There was nothing right about the woods today.

I slipped backward a few steps, my heart thumping loudly as a figure watched me from behind a gnarled tree.

Shadows swallowed his presence, holding no shape and fading against the spreading darkness, but I felt his eyes—always on me. And the unease made me sick to my stomach.

Warped branches spiked into the stormy clouds, swinging back and forth in the wind like claws reaching out for me. Terror roared inside me, yelling at me to run, and my flesh pricked with electricity.

He'd kill me if I stayed. I knew it, felt it in my bones.

I swung away and darted down the strip of naked land, summoning the energy to push myself faster than before. His breath grazed my neck, his footsteps thumping the ground.

Panic tore through me at the idea that this time he'd catch me.

Thorny bushes and broken trees filled the land. Flashes of freedom lay behind the forsaken forest, snippets of a grand kingdom that reflected the golden rays of the sun. The kingdom stood so far away, reachable only by stairs made of twisted stone, and by crossing an arched bridge that spanned two mountains. I'd never get there in time. I might as well be trying to reach the moon.

The breaking of leaves and twigs came at me, and I jerked around, fear coiling over me like a heavy winter coat, smothering me.

Utter blackness closed in, the wind shrieking in my ears.

A cry fell past my lips. My palms tingled with power, its scorching pain spreading over me.

He slammed into me.

I screamed, my feet tangling beneath me. Pivoting back around, I jutted my hands out, embracing the power, and shoved it into the shadow.

Then I fell. My world became a pit of blackness, taking me, dragging me under.

And I let myself go. Like I always did.