Meanwhile…
Willow Town was just like any countryside where, once night fell, everything went quiet—except for the whispers drifting through the fields and the rare houses spread out across wide gaps of land.
"Are there more people in the main town?" Lola looked around the empty road, fields stretching on either side. "I haven't met anyone since we left the cabin."
"Does that scare you?"
"Not meeting people?" Lola laughed, turning to Atlas. "Do I really look like someone who gets scared just because I don't run into anyone?"
He gave her a side-eye and nodded.
"If anything, whenever I was out, I used to pray not to bump into someone I knew," she went on, enjoying the quiet stroll—maybe because she'd just woken up from such a long sleep. "So, I started wearing disguises."
She paused, thinking it over. "Yep, that's how it started, I believe."
He stayed quiet, even when Lola glanced at him.
"Atlas, do you want me to make you a disguise next time?" she offered mischievously.
