Sen

  The forest closed in around Senna like a shroud.

  One step past the tree line and the world shifted. Her decision to leave sunk in as she scrambled to form any semblance of a plan. Now what? Ten more steps and the world actually shifted, tilting as she ran, her head throbbing, the injury reminding her of her fragility. Adrenaline had pushed her out of the house, fear kept her upright as she raced across the fields. But that was dwindling now. She could feel the exhaustion spreading through her body. She tried to push it back but her limbs started to shake and she had to grit her teeth to keep pushing.

  The air cooled as she went deeper, thick with damp, decaying smells and fallen needles softened her steps. She leaned heavily against a tree when the spinning worsened, pressing her forehead to the rough bark. Her skull throbbed in time with her racing heart.

  She swallowed and forced herself from the trunk. Standing still felt dangerous. Stillness meant listening too closely to her own breathing, to the blood roaring in her ears. It meant remembering the cellar floor rushing up at her, the crack of bone, the way the world had gone white. It meant thinking of Rydan’s arms under her knees, his hands shaking as he carried her away.

  Don’t stop.

  Her legs trembled as she stumbled forward clumsily, skeletal beneath the oversized overalls. Father had always said hunger was necessary. It kept her small. Looking down at herself now, she thought of how carefully he had carved her into this shape. Angular and wrong, afraid of her soft edges. Each step sent a dull ache through her hips and spine, exhaustion gnawing deeper now that the fear had gone.

  She loved the farm. The thought struck her so hard that she had to suck in a breath. The animals. ‘Would they be ok?’ She tried to keep the question from her mind as tears stung the corners of her eyes. They’d have to be, just like she would have to be. Harlin would take over and be kind to them. They needed them, after all. They didn’t need her.

  Memories flashed through her mind before she could stop them. Rydan’s laughter while they worked. Grady’s watchful, joyous presence. She had loved being someone on the farm, even if that someone was a lie. She could see it clearly now, how temporary Sen had always been. Her mother’s smiling face, glowing from the blazing fire she tended in their farmhouse, appeared in her mind so suddenly, it struck her like a physical blow. Senna stumbled again, a sob breaking free.

  Then Rydan’s face burned in her mind as she stumbled along, trying to run and failing miserably. His fury, his helplessness, the way he had looked at her like she meant something. Leaving him felt like tearing out something vital. She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand.

  If she went back, they would never let her leave again.

  A snapped twig to her left sent panic lancing through her. She froze, heart hammering, listening. The forest answered with only its usual noises and the distant flutter of something small taking flight. She moved again, slower now, senses stretched and searching.

  If a stranger found her, it would only be a matter of time. Someone would notice the wrongness of her. The softness that hunger couldn’t completely erase. She would be turned in, auctioned, and paid for like a sack of grain.. If her family caught her, it would be worse. They would call it necessity as they married her off. All to hide the truth that they had kept her this long. The worst part was they were as much prisoners to these lies as she was. Rydan’s face flashed again and she let out another sob.

  Her knees buckled without warning. She hit the ground hard, catching herself with her hands Her palms stung from impact and the sharp edges of the needles.. The forest spun. Black crept at the edges of her vision.

  Just breathe. Just a moment.

  She counted her heartbeats as her vision steadied once more, though the roaring in her ears didn’t ease. When she stood again, pain flared bright and vicious, but she pushed it aside. Steadying herself.

  She had taken only a few more steps when a new thought cut through her fog, sharp as a blade.

  The hounds.

  Grady’s brothers. Leaner. Faster. Bred to hunt. If they were let loose, it would be easy for them to find her familiar scent. Like sport, they’d be on her in moments. Blood and sweat and fear laid thick behind her like a trail painted for them. They could run her down easily. Especially in her fragile state, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Her pulse spiked. The river. The thought came to her like a prayer and a curse. Water could break a trail. Mask her scent. If she could reach it, she might live. She’d had to travel against the current, they’d expect her to take the easier route downstream. They knew she was weak. If she could throw them off her trail for a day… Even a few hours while they searched downstream. It wasn’t much, but it was something. She didn’t dare let hope bloom. First, she had to make it there.

  She forced her legs to move faster, lungs burning, vision tunneling. She rounded a massive oak and nearly stumbled to a stop.

  The bush rose out of the undergrowth like a shining miracle. Huge. Heavy with fruit. Dark berries gleaming dully beneath broad leaves.

  Her hands shook as she plucked one and crushed it between her fingers. The berry burst with thick, red juice and she gasped in relief. She leaned closer, heart in her throat, searching the flesh for the wrong color. Not the bright, treacherous pink of night berries.

  Dark with small seeds. Juice as crimson as blood. Bloodberries. Safe.

  She whispered thanks to any god still listening and shoved a handful into her mouth. Tangy sweetness burst across her tongue. She chewed too fast, juice running down her chin, ears straining for any sound that did not belong to the forest. Bloodberries were pungent raw, with a distinct after taste that was almost metallic, as if the juice wasn’t enough to give them their name. They baked into a beautiful, rich berry pie, however. Never one of her favorites but she didn’t have the chance to care now. She needed food. Any sustenance. She was used to working on scraps but this was something else entirely.

