Chapter 216
Chapter 216
LYRIC
Jace didn’t stop driving until the sun was out. After long tiring hours, we finally arrived at the location he wanted.
It was a house in the outskirts of a town, surrounded more with bushes than people.
“This used to be my grandmother’s,” he explained as we approached the house. “I used to enjoy coming here for the holidays.”
Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a long time—I wanted to tell him, but my tongue was too heavy to let any words out. I didn’t know how to make basic communications anymore.
We didn’t have any bags with us as we had left in a hurry. The only thing Jace had on was his phone and wallet.
We entered the house which was quite spacious but very dusty. It looked like it’d been abandoned for years.
I coughed from some of the dust.
“Yup. We have a lot of work to do. Got to make it liveable.”
Not minding the dirt, I sat on one of the couches. I was so tired and lost.
“You hungry, right?” Jace asked a while later. “I’ll um… just head out and get something for us to eat.”
He started toward the door.
“How long will this go on, Jace?” My words halted him at the door. “I’m sure they’re probably looking for me by now. What if they notice you’re also missing and start looking for the both of us? Who will run our errands for us, then?”
“We’ll be fine, Lyric. Just trust me, okay? For now, let’s focus on settling in.”
He left before I could ask him any more questions.
But we both knew there was an elephant in the room. Being on the run in our world wasn’t easy; not when we had too many resources. It was even worse since I was running away from the Capital Pack.
How far will Jaris go to find me?
*****
JARIS
“How can she possibly go missing last night of all nights?” Cole grumped for the umpteenth time as we all stood in the passage. “Today was the day you were meant to pass your judgment. It was the day she was supposed to be handed to us. How did she manage to escape?”
“The guards are still looking for her,” one of the Elders said.
“She must’ve been far gone from here, otherwise, they’d have found her already,” Cole snapped. “You know, this is the reason I insisted on guarding her cell last night. I knew there was a high chance of something like this happening. But the King wouldn’t let me.” Now he directed his anger at me, even if he kept it subtle.
I’d been quiet the whole time because I knew talking would only make everything worse. How unfortunate that Cole was trying to flush my efforts down
the drain.
“Well, Executioner, I hope you don’t mind me not wanting someone like you near her cell where you could easily kill her and blame it on an accident.”
“I’d have never done that, My King. I only wanted to ensure-
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Chapter 216
“Well, she’s gone now, and the only thing we can do is find her,” I cut him off, already feeling irritated.
“Someone must’ve helped her,” Elder Lucas said. “The guards said their meal was spiked. Obviously, someone helped her with them, and also helped her with an extra key to her cell.”
I noticed Cole looking at Kael behind me. “Where is your boyfriend?”
There was a brief silence before Kael calmly replied. “What does he have to do with this?”
“Well, he’s her best friend. From what I saw, he’s crazy over her and will do anything to protect her. I won’t be surprised if he’s behind this.”
“Well, you’re wrong. He doesn’t know nothing about this.”
“Why don’t you leave that for us to decide, then? Where is he?”
“I don’t know. If you want to see him, you go find him yourself.”
“Enough of the accusations,” I cut in. “Our target here is Lyric. I’ll assign more people to look for her. For now, I need this meeting to come to an end.”
I walked away, returning to my room where I could be alone.
I needed to find her. Not because I wanted to hand her to the Executioners, but because I just wanted to see her.
How did she escape? How could she go away from me? I know I was an ass to her. I should’ve gone to see her. But shouldn’t she understand how hard it was for me? My mother was dead! I didn’t know how to face her without hating her. And gods, the last thing I wanted was hating Lyric.
How could I ever hate her when she meant the world to me? But how could I forget the fact that my mother was dead because of her? And now I have
people mourning her loss and looking up to me to do the right thing?
PENELOPE
Penelope was deep asleep when she heard banging sounds on the door. It sounded like someone was trying to break into the house.
Her sister wasn’t home, and Penelope knew there was no way she’d be trying to break into the house when she had her key.
She sprang from the bed and got her claws out, ready to defend herself. But even she knew she looked like a joke. If there were a lot of people out there, Penelope knew she wouldn’t stand a chance.
The sound of the door finally breaking open made her shudder. Could there be thieves? Or the people who tried to kill her?
She heard them run into the house. Realizing there were more than one, she decided it was best to escape. She knew it wouldn’t take long for them to
find her in her room.
She dragged her phone from under the pillow and was about running out when she heard her sister’s voice.
“Hey! Who are you guys? What’re you doing here?!”
Penelope’s heart stopped in her chest. She leaned toward her door and listened.
“Where is she?” A man asked.
“Where is who?”
“Your sister. You know what we talking about.”
“No I don’t. I don’t know nothing about my sister. Now get out of my house.”
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The next sound that followed was a gunshot.
Penelope screamed before she could stop herself.
No. No. No.
“I heard someone’s voice. Check the room,” she heard one of the men order.
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Despite her distraught state, she knew she needed to start moving. She ran out of the room, headed to the library room where there was a door leading outside.
The men heard her running and followed the sound, but before they reached the laundry room, she was already out of the house.
They ran after her.
Penelope ran as fast as she could. Her sister’s house was quite deserted, so there was no chance of seeing a cab around.
She ran into the woods, figuring it was easier to hide from the men.
She ran until she was panting heavily and feared she’d pass out.
She ran until the whole scenario looked too familiar.
Until she remembered being chased by some men before now.
She remembered why they were chasing her.
It definitely had to do with the kids she had given to Marta.
Yes. The kids she gave to Marta belonged to Lyric.
She had to stop running for a moment to catch her breath as she held onto a tree. She was breathing so heavily like someone that had fallen off a high
tree.
Her memories were back.
The kids she had taken from Lyric were with Marta. This was the reason they were out to kill her.
A
