Chapter 379: Run
Maeve frowns.
"What’s wrong, Maeve?" Theo asks immediately. He’s been watching her closely, ready to step in if needed.
Maeve tilts her head.
"He’s resisting... I think. I can’t see anything. What am I even looking for?"
"When you checked my body’s health, how did you do it?" Theo replies with a question of his own.
Maeve frowns again. "I just... pictured your body’s schematic, like a hologram, and searched for anything that didn’t belong."
Theo smiles. "And what did you see?"
"Exactly what I imagined. I’ll admit, I was surprised it matched so precisely." Maeve tilts her head slightly again.
"That’s because you imagined it. Remember when I told you magic works the way you imagine it? That’s exactly what I mean. You pictured my hologram schematic, and that’s what you saw."
Maeve hesitates.
"It’s the same right now. You’re trying to find Hawk’s consciousness, his mind. Not his Soul Palace. Wherever you imagine that consciousness to be, that’s exactly where it will be. So use your imagination."
Maeve takes a deep breath.
"My imagination," she mutters.
"Don’t imagine any kind of doorway." Theo adds quickly.
"Oh! I was about to picture a house with a door!" Maeve gasps.
"It’s okay. Even if a door shows up, that’s fine. Just don’t go near it." Theo warns again.
"Right." Maeve exhales. "Can I picture a boat instead? If I board it, will I end up in his consciousness?"
Theo smiles. "As long as it’s not a door, it’s fine."
"Okay. I’m boarding the boat now." She says carefully.
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Hawk sees the rubble that used to be half the orphanage. He sees the body of the orphanage director, the woman who had always been kind to him.
She’s half buried beneath the debris, eyes open, staring up at the sky, as if still in disbelief that a bomb was ever dropped on this place.
"NOOOO!" A teenage voice screams from the hallway, staring at her corpse, tears streaming.
Hawk’s head snaps toward the sound. He sees himself. Twelve years old.
Pre-teen Hawk is about to run to the director’s body when another boy, bigger and older, grabs him and half drags him away.
"We need to evacuate, Ro! Now! Those soldiers will come back! We have to go!"
Young Roan cries and struggles against the older boy’s grip, but it does no good.
A young woman appears, a toddler balanced on one hip, another child of six or seven gripping her other hand. She looks at Little Ro and the older boy holding him.
"You’ve got him? Good. We need to move. I couldn’t find anyone else. It’s just us."
"Then let’s go."
The two of them lead the remaining children toward safety.
Hawk watches their backs disappear into the distance, unable to blink, until there is nothing left to see.
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Hawk’s surroundings shift.
It’s nighttime now. A barren forest, nothing but dead trees and sand. Little Ro carries a sleeping toddler on his back, running. Ahead of him, a young woman runs with another child clinging to hers.
"Hurry! Keep up!" The young woman, Haeiz, urges.
Little Ro struggles to match her pace on his shorter legs, but he refuses to fall behind. His face is set with anger and determination.
"Stop!" Haeiz suddenly ducks behind a rock, dragging him down with her, one hand pressed to her lips.
Moments later, a group of soldiers passes by.
"Find them! Find those little bastards! We can sell them for a good price!"
Haeiz’s face drains of color. She’s shaking, biting down on her lower lip, her heart pounding so hard she’s certain they’ll hear it.
Little Ro clenches his jaw. If looks could kill, every one of those soldiers would already be dead. His hatred for them is thick enough that bile rises in his throat.
The soldiers pass without noticing them.
Haeiz exhales, shaky with relief. "We need to keep moving."
They press on, deeper into the forest, toward the place rumored to hold a militant force fighting back against the Strathmore soldiers.
It’s the only safe place either of them knows.
They continue for another ten minutes before a soldier spots them.
As they try to escape, Haeiz realizes the soldiers are gaining ground. In a few moments, they’ll be caught.
"Little Ro." She pants, grabs his hand, and drags him behind another boulder.
She carefully unhooks the child from her own back and passes him over.
She looks into Little Ro’s eyes. "Run. And don’t look back."
Without waiting for a response, Haeiz slips out from behind the boulder and runs the other way, drawing the soldiers after her.
Little Ro can only stare, angry tears streaming down his face, before turning and running the other direction.
A little while later, he hears a young woman scream, followed a second later by gunfire echoing through the night.
