My Muse || READER X RAY || The Promised Neverland

📷 My Muse || Chapter Twenty One

I woke up at seven.

Ray had already gone but a warm indent on my bed told me he stayed the night. An oversized boy's shirt was hastily buttoned over me, covering my chest. His sleeves sagged well over my hands. I buried myself inside of the shirt, blushing. "It smells like him..."

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How should we started preparing them?" Norman, Emma, Ray and I leaned on the tree overlooking the open fields of our home.

"Tag, maybe?" Emma inserted, scratching her head. "We could try to put them in formations, similar to how we'd escape when the time came. We can't all just run in one big herd, after all."

"Why not?" I asked. "It would be safer if we were all together, no?"

Norman grimaced, something awful obviously casting a rain check on our plans. "Emma and I had figured it out earlier..." He glanced at Mama, at the opposite side of the field. She was hanging up laundry and tending to the babies.

"Do you see it, y/n?" Norman asked, moving his face close to mine. His cheek was warm against me. I followed his eyes to Isabella's waist, her silver pocket watch hanging innocently as it always has. "That's not a watch," "That's a tracker." I finished his sentence, biting my lip nervously.

"How the hell do we escape an enemy who knows where we are at any given time?" Ray asked.

"We just outwit her." Norman laughed. His cheerfulness made it seem like an easy feat.

"Norman..." His name escaped from my lips without me even noticing. 

"Hmm?" He smiled. 

"Thank you for always being so kind. For trusting us." I just wanted him to know how much he meant to me, to us. His smile only grew wider, but instead of replying with a happy thing or 'thank you', Norman said something quite dark. "I don't trust anyone, y/n. With the exception of you three."

"What?" Emma and Ray said in unison. 

"There's a traitor among us. Among all of us." He eased himself on the tree, ready to tell us a story. "Mama found little bunny. And she's been watching Emma and I very closely. Earlier, when we were talking near the wall where Mama hangs up our drawings, she appeared behind us, out of thin air. She asked us what we were doing, but her glare was cold. She knows." 

Emma nodded, confirming Norman's tale. "She was... really scary... Not like the Mama that raised us and loved us..." She buried her head into her knees. 

I patted Emma's head, trying to comfort her. "Well, there's no use moping!" I said, jumping up. I stretched my arms, running into the field. "Everyone, let's play tag in teams today!" I cried, attracting everyone's attention. I heard Norman and Emma's pleased chuckles behind me. 

I had to do everything I could for them. For us. 

They are my family. 

And I will not let them die. 

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"That went... Surprisingly well..." Norman said, after we had played about four rounds. 

We had rotated 'it' every time we played, starting with Ray, then Norman, Emma and then me. 

We practiced scattering, athletics and how willing the kids would listen to commands. It all went well. I don't think the amount of people would be a problem when we escaped. 

"Emma, y/n! Can we play the game again? That was fun! So much fun!" Phil laughed, jumping onto Emma's lap. She patted his head energetically. "Maybe tomorrow, Phil. We have chores to do today." He whined disappointed, and slipped away from Emma's grasp and ran back to the other kids. 

Her emerald green eyes sparkled with determination. 

"We will escape. For Phil. For Connie. For everyone who lives on this farm." She said, clenching her fists.