The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,10

he crashed into something and seconds later was plastered to the sidewalk.

He thought he’d collided with a phone booth or maybe a street lamp. It took him a few moments to realize he was now sitting on the cold cement, but then he remembered his mother. He tried to peer through the legs and torsos of the crowd to see her, but she had disappeared. He’d lost her again. This wasn’t the first time he thought he had seen her since running away. Was she ever there or was Landon’s hunger and exhaustion playing tricks on him?

Defeated, he looked back to find out what broke his chase. He first focused on a pair of well-polished black dress shoes. They were big and wide, the laces were perfectly tied, and an even bow rested lightly on the shiny patent leather. As he raised his head, he followed the smooth legs of a pair of black pleated slacks. Once his eyes reached the man’s waist, Landon noticed the pressed white shirt with a sleek black tie and a boxy black suit jacket. The man was bulky and muscular; he hadn’t even moved an inch when Landon plowed right into him. Landon rose to his feet and looked back at the man he had run into. As he raised his head to apologize, a little scrap of paper in the man’s hand caught his attention. In a flash, Landon saw it. It was only a moment, but that was all it took for Landon to see that this suited man carried a picture of him. It was his high school photo they took for the yearbook that his mother had ordered personal copies of. Landon shot his head upward to see the face of the man who held it. He looked like all the rest of them. He had a square head and a clean-shaven, rigid jaw. His blond hair was cut the same as the others, and out of his right ear extended a coiled wire that disappeared under his white collar.

Landon began to sweat. Drops of perspiration beaded on his forehead and his hands became clammy. He felt his heart race as his body went momentarily numb. All the sounds of the busy street faded away. They found me.

In that moment, Landon thought of one possible thing to do. He turned on the spot and began to sprint down the sidewalk, running away from the mysterious man. He forced his way through the crowds of people, who cast agitated looks at him as he bumped and pushed them.

“Wait! Stop!”

Landon heard the suited man’s shouts as he pursue him.

“We just want to talk to you!”

But Landon didn’t want to talk. He sped through the crowds of people, and once he reached the convenience store, he turned into the smelly alley where he had slept for the past few days. As he ran, he jolted from side to side, pulling down trash cans and throwing boxes in the path of his pursuer, hoping it would slow him down. It didn’t seem to work. Landon could hear the staccato clapping of the suited man’s shoes as he raced through the alleyway, close on his heels. The small rests in his steps made Landon envision the effortless hurdling the boxes and trashcans he’d placed in his path.

Once he reached the end of the alley, Landon turned right and sped down the sidewalk. The sound of the man’s steps gradually increased in volume as he got closer and closer. When Landon looked, he saw the man was only about fifteen yards behind him, but he seemed to have more trouble working through the crowds of people.

He reached the end of the block and crossed the street. After a few days staying in the area, Landon learned this part of town well, and he figured if he got to the Financial District, he could lose himself in the thick crowds of commuters. Momentarily, Landon thought he might get away, but once he arrived at the other side of the street, he noticed another suited man running straight at him. He was almost a carbon copy of the other. If it weren’t for this one’s brown hair, Landon would have thought the blond man behind him possessed some sort of magical powers.

Abruptly, Landon stopped in his tracks. His brain raced with potential routes as he tried to devise a new plan of escape, calibrating a new route like a GPS. The sound of his pounding heart bounced around