Hector let out a sigh, scratching his cheek as he released his shirt. What did the symbol even mean? Was it something to do with the clan, perhaps? He hadn’t seen one anywhere on his mother, but she most likely had one. If only she’d explained.

  Mirae jerked her backpack tighter on her shoulder and glanced at him. “What’s wrong?” she asked, stepping away from the pedestals. Her eyes moved towards the room exit. “Should we get going now?”

  Hector shook his head and rested a hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright, I just had some questions, is all—and yeah. It’s probably time to go, but we are still waiting for the others.”

  Light specks of dust floated through the air, flitting about, gently going on their way.

  This room had been here for a long time, and there wasn’t anything they needed in it anymore. Once they left, they wouldn’t be back. Not that their leaving was a problem, but they couldn’t have anyone stumbling upon it. “It’s fine to just leave it like this, right?” he said, turning to Mirae.

  Mirae frowned, glancing at the pedestals she’d gotten the seed from before letting out a sigh. “I can’t really say. There isn’t anything for anyone to take, but I get where you are going with it.” She turned back to him. “If it closes when we leave, I’m sure it will be fine.”

  With a tight smile, Hector nodded and walked towards the room exit. She was right. If the room closed when they left, it would be much the same as before. It wasn’t like anyone had found it before now. “Alright, let’s get back upstairs.”

  The two of them then left the underground room and moved back up to the garden. Mirae spent some time looking over her garden, taking it in. Hector found the sweet smell of the plants overbearing, and seeing them just made his heart heavier, so he left her to it. She wouldn’t be able to look after them for a long time, and the chances were the plants would be dead by the time they came back here.

  Hector instead headed back inside and went over his things, looking over his bags as he considered where to go. The slums were no longer safe—not the Sirius Quarter, anyway. The only actual option was to go to a different slum where the Collar Gang wasn’t in control. But that had its own downsides, and it wouldn’t exactly keep them safe from the gang.

  So in the end, Hector spent a good while thinking about what to do until a knock on the door drew him from his thoughts, and Mirae let him know that Lincoln and the others had arrived. When he went to let them in, he came face to face with everyone but Emela and Nyx, the two girls having apparently not been around today.

  Their loss wasn’t too bad, though, as they wouldn’t have been able to change much. So, with two people down, Hector had everyone in his kitchen as he sat and discussed what the next move was.

  Jodie let out a heavy sigh and rested her elbow on the table. “I don’t know, Hector. From where I’m sitting, you don’t really have a leg to stand on. I mean, why the heck did you have to kill them… No, don’t answer that.”

  Lincoln glanced at her but said nothing, turning back to Hector. “How are you holding up, by the way?”

  Hector’s chest tightened as his eyes fell. He threw a glance at the cupboard where his father kept his whisky, and he let out a shaky breath. “Not great, to be honest. I mean, what can I say? My dad is dead. Killed by some people who do nothing but terrorise others for a living. So don’t ask me why I killed them. They had it coming.” He shot a look at Jodie.

  She looked away, shaking her head and muttering something.

  The girl was all about helping people and fighting, but when it came to actually getting her hands dirty… Hector put his face into his palms—No, she was young, they all were. If he was honest, the reason he’d killed them was because he’d lost control again, just like the time in the dump with Adrien. But this time it had much worse consequences.

  Mirae rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a rub. “It’s gonna be okay, Hector,” she said. “We might not be able to stay here tonight, but we could hide out somewhere. Maybe the abandoned brewery.”

  Marcus, who’d been quiet until now, nodded. “That doesn’t sound too bad. But then again, that would have to be for just tonight,” he said, dusting the shoulder of his blazer. “Most gangs in the area know of the place, and quite a few of them report to the Collar Gang.”

  Letting out an exhausted sigh, Hector rested a hand on the hand Mirae had put on his shoulder and squeezed it. This was getting to be impossible. Was there really nowhere in this damn city they could go without being found by the Collar Gang?

  I mean, we could run to central Middlec, but the guards would sooner kill us just for setting foot in an area we clearly aren’t from. This damn city is a mess. Those uppity bags in the center have everything while I—

  Delworth, who stood behind Marcus, cleared his throat and gave Hector a steady smile. “While I don’t know exactly what you are going through—I’ve not really been hunted before, and I don’t really count Hammond—I have a solution.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  He looked around the group, his gaze making sure everyone was paying attention before he continued. “My dad used to be a mercenary back in the day. Well, the bag boy for a few, and he got a map from a group he’d been with a few years back.”

  Hector frowned and threw a glance at Mirae. Where was Delworth going with this? How would a map help them? It wasn’t like Middlec was a hard city to figure out—it sat on an island in the middle of a lake. A map could only help so much.

  Delworth cleared his throat as he continued. “Growing up, I memorised the map. I found it a fun challenge to see how much I could remember, and on it were quite a few secluded areas.”

  Jodie glanced at Hector before turning back to Delworth. “Is this map outside the city or something? If so, I don’t see how it’s going to help. We might have just about enough for the lake toll, but Hector and Mirae won’t survive long out in the wilds.”

