Chapter 297
"All right. I'll go along with it."
The light, growing warmer, seemed to hold its breath, witnessing a small decision born from simplicity.
Erietta closed both of her eyes, an act not meant to avoid, but to dive briefly into herself.
Behind those tightly shut lids, there was perhaps a short struggle between cautious instinct and the desire to trust, between logic that predicted fear and memories of shared laughter high above the ground.
Then, when her eyes opened again, a smile—not wide, yet clear enough—spread across her lips.
That smile was a small white flag, a peaceful gesture of surrender to the current of the moment carried by Ilux.
Her lips then formed a spoken acknowledgment, light yet meaningful, declaring her willingness to step into that structured realm of fear.
"They're starting to move away. Are we going to stay here for a few more minutes, or follow them immediately?"
The two figures at the center of observation slowly melted into the increasingly dense crowd, leaving behind only faint silhouettes before finally disappearing into the noise and the lengthening shadows along the amusement park's main path.
That distance of roughly two hundred meters was no obstacle to Theo's eyes, yet it was enough to create a safe space, an opportunity for a strategic pause.
In the vacuum that suddenly formed after his focus had been anchored to them for so long, a subtle question flowed into his awareness.
Not through sound, but through the telepathic channel that had become a silent bridge between him and the entity beside him.
Aldraya, with her precise logic, was presenting options.
Remain still for a moment longer under this disguise, or move immediately to follow the two subjects.
"Wait about ten seconds. We need to make sure their instincts don't feel like they're being watched from afar."
Theo shifted his gaze away from the crowd that had swallowed his subjects and stared straight down the path they would soon take.
His eyes, usually filled with deliberation, now radiated a sharper focus, like a helmsman confirming the wind's direction before moving the ship.
In that silence heavy with meaning, his reply flowed back through the quiet telepathic channel.
A specific time frame was given.
Ten seconds.
Not as an arbitrary number, but as the result of a brief calculation that considered human walking speed, safe distance, and above all, the psychological sensitivity of those being observed.
For Theo, ten seconds was a crucial pause that allowed Ilux and Erietta to fully redirect their attention to the new environment, to momentarily forget the world behind them, ensuring their subconscious instincts would not send warning signals of being watched from afar.
Within him, the countdown had begun.
Each second felt like the rhythmic pulse of a massive, invisible timing engine.
Theo used the moment to reinforce his disguise, ensuring there were no suspicious light reflections from lenses or observation devices, adjusting his posture to blend even more seamlessly with the shadow of the large tree behind him.
He also mentally mapped the route ahead, identifying potential hiding points along the way to the haunted house attraction, and estimating the best angles of view for continuing the observation later.
These ten seconds were the final preparation, a deliberate transition from a passive observer at the edge of the field into an unseen pursuer within the arena of play.
"It's time. Let's move before we truly lose them."
After ten seconds that felt like a long breath drawn by the universe itself, the silhouettes of the two teenagers had almost completely dissolved into the canvas of the crowd and creeping dusk shadows.
Only faint traces of clothing color or echoes of laughter could still be tracked by Theo's sharpest senses.
In that transitional moment, where the pause ended and action had to begin, Theo did not speak much.
Only a short, compact instruction slipped from his lips, a call to move immediately, to run and close the widening distance.
Yet those words were not the only signal.
At the same time his voice sounded, his body had already moved.
His right hand extended to the side, palm open and facing upward, not in a gesture of request, but in a firm and confident offer.
It was both an invitation and a physical anchor.
The movement implied many things.
That they would move together, that their speed and synchronization must become one, and that within the velocity they were about to create, Aldraya would not be alone.
There would be a point of contact, a connection ensuring they remained bound in this mission even as the world around them pressed in.
"Yes."
The contact occurred with almost soundless precision.
Aldraya's left palm, cool and smooth like polished moonstone, met Theo's warmer right hand, marked by the traces of human tension and experience.
There was no hesitation, no pause for reconsideration.
Aldraya, with her direct operational logic, accepted the physical invitation as an inseparable part of the command to move.
The grip was not tight with emotion, but precise and functional, a mechanical lock ensuring perfect coordination of movement.
Within that efficient touch lay absolute trust in Theo's leadership of this observation mission, a surrender of movement instincts to the direction of the primary observer.
"They've arrived."
With their joined hands as an axis of alignment, the two figures shot forward like arrows released with absolute precision.
Their feet struck the ground in an ever-quickening rhythm, an acceleration born not of panic, but of measured determination to conquer distance.
Theo, with his ever-alert protective instinct, focused his attention not only on the route ahead, but also on the presence beside him.
Every pull, every pressure through their grip, was a subtle communication ensuring Aldraya remained within the same speed and trajectory, as if he were guiding a priceless kite through strong winds, making sure it neither drifted away nor fell behind.
Their run sliced through the evening air, turning the surrounding world into a trembling mirage.
Laughter, screams, and ride music merged into a white hiss in their ears, while their focus narrowed solely on an unseen endpoint.
Their footsteps left almost no trace on the ground, testimony to how light and efficient their movement was.
Five hundred and twenty meters was not a great distance, yet it was covered with an intensity that made each meter feel like a small victory, a resistance against time itself as it continued to stretch the gap with their subjects of observation.
Then, with an unspoken agreement, they stopped.
Both bodies decelerated simultaneously, like two vehicles braking with identical precision.
Theo's breathing might have quickened slightly, his chest rising and falling as it drew in oxygen, while Aldraya remained upright, showing no sign of physical fatigue, as if running that far had been nothing more than a light activity leaving no trace.
They paused at a strategic point, several meters from their final destination.
Ahead of them, the mouth of the haunted house attraction opened its dark gateway, surrounded by a pressing crowd of visitors, their faces colored by a mix of enthusiasm, anxiety, and anticipation.
Among that crowd, two very familiar figures finally reappeared within Theo's field of vision.
To be continued…