CHAPTER 130: 130-LEGS WRAPPED AROUND HIS WAIST

Clementine:

After she failed to control Ian’s mind, she went silent, and the eerie feeling disappeared. That’s how we knew she had left. Ian and I sat on the rooftop, wide awake. Then it hit me. Someone was screaming at the top of their lungs in the distance.

Both Ian and I jumped up and rushed to the small wall of the rooftop. Haiden, Yorick, and Troy also woke up, still half asleep. Ian even had to grab Troy by the back of his shirt before he slipped down the roof.

"What’s going on?" Troy asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Somebody’s screaming," I answered.

It was almost dawn, and we could see some light around us. When we squinted toward the sound, we were shocked to see it came from the house where all the other squadmates had gathered.

"Wait, what’s going on? How did they get there?" I asked, panicking.

"They didn’t," Ian said. "I think the crusaders tried to leave. That’s when these people caught them."

We looked down and saw an army of brown-house people dragging Jessie from Red Squad by her hair. I didn’t know where the others were, but she was the only one we could see.

"Okay, we need to do something. That’s it," I said, realizing we had been afraid of these people for no reason. But soon we noticed they carried not only knives, daggers, and hammers, but also stun guns. That explained their confidence.

"I’ve got a plan," I said, and everyone turned to me.

"What is it?" they asked.

I stayed quiet, and after a moment, I think they understood what I meant. We spent the next ten minutes discussing it while Jessie was dragged back into the first brown house, the same one we had been in. At this point, we could tell all the big people were inside that house.

Morning arrived, and we had no clue who else was out there or how many members the brown-house people had captured. At least we had a plan, we were going to wait until nighttime.

"There are a total of eight brown houses," I said, noticing they were no longer painting ours with blood. That scared me, because it meant they were busy with the two girls they had caught.

It felt like a terrifying situation, but we hoped we could put our plan into action before it was too late. Still, they had a whole day to frighten us.

Sometimes the brown-house people came up to the rooftop and just stood there, holding bowls of soup or pieces of meat, eating in front of us. I wasn’t sure, but sometimes it felt like they were trying to tell us they were feeding on our crusaders.

Hours passed, and we were starving. We didn’t even have a single drop of water. or so I thought. After a while, Ian pulled out a small bottle. He had already sipped from it, so we each drank a little. He had been saving it for when our energy was really low, worried we’d drink it too fast otherwise.

Still, it didn’t really help. At least our throats weren’t scratchy anymore. Finally, night arrived, and we were ready to put our plan into action.

"We’ll start with the first house," Ian whispered.

"Yeah, and all of us should be in one house," I reminded them, stressing how important it was to stay together and have each other’s backs.

"Okay, got it," Troy said with a nod.

"And let’s go. We’ll first look around to find a weapon, anything we can grab," Yorick added.

But Ian shook his head.

"Remember, when we’re down on the road, the brown-house people aren’t the only ones we need to avoid. Medusa is somewhere around here," he warned, and we all grew anxious. We had almost forgotten about her, which just showed how terrifying humans can be.

Slowly, one by one, we began to climb down the house. The moment I was only hanging from the wall, I realized how badly I was shaking. Coming down from high places was terrifying for me, especially when it wasn’t just a quick jump. The slow process of moving down, knowing I could fall at any moment, was scary. Even if that kind of fall wouldn’t kill me, the houses weren’t tall enough for that. I could always heal after transitioning, but I was still afraid.

As I was thinking about it, I felt someone behind me. Yorick had climbed down straight toward me, and now he was right there.

"Come on, turn around and hold on to me," he whispered in my ear, making the hair on the back of my neck stand.

I hadn’t expected his voice so close to sound that sexy. The gentle wind probably blew my hair into his face. I turned slightly, placed my hand on his shoulder, then quickly spun around and hugged him. The moment I felt like I was falling, I wrapped my legs around his waist. It was so awkward, but also so intimate.

Of course he wouldn’t feel that way. He was hanging from a wall with a crusader clinging to him. He started climbing down. I heard him grunt a few times, only when my hands slipped and he made a sound to remind me to tighten them again.

"What is up with you and heights?" he whispered, almost playfully.

"I don’t know," I murmured, the words probably coming out jumbled since I didn’t lift my head or speak loudly.

"Well, good thing I’ll always be around," he said, and I tightened my arms around him.

I didn’t know why, but this closeness was making me feel some type of way. His scent filled my nose, and the warmth of his body was driving me insane.

I kept my face buried in his shoulder and neck until I finally felt him jump. While in mid-air, he pressed his hands against my back to hold me tight. The moment he landed, I quickly unwrapped my legs from his waist. When I stood on my feet, I lifted my face, my hands sliding from his shoulder to his chest. Our eyes met briefly before Haiden grabbed my arm and pulled me away.