Chapter 10

• SKY
• It must be hours later when the cold bite of the night air wakes me. I blink open my eyes and realize I’m human again. My head throbs so badly that it feels like drums beating inside my skull. When I try to lift it, I feel the rough scrape of dried leaves sticking to my cheek and the crust of blood clinging to my lashes.
• I wince as I raise my head a little, the metallic taste of blood thick on my tongue. The sharp sting across my stomach forces me to drop back to the ground. I’m alive. That’s the first thing I tell myself. Alive. Step one complete.