Maybe (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twenty Three

We descended the stairs, Ash in front. Something inside of me buzzed, with fear, adrenalin, excitement – I don't know what it was. But it was there. Ash's lean frame dodged around the corner, and headed a direct beeline towards the door, a strong stride faking our confidence. I followed suit, trying hard to also seem inconspicuous.

Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. Wolf slid out of the air and stretched out in front of us. "Good morning," he winked at Ash, "feeling any good after last night?"

Ash shrugged and rubbed his forehead. "Alright." He took a slow breath, watching Wolf through his lashes. I bit the corner of my lip and glanced behind Wolf - who was watching us closely - towards the door. Ash cleared his throat. "We were, uh, just going to leave."

Wolf drew in a breath, bringing up his shoulders and pulling a face. "I mean, normally I would be fine with that, but your friend kind of told me to make sure you stay here and..." He ruffled his hair slowly, "he's a little scary, you know?"

"Oh..." Ash shuffled his feet and frowned. "Do you know why?"

"Something about you guys being stupid and he didn't want you to get hurt." Wolf shrugged, now digging his hands deep into his pockets.

"But... where has he gone?" I murmured, not really knowing if anyone was going to hear me.

Surprisingly, Wolf did. "Not sure. To meet another on of his friends, I guess?"

I stared at Ash, and his head slowly rose to meet my eye. We both wore a look of confusion.

"But I thought that..."

"He's never been here before." Ash finished for me.

Wolf snorted. "What? He's been here before, for sure."

"How do you know?" I asked, trying to hold the suspicion out of my tone.

"Cos I've seen him all the time. I've worked here for a while now... I must say, he hasn't been here for a while, a year almost, but he used to be a frequent visitor." Wolf noticed our shocked expressions and rose his hands defensively. "Hey, I don't know why he came all the time, he wasn't exactly the easiest to have a chat with. But I remember him coming a lot. Is this bad or something?"

"It means he's been lying." Ash muttered. "I don't know if that's bad or not."

"Oh." Wolf frowned. "I don't like liars."

Why would Mekhi used to have come here all the time? I wondered. Mekhi told Archer that he hadn't ever been here before, or at least not to that bog. Maybe Mekhi hadn't been lying... maybe he-

"Wolf..." Ash began, pursing his lips. "Can you please let us go? We have something we need to do."

Wolf sighed. "I really don't want to get beat to a pulp. That guy's scary as shit, you know."

Ash opened his mouth, but no sounds came out. He swallowed air and grimaced, unsure.

"Fine!" Wolf sighed aggressively. "You can go. Only because I don't like liars." He slid out of our way and flung an arm out to point towards the door. "Go on. Shoo. Before he catches me letting you go."

"Thank you so-"

"Just go!"

Ash and I scampered past him like mice, bursting through the doors and instantly flowing into the river of people. Shocked by the flow, we grabbed hold of each other's arms. People pulled and shoved at us, oblivious to our surprise. The brightness of the sun, something which I felt I hadn't seen in days, blinded my eyes and I could barely see a thing.

I let Ash pull me, trusting him to guide us out of this mess, hoping he could see. I felt like I was being forced to go this way, not just because of Ash's grip but because of the movement of all the people. My eyes got used to the light, and I could see. Ash's blonde head led in front of me, and there were so many people, all different heights, builds, colours, breeds – no two were the same.

The pull and push slowed. Ash's grip loosened on my wrist as he fell into step beside me, but he didn't let go. I realised that we were heading back towards the gate, and again, I felt the flicker of fear and anxiety. We were going to go back out into danger, this time, by ourselves.

The crowd had magically dispersed. The amount of people was so much less now the closer we got to the gate. Three guards stood by the exit, two of which were deep in conversation. At a stone's throw distance, I noticed that one of them wore different clothing and not helmet, and his build and dark hair was strangely familiar.

Mekhi! I halted instantly, and tugged Ash back, making him stumble and almost fall over me. I was too scared to speak in case his bodyguard heard my voice. Trying to convey my thoughts with wide eyes and an awkward jerking of the head, I turned 180 and dragged him the opposite direction, back into Ganyan, away from the gate.

"Isaak, what are you doing?" Ash yelped, and I almost choked. I twisted my head to glance behind. Ash looked back too. I caught the slightest glimpse of narrowed, dark eyes. "Oh shit." Ash gasped.

"Ash!" Shouted Mekhi, and we both heard the crunch of his boots on the gravel.

I tugged harder on the frozen Ash. "Let's go!" I snapped. We both leapt into full sprint, and I easily overtook him, but kept my grip on his arm and forced him to keep up with me.

"Ash, stop!" Mekhi practically screamed; he was running after us too. "Let me explain, please-"

The crowd was getting thicker now, and we had to slow our pace. Ash's face was flushed and his breath was fast and short. "How do you run so fast?" He gasped.

"Come on, we can't stop."

Mekhi pushed and shoved through the crowd, gaining on us now. Ash took the lead, better at weaving though people than I was. We dodged past shoulders and slipped past bodies; his grip so tight my hand was beginning to feel numb.

It really didn't take much to separate us. As soon as Ash's fingers slipped away, I was lost.