Chapter 161 (1/2)
Chapter 161
Chapter 161: Why Are You Crying?
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“Where to next, Nico?” I asked, cheerfully swinging the plastic bags filled with school supplies by ht?” Cecilia answered, cradling a textbook in her arms as if it were a baby
“It hasn’t been two hours yet since we got ourselves measured We’ll make that our last stop,” Nico replied He looked down at his little notepad “We need to buy backpacks and calculators”
The three of us strolled casually on the city sidewalk The streets were old and crooked, with paving stones that wobbled and shi+fted out of place fros towered over us, blending in with the rimy stench of the area with a fresh earthy sathered in the dips and potholes of the neglected streets
Arcastead was by nocity Yet, at thisaroundbehind the trash bins in back alleys to the scowling soldiers threatening to arrest any passerby that accidentally buht that I hated so
Nico let out a sigh, snapping ht be the sao in there orn out backpacks it’ll be obvious that we’re orphans I’d rather not have us be excluded by the other students”
“Fine,” I relented, following Nico as he crossed the street
The sun had fallen by the ti all of the necessary supplies to start our new lives as students As we headed toward the outskirts of Arcastead, both the nuhts beca us on our toes Nico and I knew the area well enough to outrun any potential thieves or kidnappers, but having Cecilia with us e all the o to school, Cecilia?” Nico asked quietly, hoping to fill in the aard silence
Her brows furrowed in thought but she ultimately nodded with a smile that had become more frequent as of late “I’m nervous and scared, but yes”
As I was about to chih I was digging through the plastic bag of school supplies, I took a peek behind us to see a shadow flit behind an alleyway
“—right, Grey?” Nico nudged my arm
“Huh?” I whipped my head back forward
“Sheesh, don’t space out on us,” Nico adh this area hundreds of ti like that”
Scratching the back of my head, I let out a wry chuckle “My bad”
“And I was just saying to Cecilia that ould be there in case anything happened to her,” Nico sighed
Cecilia, alking on the other side of Nico, let out a giggle when I heard another faint noise
A shi+ver ran down e, trying to break free Suddenly, I was all too conscious ofI’d heard so many times in movies when the main character was scared
I was scared I didn’t knohat, but et out of here
Out of the corner ofstreet light, and once again, the world seeed sideways, knocking both Nico and Cecilia into the grimy street
“Run!” I roared as I heard the click of another projectile being loaded froh startled and confused, Nico was able to gather his wits Abandoning his bags, he pulled our disoriented friend into the nearby alleyway
It felt as if so control of my body as I instinctively dipped down and picked up Cecilia’s textbook I raised the thick hardbound book up to my chest, just in ti back
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I took a quick glance down to see a syringe-like object embedded into the textbook A clear liquid oozed out of the buried end, dripping to the ground
It wasn’t a bullet I knew that for sure
Theto mind It was one of those needles they shot at ani the needle out of the textbook, I followed after Nico and Cecilia into the narrow alleyway
“After theirl alive,” a gruff voice barked out orders fro!” My voice echoed off the worn stone walls as I ran, ducking under the rusted fire escape ladders and vaulting over trash bins
It didn’t take long for me to catch up to er for the crooks behind us to reach us as well
Nico was fine, but there was a trail of blood running down his legs and ar I knocked downhard at the pursuers in a desperate atte to… catch up,” Nico wheezed, running out of breath
“Why are they after us?” Cecilia panted as she exerted all of her energy and focus into not tripping over sonorant as well aside frolove on you?”
“I should—wait, you’re not seriously thinking of—”
“Can you think of any other way?” I cut hinal, we veered left into a narrow alley Our pursuers’ footfalls were growing louder as they gained in on us
Grudgingly, Nico dug through his jacket pockets After finding it, he stretched his arive it to me when Cecilia snatched it away from his hand
“Cecilia?” Nico exclai on the fuzzy black glove
Due, I nearly tripped over a pile of discarded clothes “It’s too dangerous And you still can’t control your ki!”
“Nico and I both heard what that man yelled earlier,” Cecilia huffed “They aren’t allowed to kill ht?”
I looked to Nico for assistance, but he couldn’t co under e in ot a plan?”
My friend’s eyes narrowed the way it did when he was thinking “We ht over there,” he ordered softly
I looked back over my shoulder to see two pursuers dressed in black less than twenty feet feet away from us
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We turned sharply into a wide back-alley behind an old restaurant I had expected us to keep running but Nico pulled me back by my sleeve
“Cecilia, fall on your belly like you just tripped over so me behind a cluster of metal trash cans
My heart thruh for ht hear
It only took a couple seconds for the two men in black to skid to a stop around the corner
The one on the right spoke into his wrist “Sir, we have the girl in our sights”
“The girl tripped and it looks like the boys have abandoned her Permission to proceed?” the pursuer on the left asked