Sealed inside the towering city walls of Acadia, magic users known as Wielders are feared and hunted for the abilities they have been blessed with. They're living in hiding, terrified of revealing themselves to the Authorities that hunt them.
But w...
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"To the town we go, into your hideaway
Where the towers grow, gone to be far away."
-Agnes Obel
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Marina weaved against the current of people as she tried to keep up with Colson. Mumbling apologies to everyone she bumped into, she kept her eyes locked on the back of his head bobbing above the others. He swiftly dodged between bodies, anticipating their movements, the space between the two of them growing rapidly.
Asshole.
He knew she could never keep up. That was why she wished he would trip over himself and erase the smug smile he surely wore. He was quicker than she remembered. The only advantage Colson ever had on Ryder was his deft ability to dodge and escape, but even then, Ryder would still knock him on his back.
Marina sifted through the crowd mercilessly, pressing her elbows into the sides of the people who would not get out of her way. He could not have gotten that far in front of her, but the fact that she could no longer see him made the panic set in. Her lungs constricted, making breathing hard to do. Her gut twisted, a familiar feeling creeping over her skin.
Marina knew that she could turn around and walk home - no big deal - but that thought was just a wisp among the suffocating desperation that pounded at her instincts. She had to find him. She had to catch up with him. If she didn't, she would never see him again. She had nothing, no one—she couldn't lose him too. She shifted her weight onto her toes, searching for a head of blonde hair in the crowd.
Wait.
Marina shook the thoughts out of her head, her pace slowing to a walk. Why was she looking for blonde hair? Ryder was not there, but it felt like it. She was searching for Colson, but her heart shook with tremors like it was Ryder she was trying to find all those years ago.
Marina slipped through the crowd, no longer frantic and searching as her mind exploded with memories from her past. She slipped to the edge of the sidewalk, finding an opening between the buildings. Once alone in the alley, her back slid down the wall, her knees curling in as she buried her head into her folded arms.
