ONE (Book 1 in the Amnesia Archives)

Chapter 35

It was clear Aknon didn't know where he was going, but I was scared that he'd walk straight into the path of Onyx's mother. He wasn't thinking clearly, there were probably thoughts swirling in his head like flies surrounding food.

"Aknon, hold up!" I said with a huff, due to the fact we were running once more. "Slow down!" The black grass, which looked dead but didn't feel dead, was high enough to reach my knees, which made it significantly harder to run. "Let's think this over and talk."

"Yeah, come on Aknon!" Sarphi called. "Please just let us talk this out. It includes all of us!" She was quickly running out of breath as we tried harder and harder to catch up to Aknon.

If Dwi was in charge of this place, then why hadn't they stopped Aknon from leaving? Why hadn't they trapped him in some kind of shadow yet? Did they care that Aknon was rejecting them and panicking? Or was this simple fun to them?

I didn't care to find the answers at the moment. All I cared about was catching up. I couldn't help my mind from wandering, just like I assumed his was. I was running quickly, but I kept getting distracted.

That was until Aknon fully disappeared.

I skidded to a halt and was pushed down to the ground as Sarphi barrelled into me, Prin falling on top so that we were a pile of bodies.

"Get off," I said in a tired tone. I was beginning to feel the weight of the new information. "Where'd he go?" I tried to scramble to my feet, but it was taking Sarphi a little while to get off me. She had a few tears running down her face, and she was shaking slightly, like she was trying to hold her emotions back, and it was taking a great effort.

"He teleported," Senka's voice came from above us. She sounded quiet and small, like she used to as a doll when she didn't tell us something. "He can do that down here, so can you, but I'm sure that's not very useful if you don't know where he's gone." She bent down and wiped the tears from Sarphi's face. "But we have to go after him."

Sarphi pushed Senka's hand away with a sniffle and a huff. "We'll find him," she said, not sounding very confident, but she stood anyway. "Above anything, child of Dwi or not, he's our brother."

"You should've told us," I said, completely dismissing the topic. I felt very hurt that we'd travelled this far with her, and she hadn't told us the answers she had all along. "We would've been prepared. Aknon wouldn't have run off."

Senka looked down once again, shaking her head. "You know that's not true, Acer."

She was right, but I didn't have to admit that she was right. Aknon wouldn't have believed her without proof. And even if he did believe her, he would've run off just as he did now.

I understood how he felt. He felt like he'd been screwed over by Dwi, due to how we've been treated our entire lives. We were ignored and judged, but not because of who we are, but because of who our father is. Whether the public knew it or not, they were right about us being related to a curse.

"Right." IU shook my head and bounced up, looking around. "Where would Aknon go?"

"Out of here," Prin said. She wasn't wrong, but that wasn't really the answer I was looking for. "How does the teleport thing work?" She turned to Senka.

"Well, you just need to think about where you really want to go." Senka shrugged, looking around the area, as though suspecting Aknon to be playing hide and seek like when we were kids.

"So, out of here, might be a good guess," Sarphi muttered.

"Oh, if that's the case then we're in trouble." Senka looked a little more alert now. "He could be anywhere, literally. If he just used those words, then he could be any place which isn't here. And he'd be stuck there if there aren't enough shadows, darkness, or power there."