"Haeiz!" He gasps, but he doesn’t stop. He can see lights ahead, and he runs toward them.
"I see him!" A soldier shouts behind him, followed by the rustling of dead leaves underfoot.
Little Ro panics and pushes himself faster, one child on his back, another clutched against his chest.
Shots fire. Bullets whistle past him on either side. He zigzags between trees and rocks, dodging as best he can.
And keeps running.
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Maeve is completely shocked. Her eyes fly open and she staggers backward, startling Theo, Liam, and Alicia, all of whom have been watching her closely. Liam catches her before she can fall.
"Maeve!" Alicia exclaims.
"Whoa!" Liam grabs her.
"Careful!" Theo says.
Maeve pants, running her hands over her own body in a panic.
"What? What are you looking for?" Liam asks.
Finding nothing wrong, she exhales and lets herself drop into the nearest chair.
Theo moves closer. "What happened?" He asks gently.
"I thought I was getting shot." Maeve says, still shaking.
"Shot?" Alicia’s eyebrows shoot up.
Maeve fills them in on what she saw inside Hawk’s mind, how she experienced it as Haeiz, how she felt the bullets as the soldiers killed her.
Everyone’s attention turns to Hawk, still clutching his head, still shaking it, muttering something none of them can make out.
Theo takes a deep breath. "He’s too deep in his own memories."
"His memories?" Liam asks.
Maeve nods. "I think Thea’s right. Little Ro is Hawk, when he was younger." She glances at Hawk again. "Without the bitterness in his eyes. Just anger."
She sighs and looks at Theo.
"So what do I do now?"
Theo shakes his head. "Unfortunately, there’s nothing more you can do without hurting him." He looks at her carefully. "Dealing with someone’s mind is never simple. And the fact that you were pulled into his memory as someone else, experiencing it as her, that’s not a good sign. It means the pull of his past is stronger than your Light right now."
"So if I’m stronger, I might actually be able to help him?" Maeve asks.
"That’s not guaranteed either." Theo replies.
"But my chances would be better?" She presses.
Theo nods. "Yes."
"But Maeve," he adds quickly, "you can’t rush leveling up. Light magic doesn’t level the way other elements do. It’s complicated. I honestly can’t explain it fully." He sighs.
He’s not lying. He genuinely doesn’t know. His own element was Fire. His knowledge of Light magic was never as deep as it was for the others.
Maeve huffs. "Well, now what do we do?" She looks at Hawk, guilt heavy in her eyes. "I can’t help him right now." She turns back to Theo. "What do we do?"
Theo finds himself at a loss too.
The living room grows heavy with silence, broken only by Hawk’s incoherent muttering.
"Maybe..." Theo starts, then stops.
Everyone looks at him, waiting.
"NOOOOO!"
Hawk’s sudden scream startles them all.
They freeze, watching him.
They all freeze, watching Hawk.
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As Little Ro runs as fast as he can, carrying two children, his focus stays fixed on the lights ahead. But they don’t seem to be getting any closer. If anything, they seem farther away.
He’s nearly at the end of his strength. Soaked in sweat and dirt and worse. His shirt clings to his back like it’s been glued there.
His legs wobble beneath him and he falls, more than once. But every time he falls, he forces himself back up and keeps running.
Finally, shouting and voices reach him from somewhere ahead. He pushes himself faster, desperate to reach them.
Then a barrage of bullets fires at him and around him. From the front this time.
His mind, already stretched to its breaking point, expecting the relief of safety, instead meets more gunfire. The shock of it is nearly enough to crumble him where he stands.
But he has no other choice. His legs won’t stop moving.
"Hold your fire! They’re children!" A voice cuts through, somewhere ahead.
"Hold your fire!" The order echoes across what sounds like the whole forest.
Behind him, the Strathmore soldiers are still chasing, still firing.
Little Ro’s vision begins to shift.
An encampment comes into view. Lights spilling from its walls. Figures patrolling the perimeter, weapons raised. A spotlight swings directly onto him.
"They’re children! Hold your fire!"
Another voice calls out. "Help them!"
Several men rush forward to meet him, catching him just as his legs finally give out.
Seeing so many people rushing toward him, ready to help, he wails in relief.
And the second he stops in front of them, exhaustion finally takes him and he collapses.