Chapter 4
Pain. Confusion. Heaviness.
My eyes had sealed shut, refusing to open.
The ringing in my ears screamed at me. My head throbbed at my temples, and my body felt like I had been run over by horses.
Repeatedly. If this was the afterlife, then it wasn’t peaceful like I expected.
Or maybe this was punishment from Clotha for trying to outrun the course she set me on.
A course I would continue to outrun, fate be damned.
Someone called out in the distance, battling the loud hum that pierced my eardrums. “Mom.” Then another, closer. “Mom!” Clarity finally found me, the ringing subsided, and my thoughts sharpened. “MOM! Please be alright! Please! Mom!”
My eyes sluggishly drifted open, and a blurry outline of Cora hovered above my face.
Her curls hung around me in a curtain, damp and tangled.
“Cora,” I whispered, and my hand slowly reached to touch her face.
Her hazel eyes came into focus the more I blinked away the heaviness of my eyelids.
The ringing in my ears became faint, and the throbbing of my head dulled to an ache.
I shifted my torso up and rested on my elbows, taking in Cora and our surroundings.
Dawn approached. The sky slowly lightened, and an array of twinkling stars blinked out one at a time.
The thick outline of the surrounding woods was noticeable, but the darkness between the trees hid all manner of secrets and fears.
The earthy smell of dirt, grass, and leaves overwhelmed my senses.
Cora stared at me aghast, and a tear trailed down the ridge of her nose and dangled at the tip. The fear I had hoped to keep her from was plastered across her sweet face. “Are you alright?” Worry laced her voice.
“I think so.” She sidled up to me, hugging her knees to her chest. My body ached, but my focus and priority were on Cora. “Are you hurt?” I ran my hands over her arms, legs, head, and back, checking for injuries.
Cora kept her gaze on me, dazed. “No, I’m alright,” her voice trembled. “What happened? Where are we?”
I helped her stand alongside me, my head still dizzy, and ran my hands up and down her arms to warm her.
We must have been unconscious from the fall and lay in the cold for hours.
My fingers and toes were stiff and chilled.
I moved us further away from the barrier as we were only mere feet from it, far too close for my liking.
“We fell from the wagon, sweetie,” I said gently, massaging my temples. All the events of the previous flooded me in an instant.
Terren. My mother. The escape. The chase. Falling.
My brows furrowed at the thought of Terren leaving us be after our fall. An entirely unlikely scenario. Maybe fate was working in our favor after all. Whatever happened, I hoped Alec was alright.
“No,” Cora said, annoyed. “I mean, where are we now? How did we get here?” She gestured toward the woods.
I scanned the area with more intent. The rising sun provided enough light to illuminate the landscape before me with more detail. My eyes skimmed over the trees, taking in gnarled branches with big leaves fluttering in the breeze. I tensed. Wait…
I snapped my head toward Cora, eyes rounded. My breath caught, and she nodded slowly. This was not the same forest we traveled through with Alec.
“Where are we, Mom?”
My attempt to swallow was met with the resistance of my dry throat.
The notion that we went through the barrier was preposterous.
It didn’t make sense. We would be dead. Uncertainty pushed against my logic, but I sealed the doubt away to stay calm.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. It was dark when we came out here, so the forest probably looks different in the daylight.
But we must find help and keep moving. I don’t want to be here if Terren circles back.
” I scanned her body once more. “Are you sure you’re not injured?
Any headache? Does your body feel sore?”
“I feel fine. Just wet and a little chilly.” Cora wrapped her arms around her torso.
So, it was only me who felt like I’d gone to the underworld and back. It always amazed me how easily Cora could recover. She could go through physically grueling events and not feel a thing afterward, but I would take days to recover. The benefits of youth.
“We’ll need to head back into the woods to keep Terren from finding us and head toward Gorstine Village as planned. With any luck, we will be able to get there and find Alec or send word to Greta. Are you able to walk so we can get some help and figure out what’s going on?”
Cora nodded hesitantly. “I guess.”
“It is going to be alright, sweetheart.” I wrapped her in my arms and squeezed. “Let’s go.” I tipped my head toward the trees. She followed behind me, her eyes alert and darting around as we took our first daring step into the tree line.
