Page 110 of Owned

Each step drew me closer to the wall at the end of the garden.

Its ivy-clad surface moved gently in a wind I couldn’t feel, but my breath caught as memories slithered through my mind.

The last time I had seen this wall, I’d been trapped in a dream I wasn’t sure that I could escape— The trailing ivy had been alive, snaking vines entwining around my limbs, touching me—

All while Titus, Valen, and Bastian had watched and laughed.

A shiver raced up my spine, and for a moment, I thought about turning back.

But then I saw something out of place: a gate, ajar, its hinges creaking softly as if inviting me to escape.

Hope flared in my chest and I rushed toward it. I gave the ivy a wide berth, just in case… I didn’t trust those glossy dark leaves.

The moon glinted off the wrought-iron gate, and I pushed it open a little wider to allow me to squeeze through. It fought against me, and there was barely enough room for me to slide through.

Sharp metal bit onto my fingers and rough stone scraped against my back, and I swallowed a cry of pain as I pushed through.

My tongue was heavy with the taste of metal as I freed myself from the gate and stumbled out on the other side of the stone wall.

My fingers throbbed, and I was afraid to look down and see blood.

The chill of the night air clawed at my skin as I stood just outside the garden wall, and the familiar grounds of Withermarsh receded into shadows behind me.

I dared a glance back as dread pooled in my stomach.

What if they noticed?

What if Lucian’s watchful guards were lurking, waiting to catch me and drag me back to the mansion?

No.

Freedom.

Move!

Were those my thoughts, or the grimoire?

Silence.

No hissing whispers. No viper-quick response.

I turned and sprinted towards the forest. The trees loomed ahead, dark sentinels that beckoned me closer with their twisted branches. As I entered the underbrush, the world transformed—and any familiarity faded into the eerie embrace of darkness.

I’d only ever seen these trees from the back of a car as we’d raced along the road… I didn’t know where I was going.

But I didn’t care.

A flash of blue flitted past—a small bird, bright as a spring flower in the mist, darted through the trees. Its warbling song weaved through the heavy silence.

“Wait!” I whispered, breathless, as I followed its elusive form deeper into the woods.

My feet barely touched the ground as I moved through the underbrush, but as soon as I entered the tree line, the temperature plummeted and the spongy uneven ground sucked at my feet and threatened to topple me to the ground with every hurried step.

I pushed through tangled branches and dense thickets as I followed the bird through the trees.

But then I lost sight of it.

“Where did you go?” I called out.

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