They nodded at us as a greeting. Lark and Nyx came running toward us.
Nyx pulled me away from Dice, " What were you thinking? ", she exclaimed angrily.
" You can't just run off towards danger, Jesus christ Nova fucking think ".
" They were in danger. I wasn't going to let them get hurt.
You can't continue to shelter me as if I'm some child! ", I spat back.
" Then stop acting like one ".
I gave her a hateful look and turned around and started walking back to the drug store.
" No wait I'll talk to her ", I heard Dice say.
I just continued walking. I heard footsteps catching up to me.
" Nova, you know she's right ".
I abruptly stopped and looked at him with a heated look.
" You think I'm a child too? ", I snapped.
" No No not that. I mean you can't put yourself in danger like that ".
My facial expression softened. I sigh and continue walking to the drug store.
" You were in danger, I can't let you get hurt. I can't lose you ", I said softly.
He pulled my arm to stop me and made me face him.
" I can't lose you too, so please don't ever put yourself in danger, okay?
I stared at him, I then leaned in and kissed him softly.
I broke the kiss and just hugged him tightly.
We let go and continued walking back. We made it back to the drug store. Letta and Gwen were hiding behind a counter. When she saw Dice she got up letting out a soft sob hugging him.
" Oh thank you Lord, I thought something had happened to you ".
She pulled away, grabbing his cheeks looking at his face with relief.
" Where is your dad? ", she asked worriedly.
At that moment Lark walked in following Nyx, Morrison and the three strangers. When Letta saw her husband she ran to him. Hugging him as well, just as she did to Dice. They pulled away and she looked towards the strangers cautiously.
" Hun this is Fosco, Gemina and Veto ", Mor introduced them to his wife. Gemina was the first to step up,
" Hello nice to meet you ", extending a hand out for Letta.
Letta was so confused but shook her head and extended her own to shake. Gwen came out of her hiding rushing to Mor.
" Papa!! ", she squealed.
Mor bends down to welcome her into his waiting arms picking her up.
" Papa I thought you and Dicey weren't coming back ", she said sadly.
" My little flower I will always come back to you ", he said to her.
Lark cleared his throat and said, " So where were you guys going? ", turning to Fosco.
" Well we are not sure we've been on the road for almost a month. Everytime we find a place that seems safe, it doesn't last. Always overrun by the Jagers ", he said.
" So we continue moving only stopping to sleep or to stock up on supplies ", Veto cut in.
" Where are you coming from? ", I asked them.
Fosco looked at me, something caught his eyes. I followed his eyes to my necklace. Dice must have noticed as he spoke up, " Are you hungry? There's plenty of food here ".
Fosco snapped out of whatever trance he was in and looked up at Dice.
" Yeah that sounds good ".
Lark observed the strangers closely, smiling as he led them to the aisle where there were still some snacks left.
" Dad I don't trust them, especially Fosco ", Dice whispers to Morrison.
" I don't trust them either so we got to be careful okay? ".
We need to leave as soon as possible without alerting them, but I feel bad because that Gemina lady seems nice, but it was either them or my family.
" Come on, we need to rest for a bit ", Mor said.
We all settled in a corner by a counter when Lark came back. Dice and Mor spoke to Lark about the strangers softly.
" We don't know anything, they could be as dangerous as the Jagers ", Dice argued.
Lark looked so frustrated. Nyx came and sat down next to me, " I know you don't want to take off the necklace, so please can you atleast tuck it in your shirt? ".
I looked at her but she continued, " I know you are mad at me. I'm sorry about what I said out there. I know you are not a child Nova, I didn't mean it. It's just... you are all I have left and if anything happens to you I don't know what I would do ".
Her eyes filled up with tears. I sigh and turn to hug her.
" I love Nyx ", I said sniffling.
I pulled away to look at her as she smiled at me. After a few seconds of silence I looked back at the three men whispering.
" So... when were you going to tell me about Dice? ", she asked.
Facing her again with wide eyes, " Wha... what? ", acting like I have no clue what she's talking about.
" I saw the kiss ".
I'm pretty sure by this point I was redder than Letta's shirt.
" You don't have to say anything, I'm just glad you found someone who loves you as much as I do ", she said.
I relaxed a bit, " I'm sorry I didn't tell you ".
"It's okay ".
I looked back to Dice and said, " I love him.
