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But something was tugging at me. At first, it was just a vague feeling, like a single, tiny fish nudging my sleepy form. But then there was another and another and soon a whole school of brightly-colored fish had hold of me and were towing me upwards. I grumbled and cursed and grudgingly opened my eyes as I broke the surface.
Blinding, pink and gold sunlight streaming down through the trees. The smell of wood smoke from the smoldering fire. And a space, right in front of me, where she should be.
My stomach dropped. Wait. Don’t panic. Maybe she’s off in the trees, taking a leak.
With her hands and feet tied?!
Then I saw the discarded rope. “Oh, fuck,” I said aloud. For a second, I didn’t move. My thoughts were still tripping over fragments of my dream: seconds ago, I’d had my arm around her at a state fair, introducing her to butter on a stick. How could she be gone?
I growled and shoved the dream from my mind. My chest was still warm from her, so she could only have left seconds ago. There was still a chance.
I scrambled up, took my first step—
Something went horribly wrong. My front foot snapped to a stop and my back foot was pulled along with it. I went down face first and thumped into the ground so hard my teeth hurt. I lay there wheezing for a moment. I could feel her getting away but I couldn’t move: all the air had been knocked out of me. I rolled onto my back and looked down. What happened?
She’d tied my boot laces together.
I finally managed to get a lungful of air, hissing it in through my gritted teeth and huffing it out through my nostrils like a bull. Oh, so that’s how it is?
I untied my laces, got back on my feet and grabbed the rope, stuffing it into a pocket. I was panting with anger. She had a good head start, now, but I was in luck: the forest was quiet, with barely a whisper of wind. I listened.
There. I spun around towards the sound and listened again, making sure. Yes! Someone forcing their way through the trees, off to the west.
I plunged into the forest. I have never lost a prisoner, I raged. I’m not about to start now. My legs pumped, taking me up to a dead sprint. Fury was filling me, pouring energy into my muscles. It felt like a dark, expanding storm cloud, shot through with bright, crackling heat.
I’m coming, Tanya. And when I catch you…
18
TANYA
I’d learned from last time, when he chased me after the lake. I’d run into the forest where it was thinnest, where I could run faster. And it helped that this time, I could see the low branches coming. I had a good lead on him and I figured I should have no problem pulling away from him.
The dawn light was streaming through the trees above, outlining every leaf and branch in a baby-pink glow. It would have made for a beautiful, romantic walk...but by now, Colton might be awake and romance probably wasn’t what was on his mind. I tried to move faster, putting as much distance as possible between us.
Then I skidded to a stop. The ground under me suddenly wasn’t lumpy and random, woven with tree roots. The dirt was smooth and hard-packed. A path, winding off through the woods. It was the first sign of civilization we’d seen since we swam ashore and it had to lead somewhere. Plus, I could move more quietly on a path. I turned onto it and ran, following it down a slope that became steeper and steeper, until my legs were almost running away from me. Then it rose again, crested a rise…
And suddenly, the trees thinned and ended and I was at the edge of a meadow of waving grass that reached past my ankles. The golden grass was littered with wildflowers and a few industrious bees had gotten an early morning start. But what made me stare was the mist. It rolled across the meadow just above the grass, lit up salmon and gold by the sunrise above, and it felt as if I was running across the tops of the clouds.
I was halfway across when I heard running footsteps behind me. I checked over my shoulder and what I saw made me twist around and stumble.
Colton was at the edge of the field. How is that possible? How had he even known which way I went? He really is good at tracking people down!
I forced my legs to move faster. Maybe if I could make it across the meadow and into the trees on the far side, I could lose him. But when I checked again, he was closer. His big, bulky form was hurtling towards me. How could someone so big move so fast?
