Page 27 of Blood Moon
It was my mind playing tricks on me, but every emotion felt so real. Because what if Rena got my hopes up only to tear them down again? What if the letter and the necklace were the last things I had from her? What would I do? Who would I become?
The uncertainty was grave, but I knew I couldn’t live with this bitterness anymore. It was rotting me inside and out, turning me into something dark and callous, turning me into the same thing that hunted me in my dreams.
CHAPTER16
Suddenly, Beauty was everywhere when Death approached the door.
Article V, Lost Letters from Aadan the First
I was fully aware of how my decision to venture off on one of the surrounding university trails looked—foolish. Asinine, even. Especially after the reported bear attack at one of the local state parks, but that was miles away. Classes had ended a couple hours ago, and I wanted to go on a hike to cool down after my workout.
It had been months since I’d gone for a run. Deep in my core, I wasn’t a fan of the exercise. It was too laborious, and I’d made a parade of faces when my therapist suggested it years ago, but once I hit mile three, there was a breakthrough in my body, a change in my brain chemistry. Even in my exhaustion, I felt the best I had in months—which was embarrassing because I’d forgotten I could feelthisgood, bethisrelaxed. It was everything I needed, especially after my conversation with Julian.
Behind Robertson Hall was a forest and a sidewalk that turned into a thin dirt path. A small wooden post marked it as the Austin Trail.
The sky was bright blue and radiant, hidden by a canopy of trees that cooled my brown skin. I watched squirrels chase each other, jumping from branch to branch as I popped in my earbuds to drown out the nature sounds with distinct drums and an electric guitar.
As I ventured onward, I took note of how many leaves had begun to fall, some of which crunched beneath my shoes. The further I progressed into the middle section of the trail, the more it reminded me of the nightmare I’d had.
Rena had abandoned me. She’d left me for the monster in the woods. I was defenseless against its strength, and there was no one around to save me as it sucked the life from me. The thought sent a shudder down the curve of my back, and I pulled on the straps of my hiking bag.
I found myself moving swiftly, my breathing picking up as the path twisted and narrowed. It took me up a slight hill, and below I could see the tops of lopsided shrubs, bushes, and trees.
A move too fast, and I wobbled faintly, my foot catching. Dirt and rock crumbled over the edge, dissipating before they hit the forest ground, some fifteen to twenty feet below.
I drew in a sharp breath, and my heart beat so fast I could hardly hear the music. I re-steadied my frame, wiping sweat from my brow, and momentarily allowed myself to glance at the grounds below, imagining how awful it would have been had I toppled over.
I kept at it, following the path round and round until it led to an opening. This high up, the cliff was nearly invisible. I relaxed a little. Sweat gleamed from my forehead, and a victorious smile set in. I’d made it to the top with minor issues. It was the second-best thing about today.
Ahead, and almost unnoticeable at first, were animal tracks. Perfect imprints scaled north. I removed my earbuds.A dog,I thought, but after a more thorough glance, the prints were much too big to belong to the largest dog. Much too large to even belong to a mountain lion or a wolf. Could it be a bear?
I’d never seen one before, and the bear that had wandered into the area was spotted over twenty miles away. It wasn’t impossible that it had made its way here, but it seemed unlikely.
As I began to turn around, I heard a rustling up ahead. Something in the belly of shrubs moved quickly and with tenacity, sending me into a whirlwind of emotions. There was nothing but dead silence from every living thing in this forest.
Then, something strange happened. The family heirloom draped around my neck bloomed in warmth until it pricked at my skin. It shocked me, warning me to move, to get as far away as possible.
A quick look past my shoulder revealed a figure approaching from the shadows, and two glowing red orbs. Twigs snapped, piercing me with cosmic horror. The figure appeared humanlike, presumably a hiker who’d gone off-path. But the eyes … they were monstrous. The person crouched, too far away for me to make out any details, poised and still in a way that only an animal could.
I shuddered, and the opal nipped me, as if yelling. Another rustle, and at once, the figure was yanked into the swallows of leaves with a sound that propelled me forward.
My breathing hitched, and I jolted down the narrowing path ahead, the ground dipping and rising in spots. A bloodcurdling scream rang in my ears as something thick and wet was torn apart. When the sound dissipated, it pushed me to run faster, and all I could smell was a sickeningly, sour metallic. For a moment, it flooded all my senses.
The new silence was a warning.
Whatever creature had gotten that person was now after me.
Wildflowers and weeds slid against my ankles until my foot caught on an overgrown root. I slipped, tumbling down a slope, grabbing at tufts of grass and dirt—anything to stop the momentum—until I was met with the edge of the cliff.
I cried out, a metallic tang in my throat. The only thing keeping me from falling to my eventual death was a root protruding from the edge. My eyes burned with tears and sweat as I bit down my next scream. I tried kicking at the cliff to pull myself up. I’d hoped the coursing adrenaline would supply me with super arm strength, but I supposed adrenaline couldn’t amplify what you never had.
And then a crack came, pressure releasing from the root, lowering me down half a foot.Shit. Shit. Shit.There were only minutes left—perhaps less than that—before this snapped, sending me to an impatient doom that purred at the soles of my shoes.
This wasn’t how I imagined the end of my life.
In a daze, I saw something running toward me. My fear concluded it was the wild animal rushing forward in a rampage after hearing my cries. This was it. This was the end.
But it wasn’t a beast, or a bear. It was a person, different from the strange hiker I’d seen before.