I'm sorry about earlier. I got blinded when I saw Fosco aiming at Dice. I panicked. I didn't want him to get hurt. My heart was beating out of my chest when I saw him in that situation ", I said looking down fiddling with my fingers. She just hugged me tighter. Dice came over with a bottle of water, " Here you should drink some ".
Thanking him I grabbed the bottle. My sister smiled and got up to go over to Lark. Dice sat down next to me.
" How are you feeling? ".
I smiled at him and she said, " good ".
He smiled.
" My sister knows. She knows about us ".
His eyes widened.
"Um... I'm not sure what to say ".
I chuckled softly and said, " It's fine she's not mad and plus she apologized for what happened earlier ".
" That's good, I guess I should tell my parents ", he said.
" Why don't we let them figure it out? ", I suggested.
He looked at me confused but I just smashed my lips to his. He froze first but then melted into the kiss. I pulled away breathing heavily.
" Well it was about time! ", Lark said from where he sat down next to Nyx.
His announcement made everyone else in the group turn their heads towards us. I blushed heavily looking down. Letta and Morrison are smiling looking at us. Dice just pulled me closer to his side.
" Dicey, are you and Nono going to get married? ", Gwen asked innocently.
Dice eyes widened and I just chuckled.
" No my little coconut... ", I told her.
" Why? Don't you love Dicey? ".
I didn't know how to answer.
" Okay little flower, how about we go check if we can find you any sweets? ", Morrison said saving me from embarrassment.
I lean my head on Dice's shoulder, closing my eyes for a moment.
" You should all rest for a bit, I'll stay up and keep watch ", Lark told us.
I let sleep take me away. I suddenly jolted awake. I thought I heard something. I stood up quietly going around Dice to not wake him. I walked towards the back of the store. Walking passed every aisle, when I heard hush voices.
" I've seen it before, I'm telling you! ", said a voice.
" Would you keep your voice down?" another voice answered.
My heart was beating fast, I pressed myself against the shelf and slowly peeked around the corner. I saw Fosco and Veto. Fosco was standing up near a shelf, Veto sitting across from him and Gemina sleeping on the floor next to Veto.
What were they talking about? I kept on listening, " Trust me Veto, they know something. If not, I'm pretty sure the girl knows something ", Fosco argued.
" What if you are wrong, and they don't know anything? ", Veto snapped back.
Fosco seemed to be getting aggravated at this point, " I know what I saw, okay, I say we take the necklace first chance we get and get the hell out of here ".
I guess I was leaning too much on the shelf. It knocked off some things that made them snap their heads towards me. I froze and gulped hard.
" You know eavesdropping is bad? Didn't your parents teach you that? ", he said.
" So is stealing something that is not yours ", I replied with the same snarky tone.
He laughed and said, " Come on, it's not stealing if it's not yours neither ".
I furrowed my eyes at him.
" Come on guys let's just all calm down and talk about it ", Veto tried to reason.
" There's no talking about it ", Fosco replied.
Turning around to face me again, " Give me the necklace! Give me the necklace now!!! ", he snapped.
I took a step back and suddenly he lunged for me. I spun around and tried to run, but he was faster. I felt a hand grab my upper arm to stop me from running.
" Let go of me you asshole ", I gritted my teeth.
He pulled me flush against him, squeezing my arms tightly.
" If you don't want to hand it over, how about I take it from you? ".
I didn't know what else to do so I lifted my right knee straight to his manhood. Apparently my kick wasn't that hard because he recovered super fast. When he was on his knee he grabbed my ankle and made me fall face first. I hit my cheek so hard that I got lost in the pain. My cheeks throbbing he turned me on my back and put his hands around my throat squeezing hard. I kicked and hit my hands and feet but nothing he was just too big. I reached my hands trying to scratch his face.
I was able to reach his eyes, digging my fingers in his eyes harshly until he let go for a moment. I caught my breath quickly when I yelled so loud, " DICE!!!!! ".
I tried to crawl away from him.
" NYX, DICE anyone ", I shouted loudly.
" Stop let me go, Fosco stop this, Veto let me go ", I turned to see Gemina being held back by Veto.
" NOVA!!! ", I heard someone yell and when I looked up I saw Dice running towards me and Lark and Nyx right behind him.
I reached my hand for him but suddenly halted when I heard a gun clocked right by my ear. Making Dice, Lark and Nyx freeze.
