"Lizare City is in trouble. As you can see"—Sandra directs her phone screen at Mr. Julian—"look at the massive number of refugees from Okauri Country. The poverty rate rises by three-point-one percent shortly after they flooded into the capital. Society's satisfaction level is down by seven percent, according to the monthly polling..."

A throaty grumble escapes Mr. Julian. Though he's more composed than his wife, he's still less patient than his Lowlife twin, Mr. Jules. "Look, it's just news on the TV, alright? Just rumors or discourse. Benjamin Kamal has led Biliya for years... he must've found a way to handle such problems. It's not the first time a crisis like this happens." He scowls, wrinkling his nose.

Sandra's scowl also deepens as she scribbles in her notebook. "Fine. Now let's talk about why Jorge wants Dogson to become a capital city. It might add more burden to us. Rising life costs, more workplaces..."

"He seeks perfection." My words bring silence into the room. I fidget with my fingers to release the building tension inside me. "You remember what he said in The Office, don't you, Sandra? He said about making things closer to perfection. He's always obsessed with it. Maybe leading a capital city has always been his... lifelong ambition."

"That makes sense." Scratching his mustache, Mr. Julian continues, "Eh, do you think he'll create chaos to... you know, leave the president with no choice but to move everything to Dogson?"

Now that sounds wicked. If he tries to move the capital for his own sake while using the overflowing number of refugees as an excuse...

Ax's ears perk up, as if supported by flag poles, and he soon growls, as if threatened. Arsy scrambles up from the couch and approaches him at the eastern window, scratching his ears gently. Yet, Ax grows more restless than before.

Also, from the thin windows, comes the indistinct footings of strangers.

I skitter to the northern one, where moonlight usually floods in to keep me sane during the night. Behind the trees that become our barriers, an army of dozen, clad in black uniform, marches by. I hold my breath when barrels of their snipers peek from their close-distanced shoulders.

Striding with the straightest back is a cloaked figure, with tendrils of the fabric licking the dirt. No signs of weapons can be read from her. A black mask covers her nose and below, leaving her owl-sharp eyes unattended. She's as swift and silent as a hunting panther in the documentary Auntie Morgan used to show me.

"Lindra," I whisper, "can you find out who the cloaked figure is?"

Sandra's light footsteps clamber from my back, followed by a warm nudge on my shoulder. "Who are those?" Her breath becomes labored, her lips shuddering.

Lindra's static voice hums, "According to the facial recognition from Lin-Roy's database, the subject's eyes and hair color match those of Beatrix Kamal."

As if hearing Lindra, Beatrix's head turns to the treehouse. I shove Sandra's head to the floor, ignoring the pain jolting from my elbow. The way her eyes observe from the distance... it's like even our guardian trees fail to conceal the treehouse.

Ax lets out an impatient grumbling, yet Arsy's attempts to soothe it always end up fruitless. Sandra bolts on the floor like a four-legged spider, approaching Ax with the special oil—civetone—in hand. The room falls into another stiffness, only meddled by the beast's slurps against the glass vial.

"But Mr. Orion didn't mention any treehouses in his statement," a shaky voice counters, accompanied by soft soles against the grass. A few more pairs trample across the field, filling my heart with dread.

This isn't good. We're already one step ahead in discovering their plans as Roy said, and we shouldn't get caught...

I scramble to the eastern window, huddling together with Ax and Arsy. There are six men, with the cloaked figure in the middle, becoming their axis.

Still crouching under it, I strain my ears. Another snippet arrives, sent by the breeze. "We should check this place after finding the packages." Despite being smooth and delicate, Beatrix's tone announces terror, like there's an uncovered layer behind each word.

"But..." the same voice from earlier says, still with his leaf-fragile strength, "we won't be coming back this way."

"We'll change the route then. This path also leads to the city, after all." She turns around, lifting her hood slightly. Her pale complexion shines like silk, even in such a gloomy hour. "This treehouse has a strategic location. We can use it for our basecamp in this forest..." Her eyes sweep over her surroundings with the wariness of a targeted caribou. "Or we can find anything useful. Look, the grass is trimmed. Someone must be taking care of it."

Before I manage to adjust my kneeling position into a more comfortable one, Mr. Julian's cough seeps through the wooden logs. Beezus—how loud is it?

"Do you hear that, Madam?" One of the black-uniformed guards doubles over, landing on his arse with a few buttons of his uniform loosened.

I draw my palm close to my chest, burying it there to calm down my heart. At this profuse sweat, which continues to wet my wounds, a cry almost escapes me, begging for freedom like an untamed bird in its cage.

"Lin-Orion said nothing about a treehouse. He's an honest man. His dogs lost control and attacked him instead, and Argus found him since he was in a cottage not far away. Like a resting area. But I must admit... it's hard to find cottages here."

🐾

"How far are we, Sandra?" Mr. Julian's wheezing slaps my cheek with a coffee scent. "I can't feel my legs."

"Let me down here, Sir." I barely wait for his lowering back before hopping off, landing on a mushy pile of leaves. After an hour getting supported on both arms by Mr. Julian and Arsy, also another hour of getting Mr. Julian's piggyback ride, soreness invades my back and legs. The sound of a shredded bandage echo and I cringe as it baits Sandra's glare.

"Soon we'll run out of bandages if that goes on." Her face darkens, in sync with the field of thunderclouds overhead. "Do watch your step."

