Cursed

Chapter 7

Cassie's POV
"Hunter, hurry up, I saw them go in here," I say, pushing the café door open.
"I've said this a bunch of times and I'll say it again, can't we just go home? Everyone's probably worried sick."
"As if."
"What?"

"I said "as if". Since when did anyone give a damn about the two of us. You can go home, you can go back to that dull life, that painful life, but I'm staying. So, make up your mind, are you coming?"
"...Come on. If you're so interested in finding those weirdos, you should probably go inside," he groans, pushing past me. "What the...? This place is completely empty. But... we saw them walk in, and they didn't come out."

Curiously, I walk inside, wandering around to see if there are any clues to the peculiar pair's disappearance.
"These drinks, they're still hot," I murmur, dipping my finger in and tasting the hot chocolate. There's this slightly off flavour to it, it's odd. Suddenly, I'm hit with a small wave of exhaustion, could the drink have been drugged?

"I'm going to check in the back," Hunter says, heading to the back of the café. Slowly, he opens the door with a slight creek, and looks through the small gap. He beckons we over, holding his finger to his mouth to imply that I should be silent.

"I told you, the girl looks like that dead princess. Y'know, Princess Eva, the one who was supposedly killed by that dragon."

In the dimly lit room, there is a man and a woman, both of older age, looking down at the girl from before, tied to the chair and unconscious. Where's the dragon who was with her before?

"You are right in thinking that. And if she is, and we give her back to the royal family, who knows how much money we could get," the woman says. "Hey kid, wake up." She kicks the girl's leg, waking her up quickly.

"Ngh! W-where am I? Who are you? Wait!" She desperately tries to escape from the ropes tied around her. "Cas... what the fuck did you do to Cas?!"

"What's your name?" The man asks.
"Huh? Why should I tell you?"

Suddenly, the man throws his fist towards her cheek, knocking her onto the floor with one quick swoop.

"Answer the question damnit!"

"Shit... A-Alice... Alice Kim..." she pants, keeping her face tilted away from them.
"Liar! Did your mother ever teach you not to lie? What do you know about Alice anyway?"

"You know her...?" The girl mutters.

"Yes, why do you want to know?"

"Where is she?! You need to tell me, I have to find her!"
"What does a brat like you want with her?"
"Okay, I did lie. But I'm Eva Kim, my mum is Alice Kim! You've got to tell me where she is!"
"Eva Kim... that little brat of hers? She said you were dead..." the man answers.
"Well I'm not, and I need to find her! Please it's been so long," Eva begs, looking like she's on the verge of tears.

"She just left here. She was here for a bit over a week, came here a lot. She said she was going back home today. Don't know where "home" is though," the man says.
"I know, please, can you please let me go? I won't tell anyone of this, I just need to see her."

"Of course, who are we to keep a mother and daughter apart?" The woman says, untying the rope. "We're sincerely sorry about all that, we get easily distracted about the idea of money, we're quite poor, I assume you can understand where we were coming from."
"Right, living in poverty isn't enjoyable. I need to get going now, see you!"

Without hesitation, she bounds out of the room, and notices dragon, asleep in a backpack.
"There you are Cas, let's go, we don't have much time," she whispers, picking up the three bags. As she turns around, she notices us awkwardly squatting by the door.

"You're still here...?" She sighs. "Nevermind, I have to get going, home, here I come."

"You're not planning on walking all the way there, are you?" Hunter asks, standing up.
"It's my only option."
"Hey, gimme the map a sec, I could probably find a different route for you, if you walk, you'll never catch up with her. Where are you heading?"

"Here."

She points at a village that's circled on the map.

"Surrek..."

The village that was burnt to the ground. Killing many of the citizens, reports claim that everyone died in the fire, but it became clear over time that some escaped. Does that mean Eva and her mother did too?

"The burned village, huh? Well let's see then, if you head to Dragmire Drove, so another half a day of walking, there's a train that should take you all the way to Hezra. From there, it's about an hours walk, you might want to get a train in the morning though, after getting some rest in an inn or something."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting you to help the two of them like that," I laugh.
"Well like you, I've become curious about them. We can come with you to make sure you know where you're going. And so nothing like that happens again," he says, glancing back at the now slightly ajar door.

"Only under one circumstance, however."

"What is it you want?" She asks.

"Well, maybe two things, but both are easy enough. My request is that you tell me how you survived that fire, and for Cassie, explain what's going on with your souls."

"You won't take us the wrong way, will you?"

"I wouldn't dare."

"Fine, well come on then, we should probably get going now then. Oh wait, introductions first! As you probably heard, I'm Eva Kim."
"Cassie Ellis."
"Hunter Webb."
"Oh and this is Casper Carmen. I'm surprised he hasn't woken up yet," she giggles, grabbing the dragon and holding him in her arms. "He's usually a heavy sleeper, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Well then Hunter, lead the way, we have a journey to go on."

"Fine, just quit bossing me around Cassie, let's go."

Nova Note: now I have to write to be able to update this :(

Well hecc

At least some of chapter 8 is already written
K bye