I was so consumed with this thought that I didn’t even think of looking for reassurance from Jamie, who walked with an eager gait just in front of me. He glanced back several times that first fifteen minutes, but I didn’t speak. Maybe I was afraid my voice would bring unwanted attention.

Instead of reaching out to Jamie, I silently called out to Lukas, my little brother. I’m so sorry, Lukas. I tried my best. If I get back to Haven Valley alive, I’ll be perfect, I promise. I’ll always be there for you. Please, just let me live.

I’m not sure why I felt the need to apologize to him. Or why I thought he might be able to save me. Maybe I was just talking to myself. Or to whatever angels might be listening.

Either way, with each passing minute I began to gain just a little more hope. Nothing had happened to us. No Fury. Not yet.

Jamie stopped on a small rise and spun back, eyes bright. “Well? You still don’t believe me?”

I pulled up, glancing around.

“See?” he asked, arms spread. “Nothing but trees. No Fury. What did I tell you?”

I finally dared to speak. “Not yet.”

“Not ever, I’m telling you. It’s all in our minds. Like Lukas.”

His mention of my speaking to Lukas as if he were still alive irritated me, but maybe he had a point. Lukas was real enough to me because I believed in him. Maybe the Fury really were like that. But then I threw the thought away. Rose couldn’t be wrong after all this time. We’d all seen the Fury even before we believed in them.

“Follow me, sister,” he said, turning back to his march. “Follow me and see for yourself. There’s nothing to fear out here, not unless you’re afraid of trees.”

I had no choice but to follow. And I did, staying close. For an hour. Then two, settling just a little bit more with each passing minute. But that didn’t mean everything couldn’t change in a moment.

The forest was vast, filled with thick trunks that reached up to fully leafed treetops. It was like a maze, but Jamie had marked trees and boulders on his previous outings.

My legs ached from crossing the uneven ground, up and down, around impassable thickets, through heavy brush, even across a small river. We removed our shoes and socks to ford it. Every distant sound drew my ear. The rumble of a stone, the snap of a twig, the rustle of a small woodland creature.