Chapter 4 – Lost

Ava’s POV

The woods feel different once I’m inside them, quiet and heavy, pressing in on me from all sides. But I don’t falter as I follow Rina and her friends through the underbrush, pine needles and other forest debris crunching beneath my thin sneakers.

The ‘trail’ is barely there. Rina and the others don’t bother to follow it, but if I don’t keep a close eye on the ground, it feels like I’d lose sight of it, since it’s not a straight line, either. The evening sunlight filters in through the foliage, lighting the way.

A sharp branch snags my jeans, and I wince as I feel it leave a scratch on my shin. But wolves don’t complain about pain, so I say nothing and try to watch my steps.

Rina and her friends aren’t too far from me, and I quickly catch up. I know it’s not because of my own speed, but because they’ve slowed down – and remained on two feet – for my sake. My feelings toward their consideration are complicated, because I know they aren’t doing it to be kind.

“How far away is it?” I ask after some time, my uncertainty growing into impatience.

“Not far,” Rina replies. “At the rate we’re going, though, it’s going to take a while.”

I flush, sensing the hidden dig aimed at me as the others shoot me mocking looks. But I don’t try to speed up. Any faster and I might just trip and fall flat on my face. If I go back with a bloody nose, I’ll never hear the end of it.

But several minutes into the woods, I begin to feel regret. I had been too impulsive. I don’t know exactly how long we’ve been walking for and how much further we need to go, but it’s visibly growing darker.

The sun is starting to set.

Despite my unease, though, I don’t tell the others to turn back.

Then something occurs to me. “How close is the west fence to Crescent Ridge territory?”

I’ve never gone into the forest before, let alone coming out this far. But been joining the Gathering meetings for close to a year now, and the supervisors had warned us so many times to never cross into Crescent Ridge territory while playing around in the wolves.

The Crescent Ridge pack is the closest pack bordering ours, but that didn’t mean we were friendly with each other – and everyone knows, the Ridge wolves don’t play nice. Especially when it was a matter of someone trespassing into their territory.

The others share glances. “Not too close and not too far,” one of them says. “You could say it’s the last safe zone before Crescent Ridge territory.”

Rina glances back at me. “We won’t be going near there. There are scent markers in place marking the edge of our territories. We can smell them when we get close.”

You can. But I can’t.

“But we won’t be going that far either way,” she adds.

I seriously wonder if I can trust anything she says.

“Why is there even a ribbon out there?” I’d never heard of it before.

“Because we put it there.”

The way they break out into giggles tells me I’m not the only victim of this dare. To them, this is a joke. Of course, unlike me, they can smell their way through the woods. ‘Wolf cub’ is only a term used to differentiate us from human children, but before the first shift, we’re so similar that it’s entirely possible a completely human child could be raised in a pack by accident. It’s something with a low possibility of occurrence, because that child would have to smell of other wolves to be mistaken for a wolf cub. But after the shift, even on two feet, juvenile wolves gain enhanced senses.

They could traipse through these woods in the dark like it’s noon, but I’m already having trouble seeing as the already shaded woods grow darker by the minute.

And still, Rina leads us in deeper.

We pass several boundary trees, marked with deep, vertical slashes and faint pack glyphs. The further in we go, the less visible they are, with overgrowth covering the older marks.

I slow down my steps when I barely notice the marks on the fourth tree, realizing we’ve gone too far.

“Just how much farther are we…” I turn around to ask the others, only for the words to fade out because I don’t see them. I look around and realize there’s no one beside me.

I’m alone.

Since when?

Just how distracted had I been not to notice when their noisy steps grew silent? I whip my head around, but I don’t see them, and with my normal hearing, all I hear is the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind.

“Rina?” I call tentatively, taking a step back the way we’d come. “This isn’t funny.”

They’re probably just hiding behind the trees, taking advantage of my weaker senses to hide from me and laugh at me. If I panic, I’ll be giving them exactly what they want, but I can’t help my heartbeat starting to thud faster.

Do they actually expect me to go by myself?

I hesitate, glancing around. I don’t like any of them, but now I’d give anything to see them. After a minute and no action, I turn back, deciding to continue. Rina had said our destination wasn’t far a while ago, so I’m probably close. They’ll probably jump out once I get that ribbon.

I can barely see the trail now. The sunlight is fading, and with every blink, it gets a little darker. I alternate between watching the ground and watching the trees as I carefully place my steps. But no matter how careful I am, it’s hard to avoid everything; another branch catches in my hoodie, yanking me back and causing me to miss my step. I slip on wet leaves and land partly in a bush full of brambles.

With a wince, I pull myself free, ignore the pain in my scraped palms, and continue. But the further in I go, the harder it is to distinguish the trees, and the path. The others still don’t come out. My heart beat has been slowly rising, and it starts to flutter in my throat as panic creeps in.

I take a slow step forward, but the ground crunches too loudly, and every instinct in me screams wrong.

I don’t see a pine tree with a ribbon around it. Now that I think about it, I took them at their word, but they could have been lying.

And they left me here.

They really left me.

To them, this is a joke. And so am I.

Without another thought, I turn around and I run.

If only I could think clearly, I would know it’s a bad idea, but the only thing louder than my heart beating in my ears is my harsh breathing. It’s not long before I slip and go sprawling with a yell. I scramble to my feet, pick a random direction and keep running.

I ignore all the snags and scratches from low hanging branches as I swerve around the trees. I feel a line of pain across my cheek, another scratch, but I ignore it.

But then, my foot gets caught in a root, and I go tumbling. I realize I hit a slope as my body rolls downward, before coming to a stop. It’s enough to put a stop to my wild running. My body aches everywhere. I blink and look around in surprise. When did it get so dark?

Slowly, I get to my feet. I’m still scared, but I know running like crazy isn’t going to help anything. Maybe if I wait long enough, they’ll come for me. Or the supervisors will realize I’m missing. There’s a low chance, but it’s all I have to go on.

Then I hear a branch snap in the distance.

I freeze.

Feeling my heart drop with dread, I turn in the direction the sound came from, and the breath catches in my throat as my eyes meet a pair of wolf eyes, amber old, glowing faintly – and a little too high off the ground to be a wolf from Crescent Hollow.