CHAPTER 44 —Smoke on the Horizon
Carolyn
Dawn came slowly through the trees, at first it was only a faint softening of the darkness, as the dark sky brightened up slowly above the branches. Then thin rays of pale light began slipping through the forest canopy and touching the tops of the trees.
I had already been awake for a while, sleep had come in shallow waves during the night, broken by restless thoughts and the occasional snap of a twig somewhere in the woods. Each time I woke, I stared up at the sky between the branches and reminded myself of the same decision.
I needed to go back to Rowena.
By the time the sun actually rose and sunlight appeared, I was already packing. The clearing still smelled faintly of smoke from the tiny flame I had accidentally summoned the night before.
