Adeline's POV
The syringe slipped from my fingers and clattered across the metal table.
I froze, staring at my shaking hands. They wouldn't stop trembling no matter how hard I tried to steady them.
"You okay, Addie?" Dr. Martinez poked her head through the exam room doorway. Her kind eyes studied me with concern.
"Fine." I forced a smile and picked up the syringe. "Just tired."
That was a lie. I wasn't tired. I was terrified.
Because my phone had just buzzed in my pocket. Three times in a row.
And I knew exactly who was calling.
Marcus.
"Why don't you head home early?" Dr. Martinez suggested. "It's Winter Solstice, Eve. The whole town's at the festival. No one's bringing in pets tonight."
Home. The word made my stomach twist into knots.
"Actually, I was hoping to stay late." I grabbed a bottle of disinfectant and started scrubbing the already-clean table. "Organize the supply closet. Maybe do inventory."
My phone buzzed again. Louder this time. More insistent.
Dr. Martinez's expression shifted. "Adeline. That's the fifth call in ten minutes."
"It's nothing."
"It's nothing." She walked over and gently took the disinfectant from my hands. "Is it Marcus again?"
I looked away. My throat felt too tight to answer.
Dr. Martinez had hired me two years ago when I showed up at the clinic with a black eye and a desperate need for work. She'd asked one question, "Do you need help?" and when I'd said no, she'd never pushed. Just gave me a job, flexible hours, and a place to hide when hiding was all I could do.
"You don't have to go home to him," she said quietly.
"I live with him. I don't really have a choice."
"There's always a choice."
Easy for her to say. She didn't know what Marcus was like when he got angry. What he was capable of.
My phone buzzed again.
This time it didn't stop. Just kept vibrating and vibrating like an angry hornet.
"Answer it," Dr. Martinez said. "Or he'll just keep calling."
She was right. Marcus always kept calling.
With shaking fingers, I pulled out my phone. Seven missed calls. Twelve texts. All from Marcus.
The latest text made my blood run cold: Where are you? Answer me NOW.
"I have to go." I untied my work apron with fumbling hands. "I'm sorry. I'll finish the inventory tomorrow."
"Addie, wait."
But I was already grabbing my coat and rushing toward the back door. Better to face Marcus on my terms than make him come looking for me.
The cold December air hit my face like a slap. Snow was falling softly, covering Pinewood Valley in white. Cheerful music drifted from the town square where the Winter Solstice festival was in full swing.
I hated the festival. Hated how everyone pretended to be happy. Hated the lights and the music and the fake smiles.
But mostly I hated that Marcus always got worse during holidays.
My phone rang again. This time I answered.
"Where have you been?" Marcus's voice was sharp. Dangerous. "I've been calling for twenty minutes."
"I was working. With a patient. I couldn't answer."
"Don't lie to me, Adeline." His voice dropped lower. That was always a bad sign. "I drove by the clinic. There were no cars in the parking lot except yours."
My heart started pounding. Had he been watching me? Checking up on me?
"Dr. Martinez is inside," I said quickly. "I was helping her with paperwork."
"I don't care about paperwork. I want you at the festival. Now."
"Marcus, I'm tired. Can't I just come home?"
"The festival. Now. Everyone's asking where you are. You're embarrassing me."
The line went dead.
I stood there in the falling snow, phone pressed to my ear, trying to breathe through the panic rising in my chest.
I should run. Should get in my car and drive far away and never look back.
But I'd tried running before. Marcus always found me. Always brought me back.
And it was always worse after I tried to leave.
With heavy steps, I walked toward the town square. Toward the music and lights and Marcus's anger.
The festival was packed with people. Families with kids. Couples holding hands. Everyone bundled in warm coats and scarves, laughing and drinking hot chocolate.
I spotted Marcus immediately. He stood near the center fountain with his friends, all of them big guys who worked construction with him. They were passing around a flask and laughing too loudly.
Marcus saw me, and his expression changed. The fake smile he wore for his friends vanished.
"There you are." He grabbed my arm, not gently, but not hard enough to make a scene. "Where the hell have you been?"
"I told you. Working."
"For two extra hours? On Solstice Eve?" His fingers tightened on my arm. "Who were you really with?"
"No one! I was alone at the clinic."
"Stop lying!" His voice rose. People nearby turned to look.
"Marcus, please." I tried to pull my arm free. "You're hurting me."
"You think this hurts?" He leaned closer, his breath smelling like alcohol. "This is nothing compared to what you deserve for embarrassing me."
One of his friends, Jake, the one with the beard, stepped closer. "Hey man, maybe take it easy."
"Stay out of this," Marcus snarled. Then back to me: "You made me look stupid. Calling and calling while you ignored me like I'm nobody."
