Page 35 of Whispers of the Elderoak

The smell of outdoors and a damp, musty scent reached her nostrils. Pine and moss and something… old.

She couldn’t lift herself, head pounding. Eyes heavy.

Muffled voices spoke near her but she couldn’t make them out, as if she was in a well.

It had been minutes. Hours. Days?

She kept fading in and out but then… darkness came again, and she was lost.

It was stilldark outside when Ava came to. Her surroundings were fuzzy and she blinked, attempting to clear her vision. Trees encompassed the area, illuminated by moonlight. The smell of the earth enveloped her and grass tickled her cheek as she turned her head. Sounds of the night were still echoingthrough the air; the chirp of crickets; the cry of a fox; the whisper of the breeze.

Groaning, she attempted to move but couldn’t, limbs still heavy from the effects of the drug, like they were weighed down with sandbags.

Something painfully pinched her wrists. Her ankles too.

Rope? Was she tied up?

Her head still throbbed, a relentless hammering within her skull.

She didn’t hear the voices anymore, and she looked around, vision clearing. Turning her head was painful, the pounding unwilling to cease.

Continuing to assess her surroundings, she saw a clearing encompassed by tall pine trees. Was she in the forest? There were crumbling ruins next to her, exactly like the ones from her dream.

Her dream. Had it been a premonition? She was sure these were the same ruins, but she didn’t see a glowing tree anywhere.

She was lying on her side, hands tightly bound, and feet tied together at her ankles, leaving her little room to move. Her stomach churned and heart raced as though it would beat out of her chest. She willed herself to remain calm, to develop a plan, and took a deep breath, wincing at the pain in her ribs and the bruises on her throat.

Then, she remembered. The map. Though difficult to move due to the sedative still coursing through her system, she reached into her pocket where she’d left it.

It was gone.

You can’t freak out right now,she said to herself.

Glowing eyes shone from the dense woods, then a cat appeared from the shadows.

“Luna?” she whispered, barely audible.

She still didn’t hear anyone else. Where was Henry?

Luna padded to her on silent paws and looked at Ava, concerned. She rubbed against her face, as if promising to help her escape.

Footsteps sounded from somewhere to her left. Unable to turn her head, she couldn’t see who approached but Luna darted back into her hiding place among the shrubs. A strong hand grasped under her arm and sat her up to lean against a stone wall.

She looked up and met eyes with Henry. Though he looked the same, his eyes were different. There was no love. No warmth.

“You’re finally awake.”

“What do you want from me?”

He leaned down until he was inches from her face. “I already told you.”

What had he said before he drugged her? Something about using her blood to open the portal. That they were stuck in this world and needed her to get back. And she had walked right into his trap. Racking her brain for information from when she took self-defense classes in college, she scrambled to figure out how to keep him talking. If she could sidetrack him, maybe she could get away.

“Why do you want to go back?” she asked.

“Humans and their questions,” he said, looking annoyed. He wasn’t going to answer her.

“Why is my blood so special?” she said, trying again. “Are you going to kill me?”

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