We had been on the move for what felt like an eternity. My legs were burning and the icy water of the stream had long since soaked through my thin fabric shoes. The gloves Evelyn had given me were wet and heavy by now as well, but I couldn't bring myself to take them off. They were the last connection to the warmth I had left behind.
Mr. Yoshikage on the other hand, seemed completely changed. The gentle smile of the teacher was gone and he kept staring at a small, glowing map on his phone, his movements sharp and frantic. That could only mean one thing: Kaito and Tokasan were definitely not making this easy for him.
>>"Mr. Yoshikage? Where are we actually going?"<<
I whispered breathlessly, glancing around for Kaito and Tokasan.
>>"You said there was a safe place…"<<
He stopped so abruptly that I almost ran straight into his back, then he spoke without turning around.
>>Safety is a relative term, Rin. We're going to a place where Evelyn's power ends. An old quarry at the edge of the district A car will be waiting there.<<
A quarry? My stomach tightened. That didn't sound like freedom, that sounded like a place where things disappeared.
Suddenly he shoved me roughly into the wet undergrowth and hissed.
>>"Quiet!"<<
In the distance, where we had just come from, I saw a brief flash. It wasn't the beam of a flashlight. It was cold moonlight reflecting off metal or off glasses.
>>"They're here"<<
Yoshikage breathed and his face had gone pale.
>>"How… how could they be so fast? We used the water!"<<
I knew it Kaito didn't need grass to read tracks. He read broken branches, disturbed stones in the streambed and Tokasan… Tokasan didn't hunt with her eyes.
A low deep growl drifted through the underbrush. It didn't come from an animal It was that predatory, vibrating sound Tokasan made when she had locked onto a trail.
>>"Run, Rin! Now!"<<
Yoshikage yanked me up and we sprinted away, leaving the stream behind, straight toward the steep cliffs of the quarry.
The cold crept under my skin and the adrenaline in my blood began to fade, giving way to pure, naked exhaustion. We stumbled through the dark forest toward the quarry.
Mr. Yoshikage was breathing heavily now. His grip around my wrist was no longer firm almost convulsive.
>>"Almost… almost there, Rin"<<
he panted, his eyes darting nervously left and right.
He had no idea that we were no longer alone.
We reached the edge of the quarry before us yawned a gaping wound in the earth, lined with jagged rock edges. At the dusty bottom, I could make out the silhouette of a black car.
>>"There! That's our freedom, Rin!"<<
Yoshikage said, almost hysterical.
But before we could climb down, I stopped dead in my tracks. My breath caught.
On a rocky ledge above us, standing directly in the light of the full moon, was a figure. White hair streamed in the wind like a banner, and two glowing red points were fixed on us.
It was Tokasan. The moon shone perfectly into her red eyes. She looked like an avenging angel risen straight from hell.
>>"Freedom?"<<
Her voice rang out, sharp and cutting like a razor blade.
>>"The only thing that's free tonight, Yoshikage, is the grave space Evelyn has reserved for you."<<
Behind us, a thick branch cracked. I spun around and Kaito stepped out of the darkness.
He towered over Yoshikage, his broad shoulders blocking the entire path. He looked at me, and for a moment his gaze softened, almost worried, when he noticed the gloves on my hands.
>>"Come to us, Rin"<<
Kaito said calmly, with an authority that allowed no argument.
>>"Don't drop Evelyn's gift. It's the only thing keeping you warm tonight"<<
Yoshikage backed away straight toward the quarry's edge and dragged me with him.
>>"One more step and we both fall!"<<
Kaito stopped. His muscles were stretched to the breaking point, but he didn't dare attack.
Tokasan, still on the ledge, locked her gaze onto Yoshikage. For the first time, her face looked… uncertain.
Yoshikage looked at me, and a triumphant glint flashed in his eyes the intellect of a chess player who had thought three moves ahead and seen everything fall perfectly into place.
>>"Did you really think"<<
he whispered into my ear, a grin audible in his voice,
>>"That Evelyn was the only one who sets traps, Rin?"<<
Suddenly, a loud mechanical beeping came from his wrist. Before I could react, he shoved me forward with sudden, violent force straight into Kaito's arms.
At the same moment, a deafening explosion erupted at the base of the quarry. A dense wall of white phosphorus smoke shot upward, swallowing the entire slope in seconds of opaque darkness.
>>"Rin!"<<
Kaito roared as he caught me and shielded me beneath his massive body, protecting me from the debris.
When the smoke cleared just seconds later, the edge of the quarry was empty.
Tokasan leapt down at incredible speed, her red eyes scanning the darkness but she found nothing except a small black remote lying on the ground.
