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Chapter 1

I WAKE UP TO an earthy s headily into rass blades cushioning , but as my heavy eyelids slowly break apart I realize the war h the tree branches above me

A few black dots h the blue sky, followed by the caw of a crow My sight is blurry, lazed over by moisture and a very fine amount of sentience

I smell blood A lot of blood And it’s so potent, al heavily on ue in a thick, briny layer of copper and salt and bile

Gross

I doubt I’ll ever get used to this

The realization hitsopen wide Where the hell aht?

Oh God, please let it have been anirocery store Yeah, that’s not likely The ied olf forh a little But the hu the pieces of ether

My sight co and thick clouds only looks like a backdrop It’s too far away to seerass and soil The sunlight glistens on the tiny strea precariously between the branches of a low-lining tree Everything is deep green and full of life

I really am nakd…

Instinct causeswhat I can of ht and letting my knees fall to the side I should be cold, but I’m not My body temperature is very warm, but not uncomfortably In fact, I feel better than I have ever felt Last night was onlyand much in the way after the first time, my body feels new and revived, as if I have been reborn But this tiht feel better each ti tells me that it will, that each transforer

I hear everything The song of early ly calm stream are amplified inof movement on the forest bed all around h the earth and the wispy fluttering of butterfly wings that no human would ever be able to hear The butterfly lands on a leaf nearby and I watch it for a long tih to flutter away toward the s out ahead

The scent of pine trees andthat I feel like it could easily intoxicate me

The insistent smell of blood raises the hairs on my arms

Finally, I look down at rasp the true measure of the situation Fresh blood isto the skin on th ofMy hands are absolutely covered in criernails I can only iine how my face looks I feel it all aroundto dry and crust

I visibly shudder at the thought of what, or who I ht have…eaten

My heart is heavy with reh I don’t particularly like the thought of that either—but I could never forgive

How did I get out here?

Panic envelopsin the basement with Isaac atand delusions I re eyes as he swabbed the cold, wet cloth across my forehead and my face and my neck and my chest

I re him

And he never hesitated to give in to me Never He wanted me as badly as I wanted him

But he was supposed to keep et out I vaguely recall when he unlocked the shackles around ht of the full e to my body as I transformed So that my transformation wouldn’t rip the shackles completely from the old dank stone wall, but I wasn’t supposed to break free from the basement

I’m not supposed to be out here

Where is Isaac?