Chapter 1 - Hollyn

They were coming.

I could feel their fetid breath on my neck as I raced through the woods. The bushes and thorns tore at my hair, drew blood on my exposed arms. My lungs ached as I pushed my body harder and faster. I had to get away.

A massive fallen, rotted tree loomed in the near distance. Its gnarled branches looked like spiny fingers pushing through the ground like some kind of ancient dead deity. I chuckled at the idea. All the deities were long gone. Thank the stars.

I angled and slid under it. I popped back to my feet, gaining precious seconds. Adrenaline pumped through my system, urging me faster and faster.

The smile that creased my face turned into a grimace as I barreled forward, face first, into a limb I hadn't seen. Thick, warm liquid oozed over my lips as I finally saw the edge of the forest.

Safety.

Freedom.

In one small width of old wooden fencing.

My lungs quivered in my chest. My legs cramped.

I gritted my teeth as my body tried to betray me. No. I hadn't come this far to lose now. To be dragged back to their ridiculous cult and be forced to-I cut the thought off. I wasn't going back there. Not for anything in the world. I would rather throw myself on a pyre and light my own funeral up with a match than go back.

Hollyn, a voice called in my mind.

I closed my ears to that seductive tone. The tone that had kept me captive for the last thirty years. It dug its way under my skin, sank its claws into my heart and soul. Using a power I shouldn't have, I ripped through those links like a hot knife through butter.

"Sthcrew you, you oozthing assth clownsth." I laughed as the words came out mangled. I reached up. Yup. Knocked out at least one tooth. Dang it. It was bad enough that I was literally running for my life. Now I couldn't even insult them properly. My life sucked.

Just as I could see the sky through the thick canopy of the forest, something grabbed my shirt. Yanked to an abrupt halt, my feet flew up into the air as the stranglehold of my shirt dug into my neck.

Should have stuck to the norm and run naked, dang it.

Well, life lesson learned.

Leering faces peered down at me. "Hollyn, you're hurting our feelings. Why are you trying to run?"

"Becausthe you're all cunt weasthlesth who pray to sthome weird demon guy."

They jerked back, shock and anger on their faces.

I raised a brow. Were they seriously asking me why I wanted to run? I hadn't made my displeasure clear enough? They needed me to paint them a frigging picture?

"We are not cunt weasels."

"But he isth a weird demon guy," I said to the leader's right-hand man, Filipe.

They all remained silent.

I pushed to my elbows. "Fine. You want to take me back, ansthwer thisth riddle, and I'll come without issthue."

They rolled their eyes. The same type of itchy burlap bag covered all of them. I wasn't lying before. Everyone was usually naked.

Lucinda, High Priestess of Bitchville, crossed her arms. Her bag rose a couple inches on her thighs.

Filipe's gaze glued to the creamy skin. His pupils dilated and his breathing picked up. His bag tented a bit. The man had a serious hang up over her.

I gagged. Shook my head to rid myself of the visual that had popped into my head. Escape. Freedom. Safety. "My riddle ist thist: one hundred feet in the air, but itsh back on the ground. What ish it?" I pushed to my feet. Swiped a hand down my chin.

I winced as I hit my lips. It came away streaked with crimson. Gross. I thumbed the area where I should still have some teeth. Two were missing.

I pulled the sticky neckline of my shirt away from my body and looked down. Damnit. This was my only shirt.

They stood in a circle as they thought about my riddle. I mentally chuckled. I present to you the high priests and priestesses of Grove of the Perpetual Oaks, everyone. An assembled group of inbred idiots who thought they were the top of the evolutionary chain.

Thank the stars they were dumber than a basket of wet hair.

Lucinda's pinched face relaxed as she smiled at me. She looked like she'd been smoking too much weed lately, but then again, she was the high priestess.

I sniggered mentally. I crack me up.

Folks, we might have a winner. I raised my eyebrows in question. Waited for her to wow me with her wits.

I used the distraction while I edged back towards the wall. Less than twenty feet. I could almost taste it. The barrier to escaping their clutches forever.

Lucinda stalked me. Her long, pale blonde hair was a mess with twigs and leaves sticking up from it all. She shook it back like a queen. "The Oaks have told me that there is no answer to your riddle, Hollyn. You are trying to buy time."

I snorted, kept shuffling backwards. "No. There really isth an ansthwer. I'll even give you a hint."

They all stopped, straightened.

Filipe leaned forward, sniffed Lucinda's hair. A look of ecstasy crossed his pointed features. Eww.

"It'sth an insthect." I pointed to the ground.

They all looked down as if I'd showed them the answer. I'd known I'd been trapped by stupid people. But these idiots made me almost ashamed of myself.

"You know, the kind that crawl on the ground." I wiggled my fingers to give them a good visual.

Lucinda sniffed as she looked back up at me. "It's not going to work, Hollyn. The master demands you at his side for the new moon. We will deliver you and earn our eternal reward." Her eyes were sharpening under the haze that filled her brain.

Crapsticks. It was now or never. Summoning what little magic I held in my body, I balled up my hand. I sucked and pulled on everything that sludged through my veins. I wasn't even sure what it could do, but I figured fighting for my life was a good enough reason to figure it out.

I focused on fire. Sparks. Embers. Anything that could produce enough smoke and flames to give me cover to get out of here. For once, I was thankful we hadn't had rain in the last few months. I just hoped I didn't burn down the whole thing.

I threw the little marble-sized ball of magic at the forest floor. Held my breath. Please, please, please.

It hissed and fizzled.

Well, it wasn't quite what I had wanted, but it was enough to divert their attention. I shot off towards the wall.

Twenty feet.

Ten feet.

Five feet.

Hands outstretched, I pushed through the magical barrier as I yelled my answer, "The ansthwer wasth a CTHENTIPEDE, thuckersth!!"

My howling laugh turned into a girly screech of pain as I smashed into something that felt harder than the rock the barrier pretended to be.