"I wasn't ignoring you. I was working!"
"Liar." He shook me hard enough that my teeth clacked together. "You're always lying. Always making me look bad."
Something inside me snapped.
Maybe it was the way everyone was staring. Maybe it was the humiliation of being shaken like a rag doll in front of the whole town. Maybe I was just tired of being afraid.
"Let go of me," I said clearly. Loudly.
Marcus's eyes widened with surprise. I never talked back. Never challenged him.
"What did you just say?"
"I said let go." My voice didn't shake this time. "You're drunk, and you're making a scene."
His face went red. "Making a scene? You think I'm making a scene?"
He grabbed my other arm and yanked me closer. His friends started backing away, uncomfortable.
"Marcus"
"You don't talk to me like that," he hissed in my face. "You don't embarrass me in front of everyone. You don't."
I kneed him in the stomach as hard as I could.
Marcus doubled over with a grunt of pain. His grip on my arms loosened.
And I ran.
I shoved through the crowd, ignoring the shocked gasps and pointing fingers. My only thought was escape. Get away. Run.
Behind me, Marcus roared with fury. "ADELINE! GET BACK HERE!"
I burst out of the square and onto a side street. My lungs burned. My legs felt like rubber. But I kept running.
Where could I go? Not back to the clinic, Marcus knew where that was. Not home, definitely not home. Not to any friends because I didn't have any anymore. Marcus had made sure of that.
I was completely alone.
I turned a corner and skidded to a stop.
A dead-end alley. Just my luck.
Heavy footsteps pounded behind me. Marcus and probably Jake, too. They were coming.
Panic clawed at my throat. I spun around, looking for any escape route, and
That's when I saw it.
At the mouth of the alley, tied to a lamppost, stood the most beautiful horse I'd ever seen.
It was huge. Midnight black with a coat that seemed to shimmer with purple highlights in the streetlight. Its eyes were intelligent and calm as it watched me.
What was a horse doing in the middle of town?
I didn't have time to wonder. Marcus's voice echoed down the street: "I see her! She went down that alley!"
The horse was my only chance.
I ran to it and grabbed the reins with shaking hands. "Please don't kick me," I whispered. "Please, please don't kick me."
The horse stood perfectly still as I put my foot in the stirrup and hauled myself into the saddle.
I'd ridden horses as a kid in foster care. One of my foster families had owned a small farm. But that was years ago, and I'd never stolen a horse before.
"I'm so sorry," I told the horse. "I'll bring you back. I promise. I just need."
"THERE SHE IS!"
Marcus and Jake burst around the corner.
I kicked the horse's sides. "Go! Please go!"
The horse exploded into motion.
We flew down the street so fast I almost fell off. Wind whipped my hair back. My heart hammered in my chest.
Behind us, Marcus was screaming. But his voice was getting fainter. We were leaving him behind.
The horse didn't head toward the main roads. Instead, it turned toward the edge of town. Toward the dark trees of Thornwood Forest.
"Wait!" I pulled on the reins. "Not the forest! That's forbidden territory!"
But the horse ignored me. It galloped straight toward the trees that everyone in Pinewood Valley knew to avoid. The trees that marked the boundary between the human world and whatever lived in the darkness beyond.
"Stop!" I shouted. "You have to stop!"
The horse didn't stop. If anything, it ran faster.
We crashed into the forest. Branches slapped my face. Snow sprayed everywhere. The temperature dropped instantly.
And something changed.
The air felt different. Thicker. Electric somehow.
Silver mist rose from the ground, glowing in the darkness. The trees around us were massive ancient things with trunks wider than cars.
This wasn't a normal forest.
"Please slow down," I begged the horse. "I don't know where we are!"
But the horse just kept running deeper and deeper into the glowing, misty woods.
And then I saw them.
Symbols. Carved into the tree bark. They lit up as we passed, silver light pulsing in rhythm with the horse's hoofbeats.
Magic. This was magic.
Real, actual, impossible magic.
"What is happening?" I whispered.
The horse's pace slowed to a trot. Then a walk. Finally, it stopped in a small clearing.
And through the mist, I saw walls. Massive stone walls that rose up into the night sky.
A fortress. Hidden deep in the forbidden forest.
The horse walked toward gates that were slowly opening with a sound like thunder.
Guards appeared on the walls. Dozens of them. All pointing weapons down at me.
I was trapped. Completely trapped.
The gates finished opening. And through them walked a man.
He was tall and powerful-looking with dark hair and the coldest gray eyes I'd ever seen. When he looked up at me, those eyes blazed with fury.
"Who," he said in a voice that made the ground shake, "dares to steal my horse?"