A curse slipped from her lips deliberately quiet, so Rin wouldn't hear it.
>>"He detonated the car remotely to distract us"<<
she said angrily.
>>"And he used an escape route along the cliff face. He disappeared into the forest."<<
Kaito helped me to my feet. His face was a mask of rage and frustration. He looked down at the burning wreck in the quarry, then into the endless black of the trees.
Yoshikage was gone and the teacher had outplayed them all.
>>"He planned all of this"<<
I whispered, trembling and shaken.
>>"From the moment he saw me… he knew you'd come. He just wanted to watch you hunt."<<
Kaito didn't answer. He grabbed my arm, almost roughly, tension radiating from him.
>>"We need to get out of here. Now. If he was prepared, this area isn't safe anymore."<<
The drive back was a nightmare. It was dead silent oppressively silent.
Tokasan sat in the passenger seat, tapping obsessively on a tablet, while Kaito drove at reckless speed through the night.
Yoshikage was out there somewhere in the darkness. Free and probably already planning his next move against Evelyn.
When we stopped in front of the house, the light in my room was on.
I entered the house alone while Kaito and Tokasan stayed outside to secure the perimeter. The scent of lavender hit me immediately.
Evelyn was sitting in the living room, her legs crossed. She didn't look at me. She held the cherry blossom petal from my pillow between her fingers, playing with it, rubbing it gently.
>>"He escaped, didn't he?"<<
It sounded like a question but it wasn't. It was a statement.
>>"He used you to lure my best people out of the house."<<
I couldn't answer her. I collapsed onto the carpet and broke down, sobbing hysterically.
I had lost everything: my trust in Evelyn, my hope of freedom through Yoshikage, and my own innocence. I no longer knew what to believe, who to believe or whether I could believe in anything at all.
As I cried, I felt an emptiness rise inside me. A feeling of insignificance. Of disinterest. Of exhaustion.
Evelyn stood, came over to me, and placed her hand on my head. It was the same gesture as always but now it felt different. Heavier. Final.
>>"Don't cry, Rin. Everything is fine… I'm not angry with you. But I can't help you or explain anything if you aren't honest with me."<<
Her fingers brushed through my hair, but it no longer felt like comfort. It felt like a mark.
I lay on the carpet, my sobbing fading into hollow hiccups, the cold of my wet clothes slowly seeping into my flesh.
>>Honesty…"<<
I repeated dully, the word tasted like ash.
>>"You talk about honesty while hiding cameras in my room? While pulling people's fingernails out in the basement?"<<
I felt Evelyn's hand pause. The pressure on my head increased for the briefest moment then loosened again.
She bent down until her face was only inches from mine. Her lavender scent was so intense it almost made me dizzy.
>>"I do things you don't need to understand to control a world that would devour you at the first opportunity"<<
Evelyn whispered tenderly into my ear.
>>"I protect you, Rin. I won't allow this world to take you away from me."<<
>>"Yoshikage promised you freedom but he pushed you into the abyss to save his own skin. So tell me, Rin: who is the real monster? The one who watches you to protect you, or the one who uses you as explosive bait?"<<
She helped me up. Her grip was firm and unyielding. She didn't lead me to my room but into the kitchen.
A bowl of warm water and a fresh towel were already waiting. Everything was prepared, as if she had known I would return with trembling limbs and filthy feet.
>>"Shoes off and the gloves off"<<
She ordered gently, leaving no room for hesitation or discussion.
I obeyed immediately. When I pulled off the soaked gloves I saw that my fingertips had turned blue.
Evelyn took my hands into her warm palms and began rubbing them slowly between her own.
>>"Yoshikage is a collector, Rin. He doesn't see people as individuals only as puzzle pieces for his perfect picture. You were just the piece he needed to put me in checkmate but he made one mistake."<<
I looked at her questioningly as the warmth slowly returned to my fingers, tingling painfully.
>>"He underestimated you. He thought you would break. But you're still here with me. Where you belong."<<
She looked deeply into my eyes and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
>>"If you want this pain to stop if you want no one to ever use you like this again then you have to stop being the victim. I can teach you to see the world through my eyes. But for that… you have to tell me everything. Every word he whispered. Every place he mentioned."<<
I stared into the warm water. The emptiness inside me began to fill with something new. It wasn't trust. It was a dark, cold resolve.
If Yoshikage was still out there, and this was all just a game to him then I wanted to learn the rules.
>>"He talked about a quarry"<<
I began slowly, my voice brittle.
>>"And he said… a teacher never truly leaves his students."<<
Evelyn smiled but it was a predatory smile and looks like the sharpness of a freshly honed blade, while she pulled me slowly closer and hugged my thigtly.