Whoever that man was, I couldn’t be caught by him again. It didn’t matter how much everything hurt. It didn’t matter that every step sent bolts of agony through me. I just needed to get away. I couldn’t go back into the caves. He’d find me. He’d take me, and then there would be no way out. I knew this. I couldn’t say how I knew it, but I knew it.
There was light ahead like moonlight streaming through the trees. The people who were running ahead of me seemed to slow down as they reached the outside and looked around. They started cutting through the trees.
“Keep going!” Francia yelled from behind us. “We’ll lose it in the trees.”
My heart lightened as I heard the stroke of thunder. It rumbled and shook the cave as I grew closer. Lightning streaked across the sky, and the rain fell in t
