Chapter 353: Thoughts Manifested

Ian found himself replaying Mina's words in his head over and over again. He could not tell if she was trying to scare him or not, but she had definitely gotten his attention. No matter how he tried to spin her statement, the meaning did not change, but he dared not ask her what she meant out of fear she would go into detail.

The thing that Ian found most odd about Mina's statement was that she was normally extremely reserved in her speech and mannerisms. She normally did not say such things, but then again, she had not really said anything. She had only told him that they would "take what they could get" and it was Ian's own mind that had gone over the edge.

The truth was that the woman could have been talking about anything, robbery being the top option, but Ian did not even have his wallet on him. The most valuable item a thief could take from him was his watch, and maybe the tags he wore around his neck.

Ian's thoughts must have manifested into reality, because when his brain was still imagining the worst, the headlight for an approaching vehicle lit up the area. Mina reacted quickly and dashed into the overgrown grass. She did not venture too far, but she curled up her body in such a way that she looked more like a trash bag than a person.

Ian rolled his eyes and continued walking down the road, unwilling to let Mina's words taint him. The car that was approaching came to a slow stop and rolled down the passenger side window, calling out to Ian as they did.

"How much?" The man asked, and Ian blanched.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't be coy. Pretty ones like you don't need to play games." The man said seductively. Ian could hear Mina snickering in the background, but the sound was so low that he may have imagined it. "I said-" Ian did not give the man time to answer the question. He reached into his blazer and pointed a gun into the car.

Instead of freezing in place, the man behind the wheel floored the gas and took off before Ian could open the car door. His plan was to have the man drive both he and Mina back to the Lee facility where he would proceed to have the man imprisoned for being a creep.

As soon as the car had driven far enough, Mina came out of hiding with a grin on her face so wide that President Lee wanted to wipe it off. He thought of several lewd things he could say, but as badly as he wanted to get even, it was his pettiness that had gotten them into the situation they were in now.

"How did you know that was going to happen?"

"President Lee, beauty is beauty. Have you forgotten where I come from? They didn't just warn young women to stay off the roads at night."

"You thought that was funny? Didn't you?"

"Only because it's you" Mina quipped. Ian narrowed his eyes at the woman's departing figure, but he said nothing. They did not need to be bickering or arguing. They needed to conserve their energy until they reached their destination, or until another car went by.

"Do you realize how serious this situation is?" Ian asked. He was starting to think that Mina was not thinking rationally, but her response made him realize that she just did not care.

"Don't worry. Maybe Miss Maggie will drive by and save you." Once again Ian narrowed his eyes. He had not forgotten about what happened to Mina all those weeks ago; he just did not think it was relevant to the current situation, but apparently to Mina, it was.

----

Mina was freezing. The temperature had dropped so low that her teeth had begun to chatter, and despite being freezing, she was so thirsty that it made her feel hot. Mina could feel her toes, but only because they felt like rocks attached to her feet. She did not need to check on the condition of the man behind her, because she could tell by the sound of his shoes that he had started to drag his feet, and the distance between them remained the same throughout their walk; telling Mina that he was slowing at the same pace as she was.

Mina knew they should have been approaching their destination within the next half hour or so, but she was barely convinced she could make it. In all of her life, she had never walked in the cold for such a long time, but there was a first time for everything. Mina thought about all the men and women who had to commute by foot regularly, and she suddenly had an inflated amount of respect for those people.

In Pan, mass transit was available, but it detoured around areas where there was a higher concentration of the rich. The idea behind bus routes was that people who lived in specific neighborhoods had no need for public transportation, but that neglected to consider the many housekeepers, landscapers, pool cleaners, and any person that the rich might employ.

For Mina, a large part of what kept her unemployed was not just Miss Maggie, but it was access to transportation. There was only so far she was willing to travel by foot, and after having spent much of her free time befriending female officers in Scal, Mina had heard horror stories that shaped the way she behaved.

Everything Mina knew about running and hiding came from the men and women who had taken her under their wing. There was one particular old man, who worked in the booking department, that routinely quizzed Mina on the layout of her surroundings. He insisted that she familiarize herself with all possible routes of escape, and he even purchased pepper spray for her.

Back then, Mina thought that they had taken pity on her because she looked younger than her age, but after her conversation with Jay and James, she realized she did not just look young; she was young.

Mina's family used the life calendar, so she had grown up adding a year to her age. Leaving home at fifteen was considered young, but Mina was actually only fourteen when she left home, and she did not turn fifteen until the end of that year.

Since Mina had spoken to Dom about her biological age, she had begun to rethink many things in her life. For example, when Mina was biologically ten-years-old, she could already speak three languages. She added two more each year, until she was thirteen, and then the man who worked with her lost funding.

Mina was so lost in thought that the lights from the Lee facility started to hurt her eyes before she realized that she was no longer in the dark. She shuffled to the gates of the facility and turned around to meet the eyes of President Lee.

"We made it," she said with a smile. Almost shocked that they had succeeded. Ian was about to flash a smile back when Mina's eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed onto the ground.