Page 115 of Owned

I didn’t wait to look back at the gate or the house—I turned and sprinted towards the forest.

The trees loomed ahead with twisted branches and rough bark.

Go. Go. Go.

As I entered the underbrush, the world transformed—and any familiarity faded into the eerie embrace of darkness.

This time, I knew where I was going.

But something was missing.

A flash of blue flitted past—the bird!

A sign that I was on the right path—that the dream Valen had sent me was true—

“Careful—”

“I’m not listening to you—”

The bird’s warbling song filled my ears, and a smile curved across my lips. I expected it to wait for me, but just like in my dream, it darted between the branches and headed deeper into the trees.

“Wait!”

The temperature dropped sharply and dark mud between the roots of the trees 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.

I skidded to a stop and my wet shoes slid in the needles that carpeted the forest floor. I couldn’t feel my toes. My fingers were stiff and cold and the blood had dried into a sticky crust between my fingers.

I spun around in a circle, looking for the bird’s bright feathers, and strained my ears to hear any hint of its song.

But there was nothing.

Only the creak of the trees.

The ground beneath my feet was uneven, and roots snaked across my path like skeletal fingers that grasped for my ankles. Stories I’d heard whispered in hushed tones—tales of monsters that roamed these woods—leapt into my mind.

Suddenly, I remembered the dark presence in my dream—the heavy hand on the back of my neck.

I spun around desperately, looking for the motorcycle.

It had to be here.

Everything else had been the same.

Panic tightened around my throat and I fought to keep calm.

There was no safety here, only the oppressive darkness that threatened to engulf me whole.

“Get a grip,” I hissed and shook my head as if I could physically cast away the fear that wrapped around my thoughts. I’d stolen power… but here in the dark woods, my magic felt so far away—pale and ineffective.

The grimoire— was it blocking my magic? Or was it something else?

No. Don't be stupid.

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