"Are you crazy?"
"Maybe."
I answered with no hesitation.
As I have mentioned before, I already know there's a few loose screws inside my head.
"Haa."
He looked dumbfounded for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. I was half sure that he wouldn't agree but he surprised me by giving a direction instead of a direct refusal.
"It's impossible. Look over there."
He pointed at the child near the exit of the wagon. It seems that she just woke up and is planning to escape. She kept looking outside and clenching her small fist.
The wagon was large and fully occupied with both lavender eyes and I sitting far away from her position. I had to squint my eyes to see her movements clearly. That was when I noticed the view outside.
'Is that fog or mist?'
Whatever it was, the white smoke revolved only around the vehicle, making it look like we were riding a cloud from the outside.
Lavender eyes didn't answer directly but he instructed.
"Watch closely."
"Is she-"
Just as I expected, the child tried to jump off the wagon. She stood on her seat and stepped one of her feet outside, however...
"Gggghhh! Uwaaaaa!"
BAAAAAAM!
She shrieked and fell back inside the wagon with a loud thud.
SHHH!
Her foot, the one she used to step outside, released a sizzling sound as it became frozen in solid ice.
CRACK!
The aftereffect of the magic and her unceremonious fall caused the fragile-looking, crystalized foot to crash and break into a thousand pieces. However, there was no blood. There were just clumps of frozen flesh and bones scattered around the wooden floor.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
"Ahhhhhh!"
Upon seeing the dreadful scene, the children around us panicked. Some even fainted a second time.
"You see?"
Lavender eyes beside be maintained his emotionless expression while speaking.
"That spell is called 'Frozen prison' and it freezes anyone who tries to escape. It covers the whole vehicle so there's no chance of escaping with our limbs intact unless the caster removes it directly."
"Was it ever removed?"
He nodded once.
"They remove it whenever there's a change of transportation and the security is always tight whenever that happens. So far, they've only done it twice. It's highly likely that it won't be removed until we arrive at the final destination."
"Trying to escape during that time is also next to impossible. They'll have us surrounded."
"You catch on fast."
I tried to think of another way but there was just nothing. There was no hole in their security. It was a flawless plan for safe transport.
'Oh, come on! Seriously? In novels, isn't there a hidden flaw that would suddenly appear at a time like this?!'
I racked my brain again but as expected, the world followed the rule of the book. Everything advantageous is solely for the benefit of the bad guys.
"Hey, aren't you a vampire?!"
A sudden scream dragged me back to reality. I searched for it and saw a bruised kid looking over lavender eyes but the latter just stared at the ceiling as if he couldn't hear anything.
'Vampire, huh? So I was right.'
"Isn't your race one of the strongest?! Do something about this!"
"..."
I nudged his shoulder. He lazily tilted his head and questioned me with his eyes. Can he not hear the loud bigmouth over there? How is he not annoyed?
"Hey, he's talking to you."
"I know."
If you know then why aren't you answering? A simple 'no, that's impossible' would do.
"You...! Do something, you monster!"
"Hey, stop it!"
The kid, seething with anger and filled with desperation, stood up and almost grabbed lavender eyes' collar but the latter didn't even bother to move so I stood up, got in between them, and held the kid's arms.
"Kid, I know it's stressful but don't be presumptuous. Can't you see that we can't help?"
"Shut up! Let go of me!"
"Oww!"
He started thrashing and kicking me all over my feet. Despite his little physique, he was quite strong and had a surprising good accuracy too, as he kept hitting the same places which in turn, made me groan in pain.
'Son of a bitch! This is why I hate dumb children.'
These oh so self-important little demons act like they're the only ones in trouble when everyone's suffering from the same thing.
'I want to get away too, okay? Do you think I want to be here? It's fucking obvious that it's not easy so get your shitty ass down!'
I held myself back because I understand the panic his feeble mind is going through. Even as I heard a little crack, telling me that I dislocated a toe or two, I didn't complain about it. But that's not the case for the others who were getting disturbed as the chains that bound us rattled loudly.
