Chapter 3

Nyra opened her eyes to the smell of crushed leaves and wet soil.

For several moments, she didn't move. She simply stared through the branches above her, watching sunlight slip between the leaves in broken patches of gold, while her mind struggled to understand why she was seeing any of it at all.

She remembered running.

She remembered the pain in her side, the terrible weight of her own body as she'd stumbled through the trees, and the footsteps behind her that had seemed to grow louder no matter how desperately she tried to escape.

Then she'd fallen.

And waited…