Crescent (Book 1)

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We take the same muddy path as yesterday. The air is like ice against my skin. Saren is silent as we come upon the same wooden door, shuddering against the air. I imagine the witch will be on the opposite side, but when Saren pulls out the ring of skeleton keys and unlocks it, the door opens directly into the snow outside. As if the room never existed. As if hearing the witch's voice in my head was just a figment of my imagination.

I know it isn't. Come back and play again soon, Perdita.

"Where are we going?" I ask as we hop down onto a rocky, snow-ridden path. One look upwards reveals the storm raging against the cliffside above. Thin sheets now sprinkle over us, but I can see the lone stone bridge that connects that castle to the forest- a bridge I crossed more than a month ago to get here.

I don't expect her to reply, but I'm surprised that as we cross the rocky cavern, steps echoing off the stone walls, she calls over her shoulder: "Shawcross expects you to train like every lady once did. You'll shift. You'll learn the basics."

My feet hit something hard, and I nearly trip over a thick metal bar protruding from the rock. Another bar two feet to the right lays in parallel, and I follow the tracks all the way around the curving end of the grotto until they disappear from sight. Almost like train tracks. The cavern must cut a full circle around the castle. It's as I step over the tracks that I see the blackened ropes and pulleys and rusted metal pails left abandoned around the perimeter

"Get moving," Saren's voice is sharp, but I take one last look at the mechanisms before catching up to her. We walk around the bend to an area where ivy grows between cracks in the rocks. Her hands find holes in the ledge. I'm half-tempted to ask her if part of the plan is to climb until she pulls two twin handles forward and a door swings open. More darkness looms within, but she steps inside, disappearing.

There's thirty-five steps between the door and another wall, and when Saren blindly reaches forward, she finds another lever and pulls. The door of solid rock rumbles shut behind us just as another one opens in front.

Blinding white light beckons us out into a winter glen, covered in slopes of snow. Lines of birch and pine trees act as a canopy, stretching as far as the eye can see. "Shawcross says you have no experience," Saren trudges forward as if she's walked the path many times. "We'll start from the beginning."

Annoyance flares in my chest just as the memory of every sweaty summer afternoon comes back to me. My father's voice at my back, a gun in my hand. I learned to defend myself from the moment I could walk. I knew my way around a knife well enough too. Dad made sure I knew what to do if it ever came down to it. But, the longer I look at the white world around me, at the long sword braced on Saren's hip, the more I remember that this isn't anything like home.

Snow crunches beneath our feet as we scale the side of a hill. I follow her slowly, each step heavy and every breath hot as we cross over the top of a bluff where the trees change from white to green. It's another mile before her steps slow, and through the maze of evergreens, I spot our destination.

From the looks of the rotted wooden planks and crumbling stone chimney, the hut isn't lived in. Wooden shingles fall down the sides. We continue toward the door anyways, pine needles covering our tracks.

"We'll train here," Saren stops by the door, stomping the snow from her boots. "You will not come here unless you are accompanied either by myself, your guards, or Lord Shawcross. Understand?"

I nod, and before I can reach for the door, she moves. I'm too late. Saren uncaps the syringe, sinking a needle into my nape. My blood goes cold, and a wave of heat pulses through me as I stumble back. "W-What the fuck-" My voice goes hoarse. I collapse as the world starts spinning. My hand whips to the tingling spot on my neck. "You fucking drugged me?" My brain feels like puddy, thoughts meshing together, but my body feels alert. Normal. The converging sensations nearly make me sick.

"The pain will still be there, I'm afraid. This will just help you be more... receptive."

I claw at the clothes glued to my skin, suddenly too hot. "Receptive to what?"

Then, I feel it. My ribs shift downwards, my bones brace in place, and I know what comes next. I'm shifting, and even worse than before, I can't stop it. My heart hammers, and somehow, the process just speeds up. Each of my vertebrae splinter, and my mind cracks. I scream, whatever she injected me with keeping me awake- aware- for longer than before. Hair sprouts from my skin, and my body crushes in on itself as I morph. My body changes, and the other part of me finally takes over. My mind fails me. I become something else.

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"Took you long enough." Saren's voice is shrill in my ears. The world is sideways when I open my eyes, and snow falls over my lashes gently. My skin tingles, an unwelcome burning, and I grit my teeth as I force myself upright. The hut is gone. I've ended up in some other lonely portion of the woods, and Saren must have found me. She stands behind me in mortal form, tossing the suit I'd been wearing at my back. I don't remember taking it off. "That was pretty good for the first day. You shifted four times."

My body feels like I've thrown myself off a cliff a couple thousand times over, but I have no memory of it. No recollection of the time in between. "Why are we doing this?" I whine as I attempt to stand. I face-plant right back in the snow as she walks out in front of me and crouches.

Her eyes are indifferent, searching for any bones that might still be out of place. "This will make you stronger." Though there isn't an ounce of empathy in her voice, I truly believe she thinks she's helping me. Making me stronger, better, all at Ceth's convenience.

Resentment, pure red-hot hatred, simmers in my gut. I don't hate her or Moira or the guards or anyone except for Ceth. I hate him for what he's doing to me, for what he's done to my family. But mostly, I hate that it's not the thought of getting my family back that will get me through this. The hatred- the pit slowly forming inside me- might be the only thing left when I get out of this. That thought terrifies me, and I try my hardest to ignore it as Saren starts walking toward the castle.