Home is Not a Place

Prologue

                                                                         The vermin loved to dance,

                                                                     But only the Piper knew its song

                                                                                                  ...

Run. That was all Mitch knew how to do. Everything else was a blur of scraped knees, sore ankles, and rapid breaths. Branches cut every exposed part of her body as she sped into the depths of the undergrowth. It was dark. The sky hung empty, but the fire that sizzled angrily behind her scorched the night as if it were the sun. 

She thought of Zian. She thought of his sad eyes and crooked smiles. And felt the grit of—why? — in her throat.