Unfamiliar Territory [Book One]

Chapter Thirty-One | From Dusk till Fawn, Part One

The Sorrow. Stepping into it from the cluttered, yet warm, space of Mr. Copper's office was like stepping out into a blizzard.

I shook it off and closed the door behind me, only catching Kat's eyes for a moment, before I was just looking at a tree. She looked worried. I couldn't blame her. It felt like my heart was trying to burst out from my chest.

I attempted to steady my breathing as I turned back to face the blinding fog. Somewhere, not too far ahead, the asylum was waiting for me. I got down on my belly and started the crawl towards it.

It was silent. I tried to keep my ears trained for any foreign noises, but all that came back to me was the gentle crushing of soggy leaves as I crawled.

I bit my lip. There was no time to complain now. Mr. Copper warned that the fog would be here. It made sense that it was magical. Something that allowed Fawn to snatch away the children she needed without much risk of being seen— way too convenient to be coincidence.

But having the power to make killer plants, blinding fog, and turning children into poisonous monsters? Were there any limits to a witch's powers? What else was she capable of?

Of course, neither Mr. Copper nor Kat had much to say on the matter. All that could be said was that she was a 'special case'.

"Wonderful," I whispered hotly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If it's not something I don't understand, it's something I think I'm beginning to understand before it becomes even more complicated!"

The sound of rustling tree branches in the distance rooted me to the spot.

"Okay, Alex, no more talking to yourself."

When nothing else happened, I continued my crawl. No time to complain. No time to complain. I craned my head every which way that I could. I was moving so slowly Kat and Mr. Copper would probably be done before I even made it to the asylum. Or dead.

I stopped again. I was at the base of a hill. It had to be the hill. Due to the Sorrow, I could not see where it would lead, but it had to be the asylum—lying somewhere up in that swirling mist.

I sniffed the air, with as much good as that would do. Fawn and her children smelled just like the woods. Plus, whatever gave me that magically enhanced sense of smell had long since vanished. Also, I was pretty sure I was downwind.

Just wait for the signal. Mr. Copper did not have time to think of a good one back in the office, but he said listen for something out of place— distinct. All in all, this was already tuning out to be a pretty crappy plan. There was hardly any planning at all. How was I supposed to know if any sound I would hear would be his? Any sound at all would sound 'distinct' in this silence—

A scream broke through the quiet woods. I flinched, held my breath to keep from crying out, and then smacked myself for being so dim. Who screamed?

"Was that the signal? Ah, to hell with it!"

I got to my feet. I sucked in a breath. Then, with everything in me that I could muster, I raced up the hill, screaming and shouting for all that was worth. Threats, obscenities, random noises that sounded intimidating. The whole forest had to be coming alive with all of the racket I was making.

Cower or challenge, nothing could ignore me.

Or, so I thought.

I reached the top of the hill. Through the fog, I could make out the backdoor of the asylum, still busted down from when Stallion tried to retreat through it. I stopped my commotion and caught my breath for a moment.