Don't Leave Me Alone

~7~

⚠️TW: Mentions of human trafficking

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~Emma's POV~

"A traitor...among us kids...?" I repeated as I crossed my arms across my chest.

Ray nodded. "An agent for the demons. A betrayer."

Norman glanced at Ray. "Not necessarily. The person may be giving Mom information unknowingly. To be more precise, this person is Mom's informant. She's using that source of information to control and manage us. The targets. It's probably Mom's actual plan."

"I don't want to believe it."

Someone among us? Maybe this kid is accidentally giving Mom information. But what if... there is an enemy who willingly became a spy...Still, I can't leave anyone behind.

"But say we do find out who's the source of information." Ray interrupted my thoughts. "What about winning over Gilda and Don? If one of those two is Mom's informant..."

"Don't worry." Norman smiled. "Revealing the source of information and winning over Gilda and Don can be done at the same time. If there's a spy, we can use that kid as a trump card."

Ray nodded. "Right. We can manipulate the informant and confuse the enemy. And it's possible to create a situation that helps us escape."

"Exactly. I already made arrangements for that."

I probably looked as surprised as I felt. Ray was wearing the same facial expression as me, but it was possible that there was a little bit of concern in there. Norman simply just smiled, not bothering to elaborate.

Don waved to the three of us. "Hey! That's enough rest! Let's get ready for round two."

Ray waved back to show that we heard Don. He lowered his arm. "She's got everything under her control. That's why Mom isn't making a move, even if she knows that we're the targets. As long as we don't make too big of a move, Mom won't ship us out immediately or even get in the way of our plan. That means we have at least a month and a half til the next shipment."

"Ray." Norman smiled. "How are things coming along with breaking the tracking devices?"

"Good. I'll probably need ten more days until it's completed."

"Then let's do it ten days from now."

"Do what?" I tilted her head. I wondered if I ever got annoying because of how slow I am sometimes.

"Escape. We'll carry out the escape plan ten days from now, on November eighth."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" I jumped at Norman and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Isn't that too soon? Well, it's fine but..."

Ray whacked me in the head and cut me off. "It's not fine! Mom's objective is to control us. So if we don't make a move, she won't either. Doesn't that mean we have time?"

"Yes, yet that's exactly why I want to move quickly."

"What do you mean?" I released Norman's shoulders.

"If it looks that way to us, then Mom sees it that way too. I want to outwit her. Either way, it's probably better if we escape before winter. And it's not like we're escaping suddenly. We prepared a lot in a hurry because we couldn't read Mom's strategy. So we just have to take care of what's necessary in the remaining ten days. Mom has no intention of hiding the existence of her informant. I'm sure she has many reasons for that, but if she really wanted to hide it, she'd have Sister Krone watch us, even if it was fake. Making us think we have time is a trap."