"Okay. This...this is solid."
Cooper smirked.
Noah looked towards him grinning and let out a very long and extremely sarcastic "Thank you Cooper..." before looking at all the other faces. Cooper feigned offended-ness before he laughed quietly and listened to Noah going over the final plan they had all settled on.
"...and if anything goes wrong, run. Preferably back to here, but as long as you're away from danger, you'll be alright. For the most part." He took a deep breath. "Just be careful, everyone, okay? I don't want anyone to get hurt."
April held up a hand. "Wait. Do they know we're all together?" She thought for a second. "Or even that all of us are out here?"
Noah bit his lip. "They definitely know that you, me, and Cooper are out here. The rest of you I'm not so sure about." He glanced around. "You guys got family or friends that would know you're gone?"
Koko nodded. Sean and Cooper stiffened and shared a worried look. Whitney directed her gaze towards the ground.
"I'm taking that a a yes."
Koko looked at her hand. "I, uh, live with my older brothers. They...they'll probably know I'm gone at this point. And If the guards come looking for me, I - I think they'll figure out where I am."
"Okay. Strong maybe."
"Yep."
Sean blinked a few times. "I think they'll figure I'm with my brother."
"That's fair."
Whitney stood up. fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt.
Koko looked up. "Whitney? Are you okay?"
The older girl shrugged and kept playing with a loose string, intense concentration floating across her face.
Everyone except Koko stayed silent. "Whit, I'm getting nervous."
She turned, mumbling something. Everyone snapped up, paying all of their attention to the fact that Whitney, the girl who hadn't spoken a single word in the past month, was now speaking. Very, very quietly, but they were words nonetheless.
They all watched as she glanced towards Noah and motioned a knife. He grabbed one out from the air and held it out towards her.
She picked it up and worked it into the seam of the fabric, now as silent as the people around her. After a minute or two, she handed it back to Noah who dropped it wordlessly, letting the dust hit the dirt.
She frowned as she drew something out of the sleeve. It was long, thin, and silver. Whitney glared and snapped it in half.
Thin shards erupted from her hands and she hissed, eyebrows furrowed. The pieces hit the ground and she stomped on them with her boot, making them dirty and dull.
Finally, Whitney turned to all the others.
"I sincerely apologize for that." Koko's eyes widened. "It was for your safety. I hope you can understand and forgive me. I did not want to cause you harm."
YOU ARE READING
Shadowstruck
FantasyA girl wakes up in a forest with her memory wiped. Now they have to figure out who's behind The Uprising and, more importantly, how to stop them. If they can stop them. They're losing time. And the gods aren't on their side.
