that settles deep into your bones and makes every breath sharper than the last. I found a shallow hollow between two fallen tre

space and drifted

n't la

ckle against the back of my neck, like being watc

est was

ie

ering through b

I thought I'

breath

g was di

on

hing aside damp leaves-then froze so sudd

tpr

s pressed into the thi

mi

an

ma

efo

rint. It was small-smaller than mine. The toes spread un

edges hadn't

prints passed by le

y where

besi

earth around the track. The print pointe

had co

y c

without w

t they ap

thout distur

oat ti

faint sensation of being watched, the pr

had be

ood close enou

y felt too open, t

ches overhead creaked in the light breeze. A raven called d

nts in

heavy tracks

omping prints of

icate trace

ch

the one with wild hair and bare feet. But he would've had to follow me

he had...

ome c

way witho

prickl

one answer that

ld wasn

ous-had sent him. Or watched

hat someone else wa

eded to leave. Immediately. I gathered the berry pouch, checke

elt heavier

sound

avoiding twigs and brittle leaves. But even as I distanced my

had foun

d happe

spun with gr

utrun Draven

er lived in the valley un

the forest when i

sed on the path ahead. The forest thickened into a maze of ro

omething that tighten

r foot

d, as if the ch

es

eeper one-large

a ch

adu

d ran i

ts of

pe

wing the same path.

allen tree, heart sla

ined m

ten

it

e forest: the faint snap of a twig

to know I wasn'

moving par

dow

chi

y heartbeat felt too loud. Too fast. Like the st

swept past, brushing the hair on my arms. The smell of damp leav

e forest se

wait anot

e of the valley-the rougher side, where the trees

oed with one r

't alo

lked these moun

ietly enough to get n

their own reasons

idn't want

d to re

igher

n for real

r had left tho

't searchi

exactly wh