Chapter 4

I kept one hand on the doorknob.

Kael sat on the edge of the bed, the silver hair clip beside his hand.

"I went to the study,"

I said.

His eyes stayed on my face.

"What for?"

"I was tired of being stuck in this room. I wanted something to read."

I let go of the doorknob and crossed to the bed. My legs had already started to weaken, so I sat down.

"You look pale."

"I walked too much."

Kael touched my forehead. I didn't pull away.

"Don't go out again today."

"Okay."

"I'll be back before your treatment tonight."

"You're leaving again?"

"I have something to handle."

He handed me the water glass.

"Seraphine's already here."

The rim stopped against my lips.

Kael noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

I handed the glass back. He pulled the blanket higher around me.

"Get some sleep."

A few minutes later, he stood. At the door, he paused.

"Mara. Don't leave this room tonight."

"Why?"

"You need to rest."

Then he was gone.

The clock read 12:47.

I waited.

At two, I barely touched the lunch they brought me. After three, footsteps became more frequent in the hall. Around four, Seraphine came upstairs and spoke to the guard outside my door. A little after five, Kael still hadn't returned.

I went over the map in my head.

The west door was locked. Guards covered the north. The eastern route crossed the training grounds.

One path remained: a narrow maintenance passage at the end of the first floor, used for moving old supplies.

By six, the light outside was fading.

I changed into light clothes and soft-soled shoes. I left my phone and the old communicator behind, folded the map, and slipped it inside my coat.

At 6:20, the guard outside changed shifts.

The new one answered a call and walked several steps away.

I opened the door.

The hallway was empty.

I moved west with one hand against the wall. Voices drifted from the stairwell, and I stepped into the shadows.

Two men passed below.

"Seraphine's still preparing everything for tonight,"

one of them said.

I waited until they were gone, then continued downstairs.

The door at the end of the first floor stood half open. Behind it, wooden crates and old furniture crowded a narrow passage.

I squeezed through.

Another door waited at the far end.

No electronic lock.

I pressed the handle.

Cold air rushed over me.

No one was outside.

I slipped through and shut the door behind me.

The old storage building stood to my right. Beyond it were low bushes and, farther out, the forest.

I started walking.

By the time I reached the back of the building, pain had begun pulling beneath my ribs. I pressed a hand over the wound and kept moving.

The forest was close.

A door slammed behind me.

Someone shouted.

Another voice answered.

I ran.

Pressure closed around my chest almost at once. A sharp pain tore through my side, and I stumbled against a tree.

Behind me, communicators crackled.

"...not in her room..."

"...west side..."

I forced myself deeper into the forest.

Branches scraped my face. The last of the light vanished under the trees.

Then my legs gave out.

My knees hit the mud. Both hands sank into the wet ground.

A wolf howled behind me.

Close.

I tried to stand.

I couldn't.

"Come out,"

I whispered.

Nothing.

"Please."

Another howl.

Closer.

I lowered my head.

Whenever I had been afraid before, I had thought of Kael--training injuries, my first time alone in the forest, nights when nightmares woke me.

A branch snapped nearby.

I opened my eyes.

Kael couldn't find me.

My fingers dug into the mud.

"I know you're still there."

My chest hurt with every breath.

"I don't know why you never come out."

Leaves crushed beneath running paws.

"But we don't have anyone else."

Wind moved through the trees.

Nothing answered.

I pushed myself up again. My legs shook beneath me.

"If no one is coming to save us--"

My throat tightened.

"Then we save ourselves."

Something shifted in the darkness inside me.

Soft. Like a breath held too long.

I froze.

Then a voice rose from somewhere deep inside.

Low. Rough.

One word.

"Run."