I looked up into the night sky. The fact that someone else had jumped from the plane terrified me. Something told me it wasn’t my sister. And if it wasn’t my sister, then someone was coming after me. Deep-seated instinct told me to move. I turned around and limped in the opposite direction from where the plane had gone, the moon at my back. The need to get as much space between me and whoever had jumped after me outweighed everything else.
The ground sank beneath my feet, mossy. Every step was torture, taking more energy than walking should have. Somehow, I’d managed to keep my shoes. A lot of good ballet flats did when I sank in the earth an inch or two with every step, but at least I wasn’t barefoot. I breathed through the pain in my ankle, knowing I didn’t have the luxury to stop. Gossamer webs brushed my face and arms, clinging. Some bug bit my thigh and I swatted at it.
I’d never felt so useless as I did right now. If I could shift, I would be able to see better in the dark. The thought of shifting sent another spike through my brain. Gasping, my hands flew to the collar. I needed to get it off. But Sabrina had told me not to touch it. After everything, I had to trust her. My chest ached with the truth. She’d sacrificed herself to free me.
It wasn’t any warmer on the ground than it had been in the air. Freezing, I rubbed my fingers together, blew on them, and kept moving. Damp earth and pine—the scents mixed together in my head. I had no idea if I was traveling toward or away from help, but I knew I needed to keep going. If my sister was still a captive of whoever had taken us, I needed to find her and free her. I had to believe she was alive. There was no other option.
How the hell am I going to find her?If it hadn’t been for Sabrina, I wouldn’t have gotten out of that plane in the first place. I would have curled up and cried and whatever that cougar had planned for me would have happened.
My foot crunched on something and I stopped. It took me a second to understand what it was—snow, an icy sheet of it.What the?The last time I checked it was May, Spring. There shouldn’t be any snow.
Where the fuck am I?
I kept going, careful not to step on the patches of white and slip in my gripless shoes. Each step made my ankle burn more. The terrain shifted from spongy ground cover to rock, to sand, then back to mossy. Every time I stepped on rock, it was a relief, easier to walk. I wished it was all rock. My legs were overtired and shaking. My teeth clattered in my head from the cold. What I would give for a parka and winter boots.
The light of the moon guided me forward. The trees were different here than the ones I was used to. Instead of the dogwoods, oaks, and maples in Sleepy Hollow State Park where Sabrina, our mother, and I used to camp years ago, these pines were skinnier, their trunks gnarled. They reached for the sky like aged fingers between the white trunks of birch trees.
Wet areas appeared beneath my feet before I knew I stepped in them. My shoes became soaked with sludgy water. I stumbled over a root, twisting my ankle again. The ground met my hands as hot pain shot through my leg. Grabbing on to the nearest tree for support, my hand sank into something soft—moss.
Moss grows on the north side of trees,a lesson Sabrina taught me when we’d gone camping as kids. I stood, running my hand up the side of the tree, the moss softening the rough bark. That meant I was heading east. My sister would be so proud I remembered something outdoorsy. My breath hitched. God, I hoped she was okay, that she was able to break free, too.
Knowing which way I traveled did me little good. I had no idea if heading east was a positive thing or not.
A nearby scurrying noise made me jump. The animal hadn’t sounded big but my heart raced anyway, my fingers digging into the moss growing on the tree I braced against. I stood in the middle of nowhere. Who knew what other kinds of creatures lived here? There could be deadly ones. Would any be worse than who had jumped out of the plane after me?
Swallowing, I trekked onward, breathing through the pain in my ankle with each step. Stopping only made me colder and I was already freezing. My teeth chattered nonstop. My shoes were total shit, meant for a night of light dancing and that was it. They pinched my pinkie toes and rubbed against my Achilles tendon. Each new step made it worse. The way my feet sank into the earth amplified the pain. If I took off my shoes, my feet would probably look like hamburger.
I walked and walked, telling myself to keep going, to put one foot in front of the other. My frantic breaths filled my head, a counter-balance to the buzz of insects that surrounded me in a low hum. I wiped cobwebs from my face and scratched another bite on my arm. Some of the tree branches were so heavy with moss it looked like they dripped with it.
The night sky lightened, turning a deep indigo. Hunger and nausea twisted my stomach. If I could shift, then I could hunt for my dinner, but as a human, I was useless. I didn’t know how to set a trap like Sabrina. I didn’t know how to make a fire out of nothing like her. She was the one who went on week-long wilderness hikes with nothing but a backpack. I was the one who waited in the hot tub of an upscale lodge with my martini in one hand and my phone in the other.
My phone. I hadn’t thought of it until just now. The kidnappers must have taken it because it had been in my back pocket along with my ID, bankcard, and a bit of cash. If I had my cell, I could call for help. I looked up at the lightening sky. Would I get a signal out here? Where was here?
A defeated sob ripped from my chest. My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees. They stung. I knew I’d ripped some skin off and didn’t care.So tired.Giving up, I laid down and curled into a ball. All the tears I’d been trying to hold back came loose. I couldn’t do this anymore. Every part of me hurt. Every part of me was cold. My skin felt tight. My head pounded. My stomach clenched, empty and painful. I wanted to sleep and wake up in my cozy, warm bed.
Get up.
My instincts were telling me to keep moving, that whoever had jumped out of the plane after me followed. I didn’t understand who could have grabbed us. We were always so careful since we lived on our own, not in one of the rare shifter communities. There were two dominate species in this world: us and them. Our instincts made sure we kept our animals sides secret from humans. But that guy had been a cougar. Why would he want to hurt us?
Whoever had jumped out of the plane, they were probably better at survival stuff than me, considering the plane and guns. And most outdoorsy types traveled faster than I could ever hope to out here. I touched the collar encircling my neck. Did it have some sort of tracking device on it?
The thought made me struggle to my feet again. Groaning in pain, I kept pushing forward. The sky continued to lighten, now a deep shade of ultramarine.
Something bright reflected in front of me and I paused, wary. When I couldn’t hear anything, I moved forward, but cautiously. The same thing flashed again. My heart sped up. Picking up my pace, I broke through the tree line, then stopped.
A lake lay just ahead, the setting moon reflecting off its surface.
I’d never been so happy to see a lake in my entire life. A sudden thirst erupted along my tongue and the back of my throat. I couldn’t remember ever being so parched. I stumbled toward the water. Rocks edged the shoreline instead of a beach. I made my way along it, looking for a place to reach down to the water where I wouldn’t fall in. I’d freeze to death in this cold if I did.
Finally, I found a spot where a flat rock stretched toward the water line. I walked almost to the edge, then got down on my hands and knees to crawl the rest of the way. My torn skin stung. When the water was inches away from my face, I cupped both hands and scooped some up.
It was so cold my fingers went numb. I took a sip. It tasted fresh. I drank some more, did it again and again until my stomach told me stop. The sudden urge to retch made me slap a hand over my mouth. Was the water bad or was my stomach too empty?
I breathed through my nose, trying to will my insides to settle. Taking slow breaths, I stared at the water, then dropped my hand when my stomach calmed. A light wind created ripples across the surface. I tensed when I realized something else reflected in the lake besides the moon, a different kind of light. I lifted my head, and blinked.
A cabin. On the other side of the lake, light shone through someone’s cabin windows. Relief poured through me. I could get help. I could use their phone. They could give me a ride to the nearest town.I’m saved.
It didn’t look far if I could go straight to it. But I wouldn’t swim across a freezing lake. I glanced right then left, trying to figure out which way would be shorter. They both seemed equally challenging.
