The Quadrants

Chapter 12

"Leaving? Like, for good?" said Rohan, his voice cracking. He swung around to face Titus. "I thought you meant I was only coming to hide out at your place for a while."

Titus didn't say anything, but just shrugged, looking guilty.

"Anyway, why do I have to go with you? I-I told you... I'm not the kid everyone's after," said Rohan, looking between Julius and Titus, then over to Aurelius, who had come to stand behind one of the chairs.

"That means nothing if people believe you're the demidium," said Julius. "They'll keep coming after you regardless. And we don't know what kind of order might be on you, or any of us, for that matter, plus, we can't guarantee that we can protect you here in the town."

"What do you mean, what kind of order?"

"A retrieve order or a kill order," Titus obliged, then turned to his uncle. "I already told him this."

"Oh yeah... right," said Rohan, looking unhappy.

"Until we know who they're here for, none of us are safe," said Julius. "Look, son, you don't seem to realise just how serious this situation is. Someone has to look out for you, and your parents aren't in the position to do that. So if you value your life, and theirs, you'll come with us voluntarily."

Rohan nodded, feeling half-swayed. What other choice did he have? Apparently, they were going to take him along with them whether he liked it or not.

"We leave after dark," said Aurelius. "We don't want any witnesses to the direction we travel. The trackers will get it out of the neighbors if it's suspected they know."

"Um... where are we going, exactly? Am I at least allowed to know that much?" Rohan asked. If he was about to be practically kidnapped, he figured he had the right to know where he was being taken.

"We're going into the Quadrants—to Ignus. It's about a two-day journey from here to the Ignus portal, up in the mountains," explained Aurelius. "We'll have to slip in, undetected, but we have some people on the inside who'll hide us."

"We'll be safer in there if they're looking for us out here," added Dante, who had just walked into the room.

"You mean these places are real?" asked Rohan, still not quite able to believe it.

"Of course they're real," said Dante, gruffly. "Haven't you been listening to anything we've said?"

"Yeah, but..." He shrugged. "It just sounded like fairy tales."

Aurelius held out his arm, palm forward, and a second later a fireball flared up in front of Rohan's face. Rohan sprang out of his chair, sending it toppling over as he stumbled backwards. "Does that look like a fairy tale to you?"

"Aurelius!" Julius reprimanded.

Titus and Aurelius snickered, and even Dante cracked half a smile.

The remainder of the day was spent in a flurry of packing and planning, but Rohan stayed out of the way of it. In the late afternoon Titus went out to join Rohan in the back yard, letting himself fall into a reclining sun-chair opposite him.

"Your father's scary," said Rohan. He remained lying back in his own sun-chair, chewing on a piece of grass. He turned his eyes from the sky, towards Titus.

"Mmmm, that's an understatement," Titus mumbled, not looking at him. "Julius is more like my father though... he raised me. Dante's got no patience for kids. Actually, Dante's got no patience for everyone."

"And your mother?"

Titus still didn't look at Rohan, instead, he gazed blankly out over the yard. "Died—having me," he replied, showing no emotion.

They were quiet for a while. Rohan had assumed Titus's mother had simply left, because having met Dante, who'd have blamed her for not sticking around.

It felt awkward now that he knew the truth.

"This is a bit of an overreaction, don't you think?" Rohan said next, changing the subject on purpose. "All of this, just because some guy was perving on us? I know they think people are out to get us... but now I think about it... that man I saw, well, I think you might have been right, he was probably just a creepy guy, who likes kids."

Titus turned to Rohan and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. We've been in hiding my entire life. I've never met anyone from the Quadrants... but if Julius thinks they're coming for us, well, I'd rather steer clear of them, after all the stories I've heard. It's better than waiting around for them to come here."

Rohan agreed, in principle, but in his mind, the whole thing was still a fantasy.

"Plus, I'm sick of this shit-hole, anyway," Titus went on. "Wouldn't mind getting out of it for a while."

A few moments later, Titus gave a loud sigh and moved to get up. "You coming in?" he asked. "Julius is making us something to eat before we go."

Titus stood to leave.

"Yeah, I'll be in in a minute," replied Rohan.