Page 16 of Unravel Me

I’m about to pass a café when a short omega in a colorful hat suddenly holds out a small cookie on a plate. His strange eyes are a vivid lime green.

"Uh… I don’t eat sugar," I say, swallowing nervously.

"Oh, sweetheart, it’s a fortune cookie. I can see that little cloud hanging over you, but the sun will come out. You’ll see. Read your fortune."

I feel silly. This has never been my world, these little, cozy, colorful towns, friendly people, idyllic atmosphere. I grew up in the heart of a huge city, surrounded by skyscrapers, where metal and glass closed in around me and hurried, restless people with cold eyes rushed from one place to another, never caring, never stopping.

But I crack the cookie open anyway.

A small piece of pale green paper reads:

"Follow the green."

I blink. It sounds weird to me. Probably some useless fortune.

"Th… thanks," I say out of politeness and quickly move on.

"Good luck, sweetheart," I hear behind me.

I turn around again, but there's no one there.

The omega in the colorful hat is gone.

I stand there for a moment, staring, but I can't see him anywhere. Wait… something just caught my eye.

High in the air above a red-tiled roof, where a little grocery store sits beneath it, something flutters.

What the hell? Am I imagining things?

The thing drifting lightly through the air looks like… a fairy?

Tiny, colorful, translucent wings shimmer with every color of the rainbow.

What the fuck did I just see?

I must be hallucinating. I blink rapidly and hurry toward the little central square.

There's plenty of greenery there, and being around plants has always calmed me down. This town is turning out to be seriously bizarre.

Feeling completely bewildered and confused, I step onto the paths paved with colorful stones.

Why am I even going this way?

Downtown isn't my destination; as Storm marked on the map, the place he'd become obsessed with lies about two miles outside the town limits, deep in a wooded area.

I'm just about to turn toward where I parked, but… I notice a man sitting alone on a bench in the park, an older omega. He looks just like a regular normie. Maybe this is a good chance to ask around, so I walk toward him.

He gazes up at me with eyes framed by fine wrinkles and tilts his head curiously.

There's a bag of candy resting on his lap.

"Good afternoon. Sorry to bother you, but I'd like to ask about a place not far from here that doesn't seem to be marked on the map."

I unfold the printout. The old omega lowers his gaze to it, though his eyes seem slightly unfocused. I can't tell whether he simply needs a much stronger pair of glasses or whether he has no real interest in studying the map, preferring conversation instead.

"Do you happen to know what might be here?"

"Call me Davos, sweetheart."