Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The cross-national brawl in the livestream nearly crashed the servers.

Inside the command center, technicians stared at data scraped from every screen.

Lana stood at the main console, watching the live chat war with ice in her eyes.

Garrett strode in from outside, a folder in his hand.

“Chief, urgent cable from Foreign Affairs.”

He held the folder out.

“The countries whose six players Lyra just killed in the game have filed a joint protest.

“They’re accusing her of ignoring humanity’s shared fate and slaughtering her own kind.

“They want us to rein her in, issue a public apology, and compensate them for their lost resources.”

Lana didn’t even glance at the folder. She pushed it right back at him.

“Ha. A protest letter?”

“Can’t win, so they run crying to mommy, and now they’ve dragged whole governments into it?”

Ms. Reed snorted from her chair nearby. “Shameless.”

Their people openly stole our survival cover, got killed because they were weaker, and now they’ve got the gall to demand compensation?”

Lana turned to Marcus. “Joint statement ready?”

Marcus snapped to attention. “Drafted. Ready to send.”

Lana tapped the desk.

“Skip the diplomatic language. Send it plain.

“One. Every action by Lyra Vance, a player from Draconia, was lawful self-defense against a robbery. Period.

“Two. Given the predatory behavior the protesting nations’ players displayed in an extreme environment, they are in grave violation of alliance principles.

“Three-and this is the important one.”

Lana’s voice picked up speed.

“Effective immediately, Draconia, Ursaria, Southern Reach, and Belsoria are formally allied.

“We refuse any form of cooperation with the protesting nations, permanently.

“We refuse every immigration application from their citizens, permanently.

“Even if you’ve got one brick left standing, don’t think you’re setting foot on our soil.”

She glanced up at the livestream on the big screen.

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Chapter 40

“Post it everywhere. Pin it to the top.”

Back in the Cursed Forest.

Lyra caught up to the last two.

Both were skinny men, panting hard, with nowhere left to run.

Ahead was a thick wall of brambles, no way through. They turned, backs pressed against the thorns.

Watching her close in step by step, their legs shook like reeds in the wind.

“Don’t come any closer,” one of the men pleaded.

“We really didn’t do anything! We were just tagging along to watch!”

“I didn’t hit anyone, I’m the one who got hit! Look at my face. Lydia did that!”

Lyra stopped. She couldn’t understand a word of it, and didn’t need to. The Wraithslayer rose slowly in her hand.

“Tagging along to feast on someone else’s killing still has a price.”

No more words. Her wrist tightened, the blade ready to swing.

Then she heard it-rustle-rustle-rustle, getting closer.

An ice tree was coming.

No time to think. She slashed once, didn’t check if they were dead or alive, and shot forward.

“AAAH.”

Shrk.

Shrk.

The moment Lyra cleared them, the ice tree skewered both men like meat on a stick.

B

It didn’t slow down. Both bodies dangled from its barbed branches, blood still dripping, as it dragged the grisly skewer after Lyra.

Roots whipped through the dirt. Leaves flew up in its wake.

Lyra glanced back.

Sixty feet.

Fifty feet.

The ice tree was faster than she’d expected. The hardened leaves on its crown scraped past nearby trunks with an ear- splitting screech.

At this rate, it would catch her in under thirty seconds.

Her right hand slipped into her pocket and found the fire starter.

She kicked off hard, rolling left, shoulder scraping the ground, left hand grabbing a fistful of dry leaves on the way.

Riding the momentum, she sprang back up still running, thumb popping the fire starter’s cap, breath blowing on the wick.

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EXICA

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Chapter 40

Sparks leapt.

She pressed them into the leaves in her palm. The dry kindling caught instantly, flames licking out between her fingers

Hot.

She flung the burning bundle to the ground and kept running.

Behind her, the ice tree slammed to a halt at the fire, roots plowing two deep grooves in the dirt.

Two barbed branches stabbed straight down at the flames.

Pierce.

Through empty air.

Fire isn’t a body. There’s nothing solid to pierce. The branches thrashed through the burning leaves, sparks scattering, ash whirling, the two corpses on its barbs swinging wildly.

Lyra glanced back.

Worked.

The fire was small. Hastily lit leaves don’t burn long. The flames were already shrinking.

Five seconds. The fire died. The ice tree surged toward Lyra again.

“Here it comes again.”

“She didn’t waste a breath. Mid-stride, her left hand swept the ground, snatching up a fistful of leaves, twigs, and dirt.

The fire starter was still clenched in her right hand-cap long gone, open flame dancing at the tip. She pressed it into the kindling in her palm. Caught.”

This time she didn’t drop it at her feet. She hurled it left. The burning bundle arced through the air and dropped into a clump of dry grass six feet away. The grass caught with a whoosh. She kept running.

Three strides. Left hand scooped again. Light. Throw right. Another flame bloomed on a pile of leaves.

Behind her, the ice tree slammed into the first fire, roots stopping dead, branches thrashing wildly to smother the flames.

Lyra didn’t look back. Her rhythm was set.

Run. Scoop. Light. Throw.

Run. Scoop. Light. Throw.

One on the left. One on the right. Another in the middle.

Draconia livestream.

LyraMyldol: [What is she DOING?]

NeverAteVeggies: [Lighting fires! She’s setting fires along the way!]

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