Chapter 82: The Trail Runs Both Ways

His mother had already found Mara.

According to her letter, Mara had decided to remain with the woman helping her, while she had left to continue searching for her son. Whatever had been said between the three of them remained unknown to him—this was a fact that he needed to acknowledge—and he had been filling that empty space with increasingly unpleasant possibilities ever since.

He then balled his fist as another thought came to him. He turned to Rhovan and asked, "Do you think she’s keeping Mara away from me?"

Rhovan noticed the change in Marek’s expression and immediately replied, "Not necessarily. I just think that silver-white woman has always been careful about who can follow her movements. Perhaps she already..."

"What?" Marek still felt helpless, like a child who got lost in the middle of the road, trying to find his family.

"She might have already been following you since the day you began trying to find your family," Rhovan answered. "This could be a very strong possibility."

Marek frowned. He then looked at the window.

The records had never given Marek a name for the silver-white-clad woman. At most, they referred to her indirectly as an external custodian or a private escort. People repeatedly connected her to Mara and the other Gemini minors. Most of what Marek knew about the woman herself came from the people who had actually seen and spoken with her. No one else.

In fact, a nurse had described her as someone with the bearing of a person of unusually high status. Others remembered different things—her height, her dark hair, the silver-white clothes, the minors traveling with her—but none of them had ever given Marek a name.

Everything surrounding that woman was like a fog that he needed to clear.

’Wait! Where’s Celeste? Why hasn’t she spoken after quite a long while?! Was this all just a coincidence?!’ 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He waited for the familiar pressure behind his ear, but nothing came.

’Why now?’

He could not confirm whether Celeste’s silence had anything to do with the silver-white-clad woman. Celeste had gone quiet for long periods before, so using that alone as proof would not make any sense.

’Still... the timing is bothering me.’

Marek could not use physical features as his basis either. Even if they let him see them... it wouldn’t change the fact that they might be powerful enough to escape his senses. Someone capable of moving Mara through Linden without leaving a clear route behind should have been able to stand across one street without being noticed if that was what she wanted.

’But why? So why let Silas see you?’

Then, for no particular reason, the synchronized movement Silas had described entered his mind. "Maybe she wanted someone from our group to notice her."

"Possible," Rhovan replied. After a moment, he added. "Or she wanted you—us to believe that... that was what happened."

Marek looked back toward his mother’s note. He remembered how his mother said she was still moving west... but she had specifically told him not to chase her trail. Instead, she would do the opposite and follow his. She had asked him to remain somewhere safe for a few hours so she would have a better chance of catching up.

Now, someone matching the description of the silver-white-clad woman had appeared so close to that same chain of messages, and somewhere among those facts was an explanation he still found, like he was trapped amidst a foggy place.

’Perhaps she was following Mom, or she was watching the government patrol. Or maybe her appearance had been meant specifically for me. Every possibility gives me another direction to pursue... but the last one... I’m more inclined to believe that that was her goal...’

Everyone was talking about every possibility, and the most stupid ideas came from Kellan and Dario. They were roasted each time by Rhovan and the others.

By the time the few hours Marek had agreed to wait were over, his mother still had not appeared at the clinic. He had a tiny hope, but he could not stay forever in this place. If he were to be rational, this was the best thing he could do... but there was something about these matters... that was not as simple as he imagined them to be.

Like he was missing something.

Rafe then checked the newer map he had been studying. Although it wasn’t perfect, it was already adequate as a guide for them to navigate the direction more clearly and more precisely. After comparing it with the route they were following, he and the others decided to continue westward without immediately passing through one of the larger checkpoints.

Before they fully left, Marek carefully removed the paper addressed to him from the mobile whiteboard, taking care of it as though it was a family heirloom or a treasure so precious that one slight mistreatment might cost him millions.

Then, his eyes naturally turned to her first answer.

NOODLE PRINCE.

Despite everything that happened and all the questions surrounding the series of events that happened in his life after the Awakening day, the corners of Marek’s mouth twitched again.

Mara would probably deny that she ever said that the Noodle Prince was once her boyfriend, when she voiced it out loud to them. It might be embarrassing to her... but this was something Marek would die for to see again. That was why... he wanted to find her.

He wanted to tease her again.

Folding the paper carefully, he placed it inside his notebook, just right beside the other notes he got from his mother and Mara herself.

Until recently, almost every message he received carried the same meaning he disliked: someone he loved had already stood where he was standing, written something for him, and left before he arrived. His heart was beating restlessly.

But this time, it was different.

His mother had received something from him and then answered it. Even if they had missed each other again, Marek was no longer akin to a blind lamb trying to follow traces she had left behind.

For the first time since his search began, the trail between them was moving in both directions.

Marek closed his notebook and carefully placed it inside his backpack.