Page 13 of Moonmarked

But it was.

I was in Mysthaven, hiding in a pocket of the forest floor, and the sky looked grey from down here as the rain continued to pour softly. Maybe the sun had climbed up again in the sky. Maybe the whole night had passed, and I’d survived.

I was stillunfound.

Tears slipped from my eyes when I moved a little, as if they’d been at the corners just waiting to rush out. My body still ached, but I lay on my back and moved a little to the right, opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue to catch the raindrops coming through the web of roots over me.

I drank rain and I cried there for a while because the guards hadn’t found me. But Rune hadn’t found me, either. Through the whole day, and the whole night.

I was on my own.

Cold bit at the edges of my limbs, but it was nothing compared to the weight in my chest caused by the realization that no one was coming to save me. Not Rune, not anyone.

If I was going to get to the other side of this, if I was ever going to see him and my family again, I’d have to do it myself. The sound of raindrops that was soothing a moment ago now felt like suffocation. I pressed a palm to the packed soil beside me and sat up slowly, my face wet, both from tears and rainwater. I was no longer thirsty—just desperate. Enraged. Afraid.

Truly, fully alone.

My clothes were damp, my hands stiff, and my stomach felt like a hollow pit. Hunger growled at me and I couldn’t ignore it no matter how hard I tried.

I’d spent so long being carried through danger—by Rune and his shadows, by luck, by running—but this was different. This wasn’t dramatic or deadly or fast. This wasn’t sudden.

I had all the time in the world as I sat in that cave, to think and to worry and feel the hunger gnawing at my bones.

Yes, I had time, but I also had some place to be. I had a plan, even if it was going to get me killed (this I knew with certainty at that point). But I had an idea of where I was going, a general direction, and that would be enough to silence my anxiety for now, to keep me moving.

So, I breathed in deeply, grounding myself, and then crawled out from under the roots, this time breaking half of them in the process.

The forest was darker than before, slick with wet leaves and glistening bark. Every sound felt sharper, more dangerous, but I walked ahead anyway.

I’d done this before at home. I’d felt utterly defeated and like the world—myworld—had come to an end, like the sky was falling down on my head. And I’d taken my time, had cried for five minutes—or ten or an hour. Then I’d gotten my shit together and had showed up for the people I loved.

This time didn’t have to be any different. I’d cried in the rain. Had felt awful about my luck.

Now, I showed up formyselfno matter what the day had in store for me. Whether I died or not didn’t really matter, not right now. I would keep moving.

There had to be something I could eat in this forest. Sorcerers had to eat, too, didn’t they?

Berries, maybe. Wild roots if I was lucky. My boots sank into the damp earth as I moved, leaves sticking to the leather. I scanned my surrounding with my full attention, and the canopy over my head was thick enough that not a lot of rain made it to me. That, and it was slowing down, I thought. The farther I walked, the more the sound of rain splatters against wood and leaves slowed down.

Yes, the sky looked grey and gloomy, and fear wanted my entire attention—but I was a stubborn woman, if nothing else, and I was fucking determined. I was still alive. And so long as I was breathing, I had a chance.

Eventually, the rain stopped altogether, and the woods changed.

Still the same trees, the same bark slick with rain, and soil thick beneath my boots, but the air had turned heavy with something else. Something unnatural.

Magic.

Don’t ask how I knew—I just smelled it in the air. It clung to everything in this part of the forest, and if I stopped to listen, I was sure I’d hear it humming faintly.Right now, it was crawling beneath my skin like a whisper I couldn’t quite catch.

Slowing my steps, I kept my eyes sharp, my ears sharper.

Then I saw the structures half hidden away by the giant trees, and I stopped in my tracks.

The first one was a low stone slab, tucked between two twisted oaks, with bones piled neatly on the top. I didn’t look too long to see—couldn’tif I tried because, at first glance, they did not look like animal bones.

The skull. The ribcage. The discarded bones behind.No.

Flowers had been arranged around them, the petals wilted, as dead as whatever creature had been laid there as if on display.

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