She walked faster out of the neighborhood.Houses blurred in her peripheral vision.Dogs barked as she hurried past fences.Kids played on sidewalks.All around her was a world she never belonged to.
A deep hollow ache grew in her chest, making it hard to breathe.
She didn't know where she was going.She no longer cared.She would go as far as her legs would carry her.
There was no reason to follow the rules or be back before curfew.She had nobody counting on her.
Nothing belonged to her.Not that house.Not the foster parents.Not the family.
Her feet carried her toward the edge of town, down a narrow road lined with tall pines.She'd never ventured that far away from the house, but today, she needed to outrun the news of her mother's death.
She looped into a jog and looked over her shoulder, needing to escape, but didn't recognize the area.Or maybe she did.Something tugged at her memories like a dream she'd had many times.
Her breath hitched.
No.
No, it couldn't be.
She stopped in the middle of the road, heart pounding.Straining to hear anything that would hint at where she was.She walked in a circle.The hair on her arms stood.
A stitch grabbed her below her ribs.She pressed her hand against her side.The air was changing.She could feel the electricity on her skin.
Then, the wind died completely.The world stilled.She was alone.
A shiver crawled up her spine.The weather changed.She remembered this feeling.Accepted what was coming.Welcomed the shift.
The air thickened.
The clouds rolled overhead.
Her goosebumps multiplied.A thrill shot through her.Just like when she was ten and had stepped into a new world.
She whispered, "Please...take me to Finn."
The trees swayed.The sky flickered.The pavement thinned beneath her feet as if she stood on the skin of something alive.
She opened her mouth, unable to breathe.Her breath was stolen from her before the world snapped back into focus.
A gasp erupted from her.She swung around.The road was changing.The trees were taller.The air smelled dusty, warmer.The sky had that muted, washed-out quality she remembered.
Her knees weakened.She clutched her hands together, elation filling her.Ahead of her was the town she remembered.She hurried forward.She'd made it back.
The street stretched out in front of her.A cry escaped.It'd been six years since she was here, but she remembered everything.The restaurant.Th-The courthouse.The cracked pavement.
Her chest tightened.She wasn't dreaming.She wasn't imagining it.
This was the place she'd gone to when she was younger.She made it.She was here.
A figure in the street stopped walking and turned slowly.Tall and broad-shouldered, she recognized the quiet, dangerous confidence.
Finn.
He stopped when he spotted her.She stilled.Would he remember her?
For a moment, neither of them moved.His eyes locked on hers, and recognition flickered across his face.Her stomach fluttered.The feelings he brought out in her were strange, exciting, and new.
"Kallie."His low, rough voice rolled through her.
