Chapter 37

• Eliana POV
• I ran away, with the sound of my footsteps reverberating over a stone passage like thunder in the far distance. The blood made every step heavier and the walls had started to lean in and start to imply what the elders had not been courageous enough to say: you don’t belong here.
• As soon as I forced the side doors open the cool night air struck my face. It pierced my flesh as though the truth. I took a gasp as though I had been trying to hold my breath hours. My lungs burned. My chest ached. I kept walking—couldn’t stop. It was not until the trees reached up to engulf me.