Hi there. School's coming soon, so I'll have less writing time, but I shall try to keep up a reasonable pace. Once a week sound good? Well, it's not here quite yet, so enough talk, and let's get on with the story.

"Pride talking"

"Selim talking to Pride in his head"

Chapter 13

When morning finally came, Selim slipped out of bed as silently as he could. He was hoping to get out without running into any of the other kids. He knew they were just trying to help, for who knows what reason, but he was too confused right now to deal with any people. He hadn't slept at all last night, instead trying to figure out what he should be doing next. He had these crazy powers and there was a group of people probably trying to destroy the world or something. This would probably be most nine year old boys dream, but right not it felt more like a living nightmare.

"Heading out?" Selim almost jumped at the surprise. Jed was leaning agents the doorway to the outside world. He didn't see any of the other orphans around, so he assumed that Jed must have been the first one up. It didn't surprise him, he seemed like that kind of guy. Figuring no way to get out without being noticed now, the black haired boy nodded.

Jed didn't seem surprised either, and moved away from the door. Selim took this as an invitation to leave, so decided to take it before anyone got any second thoughts.

"There's a town west of here, you could make it on foot. It's not too big, but not so small that you couldn't hide. Good luck," Selim stopped in his tracks and looked back at the makeshift leader. He wondered how he ended up in this situation, looking after a group of homeless kids. Jed was probably wondering the same thing about him though too, and if he ever told him, the older boy wouldn't believe a word. Selim didn't blame him, he didn't believe it much either.

"Thanks," the black haired boy said, before turning back towards the door. Now he had a direction, and he could work from there.

"Ya know," Selim turned around at the voice. He though the dirty teen had said everything he'd wanted to. Apparently now. "The name Pride really doesn't suit you." Selim smiled, something that was becoming rarer and rarer with each passing day.

"I know," He wasn't sure what else to say. He was never a very social person, and didn't want to sound like an idiot and say something stupid. He decided to just leave it at that, and left the crumbling brick building finally behind him.

The streets were just beginning to fill which people trying to get a head start on the day. It was surprisingly easy for the young boy to slip out of town going down the edges of back alleys and side streets. That was the easy part. The hard part was when he was finally at the edge of town, a single street leading west for who knows how long.

"Now what?" He wasn't sure just who he was talking to, there wasn't anybody with him, except Pride, but he was trusting the voice less and less.

"You could start walking," Selim nodded and did as told. Yes, he didn't trust him, but he didn't really have any other options. Walking along the road, Selim kept to the side, and would attempt to find a hiding place or anything to keep from sight when ever a car would pass. Who knows what those two police officers had said after they ran off. Maybe they didn't know it was him, or didn't say anything because they didn't want to tell people they ran away from a monster. He hoped it was something like that.

He had no idea how long he'd been walking when he spotted a turned over log on the side of the rode and stopped to rest. The sun was high up in the sky now, it had to be around noon. Hunger was once again setting in, and he still had no idea how much longer it was until the next town. Jed had said he could walk there, but who knows how long walking distance was to the teen.

The one thing on top of all this was the boredom. He was walking along an old road, with no one to talk to but someone he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to. He still had no idea what to do about the mole people, and everything was just so confusing. If Pride would stop being such a jerk and tell him what they were planning, he might be able to actually figure something out.

"You think calling me names will make me tell you anything?" Pride asked, his voice echoing around. Selim shook his head and sighed.

"No, but please Pride, what's going on?" Selim asked in his head, using their little mind link thingy. Yeah, that was an okay name for it. It wasn't completely accurate, but it was better then nothing. Although nothing wasn't that bad either, seeing as he didn't really have anyone to explain it to, except for himself and the voice in his head.

"Once again, I'll ask you. Why would I tell a pathetic human such as you?" Selim didn't move from the log. There wasn't any reason for Pride to tell him, especially if it was something bad, which it probably was. Who knows, he might even try and stop the mole people, and then what would Pride do? No, the actual owner of this body shouldn't tell him anything, but that didn't mean Selim wanted him to any less.

"Pride?" Selim asked, knowing the voice probably heard his previous thoughts, so there really was no need to answer his question a second time.

