about-" "no," Will got cut off by June who was laying on her back looking at the sky.

"But I think-" "no," this time he got cut off by Lou who had her back turned to everyone else.

"Though it-" "no," Francesco cut him off this time, who was warming his hands at the fire.

Will sighed and started studying the books again.

Some time passed. The fire burned out. They all fell asleep. Lou abruptly woke up when she heard a noise coming from the trees. She looked around but it was too dark for her to see anything. She wanted to believe it was just an animal but there was something unsettling in the air. A feeling of danger that she knew all too well. When she looked around again she saw that Francesco was also sitting up. Their eyes met and she knew he had the same feeling as she did. They carefully tipped the others awake and signaled them to be quiet. They don't know what was out there but it was coming closer and from all sides.

Out of nowhere a torched go ignite, and another, and another. As predicted, they were surrounded but they didn't know by what, or by who. Will quickly secured the bag with the papers whilst the others prepared themselves for a fight. The torches came closer and behind them they realized in shock who was holding them. Enforcers from the city.

The enforces rushed towards them, they were attacking them with their long electrical staffs. The wielders were using their powers openly but the enforcers weren't surprised, in fact, it was like they came here expecting this. During the fight, Lou noticed one of the torches was still behind the trees. She looked at it a bit closer and noticed behind it was the man who let her go in the alley the very first night Lou escaped. She guessed he came back to finish the job. Next to him was a woman with fierce red hair tied into braids.

She grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him backward. "we have to go," she said.

"No way," he rubbed her shoulder off, "we can't leave without her."

"If we stay they're going to kill us!" she hissed, "We'll come back another time, better prepared."

She dragged him into the shadows and the torch disappeared. They finished off the last enforcer just in time before their powers ran out. They dropped to the ground exhausted.

Francesco kicked one of the dead enforcers, "how did they find us?"

"I have no idea, nobody in the city knows where we are. And I'm pretty sure James didn't tell the enforcers," Will said.

"How would you know, you barely know the guy. He could be a spy and you just spilled out everything to him," June said agitatedly.

"It wasn't him," Lou said calmly. She leaned on her arm and tilted her head back, her eyes were closed while the blood of the enforcers was running down her face.

"Care to explain?" Francesco said.

"Didn't you guys think it was strange how we were able to sneak out of the light city without a single enforcer guarding the border," she said. None of them replied and it took a moment for them to ponder about it.

"Maybe we were just lucky," Will tried to justify.

"You really think so? Think back to when we were in the stairway. Your mentor left first, what if he told all the enforcers to leave," Lou said.

"How would he benefit from us escaping," Will said agitated, "He wanted to help us. Because he's a good person."

"I understand now," Francesco said, "we had weapons. He just found out we had powers. If he did anything against us he would have died. But if he helped us, he knew where we were going, he could follow us-"

"And catch us while our guard is down," June continued, "that's how the enforcers knew we were at the clock tower."

"And that's probably how they followed us all the way out here," Lou finished.

Will looked at the others in shock, "No way! My mentor would never do anything to harm me or others. He is a good person!" He got up angrily, "He would never do that to me. He's my friend, a concept you guys don't understand." He walked away with his bag into the darkness of the forest.

Lou scoffed and layed down on the floor. Suddenly there was a scream coming out of the direction Will just walked to.

"Will?" June yelled. There was no response, Francesco was about to get up when a harpoon pierced through his chest. None of them had time to react when he got pulled into the darkness and disappeared. All June could do was let out a scream after she was about to get up and something grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into the forest. Lou was the only one left, she looked around expecting to see the silhouette of humans but she couldn't see anything. She looked down to the ground and saw the big round eyes of a furry creature staring at her just before she was knocked unconscious by something very big and heavy.