Stolen Souls

chapter six

'Cause we've been on the run
so long they can't find us
Who's gonna have to die to remind us
That it feels like we chose this blindly
-Beautiful Trauma, P!NK

chapter six

The sun was glowing through the dusty windows in the kitchen as I sat at the counter eating an apple. Before James left, he told me I could eat whatever I wanted and that everything was mine as much as it was his. Personally, I think he's desperate for me to stay.

I was all alone in the giant house. Everyone was missing when I woke up, and James had just left. If he left sooner, I would have thought they ditched me.

My skin shivered at every creak the house made. After everything that had already happened my first day here, I was well aware of my surroundings. I was not going to find myself kidnapped again.

My apple toppled out of my hand as I jumped at the sound of a door banging close. The worst scenarios flew through my head.

King's men. Kidnappers. Death.

The breath I was holding captive gladly escaped when Camden shuffled into the kitchen. He was wearing the same clothes as last night, and he still had that backpack. This time, he was carrying three loaves of bread.

"They don't give you bags for your groceries here?"

Camden slowly placed the loaves on the counter as he thought of a reply, "They do. They, um, just not to everyone."

I bent over to find my dropped apple. It had fallen on top of a dust bunny— disgusting. As I walked over to the trash can, my body winced at the sound of Camden's voice. I was very jumpy lately, but could you blame me?

"Where's everyone at?"

"Courtney went to buy more food," I answered while I sat back down on my stool, "and James said he was planning on visiting family."

"Wait— what?" Camden said in disbelief. He looked at me like I was the craziest person he's seen. "Courtney is buying food and James is visiting family?"

Are those not normal activities in Swanford like it is at home? I chewed the side of my cheek before I hesitantly replied, "Yeah?"

"Well," he ran a hand through his dark hair multiple times while he spoke, "first off, there is no way Courtney is buying food; we're outright broke."

"Then how did you get that?" I interrupted and pointed at the bread.

Camden released a nervous laugh and massaged the back of his neck. He continued to stare at the bread when he said, "I kind of, um, stole it."

"Stole it?"

"It's totally fine," he tried to reassure me, waving his hands.

"I didn't know I was living with thieves!"

"Hey," he calmly said while he gently placed his hands on the other side of the counter, "we have to survive somehow."

"How do you not get caught?"

"I don't know how Courtney does it, but I use my Perk."

"And what's that?"

"I'm able to transform into anything I want for about an hour or so," he smiled childishly.

I replied by staring at him. All this Perk stuff was too unreal for my liking.

"I grab what I want in the store, and then I transform into something small like a fly. They never see me leave with anything," he proudly grinned. "That's why I do most of the shopping."