The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 28

Soar scowled and brushed his wet hair out of his eyes. He heard a noise come from behind him, and he whirled around. Catching a glimpse of something green, Soar ducked behind a tree.

"Lloyd," he hissed, "Argh, curse you." Without hesitation, Soar took off running. He kept his footsteps light so as not to alert the green ninja to his location.

Luckily, years of training in the Glade proved useful, and Soar was able to move undetected. He thought back to the many training sessions he'd had. It used to be fun, but that was when Soar was younger. Naive. Now he was smarter, but sometimes he'd sit there and remember that the Glade had been really neat. Amazing even.

Soar caught himself, "No. The Glade is horrible. I hate it. I hate Huntress. I hate Skylight and Supernova. I hate Listener and Sunbeam. I hate the ninja too." Soar kicked a tree in anger, yelped at the pain, and grabbed his foot.

Soar's comm began to buzz, causing him to jump. Whipping the device out of his pocket, he switched it on. "What?!" he barked.

"Ahh, you're alive. Too bad."

Soar rolled his eyes, growled, and then responded. "What do you want, Cassandra?"

"Just checking in." The woman's voice was so pitchy and preppy that it made Soar's skin crawl in annoyance. "Devin and I have received the bounty hunter Glitch sent. He's looking for elemental masters, so whenever you're out of the way just give the word."

"Why do I have to give the word?" Soar whined.

Cassandra smacked her lips, creating a noise that traveled over the comm and greatly annoyed Soar. "Well, it would be such a pity if you were caught. Then Devin and I would have to experiment on you."

There was no pity in her voice. That wasn't even the worst part, Cassandra didn't seem to be at all bothered by the thought of experimenting on Soar.

"Agh. Fine. I'll get to a safe spot. The base I hid in when Cole followed me shouldn't be too far from here. Don't you think the bounty hunter would know I'm on the same side as him?"

"He's a bounty hunter, Soar. He has no side. Just enough payment to find two elemental masters. Just like Devin and I. We're just scientists hired to solve Glitch's power problem." she laughed, sending a shiver up Soar's spine. "I'd tear you into pieces in a heartbeat."

Soar didn't respond. He found it best to ignore anything Cassandra said. The woman was insane, and her husband wasn't much better. They weren't just scientists, they were mad scientists.

Cassandra continued to babble. None of her words made any sense to Soar. Most of it was about experiments involving vengestone. All that sciencey stuff went right over Soar's head. Cassandra mentioned Quake in an offhand manner, and Soar's ears perked up. But She left the subject alone and Quake was forgotten once again.

"Devin and I sent the bounty hunter to that base. He should meet you there."

Soar looked ahead through the rain. It blurred his vision and made it hard to see. But there was definitely a person standing outside the bunker entrance. Hoping it wasn't Lloyd, one of the other ninja, or anyone from the Glade, Soar walked over to the figure.

"Who are you?!" Soar demanded.

The figure pushed off the wall and walked towards Soar. A sword hung at their side and the person pulled it out as they advanced. A straw hat covered their eyes, giving Soar no information to go off of.

"Who are you?!" Soar took a step back.

The figure held out a hand. "I'm Kognito."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Kognito." Soar shook the man's hand.

Kognito took off his hat revealing shaggy orange hair. "Though you may know me by another name. Ronin Kognito."

Soar drew back, "Aren't you allied with the ninja?!"

"I'm allied with whoever gives me the most moolah. And Glitch is the one paying me not you. So watch your tone."

Wrinkling his nose, Soar gritted his teeth before speaking. "Fine. I was being followed for a bit back there," Soar nodded in the direction in which he came, "Take care of it."

Ronin rolled his eyes "Yes sir," he said in a mocking tone. Pushing past Soar, he walked in the direction of where Soar had come. With a swish of his sword, he slid it back into its sheath.

"Let's get to hunting." Ronin grinned and broke into a run. Unbeknownst to Ronin, he wasn't that far from some elemental masters. He was headed towards the spot where Huntress and Lloyd were. The two were now only a few yards apart. And Ronin was less than a hundred yards away. But he was moving closer every second.