The forest itself was lush and old. Expansive, moss-covered trees twisted with leafy branches, and their thick roots dove into the ground.
It smelled of rich, damp soil. The woods were dense, making the daylight hard to fully penetrate the canopy above.
A thin fog covered the ground, and we took careful and measured steps so we didn’t trip over roots.
Maybe it was because we were still disoriented and confused, or our proximity to the barrier, but the forest exuded both beauty and danger.
As we slowly navigated the thick and uneven terrain, I kept turning around to ensure that Cora was following as closely as possible. Nothing, save our footsteps and the birds, filled the nervous silence.
Cora took a gasping inhale and halted her steps. Her body went rigid, her head tipped, and her eyes dashed back and forth.
I grasped her shoulder. “Cora? What are you—”
“Shh! I heard a voice. A whisper.” She placed her dirt-covered index finger to her lips.
I scanned the trees. The only movement was fluttering leaves in their transition from green to yellow. “I don’t hear anything. Maybe you heard the leaves rustling in the wind? It can sound like a whisper at times.”
“I swear I heard a voice!”
We stood still and silent, looking around and taking in more of the forest. The temperature was warmer now that the sun was up, but the air still had a crisp bite to it.
We had walked for an hour at this point, and though the birds were chirping, I hadn’t seen any evidence of other animals.
Not a squirrel, rabbit, or deer had crossed our path.
Cora stayed close to me, her eyes moving from tree to tree.
The previous enthusiasm she exuded for a new adventure had dissipated, and hesitancy and caution wound around her.
Turning to Cora, I playfully nudged her in a show of unconcern, masking the rising fear within me.
“Hey, let’s pause for a moment to give our feet a break.
” I gestured to a wide, upturned tree that created an inviting place to rest.
Her flitting eyes landed on me. “Yeah. Alright, I guess.” But even as she sat on the rough bark, her eyes returned to scanning the trees, and she tilted her head, listening.
Cora snapped her body upright, and she rushed out, “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“A voice. That was definitely a voice.”
I stood and slowly turned in a circle, combing my gaze through the woods and hoping it wasn't Terren or his men. We were wandering directionless, and I feared that without help, we would lose ourselves in the forest.
“Hello?” I yelled with a wobble in my voice.
The forest grew uncannily quiet. Birds stopped singing, and everything stilled. The hairs on my arms stood on end, and an unnerving energy took hold that rivaled that of the barrier. I placed myself in front of Cora. My body was the only defense I had to offer.
Cora stood in a flash, stepping around me. “There! Did you hear it? A voice.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Hello!”
I placed a hand on her shoulder and stepped behind her, holding her back to my front. We listened. Waited. The only sound was our breathing. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Mom, I know what I heard. I keep hearing—”
A branch snapped to our left, making us both jump and tense. Slowly, we turned together in the direction of the sound but were met with nothing more than silence and trees. Pick up Cora and run. I fought the urge, convinced the emotional toll of the last two days was making me paranoid.
Another branch cracked, along with a shuffle of brush.
“You are not welcome here,” a deep, scratchy voice shouted through the trees.
The back of my neck prickled. A warning I could not ignore. I stepped in front of Cora and curled my arm around her torso to keep her against me.
I shouted back into the trees, “I am so sorry! We are lost and need help
getting to Gorstine Village. Can you tell me what direction…”
An imposing figure took a deliberate step from behind a large oak tree.
My jaw dropped. He was taller than most men I had encountered, with broad shoulders and sun-kissed skin.
An assortment of mushrooms, leaves, and moss was arranged over his leather pants and tunic, making him blend easily with the surrounding forest. Willow branches were woven into his light brown shoulder-length hair, pointed ear tips peeking through.
There was a beguiling quality about him.
Whimsy stirred with danger. A short sword was clenched in his hand, and a bow and quiver of arrows were slung across his back.
His piercing, hunter-green eyes narrowed on me, and his mouth twisted in a sneer that rivaled Terren’s. My eyes widened, and my body trembled.
A seraph. We crossed the barrier, and now I’m looking at a seraph. The thought raced through me, and I gasped at the same time as Cora. I didn’t know what to expect out of a Divine-touched being. Razor-sharp teeth to rip out our throats? Wings?