Rowan saw the surprise in Nellie's eyes.
She was being clever.
Such tricks might work on inexperienced young people, but fighters only trust their own perceptions and refuse to be easily misled.
He steadily approached Nellie, ready to understand her.
Hewitt Drayton put his hand on Rowan's shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Rowan broke into a cold sweat.
Nellie had disappeared.
Something was trying to rip out the part of him related to Nellie from his soul and mind.
Now he started to suspect that the strange encounter was causing chaos in his brain. As far as he could tell, there had been no one behind him.
If someone was able to approach him from beyond his line of sight in such a short time, their speed would be beyond what any human could achieve.
Rowan gave up resisting.
"Go ahead."
Dozens of soft thread-like extensions from the back of Rowan's neck crawled into him, carefully avoiding any place that might cause harm.
Then Hewitt Drayton knew everything.
