Okay, so NikiNotFound isn't happening, but imagine how funny it would be if I just went 'no the relationship we've been working on for 70+ chapters isn't happening anymore'.
At least Ezra and I think it's funny.
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George POV.
By the time Niki had returned five minutes later, I had already come up with a bucket load of questions for her. Where was I? Why was I in a cave? What happened to my father? How long have I been here? These were just some of my bigger questions but there were a lot of other ones that I thought about.
She had two stones which seemed to have been made into bowls. In one of them there was cold, fresh water, and in the other was cooked fish and berries. I thanked her quietly as I took the water bowl first and began sipping it, trying to remain slow and calm and proper but quickly downing the crystal clear liquid.
Then I wiped my face before blushing with embarrassment. It was awkward to do that, especially in front of this random woman who I had never met before. “Sorry about that.” I muttered to her. “I haven’t had much to eat or drink in the past week.” As I said that I grabbed the other curved rock with the fish and berries, and ate them with my hands.
“That is perfectly fine.” Niki responded, continuing to stand over me with her hands behind her back. “Your father told me that you had been walking for days without much time to eat, drink, or rest.” She explained. I wanted to correct her, to tell her that my father was the reason that this happened, but I didn’t.
“Apparently you were both hunted by demons.” She added on, which I guess was kind of true, but the reason that we were hunted by demons was because I was kidnapped.
“Where is my father?” I decided to ask the woman.
“He is helping other members of the group.” Niki explains. “If you are finished eating then I could take you to him.” Part of me considered saying no and finding the opportunity to get out of here to try and find a way home. With my injured ankle though, I didn’t figure that I would be able to get out of here and travel too far.
“Would you like to go see him?” Niki repeated after a moment, and I nodded, standing up on slightly wobbly legs. She helped me up, linking her arm with mine.
“Where exactly are we?” I asked her as she escorted me out.
“Oh, this is an underground cave system, an ex-mine I’m pretty sure.” Niki explained, seeming a little uncertain about everything herself. “We had to suffer at the hands of demons and run from them just like you. Then we formed our own new society in the shadows.”
“So this is that hidden society of humans I heard about?” I asked.
“It is.” Niki nodded. “I found this place after my mother died. It was just me and my father and so I know what you are going through.” She smiled softly. Although I understood what she was saying, I knew that it wasn’t the same. I simply muttered a thanks before we reached a much larger cavern.
This room was bustling and full of life. There was a large number of people moving around, they were all chatting with one another, playing games, or doing jobs. When I stood there looking shocked there was a grin which grew on Niki’s face. “It’s a lot more than you would expect, isn’t it George?” She asked.
I just nodded. “We have almost eighty people living here.” She explained. “All adults have a job, whether it is hunting, gathering food, being a medic, teaching, cleaning, or making repairs, and all of the kids just learn. When you get used to life here, we’ll find you a job too.”
“Get used to life here?” I repeated, confused about what she was saying.
“Oh, your father said that you would both be happy to stay here where it is safe from the demons.” Niki explained. “Your father is already off learning some repairing skills.” She began walking through the crowd with me following afterwards. I stepped over an old rail track which everyone seemed to pass over without even thinking.
“So this is an old mine?” I asked, although she had told me this earlier. “How do you know that the demons won’t find this?” Since most of the ex-mines which I was familiar with usually ended up as tourist hotspots in both the demons and humans society.
“It was abandoned for hundreds of years.” She shrugged. “Forgotten to time. Anyway, back to the tour.”
“This is the main room.” Niki explained, waving her arm around. The large room was completely dark, except some old fashioned lanterns with candles clearly made by them. Blankets and pillows were thrown over the floor and people tried to avoid them, or only step on them with their shoes off. “We eat, sleep, and just hang out in here.” Niki explained.
Then she walked around the blankets like the other people did and into a tunnel leading further down. “The mine branches off and has some other rooms but we don’t typically sleep in them. Those are for storage, or used as sort of private rooms for the sick and injured, like yourself, or for couples who want some alone time, or parents with kids under the age of three.”
I nodded at her simple explanation. Hearing what she said about couples though did make me feel slightly soured, bringing back memories of Dream and what we had done with one another, the way that we’d sleep with one another and love each other both physically and sexually. I managed to keep the blush down, instead focusing on the unfortunate downside.
“We go out for walks every day to make sure we have enough sunlight.” Niki went on to explain to me as we continued walking. “I am in charge of a group of five kids, but you can come with me if you want.” After realising this meant I could get out of here I agreed.
The only issue was that I wasn’t sure where we were. If I ended up in the forest then I would not know which way home was, or even which way I would be facing. I never paid attention to whether my father was making us walk towards where the sun rose or what not. Plus I passed out so who knows how much of this journey I met.
“Great. “ Niki smiled at me. “Let’s go round them up.” She turned and we began walking back towards the main cabin. Just before we reached the room she smiled and brushed her hair out of her face. “I hope that you grow to like it here George.” She smiled at me
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1202 words
Less than 3 weeks until Split Romance is out and the cover art was finished earlier today. It looks absolutely amazing and is by godesoflove.
Is everyone excited for the next book?