Chapter Forty-Six

After what seemed like a thousand lifetimes, light crept back into her eyes. Adea woke to find herself lying in the middle of the Crossing before the roots of the Twisted Oak. She was lying on her back and staring up at the crystal blue mid-morning sky. The soft breeze and the spray of the spring made goosebumps on her arms. Her eyes burned with exhaustion and her throat was dry and sore. She groaned as she sat up against the peculiar tree, crossing her arms in front of her when she realized that she was still naked. That was when it all came back to her.

Adea began to shake and tears fell from her eyes when she recalled the events of that night. She tried to convince herself that it was all a terrible dream, but there was no denying it. Her parents were gone, slaughtered and mutilated on their own bed. Her sister, whom she loved more than anything else in this life, now lied at the bottom of a giant under