Chapter 196: A Different Kind of Sh*tShow – Part 1

If you like music while you read, try "What a Wonderful World" by Reuben and the Dark, and AG. It's what I was listening to while writing this chapter (and the next two!)

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~ GAR ~

Rika was sitting up in the large sleeping platform at the end of the cave, beyond the fire, her knees up and a book leaned on them. There was a split second before she registered that she wasn't alone and he used it to drink in the sight of her.

Her brown hair, longer now than when she'd arrived in Anima, was greasy and her eyes shadowed with dark smudges that made them look sunken. But her skin glowed with the low, warm light of the fire, and she hadn't lost weight this time, thank God.

She must have felt his eyes on her then because she got a strange, thoughtful look, then her eyes dragged up from the book in her lap. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open, her heart slamming against her ribs.