Page 47 of Into the Isle

Chapter 15

Ravinica

NIGHT HAD FALLEN BY the time I left Mimir Tomes. Dagny went back to the dorm an hour before me, since tome-gathering for second-year students wasn’t as intensive as it was for initiates.

After missing breakfast, my stomach growled fiercely as I exited. I was starving. Dagny had told me the mess hall near Nottdeen Quarter served dinner early, as an impetus to get students eating and asleep early.

Gauging my path to get back to the dormitory, I desperately didn’t want to miss mealtime and risk going to sleep hungry. So, I made my first huge mistake since coming to Vikingrune Academy: deciding to go through the woods to get back to Nottdeen. It provided the shortest route there.

Eirik told me to avoid it at night, but I’m also his sister. He could be over-pampering me. How dangerous could it possibly be on the first night back at the academy after summer months, before classes have even started?

I carried a pack full of books on my back in a leather bag, squeezing the shoulder straps tighter as I made my decision.

Going from Mimir Tomes to Nottdeen was a diagonal slant through a few different roads that skirted the woods by staying on the peripheries of it. Forgoing the road for the trees would be a straight shot. It’s not too far. I can do it.

With my decision made, I set out. When I reached the first line of dark trees, my pulse quickened. “Here goes nothing,” I told myself, ducking under a draping willow branch.

It was dark and creepy in the woods, with only weak tendrils of moonlight pulsing through the canopies. The trees were tall. The wood was denser on the inside than it looked from the outside. The air was still and stuffy. I felt swaddled by pollen and warmth, meandering to avoid branches and brambles.

There was no path here in the eastern woods. The dirt got damp at certain points, almost swampy. I avoided those sections to keep my boots clean. Forest critters made little sounds, and my head whipped around in every direction. A raven cawed, flying overhead through canopies. An owl hooted, staring at me from a branch with its huge eyes.

About five minutes into my journey, with the shoulder straps so tight they constricted my chest, I started breathing easier. This isn’t so bad, I told myself—

Just as a yipping sound short-circuited my brain.

My heart jumped to my throat. The sound came from behind. I swore it was accompanied by snickering.

Leaves and undergrowth rustled. I froze, gazing over my shoulder with big eyes. Trying to see if it was a trick of my mind to scare me.

I heard a low growl. That was certainly not a trick.

Without thinking, I burst off in a sprint, kicking up dirt as I ran.

More playful yips and howling joined the chorus, all around me now. Left, right, behind—I was being tailed.

With my heartbeat firmly lodged in my throat, I thought Fuck it, and released the pack from my shoulders because it was weighing me down. It dropped with a thud to the ground. I ran harder toward a lit area of moonlight ahead, hoping it was the exit to the other side.

I burst through the branches, an errant vine stabbing me with prickles along my arm. Hissing, I realized I was in a glade—a clearing. On the other side were more trees. I hadn’t made it out of the woods yet.

My feet carried me forward—

As a large gray body came into view in front of me. Stark yellow eyes stared daggers into my soul, and I backpedaled.

The large wolf grinned, back arched, jaw prying open to reveal dripping teeth.

I instinctively grabbed at my shoulder for my spear, grasping air. On my way to orientation, I hadn’t brought it with me this morning. Why would I? Eirik said I would be safe here.

He also said not to go through the gods-damn woods at night!

I felt like a complete idiot. The wolf paced in front of me, barring my path. With more rustling and shaking bushes, two other wolves appeared on either side, surrounding me in a semi-circle.

My head whipped left, right, center. I put my arms up, ready to defend myself—

And heard a whirring and growling behind me.

I spun just as a fourth wolf careened out of the bushes at a full gallop, straight toward me.

With a sharp inhale, I rolled left as it squeezed by and swiped with a jagged claw. Dirt kicked up into the air, joining a cloud of dust motes and pollen.

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