Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The two Wraiths moved weslong the winding corridor, sickles dragging across the stone tiles with a screeching scrape

A few steps, a slash A roadside pine was hacked clean through, its crown crashing down in a scatter of branches

Potted plants went flying, shattering across the round. Even the rocks on the artificial hill were chopped to pieces.

Lyra watched the two Wraiths smash their way along. Such a nice garden, wrecked like this.

Her gaze drifted past the Wraiths and landed on the lotus pond beyond. Lina was already underwater.

In the pond, Lina was fully under the surface, one hand gripping a crack at the base of the stone platform, a reed stem clamped between her teeth, her other hand pinching her nose shut.

The tip of the reed poked barely an inch above the water.

She could hear sounds. Far away, but closing in.

“BOOM.”

Something shattered.

‘BOOM.”

Closer.

Lina’s fingers were trembling. She stared up at the blurred light above the water and couldn’t make out a thing.

Her breath slipped in and out of the reed, soft.

But in conditions like these, Lina couldn’t be sure soft was soft enough.

She bit down on the reed and forced herself to stop breathing.

The air in her lungs began to drain. Her chest tightened.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

BOOM”

T

A massive crash exploded less than ten feet above her head. The water shuddered violently, the shockwave shoving her body further down

She almost let go.

Torn lotus leaves and silt churned up. The water turned murky, and she couldn’t see a thing

The sickle had struck less than three feet in front of her

The reed in Lina’s mouth was bitten out of shape

Any closer.

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9:34 am

Chapte

foot in a halt closer

She’d have been gone.

The second strike landed on her left, water splashing up against her face.

The third struck on the right-the corner of the stone platform sheared off, fragments grazitig her arm as they sank.

Lina didn’t move. Her face was burning red, temples pounding, her vision starting to black out.

Couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t move.

Couldn’t make a sound.

The pounding above her stopped.

The Wraith’s footsteps moved along the edge of the pond, heading toward the reed patch.

“Snap! Crack!”

Reeds toppled in waves, the shattering leaves dense as falling rain.

Now.

0191

Under cover of the reeds being shredded, Lina sucked in a hard breath. Air rushed through the reed into her lungs, brackish with pond water. She almost choked, but forced it down.

The Wraiths kept hacking. Reeds fell in sheets, but the things didn’t step into the water. Good news.

The footsteps drifted away. Lina’s fingers were still shaking. She breathed in, breathed out, slow and shallow, until her rhythm came back.

Alive.

Still alive.

Lyra watched the Wraith leave the reed patch and pulled her gaze back Aina was fine.

She was about to scan another direction when something caught the edge ofher vision-the northeast corner of the garden. A figure was sprinting along the corridor. Fast, long strides, around five-foot-seven, blonde hair whipping out behind her

Ursaria. Lydia.

Two Wraiths were chasing her. Not fast, but tireless-every few seconds a sickle swung forward, biting into pillars and flagstones and sending chips flying.

Lydia was quick. The sixty-five feet between them was safe, for now.

But after a few seconds, Lyra saw the problem. Lydia’s steps were slowing. The gap was shrinking.

Sixty feet.

Fifty-three.

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6:34 am

Chapte

why

担い

Lydia was burning through her stamina.

Lyra sat up and traced Lydia’s route. The corridor curved around a pond, then straightened, and the straight stretch ended at a courtyard wall.

Dead end.

Lydia’s legs barely felt like hers anymore. The speed potion from the last round had gotten her clear when the danger hit, but she was running on empty now.

The Wraiths behind her wouldn’t quit. Stone chips kicked up by their strikes kept clipping her. Blood ran down from her temple and she had no time to wipe it.

Was she going to die? Lydia refused to accept it. Her eyes raked the surroundings, hunting for a way out.

No cover. No cover. Still no cover. The strikes behind her grew closer, and despair set in.

That was when she saw her-the Draconia player, on a wall to the southwest. Out in the open. Looking right at her.

Why weren’t the Wraiths attacking her? Was that spot safe?

Hope flared. If she could just make it over there, would she be safe too?

Help me!”

Her shout only got the two Wraiths behind her more excited. Worse-Lyra watched Wraiths from other directions snap oward the sound and start heading her way.

Dumb.

yra muttered. She hadn’t caught the words, but it sounded like a cry for help.

She stood up, but didn’t jump from the wall. Instead she walked east along the top and stepped out onto the eaves connecting the loft.

Barefoot, toes hooking into the tiles, she edged forward one step at a time.

A pine tree stood beside the loft, its branches reaching out more than seven feet and dipping toward a small pavilion below

The pavilion sat across just one pond from the straight stretch Lydia was about to hit.

yra crouched on the loft caves and fished two pebbles from her pocket.

She checked the gap between Lydia and the Wraiths.

Forty feet. No time left.

Swim! Through the pond!” Lyra called, jabbing a finger at the water

Lydia got it. To reach the safe spot, she had to cross the pond. Straight line, two points-swimming was fastest

But swimming was slower. The Wraith would catch her for sure

What now? Keep running and circle the pond? Or swim?

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9:34 am

Chapte

Another siuke came down. A stone caught her in the head, opening another trail of blood

No time. The Wraiths were closing in, who knew how far it was around the pond, and her stamina wouldn’t last

Swim Maybe there was still thread of hope.

She stopped hesitating, spun, and lunged for the pond. That pivot saved her-the Wraith’s sickle came down exactly where she’d been standing.

“Splash”

The sound of her hitting the water was louder than her running. The Wraith adjusted its angle.

The moment Lyra saw Lydia hit the pond, she flicked the first pebble to Lydia’s right.

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