Chapter 17
Cinder was lost.
The night was still heavy with the full moon low on the horizon, ready to set. Mist flowed in and out of the mossy woods. Sometimes, even the sound of running water seemed to flow in and out.
There were times when she thought she heard dogs barking, although she couldn’t tell which direction they were coming from. There were times when drunken laughter sounded too close, so she would freeze, hoping the hunters wouldn’t stumble onto her.
And too many times, she heard screams. Not just girl screams, but the horror-filled screams of men being torn to pieces. At least, that was what it sounded like to her.
She stumbled through the misty, moonlit forest, exhausted and thirsty. It was dangerous to drink from the streams. People often got sick from drinking unboil
