The Alpha In The Pines

Ava didn't remem

But after that nothing. Just a gap. A dark, echoing space where dreams might have been.

floor next to her bed. Her palms wer

ine needles tang

l hungover she felt displaced. Like her body had been driven b

the kitchen. She handed A

eep?" L

her head.

"We're going ba

The one Elijah

ly tha

ee. It was bitter.

anished entirely. The truck bumped along the edge of a ravine

It wasn't fast. It di

ark enough to swallow anything. Trees bent i

ng the mud for tracks. "I don't

aned f

ion stared

es didn't

were

ing. Jus

blin

lection

ked bac

alert, one hand o

ted to t

brows furrowed

lection

of the

surface

thing re

had. She blinked, and suddenly it was night. Not j

e circle. And in the center a woman. Bound. Screaming.

arknes

ith Lex sl

t gone. You weren't brea

t had been soaked in cold ash. "It showed

inks memory, Elijah said.

stay long

reflections breaking rules. But something was wrong. Her scar had shifted. The edges

. "You okay

She opened her mo

heartbeat, she saw canines tha

sed her

ne," sh

d Elijah t

dn't

s open. Smoke still clung to the charre

burned r

ps wer

urnals

the sketch of the creat

it had been upd

Ava's

d deep into the woo

is is some prophecy s

dn't e

t that scar

p part o

the dreams c

deep. The water burned. Across

e. Just stare

er mouth to speak

said h

d. Not w

si

v

up outsid

efo

ds from th

ts besi

r

dn't t

rted keepin

en she woke, she chec

her re

r