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*****CHAPTER 2

EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER

"Alcott." Feminine hands whispered my name and shook me gently. "Alcott."

I woke up with a start, my eyes snapping open and my chest panting heavily. My head throbbed terribly with a sudden headache and my whole body was wet with sweat. I forced myself to sit up and the female aided me. I took a moment to look at her, confirming that it was indeed, Scarlett, my arranged luna. I frowned at myself wondering what she was doing in my room and who had let her in.

"Oliver came to me. It's the nightmares again, isn't it?" She rubbed her hand gently against my back and my frown only deepened.

Oliver. That snitch. How was he always aware of these moments?

My hand subconsciously reached for my face to be sure my face mask was still intact and I sighed a small sigh of relief, when I confirmed that it was. I worried that if Scarlett kept barging into my room whenever she liked, she would catch me with the mask off one of these days.

"I was going to call your mother…"

"Don't." I cut her off immediately and took another round of seconds to steady my breath. "Don't say a word about this to her."

"I think you should let her know it's coming back again. It's been eighteen years, Alcot…"

"I think you should leave. Scarlett." I cut her off again.

Scarlett paused for a few seconds, her crazy ocean blue eyes staring unblinking at me. Finally, she sighed and flipped her long flare hairs behind her back.

"I don't know why you keep pushing me away, Alcott. I don't understand why you keep pushing everyone away either. Or why you keep hiding behind your shadows and this…mask. I don't even know what you want."

"I don't know what I want either." I muttered more to myself than to her.

Even though I did not know what I wanted, I did know there was a missing void in my heart that could never be filled with anyone else.

No one would be able to fill the hollow emptiness in my heart.

MAE'S POV

"Hey." I called the attention of the trader in front of me, pushing my hand into a small opening of his wooden stall and dropping a golden wristwatch on the counter top in front of him. "How much are you paying me for this?"

The old trader gave me a long look before picking the wristwatch from the counter top and examining it thoroughly while I waited impatiently. My eyes scanned every direction around me as I continued to wait, a small amount of relief washing over me that I had managed to escape picking the pocket of a high-class person. It was a hot chase, and thinking back to it again, I felt extremely lucky that I was able to escape uncaught. My biggest accomplishment is that I managed to land my hand on a golden accessory.

Gold! It is going to earn me a fortune.

"Fifty bronze coins." The old man finally said, and I paused for a moment before bursting into a hungry, greedy laugh. I licked my chapped lips as my laugh subsided. Is this playing or what?

"Uh, excuse me, sir." "But that is some real gold you are holding right there." I pointed at the wristwatch for emphasis. I should be getting gold coins for this. "Gold for gold." or, if less, a hundred silver coins. Not fucking bronze!

"No, it's not." The old man shook his head as he examined the watch again. "It is faux gold."

The smile on my face slipped, and I stared at the man with half-parted lips who struggled to form a word.

Faux gold! Faux gold! I had risked getting my hand chopped off all for faux gold. The gods. Tell me this is some kind of joke.

I stretched my hand and slipped it into the opening of his stall again, retrieving the wristwatch from his hold. My eyes hungrily examined every metal of the accessory, and my heart fell when I finally took notice of a small scratch that exposed the painted gold color. I resisted the urge to bite my tongue in frustration. But I was smart enough to not show any sign that confirmed his claims. I handed it back to him, planting another smile on my face—a fake, deceptive smile.

"Ah. Come on, old man. Don't tell me you are losing your sight now. It's some real gold right there."

But the man only stared at me and did not budge.

Realizing none of my tricks were going to work on the old man, I sighed in defeat and wiped the smile off my face, frustration finally taking over my entire being. I decided to try the last trick up my sleeves, and I immediately switched to my pathetic girl mode.

"Come on, good sir. "I need the money to take care of my sick mother."

"I've heard that story a million times from you, Mae." The man did not comply, and I sighed again, running a tired hand through my rough, shoulder-length, dirty ash blonde hair.

"At least you could add something, huh." "Fifty bronze coins wouldn't even get me three square meals."

The man only looked on, stubborn and hard-headed.

"Please." I blinked at him, slipping on an innocent demeanor. A smile wore on my face when he finally sighed and searched through his locker for the coins.

"You know, Mae…" He told me. "I am beginning to get worried that one of these days you are going to get caught." It is going to be a sad sight to see you without an arm or two if you continue being a thief.

"I didn't steal the wristwatch, old man." I cleared my throat and lied. "It was a gift from my grandpa."

"Your grandfather died three years ago, Mae." He shook his head at me before dropping some coins on the counter.

"Eighty bronze coins." He looked me straight in the eye. "That's all I can give you."

"Ah. Come on!" I whined and attempted to push on. "That wouldn't even take me two days."

"That's her!" A sudden cry just a few meters behind me caused my heart to almost jump off my chest, and I immediately turned my head to see the man I had robbed standing in the center of two beefy thugs, pointing accusingly in my direction.

"That's the girl who stole my wallet!" Catch her! "Catch the thief!"

Oh. Crap!

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