a's

rning, as if everything in it

s on my back and the money I'd saved working shifts at the coffee shop. It

the same way anymore. Not af

how made everything feel heavier. That

, what they'd do when they woke up and followed the trail I'd stupidly left stra

Tala muttered.

anything," I

same thought has been running laps in

kept pushing t

have gone t

hat part was obvious

side," I said,

e their doors like a very committed stalker

ghtened.

nbothered. "You stopped.

ng. That pull last night hadn't been something I could just override. My bod

Too quickly. My chest gave

onvincing. Say it again. Ma

," I thoug

w. In this exact moment. I can practica

at one came out with enough f

tretched for

ling low and solid in my chest. "Over and ove

a snarky comeba

" I said. "I'm not a

," she sai

t?" I asked, frustration th

that doesn't care about your feelings," she sai

nd kept moving. "

d. "Fight fate. Very dram

ack at her when she cut thro

're c

pped

mediately. "What? They'

w. "And then you left your scent everywhere like a trail of breadcrumbs. What

dropped.

you didn't exactly make

ly-the space between the trunks, the distance to the boundary

" I said. "I need to re

a cut me off. "Running b

fists at my sides. "T

ether you want to collapse into their arms out o

sita

difference

stop them from following you. Bu

mewhere it was

thing that needs to be chased. It pulls instinct out of wolves, a

s right, and I hate

how to do this

yourself alive this long without anyone'

d smoke. I pushed it back down before it could take hold

berate. The forest looked different when I paid attention to it-less

t, I almost

id suddenly, he

hat? What's

as if sound could somehow trave

" My brea

id. "And they're not wan

he trees like pressure building before a storm. I sensed something sharp and focused, w

d playing," Tal

at had nothing to do with t

he packhouse," she said. "You

screamed at me to run-to just go fas

dn't

rough me like something

slow breath.

ted m

"Look at that. Char

wit was slowly growing on me-but the f

e edge of my senses, three distinct points moving thr

exactly wh

I wasn't going

*