Exillium's Story

Chapter Fifteen

(Y/n)'s POV

I woke up in my sleeping bag at Linh's side. At some point, Tam had brought me inside the tent, wether it was after I fell asleep last night or some time after he woke up, I had no idea.

I sat up, shifting to get out of the sleeping bag. At the sudden movement, Linh stirred a bit, and woke up. I think she noticed that something was off about me, but didn't say anything.

After saying the usual good mornings and all that, Linh asked, "Do you know where Tam is?" I shook my head, having wondered just that. We both got up, and headed outside, where a figure sat in the grass.

It seemed like Tam was practicing his abilities, controlling the shadows around him, streaking them across the sky in an arch, bursting into a million pieces, like shards of glass, before quickly rushing back to him.

However, the second time he tried the trick, the shadows wouldn't shatter but simply fell to the ground and ran back to their original places. He let out a frustrated groan, running his hands trough his bangs.

I laughed quietly and walked up to him, saying, "I told you to practice more often." He turned around, surprised I was there.

"Good morning," Linh called out to Tam, walking up next to us. "How'd you sleep," Tam asked his sister. "Really good actually. You?" "Not too bad," he responded, not saying more than that.

Linh asked me if I would tell her about the kidnappers Sophie mentioned the night before. I sat her down and told her what I'd told Tam only hours ago, occasionally hearing her breath catch at certain parts.

The entire time, Tam was staring at the ground, digging his foot in the grass and dragging it around.

As I told the story, Linh's hand grasped mine, occasionally giving a light squeeze at sadder parts. When I finished, she hugged me, her head in the crook of my neck. "I'm so sorry this all happened to you (Y/n)," she whispered.

"It's fine now. I have you guys, and I'm better now," I tell her. "Your family really didn't care?" She asked. "Not at all. But that doesn't matter now, they aren't my family anymore, you guys are," I told her, pulling away from the hug and giving her a small smile. She had a few tears in her eyes as she nodded.

For the next few hours, I went around, trying to find some healthy trees with un-rotted fruit. It took forever, however, I managed to find a couple fruits a few hours before noon.

I was planning on climbing through the entrance to the tents hidden in the shadows, before noticing that Tam and Linh were deep in conversation a few feet from the entrance.

"... it's not safe here anymore, we have to mov- oh, (Y/n), you're back! Any luck with finding fruit?" Linh asked, walking over to me.

"I found a couple, enough for the rest of the day I think," I responded, showing the non-speckled fruit held in my poorly-woven basket.

Tam came over and carefully inspected the fruit, looking for any signs of rotting. "Don't worry, they're all safe, I checked them thoroughly before coming back," I said as I handed Linh a fruit from the basket and doing the same for Tam.

I took a red fruit that had a banana-like shape. The inside was mushy, and tasted very sweet, with a kick of bitterness when first taking a bite. I soon finished the fruit, still hungry, but didn't dare to take another one.

Soon after, Tam and Linh both finished their fruits as well, deciding to go practice their abilities by the river. Suddenly, a group of people appeared. Tam quickly pushed Linh and I towards a clump of trees, hiding us in a cluster of shadows.

Linh started to say something, so I put my hand over her mouth, stopping her from making a sound. My heart was hammering in my chest, what if it was the Neverseen?