" No please Fosco no don't do it ", Gemina pleaded.
" Shut the fuck up Gem ".
Dice went to move but he moved the gun closer to me making him freeze again. Lark grabbed Dic's shoulder, stopping him. Nyx had a hand over her mouth trying to hold down a sob.
" Alright Fosco, what do you want? Put the gun down and we could talk. Just let her go, she's just an innocent girl. Why would you want to harm her? ", Lark said, trying to reason with him while lowering his weapon.
Dice look furious, mix with fear for me.
" She has something I want ".
I look at Nyx with wide eyes. I brought my right hand up to hold my necklace feeling it tingle more than usual. I closed my eyes. Then everything went silent. I couldn't hear them anymore. I opened my eyes and saw them still talking but I couldn't hear them. I hear whispers. I looked down and saw the necklace vibrantly shining.
Then suddenly BOOM! Everything came back at the same moment Nyx screamed " NO! ", and Dice rushed to me and Lark picked up his gun again. I looked over Dice's shoulder to see Fosco on the floor.
Who had shot him? Morrison came out from his hiding spot. I'm guessing he was there the whole time waiting for the right moment. Nyx came running over checking me for injuries and held me tight. I stood up still holding on to Nyx. I looked over where Morrison held up his gun toward Gemina and Veto.
" So what's it going to be? Wanna join Fosco? ", Lark asked them.
" I'm sorry I didn't know. I was sleeping when I woke up they were arguing ", Gemina explained.
" I tried to reason with him, tell him that he was wrong, but all he wanted was the necklace ", Veto said. I froze.
" What necklace are you guys talking about ? ", Lark asked confused.
Dice turned to look at me with clear confusion on his face as well.
" Is he talking about the necklace I gave you? ".
I nodded and looked at Lark.
" Nova, why did he want some necklace? ".
" I found the necklace and I gave it to Nova as a gift ", Dice spoke up.
" Yeah well apparently, Fosco believed that the necklace belonged to the Jagers. He swore that the same stone the necklace has is the same they wear, except majority of the Jagers stones are green. Meaning the blue one could mean something else ", Veto explained.
Lark looked at me and Dice.
" Let me see it ".
With shaky hands I pulled my necklace up to show him.
" Did you know? ".
I stayed quiet, looking down.
" Why didn't you tell me Nova? My job is to protect you and your sister ".
He said angrily. I didn't have any words to say.
" Has anything happened since you had that on? ".
I quickly glanced at Dice but looked back to Lark. Unfortunately, Lark caught our glances. He looked at Dice so quickly, " Dice! What the fuck do you know? ".
Dice looked at me and then back to Lark, " We had a little trouble in the woods when we went to get more wood".
" What kinda trouble? ", Lark pressed on.
" I... I sa...I saw..."
" I saw a Jager ", I cut in.
Nyx looked at me with disappointment.
" I'm sorry Nyx, I didn't want to worry you. What was I supposed to do? I knew you weren't going to let me out if I had told a Jager spoke to me... ".
" Wait... what? It spoke to you? ", she asked angrily.
Everyone around us froze, looking at me.
" Well technically it didn't speak to me but when I spoke to it, it understood me nodding his head. He touched the necklace and when he did it was vibrating and shining like crazy. His eyes were the same color as the stone. He did not harm me. I even offered him his necklace back and he just shook his head ".
" Are you out of your fucking mind? ", Nyx said.
" Take off the fucking necklace right now!! ".
" No! ".
" Nova I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, TAKE.IT.OFF.NOW ".
I didn't, so she went to grab the necklace to pull it off, but Lark held her back. With that I turned and walked back to the front where we slept. I can hear Nyx arguing with Lark and Dice. After a while I fell asleep again with tears in my face. I dreamt of those electric blue eyes.
He whispered, " Come to me ", held a hand out for me to grab it.
I wanted to be scared, but I was at peace. I felt like I was floating towards him. I felt the necklace burning, but it wasn't hurting me. I was happy, I felt happy.
" Come to me ".
Once again I was shaken awake. I open my eyes to see Dice kneeled right by me.
" Hey it's time to get up. We need to keep moving ".
I got up and stretched a bit. Brought my hand up to the necklace feeling it. My mind went back to the dream. What did it mean? Seeing Lark and Nyx walking up to where the rest of us were.
" Alright let's go? ", Lark said.
I got up looking around.