  Hector raised an eyebrow and squinted at her. While it would be difficult, with the Talents he’d gotten over the week, it wouldn’t be impossible. Just the [Gentle Sanctuary] Talent alone could make survival anywhere more than viable.

  A sharp clatter came from outside, followed by a loud crash.

  Hector’s heart leapt in his chest, and he jerked his head towards the kitchen window. It was pretty much nighttime now. The last rays of the sun had drifted below the horizon. Were the Collar Gang out there? They could be. But sneaking around wasn’t like them. No, they would charge in—unless his display earlier gave them pause.

  The noise didn’t seem to bother Delworth too much, as he shook his head and turned back to the group. He nodded his head at Jodie. “You are kind of right. It’s under the city. The sewers are actually just the tip of the mountain. It goes quite deep. Excuse the pun.”

  Wetting his lips and tasting the salt, Hector ran his fingers across the rough, rotting wood of the kitchen table. Underground. Was that really their only option? He’d go from being a slum rat to actually being a full-on rat. “To heck with it,” Hector said. “Do you have the map on you?”

  “Are you sure about this?” Lincoln asked.

  Hector nodded. His Talents would be an enormous boost, and getting supplies with the money they had would help a lot. Besides, he had a way he could make more money. They’d already taken from the Farmhands, the Collar Gang, surely, had a few places where they made some money.

  Delworth shook his head and tapped his forehead. “I don’t have it physically, but I always have a copy up here.”

  Jodie rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.

  Marcus smiled at his cousin and then turned to Hector. “He means well, and I love him, but I’m with Lincoln. Are you sure?”

  “As I explained to you all before, I have abilities. Surviving in some caves won’t be too hard.”

  He then turned and smiled at Mirae, gripping her hand a little tighter. He would keep her safe, no matter what. A bit of spelunking would be nothing.

  The group then finished up their plans. After a few minutes of preparation, they all left the house and followed Delworth as he led the way. The urine and alcohol of the slums were a firm reminder of what he was leaving behind. In a way, it was good that at least they’d be getting away from that.

  They snaked through several alleys, moving by torchlight that Jodie had brought along. Her father apparently had a bunch because he often had to work late into the night on commissions. With the light in hand, they pressed through the alleyways, following Delworth to the apparent sewer entrance that would take them to the caves.

  They walked for quite a while, splashing through black, stinking puddles and navigating abandoned crates and other junk, all the while keeping an eye out for anyone who might follow them. But as they turned a particular corner, six men blocked the group, three of them being cultivators.

  Holding a torch in his hand, one man, dressed in thick black clothes and wearing a cloak, stepped forward. “Aren’t children like you out a bit late?” the man said with a smile. “I mean, look at that one.” He gestured towards Mirae. “She can’t be more than twelve.”

  “You’re right, Mike,” a bulky man said, stepping next to him. From his movements, it was clear he was also a Mana Cultivator.

  Hector stepped forward, splashing into a puddle of grime and moving in front of Delworth. “Get lost. I don’t have the patience to deal with you today.”

  “That’s him,” a gruff voice said from behind the two. Hector glanced at the speaker. The figure shifted beneath his cloak, the glint of metal briefly catching in the light. “The Ghost. Word is the Collar Gang wants him alive.”

  The man holding the torch smiled under his cloak’s hood. Cocking his head to the side, he eyed Hector. “So you’re the Ghost. Well, I guess both of you kinda are. Listen, how about—”

  Before the man could finish, Hector tugged on [Volt Runner] and exploded forward. If they were going to waste his time, he didn’t mind putting them in the dirt.

  The torch-holding man tried to react, but Hector was already there. His foot swung forward, cracking into the side of the man’s head, knocking him back. He could kill them, but they weren’t Collar Gang members, and he didn’t need Jodie judging him more. Besides, it wasn’t like these guys would be a challenge.

  The bulky man swung down at Hector with interlaced fists and missed as Hector stepped to the side and crunched his knee into the big guy’s nose, sending him staggering back.

  Moments later, a foot cracked into the side of the man’s head as Jodie slammed into him, putting him on his butt.

  The other four then let out a shout and charged forward as one. Lincoln, seeing this, charged forward as well, a look of determination on his face. It wasn’t necessary. But perhaps he wanted to make up for the farm?

  Hector zipped forward, and before three of them could even get too close, he lashed out with three sharp punches, knocking them to the ground as static sparked across their bodies. Jodie blocked the fourth one as she dodged the metal rod with ease.

  Hector narrowed his eyes as tiny snakes of static played in the surrounding air. Was she toying with the guy? They didn’t exactly have the time. While he didn’t want to take away a training opportunity, they had to go. “Jodie!” he snapped.

  “Sorry!” the girl called back. Her fist snapped forward, crunching into the man’s chest and knocking him back. She kicked off the cobblestone, splashing up black water, and cracked her knee into his chin, putting him flat on his back.

  The man’s metal rod clattered to a stop as he lay there unconscious.

  Jodie glanced back at Hector and gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I just wanted to test something, and this guy seemed strong enough.”

  Hector nodded and glanced behind him.

  With one foot on the chest of the man who’d been holding the torch, so-called Mike by his bulky friend, Lincoln nodded at Hector before turning to Delworth. “So, how much further is it?”

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