Chapter 133
3rd Person
The mountain vige of Alta Monta?a sat so deep in the rainforest that unless one was standing at its
center, they might never realize it was there. It was well known throughout the kingdom for its beauty
and artisan wool goods, but it wasn’t the sort of ce many Southern Inders went unless they were
trading or hoping to soak up some time in nature.
While tourists poured into the town from regions far and wide, the area’s raw natural beauty struggled
to tempt locals – as more often than not the entire mountain was covered in clouds. Even when it
wasn’t raining, it was a normal urrence to walk out the door only to disappear into a blinding haze of
white fog.
Needless to say, it wasn’t a good ce to lose one’s possessions, as finding them again could prove
very challenging.
This was part of why the city’s orphan gang proved so sessful when it came to pickpocketing and
swindling. It was easy to hide among the clouds and grift money from unsuspecting tourists, for even
when their mark realized something was missing, they certainly couldn’t see to track down the thieves.
This was also how it came to pass that Ethan and Jane managed toe within feet of their lost
pups,without ever realizing it.
They arrived in the vige in the early hours of the morning, having driven through the night to reach
their remote destination. They had no way of knowing whether or not the pups were somewhere in the
small town, but it was the closest corner of civilization to the jungle where the children werest seen.
“1 don’t know about this.” Jane murmured, gazing around the quaint vige. “If they went into the jungle
maybe we should start looking there – this is an awfully long way from the turn off.”
“I know.” Ethan sighed, “but somewhere here might have seen them. There’s no telling where they
might be in the forest, and they’re smart kids, they’ll have tried to get to people for help.” As beautiful as
he found thendscape here, Ethan was less than amused by the constant downpours and relentless
cloud cover.
It made picking up on the children’s scent- let alone tracking them – all but impossible.
Jane was not convinced, she nervously gnawed her lower l!p as she scanned the vige, trying to put
herself in her pups’ shoes. She knew they were smart enough to try and find food and fresh water, but
would they trust strangers? Would they go to adults for help after everything that they’d been through?
Sometimes she worried there was too much of her in them, or that she’d unintentionally imposed her
own insecurities onto them – and that was before any of this began.
She scented the air for what felt like the thousandth time, but like Ethan, the flooded streets and dense
fog prevented her from smelling anything but damp and mud. It was so powerful in fact, that she was
struggling to even smell Ethan. Her wolf was anxiously pacing in her head, and Jane had to wonder
how anyone tracked anything in such an environment.
“Why does anyone live here!” Linda eximed, swatting at the dozen mosquitos happily svcking her
blood. “It’s hot and miserable and just… argh! This morning I found a tarant in my shoe – a
tarant!”
Jane nced at her friend, she wasn’t doing well with their change of scenery, but she couldn’t really
me Linda. It had been days since they’d heard from Eric, and even then Ethan had been the one to
make contact. Jane could only imagine how difficult it must be for her to be separated from her mate so
soon after forming their bond.
“I know.”‘ Shemiserated, hate to think about the pups handling it all on their own.”
“Hey, they’re probably loving it” Linda suggested, seeming to realize she’d identally increased her
friend’s concern. “You know how they are with bugs and nature – they’re not nearly as high
maintenance as we are”
Ethan pursed his l!ps, thinking of Paisley. Unlike her siblings, she had never had much opportunity to
explore the outdoors. Her heart had always been too weak to go on adventure hikes or exciting
excursions, which meant she was probably as unhappy as Linda.
Still, he didn’t want to make things worse for Jane, so he swallowed his concerns and continued to
scour the area for signs of the pups.
Little did they know that on the other side of the cloudy town square, the pups were standing hand in
hand, listening to Sophie instruct them on the art of thievery.
“You have to be lightning fast.” She advised. “And only use your pointer and middle fingers – never
your thumbs. Pinch them together like tweezers and your mark won’t feel a thing.”
“Our mark?” Paisley asked in confusion.
“You know, mark- like target, whoever you want to steal from.” Sophie exined impatiently.
“But I don’ wanna steals from anyone.” Paisley grumbled sullenly.
Speaking over his sister, Parker eyed the older girl with resignation. “How do we choose a mark in the
first ce?” He wondered.
“Well tourists are best, because they never pay attention to anything and they always have lots a
money. Sophie reasoned. “Plus the locals know what we’re up to. You can tell who’s who just by the
ways they act. If someone is from here, they walk around like they know the ce, with a purpose. The
tourists bumble and look around at everything like they’re on some alien.”RêAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
“But we can’t see what anyone’s doing.” Riley objected, feeling equally as sulky as her sister. “l can
only see people’s feets through the fog.”
“I know, but that’s our advantage” Sophie turned them around, pointing through the thick white haze.
We’re low enough to the ground to see what the grown ups can’t. And the feet are all you need, rich
people have really nice shoes, and you can get really close without them ever knowing you were
there.”
“But what if we get caught?” Ryder objected.
“You won’t be – there’s four of you. If one of you gets pinched, the other three can help fight off the
baddie” Sophie suggested. “Honestly you’re lucky, do you have any idea how many times I wished
there were two of me so I could fool a mark? That’s why Fabian’s so excited about you.”
“He is?” Parker asked, wrinkling his brow.
“Yeah! We can do so many more cons with twins – and there’s two sets of you!” Sophie informed them
with a big smile. “Besides you’re really little, so the adults won’t ever suspect you and they’ll be
distracted by how cute you are.”
“But we’re not gonna stay here very long.” Riley reminded her.”Just until we can make a little money so
we can find our parents.”
Sophie pursed her l!ps. “Well that will take a little time. You’re first few scores have to go to Fabian – to
pay for your spots in the gang”
“We have to pay for our spots?” Paisley questioned.
“Well yeah, everyone has to do their share.” Sophie shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with this idea.
“We’re like a big family, no one gets a free ride.”
“Well why do we have to be part of the gang?”
Ryder inquired, “why not just do this on our own?”
“Because, it’s safer with us.” Sophie shared, only half paying attention to the conversation. The older
girl was busy scanning the street for potential targets, and she’d given this speech so many times she
knew it by heart. “0therwise you’d have to fend for yourself, find somece to sleep in the forest where
you might get eaten. And Fabian can’t allow anypetition, cuz if someone else in town is making
money that doesn’t go to the gang, everyone suffers.”
That doesn’t sound very fair.” Parker mused aloud.
“Well nothing in life is fair.” Sophie responded dismissively. “It’s not fair that we’ re all orphans when you
still have parents, or that you’re lost this way.
Survival isn’t about fair, it’s about doing whatever it takes.”
The pups exchanged worried nces, at least they tried to. In effect they simply peered through the
gloom in the direction of one another, hoping the others were thinking on the same wavelength.
The more time they spent here, the more it seemed like they were going to have to escape yet another
safety. They didn’t understand why their luck never seemed to get any better, they could only pray
that it would change soon. Even as they thought this, a voice sounded in the distance, one that
sounded so much like Jane, that all four of their heads whipped around.
Ethan…I don’t.. the pups… forest.”
They only caught bits and pieces of the sound, but the pups were immediately on alert.”Was that…?”
Riley murmured, too afraid to say what she suspected and jinx them.
It sounds like Mommy” Paisley whispered in reply.
“Where’s iting from?” Ryder added eagerly.
“Over there!” Riley eximed, pointing into the clouds. “Let’s go!”
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