" Where is Veto and Gemina? ".
As if they sensed we were talking about them I see them walking up to us. Mor went still, hand on gun just in case.
" I just want to say I'm sorry about what happened. We truly are. I hope you guys make it safe wherever you are going ", Gemina spoke up to all of us, but kept eye contact with me.
I wanted to tell them to come with us because I truly felt bad for them, but Mor and Lark seem tense and they don't trust them.
I just nodded and said, " It's okay and I hope you guys keep safe as well. May you go well on your journey ".
She gave me a small smile, and turned to Veto. With a nod they turned and walked out.
" Ready Letta? ", Mor asked his wife.
She finished packing, zipping up her bag and grabbing Gwen's bag standing up, " Yeah ".
Lark nodded and turned to walk out first. We started our journey to the unknown. We walked for about half an hour more before we made it out of the town and into nothing but a long road surrounded by woods. It was quiet except the wind howling and even when it was breezy the sun was beating on us like a punching bag. Walking a bit more I couldn't continue. I stop for a moment. Noticing that I stopped, Dice called out for the rest to hold up.
" Are you okay? ", he asked me.
" Yea, I just need water, the sun is killing me right now ", I replied.
" Why can't we walk through the woods? We could use the tree for shades ", I asked Lark while he was walking towards me to check up on me.
He shakes his head, " We can't risk it. We don't know what will be found there ".
" She's right Lark, we can't continue out in the open with the sun on us like this ", Dice defended.
" I understand guys but like Lark said, we don't know what's lurking around ", Morrison piped in.
They kept going back and forth debating whether we should go in the woods. I sigh heavily, closing my eyes for a bit. When I opened them I saw something down the road. I stood up walking forward a bit, squinting my eyes to see better.
My eyes widened backing up, " Guys", I whispered.
They did not hear me, as they kept talking amongst themselves. " Guys!! ", I yelled.
Catching their attention, Lark turned to me with an annoyed look on his face, " What Nova? ".
" We got to go, we need to go now ".
Annoyed look gone, he turned to where I was looking. He furrowed his eyebrows. Everyone is tense now.
" Who are they?" Nyx asked worriedly.
Morrison took out his binoculars, handing them to Lark.
" There are at least thirteen of them. All of them with weapons ".
Dice grabbed my hand pulling me back , " We need to go now, come on ", He said.
We rushed off the road and into the woods. Trying to be quiet while walking and staying alert at all times. My necklace started tingling, my hand shot up to it holding it. At the same moment we heard shots, making us stop and turn. Nobody moved, nobody made a sound. There were a few more rounds and then everything went quiet. At that moment my necklace stopped tingling. I looked around trying to catch any movement at all, but nothing.
" We should continue ", Letta whispered.
Turning to follow her, Morrison continued with Lark and Nyx. I stayed there for a few more seconds looking around through the trees.
Giving me a gentle tug on my hand Dice turned me towards him, " Come on ".
We continued the journey until we made it to a stream of fresh water. It was almost dark and I was starting to worry, the sun was setting and I knew night would catch us.
" Alright, we will have to camp here ", Lark spoke up.
I widen my eyes.
" Here?!! I think we should continue. We might find someplace to rest, but not here in the open ".
He shook his head, " We can't travel at night. We can't see what's around us ".
" But you want us to sleep here in the open? ", I argue back.
He sighs heavily, " Nova, everyone is tired. I'll stay up on watch ".
" Will take turns ", Dice said.
I didn't like the idea, but he was right, everyone was tired and plus I didn't want to continue in the dark with Gwen.
" Fine ".
I turned to find a good spot to get comfortable. Putting my bag down I froze. The necklace started shining and tingling again. I grabbed it and stared at it. I didn't know what it meant or why it kept doing that. I straightened my back and went to turn when something caught my eyes. About 50 yards ahead was about five shadows. I couldn't exactly make out their faces, but I had a feeling who they were. I let out a scream. I barely had time to turn and run when they lunged themselves toward us. The rest of the group were on alert, turning their heads toward me. Eyes widened, Lark started shooting behind me. I lock eyes with Nyx for a moment. Worry in her eyes when all of a sudden I was being snatched.
" NOVA!!!!! ".
I felt hands around me, struggling to get loose, the shadow turned me around and pressed his hand over my eyes. Hearing my name being shouted was the last thing I heard when everything went dark.