31. Lorraine

Chapter Thirty-One

Lorraine

I ran through the forest, my legs screaming at me as I ran. I looked over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see Oscar. Had I shaken him? I wasn’t sure—I didn’t trust anything my eyes told me anymore. I flashed on the night I’d run through this very forest the first time. My breath rasped in and out of my throat, and screams and cries escaped my lips as I ran. I had no destination in mind; I just had to get away from them. They were after me. I heard their shouts between the trees, their heavy footfalls that chased me down. I tried to swallow my screams. I stumbled over roots and fallen branches. Shrubs and low-hanging branches scraped against my arms and legs and twigs. When I tripped over a root or a branch, I fell to the ground. I sprawled between the dead leaves and the mulch before I scrambled to my feet again. They were right behind me. I could still hear their yells. My heartbeat thrashed in my ears, and my chest was tight. I struggled to breathe. I kept running, looking over my shoulder to see if they were catching up to me.

I couldn’t see any of them through the trees. I couldn’t hear their screams anymore, but I kept running. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t afford for them to catch up with me. Terror was the only thing chasing me, nipping at my heels, threatening to take over. I ran deeper and deeper into the dark forest. I couldn’t see anything anymore—the leaves above were so thick they blocked out the dim light of the moon. I shuddered at the thought, the panic that had wrapped itself around me then. I’d escaped from the truck where I’d had a bag over my head and my hands bound. I could still smell the sour stench of the bag, still taste the bile in my throat before I’d thrown up again and again, fear and panic melding together with the stench to push me to my limit. Back then, I’d been helpless—at first. I’d been sold by the man I’d trusted, taken away by goons who’d wanted to do god-knows-what to me, and somehow I’d gotten away. I ran through the forest now, looking for Ash, looking for his tree. The vale was familiar to me in some ways—I’d been here long enough that it wasn’t a strange place anymore. At the same time, it felt like I’d never been here. Everything about it was confusing. All the trees looked exactly the same, and the further and harder I ran, the more it felt like I was running in circles. I couldn’t give up. I had to find Ash or get as far away from Oscar as I could. Hopefully, both. Why was this happening again? It felt like that awful night all over again. Except this time, it wasn’t Oscar’s buddies after me. It was Oscar himself. My mind spun as I made my way into the trees of the vale. How the hell had he gotten out of prison? Come now, you know that shit like that is all about having the right friends. Who were his friends? I made a friend who happened to know about this alternate world that no one even believes in anymore. That guy gave me some magic, too. Shit. I was in deep trouble. I didn’t know how Oscar had come here to find me, but I didn’t know how I’d ended up here either. I’d stumbled into another realm when I’d escaped that truck, and somehow, Oscar had found his way in, too. He wasn’t the first person to do that, either. His posse had come after me after I’d been here for a while, kidnapping me and taking me away. Now that I thought about it, they’d had magic, too. Ash had been worried about it, but after they’d been killed, we’d both thought it was the end of it. None of this made any sense—how I’d ended up here, how I was bound to Ash, and how Oscar and his buddies had come here, taking me by force and magic. “Lorraine, slow down,” Oscar said behind me, and his voice was terrifyingly close. No, no, no. If he caught up to me before I found Ash, I was in deep trouble. “Don’t run from me, babe. It’s all a misunderstanding.” Oscar was somewhere behind me, but his voice sounded like he whispered right into my ear. “All I want is for us to go back home, to be together. Come on, sweetheart, running is just a waste of time.”

Fear at the sound of his voice pushed me forward, although my legs were starting to tremble. I was getting exhausted, but I couldn’t stop. Not now. “Ash, where are you?” I gasped out loud. “Ash!”

He didn’t answer; he didn’t appear. I had to find him, and soon. “Lorraine,” Oscar said in a singsong voice. I heard twigs snap and branches crack under his feet as he barreled through the forest. He was getting closer and closer. I looked over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see him.

I didn’t doubt that he was much closer than I hoped. I couldn’t for one second underestimate him now that I knew he had magic, too. “Ash!” I cried out. Oscar’s laughter filled the forest around me. “You’re not getting any help, not before I get to you.” It was a threat, loaded with the promise of pain and more pain. “We’re going home, you and me, and then we’ll live as the happy family we were meant to be. You, me, and that sister of yours.”

“Leave her out of this!” I shouted. Oscar’s laughter sounded again, and it was threatening even without any words that promised the kind of life I knew I would hate. Where the hell was Ash? I had no idea how to find him, and my time was running out. I was in trouble. Why couldn’t I find him? I’d been so ready to be with him. The bond I had with Ash was nothing like the messed-up relationship I’d had with Oscar. It had taken me a long time to realize how bad our relationship had been—I’d ignored all the red flags because I’d been terrified of being alone, but?—

I stopped my train of thought and circled back to the facts. I was bound to Ash. The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. Running through the forest to try to find him wasn’t going to help me. Oscar was going to catch up to me, but if I reached for Ash through our bond, I could find him. I stopped running. Stopping seemed counterintuitive—if Oscar caught up to me before I found Ash, I was going to be in a really bad place. I had to do something, though. I had to try. My lungs burned when I gasped for air, and my legs trembled, feeling like jelly. I struggled to keep myself upright, and I leaned against a tree. I closed my eyes and, forcing myself to stop thinking about the fear and exhaustion, I turned my concentration inward. Things might have been over between me and Ash, but that didn’t mean the bond was broken. It didn’t take long before I found it. It was faint, as if a part of it had been severed. How? There was no time to wonder about that. I found what was left of the bond and I held onto it, gripping it as if it were a lifeline. I tugged, and in my mind’s eye, I saw a magical thread that led between the trees, binding me to him, leading me right to him like a trail of breadcrumbs. I started running again. This time, I didn’t focus on what I saw with my eyes. Instead, I focused on what I felt. Somehow, doing that also drowned out Oscar’s voice. I no longer heard him talking, and I didn’t have the feeling that he was right on my heels anymore. He was still after me—no doubt about that—but I had the feeling I had a moment to figure this out. I would take whatever I could get. I followed the thread through the trees, and as I moved, I realized the forest was becoming more and more familiar. It was strange how all the pieces fell into place now that I focused on Ash and how our bond anchored me. There was some kind of symbolism to that, that I missed right now. I would worry about that later. Right now, I had to find him. Finally, I found the tree that belonged to him. “Ash,” I said, stopping right in front of the tree. “Ash, are you here?” He had to be—the bond, the magical thread that tied us together—had led me right here. “Ash, wake up! I need you.”

Nothing… I was about to give up when someone stepped out of the tree. I looked up at the sprite. He wasn’t in his human form, and I gaped. I’d never seen him like this. I knew he was a drus, but I’d never seen him in his drus shape.

His skin was a translucent green, his ears pointed, and he was taller and thinner than when he was in his human form. Everything about him was ethereal and strange, but it was him. Our bond recognized it. I felt the tug between us. He also looked at me with eyes I knew—I could get lost in those sky-blue eyes forever. “Ash,” I breathed. “Thank God.”

He frowned and looked me up and down. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were confused. “Who are you?” he asked.