Part 63 (1/2)

No light. No castle. No sleighs. No noise. No people.

I was alone in a forest somewhere and I had no clue where.

Well, I guessed Minerva and her minions had decided to use magic.

On me.

s.h.i.+t.

I pushed up to my knees and brushed the snow off my thin gloves. Gloves meant to be worn to a ball. My cloak meant to be worn in a sleigh with a fur over me, curled into the side of a hot guy.

I was not prepared to be in the cold in the middle of nowhere.

This was not good.

And it got worse when I caught movement through the moonlit forest.

I shot to my feet, my eyes glued to where I caught the movement.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, moving in another direction.

I turned to that and started backing up.

Another movement from yet another direction.

I put one hand behind me in order not to slam into a tree and kept backing up.

One of the things moving stepped out from behind the shadow of the trees.

And at the impossibleness of what I saw, I went completely still.

It was a man, a sword at a slant on his back.

But his head was the head of a bird with a sharp, pointed terrifying beak and creepy beady eyes.

”What the h.e.l.l?” I breathed.

He lifted his hand and went for his sword.

I saw another movement as another one stepped out of the shadows.

He was going for his sword too as I heard the hiss of steel when the other one drew his from his scabbard.

Another one appeared in the moonlight, his sword already unsheathed.

Okay.

Well.

I was so totally right.

This was not good.

And in my fabulous gown in the middle of a forest, not knowing where the heck I was, I had one option open to me.

Run like h.e.l.l.

I took that option, turned, grabbed my skirts, yanked them up and did that like the devil himself was on my heels.

And, seriously, he was.

All four of him.

I didn't look back. I was not going to fall over a fallen branch like some stupid b.i.t.c.h in a horror movie.

No f.u.c.king way.

If they were going to get me, they were going to have to catch me.

I had no idea where I was running and I didn't care.

I just ran.

I heard them giving chase behind me and they seemed close.

f.u.c.k.

s.h.i.+t.

f.u.c.k.

I kept going.

Then I heard something from in front of me. It sounded like someone (or something) cras.h.i.+ng through the snow.

They were coming at me from another side.

c.r.a.p!

I shot to the side and kept going, my breathing labored, my slippers encased in snow, the tops of my feet covered in it. It was awkward das.h.i.+ng through tall snow, and thus not easy, but I kept right on going.

”Miss Maddie!” I heard shrieked.

I kept going but I knew that voice and I couldn't believe I heard that voice where I was.

That voice was Loretta's.

Then I saw her and Meeta racing through the snow ten feet to my left.

What the h.e.l.l?