Shells | Lo'ak Sully

Part 9: Lockdown

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Eyes were everywhere.

It was safe to assume Jake's intentions when considering the sheer amount of protection he'd put in place for a mere two people. They couldn't blame him of course, however Ni'teya and Lo'ak knew it would be twice as hard to go ahead with their plan, thrice even. — A guard had been posted outside their hut to make sure they didn't escape, which only really made them feel uncomfortable when sleeping.

None of it stopped the two of them from plotting, however. Speaking in the sign-language Tsireya had taught them, they found a way to communicate, allowing them to speak without making a noise. They planned their route, when they'd leave as well as how they'd deal with anything and everything if something went wrong along the way; They were not messing around.

The decision was that they'd wait until the end of the week, when Jake had a meeting with Tonowari, to put their escape plan into affect. — They agreed to sneak through the back exit of the hut, make their way through the jungle before mounting their ilus that would be waiting for them in the waters next to the beach.

To them, it was perfect. They just hoped nothing would go wrong.

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It was nearing eclipse. Ni'teya and Lo'ak were getting themselves ready to sleep for the night, a rather typical facade, hoping Jake would go about his night the way he usually did knowing the two of them were there they should be. That being said, they knew that there was a slight change of routine in Jake's night. They'd heard that Jake had a meeting to go to with Tonowari a few days before, which gave them enough time to figure things out. They didn't know how late it would be, however they knew it would be well into the night.

So, with everything in place, they waited for Jake to pass by their hut on his way to his arranged meeting spot patiently. When he did, he simply looked in - as both Ni'teya and Lo'ak pretended not to have noticed him - and carried on as he was.

In a slightly victorious manner, Ni'teya then held her eyes on the guard that was a few meters in front of the hut, waiting a little to give Lo'ak the signal they'd agreed to. — With her right hand, she signalled '1...2...3...' before pausing. Meanwhile, Lo'ak had creeped to the back exit of the hut, waiting for Ni'teya to tell him that he was safe to leave. 'Go, go, go!' She signalled thereafter, turning away herself and running along behind Lo'ak, just about making it to the exit before something stopped them.

A deep voice began to approach their location. "Yes, yes, I just have to check on—"

'No, no, no!' Ni'teya whispered as she pulled the boy backwards with his tail, making him wince but ignoring it, realising someone was coming and that he had to re-enter his acting scene. They'd made it to the centre of the room when Jake appeared once again in front of the pod, a confused expression clear.

"Lo'ak? Don't you think it's about time that you got to bed?" He asked his son who, idiotically, decided the best way to fool his father into thinking everything was normal was to start cleaning his training gear.

"Yes Dad, sorry I uhm— Couldn't sleep." He lied, placing down his gear when he spotted Ni'teya's wide-eyed glare, obviously telling him to cut whatever he was doing out.

"Okay... Well, I expect you'll be asleep when my meeting's over. I won't take too long, I don't think." He decided to trust his son, telling him about the meeting for the first time without knowing Lo'ak already knew about it.

"Yeah, I will be. Don't worry." He lied once again with a small wave.

Jake then proceeded back to the meeting after having checked on the two of them properly. — "Same goes for you, Ni'teya. Don't think I don't see you pretending to sleep." He called before leaving completely.

His words made the girl raise her head from the bed and look towards his direction in astonishment. "How'd he know?" She whispered to Lo'ak, who simply shrugged.

The guard outside hadn't been fazed by Jake's arrival, meaning be was still facing the sea, not the hut. The two of them quickly made eye contact, nodding to each other at the same time, deciding that it was the ideal time to escape without being seen. Plus, if they left any later, it might not have given them enough time to reach the beach before someone spotted them.

With the mutual yet non-spoken agreement, they darted towards the back exit, making sure to leave a small bag of seeds directly where the door shut, so that when they closed it behind them it wouldn't make a noise. — Then, avoiding any huts nearby, they ran straight for the forested area, knowing due to its density that nobody would be able to spot them so long as they stayed out of the moon's light.

After a little less than an hour's travel, they arrived at the beach they'd agreed was the one most likely not to be surrounded by guards. Luckily, they were right apart from one singular guard who looked rather drowsy; He was swaying from side to side, his eyes closing every now and then before he opened them suddenly. Clearly to the two of them, he wasn't going to be much of a threat if he did happen to see them.

Ni'teya reminded Lo'ak to 'run quietly', which still made no sense to him. However Ni'teya was incredibly worried that Lo'ak's heavy way of walking on his feet would harm them in some way, even if they were travelling across a narrow stretch of sand. — Once they agreed to go, they did. Ni'teya signalled 'Go!', making Lo'ak run ahead first with the girl running closely behind him. It took less than a minute to reach the ocean's edge, the two of them slowing down significantly to wade through the water towards their ilus as to make as little noise as possible.

Once they'd reached the creatures, it was 'as easy as irritating Lo'ak', according to Ni'teya's mind, although she knew that if she whispered it out loud in that moment, the boy would definitely, without a doubt in her being, make a scene.

Thus, proving her point.

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Sorry for the late update!
I had a night off 🫶🏻

Also - I'll be posting a little teaser for the next book soon so watch out for it! It may be on my insta first if I decide not to post an actual Wattpad book just yet. (@_cxmettt)