On the days that followed, there was a noticeable change around Laudan. The vigilance got much tighter, and there were guards wherever you went, watching every single move. If they thought it was necessary, they stopped people on their way and inquired them about where they were going or where they had been. They also checked every pocket, basket and pushcart, looking for anything suspicious. They also asked constantly if anybody had noticed anything remotely suspicious lately. All carriages were forbidden to leave Laudan, except the ones that were specifically authorized by Chief Claimon himself, and never without at least three guards escorting them. The people were quite tense, not only because of the hyper-vigilance that stressed everybody out, but also because everybody knew that it would only be a matter of time until somebody spilled the beans about the strange things that had been happening around Laudan – and then the real tragedy would start.

Meanwhile, Adrian and I were still harboring the wounded man in our house and taking care of him. In fact, after that night, we had gotten into a new routine, that involved doing our usual tasks during the day, and whenever we had the time, we would try to go and check on the man to see how he was doing, as well as giving him food. Fortunately, he was recovering well, though not as quickly as I would’ve wished he would. With everything that was happening all around, getting him out of the house and away from Laudan was more urgent than ever, but he was still very weak to do anything other than sitting on the bed whenever we fed him or changed the bandages. Also, I was worried about how we were going to do when Father returned home, as we didn’t have that many days left.

During this time, Adrian and I barely spoke to each other, and the tension between us was getting bigger every day. After everything that happened, I felt that Adrian owed me a big explanation. In fact, I felt that it was the rational thing to do, especially if he wanted me to keep helping him and preserve his secret – whatever it was – but not only Adrian refused to give me any answers, but whenever he felt that I was about to ask him something, he would always find a way to avoid it, from changing the subject to leaving the room with the excuse he needed to do something else. Also, ever since the strange man was staying with us, Adrian started leaving the house a lot at night and returned at very random hours, sometimes to the point that he wouldn’t sleep at all. I guessed that he was meeting somebody in the woods, but since somebody had to watch the wounded man and make sure that nobody would find him while we were away, I couldn’t really go after him.

One night, I was changing the bandages on the man’s arm, when I heard Adrian coming inside the house. He walked into the room, still wearing his cloak and boots, looked for something under his bed, picked it up, and then he left again.

“Again?” I said out loud, as I heard the front door closing. I sighed in frustration and furiously ripped more bandages out of Adrian’s old shirts, thinking it was Adrian I was ripping instead.

“If you keep going at this rate, there’ll be bandages for all of Laudan in the days to come.“ The man said in his low, raspy voice. It was the first time he spoke to me after all these days, and just the fact that he was making a joke seemed like a very good sign of recovery for me. I couldn’t help but smile at that – the first smile in a very long time.

“By the way things are going around here, people might need them in a near future, alright. Things are getting crazier all around.” I put the strips aside and took out a bottle of this concoction Adrian and I had improvised for the man’s wounds.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve been causing you.” The man replied. “You’ve been doing far too much for me. Thank you. ” I lifted up my eyes from the mixture and I looked at the man. He was looking right back at me with his enormous hazel eyes, sounding sincere in what he just said. I looked away and focused on the mixture again.

“You don’t have to thank us for anything, just...heal your wounds and get better soon. Then we can put all of this behind us.” If we ever will, I thought to myself. I picked one of the strips of cloth, dropped some of the mixture in it and rubbed it on the wound. I could feel him getting tense whenever I did that, but not even once I heard him scream. Then, I picked all the other strips and made a strong, tight bandage around his arm. “Though what you could do for is tell me what exactly is going on. I could really use some answers right now about what you and Adrian have been up to lately. It sounds like something dangerous if you have to hide all the time so you could meet, and...I’m scared. I have a bad feeling about all of this. Things are already so hard, and I can’t risk losing my family, like...” I started sobbing, but I took a deep breath and pulled myself together.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.” He said softly. “All I can tell you is that I hope for a better outcome too.” I sighed and wiped my tears.

“It’s really useless to ask you anything, isn’t it?” He nodded. “But do you know what you could do for me? It would help a lot if I could at least get to know your name. I can’t keep calling you “the man” all the time.” He smiled.

“That would be saying too much already. My name must be kept a secret too.”

“But I’m sure that Adrian knows it.”

“No, he doesn’t know it. In fact, I go by many names, according to where I am.”

“Oh, really? Well, I’ll give you one to add to your list, then. I’ll call you Omen.”

“How peculiar! Why Omen?”

“Because that’s exactly what you brought to Laudan the moment you came in through that forest.”

“Sounds fair. Omen it is, then.”