"How could this be a good idea?" Mr. Julian wipes his silky forehead with his sleeve as he rocks on a fresh log. It won't be long before his weight moves onto Ax, who's lying behind the log with its face between its palms, or Arsy, whose face is red and sweat-soaked too, while her mouth mutters unheard words. "See"—he gestures at the yawning tiger—"even your beast face-palms at it."

Mrs. Sybil's unpleasant way of talking must've affected her husband and daughter in some ways. And it mostly comes out whenever they're in a bad situation like this.

After Beatrix's entourage departed, the treehouse clamored with heat. Questions barraged Lindra like bees around pollens. A half-an-hour debate finally settled on the best route to avoid the strangers while still going back to the cave: heading to the opposite of the river—the ground with lots of platypus burrows on it.

According to Lindra, the route takes about an hour and a half. Now, the two-hour milestone has passed. If only we could take Lindra with us, instead of leaving it at the soon-to-be-investigated treehouse...

"Don't tell me you read the map wrong." Mr. Julian groans as he scratches his mosquito-bitten arms with a frown.

Luckily, Sandra is too immersed in her phone screen to retort.

"Do you think they're looking for the Onyx Agents?" I ask with a lowered voice, for the sake of entertaining the grumpier man. "Beatrix Kamal and her men, I mean."

"Obviously. Unless their contacts bury treasure chests everywhere, they won't bother getting that deep into the forest. Let's hope Roy's cave stays hidden..."

Gentle padding of a stream closes into my ears, briefly knocking my ears before the rolling thunder takes over. Let's also hope we can get back before the storm punishes the land.

"We're on the right track. We're just a bit lost." Small quakes rattle Sandra's shoulders as she forces a smile. "Let's keep walking. It's better than just standing here."

I refuse Mr. Julian's offer for another piggyback since his continuous staggers and laboring breath are too much to bear. So I try to even up my pace as I move between the trees. Despite being peeled by some of the protruding materials, my palms continue to latch on different barks to keep me advancing.

Ax shambles next to me, wincing whenever fallen foliage triggers its wounds. Sandra leads upfront, her head often whipping from side to side, then returning to the phone. Arsy and her father walk together in silence in front of me, taking turns in sighing or exclaiming whenever they almost fall.

After several minutes, a dirt path appears on the ground, replacing the brownish leaves and hefty branches from before. My eyes scour around for its edge—past the sprawling bushes, down a tricky slope, over a muddy swamp with a nose-pricking stench...

"The river." I pant out a ghostly fog at the snaking stream in front of me. Its current remains calm, unfazed by the brewing storm above.

My legs acted without the brain's consent; I'm at the river's side now, clutching my drumming chest and bracing the massive pain from my ankle. My entourage later arrives beside me with wheezes and stuck-out tongues.

"Who told you to run like that?" Sandra hisses as she shoots daggers from her eyes. "What if there are those black-clothed people on the other side—"

I'm still trying to push down the rising chortle when Mr. Julian's meaty palms slosh over our mouths like masks. "Get here, quick." He leads us back to the horde of spiky bushes. Sandra almost yelps as a thorn pricks her, but Mr. Julian's grip remains firmly where it is. Arsy lets out a feminine shriek before I cover her mouth with a hand, out of instinct. Her hot breath fans my palm, and I quickly remove it, not wanting any awkward tension to bloom forth.

What's going on? And why is Ax still drinking from the river? Its wet snout sniffs the air fervently, but it barely shifts its paws on the ground.

"Quiet," Mr. Julian whispers at us. "Please, trust me."

Sandra and I exchange constant sliding brows. I break our eye contact first to stop more questions to spurt out of my brain.

The distance offers a sight of a tree with fat tentacles rooting on the ground and sturdy branches that form natural staircases. Its amount of leaves gives an afro impression on the creature. Basked amidst its glory are fireflies, seeking refugee beneath its twisted limbs. But why aren't they moving? How can they remain still like that? Are they not fireflies?

Yet, the lights faintly give out the outline of a nestled cottage at the heart of the tree. I shove down a gasp at its similarity to Roy's, minus the spiral staircase. I'm still fumbling with words when I turn to Sandra. Her widening eyes speak the same expression as mine.

Whose treehouse is that? Those branches are strategic shields; how could they build past them? Is it a normal cottage? Why would someone—wait, is that a cloaked figure within the shadows?

What is Beatrix Kamal doing there, so close to the treehouse? Why is she crouching down to the ground, rolls up her sleeve, and sends her arm into the river, as if looking for something?

But wait—did the secret messenger hide in that treehouse before sending out the package? After all, the mysterious lantern lights I saw yesterday came from somewhere this way—possibly from this treehouse.

A/N: Hi there. Sorry for the two-days-late update. Life decides to shower me with distractions these last few days.

By now, words aren't enough to thank all of you for reaching this part of the book. I wish I can show it more rather than using these plain words :')

I'd just want some opinions from you on this chapter. Some reviews pointed out that grammar is one of my weakest aspects here, so I'm trying something new that I hope can improve it better... and that's Grammarly XD Like, I used to use it, and I've had plenty of people suggesting this to me, but I just have the time and will to handle this right now XD

So yeah, do let me know if this chapter is a smoother read. Less odd wordings, perhaps? Or cleaner punctuation? Anything that you notice, it's okay to let me know. But if you don't feel like anything has changed, it's okay too XD

Thanks a lot if you're reading this rambling until the end, and have a good day/night wherever you are :)