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We wound through the thick trees. The bushes scratched my legs and tore at my skin, but I kept moving, kept following Rummy.
She slowed down ahead of me, giving me a chance to catch up.
And then I saw him.
Right in the middle of the clearing lay Lord.
“Hells.” I rushed to his side, dropping to my knees. He was wearing the same black clothes he wore every day, but this time,they were ragged and torn. His dark skin had grown ashen, drained of the typical healthy blush.
I thought he would at least be happy to see me, but when he recognized who knelt before him, his face was stripped of all emotion. “Huntyr,” he said.
“It’s me, Lord.”
“Huntyr!” He was yelling now, frantic and afraid. It wasn’t like him.
“What happened to him, Rummy?”
I turned to look at Rummy, but she was gone. Nothing but dark forest remained where she stood moments ago.
“Huntyr!” Lord crawled to me, strong yet frail. His eyes were wide; I had never seen so much white in them. I caught his shoulders as he threw himself at me.
“Calm down, Lord! It’s me!”
Lord continued to panic. “Huntyr! Huntyr! Help me!”
“I—”
Suddenly, it wasn’t Lord at all falling toward me, gripping my shoulders.
It was Wolf.
His eyes searched mine with the same fearful expression I had just seen in Lord.
“Wolf?” I whispered.
“It’s me, Huntress. It’s not Lord, it’s me. I’m here.”
“I–I thought I saw…”
His piercing eyes scanned my face. “What? What were you seeing?”
“Rummy was here,” I explained. “My best friend from home. She told me Lord needed me, that he was hurt. I didn’t want to wake you. Lord looked so—”
Wolf’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been with you this whole time, Huntress. Your friend wasn’t here. Neither was Lord.”
My heart stopped. “But I saw them.”
I became acutely aware of Wolf’s hands on my shoulders, of the way they stilled as the realization sank over both of us.
“This is part of the test,” he whispered, glancing at the surrounding forest. “You were hallucinating, Huntyr.”
I opened my mouth to argue what so clearly could not be the truth, but I stopped myself.
Rummy and Lord in the forest? It didn’t make any sense. Why would I be tested this way?
Wolf’s eyes widened as they settled on something behind me. I turned to look, but saw nothing.
No.