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  She gathered two more handfuls and stuffed them deep into the oversized pockets of her overalls, fingers sticky, breath slowing just a little. Her stomach growled for more but she ignored it. Her legs felt a little more steady. Not strong, but enough.

  Enough to try.

  She wiped her hands on her trousers, took one last look around, and ran.

  She didn’t hear him until his hand closed around her arm.

  The grip yanked her off balance, pain flaring sharp and immediate. Senna cried out and twisted, heart slamming against her ribs. Geo’s voice came hard and close, breath hot with certainty.

  “I saw you,” he said. “Cutting across the fields from Rydan’s house. I knew you were running.”

  Fear surged, wiping away thought. She tore free with a burst of wild strength, skin slick with sweat making Geo’s hand slip. She was free again. The river flared in her mind like a beacon.

  He caught her two steps later.

  He dove into her from behind, sending them both flying. The impact drove her hard into the ground. She managed to keep her head from smashing against the ground again, a small mercy. But the jostling still made her vision go white from the pain of her unhealed injury. Her ears rang. For a heartbeat, or maybe several, there was nothing at all.

  When awareness crept back, it came unevenly. Cold earth beneath her cheek. Her pulse pounding too fast. Geo’s hands under her shoulders as he tried to haul her upright.

  “Enough,” he said, strained. “You’re coming back.”

  Panic snapped her fully awake. She rolled, slipping from his grasp, and he lost his hold with a startled curse. She scrambled, limbs clumsy and weak, pain lancing through her skull so fiercely she thought she might black out again. He lunged. She fought without form or plan, driven by terror and the certainty that if he lifted her again, everything was over.

  Something inside her broke open.

  It was not a thought or a decision. It was pressure giving way, a sealed place in her mind tearing wide. Heat flooded her veins, fierce and overwhelming, and with it came a darkness that did not feel empty at all. It felt vast. Awake. Protective.

  The air shuddered.

  A rush of black fire spilled outward,, a violent bloom that forced everything else away. It surrounded her, cloaking her entire body in the burning tendrils. She did not feel it beyond the intense heat and the energy. It didn’t burn but, rather, caressed her as it poured out. The forest seemed to recoil. Senna could not see past the writhing dark, could not hear past the rushing in her ears. She was frozen at the center of it, breath locked in her chest, fear burning so bright it hurt.

  Then it was gone.

  The darkness folded back into her as if it had never been, leaving the world abruptly, terrifyingly still. Senna lay gasping, the ground warm beneath her palms, the smell of smoke suddenly heavy. It had pushed her back as it left her in a violent storm.

  Slowly, she lifted her head.

  A darkened, charred mound lay smothering a few feet away. She was confused for a only a moment, looking right and left for Geo to appear out of the trees once more. Then her eyes settled on the mound again and they grew wide.

  “No,” she whispered, rolling to her hands and knees. “No, no, no.”

  She crawled to the charred mound of unrecognizable flesh and nearly gagged with the stench. Her eyes burned from the smoke and tears as realization filled her chest and fear squeezed her lungs. She gasped for air, reeling back from the body.

  She knew without touching him. Without calling his name. The knowledge settled into her bones with awful finality. She turned and emptied the meager contents of her stomach onto the forest floor, vomit red as blood from the berries.

  “No,” she whispered again, the word thin and broken.

  Her body shook, pain and shock crashing together until she could not tell where one ended and the other began. She stared at her hands, at the quiet forest, at the space where everything had changed.

  Whatever had awakened inside her was silent now.

  But it had answered her fear.

  And nothing would ever be the same again.

  –????????–

  She fled.

  She’d left the body behind and fled.

  She had made it to the river just before she heard the call of the hounds, off in the forest. They were fast. It wouldn’t be long before they made the gruesome discovery.

  Tears flowed freely down her face. They wouldn’t take her. Now they would kill her on sight.

  A witch.

  The phase burned in her mind as she splashed loudly upstream, pausing here and there to dunk herself beneath the cool water, hoping to further hide her scent. The wind wasn’t strong today but scents still carried. Though she was torn if she should even run at all. Yes, her family had planned something terrible for her. Geo had injured her in the process. But they were scared. Desperate.

  Murderer.

  The word whispered in her ear as her tears flowed in earnest. She hadn’t meant it. Whatever it was had acted in her defense. What was she?

  She thought about giving up. Maybe she deserved to die. It was the fear of being turned in to be sold that kept her moving. But the implications weighed her down, slowing her even more as her mind reeled. She was afraid to die.

  Coward.

  The river roared, water higher than usual from the heavy rains. It would be good for covering her trail. But it made it hard to walk and she fell, more than once, swept away by the current. Losing precious feet of progress. She’d grab a rock and push herself up, sputtering. Somehow, she found the strength to keep going.

  Give up.

  She wasn’t sure how long she went for when she felt herself on the brink of unconsciousness. She managed to pull herself up onto a shelf of rock on the side of the river and laid down, panting. She closed her eyes as her ears strained for any noise in the forest. She’d heard the hounds a few times but always off in the distance. Sometimes they sounded closer, sometimes farther. It had been a while since she heard them at all. She cracked open her eyes and stared at the darkening sky of sunset above. She wasn’t sure what time it had been when she left so it gave her no clues about how long it had been.

  She closed her eyes again, unable to keep them open any longer and slipped into unconsciousness.

  –????????–