♕✿~♕✿~ Chapter 28//: Thieves in the making♕✿~♕✿~

Madison's POV

I huff out a breath, my lungs feeling like they're on fire and my legs aching. I felt like I could collapse at any moment.

After having waited for almost half an hour, I had seen Damon and Lucas come down from their trees. I had quickly climbed down from the tree I had been settled in to join up with them. We had quickly ran away from that clearing, not wanting to have another close call with Nathan. We had continued to switch between running and walking, not knowing what was going to happen now. After a couple of hours of wandering about, we had finally come upon what seemed to be a village.

The sun had come up just half an hour ago, yet there were some people awake and moving around to do work already. I moved languidly, feeling exhausted. I follow Lucas and Damon's lead, keeping my head down low. I didn't really want anyone recognizing me.

We walk between two stores, staying hidden in the small alleyway. I turn to Lucas. "We have to get back to the palace before Ahren's coronation. Nathan is going to kill him then," I quickly tell Lucas.

A look of worry crosses Lucas' expression. "That'll be basically impossible to achieve, Madison. Based on what I've heard, Ahren's coronation is probably going to happen this week. We're really far away from Archeon. We'd never make it there on time," Lucas argues.

I shake my head, refusing to give up and accept defeat. "No. There has to be a way to get there on time."

"It takes hours to get to Archeon from here by car," Lucas tells me. "It'll take days for us since we don't have any transportation method except for our own two feet."

My panic level spikes at his words. How were we going to get to the palace before Nathan arrived there? The coronation was most likely going to happen this week, and we'd probably never make it to Archeon in time unless we had a car. Everything seemed impossible right now. I had escaped, but I didn't feel victorious yet.

"I'll help you guys figure out a plan. We can do this," Damon puts in. I look sharply up at him, confusion coming over my face.

"I thought we were going to go our own ways? You know, one of the rules," I tell him. It's not that I didn't want him to leave, but I had been expecting him to do so.

He gives me a teasing smile. "Well, you already broke one of the rules anyway." He glances at Lucas. "And anyways, I don't really have anything to do or anyplace to go to right now. I'll use my time for a good cause."

A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. Even though I had been expecting Damon to leave, I couldn't help but feel immense relief that he was staying around for a little while longer. During the past few weeks, he had been one of the few people I could confide in, and he has proven to be a good, dare I say it, friend. I was glad I had a little more time to spend with him before I would have to say goodbye.

"Alright. Well, thanks," I tell Damon. "So, we need a car to even have a slight chance of getting back to the palace in time." We're all silent for a moment. "Do you think we can hitchhike?" I say out loud.

Lucas visibly flinches. "Madison, you and I are faces everyone knows. I'm probably wanted for treason, and you're a missing girl. It'll probably be risky to hitchhike. But let's keep it in mind as a last resort," Lucas says. I nod in agreement.

We fall back into silence again. That was the only good idea I had. Nothing else was coming to me.

"Maybe we'll meet someone with a good heart who'll lend us their car," Damon says sarcastically. I glare at him, not appreciating his joke.

"Damon, this is serious," Lucas chastises him. Damon shrugs his shoulder carelessly. "Do you have any other ideas?" Damon challenges him.

Lucas is only quiet, and Damon smiles smugly.

"Maybe we can steal a car," I mutter under my breath, thinking out loud. Lucas and Damon slowly turn to look at me, both wearing identical looks of incredulity and surprise.

I smile weakly at them. "Kidding," I tell them. Totally not, I think in my head.

Suddenly, all of our stomachs growl from hunger. We all let out small chuckles.

"I'm starving," Damon announces. "Let's get some food and then discuss our options."

Lucas and I nod in agreement. The numbness in my stomach was something I had gotten used to over the past few weeks, but eating food sounded so good right now that my stomach almost hurt in pain. I was sure Lucas felt the same way.

"Wait." Lucas stops us before we can walk away. "How are we going to get food exactly?"

Damon frowns. "By buying..." he trails off and curses. I feel my spirits dampen a bit. We would need money to buy food, and we had no currency on us.

"Guess I didn't think about that," Damon mutters. His eyes suddenly light up and he leans towards us with a conspiratorial look. "Let's just steal some," he whispers loudly to us.

"What?!" Lucas and I both exclaim at the same time. Damon looks at me accusingly. "You were just suggesting to steal a car a moment ago! All I'm saying is we should steal food," Damon tells me.

I sigh. He had a point there. I turn to Lucas. "I mean, he is right," I tell Lucas.

"Of course I'm right."

I ignore Damon. "We need food, Lucas, or else we aren't going to get very far. As much as I kind of hate to say this, we need to steal food."

Lucas looked like I had just told him we needed to steal an old lady's cane from her.

"Come on, it's not exactly going to be the worst thing you've done, right?" Damon says tauntingly. I shoot him a warning look, but he continues to only look at Lucas with a patronizing look.

Lucas breaths in deeply, choosing to be the mature one and let the jab go. He turns to look at me with an annoyed expression and leans closer to me to whisper: "I really don't like this guy."

I shrug at him uselessly. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing we could do to make Damon leave. He had offered to help us, so I would take his offer whether Lucas liked it or not.

"Can we just go get food already?" Damon whines, holding his stomach tightly. "I feel like my stomach is going to become a monster what with all of its growling."

I laugh lightly and follow Damon as he walks out into the main street of the village. There were more people out now, and they were all moving rapidly to do their own work.

I glance behind me to see Lucas following begrudgingly and look forward again. Damon walks with determined steps towards a food cart showing off delicious looking apples. My mouth watered slightly.

I bump into Damon as he suddenly stops. I look up at him to ask him why he had suddenly stopped walking when I notice him helping a girl up.

"Sorry. I didn't see you there," Damon apologizes to the girl quickly. The girl lets out a small laugh.

"It's alright, I was walking really fast. I really should watch where-" The girl suddenly cuts off when she looks up to meet the gaze of Damon.

The girl's mouth drops into an expression of surprise, her mouth forming an 'O'. Her eyes widen as they stare unblinkingly up at Damon.

Damon has a similar look of surprise, his eyes wide and his mouth dropped open. They both continue to look at each other in shock.

I share a look with Lucas, who looks back at me with confusion. I turn back to Damon and the girl when Damon finally utters a word.

"Evelyn?"

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

Do you guys have any theory as to who Evelyn might be??

So just to clear up the timeline a bit, this is all happening the morning of the day Ahren attacks the Rogue Dawn base (did that make some sense?) so basically Ahren got to the Rogue Dawn base a day after Madison had already escaped.

Wow. I had almost made them meet again.

But anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Have a great rest of your week!

Glass_Sword