After the day we left that town, Nicole slowly opened up to me. Although she still wasn’t talkative, she still responded to me and helped me when cooking or setting up camp for the night. I knew that Nicole was finally opening up to me and that made be happy.

“Hey Nicole do you have any clue where to go to find John?”

“Firefly City. John told me that if we ever got separated, I should go to Firefly city but I don’t know where it is.”

“Hmmm...Firefly city. That’s quite far from where we’re at right now. Ok, don’t worry Nicole, i’ll take you there and help you find John.”

“Why? Why are you helping me?”

“Hmmm, I don’t really have a reason for helping. I am helping you right now because all I see is a lost child who needs help getting back home to her family. Spending time with your family is very important because you never know when you may lose them, so I want to bring you back to John so you can spend more time with him.”

“But John isn’t my family.”

“He isn’t? Even if he isn’t your family you still do love him right?”

“Yeah.”

“If you still hold these feelings for him them then he is your family. Someone who can make you feel warm or at comfort is family.”

“John is my family?”

“Yep, and sooner or later I hope I can also be considered family to you. Ok, let’s continue our journey to Firefly city.”

On our way to Firefly city, the days passed by quickly. There were days where we spent sleeping under the night sky and days we slept in the beds within an inn but every second of it we spent it together. Those days I learned many things from NIcole and as a favor I also taught her many things.

I was able to teach Nicole how to cook using wild plants and animals found in the forests but I also learned from Nicole about various types of poisonous plants or dangerous animals that I shouldn’t deal with. Whenever we went into town I found it the perfect chance to always go shopping for clothes for Nicole and she would go along and let me dress her up. In town, Nicole bought various concealed weapons and she even taught me how to use some of them so I could protect myself.

Our time together was fun and enjoyable. It was like I had little sister to take care of and teach many things too. In the time that passed, Nicole had opened up to me but she still refused to call me Big Sister Jane. Two months quickly flew by and we had finally arrived at Firefly city.

Firefly city was a bright and vibrant city hence the name Firefly city. Besides the city being well lit and its vibrant citizens, Firefly city was also known for its large slums and shady organizations.

“So where do we go now Nicole?”

“John said to go to the house that coos at the rise of the sun and howls during the night.”

“What? What kind of riddle is this? Cooing? Howling?”

“Jane do you think the cooing and howling is referring to animals.”

“Yeah that does make sense. So a house with animals that coo and howls.”

After learning about the riddle from Nicole, we decided to go look for a house that has animals but many homes had animals. After searching for hours we decided to stop and go eat at a tavern and maybe even ask around for clues. We arrived at the tavern and ordered our food and after eating we asked around but no one else had a clue on the house.

“Hey Missy, I heard you’re looking for a house with animals that coos and howls right. Well, I might be able to help you.”

“Really you can help us.”

“Jane he seems suspicious. We shouldn’t ask him for help.”

“Hmm. Ok, Nicole.”

I trusted Nicole’s intuition. Many times on our journey Nicole had helped us avoid sticky situations so I had confidence in her opinion and I also agreed that he seemed suspicious.

“Ah, Missy no need to be afraid. I’m not asking for much, i’ll even do it for free. All I need from you is to ask the owner from the house to help me with something.”

“I’m sorry for the trouble but we will find the house on our own.”

“Haha, Missy. It’s fine, I just hope you won’t regret your choice.”

The man was smiling but it was an unsettling smile so I took Nicole and immediately got out of that tavern. I knew that man was up to no good so I grabbed Nicole and ran towards an area that was crowded so we wouldn’t be so easy to find. After calming down we walked down the busy street looking at the items being sold while also looking for an inn to stay at.

“Let’s go find an inn away from there to stay in.”

“Jane there are some people following us.”

“What?! How many are there Nicole.”

“I don’t know the exact number but there are about two to three men who have been following us for a while.”

“Ok. Hold my hand Nicole. Get ready to run on the count of three. 1...2...3...Go.”

