“Are you going to run if I release you?” I ask.
All I get in response are sniffles and a tremor through her body. Slowly, I release the small woman, and she hurriedly moves away from me. But she doesn’t run, which is a good start. No, now her eyes look glazed, and as she backs into a tree trunk, she clutches one hand to her chest. I think panic and fear have addled her mind.
I bend down so I’m not as tall, making sure to keep distance between us.
“Are you all right?” I ask, able to see more of her now that she’s no longer hysterical. Her hair is long, very long, and matted in places as if it hasn’t been brushed in years. Her eyes are huge, though I can’t make out their color in the dim light. All I can see are the bulging whites as she regards me in return.
After many long moments of silence, the woman shakes her head.
“I don’t think so.” She lifts one of her feet, then the other, as if she’s trying to take the pressure off them.
“Then, can I help you?” I hold out one hand, and reflexively, she draws back against the tree trunk. “We really should see to those wounds on your feet, in case they become infected.”
She peers down at the feet in question, then back up at me with confusion on her face.
“You want to help me?”
Now it’s my turn to be perplexed. Of course I want to help. Anyone would if they saw what I’m seeing: a malnourished, lost, and injured person, alone in the woods. But her expression is so skeptical that I wonder what she’s been through.
“Yes, I do want to help you.” I offer her my hand a second time. “Are you hungry?”
Her eyes get even bigger.
“Yes,” she breathes, releasing the tree trunk. “And so thirsty.”
I nod. “I can give you these things, if you come with me.”
My request sends her reeling.
“Go with you?” Her voice is high-pitched and panicked again.
“How else am I going to bandage your wounds and feed you?”
She seems to be thinking over this, and then to my surprise, she steps forward and takes my hand—while her own shakes like a leaf.
“All right.” Her lips purse and her brows furrow. “But if you try anything…”
“I won’t.” I wrap my thick fingers around her tiny, skinny ones. “I promise.”
2
SELENE
The first thing I think about the man who chased me in the woods is that he is verylarge. A beast of a person, really. I thought he was a bear when he first started after me, and I’m still not sure that he’s not with how much hair he has on him. The blond hair on his head is trimmed short but it’s still fluffy, and so is his beard. He even has hair on the backs of his hands. His belly is bigger than I would imagine for a town guard, but after the way he chased me, he can clearly move fast despite his size.
I shouldn’t be thinking about that. I should be thinking about how to escape as he leads me through the woods. He’s surely taking me to his home to rape me, even though he promised he wouldn’t.
Father said everyone in the world is a liar, and they’ll do whatever they need to do to hurt and take. To get what’s “theirs.”
The moment this man gives me the promised food, I’m running again, as much as my feet ache. They’re raw, and every press of my bare wounds onto the pine needles makes me wince.
The big man pauses and peers down at me.
“You can’t walk, can you?”
I lift each of my feet to look at the bloodied bottoms.
He grimaces. “Thought so.”
