Almara’s PovI’m woken to water splashing on my face. Groggily, I squeeze my eyes shut and embrace for the next bucket of water that I expect will be pouring forth any minute. As I brace for the gush of water, recollection of what’s going on begins to steep in.The war. Grace. The deal. Running. Then finally, falling. Along with the last realization comes a shooting pang along my thigh, though no buckets of water. I slowly blink my eyes open and no angry mob has me pinned down, trying to angrily bring me back to consciousness.
Almara’s PovMy house is in sight. I see it off in the distance. So close, yet so far. My heart feels like it’s going to burst, and my lungs are on fire. I don’t remember the last time, if ever, that I ran this far and at this speed.Nearing the goalpost, post weariness becomes all too prominent. It’s like seeing my house, my body knows that our long endurance workout is coming to an end and it just wants to collapse, but I can’t.The crowd behind me has grown from
Almara’s PovI try to scurry away from the herds of wolves closing in on me, but there isn’t anywhere for me to go. I back right into the foot of someone towering behind me. It’s getting harder to breathe.C’mon think. I don’t want to fight anyone. These wolves are exactly who Arthur and I try to be good leaders to. If I fight them back, what will that say about me? I’m no different than they are then.
Arthur’s PovGross. My mouth feels like it’s stuffed with cotton, and tastes like stale blood. Wait a minute. I realize I’m thinking, that I’m having reactions to physical stimuli. I’m alive.I try to open my eyes, but the blinding light forces me to squeeze them shut again.“Easy, easy.” I feel the soft touch of someone’s nurturing hands gently lay me back down. I know that voice too. Who is it?
Almara’s PovI sink into my leather couch ignoring Elenor’s judgmental grimace as my wet and muddy fur matted with dried blood is no doubt staining the skin of the cushions. I don’t understand how her mind can even care about trivial matters like that during a time like this.There is one place for sure that my father and Grace could be at, though it’s the last place I hope she’s at- vampire territory. They could possibly be back at my parents’ house. Maybe they went there after hearing the news that Grace is wanted.
Almara’s PovI let out a sigh when the door closed shut behind Boss, whose real name I never did learn and I suppose that was intentional, and Rudy. They took the spyware they found planted in my house with them to search for fingerprints, or see if they could trace back at least to where it was manufactured.“I suppose that’s all,” Elenor says and though it wasn’t directed as a question I respond as if it were.“Actually,” I say hesitantly. I pause and
Almara’s PovArthur and I were about to head out the front door and hunt down our daughter when something dawned upon us. We have no plan.If Grace is the number one most wanted wolf then Arthur and I aren’t too far behind, and while I don’t doubt our parental instincts to fight off a few good-for-nothing gammas, how many will it take before we get worn? How many will we have to fight at once?Not to mention, let’s say we do locate her- then what? Bringing her back home
Almara’s PovNight has blanketed the sky. The only sources of light are from the spread of twinkling stars. Many animals have nestled into the beds for the night while the nocturnal creatures come out only to be heard and not seen. Owls sound their presence, crickets chirp, and zacatecas scream in harmony.Arthur and I continue in the direction of vampire territory. It’s where the aroma of the dress is leading us, confirming what we already thought to be true.Though the sun as set some time ago, the temperature has remained the same. Though maybe it’s from all our hiking that’s keeping our bodies warm. We’ll have to set up camp soon if we want to maintain our strength for the rest of our long journey, I just hope we won’t have to light a fire.The light and the smoke would only serve as a spotlight on us and so far we’ve been able to avoid some run-ins with others. The last thing we need is any surprise attacks while we’re sleeping.We’ve probably already walked ten miles. We only st