Welcome to demon school Kai

11

Frthghjhh! Stupid stupid damned stupid! Kai shouted as she ran down the road from Eric's shop making a beeline for the abandoned building hoping it would be safe enough to lay low for now.
Terra had almost certainly just ratted me out and told someone in a cloak or a gang that Id seen their faces and knew they weren't human. I'd only ever planned to talk to Eric in the first place- I should have just insisted on talking away from Terra the second I knew she was listening in! The only reason I didn't was because I hadn't thought she'd be in with a gang and still working an honest job at a busted up little restaurant with her pops!
just for that I was in for it. Almost as aggravating was the fact that I hadn't even gotten 2 questions out and the first one had been practically pointless.
At least I had a head start on the way out. It wasn't that late but sundown was beginning early with the oncoming winter. I hoped that the lower light would be enough to keep me out of sight.
Not even 15 minutes since I'd left the restaurant and the sound of a speeding car approached me.
I could feel a full sprint on my part was in order. I stayed off the main road and yet still a car along the side path seemed to have deduced my path and was following me already.
Nothing had even happened yet but I was on the verge of panic.
It couldn't have been this big a deal for me to know about the cloaked people... right? were they really sending out more than one car?
Still 30 minutes out at about halfway to my destination another car swerved from its lane to turn and follow me and I was practically sweating bullets. All of this was for 1 overhead comment! Why? The only reason I could think of was that They might have finally pinned the theft a week back on me. Whether knowing or assuming id stolen the 2 gems that could be reason for extremes- just knowing about the gems or the secret might make someone a suspect but at the time of the theft Technically I hadn't known.
Also Just as plausible was that id simply left some kind of evidence of my identity at the scene and they were going after anyone who fit the criteria. I couldn't prove that though.
Still running alleys at 3/4ths of the way to the hideout it was becoming increasingly apparent i wasn't shaking my pursuers though they had been forced to abandon their car to give chase through the narrow alleys and common traffic. Not enough road to follow, So far 6 people in total but i wasn't so nimble as to be looking behind me every step as I ran.

With the edge of town approaching and the buildings becoming more spaced out there was little to keep me from line of sight and that was bad news with my followers still keeping up (though they were about a block or two behind me and struggling to close the distance) there was lots of yelling swearing and threatening but when the first bullet flew I leapt through the window of the closest building to try and get out of the way.
Glass everywhere and probably a bit of blood too, but that didn't matter. As I looked around I saw This was a perfect place to give this group the runaround, a stairwell just beside the front door, and directly across from the window was the reason why- as I sprinted for the door and threw it open, rather then leaving I spent just a few moments shaking the glass off myself -over the stairs- and then rather then going upstairs turned back and went through a kitchen and into a laundry room. hopefully they'd all fall for the double bluff and not come inside to look around.
It was either a great idea or the worst id ever had as I hid my bag and the bat under a few towels laying nearby and managed to squeeze into the standing dryer to close it on myself. for their own sake Id have to hope nobody was home. As the first few voices approached the window I was still struggling to get my breath under control. A couple miles at a full sprint was hard even with life threatening incentive. It was lucky I'd even made it this far let alone gotten a chance to hide. As the crunch of shoes on glass and the shouts to one another came, it seemed my bluff had worked well. As they gathered inside the first 3 urged to continue chasing out the front door, as the 4th and 5th arrived they claimed that was too obvious and they didn't see me so I couldn't possibly still be running. They pointed out the glass scattered around, and as a 6th and a 7th arrived debate began that the glass on the stairs was a decoy meant to slow them down as I ran. A counter argument from one believed I was too young and stupid to think of that and I must be upstairs. I was both a little insulted and alarmed for the fact they actually had a description of me. But i could only smile as the whole group decided to split up- 5 outside to look in multiple directions and 2 inside to look here and back each other up. They went right upstairs and I waited only moments before slowly lifting the lid on the dryer- as frantic and loud as the 2 upstairs were rifling through rooms, it wasn't too difficult to slip out and leave through the window id broken. before anyone had even considered I'd hidden downstairs I was out and headed the opposite direction of the gang. I wasn't out of danger yet but for now I could at least walk a bit and save my breath. Bat now in hand I continued heading towards the abandoned building, both ecstatic to escape and terrified for what came next...

————————————————————
Author here!
Like usual let me know what you think and if you have questions and tips or if I've made an error and missed it, let me know. I actually write this stuff on the fly no drafts no maps no nothing so it's only natural for me to mess up.
You may notice in the future but I sometimes rewrite chapters in fact I'm rewriting this note right now! I've already published a lot so if chapters feel too clunky later or if a plot point doesn't seem consistent it might be because I changed it (sorry lol) anyways the next few chapters will finally get some solid progression so happy reading!