The woman began to cry, but all too soon her tears turned to anger. “I’ll kill them all.”
A knock on the back door startled the woman. She and the man grabbed weapons, preparing to fight against whoever was on the other side of the door.
“It’s only me.” It was the voice of a young boy.
They both rushed to open the door, and before I could stop her from dropping my hand, she spun to crouch in front of me. “I love you. You’re the most perfect princess. I want you to go with him.” She pointed toward the boy. “He’ll keep you safe until we can find you again.”
The woman’s words were reassuring, but her face was wet with tears. She looked so sad and helpless. Again, I wanted to comfort her.
The man touched the boy’s shoulder, then gave a sharp, hard shake. “Always remember your purpose. I’m counting on you to keep my girl safe.”
The woman wept, choking on her sobs as the man knelt in front of me. He cupped my face, studying every feature. “I love you so much. Always remember who you are, my little princess. You’re royalty.”
The boy stepped forward and took my hand, leading me out the door. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I screamed. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay with the man and the woman.
The boy pulled me along, and I turned to look back at the woman. Her eyes were sad as she watched us walking down a long path that seemed to keep getting longer. She shifted into wolf form just as the front door flew open. A loud bang reverberated through the air, and the wolf fell to the ground.
Something deep within my chest seemed to shred, like a bond breaking. I cried until there were no more tears left to shed.
We ran for what seemed like hours, the boy pulling me toward the snowy woods with fierce determination. I glanced around, trying to make sense of the red-stained snow.
“Don’t look! We have to get to the boat!” the boy shouted and tried to distract me from what I was seeing. Death. Blood. All of it so vivid.
I didn’t know what he was talking about. He couldn’t have been much older than me, but he was bigger. I didn’t know how to drive a boat, so it didn’t make sense to me that he would. Fear rolled like a little ball in my belly, and I pulled against his hold. But then a chorus of angry shouts came from behind us.
“Get her! Get the girl!” I heard it loud and clear as if whoever was shouting was right next to me.
“Run faster!” The boy tugged hard at my hand, almost dragging me through the forest.
He tripped over a tree root and pulled me down to the ground beside him. He covered his mouth, clearly in pain. His ankle was bent at an unnatural angle. No way were we getting farther. There would be no boat.
“Keep running and hide in the bushes near the flowers.” He scowled and reached for his ankle. “I’ll find you there, but I need to hide until my leg can heal.”
The voices moved closer, and the boy’s eyes widened. “Run! Now!”
I did as I was told and ran as fast as I could. I was tiny. I fit through whips of switches and vines that seemed to be growing around me as I ran. But the fear let me ignore the pain and keep moving. I didn’t want the men to catch me.
I was sad. So very sad.
When I finally made it to the bushes and the field of lavender, I crouched down and hid. The overwhelming scent of the lavender filled my nose. It tickled.
A long time passed, but I had no way of knowing exactly how long I’d been hiding. I must’ve fallen asleep because I woke up with a start and discovered an unfamiliar man standing over me.
He squatted beside me. “Don’t worry, little one. I’m going to make sure you’re taken care of.” His voice was soft, sincere, and I wasn’t scared anymore.
I squinted, trying to get a good look at the man. Just before his face came into clear view, I woke up.
Sitting straight up, I clutched my chest, my heart pounding.
Ty jolted awake and sat up beside me. “Are you okay?”
The dream lingered, and my heart hurt so badly, I didn’t realize I was crying until Ty brushed away the falling tears with his thumbs.
“What’s wrong, Liza?” Panic rose in his voice as he tried to understand what was happening. “A nightmare?”
I didn’t know how to explain it to him. The pain I felt was so real.
But why?