It wasn’t easy but we ran in the crowd of people and I held onto Nicole’s hand tightly so she wouldn’t be lost within the crowd. We ran and ran until we were no longer within the crowded area and in fact we didn’t know where we were.

The area that was crowded was well lit and the houses were well maintained but the place we were at was dark and smelled horrible. The houses were old and decrepit like they hadn’t been repaired in years.

“Haah...Haahhh...did we lose them Nicole.”

“I don’t feel their presence anymore. Wait! There are multiple footsteps heading towards our direction. There are at least five people coming towards us.”

“Let’s go Nicole.”

I grabbed her hand and was ready to once again begin sprinting at full speed away from the slums. I knew that it wasn’t a good thing to be in the slums because whether the people heading towards us are those men earlier or not, it was still not safe. Nicole stood still and I wasn’t able to get her to run.

“What’s wrong Nicole? We have to go right now before they catch up.”

“Jane, I can kill them.”

She stared straight into my eyes and I was frightened by her eyes. They were the same ones when she had killed those five men two months back, they were cold and terrifying. During the past two months Nicole had been with me, she had never once shown me these eyes of her. She always had an indifferent look but you could tell there was some joy behind them but now her eyes were cold.

“No, I won’t let you kill anyone. I don’t want you to continue your life of killing. I want you to be able to live life as a normal little girl.”

“But I can kill them. I can ambush and kill them when they aren’t expecting us to fight back.”

“No, I won’t let you.”

“Didn’t I tell you, you would regret your choice.”

While Nicole and I was in our little argument the people following us had finally caught up. It was that same man from the tavern that offered to take us to the house but with him was another seven men. In total there were now eight men who had us surrounded.

“I’ll hold them off Jane. Run while away I hold them here.”

She looked at me with a smile as she told me to run away. My heart broke as she told me to run away. She was ready to sacrifice her life for me, someone she only knew for two months.

“NO!!! If you don’t leave, I don’t leave. If you fight, then I will fight. I will stay with you and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“STOP BEING SO STUBBORN JANE!!! LEAVE RIGHT NOW!!! I don’t want you dying with me!”

I was surprised when Nicole yelled back at me. This was the first time I had ever heard her ever yell at someone. I was surprised but I was also incredibly angry at her. She was basically telling to run away and let her die. I couldn’t do that and wouldn’t do that. I would never leave and watch another family of mine die.

“I TOLD YOU NO!!! If you are willing to die for me then I refuse!!! I would rather die with you then run away!!!”

“YOU IDIOT!!! Just leave me and live!!! You barely even know me so just leave me to die and run away!”

“NO!!! You are my family so I won’t allow you to die!”

“You’re my family too so I won’t allow you to die Jane! SO LEAVE!!!”

“NOOOOOO!!!”

……

“What should we do boss? The two girls aren’t paying attention to us anymore and have started to argue with each other.”

“It doesn’t matter. Go and capture them.”

“Sorry, but I won’t allow you guys to do that.”

“Who’s there?!”

As the boss of the group turned around, he realized that there was a man standing only a few feet away from him. What surprised him was that he hadn’t sense the man at all or that none of his men sensed him as he walked towards them. In fact as the leader looked around, all of his henchmen were gone and the only people here was him, this man, and the two girls arguing.

“Wait. wait. Don’t kill me. I haven’t done anything wrong. I just heard two girls arguing and came to watch.”

“I guess my ears must not be working correctly then. I thought I heard you tell your henchmen to go and capture those two girls.”

The boss of the group decided to give up on making excuses and tried to sneak attack the man by thrusting a dagger into the man’s heart. His attempt was useless because before he could even grab the knife, the man had already touched them with his hand. As soon as the hand touched him, everything went dark and the boss of the group had died.

The man wiped his hands and looked at the two girls arguing. He smiled as the two girls kept on arguing back and forth with one another.

“This is the first time I have ever seen Nicole so emotional.”