Those that fainted started to wake up and others started crying more loudly. It was getting more chaotic.
"Let! Go! Let! Go!"
"Stop that! I'm just trying to calm you down!"
'The nerve of this little shit!'
I was about to give him a piece of my mind when I suddenly felt chills on my back. It seems like the kid felt it too since he stopped moving like a mad man.
The sensation, a suffocating murderous aura, emerged from behind us.
Feeling this, the child's body slowly started to shiver.
I glanced behind me. There was only one person there.
"Lavender eyes."
His lavender eyes were glowing, almost as if they were candles ignited under the dark night. His eyebrows were knitted as he glared at the poor child.
'Great, one mess stopped and now another one starts.'
I resisted the urge to sigh.
"Stop it. Stop it. He's going away."
True to my words, the bruised child left.
"Tsk."
Lavender eyes scoffed but he also listened. The light in his eyes slowly died down until they were back to their normal color.
I clicked my tongue, relocated my toes in place despite the pain, and sat back beside him after making sure that the other kid wouldn't both us anymore.
"I guess you're not someone who talks just to anyone."
"..."
"If so then why do you talk to me?"
"...The memory potion must've had quite an effect on you, seeing that you don't remember something recent."
He reached for something underneath his seat and showed it to me. It was a little paper bag that had a buttery scent of bread and garlic.
"We met just for a bit on the ship. I was starving to death and you gave it to me before fainting."
'Just for that food the previous owner of this body gave?'
When I thought to myself that we'd get along with a talk and some coffee and bread, it must be because of this. Good thing garlics don't work as poison to their race, unlike in the real world.
BLAG! BLAG! BLAG!
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
There was a sudden tap on the roof. Dust fell on our head and the unexpected gesture startled the others.
"...Sniff."
"Achoo!"
Lavender eyes and I glared at the dark ceiling with snot hanging down our nose.
"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHITS!"
The rough voice only made the others whimper even more. But contrary to their reaction, my mind was working fast upon the discovery of this tiny detail.
"The people outside can hear us? The frozen prison doesn't block sounds."
"I guess it doesn't."
Suprised, I resisted the urge to laugh out loud.
'Ha! Hahaha!'
I carefully dragged my little hands to feel the bonnet attached to the wagon bow. The fabric was made of fiber. Liquid can seep through it.
"Say, if I dropped an ink from the inside of the bonnet, will the people outside see it?"
He stared at the bonnet too, as if measuring the thickness with his dull eyes.
"Little portions won't be noticed but if it's a bucket of colored liquid then it's impossible to miss it."
A glint of hope emerged in my mind. It was like walking into a long and dark tunnel then finally seeing the other end. My lips nearly twitched up in anticipation.
'Good, very good.'
The plan formulating inside my head was slowly becoming clearer as more details came to view.
"Did you see how many wagons are there? Ones that carry children like us?"
"Ever since we left the Capital and the ship, just our batch."
"Are you a good runner? Do you have any moral compass?"
"I'm an excellent runner but I've been starving so I can't run for more than a few hours. What moral compass are you talking about?"
My eyes turned serious.
"Do you have any problems with killing and murder? Because I don't have it."
As I said repeatedly, my mind has a bunch of loose screws.
His lavender eyes didn't waver. He isn't even asking me why I was asking such absurd questions one after another. I appreciated such an attitude.
"That makes two of us."
"Are you disappointed? I'm not that kind-hearted."
Honestly, I thought it would shock him that the person who offered bread to a strangers is spitting out such weird things. It's not a question of morals but sanity.
"Huh."
He scoffed with the same expressionless face as always. We were in a terrible situation, but his face is openly saying that there's nothing wrong with it.
"Amnesiac, do I look like someone disappointed?"
I held back a snicker.
"No, you look like a dead fish."
"Even if you start a massacre right now, this face won't change."
"Good."
'Because we can't afford to be good.'
Slowly, I let my lips curl into a crescent moon. I was positively sure that I looked evil and I had no intentions of denying that.
It's possible. We can escape.
"Lavender eyes, listen..."
And I told him the plan like a whispering devil.