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“Who’s there?” I whisper, my voice shaky.
“Alesssssia.”
The voice sounds familiar.
It sounds like… like Char.
A voice I’d recognize no matter how much time separated us. I pinch the skin on my arm, wincing when it brings with it a jolt of pain.
Pain means I’m awake, which means Char is truly here. This isn’t another one of my vivid dreams.
Dashing across the manicured lawn, I head toward one of the small gates built into the stone. I peer between the bars with unruly vines and roses curving around the iron, squinting into the night. The clouds break, and a sliver of moonlight rains down, illuminating a dark figure among the trees.
“Char?” I call out. “Is that you?”
I open the latch with a soft click, slowly swinging the gate open.
“Char?” I whisper into the darkness.
“My Alessia.”
Her voice is soft, kind. There’s nothing ominous about it.
But dread forms in the pit of my stomach.
“Char, I’m here.”
Gripping the gate door with both hands, I keep my feet firmly planted inside the wall’s perimeters, afraid to submit to the forest’s night form.
“Come to me,” Char calls.
I’m tempted to take a step forward, to leave the safety of the stone wall. But it can’t be Char. It’s impossible. The trees must be playing tricks.
“No,” I say. “You need to come to me, Char.”
The woods tricked me before. I won’t let it happen again.
“Please, my Alessia. It is truly me.”
Hesitating, I try to decide if it’s worth the risk. What if Char survived the attack somehow and made her way here? I can’t just leave her out here alone.
But...then again, I witnessed her die with my own two eyes. There's no way she could’ve survived the attack. Lady Nilda severed a vital artery in her neck. There was so much blood—
Shifting my weight between my feet, I hesitate. The figure doesn’t move either.
Even if it’s the trees, I survived them once. I can quickly investigate, see if it’s truly Char, and if it’s not, return before any harm comes.
I release the gate and step forward.
Before the gate has time to swing shut behind me, something crashes into me, sending me flailing backwards.
A sharp exhale steals the air from of my lungs as I land hard.
A solid body weighs me down, preventing my breath from returning. For a second, I lie there stunned with the other body pressing on me. Our chests rise and fall rapidly in sync, both of us clearly on edge.
My eyes lift, and in the moonlight I can make out an icy gaze inches away from my own.
We pant, practically sharing breaths. My eyes flick across his face, trying and failing to read his expression.
