From The Ashes.

Chapter 8

  A crack in the trees made me look up and I sighed as my eyes fell on the kid. His dark blue jumper seemed too big for him and his curly, coal black hair was shining with grease. I frowned. There was something strange about this kid. Why had no one said his name? Even Llewellyn had called him 'child'. 

"Hey Monkey, you okay?" I asked, squatting down to his level. As pissed off as I was at the others, it didn't have anything to do with the green eyed kid in front of me. He didn't answer, instead he seemed to look around and then grab my hand, pulling me back the way we'd come.

"Monkey." I called but he didn't stop. With a sigh, I dug my heels in and forced him to stop. "I'm sorry, Monkey, but I can't go with you. I don't belong with you, okay?" The kid paused for a moment, staring up at me. Damn. This kid had killer puppy dog eyes. But before I could react, he grabbed my other hand and started pulling me with all his strength. 

"Oi kid, don't go running away like that!" I looked up to find Zak running towards us, his eyebrows pulled into a frown. He blinked when he spotted me and I watched as his poker face slid into place."Sorry, I saw you leave before." I frowned and opened my mouth but Zak held up his hand. "I get it, okay? You don't want to come with us. If you think you can deal with this by yourself then we're not going to force you." Zak sighed and ran his hand through his hair before kneeling so he was eye level with the kid. "You need to stop running away, you know? It's dangerous for you to - uh?" Zak frowned and tilted his head at the kid. "What kind of expression is that?" I leaned over to look at the kids face and instantly had to bite back a laugh. The kids face was scrunched so he resembled a toad, his green eyes shining as he glared up at Zak, his grip on my hands tightening to an almost painful level. 

"I think that directly translates into pissed off." Zak blinked in surprise, staring at the kid like he didn't know what to do with that information. 

"Kid, why are you mad at me? She's the one who doesn't want to come with us." He kept his voice light, trying to joke with the kid. I sighed, attempting to dislodge my hands from the boys fingers, when his eyes suddenly flitted to the side. I froze. I might have imagined it but I thought I saw pure terror flash through his eyes. 

"Is this where he ran off to?" I jumped as Caerun came up to us, he breathed hard as though he'd been running.

"Yeah, I guess he didn't want Tera to leave." My attention shifted, something wasn't sitting right with me. The boys hands, still gripping mine, had begun to shake and a nagging feeling in my chest was telling me something wasn't quite right. Zak and Caerun seemed to fade away as I looked around, we were still in the entrance of Forest Park so it wasn't strange that there were people around us but... was that man staring at us? No, not us. I yanked the kid into me, gathering him onto my hip as my eyes scanned our surroundings.

"Tera?" Zak asked, trying to follow my line of sight. As soon as he turned his head, his eyes widened and suddenly both men were standing guard over the kid and I.

"Get back to the cafe!" Caerun yelled and I turned to do as he said but after I took a few steps back the way we'd come, a lightening bolt of realisation hit me. There were two men standing by the entrance, their hands in their jacket pockets like they weren't really paying attention to us. But I had seen them watching, not me, not Zak or Caerun, but the little boy in my arms. They were waiting for me to go back to the cafe. They were waiting for me and the kid to seperate from the others. It was a trap. I paused, swallowing as Zak and Caerun circled around us.

"What are you doing, Tera? Get out of here!" Zak yelled. I chewed on my lips as adrenaline blasted through me. I couldn't tell the guys what I'd noticed without tipping off the men around us but I knew, if I followed the path, there was no way we'd get away. So, I swallowed, breathed deeply and plunged head first into the forest around us.