She was lying on her right side with her arms pulled tight behind her back. Her right shoulder ached terribly and she tried to twist her arm out from under her body—but when she did she found that her wrists were bound together with some kind of sticky tape. She lifted her head and felt bits of grass and debris clinging to her cheek; she seemed to be lying on a hard dirt floor. When she moved her head, the pain in her skull became excruciating, radiating from the crown downward in agonizing waves. She felt her stomach begin to heave, but when she tried to open her mouth to gag she realized that another strip of tape prevented her lips from parting. The thought of choking to death on her own vomit horrified her, and she put her head down again and lay perfectly still, breathing slowly through her nose.

She tested her legs—they were taped together at the ankles. Her right side was almost numb and she wanted to try to sit up, but not until she was sure that her nausea was under control. She lay still for a few more seconds, steeling her nerve and steadying her stomach—then all at once swung her legs around and brought herself up to a sitting position. She almost fell back again; it felt as if someone had driven a railroad spike through the center of her brain. She sat quietly sobbing with her head hunched over her knees, praying for the pain to stop and for someone to help.

Where am I?

She tried to think back, but her mind was still thick and muddled by the pain. She could remember sitting in her trailer; she remembered hearing the sound of a car outside—Nick’s car. But it wasn’t Nick inside the car, it was a stranger—a man she had never seen before. Acheron attacked—the man pulled out a gun—he fired! She remembered now: Acheron was dead—no, two of her dogs were dead. The memories came flooding back all at once and she shut her eyes hard to fight back the grief.

She remembered running toward the kennels, the sound of heavy footsteps behind her, then a flash of light and a searing pain in her head—a pain that was even worse now. The man must have hit her with something—maybe his gun—then tied her up and brought her here. But where was here? Where was the man now? And what was he planning to do to her next?

Nick—where are you?