Chapter 5: The Deep End

- RAVENA

The two goons Elder Marrow picked to dump me at the edge of the world didn't say a word the whole trip. They just gripped my arms, dragging me through the dirt until the dirt turned into frozen slush.

We were heading for the Hollowland.

Every wolf grew up hearing stories about this desolate, tundra-like expanse, and none of them were good.

It’s basically a massive, frozen graveyard where the pack threw its trash. There were no trees, no shelter, nothing but these nasty, black "Iron-Grip" shrubs poking out of the permafrost like skeleton fingers.

The wind didn't just blow out there; it made this horrible, constant wailing sound that got right under our skin and made us think of a dying pup. It’s where rogues went to starve or freeze to death. And now, without Astraea’s warmth humming under my skin, the cold hit me twice as hard.

The thought made me shudder so bad that my teeth clicked.

"Keep moving," the bigger guard grunted, giving my shoulder a rough shove forward.

"I am moving," I snapped back, though it came out sounding way more breathless than I wanted.

My head was spinning, trying to find a way out of this. I wasn't going to survive a night in the Hollowland. Without my wolf, the frost would take my toes by midnight. I needed a gap. Any gap.

Then I heard the rushing water.

It was faint at first, but the closer we got to the border, the louder the roar grew.

The river.

My dad mentioned it once, years ago, when he was drunk, talking about how the old pack lines used to run along the water. Nobody in the Crimsonridge Pack ever messed with that river because the current was notoriously suicidal. But they didn't know what my dad taught me before he passed. He’d thrown me into the lakes since I was big enough to walk. I could swim circles around any of these landlocked idiots.

It was a stupid gamble, but freezing to death in a ditch wasn't an option.

"Hey," I said, digging my heels into the icy mud and pulling back.

The guards stopped, looked down at me as if I were something stuck to the bottom of their boots.

"What?" the left one muttered.

"Look at me," I said, lifting my hands a little so they could see the caked mud and the dried, flaky blood stiffening the fabric of my shirt. "I’ve been in a cell for four days. I smell like rot, and my clothes are glued to my skin. Let me wash off in the shallows for two minutes. I'm not going anywhere in these chains anyway."

The big one looked at the rushing river, then back at me. He actually laughed. "You want to jump in there? Go ahead. Save us the walk. That water will snap your neck in five seconds."

"I’m just staying by the rocks," I lied, keeping my voice as pathetic and miserable as possible. "Please. I can barely breathe with this grime on my face."

They traded a look, shrugged, and the big one unlocked the heavy iron cuffs around my wrists, keeping his hand on his dagger. "Two minutes. If you try to run, I’ll take your legs off."

"Thanks," I muttered.

I stumbled down the slick rocks toward the bank, my bare feet stinging against the rocks. The water looked almost black, churning violently as it rushed down from the northern peaks. I didn't hesitate. If I thought about how cold it was going to be, I’d lose my nerve.

I took one deep, freezing breath, stepped onto the ledge, and launched myself straight into the middle of the white water.

The river wasn’t actually that bad at first, cold enough to make me shiver, sure, but manageable.

"Hey! What the hell—"

The guard’s shout was cut off instantly as the river swallowed me whole.

It felt like hitting a brick wall made of solid ice. The cold punched every bit of air right out of my lungs, and for a second, my brain went completely blank with panic. The current grabbed me like a ragdoll, spinning me around and slamming my shoulder against a submerged boulder. I fought my way up, gasping for a breath of air, before the river dragged me under again.

I couldn't even see where I was going. Everything was a blur of dark green, white foam, and freezing pain. I didn't try to swim against it. That would just drain the little strength I had left. Instead, I just tried to keep my head up, letting the river carry me away from the border, away from the goons, and away from the Hollowland.

I didn't know how long I drifted. Seconds, minutes, it all felt like one endless, numbing nightmare. My fingers went numb first, then my arms, until I couldn't even tell if I was paddling or just floating like a dead branch.

Then, the sound changed.

A deep vibration rolled from the river, rattling through my bones. The water started moving faster, tilting downward.

A waterfall.

"Oh, shit," I tried to yell, but a wave choked me before the word could even leave my mouth.

Before I could grab onto a rock or even try to swim to the bank, the floor dropped out from under me.

I was airborne for a terrifying split second, the wind catching my wet hair, and then I was falling.

The second I went over that waterfall, everything changed. I expected the plunge to shock my system with pure, bone-chilling ice, but instead, the water suddenly turned warmer with an unnatural, heavy heat that swirled around me like a subterranean hot spring the closer I drifted toward the ledge.

I hit the deep plunge pool at the bottom of the falls with a massive splash, sinking straight down into the darkness. The pressure was immense, pressing against my ears, but the water here was calmer.

My vision was tunneling into black spots. I was falling forward, my arms giving out entirely, and I braced myself to smash right into the jagged rocks.

Instead, I hit something solid and surprisingly warm.

I forced my heavy eyelids open, squinting through the wet hair plastered across my face. I hadn't hit the ground. I had plummeted right off the ledge and landed sideways across a man’s lap, my dripping wet head resting against his thigh.

He stayed completely still, making no move to pull away, and didn't try to push me off. He just sat there naked on a low rock by the water's edge, looking down at me with wide eyes like I was something strange the waterfall had just thrown up.

Hell! What kind of psycho freezes their ass off in this ice water?