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@trallion Eyyyy, welcome! And good luck. 25 pages to sort through there. Hope you’ve got an empty afternoon lolol

@dakota FINALLY bringing Gerik in! Sorry it took me so long!!! You can feel free to just have Rob run into him if you want.
@emberynus-the-dragonslayer @urwen-starial @kayla-skywriter @mayacat @kari-karast @esmeralda-gramilton I’m also pulling Kiet back in at the time the meeting was supposed to be! Except that the apothecary wasn’t alerted to the turn of events mwahahahaha. . .
Here goes nothing!
___
Gerik crouched behind a chunk of broken pavement, holding his breath as the government official passed. They’re swarming everywhere tonight, he thought. Doesn’t look good.
Once the man was out of sight, Gerik rose and stepped back into the shadows as he made his way to the Knot House. Tonight’s meeting was important. No matter what doubts he had, he couldn’t miss it.
As he passed an alleyway, a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder. He automatically seized the wrist and gave it a calculated twist.
“Ow, stop that!” a voice hissed, the owner stumbling out and glaring at him. “I’m with the rebellion.”
Gerik let go and returned the glare as he slipped into the darkness of the alley. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t make people think you’re a mugger or something.”
“Quit worrying about that. Don’t go to the Knot House. They’re onto us.”
Gerik’s fist clenched. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly.”
Gerik narrowed his eyes. “Is the Nest cleared out?”
“They don’t know about it yet.”
“Good.” He sighed. “Is the meeting place relocated yet?”
“We’re working on that. Just head back home and we’ll send someone to let you know.”
“Fine.” Gerik turned back the way he came.
If they ever touch a single one of those kids in there, he thought darkly, I’ll come for them myself. And it’s not going to be pretty.
____
“Are you ready, Kiet?”
Kiet tried to force his pounding heart back down his throat as he slipped out of the lean-to and nodded. The apothecary led him down a winding path through the dark streets of the city. Around piles of garbage and broken concrete, past run-down buildings, always in the shadows.
After nearly half an hour, the apothecary slowed and headed silently into a back alley. At the end, he suddenly stopped.
Kiet didn’t notice anything at first. Then his eyes landed on a lump in the shadows by the rough door of a building. A lump with something that looked like a gun.
The figure’s head turned. Suddenly, he rose and raised the gun.
“Stop right there! Order of the government of Outopia!”
“Kiet, run!” the apothecary barked, ducking and pushing the boy ahead of him back down the alley. Kiet shook himself and took off.
“Split up,” the apothecary hissed. “I’ll draw his attention and find you later.”
“But—”
“Go!”
Kiet nodded and raced off. As he reached the end of the alley and swerved into another, he suddenly noticed another figure watching at the other end. He stopped cold.
It was a brown-haired boy with a dog by his side. He could see him clearly as the clouds shifted and let a shaft of moonlight through.
He knew the boy. He was in his dream.
The boy stared back at him. He recognizes me, too. A faint memory slid to the front of Kiet’s mind.
Before he knew what he was doing, his hands rose and formed barely perceptible signs. Who are you?
The boy’s eyebrows shot up, but before he could answer, the footsteps of Kiet’s pursuer thundered behind him. The boy took off, and Kiet threw a glance backward as he continued dashing down the alley.
It was a different man this time, but he, too, had a gun. Kiet’s feet pounded the concrete almost at the rate of his heart. I should never have come, he thought wildly.
Suddenly, his ears rang with a nearby shot, and pain exploded in his leg. Collapsing, he gasped and grabbed it tightly.
Moments later, two men were standing over him. One grabbed his wrists and tied them back while the other stood guard with the gun. He muttered five terrifying words.
“Take him to the tower.”
___
Rough, but it’ll do for now lol