"Hmm?" He sounded almost bored. Selim suddenly wasn't sure if he wanted to confide in the ancient voice, but he didn't have anyone else.

"I'm scared," He'd said it out loud, and it was barely a whisper. He knew Pride heard it though, he could almost feel the voice stiffen up. Apparently he was as used to people confiding in his as Selim thought he would be.

"What do you want me to do about that?" He asked finally, and Selim just shook his head before standing up off the log. He knew Pride would respond like that, and it didn't really bother him that much. At least there was something constant left in his life.

"Nothing," The black haired boy said before starting back down the old road again.

It was almost sundown when Selim finally managed to reach the outskirts of the town Jed had described. It was just as he had said, too. Pretty small, but not so much so that he couldn't hide, like Resembool. Walking with his head down, he tried to think of a way to find a place to stay, and some food.

His last attempt at stealing food, although it had ended well, could of gone south much, much too easily. He hadn't eaten before he left the orphans though, and while he was becoming slightly more used to the hunger, he still couldn't just go without eating. Maybe he could hide in the long shadows of the food stands?

The shadows! He couldn't use them for hiding, but maybe they could bring the food straight to him. A smile on his face, Selim sat behind the wall of an alleyway and concentrated on the long, dark shadow leading from the cart into the alley. Just as he hoped, the shadow turned an unnatural black, and he willed the little hand on the end to grab one of the fruits closest to the back. Sliding along he ground, Selim grabbed it quickly when it finally reached him, as if afraid the shadow would keep tugging it along out of his reach.

Well, that was definitely easier then having to actually go up to the cart and take the food away himself. He quickly consumed his prize, the edge of his hunger taken off just a bit.

Standing up, now he just had to find a place to stay for the night. He considered asking Pride if he knew any places, but quickly dismissed that thought, as any place Pride took him could easily be a trap for the mole people to find him. No, he'd just find a place by himself, just like how he'd gotten the food. Sure, technically he'd used Pride's powers, but that was beside the point.

Walking around absently looking for a place to sleep, Selim wondered what the name of this town was. He wasn't really sure what to do in the morning either. He should probably leave town again. Maybe he could go to Dublith like he had said. It was a big town, he could probably hide there for a while. Or maybe he could leave the country all together. Xing seemed like a nice place, and he had black hair, so he wouldn't stick out as terribly as if he was a blonde. To get to Xing though he'd have to cross that huge dessert, and he didn't really feel like almost dieing.

That settled it then. He'd find out where in the world he was, and then find the quickest route to Dublith, and hide out there for a while. He still had the problem as to where to stay for tonight though. The black haired bout wished that abandoned buildings were as common in real life as adventure and runaway stories said they were. And not full of scary people

He couldn't help but wonder if this was the body of a super-being with magical powers why he still got so hungry and so tired all the time. Guess Pride's not that different after all. That didn't really surprise him that much though, because as much as the voice tried to sound threatening and so much better then everyone else, like his name suggested, he didn't really scare Selim all that much. Sure, he could be a bit mean, and the black haired boy could get a bit jealous of how confident and sure of himself the other boy was, he wasn't really evil. At least, he hoped he wasn't.

Finally, well passed dark and starting to get worried and scared for his safety, (Pride found this rather amusing, there was enough light to create shadows, so what could a random mugger or rapist do agents that?) Selim reached a park in the center of the town.

Looking around for anyone else and happily seeing no one, the black haired boy walked up to the set of large things for kids to play on. Finding a tube thing, he guessed kids were suppose to crawl through it, Selim crawled inside. At least he was protected and hidden now. He still didn't feel safe, but it was better then nothing. He hadn't expected to be able to fall asleep inside of a cold metal tube, but just like on the bumpy and loud train cart, exhaustion had a way of surprising him.

Not much happened in this one, but don't worry, I have something planned. I hope everybody is enjoying this so far, and I also hope that the next chapter wont take too long to come out. It probably wont be until after the 31st, because of school, but I'm glad I was able to get one more chapter in before I had to completely devote myself.

Well, please review. They let me know I'm doing this right.