I gasp as my eyelids lift open. Water is rolling over my body, soaking my hair and pooling against my mouth. I quickly push up as I hack, struggling to get oxygen into my lungs. I can’t quite grasp reality yet as a thick cloud of haziness fogs my mind and dances through my veins, taunting me with the unknown of where I am and how I got here.
My vision is blurry, and I’m wet and cold—that much I know. I keep blinking and blinking until I can finally see my surroundings. Once I can, it doesn’t make me feel better at all.
Trees tower around me, and above, the sky is pouring down rain while lightning bolts zap across the dark clouds. The wind is howling and tossing twigs around in the air, and the muddy ground I’m sitting on is so soft I’m actually sinking into it.
I stumble to my feet and peer around, searching for a sign of people or a house. But all I see is trees, trees, and more trees.
I yank my fingers through my wet and muddy hair as I rack my mind for what the hell happened to me. Slowly, it starts to click—me heading to save Noah, but then I got jumped … by Eli, I think. A bag was put over my head, and then I think I was chloroformed.
I press my hand to my throbbing forehead. Oh my God, I can’t believe this happened. I thought I escaped this sort of shit when I left northside, but I’m starting to believe the royals are way more fucking ruthless than people like Drew and his gang. The worst part about this isn’t even that I’m lost in the woods. It’s that I have no clue what the hell was done to me while I was unconscious.
I take a mental note of how my body feels then glance down at my T-shirt and jeans. Other than the fact that the fabric iscoated with mud, it doesn’t appear as if any of my clothes were removed at one point. And my body feels fine. Cold, but that’s about it. Still, it’s unnerving, and a shiver racks through my body.
I rub my hands up and down my arms as I debate what to do next. My phone is gone from my pocket, but that’s not surprising. I still search the ground in a lame-ass attempt to find it. It doesn’t turn up, so I deliberate which way to walk—which tree section looks the clearest.
As I’m considering this, my watch beeps. I startle, but then my heart leaps in my chest as a message from River flashes across the face of it.
Gothic Prince: I can’t get a call to come through to you, but hopefully, this message makes it to you. I’ve tracked your location, so please stay put. I’m on my way to get you.
I exhale and cringe at the sight of my breath fogging from my lips. It’s cold, and I’m starting to feel more and more as the numbing effects of the chloroform evaporate from my body.
I may have been upset with River for adding my cell service to the watch without telling me, but at the moment, I don’t care. I tap the screen and send a reply via audio, because that’s the only thing I have access to.
But the message fails to send, so all I can do is find a rock to sit on and wait it out. I spot one nearby, tucked under the branches of a tree. While rain splatters from the leaves, it’s not as bad as standing directly out in the open. So, I sit down, hug my knees to my chest, and wait it out.
I’ve never had to do this before—wait for someone to rescue me. I’ve never had anyone in my life who would, except for maybe Aunt Ellie, but she wasn’t always around. I feel helpless and worried that no one will show up, especially as time ticks by. With how much time passed from when I left the academy towhen I woke up, Eli had plenty of time to drag me out pretty far into the woods. He wasn’t alone either—that much I know. And then they whispered that stupid thing about me being captured by the Royal Society.
It’s beyond annoying and has also got me worried, considering everything I’ve been told about the society. Plus, wasn’t me dating River supposed to protect me from this?
And what about Noah? It’s nearing six o’clock, and I can’t do anything to help him, not even send a message to Aiden, telling him I’m running late, not that I think that’d go over well, but he might give me some extra time.
I drag my hand down my face. This is so bad. It’s getting dark and colder by the second. I can’t even feel my body anymore, which probably isn’t a good sign.
“Maddy!” a shout echoes around the forest loud enough to be heard over the hammering rain.
I’m so exhausted that, for a brief instant, I think I hallucinated it.
As the air grows quiet again, I worry that I have.
But then …
“Maddy!” The shout is louder this time and definitely sounds like River.
It takes all of my energy to drag myself up and step off that rock. “Over here!” I manage to yell as I frantically search the trees for a sign of him in the midst of the graying darkness consuming everything.
But then I spot a drop of light piercing through the nightfall.
“River!” I shout as loud as I can as I stumble toward the light.
“Maddy.” He’s close now, and the light starts barreling toward me.
I move to. Closer and closer.
Then I see him, his dark but warm eyes, his damp, dark hair, and full lips that are beaded by raindrops. The amount of reliefthat washes over me is enough to almost cause my legs to buckle, but I manage to stay upright and reach him.
He’s holding his phone with the flashlight app on, and the instant I’m within reach, he wraps me into his arms and pulls me close. He has a rain jacket on, and the fabric feels weird against my skin. He also doesn’t smell like he typically does, the scent of rain wafting off him. Despite that, and despite how earlier today I was questioning spending time with him, right now, I’m so damn grateful to have him in my life.
Even though the concept is foreign to me, I wrap my arms around him and press my head into the crook of his neck. I shut my eyes and pretend I’m not standing in the trees, drenched in rain and mud.
