CHAPTER 136: WHERE IS HE?

SERAPHINA’S POV

I walk on my two feet out of the woods on my own.

The injury on one ankle surprisingly healed on its own, but I don't focus on that, or the pain in my chest, or the fact that there's a body potentially not breathing deep in the woods.

I can't think of any of that; I choose not to.

I feel myself on the edge of shattering into a million pieces, being held together by nothing more than a single flimsy strand.

I'm counting every breath I take while walking closer to school again.

"Sera!" a voice calls my name, footsteps rushing closer to where I am.

"Seraphina?"

It takes a few more seconds before someone finds me—Lucian.

He runs out from a corner, spotting me in my disheveled form: a ripped dress with its fabric dyed dark brown from the mud, hair messed up with dirt and twigs sticking out.

He pauses, looking at me with surprise and then relief.

I don't know what exactly it is, but seeing him is enough for me to shatter.

My legs, which held me up firmly, suddenly grow